So this is my welcome home present.
Removing my coat, I stand in place for a long moment, just watching the room. Most of the guys are here, and the ones that aren’t are most likely dead.
Sucks for them, I guess.
“Gentlemen,” I say, and the words annoy me because my throat aches as I talk.
I haven’t talked this much in ten fucking years.
Almost as one, Andrew, James, Jude, Johnathan, and Lucifer, all turn to look at me. Each one has a different expression on their face, and it’s startling to me that I can read the emotions now when all I ever saw for so long were the cold emotionless faces of the guards.
Everyone’s all smiles that reach their eyes, even dear old Lucifer. The man I spent ten long fucking years in a cell for. From what Simon said, I probably would have spent the rest of my life there if they didn’t get the governor in their pocket.
They know I didn’t rat on them, but the fucker in the chair will mostly likely be my baptism back into the family.
Instead of water, I’ll be christened in blood and murder.
John takes three long strides over to me, his arms opening up as he tries to wrap me up in a hug. He stops short though when he looks into my eyes. He knows better than to touch me right now. He spent enough time in a cell.
Nodding his head, he shoves a hand out to me. “Good having you back, brother.”
I force myself to shake his hand then look over to the rest of the guys. After nodding to them all, I focus on Lucifer.
He’s perched on the side of a desk and his face is pensive now. He knows I served a long ass time for him, and I’m betting he’s trying to figure out where we stand with each other.
I’ve done time for this man’s will and sins. I did ten long fucking years in a cage. Ten long years of beatings. Ten years of my sanity slowly slipping into this dead husk that’s now who I am. All that I have left inside me is rage and barely controlled destruction.
My hands clench into fists so tight I can feel my nails threatening to break the skin on my palms.
Ten long fucking years for my crimes, for his crimes. I should have been in the chair, though. I should’ve fucking fried for all the things I’ve done in my life.
But I’m out now.
And like I said earlier, I’ll fucking kill anyone who ever dreams of putting me through the system again.
I should have killed them for even doing it in the first place.
That thought rips through my mind as I stare at the man. The devil. From this distance I won’t miss. He’d be dead in a matter of seconds.
Dead at the hands of his own fucking hellhound.
He holds my stare without flinching or apologizing. He knows what I’ve done for him. He knows the lengths I went through to keep him on the outside.
I’m not sure how long we stare at each other, but the tension in the room grows so thick I can’t fucking stand it. Before I snap and start punching all the shit around me, I decide the unfinished business we have will have to wait until later.
Walking over to him, I pull my gun from its holster and hold it firmly in my hand. “Matt, been a long time.”
“It has,” Lucifer says to me when I call him by his real name. “That gun for me?”
The corners of my lips quirk up and I hold the gun a little longer than necessary, letting him wonder what I plan on doing with it, before I set it down beside him.
I nod my head and the tension in the room instantly evaporates.
And I feel like I fucking belong again.
“You still have my gun as long as you need it,” I say, cementing my place back in the family.
Lucifer nods his head and then visibly relaxes. He even smiles when he stands up from the desk and straightens his jacket. Then he motions to the man that’s strapped to the chair.
His eyes light up with amusement as he says, “John was wanting to castrate him, but I said you had better ideas.”
Chuckling, I turn to look over at Johnathan, giving Lucifer my back. “Still with the dicks, dude? You remind me of my boyfriend in prison, Doug.”
“Oh shit,” I hear Lucifer mutter behind me.
“Dude, you went gay in prison?” James asks me.
“No, you jackass. Your dick rot off yet?” I ask him with a grin.
“No glove, no love. My shit’s good.” He smirks.
Nodding my head, I take in the men surrounding me again. It feels good to be back among my brothers. But at the same time, I can feel the space closing in on me. They’re too fucking close. Too fucking happy. Lucifer and his band of merry fucking men.