Brooke sat on a stool at the private bar in church, staring at the closed door of the meeting room. They’d been in there longer than she expected. How long could it take for Dex to lay out the evidence and for them to decide what to do with Pierce?

She sighed and glanced over at Jewel who was sitting on what looked like a brand-new couch along one of the walls. There was a hand-written sign pinned above it that read, “No skanks allowed.”

She laughed and moved over to sit down next to her, watching her nurse Violet. “Is it creepy that I’m sitting next to you while you nurse?”

Jewel grinned. “No. It doesn’t bother me. Now if Grizz,” she lifted her chin to a weathered, grey-haired man who was sitting at the end of the bar, nursing a beer, “decided to plunk himself down beside me and stare, then I might get a little creeped out.”

“How’s your husband with the baby?”

Jewel turned her blue eyes to Brooke. “Ol’ man. When we got together I was told,” she dropped her voice and grunted, “No rings, no weddin’s, no babies. I fucked up the last part.”

“You don’t mind that he doesn’t want to marry you?”

Jewel carefully lifted one shoulder, not enough to disturb the nursing baby. “Nope. A piece of paper isn’t going to make him a good husband or father.”

“Is he?”

“What?”

“A good father.”

Jewel tilted her head, then stared down at the baby. She ran a hand over Violet’s dark, downy soft hair. With a gentle smile she whispered, “Yeah, surprisingly he is. So far.”

“So far?”

“Well, so far she only sleeps, eats and shits. But I have to say he watches Violet sleep almost all night. He’s gotten no sleep since she’s been born because he’s constantly checking to make sure she’s still breathing. I swear almost every fifteen minutes. And if it wasn’t dangerous, he’d probably want her to sleep in bed with us. Between you and me,” Jewel adjusted Violet in her arms, “I think he can’t believe he created something so beautiful and not a beast like him.”

Brooke wondered about that “beast” comment. “Well, you helped, too.”

Jewel smiled down at Violet as her little bow shaped mouth sucking intensely. “Yeah,” she breathed.

A loud roar could be heard through the closed door, making them both freeze.

Suddenly looking pale, Jewel whispered, “Oh shit. The beast.”

A shiver slid through Brooke. The door to the meeting room was flung open with a bang and a very pissed off, red-faced enormous man lumbered through it at a fast clip.

Diesel stomped to the middle of the room like he was King Kong and Brooke waited for him to beat his fists on his chest, but instead he pointed a big finger at Jewel. “Take her home. Stay there. Ryder will be there waitin’. Got me?”

“D...” She quickly tucked her breast away and placed Violet against her shoulder, patting the baby on the back as she rose to her feet.

“No lip, woman! Go.”

“But—”

“Get gone.” He turned to Brooke and snarled, “You, too.” Before Brooke could answer, he turned and roared, “Find the fucker. Get ‘im here now. NOW! Get everyone here. No excuses. Gonna vote.”

“Jesus, D, you have to calm down,” Jewel stated as she gathered the diaper bag and the baby’s things.

Brooke noticed a man with darker skin and long, straight black hair running down the steps. As he hit the bottom, his eyes landed on Jewel and the baby. He moved quickly over to them to help her.

“I’ll take her home,” he stated to D who looked like a highly annoyed bull ready to rush a bull fighter waving a red cape.

“No. Need you here. Doin’ a vote,” Hawk muttered at the same time texting on his phone. He looked up and said. “Text Nash, Rig and Crash. Tell ‘em to get here now. I just texted Linc, Moose an’ Dawg.”

“What’s this about?” the other man asked.

“Time to strip someone of ‘is colors,” Hawk muttered.

“Fuck,” the darker man muttered, then his onyx-colored eyes landed on Brooke in surprise. But before he could move closer, his gaze bounced to someone behind her.

She knew exactly who when Dex’s hand landed on her shoulder. She turned to face him. “Guess that went over smoothly.”

“Fuck, thought he was going to flip the fucking table. That table’s gotta weigh five hundred pounds. It’s all hand carved wood.”

“He didn’t take the news well. Apparently,” she murmured as she watched Diesel cautiously.

“Fuck no.”

Brooke glanced around the large room. “Where’s Zak?”

Dex just shook his head.

“Is he okay, at least?”

“If you just found out you got stabbed in the back... No, that was worse than a fuckin’ stabbin’. Ten fuckin’ years in prison, babe. Ten.” Dex blew out a breath and shook his head. “Ten fuckin’ years of his life gone because of Pierce.”

“My mom had to look at her reminder for thirty years.”

His brown eyes landed on her. “Babe, said this before... doubt she blamed you. Loved you. Z lived in concrete cell away from everyone he ever cared about.”

