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Chapters (60)
  1. Cover
  2. About Zero Regret
  3. Acknowledgments
  4. Social Media
  5. Zero Hour
  6. Also By Autumn Jones Lake
  7. Dedication
  8. Chapter One
  9. Chapter Two
  10. Chapter Three
  11. Chapter Four
  12. Chapter Five
  13. Chapter Six
  14. Chapter Seven
  15. Chapter Eight
  16. Chapter Nine
  17. Chapter Ten
  18. Chapter Eleven
  19. Chapter Twelve
  20. Chapter Thirteen
  21. Chapter Fourteen
  22. Chapter Fifteen
  23. Chapter Sixteen
  24. Chapter Seventeen
  25. Chapter Eighteen
  26. Chapter Nineteen
  27. Chapter Twenty
  28. Chapter Twenty-One
  29. Chapter Twenty-Two
  30. Chapter Twenty-Three
  31. Chapter Twenty-Four
  32. Chapter Twenty-Five
  33. Chapter Twenty-Six
  34. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  35. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  36. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  37. Chapter Thirty
  38. Chapter Thirty-One
  39. Chapter Thirty-Two
  40. Chapter Thirty-Three
  41. Chapter Thirty-Four
  42. Chapter Thirty-Five
  43. Chapter Thirty-Six
  44. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  45. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  46. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  47. Chapter Forty
  48. Chapter Forty-One
  49. Chapter Forty-Two
  50. Chapter Forty-Three
  51. Chapter Forty-Four
  52. Chapter Forty-Five
  53. Chapter Forty-Six
  54. Chapter Forty-Seven
  55. Chapter Forty-Eight
  56. Chapter Forty-Nine
  57. Author Notes
  58. Also by Autumn Jones Lake
  59. Request from Autumn
  60. The End

Tomorrow, I have a feeling I’ll need a new VP.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Z

It’s been a long time since I’ve attended the execution of a brother.

Our national president keeps hounding us to recruit new numbers. Tonight is why we’ve always been selective and few men ever earn a full three-piece patch.

A brother going behind the club’s back to work against us with a rival club is a huge betrayal. The only thing worse is a brother who snitches to the cops.

Trying to take out our president because of greed or because he couldn’t get enough members to rally to his side, that’s a whole new level of treachery. Every decision an officer makes is supposed to be for the good of the whole club. We may not always like all those choices, but we stand by our brothers.

If an officer isn’t doing what’s in the best interest of the club, there are plenty of options to remove him, even a stubborn bastard like Sway, without shooting him in the head.

Cowardice. There’s no room for it in this club.

Steer corralled everyone into the underground chamber out back. It was renovated with this in mind. I’ve only seen it once or twice since Sway remodeled.

A steel door in the basement’s concrete floor leads to a flight of stairs. Above us, the filters for the pool hum and churn. Dampness clings to the walls.

To the left, there’s a room with an elevated tub and barrels of chemicals. We have a similar room at the upstate clubhouse.

The tunnel’s low enough that I have to duck to move through it as do most of my brothers.

The next room is empty. It’s too small for this sort of interrogation.

At the end of the tunnel, there’s a much larger room with a higher ceiling. All the members of the downstate charter are spread around. Back to the wall, facing the accused.

This gets done with the full knowledge and consent of all the brothers. No secrets. No wondering what went down. No fear that brothers are being executed for no reason. Everyone on the same page.

Shadow’s on a metal folding chair in the center of the room. Steer stands behind him. Shadow isn’t tied or cuffed to the chair. Nothing silly or dramatic like that. There’s no point. Where would he run?

Murphy, Teller, and Dex fall back, mixing in with the rest of the brothers.

“Come to execute me, Prez?” Shadow sneers as I step in front of him.

I glance at Steer. “Get him up.”

I was wrong, Shadow’s hands are restrained by two zip-ties holding them together. Blood seeps through his shirt and he groans as Steer yanks him out of the chair.

“The club voted to strip your patch,” I inform him.

To his credit, Shadow doesn’t seem incredibly surprised.