Chapter 280 Ultimatum

Chapter 280 Ultimatum
Ryder's POV

Jaxon was not finished.

He had said he was done being my brother.

After a few endless seconds, he reached into his pocket and put something on the table between us. A folded piece of paper. He unfolded it slowly, with the deliberateness of a man who had prepared this before getting here and was not going to rush the delivery of it.

"Sit down," he said.

I sat.

He remained standing.

"I have been president of this club since my father died and vice president for at least twelve years," Jaxon said. "I have dealt with brothers who broke the law and brothers who broke loyalty and brothers who broke the code we built this club on. In twelve years I have only ever removed one brother's patch." He looked at the paper. "I am not going to remove yours today."

Something in me released slightly, and then he continued.

"But I want to be clear about where we stand," Jaxon said. "Because I am not just Sage Romano's brother right now. I am also the president of the Steel Wolves and I am standing here as both of those things simultaneously." He looked at me directly. "You have one week."

"One week," I repeated.

"One week to make this right with Sage," Jaxon said. "Not necessarily to fix it completely. Not to undo what happened this morning. But to do enough, to say enough, to show her enough, that she has a reason to consider letting you back in. One week of whatever it takes. Showing up. Being accountable. Not beating around the bush, not executing a plan. Actually doing the work of being the man she deserves."

"And if she doesn't let me in?" I said.

"Then you do another week, if she allows it," Jaxon said. "However long it takes. But one week is the minimum before I reassess where you stand in this club."

I looked at him. "You'd pull my patch."

"If you cannot demonstrate in one week that you are doing everything in your power to fix what you did to my sister," Jaxon said, "then I need to ask whether you are the right man to be VP of this club. Because the VP of this club is someone I should trust completely. And right now, today, I do not trust you."

The words hit like something physical. Not like the punch from Tommy. The punch had definitely been physical. This was something that hits in the chest and stayed there.

"Jaxon," I called.

"I know," he said. "I know what I'm saying. I have been sitting with it since Sage called me." He picked up the paper and folded it again and put it back in his pocket. "The position is still yours. For one week. After one week I will make a decision based on what I see."

Tommy had not moved from the far end of the bar.

I looked at him briefly. He looked back at me with the expression of a man who had warned me and was watching the warning come true.

I looked back at Jaxon.

"What did she say to you?" I asked. "When she called."

"That is between Sage and me," Jaxon said.

"I need to understand what I'm working with," I said.

"What you're working with," Jaxon said, "is a woman who loves you and is pregnant and is sitting in your house right now wondering how she is going to rebuild the trust she had in the person she chose after every other person who hurt her." His voice was even. He was not shouting. He did not need to shout. "That is what you're working with. And I want you to sit here and think about exactly how you got to this point before you do anything else."

"I know how I got here," I said. "I don't need to think about it more."

"Then say it," Jaxon said. "Out loud. Not to justify it. Just so I know you actually understand it."

I looked at the bar.

"I built some doubt in my mind" I said. "I let a timeline become a question about Sage's faithfulness. I did not stop it before it came out of my mouth. And I asked her the question barely just a day after she trusted me with some huge information." I looked up. "I turned her most vulnerable moment into an accusation."

Jaxon looked at me.

"That is what happened," I said.

"Yes," Jaxon said. "That is what happened."

He straightened his shirt. He looked around the main room of the clubhouse, his club, the thing he had built and nearly died for and reclaimed. Then he looked at me one more time.

"One week, Ryder," he said. "And I want you sleeping somewhere other than that house until she invites you back. You do not go back there uninvited. You do not show up at the door. You give her the space she asked for and you earn the right to come back."

"But that's my houseWhere do I sleep?" I said.

Jaxon looked at him. "The clubhouse has a room," he said. "You know where it is."

He walked to the door.

At the door he stopped without turning around.

"I meant what I said," he said. "I am done being your brother until you fix this. I'm not angry with you. I'm not punishing you. Done. You come back to me when she comes back to you."

The door opened and closed.

Tommy walked back down the bar and sat on his stool and picked up his coffee.

"One week," Tommy echoed.

"One week," I said back