“Out,” High growled.
“Jesus, shit, seriously?” Arlo asked.
“I lost a good woman, by a miracle, got her back,” High returned. “I’m not gonna lose another one in a way I’ll never get her back.”
“Yeah, and Millie’s always been tight with Keely, both of them back, they’ll rebuild that, and she hears you took your fists to Hound because of this, you’ll find the pussy in your bed goin’ cold,” Arlo snarled.
High sat back in his chair, unperturbed, muttering, “And there’s that.”
Big Petey swallowed a chuckle. Hop hid his smile by swiping his thumb and forefinger across his mustache.
But High wasn’t done.
“It was me who saw them together and yeah, I was pissed. But what Hound just said, Keely also told me. She loves him. He makes her happy. This won’t make her happy in a way any man hurts her man, she won’t ever forget it and she said that to me straight.” High looked to Hound. “Can’t say I still don’t wish that, when you found it, it wasn’t her. Can say, you found what you need in each other, you’re my brother and she’s one of the best women I’ve ever met, so I guess I found my way to wanting it for the both of you. But there’s something else she said that’s straight-up true. We owe you both this. You already earned it, not up to me to make you put more work into having it.”
Hound did another chin dip to High.
High jerked up his chin in return.
Arlo opened his mouth but Tack was done.
“Each man has said their piece. We’re doin’ this so it can get done,” Tack declared. “Shy, go tell Chill to push the furniture back in the common room.”
“You didn’t say if you’re in or out, Tack,” Shy noted.
Tack again looked at Hound.
Tack then waited one beat that led into five.
Finally, he said, “He was the best of us.”
Hound felt the sudden need to swallow but fought it back.
“And you did the worst . . . for him and for us,” Tack continued.
Hound stood against the wall and held his brother’s stare.
“I’m torn, brother,” Tack said quietly.
“Struggled with this for years because of Black. Struggling with it now, I’m makin’ you feel just that,” Hound replied.
Tack nodded his head.
“He’d want her happy,” Tack whispered.
“That wasn’t what got me there,” Hound told him. “Makin’ her happy did that.”
“Out,” Tack said abruptly.
Dog blew out a breath.
Arlo made a noise in his throat.
Shy got up from his chair, his mouth twitching. He clapped a hand on Tack’s shoulder and strolled from the room.
“You can change your mind, Dog,” Pete noted.
“Arlo stands for the brothers,” Dog stated immediately and turned his gaze to Hound. “I’ll stand for Black.”
Hound yet again dipped his chin, this time to Dog.
Chairs were pushed back.
Boz approached at his side.
Hound looked to him.
“It won’t happen, but they get a few good ones in, rattle me, I take a knee, you keep Brick and Rush back,” Hound ordered.
Boz nodded.
Hound started to move but stopped when Boz called his name.
He returned his gaze to his brother.
“Tack was wrong,” Boz said.
“About what?” Hound asked.
“Black wasn’t the best of us.”
Hound stood silent, now feeling his throat itch.
“You are,” Boz finished.
His brother gave him that.
And then he left the room.
Arlo, raring to go, was the first one up.
Hound had rough rope tied around his waist and also wound around his wrist, securing it to the small of his back.
Even so, for that shit Arlo spewed about Hound taking out Black’s killer to earn himself Keely’s pussy, Hound ducked the first punch then put all his power in his left fist and dealt Arlo a crushing blow to the cheekbone, quickly spun and caught him with the toe of his boot in Arlo’s kidneys.
Arlo spluttered, coughed, staggered to the side, but unfortunately this just served to piss him off even more, so he came back at Hound with everything he had.
Hound knew how to box, trained in a boxing gym, but he wasn’t a boxer. He wasn’t even a fighter.
He was a brawler and his hand tied behind his back fucked with his momentum and coordination. It wasn’t about him not being able to use that fist to throw a punch. It was that he couldn’t use it to grab hold, shove, toss, wrestle or use that entire side to stay balanced.
