Wild Like the Wind (Chaos #5)(126)

Instinct made Hound look to Arlo while Snapper was speaking and he felt his neck start itching again at the studied way Arlo was staring at the table, the tight in his fame, the hard in his jaw.

“Whatever happens from this meet, Snap, it’ll be done tonight and we’ll move on,” Tack told Snapper, regaining Hound’s attention.

Snapper stared at Tack then looked to Hound. When Hound gave him a chin lift confirming what Tack said, Snap looked back to Tack.

“Right, so I’ll repeat, I’m out,” he declared.

“No fuckin’ way I’m in,” Speck said. “Because a’ what Rush and Brick said, but also because Hound could still beat my ass with one hand tied behind his back even if I’m his third go.”

Shy and Big Petey grinned at the table.

No one else found anything funny.

“Roscoe?” Tack called.

“Out,” Roscoe answered. “It was a year, two, even five after we lost a brother and another brother moved in, yeah. I get that. Totally. But eighteen years? No fuckin’ way.”

“Jesus Christ,” Arlo clipped.

“It goes that way, I’ll let Black kick his ass in the afterlife,” Pete put in. “I’m out.”

“Joke?” Tack prompted, and Hound looked to his brother who used to fight the underground circuit, bare fists. Hound would go and watch and Joke rarely lost because Joker was a machine.

He was also more than ten years younger than Hound, but that wasn’t the reason Joke could beat the absolute crap out of him.

“You need this to feel clean and clear, man?” Joker asked quietly.

The man had never met Black but more than any of the new ones at that table, not including Shy and Rush, Joke was more Chaos than any of them, this before he even joined the Club, so he got it.

“I need you to do what your gut tells you to do,” Hound answered.

“Dutch and Jag, been watchin’, brother, and you’re a third of their world,” Joke told him something he knew, but even knowing it, it felt good hearing it.

Hound said nothing.

Joker shook his head. “I’m out.”

“High? Hop?” Tack asked, making it clear he wanted this done, but probably more, he didn’t want Arlo clapping his trap any more than he already had.

“In,” High grunted.

“Out,” Hop said.

“Christ, Hop, seriously?” Dog asked.

Hop lifted his eyes from the table to Dog.

“Seriously,” he replied.

“I watched Black give you a cigar when Dutch came into this world and another when Jag hit it,” Arlo reminded Hop.

“And I watched his woman mourn him for longer than she should. She’s ready to find good again, I’m not gonna be any part of makin’ it harder for her to grab hold,” Hop returned. “I said that for Keely. For my brother Black, I’ll say this. He wouldn’t put his fists to any brother for any reason, Arlo. Whatever was going down, he’d find his way to understanding.”

When Arlo opened his mouth to speak, Hop swiftly went on.

“Yeah, even this. Keely wouldn’t stray. Hound would never move in. So if he’d lived, we wouldn’t be right here. But he didn’t live and I knew him, Arlo, even better than you, and the man I knew would want his woman happy and he’d find a way no matter how deep down he’d have to dig to grab hold of the loyalty he needed to give to his brother.”

Hop had been tighter with Black so Arlo kept his mouth shut.

But Hop wasn’t finished.

“Last, I’ll say I want this for Hound. I do know what it’s like to have a good one and that one bein’ all I need in a way I know that’s all I’ll need until the day I die.” Hop turned to Hound. “Glad for you that you found that, man. It’s about time.”

Now that wasn’t a surprise. If anyone had the spirit of tolerance that Black had, it was Hop.

And it was Hound’s observation, and now experience, when you found that gold-plated love, it did shit to you.

Hound dipped his chin at Hop.

“Tack?” Dog called.

Hound looked at Tack to find Tack watching him.

The room fell silent.

It was Tack who broke it.

“You need this to feel clean and clear,” he repeated Joker’s words but in a statement.

Hound didn’t respond.

Making that a statement, Tack knew it to be true.

“How long will it take her to get over this?” Tack asked.

Tack also knew Keely.

“You put your fists to me, she’ll find a way to deal but she’ll never look at you with the same eyes,” Hound told him the truth. “Me, I get it. That’s not from me. Her, you’ll lose her in a way you’ll never get her back. She’ll be Chaos, she’ll be that through and through and she’ll be that for me, for her sons. But she’ll never again be yours.”

“Out,” High growled.

“Jesus, shit, seriously?” Arlo asked.

“I lost a good woman, by a miracle, got her back,” High returned. “I’m not gonna lose another one in a way I’ll never get her back.”

“Yeah, and Millie’s always been tight with Keely, both of them back, they’ll rebuild that, and she hears you took your fists to Hound because of this, you’ll find the pussy in your bed goin’ cold,” Arlo snarled.