21. Switch

21

SWITCH

A s soon as we get through the doors, I tug Sophia close and hold her tight against me. Her body shakes in my arms. I never intended to let her leave without me, to let her out of my sight even. But in situations like that, you have to be prepared for the unexpected.

"You okay?" I whisper.

"Not really, but yes. A lot just happened."

I cup both her cheeks. "Did it ever. We need a plan. To get you out from beneath that guardianship. The club has a lawyer…at least, they used to. I assume they still do. Wait, no. We move and I find us a lawyer. I have a place in mind we can go and be safe."

"I need to stop for a minute and get my head around what's just happened. Everything is moving too fast."

And then Sophia laughs uncontrollably. Distress is written on her face.

"Fuck, I had a handle on this." She gasps.

"BAT," I say, gripping her wrists. "Do it with me?"

"When you focus on me like this, I find it hard to breathe," she admits.

I can't help but smile. "Kinda like sweet words from your mouth, Sparrow. Now breathe with me."

She takes in a deep breath, and I nod. "Now adjust."

Sophia rolls her shoulders back and stands a little straighter.

"Good girl. Now think."

"It's harder to control when I'm under stress."

"Makes sense. My words disappear when I am. We'll go somewhere you can rest. I promise."

The brothers start to peel back into the clubhouse.

"What just happened?" Rae asks King. "What was that Sophia said about a contentious vote?"

"Club business, Duchess."

Rae takes one look at Sophia. "It's not club business when it affects one of the old ladies. It becomes all our business."

King sighs. "Sophia's family came to take her back."

"My family organized an arranged marriage," Sophia says. "I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I feel like my accident and my injuries were sustained trying to escape it."

Iris looks at Spark, her face like thunder. "Were you one of the ones going to vote against backing Theo up when he saved his wife from an arranged marriage?"

"Little chick. It's not as simple as?—"

"Don't ‘little chick' me right now."

King puts his hands up. "We're not doing this."

Vi looks to Bates. "Was it you?"

Bates grimaces. "They're the fucking Sicilian Cosa Nostra, before you give me shit. The best interest of the club is not pissing them off."

"I understand," Vi says sweetly. Too sweetly. "You had to put your own safety ahead of your brother and his wife who needed your help."

"That's not what I said." Bates rubs a hand across his jaw.

"Fuck me," says King. "We need to stop. We don't discuss club business like this."

"Given I was taken against my will, you better not have voted against," Briar says to Saint. "Or you will be sleeping in the spare room you just finished painting."

Saint tugs on the end of Briar's braid. "I was a yes before King even asked for the vote."

Briar wraps her arms around his waist. "And there's the man I fell in love with."

"King?" Rae says.

"If you're gonna yell at me in Shakespeare, Duchess, just get it over with," King says.

Rae steps right into our president's space. "Shakespeare would turn in his grave if I wasted any of his words on you today."

Gwen steps forward. "I propose a vote. If our men won't take care of Theo and Sophia?—"

"Babe, I voted for," Clutch offers.

She glances his way. "Yes, but what kind of vice president can't convince his men to follow in his direction?"

"Ouch," Niro offers. "For the record, I helped the two of them escape."

King glares at Niro. "Do we have to tell them fucking everything? This is a fucking MC. Women don't get a say or a vote."

Cat coughs. "No?"

King rolls his eyes. "Don't be pedantic. We voted for in the end."

" In the end is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence. I'll talk to you later," Gwen says, glaring at her brother. "Anyway. If our men won't take care of Theo and Sophia, we'll show them that we will. All in favor."

The hand of every single old lady goes into the air.

"Motion carried," Rae says.

King shakes his head. "Doesn't work like that, Duchess."

"Thanks to Niro, we can shoot as well as you," Vi says. "We've learned surveillance. There are enough of us to form a rotation."

Niro rubs his hands together and whoops. "Fuck me. I formed a rebellion." He crosses the floor to stand with the women. "There are more pussies on that side of the room than there are on this."

Rae glances to him. "Too far."

