Page 80 of Iron Heart

Everybody’s alreadyin the chapel when I get there. They look up in unison when I come in. A few of them lift their chins at me.

“Brother,” Axel murmurs. “Now that Dante’s here, let’s get down to business.”

He bangs the gavel.

“After today, I think it’s pretty clear we’re in all-out war with Los Caballeros. We’ll have a lot of shit to talk about. But we’re gonna have to leave most of that for later. Right now, we have a more important matter.” He turns and looks at Bama. “Bama shot one of our own. At the trap house where they were holding Tori. He killed Dante’s brother.”

None of the men react with shock. The ones who weren’t with us have already heard from the ones who were. Bama shot Dom in the chest. At point blank range.

He didn’t bother to try to hide his actions.

And he made sure I was there to see it when it happened.

I watched my blood brother die, from a bullet from my MC brother’s gun.

And the grin on Bama’s face as he did it will stay in my own memory, until the day I die.

“He wasn’t one of our own!” Bama protests. “And he was a traitor!” His eyes are wild as he looks at the other Lords. “He sold us out to the Caballeros, to save his own fuckin’ skin! You know that! You all know that!”

It’s true. What Bama says is true. I’m not gonna deny it. And I’m not gonna argue.

I always said it from the beginning. If Dom fucked up while he was working for the club, I wouldn’t let my relationship to him get in the way.

My job right now is to be true to my word. Even though it’s ripping me apart.

“I don’t regret killin’ that motherfucker,” Bama seethes, pleading his case. “You all know what he did was a death sentence! Well, I gave it to him.” Bama rounds on me, his features edged with anger and hate. “You’re the fuckin’ Enforcer of this club!” he sneers. “You!You’re always so fuckin’ high and mighty about enforcing the club rules. Your brother betrayed us! What about the fuckin’ rule for that?” He looks around the room, eyes wild, and locks on Mal.

“And what about you?” he demands, pointing at Mal’s cast. “Thanks to Dante’s brother, those fuckers ambushed you on your bike. Maybe that chick you were with wouldn’t be dead, if it wasn’t for him!”

Mal flinches. The guilt he feels at Cyndi’s death is still fresh, and Bama knows it. Mal turns and stares at me.

For a moment, I see nothing but anger.

But he says nothing. Just clenches his jaw. And after a moment, he looks away.

Axel gets to his feet. “The club decides this shit.Idecide this shit!” he thunders at Bama, thrusting a thumb at his chest. “The last time I checked, I am the president of this goddamn club. And the men of the Lords of Carnage answer to me!”

“Dom also helped save Tori,” Ranger announces in a loud voice. He glances from Mal to me, and then around the table. “She told Dante that herself. I was there to hear it. He cut her loose. Told her to jump out the window and run for it. And then he stalled the Caballeros long enough so she could get away.”

“I don’t give a god damn if he saved that snatch.” Bama turns, and spits on the ground. “She ain’t in the club. She ain’t nothin’ to us, except where Dante gets his dick wet.” He sneers at me. “Dante’s word ain’t worth shit, either. His loyalty ain’t with the Lords. If he had his way, Dom woulda gone scot-free for this shit! Dante woulda talked all you pansy-asses out of punishing his brother.” He spits the word out. “Fuck it,” he sneers. “Dom betrayed us. I killed him, and he deserved it.”

Up to now, I’ve been quiet. But I’m not about to let that shit stand.

“Dom fucked us, that’s true,” I speak up. “I didn’t see that coming. Maybe I should have. Maybe I was hoping for the best in him. That’s my crime, and I’ll accept any punishment you want me to take for it. But you all know I would never argue with club justice. At least, I hope you do.” I stare at each of my brothers in turn.

“Maybe the Lords would have voted that Dom deserved to pay the ultimate price. Hell, you probably would have.” The ball of ice in my throat gets harder, and I have to choke my words out around it. “But he deserved to tell his side of the story. And then, the Lords should have put it to a vote.That’sclub justice.”

“You took matters into your own hands,” Axel growls at Bama. “That wasn’t your place. What’s more, you’ve made it pretty clear this is about Dante as much as it was about Dom. You say you did what you did for the club. That’s bullshit. You did what you did because you wanted to. Nothing more.”

There are murmurs of assent around the table. Bama’s eyes widen. For the first time, he starts to look more worried than defiant.

Axel’s eyes narrow as he continues. “You put all of our lives on the line because of your fucking bullshit, Bama. Your loyalty to the Lords of Carnage is in serious question. That’s the last thing we need when we’re going into a full-out war. A war where each and every one of you men need to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we all have one another’s backs.”

Axel stares at Bama for a long moment, then breaks his gaze.

Slowly, his eyes shift to the man who sponsored Bama for entry into the club.

Rogue.