My eyes are heavy. I know I need to get up, but honestly, I’ve never dreaded a day more in my life.
Who knows what today will bring?
Shit with the Baron.
News about Zero.
More drama with Prinie.
I’m not sure I want any of it.
I think of Zero and how he saved my ass four years ago. He brought me into this club without a second’s hesitation. Took me under his wing. Gave me a life to fight for—a family to fight for. I owe him every-fucking-thing.
I’d prospected in officially as part of the club a couple of months ago. The brothers all thought I was a loose cannon, but Zero and Frenzy saw something in me. It seems the Walker’s liked taking in stray mutts. I was trying to find my feet, but my addiction kept rearing its ugly head.
The club girls were off-limits to me. The guys knew I could go too far, and the women were more than just whores to them and were treated with respect.
So, I found my fix in other ways, but it was starting to get out of hand, and Zero knew it. It was, after all, the reason he took me in. His project, even though he kept saying I wasn’t, I knew I was. He kept telling me once I’d shown restraint, he’d take me to the Chamber.
I had no fucking clue what that even meant.
All I knew is that it was some kind of reward.
And my brothers, though wary, treated me with respect, which was more than I had ever gotten in my life before. Even though I was a prospect and was made to do all the shitty crap around the club, they still treated me with respect above all else. That’s what let me know I was meant to be here.
So, after four months of being on my best behavior around my brothers, Zero told me it was time. “I have something for you. Remember I told you about the Chamber?”
I nodded. “Yeah?”
“Come with me.” Zero reached out, grabbing my cut, and yanking me along with him. All the brothers grinned as we walked. I had no idea what was in store for me.
As we passed Frenzy, he dipped his head. “Welcome to the club, officially, Talon,” Frenzy grunted out as we walked into the Chapel, a place I was yet to enter. I was nervous because only patched members were allowed to enter this inner sanctum of the club—church is revered by the brothers. So, I had no idea what any of this meant.
“You’re tense as nun’s cunt. Loosen up, Talon,” Zero chuckled. He slapped my back, pulling on the club logo on the wall, which was made of steel. He rotated it to the right, then left, then right again, and the floor slid open, revealing a hidden staircase. My eyes widened, feeling like this was some fucking doorway to ‘Hogwarts’ or some other shit.
“If you start chanting, or put on a fucking cloak, I’m outta here,” I mocked, with a slight edge of seriousness in my undertone.
Zero chuckled. “Why does everyone think this looks fucking mystical. Nah, brother, it’s so the cops don’t find it.”
I raised my brow.
Now I was intrigued.
We traipsed down the stairs, the smell hit me like a damn brick wall, each step I took the smell became stronger and stronger.
“This is the Chamber, Talon. Down here…” he waved his hand around, “… this is where we’re going to let YOU be in charge. Let YOU get your frustrations out on the men that WE need to be taken care of. We’ve never had someone in charge down here before, and especially not a prospect, so we are putting a lot of trust in you, but we think this will be a good outlet for you.”
I halt halfway down the stairs. “This is a room where I can let my frustrations out. Deal with my addiction?”
Zero nods. “Yes, and I will be here, helping you to control your urge. To manage it, so you finish them in here only. Out there in the real world, you will control yourself. But down here… down here, you can unleash.” He takes another couple of steps further down into this pit that could very well be my salvation. “A wraith is a man who comes in, kills, then leaves without a trace. So, that’s what we will provide for you here. You come in, you do what you need to do, and then… you leave. We’ll clean the mess… you don’t have any more to do with it.”
Stopping our descent again, I look Zero in the eyes. “You would really do this… for me?”
He nods. “We’re brothers. You need an outlet. We have assholes who fuck with the club that need to be dealt with. You can do whatever you want to them, so we get answers or whatever we need, then we clean the mess. Win-fucking-win.”
“What do you get out of this?”
He grips my shoulder. “I get to help a friend.”
Friend? That word sounds weird, I don’t think I’ve ever had a friend before.
“Deal.”
Zero smiled. “All right, let’s take you to your first victim, then shall we… Wraith?”
Yeah, Zero saved me that day, and now I’m the asshole who can’t save him when the time comes down to it. Regret swarms my body as I lay in my bed, but honestly, I can’t stay here all day. I really wish I could, but I am the president—or interim president—so I need to get my ass out
