“You got a second to talk?” Nolan asks, knocking on the open door. I knew this was coming eventually, and it might as well be while Frankie’s asleep. I pocket the flash drive and remind myself to ask Frankie about it later.

“I think I’ve had enough talking for a fucking lifetime, but sure, why the fuck not.” I slap my hands on my thighs and stand. I follow him from the room into the courtyard and shut the door quietly behind me so Frankie doesn’t wake up.

I stand in front of Nolan and cross my arms over my chest. I may be bigger than him but our fight isn’t about size. If the fucker wanted to kill me, I’d get it. Fuck, there was a time I’d have handed him the fucking gun.

The man was tied up and beaten and was forced to watch with one non-swollen eye open while I was made to fuck his girl at gunpoint.

“Rage told me about earlier. What her and Frankie did.” He shakes his head. “Those girls. Sometimes, I think Rage’s got bigger balls than me.”

“I KNOW her balls are bigger than yours,” I say.

Nolan adjusts his Wolf Warriors cut. I remind myself to ask Rage later why the fuck she didn’t join up with her man’s MC and joined The Lawless instead.

“I know you’ve kept your distance. I just wanted to let you know I appreciate that. I also wanted to let you know that I appreciate you saving my life. You didn’t owe me shit, but you did it anyway,” Nolan says.

“I did it for Rage,” I correct him.

“I know. And that’s why you don’t have a fucking bullet in your head right now,” he says with a smile.

“Fuck,” I say, taking a step closer. “You’re even starting to act like her,” I can’t help the laugh that escapes me. “You’re doing that thing she does where she says something really fucked up but with a smile on her face like she told you she’s running out for fucking frozen yogurt.”

Nolan glances at the mirror then back to me, dropping the smile. “Fuck, I am doing it,” he says.

We both laugh.

“What happened out there that night? That wasn’t your fault. None of it was,” Nolan says.

“I know that,” I say. “Now.”

“I wanted to kill you,” Nolan cracks his knuckles.

“I would have killed you,” I say. “You’re a better man than me.”

“But I came here for a reason. I got something to say. Something important.”

I sigh. “What?”

“You don’t gotta leave again. You can stick around without worry. In fact, after talking to Rage, she brought something up, but she didn’t want to ask you so I’m gonna, and just so you know, the answer is yes because I’m not going to be the one to tell her otherwise.”

“What is it?”

“It’s for her.”

“Just fucking spit it out already!” I groan.

“We’re getting married,” Nolan says.

“Holy shit,” I say, a smile spreading across my face.

Nolan returns my smile looking downright proud of himself. “And I only had to ask her about sixty times before she said yes.”

“I’m impressed,” I say, because I am impressed. Rage of all people. Married?

“What do you want from me?”

“I ain’t gonna ask your permission or nothin’ because she’s my girl, and I don’t need your fucking permission, just let me say that first.”

I nod.

“But, I do want to ask you if you’ll give her away.”

“What about her dad?” Rage is the only killer I know who’s in tight with her mom and pop.

“We’re doing a little backyard ceremony for them. Just the four of us. She doesn’t want to bring them around this world, and I don’t blame her. But we’re gonna do something here right after. At the club. And in that part of it she wants you to give her away.”

I’m so stunned by the request that I don’t speak for a while.

“And?” Nolan waves his hand in the air, waiting for me to answer.

“And I’m really surprised there aren’t bullet holes in the wall right now, and that we’re really talking about this,” I say, making Nolan laugh.

“Me, too, motherfucker. Me, too,” Nolan says. “So, you’ll do it?”

I look across the courtyard and catch Rage watching us. She turns around and pretends to be picking something up off the floor like she wasn’t listening and watching us the entire time.

“Yeah, man. I’ll do it.”

Nolan nods. “Good.” He turns to leave but stops again. “There’s one more thing. The Wolf Warriors are merging with Lawless. I’m going to be Bear’s new second in command. I talked it over with Bear, and this is yours if you want it.” He kicks a bag at his feet that I didn’t even notice he’d brought in, then leaves.

I get up and empty the bag onto the bed. A new smelling leather cut falls out.

The back has The Lawless MC with their logo and on the front, is my name and a new patch underneath. LIFE MEMBER.

I sit.

They want me to be a part of something. Something bigger than myself. I shrug off the worn leather cut from my shoulders. The blank one that tells no stories and no lies. And I shrug on the new one. I pause in the mirror as I turn around and inspect the new logo on my back. I expect to feel overwhelmed. Suffocated.

But I don’t. I feel warm. Comfortable. I can breathe again; the same way Frankie makes me feel I can breathe again.

I feel like I belong. To these people. To the club.

To Frankie.

After thirty some odd years adrift, I’ve found my place in the world.

Who’d a fucking thought.