She slipped a palm under his cut and planted it on his chest. “I know. There’s no comparison. Sorry.”

As she watched the caramel-colored skinned man with the gorgeously high cheekbones escort Jewel out of the back door, she asked, “Is he a club member? I met him the morning of the club run, right?” He wore a DAMC cut, but still...

“Crow? Yeah.”

Crow. That’s right. “He’s Native American.”

“Half. Yeah.”

As the door shut behind them, Brooke glanced up at Dex. “Isn’t that a little odd?”

“What?”

Brooke shook her head. “Nothing. Never mind.” She was glad to see their biker club was accepting of people of different ethnicities, but it seriously surprised her. When she had done quick research online about motorcycle clubs, it seemed that the white bikers stuck with their own, as did the black bikers, the Latinos, and so on. She hadn’t noticed any mixing of races.

She was pleased to see that information was wrong.

Or maybe the DAMC was just different. More accepting. Who knew. That wasn’t an issue to discuss at this time.

There was something currently more pressing.

“I can only assume this vote is about Pierce,” she murmured as she glanced around the large common area. Diesel, Hawk, and Jag were talking with the older man, who had his head hanging and was shaking it, his fists clenched on the bar.

“Yeah.”

“Then I guess I’ll settle in and wait.” As she moved toward the couch where Jewel had been nursing Violet, he reached out and grabbed her wrist, halting her on the spot.

“Babe... You gotta go.”

She stared down at his hand around her wrist, making him quickly release her. “What do you mean? I’m not going anywhere.”

“Yeah, babe. Can’t be here during our meetin’.”

“Why not?”

Dex visibly braced. “Talked about this. ’Cause you’re a woman.”

She closed her eyes and shook her head. “Wow,” she whispered.

“Way it is. Ain’t gonna change.”

The back door opened and Crow, along with three other bikers walked in.

“Tell you what, go up to my room. Soon as the meetin’s over I’ll come get you, yeah?”

“I want to face him, Dex.”

“Know it. Not sure what’s gonna happen. Z is...” Dex inhaled sharply. “D... Ace... I mean, never thought... this shit...” He ground the heels of his palms into his eye sockets.

She grabbed his cut and gave it a little shake. “I know. It has to be difficult. It’s devastating to find out one of your own could be this... horrific. It’s shaken your club to the core.”

“Yeah, babe. That’s puttin’ it mildly. So need you to not gimme any shit an’ head upstairs since I know you won’t go back to the motel willingly.”

She studied him. The pain from the betrayal was evident in his eyes. Glancing around the room as more bikers gathered, she could see the anger and betrayal felt by all of them.

The room crackled with it.

She nodded. “Fine. I’ll wait for you in your room.”

“Gotta promise me you’re gonna stay there no matter what you hear.”

Her eyes widened. “Dex...”

“Promise me that an’ I’ll promise to fill you in afterward. Later.” He reached into his pocket and pulled something out.

She stared at the set of keys he held. His Harley key and a couple others, but the one he held up between his fingers was his room key.

She couldn’t believe she was going to give up this easily and do as he suggested without a fight. But he didn’t need extra stress on top of what was already a tense situation.

And she didn’t need to challenge him in front of his club brothers. That would get them both nowhere except irritated.

She slid her palm over his warm chest, over his nipple, traced the piercing through this shirt with the tip of her finger, then cupped his cheek. “Fine. We’ll talk afterward.”

She didn’t miss him visibly relax at her answer and he leaned over, whispering, “Thanks, babe,” against her lips before kissing her quickly, and pressing his keys into her hand.

With a slight nod and a sigh, she turned and trudged up the steps to his room.

Diesel stood in front of the bar next to Hawk. Z would normally be calling a church meeting to order but Dex could see Z standing behind the bar struggling to keep his shit together.

He wasn’t the only one struggling. D was an over-stretched wire ready to snap. Ace stood close to Z, probably to make sure he didn’t leap over the bar, strangle Pierce to death and then end up back in that concrete box for the rest of his life. Those ten years had been enough.

Actually, more than enough.

As VP, Hawk took over, but he was even having a tough time masking the fury on his face.

Before Pierce had arrived, clueless on what the fuck was going on, D had instructed Moose and Linc to stand at the back of the room, guarding the door. Not to keep anyone out. Fuck no. To keep Pierce in. Once he heard why this emergency meeting was called, he might just bolt.

Dex would, if he was him.

But he wasn’t and he’d never be. Pierce had no sense of not only loyalty but decency.

As Dex stood toward the back of the crowd, his gaze bounced over his brothers. He could never fuck any of them over. His loyalty remained true. This room was full of family.

