When I pulled away, I cradled her cheeks in my hands, and I winked at her. Not needing to say anything else, I turned and left, my smile slowly slipping away with every footstep I took away from her. The loving fiancé side of me had to remain inside that room with her. Out here, walking through The Hut, I had to be Drew Tucker—The one everyone thought they knew.
The men had gathered inside, the noise rising as I walked into the bar, stopped and looked around at everyone there. Men of old, young, and new congregated around like they were at a damn wedding. Each had a smile on their face and were laughing and joking with one another. I scanned the room, seeing Slater, Jedd, Kenny, Deeks, Moose… Owen.
Owen was there with his greasy hair slicked back, his eyes narrowed and his corruptive smirk firmly in place. He had a face you wanted to smack with a shovel just to rearrange it into something less sleazy and irritating. As I looked at him wearing the patch on his skin and back, I tried to see how the hell he’d gotten so embedded into the club. The guy had a habit of being in the right place at the wrong time, and thethought of all the shit he’d spilled to our enemies made my skin ripple with a need to kill.
The fucker needed to die and die fast. I knew deep inside my soul that I’d make that happen one way or another without implicating any of my brothers or my future with Ayda.
Needing to get him out of my sight, I looked to the other side of the room where Rubin was perched on the end of one of the leather sofas, his hands between his legs as he twisted his fingers together nervously.
“Drew?” Slater called out, and just like that everyone’s attention turned to me standing at the end of the hall watching each and every one of them.
The room fell silent apart from the creaking of leather and the turning of boots.
I looked into the eyes of all my men, including Owen, finding it a fucking miracle that I was able to keep my face serene as I stared into the depths of his betrayal.
“Brothers, thanks for being here,” I said quietly.
“Anything for you, Drew,” Deeks called out.
I nodded in response, pushing my hands into the depths of my jeans pockets and rocking back on my feet.
“Everything okay?” Kenny asked, his zigzag brows creased in confusion.
“Sure.”
“Then why we here?”
My eyes found Rubin’s, who was looking at me like I was his new hero. There was worry and expectation in his stare—a pressure to be something and do something good for him while he was around. For some fucked up reason, I found myself wanting to be that something for him.
“We’re here because I want us all to ride out togethertoday.” I held Rubin’s gaze, letting him know that included him, too. “For Harry,” I added, blinking slowly before I looked away and out to the rest of the room.
“For Harry?” Jedd asked quietly.
“When was the last time we acted like a family?” I asked.
The men all looked at each other, the question unanswered as they tried to seek some kind of response from the man next to them.
“Apart from Harry’s funeral, when was the last time we acted like a motorcycle club instead of like we were all heartbroken bastards smelling of oil and smoke?”
“You’ve had a lot on your mind, Tuck—”
“No more.” I shook my head, cutting Deeks and his genuine concern off. “Today, we ride out together.” The pause I made was intentional as I found Owen’s eyes and smiled as warmly as I could. “All of us. Today, we remember who we are and where we truly belong. We’re The Hounds of Babylon, and shit, do we love to ride.”
Silence filled the room, each man looking at me with nothing but loyalty in their eyes. Even the guy who I knew was filled with deceit stared at me like he loved me, acting the good act, living the perfect lie before he raised his chin and parted his lips.
“Ain’t someone missing?” Owen asked roughly.
“Who?”
“Eric?”
The small smile curled the edges of my mouth as I stared my enemy in the eye and acted like his friend. “He lost his right to ride with us as a family when he chose to walk away from us like a stranger. Today, it’s just about everyone in this room. Let us worry about Eric tomorrow.”
Rubin hadn’t been lying. A small stand had been erected near the edge of the town’s park, the banners of our Mayor surrounding it to celebrate his ugly ass face. The smirk on my face grew as my knuckles twisted around the bars of my bike. All of my men were behind me, a pyramid formation slowly rolling back into Babylon after over an hour out on the roads. The thunderous roar of the engines dulled to a low rumble with several grunts as we swerved into space and parked our bikes.
Glancing over my shoulder, I grinned as I looked back at all the confused faces of my men. Slater and Jedd were the only two to be staring at me without any emotion. The fuckers knew I’d been up to something, and now we were where we were with The Mayor only a short distance away, they were slowly putting the pieces of the puzzle together on their own.
“What’s going on?” Kenny asked, reaching up to remove his dark shades from his face.