Page 1 of Riot

ONE

RIOT

PAST…

“Don’t do this, Nathan.”

Her voice is frayed around the edges, and it tugs on the bonds I’m trying to cut.

She’s family. You don’t give up on blood, even if they’ve turned their back on you.

Even if they’ve treated you like shit.

And Julie had run a campaign built on spite, bitterness, and savage anger. I barely fuckin’ survived it.

Family is forged, not born.Mace’s words ring in my ears, the truth of them settling around me like a warm blanket.

The last thing I want is to hurt my sister, but there’s no fixing this—I’ve tried. She’s an immovable wall, and I’m done slamming myself against it. I’m not changing my life or my plans to fit the expectations she’s built for me. I am who I am, and that sure as fuck ain’t some suit-wearing prick like her and my brother, Jack.

“We can talk about this.Please.” I feel her move behind me, but she keeps her distance, uncertain and afraid.

That wrecks me more than anything she’s said or done in the past few weeks.

Does she think I’d hurt her?Does she believe that puttin’ on the patch would change me that much?

I’ve noticed that fear of being alone with me creeping in as this day came closer. She’s scared to be trapped with a monster, and Iama monster. The shit I’ve done… the shit I’ll do…

Yeah, I’m a fucking beast, but I’m not that kind of animal. I don’t find joy in hurting women. The club doesn’t stand for it either.

Something she’d learn if she cared to listen.

“The time for talkin’ is over.” My words are cold. The dam I’ve built is holding, but it won’t last. Every second I’m here, the cracks spread.

Julie’s never gonna support this—supportme. She can’t see past her own fucking judgement and hate for the club.

So, I stuff the last fragmented pieces of my life into my backpack, ignoring the storm brewing beneath my ribs. There will be no coming back once I leave our mother’s house—the home the three of us grew up in.

The house where Mace made us four.

“Think about what you’re doing, what you’re giving up. You’re throwing your future away, and for what? You’re going to end up locked in a cage for the rest of your life! Those men are criminals.”

I slide my gaze to her. “If you think that, then you don’t understand the club.”

Prison is a risk in the world I’m stepping into, but having brothers at my back and the might of the club at my front lessens those odds.

But what she doesn’t understand is that I don’t fear a cell as much as I fear being chained to a desk.

I snatch my backpack off my bed, slinging it over my shoulder. I don’t have a lot of shit, so I’ve packed only what I can’t live without. At the clubhouse, I’ll get a bunk and a set of drawers. There’ll be no special treatment, even if I am Mace’s foster brother.

“I understand exactly what they’re about.” Her words drip with venom. “And that’s why I don’t want you to go.”

I scan the room once more, a final check before I hit the road. I’m pretty sure my sister will set fire to anything I leave behind.

Finally, I turn and allow myself to hope for just a second.

Back down. Don’t fuckin’ throw this away.

Despite it all, she’s my sister, and I don’t want to leave under this cloud.

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