Addictive (The Houston Defiance MC Series Book 2)

fucking elephant sitting on my chest.
I can’t even fathom where to begin.
What would Zero do?
I turn, sending a whistle through the clubrooms.
Everyone faces me as I take in a steadying breath. “Brothers, church, now. Luc,” the prospect’s eyes shoot to me like he wasn’t expecting his name to be called. “You’re on Cherry. Everywhere she goes, you do, too. Got it?”
His eyes shift to his best friend, Chains, who’s the entire reason he patched in here from Chicago. Chains beams wide at him. Luc doesn’t need permission from Chains, he’s getting support for his first solo gig.
“Got it… ahh, do we call you pres while Zero’s away?” Luc asks.
Fuck if I know!
Technically I’m the interim president, but fuck if that doesn’t feel like admitting defeat.
“No. The president still wears his patch. He isn’t gone. He hasn’t left. Let’s think of it as he’s on a vacation. Zero’s coming back. I’m not sure when, but we are getting him back. As for me, I’m your VP, so you call me as such. Now everyone… get in the chapel, we have shit to discuss. Luc, don’t you let her out of your fucking sight! You feel me?”
“Yes, VP,” Luc calls out as I turn walking for the chapel doors. I push through them with no plan in place, no speech prepared, no angle to come at them with. I’m hoping an honest, open discussion among my brothers will get us all in the right headspace for when we head down to the police station.
Walking in, I round the table. I shuffle past Zero’s chair with an uneasy emotion spinning through me. I’m running this meeting, so technically, I should sit at the top, but again, that feels downright disrespectful. I take a seat in my usual VP chair leaving Zero’s empty. I slide his gavel over in front of me as the other brothers make their way through the door. Fox is the last, so he closes the heavy door behind him. They all pull up their seats as I crack my neck to the side trying to ease the rising tension.
“So, Kevlar, I wanna hit you first. You obviously had no idea your brother was gonna come in here, right?”
Kevlar folds his arms across his chest. “Fucking asshole was always searching for a reason to raid the joint. He hates the fact I’m here. Any damn excuse to get the club shut down or the people here I care about in the shit, Ethan will take it. I don’t understand why, when he knows it’s only going to push me further away from him.”
I sit forward, placing my hands on the table. “What does this mean for Lucas and Sadie?”
Kevlar groans. “My kids mean every-fucking-thing to me, but them living with Ethan has always been a contentious issue. He’s pushing the damn limits of my every last nerve. I can’t see what the fuck he’s trying to gain from this shit. If he wants me to trust him, he’s going the wrong fucking way about it.”
Neon places his device on the table gaining our attention. “Kevlar, could Ethan be involved in any of this? Could he be involved with the Baron?”
Kevlar’s eyes widen. “No. No, fucking way. Eath is far too strait-laced. He does everything by the damn book. No exceptions. To him the Baron would be someone on his radar. He knows he’s dirty, but no one can ever prove anything.”
“Can we use Ethan to our favor? Tell him what happened. Explain everything. Find out if he knows any workarounds that’ll help?” Chains offers.
Kevlar scrunches up his face. “Eath might help. I’m sure he’s aware of ways to ensure Zero gets bail, and he could possibly help us find the right lawyer—”
“But?” I cut in.
“But he won’t. He hates this club way too much to help us.”
“Not even if it could help you in the long run. Help his blood family?” Fox asks.
“He’s the most stubborn man I know. When I left the force, he took it personally. I was his training officer. Taught him everything he knows. Then I up and left him for love at a biker club. He’s bitter. Doesn’t understand how I could transition so smoothly into vigilante life after being a cop.”
“From what I remember, the transition wasn’t easy for you at all,” Fox blurts out.
“Exactly. It’s just Eath doesn’t see that part of it. If he’s going to make life hard here, I don’t want him doing something stupid and restricting access to my kids.”
“Then we bring them back here,” Chains offers without hesitation.
Chains’ old club back in Chicago had a few brats running around. They might be used to kids over in the windy city, but here in Houston, we’re not so used to rug rats being on our radar and getting in the way of our lifestyle.
I raise my hands halting everyone from talking. “We’re getting off track. Kevlar, I know your kids are fucking important, and rightly so. Ethan is a part in all of this whether we like it or not, so we will have to figure it out. But right now, we need to focus on Zero. He’s being processed, so we need to head downtown to the police station to see what’s happening, and if we can bring him home, which I highly doubt…” I trail off changing the subject. “Neon, you any closer to finding us a damn attorney?”
He slides his device across the table to me. A face lights the screen, she’s young, pretty as all hell, but has an edge to her, a guise that says ‘fuck with me, I dare you.’ Her auburn hair is styled perfectly.
There’s only one problem—she’s a woman.
“The Baron will eat her alive.”
“You would think so, I agree, but she came up against Howard Goldbladt in a sexual