Fractured Brotherhood (Devil's Knights 2nd Generation 7)

Tess still looked uneasy, but I didn’t have a choice. I needed to get to church.

I fell into step behind Rigid. “Who is watching the girls?” I asked.

“One of Leo’s guys. You know he’s been helping us with all of the Malcom bullshit.” Rigid walked into church and took his seat next to Hero and King.

I moved around the table and sat next to Easy.

I glanced at the chair to my right.

“He’s not here,” Easy muttered. “Haven’t seen him for a week.”

That was fucking weird.

Where in the hell was Zig?

Dad walked into church, and he looked pissed.

The only time I had ever seen him like that was when Zig and I had given his motorcycle a new paint job using only permanent marker. Not happy at all.

He sat next to Rigid and stared down at the table.

Snapper, Frost, and Gambler were the last to walk in.

King sat at the head of the table and looked at each of us.

“What the fuck is going on?” Easy asked.

Snapper leaned forward. “Did we find Malcom?”

King shook his head. “I wish that was why we’re here.” He reached under the table and threw a leather cut on the table.

Hero grabbed it and displayed the patch.

Zig.

“Did Zig get drunk at the strip club again and leave his cut?” Snapper asked.

“Shut up,” Luna hissed. “That is not at all what happened.”

King sat back in his chair. “Zig is no longer a member of the club.”

Everyone talked and hollered at once.

I didn’t.

I couldn’t speak.

I stared at the cut.

This wasn’t happening.

“What the fuck do you mean he isn’t a part of the club anymore?” Easy demanded.

“Don’t you think this is something he should have told the club?” Luna asked.

King held up his hand, and everyone shut up.

I looked at my dad, and he had tears in his eyes.

He knew what was going on.

The club and I were in the dark.

“What happened?” I asked.

King’s gaze connected with mine.

“Zig was not happy with the direction that the club is heading.” King glanced at dad. “And he decided that it would be best for himself if he left.”

“Left?” Hero asked. “How the hell can he leave the club? It’s his life.” Hero swung his arm wide. “It’s all of our lives.”

“That’s all I’m going to say.”

“No,” dad growled. “You’re going to tell them all of it.”

“We have a right to know why he punked out on all of us,” Pie grumbled. “He’s a fucking pussy.”

“It’s me,” I interrupted.

Everyone looked at me.

“No,” King replied.

I shook my head. “It is me. He didn’t like that I was with Tess, and he left because I didn’t listen to him.” He had tried to tell me what to do, and I hadn’t listened.

“It’s not that,” dad answered.

“Then what is it?” I asked. “What bullshit reason did he give?”

King tapped his hand on the table. “He’s not happy with the way the club is being run. We decide things, and then we do something different.”

Hero quirked his eyebrow. “What?” he asked.

“Like what?” Luna asked. “He doesn’t understand that plans change. We may decide to do one thing, but then x, y, or z happens?” She tsked.

King shook his head. “It’s more like we decide things, and then they change without the club deciding they are going to change.”

Bingo.

It was about me.

“If that is the case, then I should be quitting the club because you guys had decided something when I was knocked the fuck out,” I growled.

“But you won’t because you understand why we made the decisions that we did when you were laid out.” King shook his head. “I don’t think Zig has been happy with the club for a while, and this was his way out.”

“What the fuck is there not to be happy about?” Frost asked. “He has a job he can work whenever he wants, and he has us. I’m pretty sure that is something everyone would want. Freedom and family.”

“So, what do we do now?” Snapper asked.