13. Sprocket
SPROCKET
We watched in silence as Dax walked out of the diner hand in hand with Weston and turned on Eagle. “What the fuck, man? You’re just going to let her walk out like that?”
“Picasso, find Jerry so we can make sure that both of them get home safe,” Eagle ordered, ignoring me.
Picasso peeled Nelly off of Eagle’s chest and escorted her out of the disaster zone of a kitchen.
I respected Eagle as our president, and only once had he made me question his judgment, until this moment.
What he was doing was wrong. He was being a stubborn prick and forcing us all to fall in line with his thinking.
“No, Enzo,” I snapped. “You’re making the wrong choice here and forcing us to do the same. Dax is everything we need, and you goddamn know it.”
“Are you challenging me right now, Connor?” Eagle bit back. “Because if that’s what’s happening, now would not be the smartest time to do it.”
I sighed and let my shoulders slump. “You know I’m not, but the whole reason you have a crew leadership is to protect each other from making bad choices, like this one.
If Dax leaves now, she’s never going to come back.
That woman doesn’t give second chances when she’s locked her heart away, and to be honest, if we let her go, then we don’t deserve her. ”
“She would have easily killed Nelly for what she just did. I’m a hard-ass and I’ve got blood on my hands, but I wouldn’t kill an innocent woman because she was hugging someone.
That’s too far and I’m not sure that’s what’s best for us or the crew.
A loaded gun is bound to go off at some point,” Eagle argued.
Void picked up a pot and whipped it across the room at the wall, putting a dent in it.
“We fucking knew what she was when we decided to kidnap her. You were the one that caught feelings first. It’s not fair to change the rules on her now.
I don’t have any problem that she’s more bloodthirsty than most of us, and the only reason I’m not just like her is because of you guys.
I got kicked out of the ring because I killed too many people fighting, then you guys brought me into the crew.
We all know I can lose my shit any time I get into a fight, but you guys make sure I don’t get that far.
Dax has never had that from someone. Wes is too fucking scared of her walking away, so he’ll do whatever he has to in order to prevent that, even if it’s to her detriment.
” Void raked his hands through his hair.
“Don’t make us choose between you or her, because in this moment, I’m not sure I’d stand by you. ”
Eagle’s eyebrows shot up at this. “Are you saying you would walk out right now and never come back if I said we had to let her go?”
“Pres, why are you really freaking out about this?” Cognac asked, leaning against the counter, arms crossed with a scowl on his face.
“Something shook you and it wasn’t the fact that she would have shot Nelly, because we all know any of us would have been fine shooting a man who thought he could touch Dax. ”
Eagle looked around the kitchen and then turned to survey the dining area.
“We risk a lot in our lives with what we do, but we always do it knowing we are providing for those we protect. Dax has an empire that she rules, but they aren’t people to her, they are a means to an end.
She can count on one hand the people she cares about and will die for.
What if we never reach that point with her?
Do I always have to wonder if she’s going to do something that might blow back on the club?
We have kids, families, and fringe people that we protect and consider valuable because they’re alive.
I don’t think Dax considers that at all—”
I wanted to wrap my hands around Eagle’s throat and shake him. “Seriously, you really don’t think she gives a shit about human life? What about the fact that she saved Nelly after she was a bitch to her?”
“That was purely because she didn’t want us to be upset with her, not because it mattered.
If that pan had hit his hand and the gun went off, Nelly would be dead.
She missed and happened to hit his elbow.
Then she drops her to the floor to jam her finger in a dying guy’s body, not giving a flying fuck about the bystander,” Eagle listed.
Then it struck me. “You think she’s going to be like your uncle, don’t you?”
“Don’t you dare bring that fucking bastard up,” Eagle growled, getting right up in my face. “That is a line I’m not willing to let you cross, Sprocket. Leave it the fuck alone. There is no way she could ever be like that heinous man that I killed with my own fucking bare hands.”
Cognac cleared his throat, drawing our attention. “Can we go stop her from trying to steal one of our bikes now and bring her home?”
