Present Day

 

It was the first time that my girls and I were back at the clubhouse since Jessica’s attack. Jessica had spent a few nights at home recuperating, and in that time I’d been fighting viciously with Val. She kept trying to convince me that the best thing to do would be to take immediate action against Jessica’s attacker, but I wanted to wait until everyone was informed. Now, the twelve of us were sitting around a table. Jessica still had bruises on her face but overall she’d recovered quite well. I was proud of her. Aside from the night of the attack, she hadn’t cried at all. Even Val had admitted with a grudging respect that Jessica was tougher than she looked.

 

“So,” I began in a solemn tone. “I know it’s been a while, and I wanted to talk to you all and see what you think.”

 

“I want him dead,” Alexa said in an equally serious tone. “I ain’t joking, Stephy. I want him dead and gone.”

 

“I know,” I said, nodding my head. “You guys want to take a vote?”

 

Val and Tara, another old member, exchanged glanced. Tara opened her mouth. “Val said it was someone from Jungle’s Thorns,” she said. “Shouldn’t we try to destroy the whole MC? They can’t go around raping people like this,” she added.

 

“Jessica wasn’t raped, she was assaulted,” I replied. The other women glared at me. “There’s a difference,” I said. “This person was very careful not to leave any evidence. Don’t you think that means something?”

 

“I don’t care what it means, that fucker’s going down,” Val said. She slammed her fist against the table and the other girls cheered loudly. “We gonna kill him!”

 

“Wait,” I said. “We still need to vote on this. And we don’t know who it is, either.”

 

“So?” Val glared at me. “You used to know that asshole, Isaac, right? You can go sweet-talk him into confessing.”

 

“I don’t think he’ll work like that,” I murmured. “He’s the kind of guy to give his life for a club member, especially if he doesn’t know who was involved.”

 

“I bet it was that jerk, Nick,” Alexa said loudly. She leaned forward in her chair and cracked her knuckles. “I should have kicked him when he was down, so he couldn’t have raped Jessica!”

 

There was a cheering cry from the rest of the women and I started to feel a little helpless, like I was losing my own club. Val was leading the cheer and soon, everyone began beating their hands on the table in unison, staring at me.

 

“Okay,” I said. “Come to order! Order!” I slammed my gavel down on the table with a hard thunk. “Listen to me!”

 

The cheering stopped. “Whatchu want?” Val said, rolling her eyes. “You wanna tell me I’m being too much again?”

 

I swallowed hard. Lately, I’d been feeling so much resentment towards Val that I wanted to take her out back and knock her lights out with my fist. But the rest of the club seemed cheered by what she had to say, and I knew it would be a bad idea to start some shit right here.

 

“We’re going to vote now,” I said. “For taking revenge on the Jungle’s Thorns.”

 

When the vote went around the table, it passed unanimously.

 

“I saw him,” Val claimed again. “I saw that fucker with my own two eyes!” She yelled loudly and clapped her hands together, rousing all of the other women. “And he’s going down!”

 

“Booooooo!”

 

“He’s doing down!” Val repeated, standing up and looking around fiercely like she was planning to kill him herself. “And I’m gonna make sure he does!”

 

I banged the gavel against the table once more. “Order!” I shouted loudly. “Come on! Order!”

 

The girls glanced up at me with wary expressions. “Why don’t you want us to get revenge on this asshole who hurt Jessica?” Alexa asked loudly.

 

The room was so silent that I could have heard crickets chirping.

 

“It’s not that I don’t want revenge,” I said. “Come on, you guys, you know me better than that. But we don’t know anything for sure! The clubhouse hadn’t even been broken into! It could be anyone. And once we start a war with the Jungle’s Thorns, we’re in that shit until it’s over. We might all be dead before it’s over!”

 

“Then I’m dead,” Val said. “I’m out. See you.”

 

The other girls glared at me as the door slammed behind Val. “Come on,” Alexa said. “What’s the big fucking deal? Just go find one of the guys and talk to him. Maybe he knows something. We’re not acting right now; we just want you to do something.”

 

“Fine,” I snapped. “I’ll go talk to Isaac.”