Page 5 of Hawk's Cry

Drummer’s fingers tap on the table. “Want my views, Prez?”

Wizard waves his hand. “Happy for you to tell your boy how it is, Drummer.”

“Zane is club, he’s family,” Dad starts. “It wasn’t news to any of us that he’s a full partner in SD Construction now. He earned that on his own merits, and he’s bringing money in. Money that goes into the members' pockets. You on the other hand are turning your back on the club.” He pauses and tugs at his beard, and after drawing in air, lets it out on a sigh. “You swore, Hawk. You swore when you were patched in, you were in this for life. You swore you’d have the backs of your brothers, that you’d give your life for any one of theirs. You walking away means giving all that up. It would be bad enough were you a normal member, but you’re the fuckin’ VP.” His hand slams down on the table. “You’re leaving us in the lurch at the very time the club needs valuable men.” His voice has been rising, and now it’s almost a shout.

“If my heart’s not in it, I can’t be the man you want me to be,” I cry out. “I shouldn’t have made VP. I’m too young, too inexperienced—”

“Fuck, boy!” Wraith snarls. “I was little older than you when I gained the VP patch. Drummer about the same age when his old man died, and he stepped up to the top seat. How the fuck can you say you’re not old enough?”

“We love you, Brother, always have.” Wizard’s voice has gentled. “You’ve earned that love by being family. You’ve earned respect from every man who sits around this table by proving your worth. You didn’t get your position by nepotism. You earned your place by my side by being the man people look up to and trust. How the fuck can you doubt that you’re anything but the man that I need?”

“Why don’t you take a break, Brother?” Hound suggests reasonably. “Take Olivia, go on vacation. You might just need some time to get your head on straight.”

“Good idea,” Throttle agrees, giving what sounds like a sigh of relief. “Give yourself a chance to think about what you want, Hawk.”

They’re being reasonable, well, the enforcer, prez and sergeant-at-arms that is. Drummer’s eyes are shining with disappointment, and Wraith’s with anger and rage. Me? I just want to close this chapter in my life, fuck, open a brand new book and move on.

Not wanting to appear like a petulant child, I turn to Wizard and force myself to say calmly, “My mind is made up. I can’t stay a club member. If I have to leave the compound, then so be it. But take this as my official resignation as your VP, and as a member of the Satan’s Devils.”

There’s silence. A pin dropping would have sounded loud. It seems to stretch out until Wizard eventually breaks it.

“One chance, Hawk. One chance to take that back. Take a time out like Hound suggested. Talk to Olivia, sort yourself out.”

“No,” I tell them firmly. Their arguments have only served to convince me I’m right. “My mind is made up, and I won’t be changing it.”

With his eyes on me, Prez addresses to his predecessor, “What are the rules about this, Drummer?”

My dad’s face has one of the coldest expressions I’ve ever seen him wearing, and grey steely eyes land on me. He might be my parent, but right now he’s Drummer, ex-president of the mother chapter of the Satan’s Devils as he replies icily, “All the members vote. The choices are that he leaves with a beatdown, or he loses his life.”

A beatdown I’d accepted could have been on the cards, though I’d hoped I’d get a pass seeing as how I’ve been brought up as part of the club. Surely they’d have seen how railroaded into this I’d been, and that I’d never had the chance to be me? But that I could lose my life, leave my wife a widow and my kid without a dad, had never occurred to me.

“Get the members back in,” Wizard rasps out, not giving me the opportunity to change my mind now I know what the consequences are.

I wouldn’t, even if he had. The club, the compound, isn’t where I want to be. If I end up meeting Satan in person, well, so be it.

Minutes later the room has refilled, men grumbling they’ve got drinks ordered and ready to be drunk or had old ladies or sweet butts they’ve had to leave warmed up and waiting.

Unsympathetic, Wizard bangs the gavel loudly to get their attention. When eyes go to him, he shakes his head. “Brothers…” he pauses, then pushes emotion back down. “The VP has just let me know that he wants to step down.”

A stunned silence, then Shooter asks, “What the fuck?” His words then echoed around.

Wizard bangs the gavel again. “You need to hear the rest. Hawk wants out of the club completely.”

Drifter looks completely stunned, Truck too. Peg’s face has gone blank. Lady looks disappointed, Joker disbelieving. Heart and Mouse, two others I’ve known all my life, seem upset.

Blade snarls and stabs his knife down hard into the table where it lodges and quivers.

“I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you the severity of this situation. We’ve got…” Wizard clears his throat. “We’ve got the VP who wants to walk away from the club. We’ve got to decide whether we’ll allow him to. A nay means we don’t.”

“Can’t force him to stay,” Rock says.

Wizard looks around. “A nay means Hawk meets Satan.” Without giving them a chance to respond other than for gasps, he continues, “A yay has to be for a beatdown.”

Blade struggles to use his waning strength to pull the dagger back out of the wood, but when he does, he points it straight at me. “You prospected for the right to wear that patch. You prospected to prove your loyalty. We’ve shown that right back. You’re disrespecting everything we stand for to want out of this life. Even thinking of that means you shouldn’t be wearing that patch, Eli.”

“Good point.” Wizard nods at my cut. “Take it off.” He has a silent conversation with Throttle over my head.

I knew this was coming. Standing, I slip out of my cut, and hand it to Throttle before it’s forced off of me.

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