The roar of an engine told us all she’d managed to get one of our bikes going and the screech of tires peeling out of the lot made us all tense, knowing she was on the road.
“Looks like we missed that chance,” Void snarked.
“Nothing has changed, guys,” Eagle argued.
“God, did you not listen to a word any of them have said? Are you going to be that self-righteous and force all of us to make possibly one of the biggest mistakes, because the big bad boss of the Phantom Saints is intimidated by a woman who you can’t control?
” Picasso spoke up as he entered the kitchen.
“Nelly was pushing her all night, even after you told her that we didn’t have any interest in her.
Then you let her cry all over you when Dax had been attacked twice, forced to hide away her best friend, and hasn’t gotten to finish a meal.
I don’t think Sprocket is that far off when he asked about Hannibal. ”
Eagle sagged and looked at Picasso with a pleading expression. “Please don’t. Don’t make me have to revisit what that bastard did.”
“I won’t… right now, but seriously, bro, you’re going to need to tell her at some point if you want to make this work,” Picasso warned. “Just for the record, I backed you up because you’re my brother, but I gotta say, this is one of the worst moves you’ve made in a long time.
“Bro, you played the dead brother card. I don’t see you getting out of that hole any time soon,” Cognac pointed out.
Picasso nodded his head. “Yeah, I fucked up. This goddamn brother complex of mine makes me say all the stupid shit to her when she pushes back. The thing is, I know that if we can get to the point where we can fight honestly about how we’re feeling about things, then we’re fighting for each other and our relationship.
We can’t just ask her to make all the changes. We need to adjust to support her too.”
I blinked at him a few times. “Wow, I think that’s the most insightful thing you’ve ever fucking said.”
He gave me a smirk and shrugged. “I listen to you, believe it or not, Sprocket. Doesn’t mean I’ll do anything about it, but I hear you on this. I know we’re just as much in the wrong as she is.”
“So what happens if I don’t agree that I’m in the wrong?” Eagle demanded, glaring at all of us.
“Then you can’t say shit about family and crew first, because that woman is more than that to all of us.
You’re just being a stubborn ass who won’t see it,” Void announced.
“There isn’t a more perfect woman on this planet for the five of us, hell, even Weston fits in.
I’m not going to give her up and if you tell me that I have to leave the club to have her, then that will just help to prove myself to her. ”
Eagle turned to Picasso. “You too, brother?”
“Eagle, this won’t end well either way. I stay and resent you or I leave, and you resent me. How is that going to work out for any of us?” he answered.
“Alright, I might have been too hasty,” Eagle bit out.
“We came here tonight to try and work out how to do this, but I ended up making it worse. I trust you guys enough to listen, especially if you’d all walk out on the club over it, and no, I’m not just caving because of that.
Void’s right. I don’t think there’s another woman out here that could handle all of us.
If this is going to work, I’m gonna need to learn that pushing her isn’t the right move, but I don’t know how else to act. ”
“Pres, this is why you have us,” Void said. “You’re also going to need to admit that what happened with Nelly wasn’t right. You shouldn’t have let her hang off you like that when our girl asked you to remove her.”
Eagle nodded and took a deep breath and put his hand out. “So, we’re all-in?”
“This will only work if we get Wes and Dax to agree as well,” I interjected. “So put your damn hand down, we’re not doing that.”
Pushing off the counter, I headed out of the diner to where our bikes had all been knocked over.
Should have guessed that she would’ve retaliated somehow, the question is, is this all she did.
Examining all the bikes, I noticed that Eagle’s and Weston’s bikes were missing, and so were all the spark plugs.
I couldn’t help but grin at how impressive of a trick that was and how fast she did it in the dark.
I noticed something on the ground and picked up a black ace of spades with a flaming skull in the middle of the card…
Dax’s card, claiming her hit on us… or could it be the threat of more to come?
Cognac snatched the card out of my hand and held it up to the light from the diner. “Yeah, we’re fucked.”