Page 47 of Echoes of Fear

“Where’s Colt at?” Knox asks. “I haven’t seen him in weeks.

“His mom’s sick,” Madeline answers. “He’s not even sure that he will be coming back.”

“Oh,” Knox says quietly. “I’ll have to call him later. I haven’t been a very good friend lately.”

Leaning in, I whisper, “Don’t blame yourself, baby. I’m sure he understands.”

He smiles softly and leans his entire weight against my chest, which I accept graciously.

“Remember that issue we discussed before the tornado hit, Knox?”

Sitting back up, Knox gives Ghost his full attention.

“I do,” he says, not elaborating. “I’ve been looking into it and might have the method of which it’s happening but not the one responsible.”

Not everyone here is an Obsidian yet, and Knox is making sure that club business stays inside the club. I respect the hell out of that.

“Good,” Ghost nods. “Before we inform the rest of the club, we need to have a vote on something. Taylor?”

“Sitting in this room are two separate clubs,” I continue. “Therefore, there will be two separate votes. Ghost and I have had several meetings about our clubs combining.”

“You mean, all of us becoming one club?” Jax asks.

“I have no interest in being club president,” I admit. “I only took over the Dark Sentinels because the previous leader was using his club to strike fear in the people around him. Ben was the only one still loyal to the old president, and he’s gone.”

“If the vote is unanimous,” Ghost continues. “The Sentinels will become patched Obsidians. They will not be patched in as officers, but if that’s something any of them are interested in, then we will have a club meeting and figure things out. We still have a few officer spots that we’ve never filled.”

“As you know,” I gently caress Knox’s arm as I talk. “My men and I run a business called Sentinel Security. If we vote to join with the Obsidians, we will still be in charge of the business and switch the portion we use for the club to the Obsidians.”

“We don’t ever spend the club’s money until the entire club votes,” Ghost says. “And if at any point you want to see the transcript of what we purchase, you simply have to ask Knox, and he will print you off a copy.”

“Easy peasy,” Knox smiles.

“We don’t deal in drugs or weapons,” Ghost says. “We’re not innocent by any means, but we only want to do good for our community. Which is what I will expect from each of you as well.”

“We want you to go home and take a few days to think it over,” I tell the room. “We will all meet back here on Friday for an official vote.”

“In the meantime,” Ghost stands. “Get to know one another. Ask questions. Or ask Knox. He seems to know everything about everyone. Now, one more thing. As you all know, the Obsidian clubhouse is gone. The tornado destroyed the entire building.”

“And we haven’t even started a discussion on where to build a new club for the Sentinels since I took over and we moved here,” I add.

“Building our new clubhouse will be our first vote as a group if we vote to join clubs.”

“Pops and Ma have already been informed,” Venom adds. “They think it’s a good idea.”

“I don’t think I need to wait to vote,” Reynolds smiles. “I fuckin’ hate being a Sentinel. I was going to suggest a name change, but this works better.”

“Yeah, none of us are officers for the Sentinels anyway, except Taylor,” Hayes adds.

“It’s not like we don’t see their ugly mugs every week anyway,” Blaze says. “If they’re not at Oasis, they’re at the Cage. I don’t think I need to wait either.”

The room echoes with their agreements, and I can feel my heart settle.

“What about you, baby boy?” I ask Knox as the men around us speak amongst themselves. “What do you think?”

Knox takes his time looking around the room. Both clubs are laughing and joking about their own things. Even King is smirking as he holds Madeline against his chest. Blaze digs through my fridge as if he owns it, Sophia and Emily talk about her shelter, and Ghost leans against the wall with a soft smile on his face. Reynolds, Mitchell, and Venom are talking about theirtattoos, and Sullivan and Hayes are explaining to Jax how to do a proper chokehold to make someone pass out.

“I don’t think a vote would even matter,” Knox smiles. “It looks like we’re already a family.”

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