"Really?"

Briar nods. "We don't use that word in that context. Linking a word used to show weakness to vaginas is sexist."

Sophia laughs, then puts her hands to her lips, her body shaking. "Sorry. Can't help it. My brain doesn't filter things the same way."

"It's okay. We got you, sweetheart," Niro says as he winks at her.

I pull her close to me and feel the shudder of her breath. She really does need a minute.

Perhaps we both do.

"Anyway," Niro continues. "I'm still on the right side of history where we protect our brother, no matter what the cost," Niro says as he looks to Spark. "You married into the fucking Irish mob. You should be on our side automatically."

It's such a juvenile thing to say, but he says it with such passion, I feel every word.

"And what side is that?" Spark asks. "The dead-man-walking club?"

Niro shakes his head. "The ‘men who made women they should have left alone their old ladies' club. Clutch fucked his best friend and president's sister. You married into the Irish mob. King kidnapped Rae. Kidnapped. And I know what you all thought of me wanting to keep Catalina."

"You didn't keep me. I stayed," Catalina says with a soft smile.

He turns to face her, the anger leaving immediately, and he kisses her sweetly. "Can we agree it was both?"

"Compromise? Geez, you have come a long fucking way," Saint says.

Niro flips the bird at him.

"Makes me feel like the normal one in the group, marrying the first woman I ever fell in love with, knowing she was the only one for me without bringing threat of death or destruction to the club," Bates says.

"Hey," Halo says. "Speak for yourself."

Bates raises an eye. "Did you forget you met her because your fucked-up brother tried to wipe out your family?"

Halo huffs good-humoredly. "You know what I mean. And Vi arrived here because some goons went looking for you."

Vi shoulder checks Bates. "Don't you be saying sweet things when I'm still mad at you."

Niro turns to face me. "You got to unite us, Theo. It's what you do best. When we're at odds. You ever notice how we just keep talking at each other instead of closing shit out? That was your skill. You point out the fucking obvious and stop us rambling in circles."

I realize everyone is looking at me. Brothers. Old ladies. Prospects.

I take a deep breath, trying to recall anything from the last ten years that might come to me. But nothing does. And maybe that's the story.

"I don't know why I ended up injured like this, but from what I've heard from all of you, it's because I acted first and thought…well, never. It didn't occur to me in that instant to consider how this would affect me. Only how it would affect Halo. And Ari. And Lola. And while I can't remember everything about the last ten years, certain things are coming back to me. And every single one of them, we're in it together, no matter what we were facing. Even if it was wrong." I tuck Sophia beneath my arm, taking her weight as she leans against me. "All you have to do is decide what kind of person you want to be. And if it takes you longer than two seconds to decide, you aren't the people I thought you were." I look to the old ladies. "And you all are beyond my estimation."

Niro grins. "This feels like when a minor league team beats the major league team."

"Are we the minors?" Gwen asks.

Niro chuckles. "Given their behavior"—he tips his head in the direction of our brothers—"right now you're the A-Team."

Sophia leans a little heavier against me. She fidgets, which tells me the left side of her body aches.

"Thanks for all this," I say, pointing to the decorations. "But you'll understand why we don't much feel like staying to celebrate."

I start to lead us back to our room, my mind whirring with what we do next. My gut tells me it starts with moving closer to my parents. We can't fly after a traumatic brain injury without doctors signing off, and I can barely drive. But I know if I tell my dad, he'll set off with his truck and one of my brothers, and they'll drive through the night to come get us.

We'll go to my house, get supplies, and head off in my truck. Between Sophia and me, we can head towards them. My brother can take over driving. Ryan didn't want to join the club, too law abiding, but that doesn't mean he can't throw down if he needs to.

"Wait," King says. "I fucked up. Hard thing to admit in front of a clubhouse full of old ladies and prospects, but Sophia was right. Was standing outside wondering how we would've reacted if the Irish had come for Iris in full force once Spark had declared for her. Or if Saint had unleashed the power of the ATF or FBI on the club to get Rae back. Brotherhood first or we're just fucking cowards. But it means one thing, Switch. You're all in with the club. You had your out to leave, but I won't honor it after this."

