Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 107823 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107823 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Judge broke the silence by announcing, “The man broke a rule,” like everyone in that room wasn’t already aware of that.
“He did more than break a rule,” Trip muttered.
“Want me to introduce him to The Punisher?” Judge asked.
This exchange had to all be for show because there was no fucking way they hadn’t already discussed it before Easy came upstairs. This was only another way to torture him.
They had fucked with Rev when he was caught with Reilly. But Rev was lucky enough to get a pass. Easy knew better than to expect Trip to simply accept what happened between him and his sister and just let it go.
In answer to Judge, Trip shook his head.
Deacon asked, “You gonna let him slide on this?” making Easy wonder if Deke was acting or if he truly was surprised by Trip’s response.
“Fuck no. I’m handlin’ this one,” Trip answered, keeping his gaze locked on Easy, who wasn’t sure if the man had blinked yet. “This one’s mine.”
In truth, he preferred the Grumpy Green Giant to wield the club. Judge didn’t have a personal grudge against him like Trip did right now.
“Listen carefully,” Trip began, his voice rumbling across the table like the straight pipes on a Harley. “You got one of two choices. Gonna leave it up to you to choose. The first is, get your colors stripped. And you know what that means. It ain’t just losin’ your patches. You’d be coverin’ those colors on your back or we could remove them for you. The second choice is a round with The Punisher. Of course, either choice is gonna hurt. We’ll see where your loyalty lies since you proved you’ve forgotten.”
“You say two but that ain’t true,” Easy said.
Trip’s eyebrows shot up and his head tilted. “No?”
“Swear I heard our prez give you two choices, brother,” Ozzy spoke up.
Easy shook his head. “No. Only got one. The other I’d never consider.”
Trip swiped a hand down his beard. “Let’s hear it, then.”
“Won’t ever give up my colors willingly. You’d have to rip my cut out of my cold, dead fingers. You’d have to take a blow torch to my back. I live and breathe Fury. I’ll die Fury and you’ll have to bury me with my cut.” He sucked in a breath and recited, “For our brothers we live and die. That means somethin’ to me.”
“By betrayin’ your prez, you sure didn’t act like it,” Judge reminded him. “For our brothers we live and die. That means we got each other’s back. We don’t stick a fuckin’ knife in it.”
“Jesus fuck, E,” Sig growled. “You had access to more than enough sweet butts. You had access to hang-arounds, to randoms. Anyone but your prez’s sister, you dumb fuck.”
“You’re right, I’m a dumb fuck.” Easy’s gaze jumped from the VP back to Trip. “But I ain’t sorry for anythin’ that happened except for Tessa bein’ injured. If we could all undo the mistakes we made in our lives, our lives would look a whole lot fuckin’ different.”
Trip’s chin lifted and his mouth pulled tight. “You sayin’ my sister’s a mistake?”
“Tessa ain’t a mistake. How we handled it was. Can’t undo it and don’t wanna, either. Truth is, what was between us was no one’s business but ours. Know you don’t wanna hear that. Know you don’t believe that. As we all know, bein’ a part of this club’s both a blessin’ and a goddamn curse. Get we all look out for each other, but sometimes we get into each other’s business too much and that shit can be fuckin’ smotherin’. Wanted to approach you outta respect. The catch was she asked me not to. Had to respect that, too. Had to decide whether to put you and this club above her or her above the club.”
When Tessa first started doing her late-night visits, Easy, no doubt, would’ve put his club and brotherhood over her. As the weeks went on, that changed. He wasn’t aware of when it happened, it just did.
How other MCs handled the whole “bros before hoes” mentality was a mystery, but, while the club was important to his brothers, so were their women. Individually, their loyalty to their women wasn’t any less than to their brotherhood.
He was pretty fucking sure everyone sitting at that table, if forced to choose, would give up their colors before they would their ol’ ladies. Every fucking one.
The problem in his case was Tessa wasn’t his ol’ lady. If Easy had handled it the way it should’ve been handled normally, then none of this would’ve been an issue. Trip might have given them his blessing.
“You put your dick above this club.”
“It ain’t about that, Prez.”
“No? Know how you are, E.”
He would admit, in the past he’d fuck any woman worth fucking. That was one of the benefits of not having an ol’ lady or a regular. A perk he took advantage of. But he was far from alone in those actions.