ASHES & PAIN
Chapter 9
BRUISES
Kait stood with her back against Amber’s fridge with a cold can of Coke pressed against the side of her face.
The swelling had gone down some.
Not enough.
Her ribs still hurt every time she breathed too deep.
The kitchen smelled like coffee and cigarette smoke. Morning light came through the blinds in thin stripes that hurt her eyes worse than they should’ve.
Amber stood at the counter in one of Blaze’s Garth Brooks tour t-shirts while scrambling eggs in a pan.
Neither of them had talked much yet.
Kait stared down into the dark soda can.
“You need to eat something.”
“Fuck that. I feel like shit.”
Amber gave her a look over her shoulder.
“I’m sure.”
Kait snorted once through her nose.
“But it ain’t cause of the bruises, is it?”
The pan crackled softly.
A dog barked somewhere outside.
Amber finally lowered the heat and leaned back against the counter.
“Kowboy said Lane went home this morning.”
Kait’s fingers tightened slightly around the can.
She didn’t answer.
Amber watched her carefully.
“He looked upset last night, when he left.”
Still nothing.
Amber sighed.
“I think it’s bullshit, honestly.”
Kait finally looked up.
“What is?”
“The two of you.”
Kait looked away again.
“There is no ‘two of us.’”
Amber folded her arms.
“Kait.”
“No, seriously. There isn’t. He told me to stay the fuck away.”
“He said that ’cause he was hurt. He thought you’re marrying Kolton.”
Kait laughed quietly at that.
Dry.
Mean.
“Fuck him.”
Amber’s expression tightened.
Kait took another sip from the can and winced when the carbonation hit her busted lip.
“He made himself real clear at the funeral.”
Amber stayed quiet.
“He didn’t wanna hear a damn word I had to say,” Kait continued. “So fuck him.”
“You don’t really—”
“No. I’m serious.”
Now the anger started creeping in under the exhaustion.
Slow.
Heavy.
“I hope he stays in fucking Huntsville. I don’t want to see him again.”
Amber studied her face.
“You don’t mean that.”
Kait’s jaw tightened.
“The hell I don’t.”
“He looked wrecked, Kait. Whatever you said to him—”
“He fucking deserved.”
Amber exhaled slowly through her nose.
“You both keep saying shit you don’t mean just to hurt each other.”
Kait immediately shook her head.
“No. He meant every fucking word.”
Silence settled again.
Then Kait laughed again under her breath and rubbed tiredly at her forehead.
“He wouldn’t even let me explain anything. Just jumped to his own conclusions as always.”
Amber didn’t interrupt this time.
“So honestly?” Kait muttered. “He can keep his little doormat snakehole slave.”
Amber raised an eyebrow slightly.
“That poor pathetic bitch… Oh, and speaking of, Dulce has been doing some shady shit.”
“Like what?”
“She called me to come get her from some studio on the Eastside the other day and she was high as hell on some weird shit. She’s been working for these Serbian or Bosnian guys.”
“She turning tricks now?”
“I’m sure she is but she was saying is just modelling and escort stuff.”
“Yeah, she’s turning tricks.”
“I think so too… but I don’t know. I got a weird feeling.”
“Well, she’s a big girl.”
Three knocks hit the front door.
Heavy.
Familiar.
Kolton.
Kait leaned against the truck’s passenger door with her arms folded tightly across her ribs while Kolton drove.
One hand on the wheel.
The other resting near the shifter.
Steve Earle’s Someday played low enough neither of them really listened to it.
“You okay, baby?” he asked after a while.
“Fucking peachy.”
Kolton glanced at her briefly.
Didn’t push.
“Dad was on the phone with Harvey this morning.”
Kait looked out the window.
“Fuck.”
“Murphy and Durst got picked up last night.”
She turned slightly.
“Richter arrested them.”
“That fucking guy is getting on my last nerve. When? I told him not to do shit.”
Kolton shrugged lightly. “Apparently he came back with like five cars after he dropped you off at Sunshine’s.”
