“Take it!” I scream interrupting him.
My voice cracks across the room, but he still doesn’t move.
I shake my head slowly, saying. “Fine.” My voice is steel now as I add. “I wouldn’t want you moving without permission.”
The room erupts again.
“What the hell is happening…”
And then I do it, I throw the cut and it lands at his feet. The leather slaps loudly against the wood floor. Clutch stares down at it, still frozen in place. Blood from my lip has smeared across the Dawnbreakers crest.
And then the room turns into chaos. Voices rising, men arguing and women shouting. Brother’s fighting over what is right.
Clutchstillhasn’t moved.
Then Cypher suddenly shouts. “Angel!”
The word cuts through everything and Angel turns. Cypher is staring at the laptop screen, his face pale.
“It’s important,” he adds.
Angel hesitates, glancing back toward me, around the room.
But Cypher’s voice is sharper now. “It’s Four.”
Angel’s expression changes instantly, something close to panicflickers across his face. He rushes to Cypher’s side, they talk quickly, but I can’t make out what they are saying over the chaos around me. Then he slams his hand down on the bar.
“Quiet!” he roars.
The room falls silent again.
And Clutch still hasn’t moved.
CHAPTER 14
BEX - PERFECTLY CLEAR
“Quiet!”
Angel’s voice cracked through the room like a gunshot.
The chaos dies slowly. Voices drop from shouting to murmurs. Chairs scrape angrily, and someone knocks a bottle off the bar, and it shatters on the floor, the sound explosive in the quiet.
Angel and Cypher are bent over the laptop, talking fast and low. I can’t hear what they’re saying. I am still standing out here all alone, while the entire room is watching them.
But I haven’t moved and neither has Clutch.
My eyes are still on him. He hasn’t looked up yet. He’s still staring at the cut lying at his feet. The leather is twisted slightly where it landed, with the blood from my split lip smeared across the Dawnbreakers crest.
His crest.
His club.
His patch.
His claim.
Angel straightens. He looks around the room, taking in the tension, the scattered arguments still brewing under people’s breath.