CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Brick
I scramble across the ground and reach Starlet just as she collapses. Hugging her tight, I know she belongs in my arms now, not Silver’s or anyone else’s. My brothers swarm around us. Shorty and Ace drag Checkers’ body away, and I gently reposition Starlet on my lap so she has to look at me. Tears streak her beautiful face and she’s shaking uncontrollably, but she’s aware of everything going on around her, though I think she’d rather not be.
“Listen to me,” I say, tucking loose strands of hair behind her ear. “None of this is your fault, sweetheart. None of it.”
She doesn’t respond, but narrows her eyes on Eagle who’s standing in front of us.
“Brick,” he says, the shock of the moment still written all over his face, too. “Do you know what this means?” He kneels and gives Starlet’s shoulder a squeeze. “Is she okay?”
“I don’t know yet.” Her hair and face is streaked with blood. So is the white sundress she’s wearing. “Starlet? Say something, baby.”
She closes her eyes and takes a labored breath. “You should have let me die, Brick. It would have been so much easier for you.”
I throw Eagle a concerned look and shake my head. Very carefully, I stand up with Starlet draped in my arms. She curls up, hiding her face on my chest.
Eagle moves aside and gestures toward the clubhouse. “Take her inside and let Angel and the old ladies clean her up and put her to bed. We have a retired doc on payroll, let’s get him over here to take a look at her.”
I head for my room, knowing there’s no doctor on the planet that could fix what’s wrong with Starlet or me. We’re both broken. Have both been destroyed by lies and violence as kids. Promised a certain thing and given shit instead. Children shouldn’t see what we’ve experienced. But somehow, through it all, we managed to hold it together enough to find each other.
That’s no coincidence, it’s fate. I didn’t see it until today, racing back from Texas, desolation and fear overwhelming me. If Silver had left with her… Jesus Christ. I kick my bedroom door open and place Starlet in the middle of my bed. She stays exactly where I put her—her unresponsiveness scaring the shit out of me.
She’s the patch for the gaping hole in my heart. My allegiance for the Iron Norsemen patch is unwavering—now I’ll split that loyalty between two. That much I know. And this place… I look over my shoulder at the door, wondering where Angel is. Home. Yeah, I said it. Home. Louisiana—the charter—everything about it. My skin prickles at the thought. It’s not going to be easy giving up old, bad habits, especially moving on.
But I have Starlet now. I reach out and caress her cheek. “If I didn’t get a chance to say it loud enough before, Starlet Vega, I claim you as my old lady. And the sooner you accept it, the quicker we can move on, together.” I kiss the top of her head and start for the door.
Angel and two other old ladies meet me in the hallway.
“How is she?” Angel asks.
“Don’t know,” I mutter. “I shot Checkers in the goddamned head two inches above her. That’s a lot to take in.”
Angel nods in understanding.
“She needs a shower and sleep.”
“We’ll take care of it. Church in five minutes,” she says, entering my bedroom.
Church. Time to pay for my sins. I disobeyed Eagle, took matters into my own hands, beat another MC president, and took out one of his officers. Men who were invited to our clubhouse under peaceful circumstances. How many bylaws did I break? I don’t care, I’d do it again if it meant saving Starlet. Let them strip me of the patch—I’ll survive—we’ll survive.
When I arrive in the common room, my brothers are waiting for me. There’s a renewed sense of respect, I can feel it and see it in their eyes.
The doors to the conference room open, Eagle, Shorty, and Ace wave us all in.
My brothers wait for me to go first, and I cross the threshold, feeling more complete and sure of my actions than I ever have before. Bylaws are written in stone, but the one thing a man can rely on under dire circumstances such as these, are his brothers. If they believe in what I did, a vote can save me from punishment.
Once I take my seat beside Eagle, he opens the meeting.
“Is this some kind of rebellious stage?” Eagle glares at me. “Because from where I’m sitting, brother, it looks personal.”
I hold his gaze, knowing I’m in the right. If I weren’t, I’d admit it and accept whatever judgment came down. Expulsion. Death. It wouldn’t matter, because Starlet is safe. Even if I’m stripped of the patch, and she decides to stay in Louisiana, the club would have to take care of her, they’d treat her as a widow.
“I did what I had to do to protect my old lady.”
