Page 14 of Magnetic Temptations

Hydro stares at me as if a lightbulb has suddenly gone off in his head. “The bylaws are from the original chapter,” he slowly says as if he’s thinking out loud, “and we’re a completely different location, so I’m going to go back over the books to see if I missed something that’d let me make changes. With us being the next generation, why can’t we switch shit up? The same issues that were present back when Pops started the club aren’t there any longer.”

“It’s a start,” Mane mulls. “And since you not only adopted the DreamCatchers but also the organization, I’m sure there are things you can amend. If you need any help, Hydro, let me know.”

“Nothing is going to happen overnight,” Hydro warns. “But I’m going to start putting some feelers out and get suggestions from my officers. They’re the main ones who have concerns with things they don’t approve of being brought into the fold. They want change and this would be my opportunity to shake things up.”

“Who’s to say that some of our dads and uncles aren’t waiting for us to make these changes? Move away from the obvious misogyny that the club was founded on? Most of them were single when the club was formed, so of course they’d want access to easy pussy,” Ella states.

I feel myself cringing at what she says, because for her, growing up in this lifestyle, it just is what it is, but for me, it’s too blasé, and I know that unless changes can be made, I won’t be a part of the club. Sure, I’ll work at Kings, and with Ella being a club princess to the original chapter, we’ll be at the clubhouse for family events, but the brotherhood I crave won’t be available to me.

Then I ask a question I wish I never did because the answer is unfathomable to me.

Clearing my throat, I query, “Why do we need to have this initiation anyhow?”

CHAPTER

EIGHT

MANE

When Mason inquires about why the guys need to replace a few of the bunnies, ones he never met because they’re housed below in the cells, my temper heats up. “Because our old group of bitches in heat decided they needed to make their mark on the club. They had this bright idea that they’d go from sluts to old ladies by puncturing a few condoms and getting themselves knocked up.”

“What?” Mason spits out, looking shocked. “Who?”

“Bruiser,” Ella says with a tsk, and if this was a cartoon, steam would be billowing from her ears.

“He’s the only victim we know of so far,” Hydro remarks. “But we’re keeping an eye on the situation.” Mason looks confused by that statement but doesn’t ask, he’s well aware that he isn’t in a place to have that knowledge, he hasn’t even accepted the position of prospect yet so there are things he can’t be told.

“That’s preposterous,” Mason mumbles. “In a way it’s sad because it shows where they think they belong in society. What’s Bruiser going to do?”

“Raise his kid, if it’s his,” Ella answers. “We won’t know that until a DNA test can be done.”

“What about the mom?” he continues. “What’ll happen to her?”

“That’ll be up to Bruiser to decide,” Hydro maintains, leaving no room for argument. “He’s the one who was the most impacted by this little display of mutiny they imposed. She’ll have choices, let’s just hope she makes the right one.”

“I feel a bit like a hypocrite,” Mason discloses.

“How so?” I ask, not understanding why.

“I was elated to learn Julia wasn’t around anymore to torture anyone, but I find myself feeling sympathetic to this bunny who betrayed Bruiser and the club.”

“It’s two sides of the coin,” Hydro claims. “They’re both psycho, just in different ways. One was murderous and the other just plain stupid. You can’t trap a man into committing to you and patching you into the club. Things don’t work that way in our world. Julia signed her death warrant the day she started killing innocent people, but for Bruiser, her betrayal was just as profound. He’s a family man, but she’s not his old lady, she wasn’t even a prospect for one, so what she did has him spiraling.”

He’s always wanted a family of his own, but like our fathers and uncles, he planned to find an old lady and then have children. Now, any woman who comes into his life will have to understand that he’s a package deal, and that may take him some time to find someone like that. There aren’t a lot of females who want to take on raising a child they didn’t give birth to and to me, that’s unfair to Bruiser.

“Because if she’s capable of this, what else could she do?” I mutter. “She’s a traitor to not only him, but the club as a whole. We trusted her to follow the rules set out to her before she ever joined. She knew what was expected of her and she agreed. Then she spit on all of us by joining Doc and the other bunnies with that preposterous plan. They ruined not only their lives, but it was a domino effect that trickled up to our founding club.”

“Yeah. Kruger and Stella are ecstatic about being grandparents, but are also livid at how it came about,” Ella surmises. “They’ll love this baby no matter how he or she came to be, but they want justice for their boy.”

Mason has a look on his face I can’t fully decipher. Then he starts to speak and I realize why I fell for him. He’s honorable, loyal, and just an all-around good person. “While I don’t like how the initiations will occur, as long as I’m not required to participate, I can’t tell y’all what to do. I haven’t decided about becoming a prospect and I’m not a member, so I know I don’t really have a voice in any of this. Hydro, you being willing to even check to see if there are workarounds is greatly appreciated. As for the bunnies who betrayed the club, especially Bruiser? In my mind, they’re as bad as Julia was and they deserve whatever the club decides to do in regard to their punishment. Whether that’s being removed from the club or otherwise. Choices we make always have consequences.”

“They fucked around, and now, they’re finding out the hard way that we’re not the ones to be crossed,” Hydro advises.

“It’s not as if we hid who we are and what we’re capable of,” Ella defends. But there’s no need for it, Mason knows the club aren’t bible thumpers. If he truly wants to be immersed in my life and become a brother to these men, he’s going to have to do some serious soul searching and get past some of his hang ups.

Otherwise, he’ll have to settle for being a friend to the DreamCatchers.

Monday sucked big brass monkey balls.

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