Chapter 26
TWENTY-SIX
The second I pull open the clubhouse door, I’m met with Kurt’s scowling face.
“About fucking time,” he growls.
“Hello,” I say, nodding as I slip past him into the clubhouse. “Nice to see you too.”
“Don’t be fucking smart.” He falls into step beside me with a hard shove at my shoulder to steer me towards the meeting room. “Church!” he barks to the room, where the rest of them sit around sipping coffee and smoking cigarettes as they wait.
I don’t argue as I push through the doors and take my seat at the table.
The others file in, and chairs scrape on the floor, cigarette smoke swirls in the air, and mugs clatter onto the table.
My eyes snag on a pack of smokes sitting just within my reach, but I shift in my seat and leave them where they are.
I want to be able to tell the doctor I’m not a smoker. This time it’s going to stick.
Kurt takes the gavel and smacks it against the table before he’s even fully seated.
“Church in session.” He turns to me with a glare, daring me to waste another second. “What did Frank want?”
Every man at the table looks to me, and I look around, taking in the curious and wary faces of my brothers.
“He says we have a rat.”
The silence that follows is thick enough to choke on. Eyes shift and jaws flex as an uneasy tension takes over the space.
“He knows about the Porsche, the cars we’re tracking down south, and that our auctions are struggling,” I continue.
Dom leans forward, shaking his head. “If they’ve been tailing us, they could’ve pieced that together. He’s trying to wedge us apart and break us down so they can take over.”
I blow out a breath. “He also knows running guns is on the table.”
Kurt drags a hand over his face. “Fuck.” Then he looks around the table. “We haven’t even met with the suppliers yet, so it didn’t come from them.”
I nod slowly. “It came from someone inside.”
You could hear a pin drop in here.
“He’s feeding tips to the Mounties and pushing us into a corner to make sure we crumble from the inside.
He says we either move their product or he buries us.
” I scan the table, looking into every pair of eyes that are fixed on me.
Then I reach into my cut, draw my gun, flick the safety off, and slam it onto the table hard enough to rattle the mugs. “But first things first.”
Every one of my brothers watches me with intent, and none of them flinch or look nervous. Which makes me even more confident in what I’m about to say.
“We all swore an oath,” I say. “We’re brothers, and this is in our blood.
Every man at this table gave his word that betrayal means death.
And that death would not be just a bullet or a grave.
You break this brotherhood, and we carve you apart.
We strip the Kings’ ink from your skin and burn you down until there’s nothing left. ”
Heads nod around the table, and I let the silence hang for a moment.
“So if anyone doubts this, and believes there’s a rat in this room, take my gun right now and put it to my head.
” I shove the gun into the middle of the table.
“Because I’ll die before I sit here and suspect my own brothers.
That’s how much I trust you. And that’s how much I expect you to trust each other.
We all agree, or we’re done right here.”
“We agree,” Mac says with a nod. “We’re with you, brother. The only thing we bleed for is this club.”
I scan the table, and every man meets my eyes with zero hesitation as they all give me a serious nod. And I know the rat isn’t in this room.
Because every man here knows, without a shadow of a doubt, that if one of them ever turned their back on this brotherhood, I’d carve them apart with my bare fucking hands. And every single one of them looks like they’re ready to do just that to whoever has brought us harm.
“Good.”
I lean back in my chair and glance at Kurt. His jaw is clenched, and he has fire in his eyes, looking like he’s ready to burn the whole city down to find out who’s doing this to us.
“Where’s Caz?” he asks, his eyes flicking to the closed door leading to the rest of the clubhouse.
I shake my head. It can’t be him. He’s not patched in yet, so he doesn’t attend church and has no idea we’re even considering running guns. “It isn’t him. He doesn’t know any of the information Frank gave me.”
Cory nods, then draws his brows together. “But… where is he?”
“At the doctor,” I say.
Rex turns his head to me. “What happened?”
“Nothing.” I stare back at him, confused about why he would think that. “Why?”
Rex gives me a puzzled look. “The doctor…?”
I wave him off. “He’s holding my spot.”
“So, what happened to you then?” Mac asks, looking me over like there might be something wrong with me.
I frown at him. “Nothing.”
A few quiet, confused glances are exchanged around the table.
“Why do you need the doctor then?” Boot asks, rolling his eyes as he lifts his cigarette to his mouth.
