Page 5 of The Bonds We Break

Clutch leans forward. “Noted? That’s all you’ve got?”

I shrug. “What do you want me to say? We allowed a fucking ATF agent to become a member of our club. We look like clowns.”

The slap of Clutch’s palm hitting the tabletop echoes through the room. “Snap out of it, brother. The men out there need you to lead. You won’t step up, I will.”

That makes me stare at the man I’ve been friends with my entire life. “You took my sister. Now you want my fucking club too?”

“I love you like a brother, but you’re behaving like a cunt. I don’t know what to do to reach you.”

“Should have thought about that before you dropped twenty grand at the feet of a traitor.”

Clutch stands and pulls up the waistband of his jeans. “I’m giving you two weeks, then I will ask the club to vote on whether you are doing your job or not. If not, I’ll stand. I’ll even hold the position until you feel ready to step back into it. But this”—he gestures around the office with its stack of empty bottles and an overflowing ashtray of cigarette butts—“You gotta get your head on straight.”

He leaves the office and slams the door so hard the partition wall shakes. I see some of the men crowd him when he steps outside. Halo grips his shoulder and shakes hard. Spark sits next to him at the bar and shoulder-checks him in support.

I want that.

I want the camaraderie of my club.

I want my brothers back.

But then I remember I didn’t flake out on them. They letmedown.

Vex taps on the glass, and I wave him in. “For the record, I think this is a really bad fucking idea,” he says, tossing the manilla envelope onto the desk.

I open it, and there it is.

Or theresheis.

I place the tip of my finger against her cheek. Rae Miller is one attractive woman.

Without a doubt, this is Saint’s sister. They have the same blue eyes, but while Saint’s brown hair is wild, Rae’s is more mahogany, smooth, and long.

My dick stirs in my jeans, and I’m pissed at myself for appreciating the shape of her tits, even as I wonder what they’ll feel like wrapped around my cock.

Because Rae Miller is about to become my personal insurance policy. She’s about to become my payment for every betrayal I’ve faced. I’m going to claim my pound of flesh from her body.

And she’s going to let me, if she expects me to keep her brother alive.

I’ll watch as it drives Saint to his breaking point, that I’ve taken the only thing he values outside of Briar.

I’ll watch him crack as he sees Rae turn into a shell of her former self.

“Don’t do this,” Vex says, his eyes on me.

I gave him no choice. I told him I’d take his patch if he didn’t find her for me.

“Send Bates and Niro to me,” I say, gesturing to the door. “And breathe a word about this, and you’ll be kicked out of this club faster than you can blink.”

I see doubt cloud the dark eyes of one of the smartest guys I know. It unnerves me, seeing it there, but it won’t change the course of action I’m about to take.

Vex leaves the office, and within minutes, Niro and Bates arrive together. They are as different as chalk and cheese. Niro with his dark hair, broad frame, and the jagged silver line down his olive-skinned face. And Bates, with short hair, deceptive street fighter’s build, and pretty tan face.

“What do you need, Prez?” Niro asks, taking Clutch’s seat next to me.

I look out to the bar and catch sight of Clutch looking in through the glass. It doesn’t bother me that I see concern etch his features.

“I don’t like the way the vote went over Saint,” I say.