“Fuck you,” Hawke said, smiling right along with his brother.
I couldn’t say if the nomad’s demeanor was surprising since I didn’t know him all that well. I’d heard tales from Tripp about antics his younger brother had gotten up to over the years, though, and while he’d mentioned that Hawke was typically a laid-back kind of guy, joking around and even putting his foot in his mouth more times than not, I hadn’t seen any of those sides to him… until right now. Here was a hint of the guy I’d heard about. I’d try not to judge him too harshly going forward, but if he said more derogatory shit about Maddie, I couldn’t promise I wouldn’t have a go at him again.
I didn’t want to bring up a topic that was sure to divide a few of us, but I had to know what was happening with Tag. I opened my mouth to ask the question but didn’t have a chance to give my words life before Kaden made the inquiry.
“Any news about Tag?” His stare was on his ol’ man. For a moment, I thought Marek was gonna brush over or ignore the question, but instead, he appeared annoyed Kaden brought it up.
“Yeah.”
A wash of silence descended over the room, an uneasy tension vibrating around each of us. Marek had given one-word answers to questions before, but this subject warranted more. But I sure as hell wasn’t gonna be the one to ask him to elaborate.
“So, are we good, then?” Cutter asked, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back, the creak of his leather cut against the chair chilling.
“Yeah,” Marek repeated, flicking his eyes downward before they found his son, his expression flat while he waited to see what Kaden would say. I was in the same boat as my friend. I wanted to know as much as he did what was gonna happen with Tag. Was he really a Reaper? Or was he the guy we thought he was, and just the product of a sick and twisted man, having no other ties to our enemy otherwise?
Kaden’s hands were on top of the table, and the moment Marek uttered his response to Cutter, his fingers curled into the palm of his hand.
“What does that mean?” Kaden asked, his question coming out harsh and impatient. “What did you find out about him?”
“We’ll deal with it,” our VP answered, leaning forward and glaring at Kaden. There was so much hostility directed toward him, even I felt uncomfortable.
Kaden turned his attention away from my ol’ man and back to Marek. “I think I have a right to know what’s gonna happen, what the truth is about Tag.”
“You have the right to know?” Marek asked, his brows shooting upward. It was hard to tell if he was genuinely surprised by Kaden’s words or pissed off because of them.
“Yeah, as part of this club, I, like everyone else, have a right to know what’s gonna be done,” he replied, the coloring in his fist paling the longer Marek chose to keep him, and us, in the dark.
“I’d like to know if the guy is really a Reaper,” Brick added, shrugging like it was no big deal either way.
“Me too,” Hawke sneered, his attitude back in full force now.
“In due time you’ll all be brought up to speed,” Marek said, staring at each of us like we were bothering him.
“You just told Cutter—”
“I said… In. Due. Time.” Prez looked pissed, yet again, but it wasn’t like his frown ever disappeared for too long.
Kaden vibrated with anger, but he didn’t speak again, drawing his fist into his lap and pushing away from the table. Marek hadn’t used the gavel to release any of us, so Kaden stayed seated.
“Back to the biggest issue we have right now,” our leader grumbled, his eyes landing on me. I took a deep breath and swallowed nervously. My ol’ man was a force to be reckoned with sometimes, but right then, I didn’t like the way Marek looked at me. “Go get that girl.”
“What?” I heard him but needed him to say it again.
“Go get her,” he repeated.
“Bring her in here?” There was a firm rule that no women were allowed inside Chambers, although I believed there were a couple of times when an exception had been made.
“Of course not. Bring her out to the common area.” Marek didn’t even ask if anyone had anything else to discuss before he slammed the wooden hammer down.
“Just don’t marry her, Linc,” Tripp said, a tilt of a smile ghosting across his face.
“Why would I marry her? I don’t even know her.”
“That doesn’t mean anything in this club.” Ryder laughed, he and several of the older guys all looking toward Marek.
“Shut the fuck up,” Prez growled before rising from his seat. Then he smirked. “I don’t regret it for a second.” I wanted to ask him what he meant, but Kaden flanked me on my right.
“This is bullshit.” He was pissed, and I couldn’t blame him. Everything that happened with Tag was beyond our comprehension. Not only was it confusing, but we’d been rocked off-balance the moment we saw him tied to that table, then having to witness what Cutter did to the guy was outside of what we were used to dealing with.
“I know, man. But what are we gonna do?” I genuinely wanted to know because I was at a loss.
“Dunno.” He rubbed his hand over his jaw several times before dropping his arm to his side. “You better go get her before anything else goes down.” He brushed past me out of Chambers and walked toward some of the others who were at the bar. It wasn’t even nine in the morning, yet Trigger handed several of the men a beer.
I caught up to Ace as he took a seat in the corner. “Where’d you go last night after everything went down?” I expected him to come back here, but he didn’t show up
