Devil's Sons M.C. (Manxman)

25.

Hunter

It's no surprise to me when I come into the warehouse the next morning after a quick shower at mine's. Three guys as well as Luke stand outside the warehouse as casual as ever but I could spot cartel guys from a mile away.

I'd left JJ's house with one agenda in mind.

Slowly, the redhead has wielded his way into my life, same as Mel, as well as Lane. JJ was wrecked yesterday, it doesn't take a genius to know. He loves that kid more than anything else in the world, that also doesn't take a genius to see. I'm not going to stand and watch him go down for something he didn't do, I refuse to not take responsibility for this situation.

Even if it means giving up what I love.

I hop off my Harley trudging towards the guys whose attention was now on me. "Morning" I throw out to whoever wants to catch it.

"Ah bruiser I presume." I narrow my eyes at the guy presently extending his hand towards me for an handshake. I return the handshake, grasping his heavily tatted arm firmly as he continues. "Capitan has only nice words about you cabron."

I shake hands with the other two guys he came with. "I'm Javier, that's Juan Carlos, and that is Gonzalez." He points to the guys, the former with a shiny baldhead that puts Dwayne Johnson to shame. "Luke has explained how on edge you are about our coming down, I assure you that we're only here to help." Yeah till the help would involve expensive collateral damage.

"It's not your help I'm worried about, we have a treaty with the Armenians." Juan Carlos lets out a grunt of disapproval as Javier's jaw ticks. "Exactly. You guys hate each other and I want bloodshed as far away as possible from Stocker." AKA get your asses back to Mexico before Vardan turns shit upside down and we have a war in our hands. Vardan has been known to be quite unstable.

"We would stay out of the Vardan's way..... this time." Motherfucker.

"Let's talk Prez." I gesture to Luke, before heading inside the warehouse and straight into the inner room. He comes in shortly after and closes the soundproof door, so it's just the two of us in privacy.

"Look I know you don't support this VP but I need to get my house in order." The singularity in that sentence irks me but it's not why I'm here so I just let it pass.

"You remember yesterday when I told you that JJ was innocent?" I cut to the chase.

"Yeah and I told you he's gonna need more than your words to set him free."

"Yeah well....." I'm not able to finish my sentence when a loud knock resounds on the door. Luke moves to answer the door and from the gap I see that it's O'Reilly. Club members were already arriving too as the place was already buzzing in just the short moment that we've been here.

"Round them up into the room and tell Capitan to get started." I hear Luke instruct O'Reilly who immediately proceeds to get it done. I guess everyone was here already. "I'm listening VP." He shuts the door again to continue our conversation.

"I was with JJ that night, he didn't take the guns."

A look of confusion spreads through his face as if trying to understand my words but it just wasn't making sense.

"What do you mean by 'with him that night'?" He asks confusedly.

I don't bother replying, there's no use explaining what happened between two consenting adult males, I'd rather wait for him to figure it out. I watch the metaphorical mask fall off his face leading to a look of realization slowly slipping in. "No you can't mean... no. This is a joke right? It definitely is."

"It isn't Luke, it isn't." I finish.

"Bruiser come on!" He runs his hand through his hair frustratingly, grabbing at the strands. He paces back and forth while I just remain awkwardly seated at the sharp edge of the top of the meeting chairs.

"You know the club rules better than anyone brother, why would you do this?"

"Look I just needed you to know that it wasn't JJ so whatever weird cartel fraternization is going on in there, he didn't take those guns." I retort.

It's quite for a while as Luke just keeps pacing, muttering to himself. "You know the consequences of your actions right?" I wouldn't make this decision if I didn't. Weird thing is I didn't even have it in me to be guilty or sad or whatever, maybe I just haven't processed it yet. "One of you has to get kicked out of the club."

"About that Luke, when you take the vote I want it to be in JJ's favor." The shock is written on his face and it would be comical if it was another time. All movements are halted as he stares at me, disappointment clearly written over his face.

JJ didn't deserve to be kicked out of the club. The rules were there and I knew better, I knew they were there the entire time. I take the responsibility for it, as long as JJ is free.

"You wanna lose your patch for him? He's a newly patched member and you're the Vice president of the Devil's Sons of Stocker, second generation member. And you wanna lose your patch for him?" He asks in utter disbelief.

"Like I said Luke, I want the vote in JJ's favor." I reply.

"I'm short of words right now." He mumbles before suddenly opening the door and slamming it in his wake.

I take a deep breath before standing up and approaching the door too. This place has always been my safe haven, these people were my brothers, the leather cut presently adorning my body was my camouflage of identity. I've known nothing else apart from this motorcycle club, no plans, no post high school education, nothing else.

Yet the troubling fact is that if I could go back in time and change something, I wouldn't change anything. Maybe stop the guns from being stolen but nothing else would be different. The regret wasn't setting in. That fact in itself was scary.

I take a last look around the room again before slowly stepping out and closing the door. This is it.

"JJ is innocent." I hear Luke tell Capitan who in turn gestures to JJ to step out, albeit confusion written on his face too.

"Why am I suddenly innocent prez?" JJ asks curiously upon reaching out of the room.

"How about you ask bruiser." Luke throws back before trotting towards the exit of the warehouse. Everyone looks between us trying to figure out what was happening and why the president was so pissed.

"Did you tell him about...?" JJ whispers while flicking his pointer finger between us. I nod in response. "Shit bruiser why? Fuck one of us if gonna get kicked out." He whispers again.

"Relax it's not gonna be you." I throw back in response before standing up and heading towards the exit too.

I needed to ride, and I needed a smoke, and I needed some quiet in that order. So I rode out to my border boulder where I had a smoke in quiet. No one else, just me and my racing thoughts.