And you just didn’t fuck over family. Blood or not.

Dex caught a glimpse of Crow who stood against a wall, his knee cocked, his foot planted firmly on the wall, his arms crossed over his chest. And his dark eyes were pinned on Pierce.

Something was up with him. When D explained to some of the members what the meeting was about before Pierce arrived, Crow had gotten quiet. More than usual. He’d actually gone behind the bar to down two double shots of Jack before wiping his hand across his mouth and heading to the other side of the room, his jaw tight, his eyes hard.

The man had been seething ever since. But it was more than the fact that Pierce had fucked over Z. No, Crow’s expression had turned to granite when D mentioned the diary pages and the evidence about Brooke’s mother being raped.

Something about that discovery had cut Crow deep.

Dex just didn’t know what. Though the act of rape should bother each and every one of them—and it did— this was something more.

“This ain’t gonna be a meetin’ like you all expected,” Hawk yelled out, standing on a metal milk crate so he could be heard easily. “There’s a member among us who’s done some heinous shit.”

A grumble went through the room.

“Fuckin’ foul, heinous shit. Not only to outsiders but to his own brothers.”

A collective roar and boot stomping filled the room.

“So, yeah, this ain’t a regular church meetin’.”

Diesel stepped forward. “Fuck no. Got you all here for a fuckin’ vote to strip one of us of ‘is colors.”

The room stilled. Stripping someone of their colors was serious shit. A few brothers looked around nervously, trying to figure out who it was and hoping like hell it wasn’t them. Which made Dex raise his brows.

Nash yelled out, “Who?”

Hawk, Diesel and Z’s gaze landed on Pierce, who was perched on the edge of one of the pool tables. His feet dropped to the floor and he stood.

Dex studied the man who had sent Warriors to rape and kill his own fucking daughter. And to kill one of his own club brothers.

He shook his head. To call him a monster wasn’t even good enough.

Dawg moved around the pool table to stand behind Pierce. “Figurin’ it’s this piece of shit,” he yelled out.

A mumble went up.

“What the fuck? You talkin’ about me?” Pierce asked Hawk.

Hawk gave him a sharp nod. “Bring ‘im the fuck up here, Dawg.”

Dawg grabbed Pierce’s arm, but Pierce jerked out of his grip. “Can fuckin’ walk. Haven’t done shit. If you’re gonna accuse me of somethin’, I better get an opportunity to fuckin’ respond.”

Neither Hawk nor Diesel answered him. Dawg stalked behind Pierce as the former prez made his way through the group to stand in front of the bar, his back to the room.

“Don’t even know where to begin,” Hawk muttered, brushing fingers over his short mohawk.

Jag stepped closer and yelled out, “How ‘bout the fact that he sent Ivy into Dirty Dick’s an’ the Dark Knights territory without any of us fuckin’ knowin’ it. Coulda went sideways for ‘er real fast. Good thing the Knight’s enforcer didn’t let that happen.”

A grumble rose up.

“The bitch wanted to go,” Pierce said. “Didn’t approach ‘er, she fuckin’ came to me.”

“As prez, you shoulda told her no, fucker,” Jag muttered, running an agitated hand over his jeans. “Or brought it to a vote. No excuses.”

Dex had a feeling Jag was just itching to plant a fist in Pierce’s face. He’d been wanting to do it for a long while.

Slade moved next to Jag. “How ‘bout the fact that he touched Diamond when she was just fuckin’ fifteen.”

Jag’s head spun toward Slade. “What?”

Slade nodded. “Cornered her. Touched her. Shoulda lost his fuckin’ balls after that.”

Dawg grabbed Jag before he could rush up to Pierce. “Fuckin’ touched my sister when she was a fuckin’ kid?”

Pierce stood silently with his jaw tight.

Jag turned to Slade. “Why didn’t you say nothin’?”

“She didn’t want anyone to know. But since we’re airin’ shit out, figured it needed to come to light. She’s gonna fuckin’ kill me. Just sayin’. Ain’t gonna get pussy for a long time.”

“Gonna deny it?” Jag screamed at Pierce. “Gonna say my sister lied?”

The room got deadly quiet. All eyes were pinned on Pierce.

“Begged me to pop her fuckin’ cherry.”

Everyone in that room went completely solid. Like stone.

“Wait... what?”

Oh fuck. Slade’s surprise meant he hadn’t been told it went that far. Slade only thought she’d been touched. That was clear by the fury that crossed his face.

“You touched her like that?” Slade leaped forward, his fists clenched, and Crow was there, holding him back.

“Brother,” Crow murmured. “His time’s comin’. A fuckin’ fifteen-year-old.” He shook his dark head and blew out a noisy breath.