Arlo had opened up his left eyebrow and the right side of his bottom lip before some commotion happened among the men that circled them, catching Hound’s attention, but not Arlo’s, and when Hound heard Dutch shout, “Take your hands off me, man!” he made the mistake of looking toward his boy’s voice.
Arlo clocked him, sending him lurching, white invading his vision from the blow mingling with the red that was blood seeping into his eye, and to focus on regaining concentration, he automatically took a knee.
“Piss off, man! Stand back!” Hound heard Dutch yelling. “Fuckin’ stand back!”
“You are not in this, son,” Tack said low as Hound felt a hand land on his shoulder.
He looked up, blinked against the white that was retreating, and the blood that was not, and saw Jag there staring down at him, the muscle running up his cheek flexing.
“I’m not in this? I’m not fuckin’ in this?” Dutch asked, sounding enraged.
“This is between the brothers and you are not yet a brother,” Arlo stated.
“This is about my father and my mother and my dad. And I am my father and my mother but most of all, I’m my dad.”
Christ, that felt better than what Boz had said earlier.
By a lot.
“So I’m as Chaos as you can get, Arlo,” Dutch finished.
“Take your brother and go,” Hound whispered to Jag.
Jag leaned deep and put his face in Hound’s.
“No,” he replied.
Then he crouched and Hound felt him at the rope at the side of his waist. He knew Jag had slid in a blade and cut through because it immediately came loose, and Jag stood.
“We got problems with you bein’ a prospect, you don’t get your ass out and now,” Arlo declared.
Jagger pulled Hound to his feet and the rope fell to the floor.
When Jag got him there, he immediately moved to stand beside his brother, blocking Arlo from Hound.
“This was decided by the brothers,” Tack explained. “This is how it’s done. You need to learn this. It’s important. And you don’t interfere with it, as a recruit, or as a brother.”
“We speak for our father,” Jagger stated.
“That’s not the way it goes, son,” Tack said quietly.
“We speak for our mother,” Jagger went on.
“That’s definitely not the way it fuckin’ goes,” Arlo bit off.
“Hound understands this and he wants it,” Tack said. “He even needs it, men. So you need to stand down and let him have it.”
The boys did not stand down.
“Fair fight,” Dutch ground out.
“Dutch—” Hop entered the conversation but he didn’t get far.
“Fair fight. He’s fightin’ for our mother. He’s fighting for his place in our family. He’s fightin’ to stay solid with his brothers. If he’s fighting for shit that means that much, shit that means everything, it should be fair fight,” Dutch clipped. “You gotta make him raise fists, he feels he needs to take his beating, let him stand free and fight fair.”
“I don’t give a shit how he fights,” Arlo snapped. “What I give a shit about right now is two recruits gettin’ up in my face, in brother business, when they’re not welcome. You do as you’re told, assholes, or I’ll see to it you don’t earn your goddamned pat
ch.”
At that, Hound pushed through Dutch and Jag, taking Arlo by surprise, so he was able to get his fingers wrapped around Arlo’s throat.
Arlo pushed back, tried to pull from Hound’s grip, but Hound just yanked him so they were nose to nose and he growled, “You’re witnessing loyalty, motherfucker, something I’m thinkin’ is foreign to you. We’ll talk about that later. Now . . .” he shoved him off and lifted his fists, “fight.”
“Back up,” Hound heard Tack order Dutch and Jag.
He felt them all retreat to the circle.
On a roar, Arlo came at him.
And with a roar, Hound met him.
It was brutal and there was a lot behind it on both sides, and none of it had to do with Black.
But all of it had to do with what Hound feared burned deep in Arlo.
Guilt.
And shame.
So when Shy called out, “Time!” they didn’t stop.
It took Dutch, Jag, Joke and Hop pulling Hound back, and High, Tack and Boz pulling Arlo back.
