Page 26 of Devil's Own: Roughneck

“Just found out we’re having twins,” Reaper says. “Fuckingtwins. Dusty breathes safe through this pregnancy because it’s already going to be more challenging. I vote them.”

“Fuck,” Dark barks. “My kids already lost a dad. I give them peace. I give them safety. The adoption was finalized. They’re mine. So what do I do? I got Ty and Lacy. And now, we find out that Rae’s having a boy. I got a boy coming. Something happens to me, she’d be gutted, but she’d have the club to take care of her. She has the house. She won’t be alone. My kids have school and sports and friends—they enjoy being kids breathing easy. This stops now. I vote them.”

“I agree,” Vlad says. “I want to be here to raise my boy, but I want more for Nic and Tripp to live safe. If these assholes keep coming after us, that can’t happen. She’s already lived a nightmare no person, let alone no woman should live. Nic and Tripp sleep easy and I have to be the one to continue to make that happen. I vote them. Sarge? Rough?”

“I brought this on us all,” Sarge says. “This is my fight. Let me figure out how to take them out. Never knew I had it in me to love the way I love my wife and kids. I never gave Claire enough of me.”—Claire was Sarge’s first wife, his high school sweetheart. He married her right after graduation and then took off for basic training. She died at the hands of a crazy fuck she worked with—“Because of that, my boy died, too. Then Greer lands at the Horde’s doorstep, giving me a second chance to get things right. Tasha, Ace, and now we got the new baby coming—they’re my world. I have to make them safe.”

“If you think you’re going after them alone, you need your fucking head examined,” Vlad snaps. “You didn’t join this brotherhood to go at anything alone.”

“It’s my fault—”

“Is it Greer’s fault her family kidnapped her?”

Sarge narrows his eyes at our president, his best friend. “No,” he bites out tersely through teeth so clenched he might crack a couple of molars.

“Right. No. It Nic’s fault she got kidnapped? Rae? Dusty? Aja? Fucking Danni?” Vlad pushes.

He sighs. Sarge doesn’t often sigh like that, defeated. “No.”

“Right. Then get that shit out of your head. What’s your vote?” Vlad asks.

“Them,” he answers.

“Down to you, Rough.” Vlad addresses me last.

“Fucking glad Gee is up here now.”

It shocks me when the man laughs, given how he’s been against Gee and me being together. “I have to agree,” he says.

“I know you don’t want us together, but you’ll just have to get over it. She’s fucking amazing. The way she carries herself with dignity. The way she handles shit situations without freaking out. The way she doles out smiles like a carnival prize, making a man feel like the champion of the world just for receiving one.”

“Oh, shit,” Cut says.

“He’s screwed,” Reaper teases.

“The last one bites the dust,” Dark jokes. I start to open my mouth to protest because I don’t know if we’ll fall in love. What I do know is that I want her around. I want to see where she and I lead.

“She means something to me,” Vlad says.

“Of course she does—she’s your fucking sister. I wouldn’t expect any less. But she’s also a grown-ass woman. She makes her own decisions, and one of those she made is me.”

“Let me finish,” Vlad snaps. “I wasn’t there to protect her when we were kids. It’s gutted me my whole life. Now that I have her back, I still can’t protect her the way she deserves because I have my wife and boy to keep safe. So what do I do?”

“You give that job to me,” I reply, confident that no other man would have her back the way I do.

“I’m giving that job to you.” He repeats my sentiment. “Don’t let me down, brother.”

“I won’t let you or her down. That’s a promise. I choose them. We take out the Death Bringers once and for all.”

“With all votes in, we take out the Death Bringers.” Vlad finally brings down his ruling.

“War,” Sarge says.

“War,” Dark repeats.

“War,” Reaper answers.

“War,” Cutter replies, nodding at each brother.

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