Ruin and Rise(13)

Shakes ran a hand over his hair. “I know. I regret nothing, but I still don’t know why I’m here. Not that I don’t like being around you all, but, well, you know this is kind of fucking with my head.”

Demon chuckled. “Listen, I told you I don’t take orders, not from Zeke, when it comes down to who will be in my club. You’re still part of our family, still a brother.”

Shakes didn’t know what the hell was going on, but he wondered if this was going down a road he had never seen coming.

Demon and Joker looked at each other, and then Demon looked at all of the other men. “We want you to know that after talking about it, after all the shit that has gone down, we want you as part of this club, blacked out ink or not. You’ve been through some pretty fucked up shit with this club, risked your life, and been there for each of us.”

Shakes’ heart beat fast and hard; he realized where this was going, he just couldn’t believe it was actually going to. “We want to offer you a place back in the club. We’ve voted on it, and it’s unanimous that everyone thinks despite the betrayal and everything that happened, you’ve put more into this MC than you’ve taken away.”

Well holy fucking shit. The club was offering Shakes a place back at the table.





Shakes sat back, staring at each of the men he still considered brothers. This wasn’t supposed to be happening. If they took him back after what went down, they’d look weak. Other clubs would try to take their turf. Any club who tried to bring a guy back in the club after what Shakes had done should be challenged.

“What the fuck is going on here?” Shakes asked. “Look, if you want to kill me, then go ahead and do it.”

“This isn’t about getting you killed.”

“Is it because of Daniella and who her old man is?” Were they after him to try and bring Zeke down? Fuck, he couldn’t do that for them either. His hands were tied. They were his brothers, but Daniella was his wife.

“We thought about that tie, but that’s not why we want you back in the club,” Demon said. “Believe it or not, this was a unanimous decision.”

“What?” Shakes couldn’t get his mind around it. It was totally fucked up and crazy.

“We all thought about it, and we’ve all been talking,” Nerd said. “The brothers who don’t have old ladies, we don’t understand, but Demon, Steel, and Joker have told us. Having a woman to call your own, it’s big, and it’s fucking scary. I get why you did it, man.”

Shakes sat back. “I need to think about this.”

Actually, it had been a long fucking day; all he wanted to do was go home and surround himself in Dani. She was his prize, the one woman he’d move heaven and earth to love and protect.

“We’re not asking for anything. We want you back.”

“This will make you guys look weak. Why would you do this?”

Demon shrugged. “Sometimes we’ve got to learn to walk in other men’s shoes, Shakes. You’re one of the best damn trackers. You can smell a snitch a fucking mile away. You’ve got instincts no other brother possesses; and I want those instincts working for my club, no one else.”

“I wouldn’t go to another club, Demon. If I’m not a Soldier, I’m nothing, and I’m happy to accept that.” Letting out a sigh, he stared at all of his brothers. “I let you all down, but I can’t just jump back in. I’ve got to take time, talk to Dani about this, and shit, I don’t know. I’ve got to figure shit out on my own.”

“Take your time. We’ll be waiting.”

Nodding, Shakes got to his feet, made his way out of the church, and then out of the club. It felt good being back inside the clubhouse, but he didn’t believe it was right. The moment he’d put the club at risk, it was over for him, as it should have been.

His cell phone started to ring, and he quickly pulled out his phone to see that it was Dani.

“Hey, baby, what’s up?”

“Nothing. I was worried about you. You didn’t call to say you were going to be late. My dad said you’d left an hour or so ago.”

He didn’t like the sound of the worry in her voice. “Shit, babe, Demon called and I stopped by the clubhouse.”

“Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll tell you all about it when I get home.”

“Okay, love you, bye.”

Shakes disconnected the call and smiled. It was nice to have someone worry about him.

“You’re pussy whipped, you know that, right?” Striker said, coming up behind him.

“You got that right.”