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“Oh, really?” Lemon drawled. “How about the fact that you left Rocket to his fate when he came to mine and Effie’s aid?”
“Told you, girl. We don’t risk the entire club for one person. I didn’t want to leave Rocket, but I didn’t have a choice.”
“Until I took the choice away from you. We made a huge-ass mess, then you called in peeps to clean the place. Anyone figured out what happened? Come running to the compound gate accusing Grim Road of murder? Wanting to raze this place to the fucking ground?” When Falcon merely lifted his chin, Lemon continued. “You guys are a fuckin’ family. Fuckin’ act like it! And you.” She moved to stand in front of Falcon and poked him in the chest with her finger. “If you ever leave any of your brothers shot and bleeding in a place not a hundred feet from where you’re standing, I will fuckin’ bury you.”
“I’m makin’ changes to Grim Road,” I said, picking up where Lemon stopped. Mainly because I liked Falcon. I didn’t want him to lose his balls. “From now on, we have each other’s backs. No matter what. We always choose the missions we go on. None of us are under contract because the shit we do isn’t officially sanctioned. We all know the risks. From now on, we run this club like we would a paramilitary business. All requests for our services will go through Crush. He will bring them to me and the vice president. We will decide which ones are worthy and which ones are shit. We’ll also decide which shit missions are important enough for us to risk our lives to complete them. Once that decision is made, we will assign teams to do them. And we will always have each other’s backs. No fuckin’ matter what.”
“That leaves only one question.” Bear looked amused, but that couldn’t be right. Bear didn’t get amused as far as I knew. He was always stoic and all business.
“Yeah?”
“Who’s gonna be vice president? Claw’s been dead over a year and we’ve never discussed it.
“I wasn’t ready,” I admitted. “Claw was my friend. He wasn’t the man I thought he was, but he’d had my back more than a few times. We’ve never operated like the usual MC, so the vacancy hasn’t been a problem. Until now.”
“So? Who’d you have in mind?”
“Actually, Bear, I thought you might be up for the job.”
Bear chuckled. “No fuckin’ way, Rocket. Not me.” He shook his head. “How about we give you some ideas. Let the club work it out.” He spread his hands to indicate everyone in the barn. “You said we should work together more, to have each other’s backs. Well, I think it should start now.”
I nodded. “I like this idea. Seems the perfect way to start things fresh.”
“Good.” Bear grinned. “Then I nominate Lemon.”
* * *
Lemon
I blinked a couple times and replayed Bear’s words back in my head. Then frowned and stuck a finger in my ear to dislodge wherever had stuck there because there was no fucking way I’d heard him right.
“A simple yes or no vote will do,” Bear continued. Assents went around the barn, and I knew I was in trouble. “Those in favor?” A solid “Aye” went up around the barn. “Those opposed?” Dead. Fucking. Silence. Bear stepped forward and held out a vest. To me. “Seems we’ve got ourselves a new vice president.”
I looked around with my mouth open. I was surprised I didn’t catch a few flies. “What the fuck just happened?”
Rocket burst out laughing even as he wrapped me up in a bear hug. “Not sure, sour puss, but I think you just got elected vice president. Unanimously.”
“What if I don’t want it!” I could feel panic taking hold. “I’m not qualified --”
“I’d say you’re more qualified than anyone else in this club to be at our president’s side.” Dom was our sergeant at arms and a good man. He grinned as he stuck out his hand to me. “Rocket is a natural leader. You’re a natural at reading people. You’re young, but you have an insight few people I’ve ever met can claim.” He pointed to the vest I’d taken from Bear reflexively. “Crush and Byte have been keeping us informed of the conversations you and Rocket have had since you’ve been here. We all know your concerns, and we agree with you.”
“So now, you agree not to keep secrets.” I threw my hands up in the air. “Someone’s gettin’ an ass beatin’.”
Rocket, the prick, snorted a laugh. “You can’t have it both ways, honey.”
“Sour puss is more accurate,” Falcon grumbled. “But I agree with Bear.”
I turned to peg Rocket with a look I hoped would burn a hole through his insides and melt his internal organs. “When we get home, I’m gonna cut off your balls.”
“This isn’t my doing,” he said, with a grin. “Though I can’t say I’m opposed. I think we’ll be a good fit and work well together.”
“I’m not talkin’ about that. I’ve decided I’ll make a great vice president. Might make an even better president. You know. After I garrote you with your own intestines.” More than one brother laughed. I wasn’t sure if it was at Rocket’s expense or mine. It better be Rocket’s. “I’m talking about that nickname. I warned you.”
He pulled me in for a kiss. I tried to push him away, but he was just too strong. So I let him kiss me. Might have kissed him back, but probably not.
When he lifted his head, I was breathing heavily, but tried to keep a scowl firmly in place. “I’m sorry, Lemon. It slipped out before I could stop myself.”
“Ain’t promisin’ any of us’ll use it,” Bear said with a grin. “But I can promise you we’ll only use it with affection. We’re serious about this.” His expression sobered. “We need you, Lemon. We’ve lived our lives in the shadows for far too long. You bring sunshine and spice to Grim Road. You’ll keep us focused on what’s important. And that ain’t our secrets. It’s each other. This club. Grim Road. We’re a family. It’s time we started acting like it.”
One by one, each member of Grim Road shook my hand before leaving the barn. When it was just me and Rocket, I looked at the vest Bear had given me. On the back it had Rocket’s property patch. Just like the one I currently had on. But the front had my name on one side, vice president on the other.
“This is serious. No one is making fun of me.”
“Honey, they wouldn’t dare. Not only do they know I’d kill them, they’re more afraid of what you’d do if they did.”
“Well,” I said, shrugging out of the vest I had on and putting on the new one. “I guess I could give it a try. If it doesn’t suit me, I can always try being president.”
“Yeah, baby. Not happenin’.”
I grinned up at him. “Challenge issued. Challenge fucking accepted.”
