Page 3 of Owned

I press end on the call and look over at Claire, who is now sitting on the couch with her head bowed. Anger continues to course through me so much that I feel like I need to get in a good workout to release it.

“I got to go. I’ll see you in the morning.” I pull the door open to leave.

When I arrive at the club, all the guys are gathering in a corner. “Hey.”

Griffin nods his head.

Rowan looks at me. “How’s my sister?”

Rolling my eyes, I play it off with a laugh. “As frustrating as ever.”

“Sounds about right.”

“Hey, man,” Locke bumps his fist with mine.

“The president and VP from Dead Aces are coming to have a meeting,” Cutter confirms.

After a few minutes, all heads turn to watch the president, and VP walk through the door. The president immediately heads toward Cutter, and they shake hands.

“Shall we?” Cutter gestures to the room we call Church.

“Of course.”

Everyone sits on opposite sides of the long, carved table. My seat is on Cutter’s right, and Lock sits directly across from me on Cutter’s other side.

“Want to tell us why your guys attacked us, put two of my people in the hospital and killed one of our members?” Cutter never breaks eye contact with the President of Dead Aces.

“Look,” the guy puts his hands up. “I had no idea that was happening. Once I got the details about what happened, they did it because you took out most of the members of Dirt Machine Outlaws. We worked with them in the gun business.”

“Did your members also tell you we took them out because they took one of ours? Kidnapped Rowan’s sister and held her hostage. Not to mention when they crossed into our territory to harass Griffin’s ole lady and the prospect.”

He shakes his head. “I did not know that. I will apologize on my MC’s behalf. Truly. I’m willing to apologize to the ones that were injured as well.”

Cutter holds a hand up. “No need. My people are taken care of. But your crew’s actions cannot go unnoticed. Something needs to be done so this is not an issue in the future.”

The president tilts his head up. “Already taken care of. I sent the ones that were the leaders in the attack away. Several states away.”

“And this won’t happen again?” Cutter confirms.

“Absolutely not. You have my word.”

“Anyone have anything else to add?” Cutter looks around the room.

Everyone stays quiet.

“Very well. Meeting adjourned,” Cutter brings the gravel down onto the table.

“Game of pool?” Griffin asks.

“I would, but I should go do some training. Maybe later, though.”

“Okay, have a good workout,” he says.

I get on my bike to head to the gym.

Arriving, the parking lot is mostly empty so I park right in front. With my gym bag in hand, I enter, head to the locker room to change, and sit on the bench as Claire starts to come into my mind. Part of me feels guilty for the way I acted toward her after she did what she did. And another part of me hates her for what she did. It felt like a dagger was stabbed into my heart. I didn’t understand where she was coming from or why she did that. Shaking my head from thoughts of her, I head out to the start on the speed bag so I can practice for my upcoming fight.

After spending time with the speed bag, I head to the punching bag to work on my punches and kicks. Fighting MMA is a mixture of boxing, jujitsu, karate, wrestling, and other disciplines, which is why I love it so much. When I started as an early teen, doing MMA kept me out of trouble because, at the time, fighting in school, and angry all the time. My mom signed me up for classes because she said I needed discipline, and I did.

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