“Not you.” Stopping, he turns and looks at Eli. “You. Let’s go.”
“We already fought,” he shouts at Z, and then pointing at his face. “I still have the bruises to prove it.”
“Shut up, come on.” Zeke demands.
“What are they doing?” I ask Tate as Eli follows him with no questions asked.
“I have no idea.” She shakes her head, nodding to me that we should follow them.
As we approach the group, Eli walks up to where Z stands andstops just short of him.
Z turns, looking at Eli, and then the rest of the club. Before he starts, his eyes scan the crowd until he and I are looking at each other. When he sees me, he smirks, nodding his head once, and then back to Eli.
“You asked me about the money.”
I can feel Eli’s tension as he looks around the room. Of course Z discussed everything with the club; that’s how it works.
“Money?” Tate asks.
“He was on my dad’s payroll; when Dad died, the money didn’t.”
“Oh...” Her eyes widen.
“We all discussed it.” He tells him. “And have come to a consensus that you take that money and take care of my sister.”
“Fuck that!”I shout from the side. “I can take care of myself.”
“The hell you can,” Eli mutters.
The group laughs as Z shakes his head. “You know what I mean.” He glares at me before he looks back at Eli. “You’ve done a lot for the club. You keep it.”
“Okay.”
“And we want to express our gratitude to you.”
“You’re welcome?” Eli awkwardly says. He stands there for a few more minutes as silence fills the gym before he nods his head and turns around to walk back.
“Eli, there’s one more thing.” Z calls, stopping him.
I watch as he turns back around.
“It’s yours if you still want it.” Z tells him as Zeke steps in closer, holding the kutte in his hands.
Eli looks at each of them, “Hell yeah!” He quips out as the bikers surrounding us cheer.
I watch Eli as he pushes his arm through the holes, bringing it across his chest. His eyes land on me, and I move over to him, pressing my lips to his, and can feel the smile.
Pulling back, I gasp as I run my fingers over the new patch on the front.
“What?”he sounds shocked as he glances down where my eyes are glued. “No.” I watch him as he looks up and around. “What?” he looks back at Z, shocked.
“Well,” he laughs. “We haven’t had one for whatever reason. But we all figured you’ve shown that you’d sacrifice everything. That you’d go to prison for the club. That you’d spill blood right here where we’re standing, to protect family. So, Sergeant at Arms seems like the obvious choice.”
Epilogue
“She’s awake.” Is all Spyder has to say before we’re leaving the house and heading to the hospital. I tried to come by and see Low the day I was discharged, but her parents kicked me out. Justifiably, they blame me. They told me I wasn’t allowed to see her, but now that she’s awake it’s no longer their decision.
It’s strange for Eli and me to be able to walk into the hospital hand in hand; even though this was what we were both hoping it would eventually become.