Dex turned his attention back to Pierce, who definitely looked a bit paler than normal. He raked shaky fingers through his short salt-and-pepper hair.

“Anybody else wanna come forward?” Hawk asked, then mumbled, “What the fuck with all this shit. Otherwise, I’m gonna get to the main reason we’re votin’ today.”

“There’s worse shit than rapin’ a fifteen-year-old?” Slade shouted, his face almost purple as he tried to pull away from Crow. Crow planted his feet and hung on as best as he could.

“Didn’t fuckin rape her!” Pierce yelled out. “She fuckin’ wanted—”

Before he could finish, Grizz came from nowhere and popped Pierce right in the mouth. Dex wouldn’t be surprised if everyone’s jaw dropped right then and there.

“Shut the fuck up.” The old man shook his hand out and wandered back to his stool to take a long chug of beer.

Hawk turned surprised eyes from Grizz back to the crowd. “Okay, then. Di ain’t here to settle that an’ ain’t gonna make her confirm it right now. So... here’s the thing. Know of another woman he raped.”

Curses and random shouts moved through the room.

“What?”

“What the fuck!”

“Piece of shit!”

Hawk held up the folded pages from Brooke’s mother’s diary. “Got proof here that he did it to someone else.”

With the back of his hand pressed to his bloody mouth, Pierce turned his head quickly and glanced at what Hawk was holding. “What’s that shit?”

“Proof that you raped Brooke’s mother,” Hawk answered.

“Who the fuck is Brooke?”

“Don’t fuckin’ act like you don’t fuckin’ know. She’s your fuckin’ daughter, asshole.” Dex stepped up to the bar, and turned to face everyone. He pointed at Pierce. “This fucker set Brooke an’ me up. Sent Warriors to Brooke’s house to take out his own fuckin’ daughter. Get rid of Brooke an’ me before I got the proof to nail his fuckin’ ass.” His eyes swung to Slade. “Had no idea, brother. Didn’t need that diary if Diamond had stepped forward.” He raised his palm when Slade opened his mouth to speak. “Can understand why she didn’t, though. Ain’t faultin’ her.” He looked around the room. “So the man ain’t only a rapist, but a fuckin’ snake lyin’ in bed with the Warriors. Usin’ them to do his dirty work. Fuckers almost raped Brooke. Would’ve taken the two of us out. But, luckily...”

Now was not the time to tell everyone what a badass his woman was. That it was her that saved their ass, not him. Yeah, probably best to keep that to himself. He was sure it would get out soon enough.

“You sayin’ you’re accusing me of rapin’ some woman because of some shit written down? That ain’t shit. I don’t’ even know who the fuck she is.”

“Was,” Dex murmured. “Brooke’s mother’s dead now. An’ you mighta got away with it if she hadn’t written that shit down. But she did. An’ your own daughter found it.”

“Don’t got no daughter,” Pierce sneered.

“Yeah, you do. Two, matter of fact,” Dex said, pulling the DNA results from the back pocket of his jeans.

Pierce stared at the papers in Dex’s hand, his eyes wide. “What’s that?”

“DNA proof.”

“Of what?’

“That you fathered not only Brooke, but Kelsea.”

The former DAMC prez went from pale to sheet white. “What?”

Hawk growled, “For fuck’s sake, don’t tell me you touched Kels, too?”

“Didn’t fuckin’ touch no one.”

“Liar!” came the high-pitched scream as Brooke ran through the room then leapt toward Pierce. He stumbled back as all her weight hit him, her hair and fists flying.

“Oh fuck!” Dex shouted, rushing forward to get hands on Brooke. D was there, peeling her off Pierce as she wailed on him, kicking and hitting. Before D could pull her off, Pierce’s fist connected with her face and her head whipped back.

Diesel picked Brooke up like she weighed nothing, swung her around and shoved her at Dex, who caught her but stumbled back in an attempt to keep his balance. When he finally had two feet firmly on the ground, he held onto Brooke tightly as her chest heaved and she made a sound that raised the hair on his neck. She held her hand to her face.

D stood over Pierce as the man rose to his feet, staring at Brooke. “Don’t know who the fuck you are.” That was a fucking lie. Somehow the man had found out who she was and why she had shown up in Shadow Valley over a week ago, otherwise he wouldn’t have sent the Warriors to “deal” with her.

“You fucking knew my mother thirty years ago!”

“Thirty years ago? I fucked a lot of bitches over the years.” His eyes narrowed as his gaze raked over her. “Oh yeah. Look just like her. Hot little piece of ass. Liked to play hard to get. Say no. Pretend she didn’t want it even though I knew she did. Her moans were fuckin’ sweet. Her fightin’ me even sweeter.” He grabbed his dick. “She made me come real fuckin’ hard.”

