Page 70 of Soul

Warden glared at her. “We’re here to discuss the consequences of the complete disregard displayed toward the sanctity of church and myself. There is a process for everything, and it was completely ignored and spat upon.”

“I tell you what. Here’s a consequence. I want to lodge a vote of no confidence in you,” Dynamo hissed, and Warden reared like he’d been struck.

“What?” he shouted.

“I don’t trust you to lead us anymore. Your priorities are wrong. It’s right, your child and Iona should take point. But to refuse to help another member’s woman, and she’s his damn woman, irrelevant of a cut or not, is fucked up. If Iona had been back and pregnant, would you have come for me and Katie? Before the threat of retaliation remained, and I don’t think you would have,” Dynamo continued.

Well, this went to hell in a handbasket fuckin’ quick.

“You really think that?” Warden hissed.

“No. I don’t think that, I believe it,” Dynamo retorted.

“And I agree,” Vogue added.

Warden’s head snapped around so fast I thought he’d break his neck. “Vogue. No.”

“Yeah. I highly doubt you would have gone after Katie for fear of leaving your child fatherless or bringing trouble back here. You’d have let Katie rot, Warden. I second the motion for a vote of no confidence,” Vogue replied.

As I watched, Warden’s face paled beneath his tan.

“You really don’t trust me?” Warden whispered.

“No,” Vogue and I said together.

“Why the fuck would I call for a vote to remove you if I trusted you? I don’t. And I won’t risk another brother’s woman or a sister’s man being left in the cold. We built a family, and you forgot that,” Dynamo stated.

“As per the bylaws, we can do this two ways. An anonymous vote or open,” Kosmic added. “Vote to open.”

Dynamo, Vogue, and I put our hands up. “Ain’t got nothing to hide,” I said. One by one, the members voted for an open vote.

“Open vote,” Kosmic confirmed and wrote it down. He looked uneasily at Warden, who sat stunned in his chair. “We’ll start the vote with Dynamo.”

“No confidence,” she replied instantly. Vogue followed suit as Kosmic noted their replies. I felt shock hit the room when Blister, Bogeyman, and Dare all agreed.

Undertaker shifted in his seat. Fuck, this had to be uncomfortable for him. It was already six votes to zero. The consequences were finally sinking in with Warden and it was obvious by his expression. Wisecrack, Scorch, Cipher, and Wyvern voted for him. Pipe, Fists, and Spice voted no confidence, shocking Warden even further.

He was so pale under his tan I wondered if he was in danger of a stroke.

Seeker, Craft, Noble, and Oracle all voted for Warden. Romeo sided with us. Soar, Rook and Slasher made it a tie. It was down to five.

“I’ll give mine. I vote for Warden,” Kosmic said, and my gut clenched.

“Warden,” Undertaker added.

“No confidence,” Aura declared.

“No confidence,” Thunderbird replied, and we looked at each other. Was that a tie?

“A tie.” Kosmic announced. “Which, according to bylaws, gives Undertaker the deciding vote.”

“Might as well black our ink now,” Vogue stated.

Undertaker shot her a dark look. He turned to Warden. “I’m not convinced you’ve learned a lesson. Not at all. Instead of coming in here and explaining our last church, you entered and riled everyone. That is not the sign of a good president who puts his club first. That’s a bad president, and we don’t want one of them.

“You have members siding against members, all looking at each other, wondering who to trust. That was never us. Not even when shit went down. We never once doubted each other. I heard something the other day, and I fuckin’ agree wholeheartedly with it. We have these powers and can defend our club. Why the fuck are we pussyfooting around the Screaming Barons?

“We could send in Dynamo and Vogue, and they’d no longer be a pain in our ass. Thunderbird or Wisecrack could take them down. Don’t need the whole club. There was an easy option to end this and avoid what was happening now. Why didn’t you just send our people to destroy them and protect the women?” Undertaker demanded.

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