Angel calls the Lords to church without me, because I’m not about to leave Brooke’s fucking side right now. When visiting hours end, I tell the nurses who try to get me to leave that I’m not budging, and they can bring every goddamn security guard in the hospital in but it won’t change anything. Eventually, I think Isabel pulls the other nurses aside and talks them into leaving us the hell alone.

I spend the night in a goddamn uncomfortable chair, but I don’t give a shit. I know Brooke’s gonna be okay. Her injuries aren’t life-threatening, and they’ll heal. But I can’t get it out of my mind how close I came to losing her. If she hadn’t managed to shoot Rob Johannsen, he would have killed her for sure.

I stay there with her all night, and through the next day. Whenever a nurse or a doc comes in, I go grab some shitty food from the cafeteria and then come back. I want my face to be the first thing she sees whenever she wakes up.

Sometime the next afternoon, while Brooke’s napping, there’s a soft rap on the door. I look up to see Angel stick his head through. He lifts his chin in greeting. I push myself out of the chair and go outside to talk to him.

“How’s she doin’?” he asks me.

“On the mend. She’s tough; she’ll be okay.”

“Glad to hear it.”

Angel’s face is stony. This ain’t a social call, and we both know it. Better to get it over with.

“So,” I mutter. “Church yesterday.”

“Yeah.” He reaches up and rubs the back of his neck. “Listen, let’s go outside and talk about this.” He looks around. “Better not to have any ears around us.”

I want to refuse, but I know he’s right. We stop off at the nurses’ station on the way out and I tell Isabel we’re goin’ out for a smoke. Angel and I head outside and go find a bench about a hundred feet from the front entrance, where there’s no one else nearby to hear us.

“Rock pleaded his case to the Lords,” Angel says, lighting up. “He told them everything he told us. He tried to stretch the truth a few times, but I made sure he did right by the brothers.”

“And?”

“They voted to remove him as president. Unanimous.” He takes a deep drag and blows it out. “And they voted club justice.”

I knew this was coming. There wasn’t any other way it could have gone. Rock gets the death penalty for betraying the Lords.

“When?” I ask tiredly.

“Today.”

I think about what Angel said a few days ago, about Rock being like a father to him. Hell, as president, he was a father to us all. A tough one, and sometimes a questionable one. But still, a father.

Now, he has to pay the ultimate price, for breaking faith with his family. A bullet to the head.

“Shit.” I shake my head.

“Yeah.” Angel sounds grim. He laughs, but there’s no humor in it. “My first act as president.”

Goddamn. What a hell of a way to start.

“You want me to be there?” I ask. “I can get away for a couple hours.”

“Nah.” Angel shrugs. “That ain’t why I’m here. I wanted to give you this.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out an envelope.

“What is it?” I ask as he hands it to me.

“It’s all the info Brooke needs to take down the trafficking ring.” Angel looks out at the parking lot. “Names, details, locations. Enough to put Holloway away. And Crup. And every other corrupt son of a bitch involved. Rock gave it all up.” He blows out a breath. “Not without a little convincing.”

“Thanks. I’ll make sure she knows this is in exchange for keeping the club out of it.”

“Good.”

I stare at the clean white paper, thinking about everything that’s so dirty inside of it. The filth that lives inside of men. Especially the ones who look the purest on the outside, sometimes.

“I had a question to ask you, too, Beast. A favor.”

“What is it?”

Angel tosses his cigarette on the ground and turns to me. “I want you to be my VP.”

I stare at him, not comprehending for a second. “Me?” I finally ask, shaking my head once in confusion. “I would have thought you’d choose Ghost.” Ghost, after all, has been Rock’s Sergeant at Arms for years. And he’s been Angel’s best friend for even longer.

“I need Ghost as my Sergeant,” Angel says. “There ain’t no one better for that job. Rock picked well on that one.” He gives a soft snort. “But what I need in a vice-president is someone who ain’t afraid to challenge me. Who’s gonna tell me the truth, no matter what. And who I can trust, one-hundred percent.” He lifts his chin. “That’s you, brother.”

“Shit, Angel. I don’t know what to say. I’m fuckin’ honored.” And I am. I know what a responsibility the job of vice-president is. If Angel thinks I can do a good job of it, I’ll bust my ass to prove him right. “There’s just one problem, though,” I continue, knowing I have to say it. “And she’s sleepin’ upstairs in that hospital room.”

“Yeah,” Angel nods. “We gotta talk about that. What’s happenin’ between the two of you anyway?”

“Not sure,” I say.

But that ain’t quite true.

I do know.

I’m in love with her. But that’s nothing new. I always fucking have been. As much as I’ve tried to tell myself the opposite, I know that now.

But loving her didn’t stop her from leaving me all those years ago.

It doesn’t change the fact that she’s a fucking federal agent. And I’m an outlaw.

It doesn’t change the fact that I can’t compromise my MC. As long as Brooke is FBI, I’ll have to choose one or the other.

“Angel,” I begin, but then stop. I don’t want to let him down, but I can’t say yes or no right now. Finally, I say what I need. “Will you let me think about it for a couple days?”

He seems to understand what I’m asking.

“I’d hate to lose you, Beast. The club needs you now.”

“The club needs a VP who’s all in,” I answer gravely. “After this shit with Rock, the Lords need that more than ever. I ain’t gonna accept a job I can’t do the way it needs to be done.” I pause. “I just need to make sure I can do that.”

Angel nods. “I respect that, brother.”

“Thanks.”

We sit for a moment, not speaking. Finally, he puts his hands on his knees and stands. “Well. I’m gonna take off. I, ah, got some shit I gotta do.”

