"Prez, I really don't see any good outcome from doing this. I get his family's been a part of us for ages, I do, but that doesn't mean he should be."
"He's already been patched in, Tony. There's nothing either of us can do about it now."
Anthony narrowed his eyes at his president, his fingers closing around the plastic chair under his grip. "What if this kid fucks everything up?"
"Then I'll take responsibility." Karl slowly shrugged, his eyes flicking to the door behind his VP. "What could one man possibly do anyway, kid? He's clean as far as I can see."
"We're a motorcycle club," Anthony grumbled. "Clean isn't in our vocabulary. And anyone who wants to join us has to be insane for that reason."
Karl crossed his arms over his chest. "My baby wants to join us."
"That's different." Only because Anthony wasn't allowed to say anything bad about Karl's daughter. If he could, he'd be expressing how he thought she was stupid for wanting to screw up a wealthy, happy life across the country to come over here and become part of the club. All this club had ever brought him - and everyone else, for that matter - was trouble. He couldn't understand why Karl would want to bring her into that.
"Look," Karl said, thankfully moving past Anthony's slip-up, "I know it's a risk but it's one I already took. There's nothing we can do so how about we stop whinging and go out to meet the guy?"
Grumbling, Anthony turned toward the door and stormed back into the clubhouse's leisure room. Filled with couches, drunken bikers and booze, the place had seen better days. But it was a place many of the younger bikers came for a break from their tough home lives, so to Anthony, it was perfect exactly how it was… except for the toilets. Those were disgusting.
A young man Anthony had never seen before was waiting at the bar with four beers, only one of which was for himself. On one side, he had the biggest guy in the entire club - and the scariest - who worked as Karl's enforcer: Damien Mathers. Even sitting, he towered over the new kid like a bear, and even Anthony shivered at the thought of getting on his bad side. On the other side of the new kid were two empty seats, and Karl slid right into one of them without thought.
"President Kingsley," said the new kid, holding out his hand.
Karl scoffed. "You're a patched member. Call me Prez."
Casting a glance at Damien for confirmation, he said, "Okay, Prez."
"That's better, kid. You're part of a brotherhood now, not the military. We tend to go by much more reasonable nicknames."
The new kid nodded a few times.
"Anyway, I'd like to introduce you to our VP, Anthony Black. Anthony, this is Joseph Pilkins."
Anthony half-heartedly held his hand out for a shake and quickly retreated back into his seat at the end of the bar, sipping his beer. Joseph gave him a smile fit for a stuck-up college kid instead of a biker. "Hi, Anthony. I know you're a bit wary about me so I want you to know that I'm at the club's disposal.
"I don't know what… Prez told you about me, but I come from a pretty wealthy family. I've got a lot of cash in the bank and I'm willing to spend it to better the club. Prez and I have already talked about what we could do, starting with this clubhouse-"
"Woah, what?" Anthony snapped, cutting the entitled little shit off mid-sentence.
"Tony, we're all going to be discussing it after. Let the kid talk."
Anthony scoffed. "You think you can fuck up this place? This is a sanctuary for some people, not some summer project."
"What? N-no, that's not my intention!" Joseph stuttered. "I just want to make the place better for those kids. I don't want to damage it."
"What could you do that wouldn't damage it?" Anthony growled.
Karl held up a hand to keep the agitated Anthony back. "Tony, I told you, we'll discuss it later."
"I want to know now."
"Watch how you speak to your president," Damien snapped suddenly, and Anthony's blood automatically ran cold. He turned his eyes onto the beast at the other end of the bar, confidently shitting himself.
"Watch how you speak to your VP," he returned.
Damien stood up in a swift movement, towering over all three of the other men at the bar. The bartender glanced at him nervously before backing away toward the other bikers. She looked frightened, as was anyone when Damien got serious.
"I'm not scared of you just because you're bigger than me," Anthony muttered, holding his eye contact. He and Karl were just about the only ones who would ever stand up to Damien, though neither of them would ever actually win in a fight against him - not even if they combined forces.
Damien slowly backed off, but not before he sent a glare right through Anthony. He sat down and nursed his beer staring straight ahead.
Karl smacked Anthony's arm. "Joseph is going to help pay for us to renovate this place. Every room. We'll do it in bits so everyone can still come here on the daily and not be too disturbed. Now stop causing shit and be nice to our new member, he's going to be of great help to us."
Anthony reluctantly accepted his place and backed down, too, but he still wasn't happy about the snobby rich boy getting into the club behind his back.
He'd have to see these amazing renovations for himself to ever be happy with this.