Page 26 of Never Wed an Outlaw

Everybody sharing my patch had it in for my ass the next morning at church. I held the gavel in my fingers, letting Firefly's latest evil eye roll off me.

Knew I'd stepped into a shitshow before I walked in. Heard 'em all yammering about it inside through the meeting room door, their whispers becoming yells. Stood there with my ear pressed against it, Joker's big dog, Bingo, laying next to my boots.

Firefly and Skin were trying to calm each other down. Joker, stabbing his knife into the table, telling them both to shut the fuck up when he'd had enough. Sixty, Crawl, Lion, Tin, and three new prospects, minding their own business at the end of the table, or else keeping their cards close 'til they had to lay down.

I walked in and took my place at the head of the table, pretending the room wasn't a powder keg, ready to blow my face clean off.

Drama aside, we had business. I ran through the deal I'd struck this morning with Blackjack, Prez of the massive Grizzlies MC West of the Dakotas, and his allies a littlefurther east, the Prairie Devils. Our reckoning with the Deads was coming damned soon, and when it did, the club would be making a whole lot more on the gun trade.

When I finally came to Firefly, I had one question.

“How soon can we be ready?” I growled, refusing to let yesterday come between me and my Enforcer. “Blackjack said he can get some men out here by next week. They'll be ready as soon as they're in, itching for action after the cartel wars ended out west. I want everything square in five days. Earlier, if we can swing it.”

“Five days,” he said, looking at me with payback on his mind for the blow to the guts. “Doesn't leave much time to train any of the brothers on the heavier shit. We've been getting more of it in and our range ain't great for this stuff.”

“Fuck the big guns,” I said. “We'll have manpower on our side. The Grizzlies are bringing a few of their newer toys, too. It'll balance out.”

“Before we do this, there's something else,” Joker interrupted us, sitting up in his chair. “That girl, Summer, who some of you boys saw the other day. She's got news on the Deads...”

Everybody's ears perked up. We all listened, wondering what kind of intel he'd gotten from that little stray who kept showing up at the clubhouse, needling him when he wanted nothing to do with her.

Then the motherfucker dropped the biggest bomb on our heads in months. That girl who'd been screwing around with him, Summer, she wasn't just a crush after the craziest bastard wearing our ink.

She was his old flame. His baby mama. Worse, she was in deep shit.

Christ. As if this fuckery wasn't complicated enough.

When Joker was done with his confession, Sixty made his usual smartass wise cracks, and we hashed out the details. Took a vote on how we'd move against the Deads, kill their leader, Hatch, and protect the woman and son nobody knew Joker had 'til five minutes ago.

I watched the Ayes roll in, one brother at a time. Unanimous.

At least the club could still agree on something. When I slammed my gavel down, everybody filed out, except for the Veep, who I grabbed, and kept hanging back with me.

When the room was clear, I gave him a stern talking to. Told his crazy ass he'd better keep a lid on it just a little while longer, even though the stakes had just gotten as high for him as they could for any man after revenge, who'd suddenly had a family dumped in his lap.

I watched him walk out shaken, his dead brother heavy on his mind, along with the new family he had a responsibility to protect.Fuck.

I'd asked him about Firefly, too. He told me the obvious. This thing with me and Hannah – this thing that hadn't gotten fuckin' started – wasn't gonna die. Not unless him and I had a face-to-face sit down to hash it out.

Didn't help that the entire club believed we were fucking by now. I walked into my office, poured myself a shot, and fiddled with my great great granddaddy's antique pistol in the drawer.

I needed the alone time. Had to sit there so I could hear myself think. Wondered how the hell I'd bought myself so much grief without really getting any pussy outta it.

The stakes kept going up, too. One wrong move could ignite this thing in the middle of our war with the Deads, and blow everybody to kingdom come several times over.

Several shots in, I saw somebody else standing in the room with me. My old man, Early, back to taunt me again.

Should've stayed outta the Navy, boy. If you'd done your job at my side growing up, learned to keep your fool mouth shut, and kept my fuckin' drug trade going, we wouldn't be in this mess.

“Fuck you,” I growled, knowing I'd gone crazy. “I'm putting this club back on track. There's gonna be a lot of chop along the way, but we'll all come out better for it.”

Better?He snorted.Come the fuck on. Tell me you don't really believe that shit.

I did. Believed it so fuckin' badly I pointed the antique revolver at the ghost in front of me, and fired.

Unloaded, thank fuck. The loud, jarring snap of metal was enough to shake my stupor.

So was the loud knock at the door.

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