Kait stared ahead again.
“Harvey was all pissed off.”
Kait laughed quietly to herself.
Dry.
Tired.
“Don wants to know what happened.”
Silence settled again.
Then Kait rested her head back against the seat.
“Great,” she said.
Kolton’s jaw tightened instantly.
His grip on the wheel shifted.
And that alone told her exactly how the rest of the morning was probably going to go.
CHAPEL - LATER
The chapel was already full by the time Kait walked in.
Low voices.
The smell of cigarettes, coffee, leather, and gun oil hanging heavy in the air.
Ram and Diablo stood near the wall talking quietly while Blaze sat at the long table with his arms folded tight across his chest. Kode leaned back in one of the chairs with a cigarette burning slowly between his fingers.
Everything stopped when the door opened.
Kait felt it immediately.
The silence.
The eyes.
Kolton stayed close beside her as they walked in.
Nobody said a word at first.
Don stood near the head of the table speaking quietly with Mack when he finally looked over.
And froze.
The room somehow got quieter.
Kait hated that part most.
The pity.
The staring.
Don crossed the chapel slowly.
He stopped in front of her and looked at the bruising around her eye and cheek for several long seconds without speaking.
Then his hand came up carefully against the side of her face.
Gentle despite the calluses.
“No one should be touching this face,” he said quietly.
The room stayed dead silent.
Kait swallowed once and looked away first.
“I’m alright, King.”
Don lowered his hand slowly.
“Have a seat.”
Everyone took their spots.
Don looked around the room once.
“Harvey called me this morning.”
Nobody interrupted.
“Murphy and Durst got picked up by Dryden’s finest last night.”
“Good. Motherfuckers,” Blaze muttered his breath.
“Harvey’s claiming Toast started the problem,” Don continued.
Kait leaned back carefully in the chair despite the pain in her ribs.
“I was minding my business.”
Several heads turned toward her.
Kait shrugged slightly.
“I was drunk. Pissed off. They started talking shit. I talked shit back.”
“They already tried putting hands on her before at the Barrel last time we were all there,” Kolton said. “This ain’t some random shit.”
Blaze’s jaw tightened hard.
Diablo stayed still against the wall.
Don looked directly at Kait.
“That true?”
“Yep.”
“Why didn’t you say something, Toast?”
“Prince handled it, Pres, it was nothing. Last night I just happened to be alone.”
Don leaned forward slightly and rested both hands on the table.
“Alright then.”
Nobody moved.
“Chrome Union gets dealt with on sight. They touched one of ours, so that gets answered.” His eyes moved around the room. “But we do not lose focus on the south.”
That quiet tension returned instantly.
Because everybody in the room understood what that meant.
The border.
The shootings.
Don looked toward Blaze.
“Handle business smart,” Don said. “I don’t want chaos before the ball drops.”
next day
The courtyard smelled like cold air, and smoked brisket.
Gray clouds hung low over the Nest while My Own Prison played softly somewhere inside the clubhouse.
Kait sat sideways on top of one of the picnic tables with one boot resting on the bench beneath her while Kolton stood across from her looking over a folded map spread out over the wood.
She still hurt.
Everywhere.
But at least the painkillers had taken the sharp edges off.
Kolton tapped a spot near the lower part of the map.
“If Reyes really lost movement near Alice, they’re gonna reroute farther east.”
Kait nodded once.
“Probably through Corpus.”
“Which means more traffic closer to Dryden.”
“Which means more problems for us.”
Kolton sighed quietly and folded the map halfway.
“Don thinks somebody local’s feeding route information.”
“That wouldn’t surprise me anymore.”
The wind pushed through the courtyard lightly.
Kait tucked loose hair behind her ear and winced when the movement pulled at the bruising near her jaw.
Kolton noticed instantly.
“Lemme see.”
His fingers touched gently beneath her chin and tilted her face toward him slightly.
The cut on her lip looked darker today.
His thumb brushed lightly beneath the cut before he leaned down and kissed her cheek carefully.