A rebellion brews within me. A part of me wants to tell King where he can shove his offer. That we'll be better off on our own. That the club doesn't deserve the two of us. But I've had such a prolonged connection with the club that I have to believe I would want to stay. I doubt I was the kind of man who hung around when things did not align with what I wanted out of life.

Maybe that's something I know for sure.

I believe in who I was…who I am…as a man enough to know that leaving would not be what I want either.

I squeeze Sophia's hand. "Then it's done."

A smile grows on King's face, and he steps towards me as an explosion rips through the front of the club. The wall of heat and sound smashes into me, taking Sophia and I to the ground.

My ears ring. I can barely hear voices through the high-pitched whirring screaming inside my eardrums.

I immediately roll so that Sophia is behind me. A weapon slides across the floor before stopping in front of me. Catalina winks and crawls beneath the height of the remaining wall, just as bullets begin to pepper into the clubhouse.

Niro joins her, and they begin to fire shots out onto the lot.

"Get the women out back," King shouts to me, and I nod.

"Can you crawl?" I ask Sophia.

"If the other option is dying, yes."

"Go behind the bar. There's an entry on the other side. Stay as low to the ground as you can. Go." Sophia does as I say, and I reach for Rae as King sends her my way. "Follow Sophia."

"I know what to do," she says with measured confidence.

Spark is stuck near the entry to church, his whole body wrapped around Iris. Her service dog, Mac, howls. Looking around, I flip the thick wooden table with all the boxes of party food on it and drag it across the room.

"Spark," I shout. "Hand her to me."

At first, I don't think he heard me, but then I realize he's paralyzed by…PTSD. Fuck, it comes to me with certainty. Spark was injured in a bombing where everyone else on patrol with him was killed.

"You're crushing…me," Iris manages to say, but Spark just tightens his grip and holds her down in front of him.

Even though it feels like every muscle in my arm is tearing apart, I grab both of them and tug.

Bullets hit the front of the table. I glance up and see Halo jump over the bar and then crawl his way to provide cover for Briar and Gwen to escape down the rear corridor. Clutch is already up front with King, firing back.

But I heave Spark and Iris behind the table. Mac follows.

"Spark," I say, "you're gonna hurt Iris."

He looks up at me. I've seen that kind of fear in a man before. I don't know where, but I have.

In another time and place, there may be a more measured approach, but I do the only thing I can think of.

I slap him. "Spark, I need you to come back to us, brother."

He shakes his head, then takes in what is going on around us. "Iris," he says.

"I'm safe." She places her hand on his cheek. "But we need to move."

With burning muscles that feel like they are being shredded in my weak arm, I grip the top edge of the table and shunt it across the floor, feeling the force of every bullet. Bates uses our movement to duck low with Vi and get her to the other side of the bar, and the two of them disappear into a room. When they re-emerge, it's with Ari, Lola, and their own daughter, Avery, who is crying in Bates's arms. Vi covers her baby bump protectively with her hands.

But it's Sophia I'm looking for.

"Let's get them all into the medical room," Bates says.

When I get there, I see Sophia sitting with Briar. She has her arm around the young woman, who's in obvious distress.

"You okay?" I ask.

"Just another day in paradise," she says with a soft smile.

I like that she isn't falling apart, that she's offering comfort. I don't have much in the way of weapons on me, so I tug my switchblade out of my cut pocket and hand it to her. "If anyone other than one of us makes their way in here, you use it…"

She takes the blade, holds the safe handle, and flips the bite handle and blade around her hand in a maneuver called a butterfly. It's fast, and her hand moves as if she's done it a thousand times before.

She huffs and looks up at me. "I wonder what Dr. Polunin would say about this little bit of procedural memory?"

"Don't give a fuck, but for now, I'm going to be really glad you remember how to use it, and we can try and figure the fuck out why when this is over."

And with that, I return to the front of the building.