9|Welcome Home

~Roman~

It was nearing midday outside, but time doesn’t really matter when you are underground.

Below the Outlaws Tavern, a human ring formed by club members betting on Mateo and me. They cheered like we were gamecocks as excitement oozed from all corners of the basement, waiting for a bloody cockfight.

This is where we settle the club members’ differences, and this is the first time I’ve ever been below the flickering, reticent fluorescent lights, facing one of my brothers. All because of a woman. Also, a first, but will surely be the last. This man seemed to have forgotten what the Outlaws stand for.

“Welcome home, cabrón,” Mateo murmured, both of us stepping clockwise, seizing one another. Our hands, wrapped with white bandages, leveled with our chest, knuckles cr