by Hazel Parker
I eventually put my money on Trace and Jane. They were the ones who had started this run of club members settling down, and I was sure that it would work out that way.
I suppose the “Sensei” part of me was still there, because about five months ago, Trace walked Jane into a hall meeting, showed us the ring, and caused all of us to break out into applause. Trace then proceeded to put Splitter in charge of the meeting so he and Jane could go have some fun, at which point Splitter just said, “OK, nothing really can top that. So fuck it, meeting adjourned!”
He had slammed the gavel, and we all went back to our loved ones.
I swear, I almost forgot that at one point, we were a motorcycle club that existed as outlaw vigilantes. I almost forgot that we were even hardcore partiers; most of us had just settled down. Even Krispy and Mafia started looking seriously for girls, although with their personality types, it would probably be a bit before they found anyone.
In any case, though, on this day, I was just beat to high hell. The sun had only just begun to set, but I had been outdoors in a tuxedo as one of Trace’s groomsmen. Splitter had gotten the honor of best man, as he should have—the only concern I had was knowing Splitter was probably going to cry during his speech, for which he did not disappoint. None of us were bothered by it, though—in fact, it was beautiful.
I sat with Courtney on my right, with her in a beautiful, blue, floor-length dress. I had my arm around her while Alyssa sat on my left, taking in the views of Santa Barbara down below.
“OK, I’m sorry,” Alyssa said. “But it’s still kind of weird to have my dad and my theater director dating! I just need you both to know that!”
We shared a laugh at that. Even after all this time, even for as mature as Alyssa was, I supposed teenagers could still be teenagers.
And I supposed that I could embrace the embarrassment even more.
“Would it be weirder if I… kissed her?”
I leaned over to plant a kiss on Courtney, who reciprocated in kind.
“Oh my God!” Alyssa said, throwing up her hands and groaning. “I’m going to go hang out with the cool kids. Get a room, you two!”
I was tempted to bark out as she left “what would you know about that?” I kept my mouth shut, though, because I did value the privacy we had. And, frankly, when I was tired, I just liked to be with Courtney; she was the person that could comfort me even in the most exhausting of times. Thankfully, she didn’t have to also do it in many dark times anymore.
“So who’s next?” Courtney asked.
I gave a half-hearted chuckle.
“Whoever it is better not do a summer wedding and have us wear tuxedos,” I said with a groan. “I’m sweating harder than I would be on a bike. And that’s pretty damn hard to do.”
“I know,” she said, running her fingers down my jacket. “You know, you weren’t the only one who got wet on those rides.”
“Oh, my,” I said as Courtney burst out laughing before kissing me. “If I had to guess? I’d say probably BK and Megan.”
“Really? Not Amber and Splitter?”
I shook my head.
“BK and Megan are two people who went a long while before they found each other from what I understand. Amber was coming off a divorce I think within a couple of days of meeting Splitter, so I’m not that surprised they’re taking their time. They’ve made it this far, so they’re going to last. I just think Amber wants to make one hundred percent sure she’s OK with it. I’m sure she wants to make sure she doesn’t go through a divorce again.”
“Yeah, I couldn’t imagine,” she said.
And then she asked the question that every man had to chuckle at.
“What about us?”
Mostly because just about any reaction other than a positive one would have brought with it a torrent of questions that no one would have wanted to answer to.
“It’ll happen soon enough,” I said, which was something of an honest answer. Soon, in my world, was a bit of a longer stretch than most people. Soon, to me, was within the next couple of years. I think Courtney was on the same wavelength as me.
“Soon enough?” she said. “Hmm, are you hiding something from me again?”
It was a running joke now whenever one of us suspected the other was up to something. That we could laugh about avoiding topics and hiding things was perhaps the greatest sign of the health of our relationship.
“Never,” I said. “I would never do that!”
“Uh huh,” she said, giggling. “Well, you don’t have to rush it. I know you’re good for it.”
Absolutely. There’s no doubt about the if. It’s just a matter of when.
I heard footsteps coming our way and turned around. Splitter was approaching.
“They’re about to do a video tribute to Paul Peters,” he said. “You should come.”
I got up immediately and held my hand out for Courtney to come. She took it, and we hurried into the main tent area. We got there just in time for the video to start—which began with me facing the camera.
“I can think of no greater man, no greater influence on my life, than Paul Peters,” I said, facing the camera.
Various other people spoke about Paul as images of his life flashed by, almost all of them having Jane in them. I saw an assortment of family members speak, as well as just about all of the officers in the club.
“When I think of men that I look up to, when I think of men that I really admire, I have to say Paul Peters is one of the best ones, man,” Splitter said on camera.
“Just an absolute gentleman,” Trace said on camera.
“A hero,” Krispy said.
“A legend, but a greater man than a great legend,” Sword said.
“We’re all better for having known him,” Mafia said.
I looked again at Jane, who by now had tears streaming down her face as soft music played and more images of her and her father ran.
Finally, the video began to wind down, with the final bits of words being spoken by none other than Jane, his only child, the little girl who had turned him from a tough, mean man to a man who became cheerful and happy and empathic to all of his members’ needs.
