by Rae B. Lake
Ryder - A Wings Of Diablo MC Novel
By Rae B. Lake
Acknowledgements
To Mr. Get-Me-Right, You get all the way on my nerves but I love you to pieces. You sacrafice so much so that I can live my dreams, it means so much to me, I can’t even describe how thankful I am to have you in my life.
To my minime’s, You bring joy to my life in so many ways. The both of you are my motivation to keep pushing. I love you so much!
To my Fans, Family and Friends, this has been a hell of a journey and I promise that it is so far from over! Thank you for sticking with me and encouraging me to keep going.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Epilogue
Epilogue- Cherry
Ryder – A Wings of Diablo MC Novel
Copyright © 2020 by Rae B. Lake
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the author.
Chapter 1
“Why don’t you want to be with me?” The woman screeched, ugly tears falling down her face. “I fucking hate you!” She picked up a pillow and threw it at me.
That was my cue to leave. I stood and gathered all my shit, making sure to pick up my kutte from the chair and tried to walk past her.
“Wait, wait, Ryder. Where are you going? I’m sorry, I’m being emotional. It’s just...I love you and I know you love me too. I hate this.”
“Fuck did you say?” I asked turning to look at Valentine. She tried to put a hand on my cheek, I slapped it down hard. “I asked you a fucking question! What did you say to me?”
“I said that I love you.” She said cradling her hand to her chest.
“No, I don’t care about that shit, what else did you say?”
“I said you love me too.”
“Yes, that’s what you said.” I stepped closer to her, I bent my knees so that I was level with her eyes, I didn’t want her to miss one word of what was about to come out of my mouth. “This is the last time that I am going to say this. I don’t give two shits about you, I don’t love you, I will never love you.” I watched as bigger tears rolled down her crumpled face. I watched her break right in front of me but it wasn’t enough, I had to put the nail in the coffin as they say. Make sure that she knew that she was nothing more than a gash for me to get my dick wet. “In fact, your pussy is the only reason I even tolerate you, and sorry to say it’s not good enough for this.”
I heard the telltale gasp and she smacked me hard across the face.
“Get the fuck out of here! I never want to see your ass again! I hate you, Ryder, I hate you!” I walked out as she continued to scream at my back. I didn’t have a care in the world, she knew better than to open her mouth about what I liked in the bedroom, if she did, I would make sure she was blackballed from every club in the state. I even had some pull with clubs in other states, so if she did try to squeal, she wouldn’t be a dancer anywhere near here.
The pulsing red and white lights played harshly against the wall as I walked down the long corridor from the VIP rooms, I could feel the bass of the music through the floor before I even opened the soundproof door.
Satin Wings was the premier strip club in the area, Cherry and Maven spared no expense when they put this together. It was a huge cash cow for the MC and a great way for us to get in new club bunnies. It was so good in fact, we put up three more. Suddenly, I went from making barely one trip a month to pick up MC club money to needing to make two or three trips a week. As the club treasurer, I always had money on my mind. Where to get it, who owed it and how we could get more.
Back when we were warring with the Bolivian Cartel, we had to scrape by on just what we made running guns. Now the Wings of Diablo had their fingers in many different pies. We owned bars, strip clubs, and even a fucking restaurant. The money was good and I loved every goddamn second of it.
“She had her eyes on the prize as the girl next door, you grow up quick when you grow up poor…”
Nickleback blared through the place, and Lace one of our newer girls started her turn on the stage while the rest of the dancers mingled in the crowd, showing the men a good time. Laughing at their jokes and touching them in places that made them hungry for more.
I looked over by the bar and could see Pinky serving everyone at the bar, she was alone. I was sure Maven was going to pop up any minute, Maven was Clean’s ol’ lady but she was about her business, crazy as hell, but had a good head on her shoulders.
“You waiting on me, daddy?”
I had to close my eyes for a second and think of something else, the way that woman spoke to me always had me on edge but I couldn’t let her know that shit.
I turned to see Cherry, wearing a snow white bodysuit that covered her from her breasts to her ankles and heels that sparkled every time she moved. It would be too much for most girls but not for Cherry, this woman was as bad as they came.
“What the fuck is going on here? Do I need to have someone come to make sure that everyone is doing what the fuck they’re supposed to be doing?”
“Ryder, why are you tripping? Nothing is going on.” She crossed her arms over her chest, causing her tits to push against the thin fabric.
