Page 112 of Menace

“Asa, I can’t say it’s a pleasure to see you but because of the current situation I will excuse this gross invasion of our chapel and Rider won’t receive the usual punishment. I will however let his president know I’m not happy with his actions. It will be up to him to decide on his punishment.”

Lucky knew he had to defuse the situation. His president didn’t know about Rider’s past, about the way he had lost his wife and son. It had to be driving him insane that Harper and Ry had been taken and it explained the outburst. Once this was done he would take the time to explain to Maniac.

“Rider, brother, I’m sorry I didn’t lock her down when my gut told me to do so. I will forever regret my decision.”

“Ja, spyt kom te laat, poephol(Yes, it’s too late for regrets, asshole). Why the fuck did you shut her out? After Asa made sure your president knew how dangerous her brother was you left her hanging out there with only Bren in the house to protect her. You dropped the fucking ball, motherfucker. I helped her through it you know, after the first time you fucked her over and left. Then she has to hide and Asa sends her here under the so-called protection of your club. And what do you do when you find her? I’ll tell you what you fucking did. You parade your fucking slut in front of her. But then, not only did you deny the boy was yours, you fucked her and fucking disappeared. Once a-fucking-gain.” He snapped in a pissed off growl.

Lucky didn’t answer because there was nothing he could say in his defence that wouldn’t piss the brother off even more.

His president stepped in.

“Rider, from what I heard here I take it that’s your name.” Maniac snarled and Rider gave him a small tilt of his chin in acknowledgement.

“I don’t know how your president operates but here you follow orders. You do as your president orders you to do. Lucky was ordered to stay away. He had no option but to obey my order.”

Rider grinned and Lucky internally flinched, he could almost physically feel his brothers doing the same. The grin wasn’t a good one, it showed the contempt the brother was feeling and it came through loud and clear in his words.

“I’m sorry, Prez, but I disagree. My president maybe young but he’s a fucking amazing leader. He’s the best man to have at your back when things get dark and ugly. Every day he takes the backs of his brothersandtheir women. Let me tell you a story, Prez, a story that will explain exactly what I’m talking about.” He drew a breath through flaring nostrils before he began.

There was absolute silence because no one could believe the man’s balls talking back to their president in their own chapel.

“It happened right after I had been patched in. My girlfriend was pregnant, around eight months and having problems, and we were ordered as a club to attend an event. My president needed the numbers because we had enemies gunning for us everywhere we turned. He needed me at his back. Unfortunately my girl’s pregnancy wasn’t going well, not well at all. I had two choices. One, I obey my president, leave her on her own and hope like hell nothing happened while I was away. Or two, I tell him I wasn’t going because she needed me. I feared he was going to take my patch and my fucking gut ached with it, but I made my choice. My woman and my unborn child needed me and I chose them over my club.”

He tilted his head to the side his eyes burning with remembered pain.

“Know what my prez did? He didn’t take my patch or any of the shit I imagined he would do. Instead he ordered me home, told me all my duties were suspended until after the baby was born. He also wanted an update on my girl’s condition daily and if anything changed I was to call him immediately. He was there when my daughter was born. He was there when I needed him. A couple of years passed and once again he was there when I needed a guiding hand after my wife and unborn son was murdered. To this day he’s still taking my back because he knows what Harper means to me and my daughter. She’s become an integral part of our family and so has Ryder. And to safeguard our family he sent me here to bring her home.” His head tilted to the side, his eyes narrowing and spearing into all those listening.

“So hear me when I say, Lucky should have known better. He should have said no to your order. Harper and her child should have been his priority, not your club or your club business. Andyoushould have allowed him to put her and their child first. I realise you most probably don’t know what it feels like to lose a child. I do, and I don’t ever want Lucky to experience such an immense loss and to blame himself for not seeing to his child’s safety. I’ve been there and it’s not a good place to be. At least I had my daughter, Harper, and my president, Hawk Walker, pulling me back from the edge.”

You could have heard a pin drop in the room. The silence was heavy and absolute as he continued.

“Who does he have if we lose them? You? His brothers? Me? His family?” Rider scoffed. “Not one of us will be able to keep him here, on this earth. He’ll be gone before you can blink your fucking eyes. So next time you have to make a choice between a brother’s woman or child and business…” He didn’t finish the sentence but everyone knew what he was saying.

Fuck.

When he first met the brother he hadn’t seen the great depths of the man. He did now. He was the type of brother who would be sitting at the head of the table one day, running his own chapter. A brother tempered in the fires of the hell his family had been submerged in.

A true leader.

He glanced at Asa and found his cold eyes on him. Rider speaking to him had him looking away.

“Lucky, I’m fucking sorry I hit you brother. I’ve been burning since we got the call about Harper, Ryder and Bren. I just, I just need them to be found, and I need them safe.”

Lucky didn’t say a word, drawing him into a hug and slapping his back, hard. Rider gave a soft laugh and did the same.

“I want the same thing, brother. I need them home. I was a fuckin’ asshole to her and she doesn’t even know why. I can’t fuckin’ breathe thinkin’ of that fucker near her.”

Rider nodded before he stepped away.

The tension in the room was still high and he knew it had to end if they were going to work together successfully.

“Prez, I’m sorry I put you in the position of havin’ to make that decision.”

Maniac nodded, accepting his apology but his eyes were still pissed off.

“I should have taken care of the Gloria problem and gotten them off our backs. I didn’t and now we’re in this situation we have here. I admit, I allowed Gloria’s, or rather Carmella’s, bullshit to fuck with my head. I was worried the kid might be mine for real and I got played. Thinkin’ about it I realise that was her goal from the start, to have me off my game. All I could think about was the kid and the circumstances he might be living in and what to do if it turns out he was mine.” He sighed. “So, when you made the call to stay away from Harper, I went with it. I went with it because I had no idea how I was goin’ to tell her I might have another kid. And not just any kid, but a kid I had with Gloria, the supposedly dead love of my life.”

Rider groaned and shook his head at him. Lucky shrugged.

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