I sigh as my eyes track the movement, and he inhales. “Condom broke,” I say, lustfully watching the smoke spill from his lips.
He cocks an eyebrow at me. “Moved on from the professor? And wait.” He leans forward with a creased brow. “Wouldn’t she be going to the doctor if the condom broke?”
I stare at him, trying hard not to reach for my gun and point it at him. “Don’t you even fucking think about me moving on from my doc,” I snarl. “And if you don’t know how two men fuck, bend over and I’ll shove my gun up there.”
“Alright,” Kurt cuts in, lifting a hand to stop us.
But as his gaze lands on me… I bristle.
“How much have you shared with this professor?” he asks, looking me right in the eye.
I lean forward, holding his gaze with every ounce of fire I feel building in my chest. “It’s not him.”
Kurt's jaw tics, and he shakes his head. “He’s been around too much.”
“I said—” My hands slam against the table as I rise to my feet. The sound cracks through the room, and I bend over the table to get in his face. “It’s not fucking him. Leave him out of this.”
A firm hand clamps down on my shoulder, and Trip pulls me back down to my seat.
“Look,” Trip says in that strange, unsettling, calm way he has despite his ability to murder and threaten at the blink of an eye, “we’re all on edge, and need to question every angle.
We just want to make sure, with absolute certainty, it’s not him…
even if he might have accidentally shared something with someone—”
I slap his hand off me. “He doesn’t know about the guns. He doesn’t know about the Sons moving in, and he doesn’t even know the auctions are not performing as they should. I haven’t told him a fucking thing. It’s. Not. Him.”
The table is quiet for a moment before Cory nods. “Alright. I believe you.”
But I can tell the table is split. And that pisses me the fuck off.
I pull in a breath and rub a hand over my face, trying to shove my frustration down and steer us back to what matters. “Rat aside… guns aren’t the answer moving forward.”
Kurt exhales hard, and around the table, I can feel the divide once again as everyone seems unsure which side to lean towards.
“Alder,” Dom says, levelling me with a look that’s half conviction, half caution. “I like your plan. I do. But it’s big. And we need something now.”
“Didn’t think you were scared of a little girth, Dom,” I say, clenching my fists and trying not to reach for the pack of smokes on the table.
He sighs and gives me a slight shake of his head. “The Sons are going to move in faster than we can get cross-border auctions in place.”
“Not with that attitude,” I bite back.
“Enough,” Kurt barks.
I glance around the table, and I can read it on everyone’s faces. Some of my brothers are ready to bet on what we’ve started, to expand our auctions so we can stay in our game. Others are worried and are thinking about the next week and not the next year.
Fear is a hard thing to argue with when it’s got its foot on your chest.
“Frank wants to meet this weekend,” I add. “He thinks he can start mapping out how we move forward with them.”
Kurt leans forward, arms crossed on the table.
“Fine,” he says. “We’ll meet and nod along.
But only to buy time.” His gaze sweeps the table.
“We hold the Sons off while we dig. We meet with the gun suppliers and see if there’s even an in before the Sons get their claws in.
And we find the fucking rat. Once we’ve got all the cards on the table, then, and only then, we vote. Guns or no guns.”
I nod, biting my tongue. Diplomacy is a hard fucking pill to swallow. But I get it. We can’t move without knowing everything, and we can’t win a war if we don’t know where the bullets are coming from.
The others nod too, all voicing their agreement.
“Church adjourned,” Kurt says, and slams the gavel down.
I push to my feet and head out without another word.
I’m so fucking sick of leaving these meetings like this. I know why some of them want to turn to guns. I get it. We’re boxed in, and if we freeze now, the Sons will take everything. And we’ll be nothing but a footnote in their expansion.
But the idea of running guns… it eats me alive.
It’s not just business. This is our community. The one that built us and the one we protect. And there’s no guarantee that the weapons we smuggle to some crew in Buffalo or Baltimore won’t circle back into the hands of those who can hurt the people we claim to stand for.
I know we need something now. I just hate that it’s the only card we’ve got on the table if we can’t get cross-border auctions off the ground fast enough.
But I know we can.
I shove through the clubhouse doors and make my way towards my bike. It’s almost time to head back to the clinic…
Then I need to find my doc and make us both feel good.
Just before I reach Cade’s office at the end of the hall, a voice sounds behind me.
“He’s not here.”