Dex never saw Diesel move so fast. His hand shot out in a flash and gripped Pierce’s throat, raising the fucker to his toes.

D stared at him, his nostrils flared, his chest rising and falling quickly, then he shook his head and tossed Pierce to the side.

Pierced stumbled but caught himself, putting a hand to his throat. “You wanna fight me over snatch?” He raised his arms out. “Come get me, then, brother.”

Egging D on for a fight was asking for a death sentence. Pierce was being reckless and he knew when he said that shit to Brooke that he’d evoke some sort of response.

D grunted. If smoke could come out of a man’s nose, the room would be full of it. “Ain’t your fuckin’ brother. None of us are your brothers anymore.”

“Been a part of this club for over thirty-five years. Longer than most of you been born. Think you can just toss my ass out?”

“You told the Warriors where we were,” Dex shouted. “Ratted us the fuck out, Pierce. Didn’t care that they were gonna rape an’ kill your own blood.”

Pierce spit on the ground. “Ain’t my blood no matter what that paper says.”

Z stepped around the bar and in front of Pierce. “Let’s talk ‘bout rats.” Zak took a deep breath and shook his head. “Spent ten fuckin’ years...” He got right into Pierce’s face, his finger a cunt hair away from the man’s nose as he screamed, “TEN FUCKIN’ YEARS in a fuckin’ hole because of you, motherfucker. Ten fuckin’ years of my fuckin’ life. If I didn’t have a fuckin’ wife an’ son, I’d put a bullet between your fuckin’ eyes.”

“What’s Z talkin’ about?” Dawg asked.

Zak turned to face them all, pointing at Pierce, who finally wore a look of shock and some fear as shit hit home. If his asshole wasn’t puckered before, Dex was pretty sure it was now. The man finally realized he wasn’t getting out of this with just some lame-ass excuses.

“This is the fucker that set me up all those years ago. Not the fuckin’ Warriors. Had me locked away so his ass could sit at the head of the table.”

Dex was expecting Z to turn around at any second and punch the fuck out of Pierce. But before he had a chance, Slade jerked free from Crow’s grip and slammed his palms into Pierce’s chest, screaming, “This is for Diamond.” Then with one strategic punch knocked Pierce out cold.

The former president of the DAMC crumpled to the ground.

Brooke jerked against Dex so hard that she broke free and rushed over to Pierce, lifted her booted foot and stomped him right in the nuts with her heel.

A collective groan went up as everyone winced and their hands covered their own junk instinctively.

Even D winced and turned a little green at that.

Dex was pinning his own thighs together and blew out a breath. “Damn,” he whispered.

D looked at Dex and jerked his chin toward Brooke, who still stood over an unconscious Pierce, her hands curled into fists as she glared down at him.

Dex moved up behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her back against him gently. “Babe,” he whispered against her ear. “Need to go back up to my room, got me? Gotta do it now, yeah?”

She didn’t answer for the longest time and he began to wonder if she heard him. She just continued to stare at the man who was in a crumpled, unconscious heap on the floor.

“Babe... Brooke. Go upstairs. Be up there shortly.”

Suddenly, her spine snapped straight and she nodded. “We have to talk.”

Dex closed his eyes for a second. That didn’t sound good. “Yeah,” he said softly.

He reluctantly released her and without even a look at him, she made her way back through the rest of the men and up the stairs.

After she was out of sight, he turned back to the front of the room.

“Let’s vote!” Crash yelled out.

“Should he be awake when we do it?” Hawk asked.

Grizz came over and poured his full pint of beer over Pierce’s head. Pierce groaned, sputtered and shook his head, his eyes unfocused. “What the fuck...”

“He’s conscious. Let’s vote,” Hawk announced. “All in favor of strippin’ this piece of shit of his colors?”

A roar of “ayes” rose up.

“Ayes fuckin’ have it. He’s done.” Hawk spit on Pierce.

One by one, all the brothers stepped up, spit on Pierce and turned their backs to him as they returned to their spot in the large room.

Crow was the last one to approach. “Assume you don’t need me to cover the colors on his back.”

Diesel growled. “Fuck no. Strippin’ his colors is gonna go way deeper than the skin on his fuckin’ back.”

Crow nodded then spit on Pierce, even though the man now had one hand covering his face along with one on his balls.

Dex was surprised that Pierce didn’t say shit the whole time. He didn’t beg for any leniency.

Nothing.

He knew what his future held.

Justice was about to be served on a cold fucking platter.