“There is no one,” she said on camera, taking a chance to catch her breath, “that I love more than my father. My father was the greatest man I have ever met—sorry, Trace.”
The crowd broke out into laughter at that one, a much-needed relief from all of the tears falling down cheeks right now.
“He is my hero, my inspiration, my everything. I miss you so much, Dad, and I love you. I know if you were here, you’d be smiling at whom I chose to marry.”
The video then faded with Paul’s signature, the last photo of the two of them from her college days, and a voice recording of Paul’s that someone had somehow managed to find.
“The most important thing you can find in this life,” he said.
I remember this. It was at a club meeting after the death of an officer. It’s what allowed me to become an officer.
“Is love. Everything else will come and go. What you think you will have forever, you will quickly realize you don’t. But if you find someone worth loving, hold on to them. Never let go. And show them you love them every day.”
The video faded as applause broke out. Even I found myself emotional, with some tears falling down my face. I looked down at Courtney, who looked like she had a river of tears pouring down her cheeks. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house, and that went for the men and the women.
“Alright, ladies and gentlemen, one more time, let’s give it up for Paul Peters,” the DJ said, bringing applause before he started playing a song that transitioned us back to the dance floor.
But I never did make it out there, because Trace gathered Splitter, BK, myself, and all of our significant others and led us out to the spot where I’d just been sitting.
“Fuck, man,” Trace said, holding Jane’s hand as she took her other one to wipe away tears. “I need some fresh air after th
at. And…”
As if on cue, seconds later, a waiter came by with eight glasses of scotch.
“Paul’s favorite drink,” Trace said with a smile. “One for all of us, who have gone through some interesting ups and downs in the last couple of years.”
“You can say that again, man,” Splitter said with a laugh.
Trace, Jane, Splitter, Amber, BK, Megan, Courtney, and I all took our drinks. We held them up, and Trace gave a speech that sent chills down my spine.
“For many of us, the club is all we have,” he said. “But the last couple of years have shown us something even greater. We have the club, yes, but we also have the love of an amazing woman.”
“And I can say the same for us ladies,” Jane said, drawing some approving “yeah girl” from the other three. “I wish I had my father here. My only family is my Uncle Tommy, but he is in Las Vegas. But you know what I do have? I have all of you.”
“To all of you,” Trace said.
“Here, here,” we all said as we took our drinks.
We sipped on them, with Courtney abstaining, dropped them, and shared a look.
“Let’s remember this forever,” Trace said. “And let’s all make our love last forever.”
There was little doubt for me that that would be the case. I may not have yet proposed to her, but at that moment, seeing how happy Trace and Jane were, I knew what Courtney was going to be for me.
She was going to be my forever.
Rebel Kings
Chapter 1: Nina
Nina Sullivan ran her motel with such prowess that people tended to be shocked when they found out that she was only 25. She’d grown up watching her father do it, and when he’d passed away, she was shocked to find that he’d left her the building instead of letting the bank claim it like he’d always told her he’d do. Everyone had advised that she sell it. She already owed money on student loans, and although she’d gone to school for hospitality with the intentions of one day running the Oasis Motel, they’d told her that she was too young, too inexperienced, and that if she tried to run it by herself, that she’d go bankrupt in a matter of months.
Her father’s death had been sudden. One day, her life had been completely normal, working at her job as assistant hotel manager in Portland and thinking about applying for Master’s degree programs, and the next, the business had been thrust into her hands with no warning. If it weren’t for her boyfriend, Adam, she knew that she’d have gone crazy. Even though he did think that she should at the very least find a co-owner for the place and was very vocal about that opinion, his presence by her side also somehow had given her the confidence to take a leap of faith and try to run the Oasis by herself. It had meant the world to her dad and she knew that he’d only left it to her in his will because he’d hoped that she’d keep it alive, so she decided that she at least owed him her best try. Adam had been skeptical, of course, but ultimately had told her that whatever choice she made, he’d help her as best he could.
“Nina, honey,” Adam called, startling her from her bookkeeping. She glanced up and pushed her reading glasses further up the bridge of her nose. Honestly, she’d started to fall asleep leaning against her hand at the front desk—again. The one thing that definitely sucked about being her own boss was that there were no days off.
“Yes, sweetie?” she asked, stretching her arms and feeling the tight, sore muscles in her back beginning to release. Adam was standing in the doorway holding two cups from a local coffee shop that she liked and, despite the exhaustion, she smiled broadly.
“I brought you something,” he said, handing her one of the cups and kissing her on the cheek as he did so.
“You’re a lifesaver,” she thanked, not even testing to see how hot it was before taking a long sip—and nearly spitting the liquid out in surprise. “This isn’t coffee.” Adam smiled. “Yeah, it’s tea,” he explained. “Why would you want coffee this late at night?”
“You have coffee,” she guessed, and apparently she was right.
“I’m about to go to work,” he said. She gestured to the pile of bookwork in front of her.
“I’m working, too,” she pointed out, but he shook his head.
“But you need to be sleeping. You’ve been working all day, and you look exhausted.”
