Anvil novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: The Gavel

Tucker's POV

Dutch's office at the back of the Forge had one window, one desk and a bottle he was no longer allowed to open.

I came in at eight in the morning with my arm in its sling and the stitches pulling every time I breathed.

He sat behind the desk in the same denim he had worn the night before.

I did not think he had slept.

"Sit down, son."

"I'll stand."

"You'll sit. You're gray in the face."

I sat.

He looked at me for a while without speaking.

Then he took a brass key out of the desk drawer and laid it on the blotter between us.

"That's the key to the president's safe," he said. "The new one. I had the lock changed at six this morning."

"All right."

"My lungs have maybe a year in them, the doctor says. Maybe two if I give up cigars and stay out of fights, and I'm not good at either one." He tapped the key. "Rhett was my vice president. That chair's empty. The club needs a man in it who can hold a room."

"Dutch."

"I'm not asking you to be me. I'm asking you to sit where I can see you, and learn it, and take the gavel when I can't hold it anymore."

I looked at the key.

I had wanted this when I was twenty-one.

I had wanted it so badly I would have bled for it, and I had very nearly bled for it twice.

"I can't," I said.

"Because of Lizzie."

"Because of Lizzie and Birdie. Because of the rule that keeps her kid away from this place. I'm not going to ask her to bend it because I want a title."

"You think I'd make you choose."

"I think you would have, a week ago."

He did not deny it.

← Chapter 20 · All chapters · Chapter 22 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend