hear the man who was speaking before swallowing hard.
“Is that clear?” Cross asks again, his voice a few shades darker and even more menacing, if that’s even possible.
“Fine, we do it your way,” the man finally says. I don’t hear honest agreement in his voice and I think he’s just saying that, but clearly Cross is willing to take him at his word, because they start moving around in there.
I jog the rest of the way down the hallway and out of sight of the door. The last thing I need is to be caught eavesdropping on Cross’ private meeting right now. The man sounds pissed off as all hell. Livid.
“Colt? What are you doing here?” Ace asks behind my back, startling me.
When I turn, Cross is a few paces behind him, piercing me with his dark eyes so completely, I’m certain he knows I was listening in to his meeting. I’m the one swallowing hard.
“I was just…I was gonna ask if I can…if I can take the rest of the night off and go off to—”
“Everyone stays here tonight,” Cross says curtly. “And for the next couple of days. So don’t even bother asking again.”
An older man passes him, striding away from us without a backward glance. He must be the one who was arguing with Cross—the Knights’ president. Dumb old fuck up! I could be riding home with Brenda’s arms around my waist right now if they hadn’t fucked up last night. Mitch would still be alive if they hadn’t fucked up.
“Understood, Prez,” I say, the words sticking in my throat.
But it is what it is. At least I got to spend one night with Brenda. Hopefully, that memory will last me through whatever the fuck Cross has planned for us now. It’ll have to.
Night has fallen outside, taking the edge off the day’s heat but not drastically. Blaze just stared at me with his mouth open when I told him what I’d done and what I overheard. He was shaking his head throughout, asking no questions, making no comments.
“I don’t even know what to say,” was all he said once I was done, gave me a death stare and another shake of the head, then left me alone by the bikes where we were having this conversation to go into the building.
Most of the brothers are outside too, enjoying the coolness of the evening and not much else, it seems. No one’s really talking beyond exchanging a grumbled word or two. Eagle’s the most animated of everyone gathered here, explaining something—probably what happened to Mitch—to a group at the other edge of the building. I can’t hear his words, but I can see he’s agitated. We all are. Losing a brother is a hard thing, and it doesn’t get easier fast. It could’ve been any one of us.
And on top of it, I might just lose my best friend with all this shit I’m pulling. But he knows me, he knows I think with my dick, he should be used to it by now.
But there’s a limit to everything. I think I’m really close to it with Cross and I think Blaze is thinking the same thing.
“Everyone inside!” Ace yells from the open doorway to the bunker. “Prez wants to talk to us all.”
All conversations stop as the brothers start filing back into the cavernous main room of the bunker. Even Eagle, who was in the middle of a very heated discussion, stopped waving his arms around and ceased talking when Ace spoke. I’m farthest from the door, so I let the rest of them enter. It’s probably a fool’s hope, but I’m still hoping very much that this call to assemble is so Cross can tell us we’ll be riding home now.
“That’s everyone!” Ace yells after I enter the building. He looks at me and comes to stand at my left, but doesn’t say anything.
Cross is standing on a crate today, so he’s clearly visible in the sea of my brothers gathered in the room. Joe is standing by the side of Cross’ crate, his arm bandaged up from his wrist to his shoulder. He has a dazed look on his face like he doesn’t really know where he is. Doc is by his side, looking at him with concern etched into his face. Hopefully, he gave him something strong enough to dull not just the physical pain but the mind’s pain too. I can’t imagine what I’d do if Blaze died. I don’t want to