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“No, that’s not what I’m here to tell you. I’ve never, for a single moment, considered myself good enough for her. What I am here to tell you is that I’m in love with her and that I’m not just fighting for my club next week. I’m fighting for you, and for all of this.” My head tips toward the center of his village.
“And Ima make sure I don’t lose that fight because I know how much it all means to her, and I can’t bear the thought of her being unhappy.” The chief stares back at me still unimpressed.
“It was me who put the idea forward for a fight, Ivan and Prez were gonna put all our futures on a game of poker, and because of Shaniya, I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn't trust anyone else to determine her future because I know I’ll bleed out in that ring before I let your niece lose what's important to her.”
“Is that why you beat my man like an animal?” her uncle asks with a scowl on his face.
“No. I did that because he came at me with a blade,” I answer, surprised when the wrinkles around the chief’s mouth stretch out into a half-smile.
“I ain’t the kind of man to come here and ask you for permission. Shaniya answered the question, she knows her own mind and she wants us to be together. There ain’t nothing in this world that’s gonna stop that from happening. But your blessing means a lot to her, and so it means something to me too.”
Chief reaches into his pocket and pulls out a pipe, the kind of one you’d expect to find Grimm loading up with weed. The tobacco he lights has its own strange scent, and I don’t know whether to take the silence as he chuffs away at it as a good or bad sign.
“You think you can win the fight?” he asks after a few minutes of deep thinking.
“I’ve never lost one yet.”
“You’re asking me to put my niece’s welfare in your hands, I’m not a fool. I know what you and your men do.”
“And I ain’t sittin’ here pretending that I haven’t done bad things, but that doesn't make us bad people. We protect our family, same way you do. Our club is our legacy, same as this village is yours. We ain't all that different,” I point out.
“And what will you do if I say you can’t marry her?” he asks, creasing his brow.
“Then I’ll marry her anyway. But something tells me you’re not gonna do that.”
Chief looks at me again, and I can tell he’s rattled by my confidence.
“If you can learn to trust me to save your people, you’ll learn to trust me to take care of your niece. I’m sitting here telling you that I’ll worship her every day of her life and that I’ll protect her from anything. A wise man would tell a stubborn man to swallow his pride.” I stand back on my feet. I’ve said all I came here to say, and I leave the old man on the porch to decide which one of those men he wants to be.
Prez has called a church meeting for eleven, so I stop by my cabin to pick up my cut and phone on my way down to meet with the others. There’s no sign of Shaniya, so I figure since I didn’t see her at the reservation, she must be down at the club helping Marilyn with breakfast.
When I pull up at the clubhouse, all hell seems to have broken loose. Maddy, Ella, Grace, Rogue, and Shaniya are all standing blocking the doors to the chapel, where we hold church, and there’s a whole lot of yelling happening.
“What the fuck’s goin’ on?” I rush over to ask Tac who's watching the show. Jessie is pacing in front of the girls like his head is about to blow, while Nyx is doing his best to calmly talk Ella down. I look at Shaniya, and despite looking a little awkward, she stands her ground and refuses me eye contact.
“Whoa, what the hell’s goin’ on?” Prez storms over after he’s pulled up and stood his bike.
“We’re coming to watch the fight,” Maddy replies, acting as a spokeswoman for them all, and the women behind her nod their agreement.
“No, you're not.” Jessie grits his teeth together in frustration, he goes to point a finger at his old lady, but thinks better of it and kicks the chapel porch instead.
“It ain’t safe. The Reservation’s gonna be riddled with Cooper’s men, and I ain’t having you anywhere near it,” Nyx tells Ella.
“I fuckin’ second that,” Prez stands beside his son-in-law united.
“We want to support Troj, and we want to watch the fight,” Maddy speaks up again. “We all took a vote and that's what's been decided…”
“You did what?” Jessie stops pacing, his voice lifting up a few decimals as he stares at his old lady in shock.
“We took a vote and we’re all going,” Maddy tells him firmly.
“I warned y’all this was gonna happen.” Squealer crosses his arms over his chest and sets a satisfied smirk on his face. “Too many old ladies, now they're taking votes and shit. I warned ya,” he chuckles.
“Shut up, Squeal,” Nyx and Brax both turn and yell at him in unison. Brax rubs at the space between his eyes like all this is causing him a headache.
“Gracie, we have to be on our guard the night of the fight, we can’t be worried about protecting you. We already decided we’re putting the clubhouse into lockdown, some boys from Utah are coming in to protect you all.”
“Oh, you’ve decided. In one of your little church meetings,” she bites back. “Well, we’re all free women and you don’t get to make decisions for us. We can protect ourselves.”
