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It's how I’d handle it. Make sure everything was on the table as early as possible.
“Sorry to cut you off, Scooter, but I know why you’ve got a problem. Know it’s with me. I was there that night and though I didn’t land any blows or do anything else to harm you, I was one of the ones who held you down. I know you recognized me that day me and Buddy showed at Rider’s woman’s hair salon.”
The room went wired.
“I was plannin’ to hash it out with you over a beer,” Nico added.
“Hash it out with me?” Scott ground out, eyes glittering with anger. Though the reason coming to light, I could not blame him.
He didn’t want to relive this shit publicly. Nobody would blame him. He was busted up pretty badly. He has a scar on his forehead, reminding him of that night. And the way Ella put it one night around the firepot when it was her, Deacon, Rider, and me – he also probably had scars that nobody could see. Me and the brothers were uncomfortable with that discussion, we didn’t talk about shit like that, but she was loaded and rehashing some of the shit from the early days. Though most of the brothers in this club had reminders of our problems with the Jackals, some more visible reminders than others, other than Skip’s asshole remark the other night to him and his subsequent mentioning of it to me, nobody brought it up around him that I knew of.
Scott wasn’t a huge guy; he also wasn’t scrawny. Only an inch or two shorter than me so likely five eleven or six feet tall. He had a six-pack and some muscle. He was a lean pretty boy with big eyes and blond curls. The fact that Nico held him down while others sodomized him on the side of the road, and that Nico was now part of us – it’d be a stumbling block for anybody.
Nico took a breath, then looked to the room. “Fork told me when you brothers have a problem that you’re havin’ trouble working out, you work out your beefs with one another in a boxing ring. I respect that. I’m not down with the way all that shit happened that night. Not down with a lotta the shit I had no choice but to take part in. The fact I’m here and the fact that I helped take down that club speaks to that. Could’ve helped take ‘em down and walked away. But that’s not what I want. I need a club. I need brothers. Most of the brothers I had with them weren’t good ones other than a few that are no longer breathing; the others are the men in this room already joined with me tonight. I like what I see here, what Fork’s told me about it, and want it for myself.”
Scott said nothing. He continued to glare.
Nico went on, “I had to go through the motions for years before this opportunity came up, a way to get my out, after hopin’ for an out that wasn’t gonna be in a coffin or goin’ into WITSEC, which… not an option for me. I ain’t no fuckin’ rat. I’m willin’ to go into the ring with you, Scooter, and do it without raisin’ a hand. I offer you ten minutes doin’ whatever the fuck you want to me to pay me back for my part that night. And do it knowin’ I didn’t wanna be there, didn’t wanna help them, and in no way shape or fuckin’ form thought you bought what they did to you. Ten minutes, take as many shots as you want at me, then we’re brothers.” Nico looked to Deke. “If that’s cool with you, Prez.”
“Scoot?” Deke inquired.
“Set it up,” Scott ground out.
Nico spoke up, “Not so fast.” He turned to Bront. “It was me that put a bullet in you.”
Bront’s expression hardened.
“I put it in your ass to save your ass,” Nico explained, “They wanted it between your eyes. I took a hit to my cred by missin’.”
Bront said nothing. His eyes bounced to Scott’s.
“You want your time in the ring with me, you can have it,” Nico invited. “I’m part of this club, this is what I want. I don’t want any beefs with my new brothers. Let’s work this shit out tonight and then move forward. The way I see it, if it’s cool with Prez, you can have five hits.”
Deke spoke up. “This man here put a lot on the line today, the last few months. But you’re all the ones who gotta be all right with things goin’ forward. Nico, brother, it’s not only about what’s all right by your prez. It’s all of us. Unlike the club you were in, we all matter here, not just those with an extra patch on their leather. Brotherhood members, if you want us to recall the vote for Nico with this new information, giving Scoot and Brontosaurus votes, say the word and replacement votes’ll be cast all the way around.”
