33. Dom
“We have some shit to discuss,” Dad says. I force my attention away from my woman.
“I don’t think there’s a damn thing to discuss. I found out everything I needed the last time we talked.”
“Do you understand what you’re doing here, son? You need to think about things carefully. This club is your life.”
“This club kept secrets from me. Secrets that could affect not only me, but my woman. I won’t be a part of a club that doesn’t trust me.”
“What have you done lately to earn our trust?” Dancer asks and fuck, I guess I know what’s going on here.
“This is bullshit. Dom has had my back no matter what. I don’t know what caused this blow up, but I know I have faith in my brother. He’s had issues, but who among you hasn’t had your personal lives go all to hell and not need to regroup. Dom came back and has been doing more than his damn share since. He’s filled in for me more than a few times lately. So, if you are going to kick him out, you might as well do the same to me,” Raze growls.
“No one is kicking Dom out,” Dad growls.
“If it’s a club vote, I vote on Dom’s side. I’m out of this shit,” he growls. “Dom?”
“Yeah, man?”
“Ride or die, motherfucker.”
“Ride or die,” I laugh. With a nod, he walks off.
I know he’s going to find my woman. I trust Thea, but fuck, it’s hard to let him go. Breaker lets out a chuckle and my gaze moves over to him. He’s looking right at me and there’s not a doubt in my mind that he knows what I’m thinking. I flip him off.
“It shouldn’t need to be said but my vote is in support of Dom. The fact this meeting even needs to be done pisses me off. Dancer, man, much respect, but you of all people can’t complain about Dom. To answer your question, he’s proven a hell of a lot lately. He always puts the club first and has done everything the club asked, and then some. He’s the one responsible for our new liquor contracts with the restaurants we own. He has also been filling in on border runs. There’s a bunch of you going all to hell over personal shit between Dom and T. You act as if this club hasn’t had a history of men going through crap like this. There’s not a one of you that can say anything to Dom. This entire thing is bullshit and if no one else has the balls to say it, I’ll go on record as saying it again—because I already told you assholes you should include Dom on the intel we had. I know what went down with my dad in the club. I know what happened with Crusher, Dancer, and you, too, Dragon. What is going on here is stupid fucking shit. Dom has a right to be pissed, and he has a right to turn his back on the club for the bullshit that was pulled. I’ll tell you this, though if he walks out, it won’t be Dom losing out. It will be us.”
“Guess I’ve been called out,” Bull mutters. Breaker smirks at him. “Fuck it. I didn’t agree the first time we had this discussion either. I don’t agree now. Dom has my vote of confidence, although you and me are going to be talking soon about my daughter.”
“I figured, but the only thing you need to know is that I won’t let anything, or anyone, hurt my woman, and that includes me.”
Bull nods. “That sounds like a secret message. I’ll give you one right out. If I see any sign that you’re slipping?—”
“You won’t, but we’ll talk more about Thea later. I’m not going anywhere,” I respond.
“Dom has my support,” Dancer pipes up. “Sorry brother, all I saw before was you fucking up in the same ways I did.”
“Let me just stop everyone here. I don’t really give a fuck. The point is there was a vote against me I didn’t even fucking know was happening. Shit was kept from me that came knocking on my door. I was blindsided. If I’m going to be out there protecting men who are my brothers, I need to know what’s going on. If I don’t, then shit sneaks up on me. Like seeing a fucking member from a club we’re not known allies with, staring me and my woman down at a school I have to leave her at all day.”
“Your woman?” Bull asks.
“Mine.”
He nods and walks off. I figure he’s going to go quiz Thea now. I’m getting damn tired. I take my cut and put it on the bar.
“I think we’re done here.”
“We’re not,” Dad says, but I just shake my head.
“We are. There’s not a damn thing you can say to me that will make me change my mind.”
“You’re going to let petty bullshit?—”
“It’s not fucking petty! You had a vote on me, without my knowledge. You kept shit from me that I should have known.”
“You were layin’ drunk?—”
“I haven’t had more than a beer or two in months, asshole. I’ve been working my ass off for this club, including leaving my woman’s bed to fill in for others and do the midnight border runs. I’ve been knee deep in negotiations for our new clubs and restaurants—shit I don’t like to do, but I had this dream of one day running this club like my old man. Or hell, even being Breaker’s second as I saw him moving up. That would have burned, but I thought this club was my world.”
