any longer. Bull was flexing his huge, thick arms and he took another step forward, closer to King. King faltered for a moment, as if he was rethinking what he was about to do, and then after what seemed like an agonizingly long wait, he suddenly dropped his fists and took a step back.
He sighed and looked down to the floor, and it felt as if the whole room sighed with him, letting out their relief at the sudden break in tension and King’s obvious wise decision.
Sasha looked from Bull to King and then back again around the room. The rest of the bikers were all starting to relax but Sasha could still sense the fire and anger that was brewing between them and she didn’t like it… It felt as if everything was about to come crashing down.
“Get out of here until you’ve calmed down.” Bull said slowly in a deep gruff voice.
King looked up at him and it seemed for a moment as if he was going to argue, but then he turned and marched towards the doorway. He slammed his palms up against it and it went careering open and slammed off the outside wall. A beam of sunlight shone in as King disappeared into the brightness and then the door closed quickly behind him. He was gone.
Sasha looked back up to Bull and could sense that everyone else in the room only had eyes for him. They were all watching him closely, wondering what was going to happen next…
Bull took a step further into the room and slowly approached the rest of the Forsaken Riders. He looked down on them all for a moment and breathed deeply out of his nose.
“Does anyone else have anything they would like to say?” he asked challengingly.
The room fell silent and all of the men looked at one and other. The old boys who had been putting King in his place watched on proudly and one of them stepped up to Bull and rested a hand on his arm in affection.
“No one has any qualms here Bull,” the old boy said. “All of us welcome you as our leader with open arms.”
There was a hushed chatter of agreement that filtered out around the circle and the rest of the men began nodding their heads.
“Yes,” Steel spoke up. “You know you’ve always been my brother and now I’m honored to have you as the head of this charter.”
“Here, here,” Lynx agreed with a nod.
“Well then,” Bull said with satisfaction. “Let’s get started shall we?”
CHAPTER 5
Sasha’s ears were open wide as she pretended to be busying herself with her duties behind the bar. All of the bikers were pulling their chairs up to gather around Bull and he was taking center stage, standing in front of them at the side of the bar. She had never felt more nervous and more on show, but she couldn’t face leaving and going out the back to gather more stock when there was so much to hear and so much going on.
Bull stood with his huge tanned arms crossed over his chest and he waited until he was sure everyone was listening.
“We’ve lost a lot in the past twenty-four hours,” he said sternly. “A great man has been taken from us and we’ve been left in uncertain times without the guidance of the one person who has always led us down the right path.” He paused for a moment and took a breath. The rest of the men around him were nodding with solemn looks on their faces, and Sasha was sure that one or two of them had tears in their eyes. For all that these men were ruthless and mean, they all had a hidden softer side which sometimes burst free.
“As all of you now know, Reid called for me whilst he was dying and he gave me the highest honor anyone in this club could wish for. I did not ask for it. I did not expect it. But I am determined to embrace it and do him proud.”
He slammed his fist down on the table next to him and Sasha jumped slightly. She wasn’t even pretending to be busy now, she was just stopped, watching it all unfold, with her mouth lolling slightly open.
“I know a few of you may think I’m not the right person to take this club forward… I know