He stopped, turned and said, “Yeah.”
Walking over to him, I gathered him in my arms, knowing I was hugging my best friend for the last time. “Thank you. For everything, brother.”
He didn’t say anything as he hugged me back.
When he released me, I couldn’t look at him as he walked out the back door. If I did, I would stay. But I couldn’t. Not this time. He was right. I had Ari and Becca. They needed me more than the club did.
It was a hard pill to swallow.
From the moment I put on the Golden Skulls cut, I thought I would spend the rest of my life devoted to a club I believed in. Spend my days with brothers I would give my life for.
Funny how life changed.
Now, all I could think about was my woman and daughter. My unborn child I desperately wanted to meet. I’d already lost so much because of this club. My parents, my brother Malachi, and Becca’s mother, Mia. For a short time, I even thought I had lost my Ari.
I couldn’t do this anymore.
I was married. Had a wife and daughter.
It was time for me to try something new.
To become a family man.
The sounds of motorcycles let me know that my team had arrived. I didn’t know what I was going to tell them. How could I even explain everything when I was still having a hard time understanding myself?
Walking back over to the couch, I sat as everything King and Reaper said rattled around in my head. I had so many questions that I needed answers to, but in the end, those answers wouldn’t make a difference. They wouldn’t change my mind.
I knew what I was going to do.
As the door opened and they walked in, I looked at each of them, wondering what they would do. Would they stay? Would they leave like me? Part of me wanted to order them to leave, but like King and Reaper said, this was one decision each of us had to make on our own.
This was about survival.
“Take a seat boys. We need to talk.”
It didn’t take me long to lay it all out on the line. Though none of them said a word as I explained everything, they all took it with a grain of salt. However, when I told them what I was going to do, that’s when they started talking.
“Are you serious?” my brother Shadow asked, looking from me to the team, who were all sitting stoically, some looking at the floor.
“Yes. Tonight, I am taking my daughter and wife out of here. I won’t be coming back.”
“What about us?” Viper asked.
“The choice is yours. You can leave or stay and fight.”
Bayou sighed. “Jesus Ghost. It’s not that easy. For some of us, this club is all we have. How can you just walk away?”
“I don’t have a choice, Bayou. My wife is pregnant. I have a daughter who has already lost one parent. They need me more.”
“I’m staying,” Massacre said quietly. His voice horse. Tension and sorrow were clear on his face. He was no longer the fun-loving comedian who lived to poke fun at his brother. He was half a man now. Grief rolled off him in waves. “When Reggie died, so did my allegiance to the Skulls. As long as Gio is here, I will be too. Reggie always talked about the family and what they meant to him. He hated being away from them. I can’t walk away from Gio if shit is about to hit the fan. If anything happens to him, my mother will kill me. If we survive tomorrow, I will be leaving with Gio. I’m going home where I belong.”
“I’m staying,” Viper said.
“Me too,” Bayou nodded, adding, “I got nothing better to do anyway.
I looked at my baby brother, Ezekiel and asked, “What about you, Zeke?”
When he looked up at me, I knew.