Page 1 of Property of Max
Chapter One
Max
The sound of laughter rolls across the compound like thunder after a summer storm. High, shrill kid giggles mixed with the deep rumble of patched men who’ve seen too much, and the softer notes of women who make this place a home.
I sit in the back, half in the shadows, half out. Beer in hand, bottle sweating against my palm. A smile tugs at my mouth when Riley claps her hands, urging everyone closer to the picnic tables. Her boy…Spike’s boy…sits in a high chair with a paper crown sliding down his head, frosting already smeared across his cheeks. First birthday. His little fists slam into the cake with reckless joy, and the crowd roars like it’s the funniest damn thing they’ve ever seen.
I laugh, too. Or at least I make the sound. I know how to play the part.
But underneath? I don’t feel it.
Not the way they do.
Because while everyone else leans closer, I stay back. While they clap and cheer and tease Spike about raising a sugar-crazed monster, I take another long pull from my beer, wishing I could drown the tightness in my chest.
They voted me back in.
They gave me my patch, my cut, my place.
But it doesn’t feel like mine anymore.
It feels borrowed. Like I’m just a man sitting in another man’s chair, holding onto colors I should’ve lost forever.
The club thinks I’m one of them again. My brothers, my family, say the past is done, that I bled enough proving where I stood. But I don’t see it that way. I see the cracks I left behind,the doubt I carved into their trust. I see the way their eyes linger sometimes, just a second too long, like they’re still weighing me.
And maybe they should.
Because even though I never betrayed them, I let them believe I did. I let them think I’d turned on my family, sold out the only men who’ve ever had my back. I let them hurt under the weight of my silence.
I told myself it was for the job. For revenge. To get close enough to tear the cartel down from the inside. And maybe it was. But sitting here, watching a baby smear chocolate across his face while the people I love cheer him on? It feels like the worst kind of excuse.
Because while I was out there, undercover, pretending to be someone I wasn’t… life kept happening here. Families were built. Bonds were strengthened. And I missed it all.
Now I’m back, and I don’t know where I fit.
Spike bends down, presses a kiss to his son’s messy hair, and Riley’s eyes shine when she laughs at the sight. It should make me happy, seeing my president like this, seeing his woman glow with the kind of love most men never get.
Instead, it just makes me ache.
Because I’m here, but I’m not.
Part of the party, part of the crowd. Beer in my hand, smile on my face. But inside? I’m on the outside looking in.
And I don’t know if I’ll ever make it back.
Chapter Two
Lila
The alarm blares at five-thirty, dragging me out of a sleep that never feels long enough. My hand fumbles across the nightstand until I smack it silent. For a second, I let myself lie there in the quiet, eyes closed, praying for just five more minutes. But I can’t.
I sit up, rubbing my face, and automatically reach for the baby monitor sitting beside the clock. Bree’s ten now, way too old for it, but I never got rid of the thing. Old habits are hard to kill. Maybe I just like hearing her breathing at night. Proof she’s safe. Proof I’ve kept her safe.
The floor is cold under my feet as I pad down the narrow hallway. I pause at my brother’s door, listening for the steady hum of his machines. It’s always there, filling the room like a second heartbeat.
“Morning, Micah,” I whisper, pushing the door open. His eyes are open, wide, and alert. They find me instantly, and that tiny flicker of recognition is everything.
“Let’s get you ready, huh?”