My words elicit some murmurs.
“She wasn’t your old lady this morning,” Eagle points out.
“She is now.”
“What happened in Texas, Shorty?” Eagle asks.
Shorty shifts in his chair and looks at me for a long time before he speaks. “Kid did everything you asked.”
Eagle shakes his head, reluctant to believe Shorty. “That’s what you’re giving me, Shorty? He did everything I asked? Fuck.” He slams his hand down on the table. “I have a half dead president and a dead officer out back. Two other officers ready to make a call and start a fucking war. And what do we get for it, Brick? Tell me.”
I shoot an admiring glance Shorty’s way. The old man has my back. Well, I have his now. “Nothing would have kept me from coming back for Starlet. Glad I did, the sonofabitch was beating her. Thought we prided ourselves in protecting the innocent, not getting cast in the same mold as other MCs. I’ll never lose sight of that difference, Eagle, whether I’m wearing this patch or not. Starlet belongs with me—with this club. She’s an asset, not a liability.”
“I won’t disagree with the last statement, but you’re the fucking liability, Brick.”
Starlet’s words flicker in my heart … I think I love you, giving me hope. “You wanted an enforcer,” I throw into the mix.
Axe laughs and leans back in his chair. “That’s the first thing you’ve ever said that makes sense.”
I drum my fingers on the tabletop, not exactly knowing how to take his comment—as support or an insult. “Glad you finally pulled your head out of your ass so you could hear me clearly.”
The other members laugh quietly, but the tension in the air is thick and urgent. Blood was shed on club property, another broken rule to add to my growing list of crimes against my charter.
Someone knocks and the door opens. Johnny-be-Bad and a prospect stick their heads inside. “Goddamn Crusaders are getting crazy, Eagle.”
“How’s Silver?” Eagle asks.
“Out cold still,” Johnny says.
“Give the word,” I mutter.
“Word?” Eagle focuses on me again. “That hungry for blood?”
“Justice.”
He laughs. “Gratuitous violence never delivers justice, Brick, it just invites more bloodshed.”
“I love her.”
“What?” Shorty asks. “Didn’t hear you all the way down here.”
The words were meant for Eagle’s ears only. But I look at the old man and give him what he wants. “I love Starlet.”
Several of the brothers seated near Shorty nod. They get it, but does Eagle? I wait for his response.
“You sure?” he questions.
“Yeah.”
Eagle shoots up from his chair. “Then follow me, brother. We’ll test that theory.”
I follow him to one of the outbuildings on the west side of the property. Three, armed brothers are guarding the Crusader officers. Silver is sprawled out on a pallet in the corner.
“There’s two witnesses to what went down today,” Eagle says, pulling his Glock from his hip holster. “Two witnesses that could make or break this club. The Devil’s Crusaders will have every reason to retaliate for you beating the shit out of their prez and stealing his old lady. I’m prepared to stand with you, brother. But if they have proof we killed Checkers, it’ll be all out war.”
A dozen thoughts are swirling around in my head, adrenalin pumping through my body. It’d be my pleasure to put bullets in the Crusaders’ heads—a good start for recompense to Starlet. Bloodshed is just the beginning. I want to destroy Silver. I want to take every Crusader from Alabama out, one by one for what they did to her.
I tried holding in my feelings like I usually do. Pain is nothing for me to handle—I’m soulless. But Starlet… There’s a chance she can still recover from the past once I love her right—once she starts to believe in herself again. I plan on making sure she gets that chance. If it costs my life, so be it.
Eagle eyes me, not needing to say a word. I walk to the double doors and lock them from the inside.
“What the fuck is going on?” one of the Crusader officers asks nervously.
I pull my weapon. “When did you join your MC?”
“Eight years ago.” He looks at my gun and steps back.
That’s all the proof I need. He could have contributed to Starlet’s suffering, which makes him guilty as fuck. “You’re part of the problem.” I hold my pistol up to his head and pull the trigger.
A second shot goes off.
The Crusaders are dead. None of the Iron Norsemen say a word. I glance at Eagle and he nods. If I doubted my place in this club before, what Eagle just did for me erases that doubt. It’s all in this time. I have a home and old lady now.
“Clean up the mess and bring Silver to the clubhouse,” Eagle orders as we leave the shed.