Page 28 of Brand
We patched in two other prospects as well. Tripp and Dade. I hadn’t been around that much in all honesty, but from what I’d seen they were good guys. Tripp was more on the quiet and intense side. He was a watcher. And you could tell that when he spoke, his words were carefully thought out and calculated. Which was good, because he wasn’t the type of guy to go off at the slightest thing. He reminded me a lot of Diesel from back at Moon Hill. Dade was in his late twenties. I got the sense that life liked to punch him in the face every time he turned around. I would have bet that was what made him interested in the club. He had that lonely feel about him. But at heart, he was a good guy.
“Next,” Iron said and I could see he was holding back a laugh behind the smirk that curved his lips. “Blade came to me yesterday. He wants in. I said I’d bring it to the table. Brand, he said you’d back him?” The look on his face was one hundred percent amused.
Everyone knew Blade, so I wasn’t surprised at the chorus of low chuckles that filled the room. If I really thought about it, it was only a matter of time before he demanded his way in. He might have been a little more standoffish than most of us, but I could see that look in his eyes when he hung around. I saw the curiosity and almost wanting when he was around. Who knew, maybe the guy really needed a place to belong. Some people to call his brothers. It wasn’t my place to question his reasons, it was only my word that I thought he’d be good for the club that was needed right then. And so I didn’t hesitate to give it.
“Yep, I back him.”
“Then he’s your responsibility. I sure as shit don’t want that. Don’t doubt he’s a good guy, but he has an attitude and ego that is too big for me. Possibly even this clubhouse.” He let out a short chuckle and I knew he was making light of it all.
It was true, Blade was gruff and in your face when he wanted something. I had an idea that he knew that. I also got the feeling that it was just how he learned to move through life without getting shoved under the bus.
“No problem,” I replied with a knowing nod.
“Okay, now for the big news,” Iron said. “So Cal has officially stepped down. Axe is officially the new president of the mother chapter. I knew you knew this was coming and well, now it’s here. Axe has been handed the reins and though I’ve known the plan for a while, he’s sent someone down here.”
While this was big news, it wasn’t anything shocking. Cal had been grooming Axe to take over forever, so it seemed. The change I’d seen in Axe over the last year and a half only left me thinking he could handle it no problem. He’d let go of the shadow that had been following him since long before I found the club. Or if not shaken it completely, he’d found his ways to deal with it. I had a good idea that it had to do with his Old Lady and her kid. They somehow found a soft spot in Axe and he wasn’t afraid to let them in.
Iron got up and walked to the door. He opened it, revealing a tall man standing a few feet away from the entrance.
I looked over to Knight with a raised brow. It was clear he didn’t know what was going on either. As I took in each of us at the table, it seemed all of us were in the dark. It wasn’t like we let people in this room just for the hell of it, so, whoever this guy was, it was something big.
The guy walked in with strong, heavy steps. His face showed the hardness of his life. I would have put him mid to late thirties, but it was almost hard to tell. His hazel eyes looked at each one of us, pinning each of us for a long beat before moving on to the next.
Iron took his seat again, but the guy remained standing, his arms clasped in front of him in a non-threatening stance.
“This is Mason Thorne. He used to be the Vice Prez of The Black Water County MC before they disbanded. Known this fucker a long time. I suggested him for the open seat here and he’s been at Moon Hill the last few months. Cal vetted him. As well as Axe and the rest of the mother chapter. He got their okay and now he’s here to prove whatever the fuck he needs to in order to rightfully take that seat right there.” Iron pointed to the seat that had yet to be filled.
I looked over Mason with cautious eyes. I knew it only took one wrong move, one bad man, to fuck the whole thing up. I knew nothing about this guy and I imagined it was the same for him. He didn’t know us. He didn’t know how we liked to do things. And I knew zilch on the club that he’d come from. Though, it seemed that Iron was familiar with both. I needed to trust my president, if I didn’t, then we had bigger problems than just bringing someone unknown into the fold.
“Now, I don’t expect you to accept this,” Iron said. “Do what you need to do. Drag him through the mud. Test him. Make him clean your fucking bikes, for all I care. This isn’t something we are going to vote on anytime soon. I want each and every single one of you to make sure you trust him enough to put him in that seat. Mase here knows the deal, and he’s got no problem proving himself to you.”
All eyes turned to Mason. I was intrigued by this. I wanted to know more about him, that was for sure. I decided right then and there that I wasn’t going to have a negative attitude about the whole thing. I’d welcome him. I’d be nice. I’d even make friends. Because when Ididgive my vote, I wanted to be sure I was making the right move for the club. I suspected everyone around me was thinking the same thing.
“Still got your club ink?” B-ry spoke up, eyeing him like he was trying to figure Mason out.
“Nope,” Mason said, speaking for the first time. His tone was oddly softer than I’d envisioned it would be. He was hard on the outside, badass vibe to the max, but once he opened his mouth, there was an intriguing humanness to him. “Got it removed two years ago, the first chance that I had. The club crumbled about three years go. I was loyal to them, but turned out they weren’t so much to me.”
Good answer.
“Prison?” Fitz asked a sort of understanding in his voice.
Now, I knew for sure Fitz hadn’t so much as had a speeding ticket. For an outlaw, the dude was pretty much as clean as they come. He walked the straight and narrow as much as possible. I couldn’t figure out if it was because he was smart or scared shitless about getting caught all the time. So, knowing that, I could only think that he had some idea what it was like to have someone go away for something that maybe they necessarily shouldn’t have.
But I was just speculating.
I really didn’t know that much about Fitz. He was one of those stick to himself kind of people. Wallflower, if you will. How the hell he got his spot in the club, let alone made it to the table, was a bit lost on me. I liked the guy enough from what little time I’d been around him. So, I was in no way questioning anything.
“Yep. Three years. Got out two years ago.”
“Tell us three things we need to know about you that have nothing to do with your old club or this one,” Knight said looking him dead in the eyes.
“I just found out I have a seven-year-old son. I wipe down my bike twice a day even if for some ungodly reason I don’t ride her. And I listen to classical music when I go to sleep.” He gave a quick, stiff smile.
The man was interesting, that was for sure. Only time would tell if he would work out.
Iron ended the meeting telling us to not hold back but to be respectful. As if he really had to give that warning. Some of us might be assholes but we weren’t animals.
To say I walked out of that room and had a lot to process was true to the fullest extent. I almost felt like I should have been taking notes.
As my head hit my pillow, I felt an odd calm wash over me and I knew that things would all work out the way they were supposed to.
