Page 49 of Healed

In the space of a few months, he had given these lads a purpose, got them off the streets, away from the drugs, and was showing them a different way of life.

Then we had our patched members—Divorce, Monster, James, Liam, Greg, Chicken, Rooster, Tools and Sunshine. Add those to our prospects, Mike, Pivot and Darwin, plus our hang-arounds, and we were doing alright for ourselves.

We also had a mole in prison, Bambi, who provided intel from the inside. He worked alongside a nomad—a member who didn’t belong to one charter—Waltzer.

“Do we know who the new president is?” Liam asked. “After Nico, I mean.”

“Well, Sam is the vice,” Dante began, only for me to scoff.

“Something to say, Vienna?” he asked, his lips twisting in amusement.

“He’s DOS as well as far as I’m concerned. That little bastard was the one who gave me this,” I said, pointing to the stitched-up wound on my head.

“In that case, no,” Dante shrugged. “No idea who the next president will be.”

“So this is going to cause a power vacuum,” Riley said.

“Here’s hoping it wipes the bastards out altogether,” Ant growled.

Dante laughed.

“Wishful thinking, but I’ll drink to that. Look, there’s a lot of unknowns, especially taking out the president and the vice in one hit, but the Riders go against everything we stand for as bikers. We’ll deal with them and then we’ll see what we’re up against. You’ve all got my number,” he said, looking at the presidents of the other charters. “You let me know what the fallout is, and it’ll be handled.”

“So what are the orders?” Tom-Cat asked.

“We do what we need to do,” I shrugged.

“Typical,” Chicken scoffed.

“Oh, look, it pipes up again,” I snapped back. “Why is it always you with the problem?”

“Why is it our wars always come from the women we’re fucking?”

“Careful,” I warned. “I’m not fucking her.”

“So what are we doing this for then?”

“We’re doing it because there’s a woman out there fearing for her fucking life,” I said, my voice low and dangerous. “We’re doing it because that same woman is relying on us for protection. That same woman we’re all fairly certain has spent years being abused, drugged, tortured and locked up on a daily fucking basis. That’s why we’re fucking doing it. And after this meeting, I’ve got to go back out there and reassure her that we’re capable of keeping her safe. So I suggest you either contribute some ideas, or you keep your fucking mouth shut before you end up like our friend Pivot here.”

I looked at Pivot, only to burst out laughing when I saw the black sunglasses on his face.

“I had to offer the poor lad a bit of modesty,” Ant chuckled. “You’ve outdone yourself with that cock, lad.”

“Thank you,” I beamed. “I’m often complimented on my cock. Would you like to see it for yourself?”

I went to stand up, my hands flying to the zipper on my trousers, only for Dante to grab my cut and yank me back down.

“Stay focused,” he barked at me.

“Right. Focused. Got it.”

“As Vienna was saying,” Dante began. “You do what you need to do. In Leeds, we’re all on board with this. If there are no Riders left in the city by the end of it, so be it. But I’m not asking the rest of the charters to enter into war if you can avoid it. Use whatever resources you have. Moles, rats, fights, scams—you name it, you use it. Kidnap their women, burn their homes, destroy their businesses. It doesn’t matter. There will be no consequences to come from me.”

“So I guess fuck what the rest of us think?” Chicken scoffed.

“Did I say that?” Dante replied coolly. “The floor is yours, Chicken. We all have a voice here. But I’d caution you to use that voice well, and not just to air grievances.”

“I just don’t see the point. The last war we got into was over Rachel, and look how that turned out. We lost Zach, Crash, and even Kitty followed not long afterwards.”