His thumb brushed lightly beneath the cut before he leaned down and kissed her cheek carefully.
Soft.
Quick.
Like he didn’t wanna hurt her more.
Two sets of footsteps crossed the courtyard.
“Eeeeew,” said Kyle jumping on the table and sitting next to Kait.
“Well… ain’t that cute.”
Loraine walked toward them carrying three coffee mugs carefully between her hands.
Long skirt.
Oversized sweater.
Silver jewelry clinking softly together.
Her eyes landed on Kait’s bruised face.
“Oh, your pretty little face already looks better.”
Kait forced a tight smile.
“If you say so.”
Loraine handed them both coffee like nothing in the world had ever gone wrong.
Then she smiled warmly looking between them.
“Look at you two,” she said softly. “Starting the year right, I see.”
Kait’s stomach tightened instantly.
Kolton smiled faintly and took the mug.
“Thanks, mom.”
Loraine touched his shoulder gently before looking back toward Kait.
“Tonight’s gonna be good for the club, interim VP gets voted,” she said. “Fresh start.”
The front gate opened loudly near the parking lot.
Everybody looked over.
A Dryden PD cruiser rolled slowly inside the lot.
“A cop!” said Kyle pointing.
The atmosphere shifted instantly.
Subtle.
But real.
Officer Michael Richter stepped out in full uniform a few seconds later.
Duty belt.
Radio.
Dark sunglasses despite the clouds.
Loraine’s smile disappeared almost instantly.
“Have fun. Come on, baby.” she said to Kyle and they went into the clubhouse.
“You fucking shitting me,” Kait muttered.
Richter shut the cruiser door and walked toward them calmly while a few prospects near the garage watched.
Kolton stayed where he was.
Kait did too.
Richter stopped near the table and took his sunglasses off.
“Mr. Westfall.”
His eyes landed on Kait’s bruised face.
“Morning, Kait. Can I talk to you for a minute?”
Kolton raised an eyebrow and scoffed.
“About what?”
Richter looked at him evenly.
“Her case.”
Kolton leaned back slightly against the table.
“You know, you seem really interested in everything that has to do with my girlfriend. What’s up with that?”
The air tightened a little after that.
“It’s called jurisdiction.”
Richter looked at Kait not even bothering with Kolton anymore.
“You mind?”
“But I don’t have a case. I didn’t press charges.”
“Right. I did. So technically, it’s my case. Now, please…”
Kait slid off the table carefully and immediately felt her ribs protest.
Kolton watched Richter the entire time as Kait walked with him toward the edge of the courtyard near the fence.
Far enough for privacy.
Not far enough for trust.
Richter stopped near the cruiser and looked at her for a second before speaking.
“You should’ve gone to the hospital.”
“I’ve had worse.”
“That’s not the point. How you feeling?”
He watched as she placed her hand over her lower ribs.
Tell-tale sign she was in pain.
“That’s not the point. How you feeling?”
Kait sighed.
“What do you want, Mike?”
“I need a statement from you.”
“No.”
His jaw tightened slightly.
“Kait, I already got those assholes in custody.”
“And?”
“And I can’t hold them forever without cooperation from the victim.”
Kait looked over at the Krait mural painted across the clubhouse wall.
Then back at Richter.
“I ain’t no fuckin’ victim.”
Richter exhaled, already regretting his choice of words.
“That’s the official term for somebody who almost got beaten to death on the beach.”
“I still walked away.”
“Barely.”
Richter stared at her for a second.
Frustrated.
Trying to understand something he fundamentally couldn’t.
“Not arguing that with you,” he said finally. “I just need a statement so I can hand this off to the D.A. and charge them formally.”
“Well, statements are voluntary,” Kait replied. “And I don’t want to, so…”
Richter nodded once.
“Okay.”
The wind pushed through the courtyard again.
“But listen carefully. If something happens to those two assholes after they get released,” Richter continued, “this is the first stop I’m making. And I’m probably hauling half this clubhouse in.”
Kait almost smiled at that.
“But you can’t hold us forever without cooperation from the victim, right?”
