Epilogue
EPILOGUE
ATLAS
I feel like I've been away from the clubhouse as much as I have been here lately. I'm grateful that the other clubs are coming to help out, but that just means more people need my attention and less sleep for me.
“Hey, man. I'm just checking in. The guys want to know if you had a chance to look at those photos,” Thunder, my vice president says, peeking into my office. “What the hell happened to your face?” he says, instantly sobering up once he steps into my office and gets a good look at me.
“Crank’s cat is what happened to my face,” I say, trying to organize the papers on my office desk, the ones I can salvage, anyway.
“Crank has a cat?” Thunder asks, as shocked as I was when I heard the news.
“Yep. He thought locking it in my office was a good idea, and when I walked in, the cat apparently did not like me in her new space.” I look over at the pile of shredded papers that I will never be able to make sense of again.
“Oh shit,” Thunder says. Then the laugh he's been holding back breaks through.
I'm sure at some point I will be able to laugh at this too, but right now I’m just pissed. I get it that Crank wanted to impress his girl, but there are just some lines that should not be crossed in the president's office. Maybe I've been a little too soft on these guys lately and I need to reestablish by dominance and let them know I'm not to be fucked with, especially not until the Savage Bones are taken care of.
“I’ll pass on the rule that there should be no animals in your office, though I would have thought that would be an unspoken rule,” Thunder says as he shakes his head.
“That makes two of us,” I say as Thunder shuts the door behind him, and I pull up the email Crank sent. He said he took some photos at my buddy Shane's place, where the Savage Bones have apparently been holed up.
Shane's place has been abandoned since his parents passed about a year ago and left it all to him. I have no idea what his plans are for it, but I need to call him and let him know the place needs to be secured. It's been a while since we’ve talked, so it'll be good to catch up.
As the photos download, I'm reading texts on my phone and not really paying attention. Everything seems to pile up when you don't have service for even just a few hours
So when I look up, I'm caught completely off guard by the stunning beauty on the screen in one of the photos Crank sent over.
She looks so out of place amongst the Savage Bones. Especially since at that moment, even though she doesn't know it, she becomes mine.
“Fuck!” I shout louder than I mean to. I thought we had gotten all women out of their clutches. Where the hell did this girl come from? I stare at her face, memorizing everything about it, from the slope of her nose to the curve of her lips. More than anything, I want to know what they taste like.
The way her hair is pulled up into a messy bun but pieces still manage to fall out and frame her face has my heart racing.I know based on the details of the email that Crank sent, that her name is Bex. It suits her.I take a deep breath because I have to stay collected, especially at a time like this. When I finally turn my eyes away from her beautiful face and look at the other people in the picture, my blood runs ice cold.
My girl is standing next to the man that Crank said they called Malice. It suits him and always has.
“Thunder!” I yell out at the top of my lungs. He comes running down the hallway a moment later.
“Prez, what's wrong?” he asks, bursting through the door.
“I want everyone in the main meeting room in thirty minutes, and I mean everyone, officers, all members, and their girls. Everybody. Thirty minutes. It's important. Anyone who can't be here in thirty minutes needs to be on a video call with us,” I tell him, knowing that he'll have it handled.
“On it. Most of them are already on the grounds anyway,” he says, referring to the fact that pretty much everyone has moved to living on grounds since there's safety in numbers right now.
“Crank and his new wife just pulled through the gates as well,” Thunder says before heading out.
Damn, that man wasted no time getting hitched. Of course, part of me had a gut feeling that's how it would go once he landed in Vegas with her. I pace my office, waiting for the meeting to start. How the hell am I going to get Bex away from those monsters? What is she doing there? Are they hurting her? Fuck! I will murder each one of them with my bare hands if they hurt her.
I need to move and get her away from them asap. I need a game plan, and I know any of my men will back me up. All I have to do is ask. I've asked a lot of them these last few months, but now that we know who the Savage Bones president is, I know what they are after. Now I think we can end this. We have to end this. For the safety of everyone in town and the safety of my club, this will have to end now.
“Everyone's ready, we only have a few on the video call,” Thunder peeks his head in and lets me know.
I nod and get ready to reveal a part of my life to the club that I thought I'd be able to keep secret.
As I step into the main clubhouse room, I find everyone crammed in. Women are sitting on their guys’ laps to try to make as much space as possible for everyone.
I make my way to the front of the room, and everyone quiets down, waiting for me to speak.
“We all came to this club with a past. I don't ask questions, and your past is your story to tell. Unfortunately, my past is now catching up with us,” I tell them honestly. I can see the questions all over their faces. “For months, we've been trying to figure out why the Savage Bones are after us and gunning so hard for Mustang Mountain. Thanks to Crank's intel, we finally know.”
The clubhouse erupts with whispered speculations. I wait for everyone to calm down so I can grab their attention again.
“It turns out Crank snapped a photo of the Savage Bones’ president, Malice, who has until now, kept to the shadows. You should each have a copy of this photo that I texted to you a few minutes ago.”
Everyone pulls out their phones and scans the photo. I know no one recognizes him because he's been smart to stay out of view.
“With this new information, I now know that Savage Bones isn't after Mustang Mountain. They are after me…”