Welcome to the Dark Side (The Fallen Men 2)

Only family was close to the deep wound in the earth where the casket was bein’ lowered, a circle of people linked by choice insteada blood that would always and had before, bled for each other.

Cops ran like a loose chain-link fence around the perimeter, hemmin’ us in and watchful of so many outlaws in one space. It was standard procedure for an MC funeral to have the cops up our ass but I fuckin’ hated that they were there today watchin’ like they always did instead of doin’. The only thing they were fuckin’ good for was keepin’ the press at bay.

“Zeus Garro, I understand you would like to say a few words.” Pastor Lafayette was doin’ the ceremony. It was fucked as shit but I respected the guy. He didn’t like my way of life, didn’t like that his granddaughter was livin’ that same life beside me, but he supported me anyway because it was what she wanted.

So, he was doin’ the ceremony for a biker and not carin’ that it was unconventional as fuck.

I stomped through the mud to the microphone beside the pastor and pulled my presidency all around me like a fuckin’ shroud. The sound of tears underscored the rain, could see the tracks of ’em on the cheeks of women and brothers alike. This was not a happy time for the club. The loss of a brother hadn’t happened to the main charter of the MC since I’d killed Crux and inadvertently started this whole mess.

It was up to me to be strong, to be Atlas bended on one knee with the world on my shoulders, holdin’ up my family for as long as they needed that from me.

I took a deep breath, thought of Lou to give me strength, and started.

“Wonder if those motherfuckers who ended Mute woulda done it if they’d seen a movie of his life. They woulda seen a neglected, abused kid with huge brown eyes wiser an’ more soulful than ten grown mens. They woulda seen his character grow with the struggle of bein’ different, how he found acceptance with a brotherhood that nurtured ’im and how he threw himself body and fuckin’ soul into givin’ that back and more.” The sobs were louder now, in my ears with more in my throat. Fuck, if I was gonna cry but fuck me if I’d ever had a better reason to.

“Yeah, I wonder if they woulda killed a man like that if they’d known him; if they’d known his quiet fuckin’ wit, how he could play us all like fuckin’ pawns without even sayin’ a word. He lived by a simple mandate like the rest of us, brotherhood, loyalty, livin’ free and even in the end, dyin’ hard. Brings me some small degree of comfort to know my brother died how he woulda wanted to, defendin’ his and my girl. Whatever place he’s in where fallen angels go, I know he’s livin’ a dead man’s dream ’cause a soul like his woulda bought him first class seats to paradise.”

I nodded out at the sea of my people, catchin’ eyes with Nova as he held Lila, with Buck as he cranked the mechanism that lowered Mute’s black coffin into the cold, wet earth.

“And while Mute finds peace in the Underworld, we’ll be busy up here findin’ justice for ’im,” I declared, hand over the microphone so only the force of my lungs carried the promise of vengeances to the eager ears of my brothers.

A shout swelled in the air like a punctuation mark.

I nodded, tipped my chin at the pastor, and stepped down.

King was the first to step forward when the coffin was finally bedded down, a silver coin in his hand, probably a nickel. His face was gaunt like a fuckin’ skeleton’s, his lips held tight against the force of his misery. I wanted to go forward and wrap my kid in my arms like I’d done when he was a boy, but he was a man now and it was man’s walk to the edge of the grave to pay last respects.

“Go easy, brother, knowin’ you touched our lives like the hand of God ’imself.” He flipped the coin into the grave, payment for the ferryman or the pearly gates, wherever death mighta taken him.

The Fallen always pay their debts, even in death.

So one by one, my brothers stepped up to toss a coin onto the coffin and pay Mute’s way to Eden.

It took half an hour just for the Entrance brothers and when I stepped up last, we were all soaked through past the skin to the fuckin’ bone.

But I took my time ’cause I had two coins, one for me and one for Lou.

My heart burned like a torch in my chest, never fuckin’ goin’ out, not since I’d rode into Entrance straight to the fuckin’ hospital and found Lou with tubes in her mouth and so many damn needles in her arms she looked like a pin cushion. Fuck but she shoulda been there beside me. I coulda been strong for her the way I didn’t feel strong for anyone else.