Richter scoffed quietly and shook his head.
Kait shrugged.
“Your words.”
He walked around the cruiser slowly.
“I’m just trying to help you, Kait.”
“You don’t need to, Mike. I got plenty of backup.”
That made him stop.
His eyes moved briefly toward Kolton still watching from the picnic table.
Then toward the clubhouse.
The prospects.
The patched members moving in and out of the garage.
“Apparently not when you need it most.”
That one landed.
Richter opened the driver-side door.
“Feel free to reach out if you change your mind.”
Richter climbed into the cruiser and slammed the door shut.
The cruiser backed out slowly and rolled toward the gate.
Kait stood there watching it leave with her arms folded carefully across her ribs.
Thinking.
By the time the gate closed behind officer Richter, the idea was already forming.
Not revenge.
Management.
Because Richter was right about one thing.
Cops would be watching now, expecting retaliation the second Murphy and Durst hit the street again.
And if Krait touched them outside the county jail, Dryden PD would come down hard on the Nest in no time.
Kait turned fast and walked back toward the picnic table.
Kolton looked up the second he saw her expression.
“What did that asshole want?”
“Call Don.”
His face changed instantly.
“What—”
“Now.”
No hesitation that time.
Kolton stood immediately as Kait grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the front office.
“What happened?” he asked quietly while they moved through the clubhouse.
Kait lowered her voice.
“Tell him Richter came to see me and that he’s gonna be watching us.”
Kolton frowned slightly.
“What?”
“Prince, just listen. Tell him exactly what I’m gonna tell you. This is gonna be important for you too if you want that vote tonight.”
They stepped into the front office after Kait explained, and Kolton grabbed the cordless phone off the desk immediately.
Kait stayed near the doorway watching people move through the clubhouse outside while Creed continued playing low through the Nest speakers.
Kolton punched the number in fast.
The line rang once.
Twice.
“Yeah.”
“Hey, Pres. Richter just came to the Nest.”
Kait watched Kolton’s expression sharpen while he listened.
“He talked to Toast.” Pause. “Yeah, he wanted a statement.” Another pause. “No, he’s expecting retaliation.”
Kolton looked over at Kait.
Then back down slightly.
“Nope,” he said quietly. “That’s exactly the point.”
Silence.
Then slowly, a grin started pulling at the corner of Kolton’s mouth.
Dangerous.
“I want to hit ’em in county,” he said. “Before release.”
Another pause.
“Yeah.”
Kolton leaned back slightly against the desk now.
“Thinking Johnny’s boy and Lopez. They’re both hotheads anyway. Catch a charge getting in. Earn advance prospect status on their way out. I’ll sponsor.”
Longer silence that time.
Kait watched something shift subtly in Kolton’s posture while Don spoke on the other end.
Not insecurity.
Not trying too hard.
Confidence.
Steady.
Real.
Kolton nodded once.
“I’ll get everybody at the table.”
He hung up slowly.
And for the first time in a long time… he looked exactly like Don’s son.
LAFAYETTE, LOUISIANA
The gas station sat under a haze of refinery light and swamp fog just outside Lafayette.
Fluorescent bulbs buzzed overhead while trucks hissed past out on the highway beyond the tree line.
Everything smelled faintly like gasoline, muddy water, and cigarettes.
The skip screamed something muffled from inside the cargo van while Koa shoved him farther in.
“Move,” Koa snapped.
Trace climbed in after him long enough to zip-tie the guy’s ankles tighter before slamming twice on the inside wall.
“All good.”
Lane shut the rear doors hard.
The screaming dulled instantly behind the metal.
A pair of boots stopped behind him.
“Damn shame,” Thorne Lazare said. “Thought he was finally gonna make it out the parish.”
Lane glanced back.
Tall.
Lean.
Long salt-and-pepper hair hanging loose around his shoulders.
Gray eyes sharp as broken glass.
One of the Lycan bikes idled nearby while the other members stayed spread casually around the lot.
Watching everything.
