Page 105 of Freeing Souls

“Uh, what’s going on?” I chuckle as we walk farther into the room and find spots to stand.

“We wanted to discuss something with you guys,” Axe comments, glancing at Sugar, who nods to him.

“As you guys know, Brielle’s dad doesn’t want to run the club in Virginia anymore. We convinced him to stay for a few extra months and I have been taking trips over there to help them out, but you guys are settled over there and know that you want to stay in Virginia at least for now.”

He pauses and glances over at Sugar, who takes over. “We wanna know if y’all would be interested in taking over the club and creating a brother club to the Sons of Silence MC. We would be the sole owners of everything and offer support and would be there to help you guys get things going and bringing new bikers into the club, but you four would run the club as a team.”

The guys are all staring at Sugar like he has grown two heads, and while I am shocked, I think I can be the most rational right now so I ask, “Why are you offering this to us? I mean, the guys were just going to be prospects here, and now you guys think they—we—are ready to run an entire club?”

“The other option is basically having this open spot where anyone can come in and then we would have to deal with potential problems arising like drugs and guns being moved through. Rage worked his ass off to get things cleaned up and although we weren’t close to their club over there, we did have alliances with them to keep things clean. And no, we don’t think you guys are ready, which is why it would be a brother club to us. It’s just like an extension of SOS, and you guys would be running it there, but would still have to go through us for everything. And we would all be around to help you get it going and keep it running.”

“What if we royally fuck it up?” Ryker questions.

“You probably will,” Stone says.

“But that’s a learning experience, and you will get to fix it or have us help you. Do you think other new clubs didn’t fuck shit up at first? Hell, we still fuck things up around here, and this club has been open for decades,” Axe adds on.

“Can we have a second?” I ask Colton, who nods. Pushing the guys out of the room, I lead them into the office across the hall and shut the door. “I feel like we need a moment to process what they just offered us.”

“We have the gym already, and Cade wants to start tattooing. Do we really think we could pull this off too? Would we even have enough time left in a day for ourselves?” Grayson asks.

“I think if you guys want this, we can make it work. There are four of us, and we would have the club to help us. We do this together, so if this is something you all really want, then we will make it work,” I tell them, wanting to support and have their backs like they have always had mine. I know how much they loved this club, and they left it for me. This would give them the chance at having everything they want again.

“This includes you too. Don’t talk like this is our thing only.” Ryker narrows his eyes at me, gripping the back of my neck and pulling me close, like he is scared I’m going to run off.

Cupping his cheeks, I smile up at him. “I know that, Ry, but also this would be your thing. Clubs don’t allow women to run them. I could do more for the gym, work on opening doors to help women who are in need and you guys could focus on the club. Cade could still work on tattooing.”

“If we do this, I don’t want to go down the path of becoming an artist. I want to focus on the club and what we all do together,” Cade says.

“Are you sure?” I ask him, pulling away from Ryker and turning towards Cade.

“Yes. Us doing this together comes first.”

“And that includes you. Fuck old fucking club rules. I want you involved as much as us. You deserve to be a part of it. I don’t care what old fucking bastards have to say about women, you are tougher than most men anyway,” Ryker growls.

“I love you,” I tell him with a smile.

“So we want to do this?” Grayson asks nervously.

“Fuck yes,” Ryker says.

“I’m in,” I say.

Cade nods with a grunt.

“Let’s do it then,” Grayson adds, taking a big breath.

“We have stipulations,” Ryker says, crossing his arms as we stand in front of the ranking officers of the SOS club back in Colton’s office.

We talked a bit more about what exactly this would look like and what we would need from the club to make sure things go right and we don’t just become their puppets. Not that we don’t trust them, they are our family. But this is a business deal.

“We would expect nothing less.” Noah grins at us. “Let’s hear it.”

“First, Harley is involved. She is a ranking officer just like the rest of us would be and there is no females aren’t allowed bullshit in the club. We accept both males and females as full brothers and sisters into the club. I do not want a divide. I know this club will always be that way, but as a connected club, we should be able to break away from some of the rules that have been set in place.”

Colton nods. “I agree.”

“We also want something in writing about our part in this. We want to own part of the club even if we have to slowly pay our portion off because we can’t outright afford it right now. We want stakes in this so we can control what is going on and have more of a say.”

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