Page 79 of What Lies Within

I glance at Minion—his back to the group as he stands, arms folded, surveying the pictures he's viewed a thousand times before. He's angry, and rightly so.

We’re fucking indebted to the goddamn Devil’s Breed, and there’s no easy way out of that.

All because I had a heart too soft to do the damn thing I should have: visited my goddamn brother to retrieve the colors he failed to surrender and hand down the beating owed for such a violation.

I let emotion guide my hand. And it's that knowledge, that defiance of the fucking purpose of this hierarchy, that shakes my belief in our organization.

If I was allowed to flaunt the common code, then how the fuck do I trust these men to call me out when I'm wrong about war?

“You gonna sit there all night chokin’ on your words, or we gettin’ this started?” Hammer asks.

Unlike Minion, his rage sits proudly for anyone to see. If he'd had his way about it, Fox would be strung up in the garage, still reaping the rewards of what he sowed.

“Meeting open at…” I glance at the thick leather-bound watch on my wrist. “Ten forty-two.”

Rigs' thumbs fly across his phone screen, noting the necessaries for the minutes.

"Tonight's points of order are twofold. One, we need to agree on what I'm asking these clubs at the rally to agree to when they help us, and two, we've got a complication that we need to discuss first."

Minion turns from the wall, edging around the end of Digger’s sofa to occupy the free space.

"Fox is gone. He checked out earlier this evening." I pause, gaze on the table's edge before me, and steel my jaw. "Unfortunately, he revealed shortly beforehand that he used his unsanctioned colors to enter into a deal with the Devil's Breed. One that would have benefited him, and solely him."

“Fuck’s sake,” Turnip mutters, hiding his mouth behind a relaxed hand as he looks away, elbow on the rolled arm of the sofa.

“Further to this deal, I want to emphasize how every fuckin’ thing that’s happened of late circles back to one man: Terry Creed.” I pause, roll my jaw, and shove down the burgeoning anger for later. “Fox had an interest in securing the Plymouth Street lot for Terry so that fucker could finish his bypass through Red River. Signs of Fox's involvement in that issue first showed up several weeks ago, although, at the time, I wasn't certain it was him." I pause, allow the timeline to settle in, and wait for the predicted response.

The men don’t disappoint.

“Why’s this the first we’re hearin’ of it?” Hammer folds his arms high on his chest, glaring from his position on the sofa opposite mine.

I glance at my brother and offer an apologetic smile. "I spoke with Dig about it at the time, and it was deemed best to keep it on a need-to-know basis.”

“Why?” Turnip snaps. “You two do this often? Go off makin’ decisions on behalf of the club behind closed doors?”

“First time,” Digger assures him.

It doesn’t appease the man in the slightest, his nostrils flaring and eyes hard as he stares me down.

I feel a foot shorter for every second that passes in this fucking room. My heart yearns to be elsewhere, cradled in the fucking arms of a woman who promises to let me be, yet my gut tells me if not now, when? Whenwillit be best to show these men the hole I’ve dug without their knowledge?

“What I tell you next will create more questions,” I warn. “But for now, just let me get on with what I got to say, yeah?”

“We’re listenin’.” Rigs sets his phone atop his knee, folding his arms.

“A few of you know Peachy weren’t my true momma. That she agreed to raise me as her own when my birth mother gave me up.”

“Heard somethin’ about it,” Hammer affirms. “Figured it was no business of mine where you came from as long as your heart was here.”

I give the man a nod of appreciation and then continue. "The old man always stuck to the story that my momma was a user who passed, that she chose the kit over me." I shrug. "It was a hard enough truth that people wouldn't question it. That they'd feel uncomfortable pushin' for more."

“But that’s not the truth?” Rigs frowns.

I shake my head and lift my chin. “My birth mother is Senator Mitcham.”

Minion shifts forward on his seat, elbows on his knees.

"Fox supplied that information to Terry to blackmail me into signing the sale papers."

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