Lane pulled an envelope of cash from inside his vest and handed it over.
Thorne counted it quick without looking bothered either way.
“Pleasure doing business with the new and improved Krait Huntsville chapter.”
Lane nodded
“Appreciate it.”
The muffled banging started again from inside the van.
Thorne smirked slightly.
“Boy’s got spirit. Unlike good ol’ Barry boy.”
Lane snorted quietly at that while Koa climbed into the driver seat.
“That fucking guy.”
“Heard King knocked him on his ass.”
“Sure did.”
Thorne chuckled as he tucked the envelope into his jacket.
“Must’ve felt good. You boys headed straight back tonight?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s a long damn ride.”
Lane shrugged once.
“Ain’t got a choice.”
Thorne studied him for a second longer.
“Well,” he drawled, “Lycan’s throwin’ one hell of a New Year’s party back at the Manor.”
He smiled slowly.
“Girls. Booze. Drugs. Music loud enough to wake the dead.” Thorne gestured vaguely southward with the cigarette. “We can get fucked up and feed the gators.”
Koa and Trace looked at each other hoping their president would say yes.
Lane smirked faintly.
“Sound like something I really need, but I’ll have to pass.”
“C’mon. it’s New Year’s Eve.” Thorne grinned wider. “You’re already in Lafayette. Might as well enjoy yourself before drivin’ halfway across Texas. The swamp can get real interesting at night.”
“Don’t doubt it, but I need to bring this asshole back personally.”
Thorne laughed softly to himself.
“Man. You’re too young to be so serious.”
“Nah, man. Just got shit to do.”
Lane reached into the van for his kutte and pulled it free.
Something slipped loose from the inside pocket.
A photograph fluttered down near Thorne’s boots.
Lane immediately looked down.
Too late.
Thorne bent first and picked up Kait’s picture carefully unfolding between two fingers.
Thorne’s smile faded.
What do we have here?
That mouth, slightly parted, ready to be devoured.
But wait…
Her eyes.
Silver-gray eyes. Cold and steady beneath dark lashes.
The exact same shade as his.
That stopped him harder than it should have.
For a second the noise of the highway, the screaming in the van, the refinery hum — all of it seemed to dull around the edges.
The woman in the photograph stared right through him, like she knew all about him and she wasn’t scared of any of it.
Daring him to do worse.
Something unfamiliar shifted low in Thorne’s chest.
Fast.
Instinctive.
Dangerous.
“Well now,” Thorne murmured quietly.
Lane stepped forward and held his hand out.
Thorne kept looking at the picture another second before finally handing it back.
“I guess if I had that waitin’ for me too,” he said, “I wouldn’t come neither.”
Lane slid the picture carefully back into the inner pocket of the kutte.
“That your woman?” Thorne asked.
Lane looked down briefly while pulling the leather on.
“Nah,” he said quietly. “Just… y’know.”
Thorne stared at him for maybe two seconds longer than normal.
Then laughed softly to himself.
“Aw, shit,” he muttered. “Well, we got the perfect cure for the ‘y’knows’ at the Manor.”
Lane only chuckled.
DRYDEN - CHAPEL
The chapel filled fast.
Low voices.
Leather creaking.
Everybody still carried the funeral somewhere on them.
Buster.
Chrome Union.
The south.
Too many problems stacking too close together.
Even the Judge seemed to notice.
Don leaned back in his chair smoking quietly while watching his son without interrupting him once.
Kait noticed it right away.
So did everybody else.
Kolton rested both hands on the table.
“Richter came by the Nest this morning,” he said. “He already picked Murphy and Durst up.”
A few mutters rolled through the room immediately.
Blaze scoffed.
“Those fuckers got lucky we didn’t get to them first.”
“He’s expecting retaliation,” Kolton continued. “And he made it real clear Dryden PD’s gonna be watching this place once those two get released.”
“Let ‘em watch,” Mack muttered.
“Yeah, they can watch deez nutz,” Ram said grabbing his junk under the table.
“Not the point,” Kolton answered calmly.
