Fallon (Henchmen MC Next Generation 3)

"Break it down," my father demanded, jaw a little tight, but somehow less shocked or outraged than the others seemed to be.

"Danny's VP is a world-class dickhead. He'd been plotting a coup for a while. Last night, they kicked her out of the club."

"How?" my father asked. "How would that stand? This wasn't a stand-alone club. The other clubs wouldn't put up with that."

"Well, they will when they find out I'm involved with Fallon. This club might be able to accept your president fucking another MC president, but my club wasn't about to accept their president getting fucked by another president."

"That's sexist, is what that is," Dezi declared, clucking his tongue.

"Yes, it is," Danny agreed. "But it is how it is. And there's jackshit I can do about it now."

"So, what?" Renny asked, the resident club profiler, a guy who liked to poke buttons just to see you squirm. "We are supposed to accept that she's not some sort of plant? That she's not here to fuck things up from the inside?"

"If you recall," Danny said, unfazed by Renny's intense eye contact, "I didn't need to infiltrate your club to take what I wanted from you."

"Not helping," I grumbled under my breath.

"It's what happened," Danny said, rolling her eyes at me. "Pretending it didn't isn't going to make this situation any easier for your people to accept. Look, I get it," Danny said, exhaling a deep breath. "I told Fallon he was out of his mind to think you guys would just accept this. It's fine. I'll go," she said, sounding a little choked up. When I glanced down, her eyes were glistening.

"Danny..."

"Don't soft-voice me," she snapped, yanking away from me when I tried to reach for her. "I told you this would happen. I told you. And then you had to act all positive and certain that I was wrong, and you were right, and you made me hope, you asshole. You gave me a little hope. You made it worse. This is worse..." she choked out, pulling away, and rushing back out into the garage.

"Huh," Renny said, lips pursing, head nodding. "Yeah, don't think she was faking that shit. You?" he asked, looking over at my father.

"I know that woman is about five minutes away from a breakdown," my father said. "I'd expect the son I raised would be there for his woman rather than standing here and staring at us," he added.

"I can't go back out there without answers," I told them. "She'll rip my eyes out," I added, getting a snort from a few of the guys in the group who had similarly sharp-clawed women.

"Answers?" my father asked. "Last time I checked, you're the one in charge, kid. Who you're with isn't our business."

"You know this is more complicated than that."

"I know you were raised right. I know everyone else in this club had a hand in doing that raising," he said, waving a hand toward the OG members who'd acted as uncles to me for most of my life. "And because I know that, I know you would never do anything to put this club in jeopardy. If you say Danny is on the up-and-up, we'll believe you."

"I don't just need you to believe me," I told them, even as I felt some of the weight shifting from my shoulders. "That woman just had every single person she trusted turn on her in an instant. She doesn't need everyone here treating her like everything she does is suspect. So, you need to believe me. But you also need to accept her."

"We can do that," my father said, nodding. "Right?" he added, waiting for everyone else to start nodding.

"You're on your own with the girls, though," Malc said, shooting me a smirk.

"Yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and not mention that to her yet," I told them, grimacing.

"Probably smart," Malc agreed.

"Sounds like she's going to punch her way through that garage door if you don't get out there," Pagan said, smiling big. "Like her spirit," he added.

"Go on. Get your girl. We'll accept her," my father reassured me.

And to the sound of something slamming against the garage door, I turned around and moved out there.

"Don't," she snapped, lowering the chair she was hauling at the locking mechanism. Like brute force would make it disengage.

"Babe—" I started.

"Don't 'babe' me," she hissed, breath heaving hard. "You made me trust you, and you fucked me over. I'm so sick of getting fucked over. My entire fucking life," she raged, tossing the chair, not even flinching when it slammed into a pile of crap stacked in the corner, making half of it scatter. "I thought you were different. And your people. I thought they were different too. But all they see is—"

"Danny. Christ. Shut up," I said with a smile.

"Did you just tell me to shut up?" she growled. Oh, and it was a feral sound, too.