“You thought it was?” Dancer prompts.
“I discovered that’s not the truth anymore. I don’t give a fuck what you say here. As far as I’m concerned you made your choice when you kept information from me—not from the club, but me, specifically.”
“There were others that didn’t know,” Dad snaps.
“But I was the only one you actively voted to keep out of the loop. That was a choice you all made. This is one I’m making. I’m done here.”
“You’re really going to move to Tennessee?”
“Diesel has offered me a place there. I’ve thought about it. I talked to Thea about it, but I’m not leaving here if she’s not willing to. I have other options.”
“What does that mean? Devil’s Blaze? Do you really think Thea would support you going to a club that Gabby is at day in and day out?”
“I guess that’s what you would think of me, isn’t it Dad?” I retort, his words breaking something inside of me that I didn’t even know was there. “You know what, motherfucker? I don’t owe you one damn explanation. You were my father. I know the club is always supposed to come first, but don’t you think as my own flesh and blood I deserved a head’s up?”
“I think if you’re going to be a member of the club, you should realize no one member is bigger than the collective. Decisions needed to be made. We needed to know only members who could be trusted had the details.”
“And you don’t think you could trust me?”
“Let’s just say your history doesn’t look good when it comes to putting the club first.”
I shake my head. “How did I not know you were such a sanctimonious asshole?”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“Have you forgotten when I was seven and you and Mom were going through what she declared was just a rough patch?”
“What the fuck does that have to do with what’s going on here?”
“Who exactly is Deanna Moore, Dad?”
“Everybody out!” he growls. I don’t move. Seeing my father so angry would intimidate anyone, but I hold my ground. He can’t hurt me more than he’s already done.
The remaining members scatter. I can see Dad trying to control his danger, although he does a piss-poor job of it. “You need to explain to me why you feel the need to bring up personal business here—shit that could hurt your mother. Fuck, Dom, is it your intention to hurt every damn member of our family? Is Kayden next on your list?”
“Fuck you. I’m saying you’re the last asshole who has a right to punish me over the shit me and T went through when your choices nearly destroyed our whole family! You don’t think I didn’t hear you and Mom fighting? I may have only been seven, but I remember her tears. I remember her packing us up and going to stay with Dani and Crusher for a while. I remember all of it.”
“You have no idea what those fights were about, Dom.”
“I may have only been seven, but I know you were going to club parties without Mom and this Deanna was there. I know some of the old ladies called Mom, and Skye had to come over to watch us because she left. I also remember you two fighting all night once you got home. So, I’m going to ask again, who the is Deanna Moore?”
“I never cheated on your mother, Dom.”
“Maybe not then, but you did fuck her, didn’t you, Dad?”
“Not after I met your mother!” he growls. “I always put your mother, you and your brother and sister first. Always. Our situations are not the same, here. You lied to your brother and hid what you were doing. You did that, and you did it while a member of this club. T was your blood, but he was also a member of this club. Your choices showed zero loyalty. Then, you couldn’t even man-up afterward. You chose to lay drunk. The club had to cover for you for a fucking month while you spent your time fucking and drinking.”
“And you get to be judge and juror over me. You’re qualified to do that, right, because God knows you’ve never made a mistake in your life.”
“I have and always will make decisions that are the best for this club. It’s part of the oath I made to my brothers. This club is what keeps us all going. It sure as hell kept clothes on your back and food in your belly. It was important enough that you made an oath to it—or did you manage to forget that?”
“I’ve forgotten nothing! I was going through shit and may have not handled it the best, but I did handle it. I pulled myself up, and I apologized to T over and over. You can rake me over the coals all you want. What you aren’t grasping is that I no longer give a fuck. You want me to man-up? Well, this is me manning-up. I resign from the club, effectively immediately. I’m in the process of covering the club tatt and as of today, none of my shit will remain behind. Now, it’s your turn. Tell me who the fuck King is, and does he have anything to do with Deanna Moore?”
“What do you think you know in that head of yours, Dom?”
“I knew a lot more than any seven-year-old should. I also heard you talking to Bull after King donated blood to save T. So, don’t worry about telling me shit. I already know. You need to worry about how you’re going to tell my mother.”
“Dom—”
I keep walking. I’m done with everything here. The only thing I need in this fucking clubhouse right now is Thea.