“No? Then what the fuck is Pinky doing behind the bar by herself? I may not be fucking einstein but even I can see that we’re fucking swamped in here.”
Cherry looked over my shoulder to see what I was talking about.
“Ryder, Toya is downstairs getting more stock, and Lemon is due to start her shift in twenty minutes.”
I turned around at the very second Toya decided to walk through the employee only doors with three cases of booze in her arms.
“Fuck that, get your shit together, make sure there are at least two people behind the bar all the fucking time Cherry, you got that?” I barked.
Cherry nodded her head and I tried to move around her. I had four more stops to make before I could get back to the clubhouse and relax. She grabbed my kutte and moved close to my face.
“What the hell is that?” She used the pads of her delicate fingers to caress my cheek, the same one Valentine smacked.
“It’s nothing, Valentine got a little out of sorts, it’s handled.” I shrugged and moved my cheek away.
“The fuck? You mean she hit you?” Cherry dropped her hand to her side, her brow furrowed causing me to feel bad that I told on Valentine. Cherry was as sweet as pie, literally, but do something to her family and she will come for your throat.
Cherry tried to push past me and go to the back rooms where I was sure Valentine was still crying or whatever the fuck these women did when I told them I wasn’t interested in them. The same shit I told them in the very beginning when I told them I just wanted to fuck.
I grabbed her arm pulling her back towards me roughly, “I said don’t fucking worry about Cherry.”
She stared at me and raised up on her tiptoes to get closer to my face, “Don’t bite so hard daddy, you gonna make me cry.” She pouted a bit, waiting for my response.
I peered at her, waiting for her to crack and give up, but I knew she wouldn’t. I was always the same wi
th Cherry, I growled and snarled but she knew I never wanted her to cry. “Shit babe, I’m sorry, don’t fire her ok. It’s on me.” I whispered in her ear, trying to take the anger out of my voice but make sure no one saw me do it. She had me wrapped around her finger. Cherry was the only one who understood that even though I’m the big bad wolf, snarling and snapping at everyone in sight, sometimes I just wanted something soft and sweet to hold onto.
Cherry dropped back down, “Fine, I won’t, only on the strength that you asked though, but I’m going to have to knock her down a few pegs. No one lays a hand on my Ryder and gets away with it.” She stared at the door behind me.
“Whatever girl, just get the staffing under control in here.” I brushed past her and walked out the door. I didn’t know what she had in store for Valentine, but I didn't need to be around to see it. I turned on my ride or die and peeled out of the parking lot and headed to the next pick up.
Chapter 2
“Wire, let me meet with you for a minute,” I said as I walked into the main room of the clubhouse. It had been months since Alejandro Vilanuevas was in our lives and even though we rebuilt everything that he took from us, we were still always on edge. Not a hundred percent sure who we could really trust. There was no way I was discussing the pickups out in the open, not with all this new blood here.
Wire and Keeley were sitting in the main room with Lily at their feet playing with some type of rattle and pulling on Max’s fur. For an attack dog, he sure let that baby do whatever she wanted to him. Wire had spent most of his life as a cold-hearted bastard, who liked peeling the skin off of folks just for the hell of it, but when he met Keeley he was able to get a bit of happiness.
“Give me a minute, Princess.” He kissed Keeley and stood up to follow me towards the church.
We walked into our sanctuary, I always felt at ease there.
“Everything good Ryder?” Wire asked right away, never one to mince his words.
“Yeah, boss. Shit is right. That’s the problem, Uncle Sam going to come knocking soon.” I opened the duffle bags I had strapped on my shoulders and emptied them out on the table. Stacks and stacks of cash bound as tightly as possible came tumbling out. I would bet anything that it was at least two hundred grand in the bags, this was more money than we knew what to fucking do with, the clubs could only flip so much.
“Fucking hell.” Wire smirked.
“Yeah, brother.” I clapped him on the back. “I wasn’t playing about the taxes though, we got to find a way to hide all this fucking scratch.”
Wire sat back in his chair, those black eyes focused on the pile of money in front of him. As far as problems went this was the best kind of problem to have. “You know Archer has been talking about maybe investing in some of the casinos down there where he is. Maybe that could be the solution to this shit.” He shrugged and picked up a stack of cash and tossed it like a ball between his hands. “You,” he tossed the pack of money at me, “are going to need someone to ride with you on your pickups from now on.”