That shut the room up again.
Kait watched him carefully from her chair.
No pacing.
No ego.
No trying too hard.
Just steady.
Controlled.
“We’re actually handling it inside.”
A few heads lifted slightly around the table.
Kolton glanced briefly toward Kait.
Just once.
Checking.
She gave the smallest nod back.
Keep going.
Kolton looked back toward the table.
“King already gave the green light and I got shit moving. Lopez and Montgomery already got booked into county twenty minutes ago.”
That got a few grins.
Ram barked out a laugh.
“That was fast.”
Kolton smirked faintly.
“They got into it over some skirt at Brews. They took it outside, Chugs called it in.”
“The Holidays and short skirts bring out the worse in people,” Diablo muttered.
A few chuckles rolled through the room.
“Nobody’s gonna think twice about two drunk idiots throwin’ hands on New Year’s Eve,” Kolton continued. “Especially not in Dryden.”
“Or outside Brews,” Randy said.
Don finally nodded once from his chair.
Slow.
Approving.
“Smart,” he said simply.
The room quieted again after that.
Because everybody heard it.
Not just the compliment.
The acknowledgment.
Kolton looked down briefly like he didn’t wanna react too much to it.
But Kait caught it.
That slight shift in posture.
That momentary satisfaction he tried hiding.
And for a second, she could almost see the younger version of him underneath everything.
The boy who spent his whole life trying to earn that nod.
Don tapped ash into the tray beside him.
“Good. Anything else?” he asked.
“That’s it from me,” Kolton said.
His voice settled differently that time.
More official.
More certain.
Don looked around the table slowly.
“Alright then, let’s get to it. Interim VP vote’s tonight.”
The atmosphere changed again.
Heavier this time.
Don crushed the cigarette into the ashtray beside him and reached under the table.
Metal scraped wood a second later.
The old green ammo can landed on the table with a heavy clank.
Worn paint.
Rust around the hinges.
US flag and Marine Corps stickers on the front.
Krait history sitting right there in front of everybody.
Don rested one hand on top of it.
“Alright,” Don said. “For our hatchlings, this is how elections work.”
Klik leaned forward slightly while Kloud lit another cigarette beside him.
“One vote. One name.”
Don tossed a stack of folded paper slips onto the table beside a handful of pens.
“You write down whoever you think deserves the title.”
Kriket nodded quietly while listening.
“Fold it once,” Don continued. “Drop it in the can. Simple. No speeches. No campaigning. No bullshit. And no voting for yourself.”
Smoke curled slowly from Don’s cigarette while he leaned back in the chair.
“Now,” he added, “this shit don’t get forced on anybody.”
The room stayed quiet.
“If your name gets pulled and you don’t want that flasher, you decline it. Simple as that. No judgement.”
Don tapped ash into the tray beside him.
“Otherwise, majority takes it.”
Nobody spoke after that.
The only sounds in the chapel were lighters flicking, chairs creaking, and paper shifting across the table.
Kait stared down at the blank slip in front of her.
One name.
Simple.
Across the table, Blaze already scribbled something down without hesitation while Mack leaned back thinking harder about it.
Ram folded his almost immediately.
Klik stared at his paper like the SATs had finally caught up to him.
“Jesus Christ,” Kloud muttered beside him. “It’s one fuckin’ name.”
“Shut up. Don’t copy me.”
A couple quiet laughs rolled through the room.
Even Don smirked faintly around the cigarette.
Kait looked back down at the paper in front of her.
Then finally wrote:
PRINCE.
The letters sat there heavier than they should’ve.
Not because she doubted him.
Because part of her knew exactly what she was doing.
She folded the paper once.
Then dropped it into the ammo can.
The metal clink echoed softly through the chapel.
One by one, the others followed.
The ammo can moved slowly around the table.
Folded slips disappearing inside one by one.
Nobody spoke much anymore.
Just cigarettes.
Leather creaking.
The scratch of paper.
By the time the can finally reached Don, the chapel had gone almost completely quiet.
