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Garvey brushed his hands over his face as he made his way down the stairs. After their shower, he’d tucked Arden back into bed for a few hours of sleep. The temptation to curl up beside her was strong, but there was a ton of shit he needed to deal with. Responsibilities that couldn’t wait.
He’d turned a blind eye to this situation once already, and it had nearly cost everyone dearly. Once he had a few things in place, talked to the general membership of the club, then he would join Arden.
He’d intended to come straight to the bar area after leaving Arden, knowing they were waiting for him. But after the events of last night, he’d put in a call to Keira first. They weren’t due for their weekly phone call, but he’d needed to hear her voice, hear about the mundane details of her day just to reassure himself that life wasn’t entirely about computers and dodging bullets.
Shit.
Hard to believe, in less than a year’s time, this was what his life had become. Even when he was working in the CIA, he’d never had to worry about something like what had gone down last night.
Three seconds into the phone call, Keira had called him overprotective. When she’d tried to make light of the way he tended to shelter her, he’d gotten insistent. Which had annoyed her even more. But damn if he’d stop. Better that he was there to be protective of her. He wasn’t about to abandon her like their parents had.
He’d only ended the call with her when he’d been satisfied she was fine.
As he entered the main room, the loud clamor of conversation died as every gaze focused on him. A sea of Riding Irish patches broke up the black riding vests.
It looked as though everyone had come out.
He hated that the situation had come to this. That his error in judgment had nearly cost this club, this brotherhood, a hell of a lot more than just a few inconveniences. A few bullet holes in the wall.
“Everyone accounted for?” A chorus of ayes sounded. “Good. Some of you may not be aware of what provoked the attack at the convention center last night. Details are still a little foggy, but near as we can tell, Javier Cabrera has some bug up his ass about us. About the club specifically.”
Gazes followed him as he slowly tracked around the room so everyone could see him. “Some of you may also not know that this wasn’t the first time Cabrera has confronted the MC. Last weekend, he and two of his club buddies tried to intimidate Swagger and Rawls. While family members were present. While there wasn’t a physical altercation, they made it well known they had firepower and were willing to use it. Given their relationship, we have reason to believe the guns they had were supplied by the Nightmarchers.”
Garvey paused to let the chorus of shouts and frustration play out.
“I made a decision then to sit back and do nothing because I believed Cabrera was nothing but a sack of wind. Because I believed Riding Irish didn’t have reason to prove anything to anyone. Last night showed how wrong that line of thinking was. And I won’t make the same mistake again.” A roar of approval sounded. “We’re going to stop Cabrera’s antics now. And we’re going to show him that the Irish are here to stay. That we aren’t going to be intimidated by anyone.”
Garvey’s heart thudded hard as he blew out a slow, steady breath. The next part of what he had to say worried him the most.
“I need to know every man in this room has no doubts about what we’re about to do. That every single one of you would die for the man next to you.”
Another chorus of ayes filled the room, but this time they were hushed.
He’d needed to ask. Not that Garvey had doubted the club’s dedication, but he was exploring foreign territory with them. Anything was possible.
A handful of men broke away from the crowd as conversation shifted to how to make Cabrera and his club pay for what had gone down at the convention center. He needed to talk to Kane and Boone, to the rest of his guys, but there was something else he needed to do first.
“Give me five.”
Garvey murmured his thanks as he wove through the crowd of members to where Swagger and Rawls stood. The trio stepped over to a vacant corner. “I don’t expect whatever happens when we go after Cabrera to make up for my choice for the club to play possum. I thought it was the right choice at the time.”
“You had to make a call that was right for the club,” Swagger said as he shrugged. “I would have done the same thing. Don’t expect it will be the last time we’ll deal with assholes like this.”
“Can’t say I agree.” Rawls scowled, punching his fist into his open palm. “The club should have acted when we brought this to the table. If we had, maybe last night wouldn’t have happened.”
Swagger cut his eyes to Rawls. “Or maybe something worse if we had.”
The two men glared at each other.
Garvey had already thought of both possibilities. Despite his contentment with Arden in his arms, his sleep last night had been broken by the images of his fellow club members lying in puddles of blood. Of Arden so beaten and battered that he hadn’t been able to save her.
He’d wondered what he could have done differently that would have allowed events to play out so what happened last night could have been avoided. But second-guessing was never a good idea. He knew that better perhaps than any other man in the room.
But that didn’t mean he’d stop.
As president of Riding Irish, he couldn’t. Decisions like this weren’t to be taken lightly. Or made purely on emotion. He needed to keep reminding himself of that. He doubted this would be the last time he needed to make a difficult decision in the name of the club. He’d shouldered that responsibility when he’d agreed to wear the president patch.
The only thing to do was look at all the factors, weigh the pros and cons, and decide what action to take based on what he thought was best.
The club was counting on him to make those tough choices. To be the leader they felt he was. Now and in the future, whatever it brought. He needed to trust they’d made the right selection when they’d elected him president.
“Thing is, asshole like this? Wouldn’t have mattered what we said or did. Some bug has crawled up and is living inside Javier. He won’t give up until he’s satisfied.”
Rawls nodded. “Which means blood.”
“Exactly.”
“So what do you have in mind, prez?” Swagger asked, expectation shining bright in his eyes.
“I’m waiting on a phone call. Then we’ll talk.”
Rawls signaled to Garvey as Swagger left. His dark hair shifted over his forehead as he clapped Garvey on the shoulder. “Don’t do something that is against your way of thinking because of me and Swagger. That isn’t that kind of influence I want to be responsible for. No matter how pissed off I am this asshole tried to get the best of us. Make the decision that is right for the club.”
“I meant it when I said I was wrong. I should have been thinking of the club. I wasn’t. No excuse for that.”
“All right.” Rawls shoved his hands into his pockets, shuffling his feet.
Garvey’s instincts started pinging. “Everything okay with us, man? The club?”
Rawls cut his gaze to the floor. “My old lady is giving me a ration of shit about this. Luckily, we’d left before the crap last night went down, but once Savannah saw the news? Took me a while to calm her down. She...lost a cousin she was real close to a few years back to a drive-by. He was involved in a real bad situation. Drugs. Guns. Gang-banger type shit. But—”
“Family first, Rawls. No disgrace in that.” Garvey certainly knew all about how important family were in life. He would be handling this situation differently if Keira were still on the island.
Hell, he might have never accepted the presidency if she hadn’t gone away to college. No way would he have tried to balance this kind of life with raising a kid. No fucking way.
“I want to be at your side whatever is decided for Javier and his crew. Hell, I’ll do whatever the fuck you want in regards to getting even with that son of a bitch. Legal or not. I don’t give a shit. Savannah doesn’t need to know. But after that...I’ll strip my patches.”
“No,” Garvey stated with force. The last thing he wanted to do was lose a member of the club because his priorities were with his loved ones. Especially because Riding Irish was founded on the principle of family. “We’ll figure something out. Start spreading out the club’s reach. Nothing says you can’t start a new charter on the mainland. In fact, that sounds like a damn fine idea.”
Garvey turned to face the room full of members again. “Listen up. Rawls has an opportunity on the mainland that is hard to pass up. Means a change for the better for him and his family. Wants to turn in his patches. I refuse to accept them. Anyone have any heartburn about that? About expanding Riding Irish’s reach beyond the island?”
Bangs and hoots filled the air.
Garvey faced Rawls again. “Sorry, man, looks like you’re stuck with the brotherhood. Now let’s figure out how to show Javier that the Irish aren’t a bunch of pushovers.”
