I couldn’t decide their lives. That was on them. I could only pray that someday I would see them again and they would be happy to see me. Walking down the stairs, I spotted several brothers milling around, playing cards, while some drank while cut sluts worked hard to get into their pants. It was just another night in the Golden Skulls motorcycle club.
I found Reaper and Ghost sitting in church talking. Walking in, both men looked up at me and said nothing. Closing the door behind me, I walked over to my seat and sat for the last time. So much had happened in this room. So many decisions, brothers being patched in, life changing things. Things I would never forget.
God this was going to be harder than I thought.
“You’re leaving?” Reaper asked, breaking the silence.
“Yeah.”
“I knew you were acting different when you returned from the bank. I won’t ask you what she wrote. I don’t want to know.”
I wanted so much to tell him what Kitty wrote. To ask him why she would tell me not to trust him. But I couldn’t.
“Are you sure about this, Savage?” Ghost asked.
“Yeah. I have to think about Hailey and Jess. It’s not just me anymore.”
“The club can help you protect them,” Ghost offered.
I shook my head. I wasn’t so sure about that anymore. The seed of doubt had taken root. I couldn’t look at my brothers anymore and trust they had my back. That one line from my sister was enough to make me question every one of them. With that doubt I was no longer a brother. I was a stranger on the outside looking in. That was no way to live.
“When do you leave?”
“Tonight.”
“Where will you go?”
“I haven’t decided yet. Just far away from here.” I lied. I already knew where I was going. Kitty had made sure of that but they didn’t need to know that.
I took off my cut and placed it on the wooden table as Reaper leaned back in his chair and looked at it. “The bylaws state that when a brother leaves the club, they are branded to show their disloyalty. Blood in…blood out and all that shit. I always hated that law. Never saw a reason for it. A brother should be allowed to make up their own minds, decide their own fate.”
“I agree,” Ghost added. “A brother’s decision to stay or leave is something they have to decide. The club cannot do that for him. I don’t want to see you go Savage but I will not persuade you to stay.”
“Neither will I,” Reaper said, getting to his feet. I followed, so did Ghost. When Reaper stuck out his hand, I took it and shook it. “I’m going to miss you, Lucas Keller.” he said, pulling me in for a hug.
Ghost walked around the table, shook my hand and hugged me too. “You take care of yourself.”
Nodding, I replied. “I will.”
Reaper picked up my cut and handed it back to me. “Take it. I can’t accept this. You have my sister with you. It may not mean much to you now but hopefully it will remind you that you still have family out there. And we are family Lucas. We always will be. Watch your back and protect my sister.”
“I will.”
Nothing more was said as I walked out of church for the last time.