Don looked around the table once before grabbing one of the last slips.
Then he wrote something down without hesitation.
Folded it once.
Dropped it into the can.
Clank.
Even though this wasn’t a drawing, Don still grabbed the ammo can afterward and gave it a rough shake anyway.
Metal and paper rattled together inside.
Old habit.
Old ritual.
“Alright,” he muttered.
Blaze dragged the can closer while Don started unfolding slips one at a time.
The room stayed still.
“Prince.”
Kolton stayed leaning against the wall near the chapel doors with his arms crossed.
No reaction.
Don unfolded another.
“Prince.”
Ram smirked faintly around his cigarette.
Another slip opened.
“Prince.”
Klik glanced sideways toward Kloud.
Kloud grinned slightly like he already knew where this was going.
Don unfolded another paper.
“Prince.”
That one finally made Kolton look down briefly.
Not cocky.
Almost uncomfortable.
Then Don opened the next slip.
He paused.
“Toast.”
Kait’s eyes snapped open.
The room shifted slightly after that.
Not tension exactly.
Surprise more than anything.
Don looked down at the paper again.
Then awkwardly scoffed once under his breath.
“Shit,” he muttered.
The chapel stayed quiet.
Don rubbed his thumb once along the edge of the ballot.
“One more thing,” he said. “Toast is, um… When we decided to have her patching, we—”
“It’s okay, King.”
Kait’s voice cut in smoothly before he could finish.
Every eye in the chapel shifted toward her.
She leaned back slightly in the chair despite the bruising still pulling at her ribs.
“I’m not eligible.”
Silence.
“I got patched in under certain conditions, and one of them was that I can’t be an officer.”
That landed heavier than the vote itself.
Even Klik stopped smirking.
Kait shrugged faintly like it didn’t matter.
“Still,” she said quietly, “thanks to whoever put my name down.”
Nobody laughed.
Nobody made a joke.
Because suddenly everybody in the room understood something they hadn’t before.
Kait hadn’t just earned her patch.
Krait had bent for her.
And even then—
only halfway.
Don cleared his throat once and kept unfolding ballots.
“Thanks, Toast. Okay. Another one for Prince.”
He set it down and picked another.
“Prince.”
Then another.
“Prince.”
The tension in the chapel started easing little by little after that.
Not because the outcome surprised anybody.
Because it didn’t.
It just felt official now.
Real.
Blaze leaned back in his chair and smirked faintly.
“Well,” he muttered. “Guess we ain’t stuck with Ram.”
“Fuck that. I don’t want that shit anyway, I ain’t babysitting you assholes.”
A couple quiet laughs finally broke through the heaviness in the room.
Don opened the last slip.
Then tossed the stack onto the table.
“That’s majority.”
Nobody argued it.
Everybody already knew.
Don looked toward the chapel doors.
“Prince.”
Kolton pushed off the wall slowly and walked back toward the table.
The room felt different watching him do it now.
Subtly.
But different.
Don leaned back in his chair again while smoke curled from the cigarette between his fingers.
“You accept?”
Kolton looked around the chapel briefly.
At the table.
At the men around it.
Then finally toward Kait.
She gave him the slightest nod.
Tiny.
Barely there.
But enough.
Kolton looked back toward Don.
“Fuck yeah,” he said quietly.
Don nodded once.
“That settles it then.”
Blaze reached across the table and slammed his fist twice against the wood.
“Prince is our new VP, holy shit,” he said.
Don looked around.
“Interim…”
That finally pulled some real noise out of the room.
Boots against the floor.
Chuckles.
A few fists hitting the table.
Ram pointed his cigarette toward Kolton.
“Now everybody’s problems are your problems too.”
“Already were,” Kolton answered.
That earned another few laughs.
Even Don smirked faintly at that one.
But Kait noticed something else.
The way the room looked at Kolton now.
Not like Don’s kid.
Not like the reckless one anymore.
Like leadership.
Like somebody the club had actually chosen.
And then Don pulled a flasher and presented to him
“Congratulations, VP.”