“We’re not done,” Arlo hissed, his focus still locked on Hound, even if now he also had blood in his eyes, covering his teeth and running down his chin.
“No we are not,” Hound agreed, spit blood from his own mouth at the floor at Arlo’s feet and turned his attention to Dog, shrugging off the men who held him. “You’re up, brother.”
“Shit,” Dutch bit off.
“Just Dog, that’s it, then it’s done,” Boz said under his breath to his boys.
Dog came at him but the fury was not there.
Hound still let Dog have him.
Because Dog was fighting for Black.
Reflex and knowing Dutch and Jag were watching made him duck, lift his arms to protect his face, twist to glance off blows to the body, but he took from Dog what Dog was willing to give, for Black, each fist that landed leading Hound to clean and clear.
And Keely.
“Goddamn it, Hound! Fight!” Jagger thundered.
Right after that came, it was Dog that had his attention turned when another commotion started outside the circle, and Hound heard Speck mutter, “Jesus, shit, you gotta be kidding me. This keeps up, for a ten-minute fight, we’ll be here all night.”
“You do not get in this,” Tack growled.
“Fuck me,” Hop muttered irately.
Shy chuckled.
Dog turned. Hound turned.
Then both shifted back when suddenly a line of women stood between them.
Tyra, Tabby, Lanie, Carissa, Millie, Rosalie and Bev.
Hound looked toward the doors, but all he saw was Elvira scooting her round ass onto a barstool.
Thank fuck, no Keely.
“Reckon tomorrow we should just all come in and paint the Compound pink then go have our balls whacked off,” Arlo groused.
Tack came to stand by Dog, his eyes locked on his woman.
“This, especially this, Red, you do not get to be in this,” he declared, looking so seriously fucking pissed, Hound moved closer to Tyra’s back.
Dog moved that way too, at her front.
“We’re here for Keely,” Tyra returned.
“Keely does not get to be in this either,” Tack fired back.
“Excuse me, but she’s clearly coming back to the fold, which means she’s a sister even more than she already was a sister and as such, her other sisters have to have her back,” Tyra retorted.
Tack looked at his daughter and said, “You definitely know better than to pull this shit.”
From the back, Hound saw Tabby shrug.
“You can direct all communication to me since we decided that I’m the spokesperson for our group,” Tyra put in and got her husband’s narrowed eyes.
“I don’t know whether I’m gonna laugh or my head’s gonna fuckin’ explode,” High muttered, and Hound looked to him to see him scowling at Millie.
Tack’s voice getting louder regained Hound’s attention. “How many fucking times do I have to tell you to keep your nose outta brother shit?”
“Since Bev told us Hound and Keely were together and we would need to prepare for this exact thing happening,” Tyra flung her arm toward the floor, “it occurred to us this was actually sister shit. And Keely was not happy this might go down and the last thing the Club needs right now is dissension, so we’re here to intervene.”
Tack’s voice was now dangerously quiet. “Since Bev told you about Hound and Keely?”
Tyra tossed her hair. “Yes.”
“How long have you known?” Tack asked.
“Awhile,” Tyra answered unhesitatingly.
Now Tack was shouting. “And you didn’t tell me that shit?”
Tyra leaned her old man’s way and shoveled his shit right back at him. “We sisters have some stuff that’s just between us too.”
Everyone lost Tack’s face seeing as he bent his head so far back to look at the ceiling, all they had was a view of his throat and the underside of his jaw. They also saw his chest expand as he took in a big breath.
Hound felt for the man.
He’d fallen for Keely when she was Black’s. Then, it was controllable. She was untouchable.
He’d never fall for Tyra. She was easy to look at, and with her attitude, probably an amazing lay.
But with that attitude, she was also a serious pain in Tack’s ass.
Tack totally got off on it (for the most part, barring times like these).
Hound would put up with it for about a minute before he’d get shot of her even before he got all he ever wanted in an old lady.
Finally, Tack looked back at his woman. “Right, get out.”