I stand and face him. “I don’t envy you, Angel.” I hold out my hand and he takes it. Somberly, we shake.

“I’ll let you know my decision soon,” I tell him.

“All right.” His eyes meet mine. “I’ll let you know when it’s done.”

And so, Angel walks off, to do the hardest thing a president ever has to do for his club.

And I go back upstairs, to wait for Brooke to wake up.

* * *

When I get back to her room, there’s a doctor in there with her. He glances over at me as I come in, his eyes sliding down to rest on my cut. I’m about to give him some attitude when Brooke calls my name.

“The doctor says I can probably get out of the hospital today!” she tells me.

I’m surprised. “That right?” I ask.

The doc glances toward her, and then back at me. “Are you a friend of Ms. Brentano’s?”

“Yes,” I bark. I’m not in the mood for any bullshit.

“Well,” he continues in a professional voice, turning back to Brooke. “We’ve determined there’s no trauma to the lungs, which was what we were most concerned about. There’s bruising, of course, and you’ll be in some pain for two to three weeks, though of course we’ll give you a prescription for that. Within about six weeks, you’ll be feeling close to normal again, provided you’re careful and don’t overdo it.”

He tells us he’ll go process her paperwork to be discharged, and asks if she has someone to drive her home. Brooke looks at me, a little sheepishly, with a question in her eyes.

“That depends,” I say gruffly. “You think you can hang onto the back of my bike?”

The doc looks at me, alarmed. Brooke bursts out laughing, then lets out a yelp of pain. “Dammit, Travis, don’t do that!” she complains.

“Sorry, couldn’t resist,” I chuckle. “I am gonna have to go get a car, though. Can you sit tight until then?”

“I’m not going anywhere,” she says wryly.

The doc leaves, looking a little unsettled. Once he’s out the door, I snort and shake my head. “Damn, I really think he believed I was just gonna strap you onto the back of my Harley.”

“He definitely looked a little nervous around you,” Brooke agrees, clearly amused. “But seriously, don’t make me laugh anymore, okay? It really hurts.”

“Sorry, babe.” I say, and sit down on the bed.

“So,” she says in a small voice. “Are you gonna take me back to the hotel?”

“Nah,” I reply. “I figured you could stay a while at my place. You know, as long as you don’t take up a lot of space.”

“It’d be just for a couple of days,” she promises. “Until I heal up enough to be able to drive a car.”

“You know your car is toast, right?”

“Yeah, I know.” She shrugs. “I meant, until I can rent one.”

“Tell you what,” I suggest. “Let’s talk about that when we’re back at my place. I got some other stuff I wanted to tell you about.”

She nods. “Me, too,” she says softly. “That would be good.”

I ride over to Twisted Pipes and pick up a vehicle to bring Brooke home in. I choose a low, comfortable Lincoln Town Car that should be pretty easy for her to get into and out of. When I come back, she’s already been discharged. I help her into a wheelchair, carefully load her into the front seat, and take her to my place.

When we pull up to the house, I realize she’s gonna have a tough time climbing the stairs to the second floor. But she’s a trouper and makes it all the way by herself, with me following behind her just in case. I get her set up on the couch, then sit down beside her.

I don’t give her the envelope yet. I tell Brooke everything else I can about who’s in charge of the trafficking ring. And that Angel has enough info for her that she can take the whole thing down. All of it, delivered on a silver platter that she can hand to her boss.

“But it’s with the understanding that the Lords of Carnage is left completely out of it, Brooke. Because it was only Rock who was involved.” I pause. “And he’s being dealt with.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means it’s our business. And if you pull the law into our business, people are just gonna get hurt. It won’t help anything, Brooke. It’ll just muddy the waters.”

“I am the law, Travis.” Her eyes grow dark. “Or at least, I was. I’m not sure what I am anymore. I just… I just want justice for these girls. For Natalia.”

“The law ain’t the same as justice, babe.” I reach up and push away a lock of hair that’s fallen into her face. “Sometimes you can get justice through the law. But more often than not, the law’s just an excuse for the people who are already in power to stay in power. It’s a set of rules for them to hide behind. To use for their own advantage.” I brush my thumb against her jawline. “Justice is different. Justice doesn’t let the predators hide behind the prey.” I shake my head. “Rock’s gonna get justice. Club justice. Holloway and those other motherfuckers, you can have. Bring them to justice. If you’re able to.”

Brooke is silent, absorbing my words. We sit like that for a few minutes without talking. Eventually she leans toward me and lays her head on my shoulder. I take her in my arms, being careful not to hurt her.

“I’m not sure I can do this anymore,” she says in a small, quiet voice.

I’ve been waiting for it since the first day we had sex. But when she says it, the words still hit me like a freight train.

“Okay,” I say. Keeping my voice neutral is killing me, but I do it. “You can sleep in the bed for the night. I’ll take the couch.”

“No. I mean I’m not sure I can work for the bureau anymore.”

“Are you serious?” I ask. “You’re thinking about quitting?”

Wordlessly, she nods against my shoulder.

I almost laugh, I’m so fuckin’ relieved.

“Okay. So, what will you do?”

“I don’t know.” I feel her shrug, then wince a little. “But… I was thinking maybe I’d stick around in Tanner Springs awhile while I think about it.”

“Yeah?” My voice turns hoarse. “You need a place to stay?”

“The Courtyard Inn is getting a little old,” she admits. “And I’m sick of eating in restaurants.”

“Maybe we could make an arrangement,” I suggest. “I could let you stay here for a while.” I wait a beat. “In exchange for paying me rent, of course.”

She starts to giggle, and then the pain makes her stop and she bitches me out for making her laugh.

And I feel better than I’ve felt since the day I met Brooke Fucking Brentano.