“I’m okay,” she replied instinctively, though she knew that she wasn’t convincing him. “I’m going to sleep as soon as I finish this.”
Adam rolled his eyes but didn’t say a word. They’d had this argument enough times for him to know that he wasn’t going to convince her to put the work away and go to bed, so he wasn’t going to try. She and Adam had been together since her sophomore year of college. A mutual friend had introduced them. He’d been in the police academy at the time, and he’d immediately thought that she was cute and asked her if she’d like to get dinner together. Dinner had become a movie at his place, which had become a coffee date the next morning, which had become multiple dates. Eventually, their mutual friends had convinced Adam to ask her to go steady, and he’d agreed after several months of sporadic dates and consistent casual hangouts, and they’d been together ever since. Though it had been over four years since they’d gotten together, they still lived separately. Adam hadn’t asked her to move in with him when he’d gotten his first apartment after becoming a police officer, and he’d rejected Nina’s offer to live in the home she’d bought close to the motel, despite that by that time, they’d been together for three years. Instead, he’d rented his own apartment near his work, telling her that it would be better for them to have some space. Now, after more than four years together, he was still dragging his feet, and it was beginning to make her examine their relationship more thoroughly. She loved him, she really did. However, Nina was an ambitious woman who knew what she wanted in life, and one of those things was a husband, a family, and a house in the suburbs. She’d been picturing it since she was a little girl, and she was eventually going to need some confirmation from Adam that he was going to give that to her.
Looking at the numbers on the page in front of her was beginning to make her eyes hurt. They were still just barely breaking even, including paying off the loans that her father had taken out when he’d first bought the place. The motel had never been hugely profitable, but it had been enough to live on growing up, even if that life was of meager means. Nina, however, had learned in college which corners to cut and where to invest her money, and that knowledge had been enough to turn them enough of a profit to pay all their bills without going further into debt. She’d been lucky enough to get a scholarship to college and to find a cheap apartment with a few friends that she could afford with just a part-time job in between classes, and she’d stayed in Portland even a year and a half after that until she’d gotten news of her father’s accident and decided to come home to a small town just outside El Paso, Texas where she’d grown up.
Adam had moved with her. She’d expected that to be the time during which they’d discuss making a bigger commitment to one another—maybe even a proposal—but that hadn’t even come up. She didn’t like to put pressure on him for fear of scaring him away, and now she didn’t even have their friends or any parents to light a fire under him and make him ask a little sooner. Though Nina wanted to marry him, she couldn’t ask him to propose, especially when she’d already asked him to uproot his entire life for her and move to the desert. His whole family lived in Portland and he’d just established himself at the police department there, but when Nina’s father had passed, he hadn’t even treated it as if it were a choice; he’d just packed without complaint, put both their apartments’ worth of things into the back of a moving truck, hooked his truck behind it, and driven them across the country. Even if he’d assumed at the time that they would only be moving there for a year or so to sort through her father’s debts and to figure out how to sell the motel, he’d been there for her.
At the time she’d thought that she was the luckiest woman in the world to have a man who would do
all that for her, and she still was grateful for it, but now, she sort of wished that they’d at least had a chance to talk about it. She constantly felt like she owed him for his sacrifices, which meant that she was constantly biting her tongue on arguments about their relationship and their future. When he’d told her that he wanted his own apartment instead of living with her, she’d told him that she thought that made a lot of sense, even though she didn’t really believe that it did. Every time he changed the subject when she brought up the possibility of getting married, she just pretended that she didn’t notice even though it hurt her feelings. Sure, perhaps it wasn’t the happiest life in the world, but it was fine. She loved him, and clearly, he loved her, too, right?
Nina was just about to nod off again when the bell above the main office’s door jingled signaling the entrance of a guest. She snapped awake and sat up straight in her chair, rubbing at her eyes to make them focus. The two men that walked in made her feel immediately a bit nervous to be alone. She wished for a moment that she’d turned on the security cameras when Adam had left as she usually did, but she hadn’t thought of it, since she had so much work to do and business had been slow the past few days. The probability that they’d get a customer, not to mention two that looked so edgy and dangerous, had been slim to none, in her mind.
“Welcome to the Oasis Motel,” Nina greeted, keeping the chipper friendliness out of her voice intentionally. She wanted them to know that she wasn’t looking for “friends” tonight.
“We’ll take two rooms,” one man said. He was middle-aged and hefty, holding a helmet under one arm and wearing a leather jacket zipped all the way up to his chin. Had she been fully awake, she imagined that she’d have heard motorcycles idling outside when they’d arrived.
“Sure,” she agreed, reaching under her desk for her sign-in book. “I’ll just need a little information from you, first.” She set the binder on the desk and handed each man a pen. The one who hadn’t spoken looked considerably younger than the other, probably in his early thirties. He was wearing a leather jacket, too, but he looked much better in it, more like a movie star than a gang member, she thought. He was tall and muscular, with short black hair and stubble on his face from probably a day or two of not shaving. The older man was the one reading the terms of renting out the room, and even though Nina’s eyes were drawn to the younger one, his distasteful frown didn’t escape her notice.
