Brushing past the few bikers who are still here, if they don’t move away from me entirely, I catch Jade and Poppy’s eyes from across the room. It’s as though my movements are in slow motion when Poppy leans into Jade and whispers something into her ear. Jade’s eyes widen in shock before she smiles sadly at Sloane.

I tuck my hair behind my ear and follow Lion through a side door adjacent to the bar. There’s a long rectangle table in the middle with their MC emblem carved into the wood expertly. Leather chairs are pushed beneath the table, and at the very head there’s a gavel sitting on a tiny stand. I guess that’s where Lion sits. On the wall behind the head, there’s an old motorbike hanging by anchors. No windows, and honestly, it smells like ass in here more than out there.

“Take the chair there, Ruby.” Lion gestures to the chair on the opposite end of the table. I carefully pull it out and lower myself down.

“Can we hurry this along, please? I have to wake up in the morning and take my son Christmas shopping.” I follow Lion’s movements as he passes the chair I assumed he would sit on, but he instead takes the spot to the right. Everyone else piles in, and I watch as one by one, they take their place around the table. Royce opposite Lion, and Khaos beside Royce, and so on. I don’t care enough about the other members to know their names.

I feel him enter before I see him. The whole atmosphere shifts, and I don’t know if that’s because of the tension between us or because I genuinely hate him, but the second he’s in the room, it’s as though his shadow has me in a chokehold. He’s the dark cloud that hovers over me any time I’m around him. The first thing I notice is that there are no extra seats.

The second thing is that he takes the one at the head of the table. He lowers himself slowly, and just as he’s about to sit, his head tilts up slightly and the corner of his mouth curls into a hateful smirk.

Within a flash it’s gone, and he leans back on his chair, his eyes directly on me. Slowing my breathing so I don’t look like I’m panicking, I cross my legs from under the table, now cursing Lion for placing me here.

Unable to maintain the electricity that prickles over my skin any time his eyes are on mine, I pull away and look to Papa, who is seated to my right. “What is happening?”