Ruin and Rise(12)

Okay, now the red flags and the fucking sirens were going off in Shakes. Had something gone down with the club and Zeke? It was the only logical explanation as to why they wanted Shakes here.

He followed Nerd into the club; the only people inside the main part of the bar area were a few prospects and some club whores. They made their way toward the meeting room, and being back in here after all this time, actually being here because there was some kind of business going down had Shakes feeling, even if only for a moment, that he was back home with his brothers.

He stepped into the meeting room, saw all the guys sitting around the table, and stopped. Demon was at the head of the table, Joker and Steel on either side of him, and Nerd moved past him to take his place next to Steel. Striker looked like he was all kinds of fucked up on booze and joints already. Weasel and Wrath sat next to Joker, and the other guys all waited along the walls for whatever storm was about to pass through.

“Take a seat, man,” Demon said and gestured for Shakes to sit across from him at the other end of the table. Having Shakes here in the meeting room, because he wasn’t patched anymore, was not like the club. That had more flags being raised within Shakes.

Shakes sat down and leaned back in the chair. For a second, no one spoke, fuck, no one even breathed.

“You have any idea why we called you here?” Demon asked.

“About Zeke?” Shakes said without hesitation.

Demon didn’t answer right away, but then he shook his head. “Nah, man, that’s not why, but I won’t lie and say he didn’t come here asking for the club to take you back.”

That had Shakes rearing his head back, shock resonating through him. “What?”

Demon nodded. “He wanted you back in the club because he wants things right with Daniella, and he thinks making us bring you back in the club will put him in her good graces.”

Shakes didn’t respond, didn’t know what to say.

Demon leaned forward and placed his elbows on the table. “Let’s get one thing straight, I don’t fucking care about Zeke getting in good with his kid. I don’t accept demands from sociopaths. I don’t make deals or take commands from guys that have put this club and the people I care about in danger.” There was a moment of silence, but Shakes didn’t respond.

He agreed with his former President, agreed that taking demands and shit from anyone only made the club look weak. “I’d never ask Zeke or Daniella to do that for me. I know what I did, accept why I did it, and have come to the understanding that me loving Daniella is what my life is about. I loved all of you, still do. You’re still my family, still my brothers. I know putting Deanna and your kid in danger with Zeke sealed my fate, and I know that all of you would have done the same for your old ladies, would have forgotten about everyone else except them, and the end result would have been the same for each of you.

No one spoke, but they all watched him.

“I want you to know that you getting booted out wasn’t because we wanted you out of the club,” Joker said. “It was about the fact we have rules set in place for this MC.”

Shakes nodded. “I know, I knew those rules when I took Daniella and left, and I accepted it the moment the ruling was brought down.”

“We couldn’t just forget about you going against the club, betraying us by running, putting this MC and the people involved with it in danger…”

Shakes knew this conversation was coming, but it hadn’t been on his mind since he’d found out Daniella was pregnant. He’d fucked up, not by running with Daniella, keeping her away form Zeke, and not telling the club what the fuck was going on. He’d fucked up and insured he’d lose his patch, or worse, his life, by not giving a shit that Zeke had threatened Deanna and Demon’s unborn child. He’d fucked up when he hadn’t given a shit about Zeke’s danger to the club after he’d left.

That had been his betrayal, and that was why he’d been kicked out. It could have gone much worse. It could have ended with Shakes nothing but a rotting corpse in the ground. But he was here, breathing, living life with the woman he loved, and getting ready to be a father. For that, everything that had happened was all worth it.

“Listen, man,” Steel said and exhaled roughly. “None of us are disputing the fact that we would have done the same for our old ladies.” Steel looked at Demon and Joker, all three men having found their old ladies, and probably acting out of character at times because of how they felt for the women. “But at the end of the day, if any of us had done what you did, right or wrong, because we loved our women, the outcome would have been the same for us.”