The brothers all nodded their heads. Then Styx signed. “Any other business?”

Feeling my skin twitch, I flicked my chin. “Gotta take a week, maybe more, Prez. Got business outta state I gotta take care of.”

I kept my eyes glued to Styx, but I could feel all the other brothers watching me. I’d never left the compound unless it was on Hangmen business the whole time I’d been here. This was a fucking first.

Styx frowned, then signed, “Where?”

My teeth gritted, but I forced out, “West Virginia.”

Ky sat back in his chair. “And what the fuck do y’all wanna do out in the Appalachians? Can’t think of one fucking thing that would attract me to that fucking place.”

I turned to the VP, and said, “My old man.”

Ky’s fucking pretty boy blue eyes widened, but nothing came out of his mouth. In fact, as I looked around the table, I found that all of the brothers were staring at me, mouths gaping.

Tank shifted on his seat. “You've got an old man, Flame?”

I blinked away the image of the cunt from my head, but answered, “Used to.” Tank slowly nodded his head.

Styx sat forward and signed. “Maddie going with?”

My hands clenched on the table and I spat out, “Yeah.”

Styx looked to Ky, then signed, “She gonna be protected? You gonna be spilling blood?”

“Maybe. Probably. Abso-fuckin’-lutely,” I replied. “But Maddie’s with me, by my fucking side, on my fucking bike, sleeping by my fucking side. She’s my bitch, I own her, and I decide what the fuck happens with her now, not you. That tell you enough?”

Styx’s hard face didn’t change, then he threw up his hands and signed, “Granted. You got all the time you fuckin’ need. Just don’t harm Madds. I ain’t wanting my pregnant bitch upset because her sister’s been hurt in the middle of your fuckin’ psycho rage. Yeah?”

I flicked my chin. Just as Styx went to lift the gavel, AK and Viking leaned forward. AK threw up his hand and said, “Gonna be needing that time off too, Prez.”

Styx replied, “Never fuckin’ thought otherwise.”

As Styx slammed the gavel down on the table, all the brothers filed out. But my attention was on AK and Vike, who were waiting in their seats.

Vike tapped the table with his knuckles and said, “Didn’t think you’d be going without us, did you? We’re the Psycho fucking Trio. You ain’t going nowhere alone.”

“It’s a long fucking ride,” I replied.

“To your fucking past, it seems,” AK quickly added. I watched his brown eyes narrow. “Your old man, Flame? West fucking Virginia? How the fuck you end up in Texas, from West bumfuck nowhere?”

I stared at the table and said, “Specialists for my head were in Austin, I think. I don’t know. It’s not real clear. Too many fucking drugs were in my veins. But they sent me here sometime between eight and seventeen, clearly.”

AK nodded, then asked another question. “So we gonna be slicing up your old man? This that kinda run?”

My teeth gritted and I breathed through my nose. “Yeah,” was all I could manage. “Of the worst fucking kind.”

Viking caught my eye and ran his hand down his beard. “He the reason for the…” He pointed at the blade clutched in my hand, then to the scars on my arm. I nodded my head and he sat back. “Then when the fuck do we go? I suddenly have a huge fucking hard on for West Virginia.”

“Today,” I announced.

“And your little bitch...?” Vike asked.

“Is fucking coming with,” I growled.

AK shook his head. “That’s a hard road and a long fucking ride. And from what I’m gathering, meeting Daddy Dearest ain’t gonna be a fucking picnic. You okay with her timid ass seeing you like that? Seeing you in full fucking Flame mode?”

I thought of Maddie and my chest swelled with pride. “She understands me. She understands what I gotta do. She’s stronger than she looks. She can take it.” My finger traced over a knot in the tabletop. “She knows who I am… both sides of me. She’s plenty strong enough.”

AK shook his head and huffed out a laugh. “That she fucking is, brother. A fucking pint-sized warrior.”

“Yeah, with perfect tits and ass. Fucking lottery win with that one, brother,” Viking added, his eyebrows dancing. “Who’d have thought the fucked up scarred one among us would get the hottest bitch? Life’s so fucking unfair.”