“Kane—” she began.
Tack cut her off. “This is as much Hound’s choice as Dog’s. He took on Arlo, he’s gotta finish with Dog and then it’s done. But it’s gonna get done with you takin’ your ass and your girls’ asses and waiting outside.”
Tyra sounded confused. “You’re not all gonna beat him up?”
“I’m not explaining it further,” Tack retorted. “I’m tellin’ you, Dog’s got about two minutes left of his go and then it’s done and you and your girls are out until it’s over.”
“But—” she tried.
“Out, woman,” Tack growled.
There was a long beat of nothing.
Then Tyra said, “Well, since it’s only Dog left, we’ll go.”
Christ, what was going down was going down and Hound was about to start laughing.
He beat that back, looked to Dog, saw Dog was beating his back so they both turned their eyes to their boots.
He lifted his when he felt fingers wrap around his forearm and he saw Bev had hold of him.
“Good luck, honey,” she said softly.
Jesus, did Bev just call him “honey?”
“Keely’s waiting outside,” she finished.
Hound did a very slow blink.
“Say what?” he asked.
“She refused to come in. Said this was your gig and she’d come in after it was over,” Bev explained.
His woman had been out of the fold longer than all of these bitches (except Bev, and obviously Tabby) had been in it, and she still was more old lady than the lot of them.
“You think maybe you should have followed her lead?” he asked.
Bev shrugged.
Hound shook his head.
Bev gave him a thumb’s up, turned tail, and for once without even a glance at Boz, followed behind Carissa, the door closing them off.
“Give me a shot of that top shelf tequila, boo.”
All eyes turned to Elvira, still on her stool and ordering a drink from Rush, who was behind the bar, like she wasn’t in a motorcycle club compound but instead just in a club.
“I know you know that you, especially, should not have your ass right there,” Tack declared to Elvira on a low rumble.
“I do know this, big man,” Elvira replied. “We had a powwow and during that powwow I told all your bitches they should be now
here near here but they wouldn’t listen to me. So I’m packin’ my Taser in case one of you badasses lost your mind, as, just my opinion, and I’ll repeat, not that anyone has listened so far, they were way outta line. Told ’em to let the brothers sort it out among the brothers. It’d go a lot faster, be a lot less painful and not get their asses in a sling on the home front. They were determined to back up Keely. My job is to back them up even if they’re doin’ stupid-ass shit that in turn might get me uninvited to Chaos hog roasts for the rest of eternity. And that right there is proof of my dedication to the sisterhood, because you boys can roast a mean hog. So here I am,” she motioned to her ass on the stool by drawing both hands out down low at her sides, “backin’ them up.”
“No need for you to be here anymore, Vira,” Joker pointed out.
“I like fights,” she returned, thought about it and then added, “In fact, I like man on man action on the whole.”
Jesus.
“The two minutes left of this fight, you’re gonna hafta miss,” Tack growled.
Elvira rolled her eyes, but unlike the other women, was wise enough to know when she wasn’t wanted. Therefore, she didn’t wait very long before she gracefully extended one leg down until her foot in its high heel hit the floor.
She came off the stool and sashayed her way to the door, saying, “I like fights but I’m no nursemaid, so just hope you didn’t piss all those bitches off with this caveman shit or you’re cleanin’ up your own blood.”
With that, the door closed behind her.
Tack turned to Hound and Dog in the circle.
Hound looked to Dog.
Dog looked to Hound.
Dog lifted up both shoulders and said, “I just don’t have it in me anymore, brother.”
Hound nodded.
He got that.
But in the next instant, he rushed Arlo, got him by the throat again and took him, Arlo’s feet skidding and sliding, his fingers wrapped around Hound’s forearm, toward the bar.
Big Petey, Shy and Snap jumped out of the way as Hound slammed Arlo’s back against the bar, lifting him by his throat off his feet, curling him over the bar and bending into him.
Wild Like the Wind Page 38