I expected to, and I don’t.
What I feel instead is something much simpler.
Finality.
“Jonas McClane sends his regards,” I say.
And then I nod at my brothers, and we leave.
***
The clubhouse is loud when we get back.
I expected a subdued version of the place, brothers waiting with beers and measured tension. Instead, I walk through the door, and the main room is full. Not just the patched members who were in the Chapel. Will is here, as I expected, anxiously waiting to see how it went. Bear is here, standing by the bar, the way Bear always stands near a room’s exit when he’s waiting for something. Victoria is on the sofa with Millie beside her, which I did not expect and should have, because Millie and Victoria have been moving through this thing together, and I should have known Millie would be here when it ended.
She looks up the second I walk in. Her eyes lock onto mine straight away, tense and searching, like she’s been bracing for bad news and is trying to figure out if this is finally the moment everything breaks open.
I find Will across the room. He’s standing against the far wall, arms loose at his sides, watching me with the patience that is his version of barely held stillness.
I hold his gaze for a second.
Then I nod.
Something shifts in his face.Barely.
Deek, who misses nothing despite appearing to observe nothing, starts clapping. Slow at first, then faster, then Koa joins in, and Mace after him, and within about four seconds the whole room is slow-clapping, brothers and women both, Ro included, standing on the bar step to get some height, Marley laughing into her hand beside Nitro.
Ghost comes in behind me and stops in the doorway, looking mildly horrified by the noise level, which is exactly the reaction I predicted from Ghost, and I find it briefly, exhaustingly satisfying.
I let it run for a moment, then raise a hand, and the room finds its way back to itself.
“Not done yet,” I say. “File goes at midnight. We wait.”
“Can we wait with drinks?” Deek calls out.
“Jesus, Deek, anyone would think you’re an alcoholic,” Bear grumbles.
“I’m just asking. It’s a reasonable—”
“Fuck yeah,” I chime, because we’ve earned it and because the alternative is standing here in tense silence for hours, and that isnothow this club operates. “We can wait with drinks.” I slide the poker chip in my pocket, leave my hand there, and take one long, slow breath that goes further down than the ones I’ve been taking for the last several weeks.
Now…we wait.
Chapter Twenty-Six
MILLIE
Waiting hits different once Sin gets back. Before, it just felt endless. Now there’s something underneath it, direction, tension, something solid enough to grab onto instead of just drowning in it.
The room is warm, drinks are everywhere, and the television mumbles away in the corner while absolutely nobody pays attention to it.
The clubhouse has that feeling it gets sometimes, where the whole place seems to pulse with its own kind of life, packed with noise, movement, and people who’ve built something real together.
I’m at the bar when Will steps up next to me. He doesn’t say anything immediately, just moves in beside me, close enough that his arm presses against mine, and for a moment we stand here, looking out at the room.
Ro is telling a story to Koa and Mace that seems to involve significant physical demonstration. Bear has claimed the armchair in the corner and looks profoundly at peace. Ghost is in his customary position, slightly apart from everyone, except that Sage is sitting cross-legged on the floor beside his chair with a coffee and a phone. She has apparently decided this is where she sits now, and Ghost has apparently decided he’s done arguing about it.
“How did it go?” I ask.
