“Don’t talk about the club like that! I don’t disrespect what you chose so don’t do it to me,” he grinds out.
I’m taken aback by his tone. “What the hell is wrong with you lately? I can never catch you at the right time, you’re always busy.”
He scoffs. “You mean why won’t I just drop everything and come running anymore? Maybe I’m tired of being friend zoned and used.”
I stop open mouthed, staring at his back. He notices I’m not following anymore and stops himself. “You know what, Hunter? You can go fuck yourself, I wish we never went there. We were always friends before damn well anything else, you remember that.”
He apologized for that day and said he was under a lot of pressure from the club for an upcoming run that needed to run smoothly, but I’d told him it was no excuse and I wasn’t going to stick by him if he was going to treat me like an asshole every time he felt a little tense. I wasn’t a doormat. Sure enough he tried harder from then on, but it definitely was never the same all the time we were ever together.
“So you’ve always been scary then?” She asks and laughs.
I laugh along with her but stop when I notice a couple of women staring over at me from a booth nearby and my fists clench, ready to give them what for, but I don’t. I uncurl my fists and smile over at them, just before flipping them off.
What? I’m only human.
They all gasp and act like I’m the rude one. I give them a look that says ‘ya’ll were just staring at me, don’t act like the victims’ and turn back to Sam. “Anyway, where were we?”
She bursts into laughter and we’re saved from any more conversation for now as our food arrives.
“Thanks, man.” I hang up the phone to Smokey who says he’ll call emergency church.
“All good?” Connor asks in the truck beside me.
I nod. “All good, when we get there it’s probably best you stay outside the compound.”
He nods slowly and follows my directions to the clubhouse. It seems Smokey didn’t have to go to too much trouble, it already looks like the whole club is here. Bikes line the parking lot and I notice Connor staring. “Beautiful isn’t it?”
He chuckles and nods. “Sure is, I’m thinking I need to get me one.”
“I can point you in the right direction. Okay, just park over there and I’ll try get this wrapped up sharpish.”
He waves me off. “Take your time.”
I walk across the lot and take a deep breath as I pull open the door to the clubhouse. As soon as I walk inside, everyone goes silent. I guess they heard the news.
I nod at a few brothers as I walk to church and they all follow behind me. Pres, pop, Smokey, Smiler, Kimbo and Grim are already in there, seems that they’ve already replaced me with Grim as he sits in the sergeant-at-arms chair. I choose to stand up as the brothers file in and take the seats, the last to come in is the prospects. Normally they aren’t allowed to sit in on church as they have no say, but under exceptional circumstances, they can. The last is Jacques and he closes the door behind him and stands along the opposite wall from me, his eyes steeled on Pres, his jaw twitching.
You could hear a pin drop in the room it’s that silent.
Pres stands. “There’s a shit load of rumors flying around and I wanted to clear a few things up.” He looks over at me. “My daughter was kidnapped and tortured by the son of a bitch I used to call a brother, she killed him.” Everyone starts murmuring and he slams the gavel down on the table, silencing them. “All I’m going to say on the subject before it’s dropped, is that if anyone see’s my daughter in this area or any other Crow territory, she is to be left alone. That’s an order.” He waits for everyone to quiet down before moving on. “Second part of why we’re here, you’ve also probably all heard that Bear and Jacky Boy found her, and I owe them one.” He eyes me warily. “Take the stand.”
He sits down and I push off the wall, watching as everyone’s eyes turn to me, everyone but my brother that is. “All of you know the chapter is going up shitcreek. I give it a couple of months before Denlo finally shuts the us down altogether, and I sure as hell don’t want to be here when that happens.”
“You can’t just leave, you know the rules,” Pop says.
I look over my brothers, then look at Pres, ignoring my pop. “I wanna go nomad.”
“You’d leave your family, your brothers, for that bitch?”
Pop or not, I grab him by the front of his t-shirt. “Call her a bitch again and I’ll beat you down the way you taught me how! Mom loved Keeley as her own and don’t pretend like you don’t too.”
Two brothers pull my arms, making my shoulder ache and I reluctantly let go and take a step back, turning my focus back on Pres who’s stayed silent during the whole exchange.
“You can’t just leave,” he states.