Romeo was not heartless. He’s not your typical asshole who was happy to ruin people’s lives and hurt people in the name of money, or fame, or just for damn fun. He had a conscience and right now it was that which was telling him to take my offer.
He wanted out.
And I was going to make it happen with my brothers behind me or not.
“He’s a pretty big profile dealer over in Cali and Nevada. Worked for what sounds like some pretty high profile guys, who don’t believe in just walking away from this kind of job,” I explained. Hoping my new family could find it in them to do this for me because if they said no, I wasn’t sure what my next step would be.
I’d already explained the situation to Op, and he’d confirmed what I suspected—because of the nature of Romeo’s past, this needed to go to a club vote.
“So are we talking about him walking away here?” Leo asked, and I turned to him, taking a deep breath, knowing that the question would come eventually.
“This isn’t him,” I said briefly. “He’s not doing this because it’s fun. He didn’t say, but I suspect someone’s holding something over him keeping him in line. So if he walks away, they’re gonna try and use that against him, and things could get ugly.”
The room was quiet, and I could tell they were beginning to understand my brother’s need to get the hell out of that situation. Nobody walked away that easily after being so closely connected with high profile criminals like Romeo was. They needed to keep him in line, and what’s the best way to do that? Control him with his emotions.
That’s how I knew Romeo hadn’t turned into some monster because monsters have nothing to lose. They aren’t afraid of threats because there was no way you could hurt them.
“Do you feel responsible? Like he wouldn’t be in this position if things had been different,” Op queried, watching me carefully as if he was expecting me to lose my shit at any moment.
“Whether or not I feel like I’m the reason he is where he is doesn’t matter. It’s the fact that he’s my little brother... my blood brother… and my natural instinct is just as strong with him as it is with any of you. Protect.”
Leo tapped a finger on the desk indicating he wanted to speak.
Op nodded at him to go ahead. “I’m going to take a wild guess at the question you’re pussyfooting around,” he stated, rolling his eyes.
He wasn’t wrong, I was trying to avoid asking the question, fearful of my request being rejected. Romeo was a liability to the club, his obvious reputation and connections—most of which he was trying to run from now—could possibly bring heat on us that we didn’t need. These weren’t small time criminals. From the sounds of what Romeo had described, these were the guys who ran things—not their lackeys or a small time addict on the street trying to earn a dollar to feed his habit. No. These were the guys who had the cops on their payroll, the guys who they basedBondvillains on.
“You want us to take him in and protect him in case someone comes looking for him,” Leo stated, hitting the nail directly on the damn head.
I took a deep breath and nodded. “I know it’s a lot to ask, but this is huge for me. I know you think it’s stupid to blame myself for the hole he’s dug himself, but that doesn’t mean I should turn my back on him and let him be destroyed because he made a few shitty choices. He wanted to make something better, and someone stole that from him.”
I could see each of my brothers at the table seriously considering my words. They were hearing me, listening to what I was saying.
“I think we all know a little something about fucking shit up at some point or other and then having the people we give a damn about forgiving us,” I urged, knowing not a damn one of my brothers were fucking perfect, and they all knew it.
I was putting my ass on the line if they said yes, and I brought Romeo to the clubhouse. It meant putting our club in danger—members, old ladies, kids, family. If shit hit the fan and someone decided to come after Romeo, it would be on me.
I just couldn’t leave him out in the dark. I couldn’t sit aside this time and not do anything.
Romeo was right. Last time, I did everything by the book. I followed the word of the law and didn’t step outside of that. Then I wondered why I never got what I wanted. Like fuck, I was a kid, stupid and sheltered from the reality of life. Because in the real world, sometimes you had to push things a little further. Sometimes the law was just a guideline.
Camo leaned forward tapping the table and pulling everyone’s eyes toward him. “Let’s face it, if it were your brother who was in trouble, and you had the resources to protect him, what would you do?”
“Vote, yay,” Op started, without responding to Camo’s question.
The entire table yay’d, and I finally took a breath falling back into my chair as Op called for nay’s, and the room stayed silent.
Op finally turned his eyes back to me and nodded. “Yay’s have it. We’ll have the girls make him up a room. Just know, there will be some rules, and there will be a very strongly enforced no drugs rule right at the top. I don’t know your brother, and I won’t judge him on his past, but every man in this room had to prove their loyalty and respect to the club, and that will be no different for Romeo.”
“I hear you,” I replied, but couldn’t help the smile that grew on my face and the relieved laughter that followed. “Holy shit.”
Optimus dismissed church, and each of my brothers came to pat me on the back before they left the room reminding me that this fight wasn’t about getting my family back. This was about merging the two families.
The club was there for me when I had no one. They offered me a home and a place where I could grow and become the man that I always thought I’d failed to become. The truth was, though, maybe I was meant to be here all along.