Wire was my president, so I had to respect him but he was still just a boy to me. I was close to fifteen years his senior; I was riding for my club when he was still trying to figure out which hole to stick his dick in. “What the fuck for? You saying I can’t handle business?”
He raised a hand in defense, “No, I’m saying that this shit is a lot, and you should have some backup.”
“Fuck that, I don’t want some hot-headed fuck riding beside me when I got club business to handle.”
Wire sat up straighter in his chair and glared right back at me, “I know you still may be fucking unaware that there was a regime change,” He banged a fist against his chest, “ but I am the fucking president of this club. You challenging that, motherfucker?”
I had been treasurer of this club for the past fifteen years and one of its first generation members. Alex had been the president for a decade and was the one I was used to taking orders from. Wire was a good man and a good leader but it was going to take me a while to really see him as my president.
“No, no challenge here.”
“Good because it wasn’t a suggestion, you take someone with you the next time you go to pick up.” He let the rage ease in his voice. “Besides, this is a lot of cash to be trying to haul by yourself. It’s a lot for anyone.”
I nodded, I wasn’t going to fight him about it. He gave his orders and I would follow them. “So when are we going to get Archer on the jack? We need to figure out the details on this shit and quick. I don’t see us going bankrupt anytime soon.”
“Nah, brother, I think this needs to be a face to face talk. Looks like we’re going for a ride.” He smirked and sat back in his chair.
“Shit yeah! NOLA here we fucking come.” For once something I could look forward to. Nothing but me, my brothers and my bitch on the open road.
Chapter 3
“I’m telling you, she tried to bite my fucking tongue off.” Ripper’s voice echoed in my ears. I loved taking long road trips but I hated the conversations that usually accompanied them. Ripper and Clean had been talking for the last three miles about some chick who was literally crazy in the sack. It wasn’t a conversation I really wanted to be a part of, but thanks to the new helmet mic systems that Wire demand we all get I didn’t have a choice.
“You are a fucking liar, Rip, Nutty would never. You probably just don’t know what to do with her.” Clean responded.
“Fuck that, you don’t know, you been stuck up Maven’s twat for so long you don’t know what anyone else is going through.”
“Aw, you jealous? Don’t worry I’ll let her know you been thinking about her pussy, I’m sure she has a blade just for you.”
Ripper revved his bike just a little, cutting me off to get next to Clean. “You’re joking right?”
Clean laughed and tried to pull off.
“Nah, brother, this isn’t a joke. Maven will fucking cut me, don’t tell her that shit!”
Ripper was probably the biggest softie that I had ever seen in my life. We called him Ripper because he liked to wear those oversized hoodie sweaters, in black of course, with the hood low on his face. I didn’t know what the hell his face looked like until our third meeting with him.
That was enough for me. I reached up and unhooked my Bluetooth from my helmet, I’d heard all I wanted to hear. They were disturbing my peace. The entire Wings of Diablo crew was on the road. Even Prez made his way back to town to ride out with us. We were all going down to New Orleans to see what Archer had put together. Wings of Diablo are going into the casino business.
I leaned back on my bike as much as possible, we had just stopped at the last rest stop but my body was revolting against the long journey. I loved to take road trips but they were getting harder and harder on me. I didn’t want to admit that I was getting old but my body was doing its best to remind me. I shook out my arms, one at a time to make sure that I stayed in line with the rest of the crew, I was bringing up the rear but I didn’t want to fall too far behind.
“What the fuck.” I stretched out my neck moving it from side to side, my head was killing me. I had spent way too long listening to Clean and Ripper talking about nonsense, now I was getting a migraine. I tried to relax, but no matter what I did this headache seemed to become more intense. I looked up to the next group in line, it was Ripper and Clean. They were further ahead of me then I would have liked. The two of them using animated hand motions as they talked to each other with only one hand on the bike handles, both of them just like everyone else in the crew were master riders.
I let my hand fall down again and shook out the cramps. The vibration through my bike was making my arms hurt, it felt like someone was squeezing my arm and my chest. I felt something drop off my face and when I brought my hand up to see what it was, I could feel the sweat dripping off my face.
“What the shit is this?” I took in a deep breath and all of a sudden I couldn’t catch my breath and the pain in my arm was becoming mor
e intense. I’d never in my life felt like this before. “Clean,” I spoke into the mic and waited for him to respond. The road was starting to sway in front of me. I tried to stop but I didn’t have enough strength to use the brake.
“Fuck..fuck.” I murmured out and called out for Clean again. “Clean.” He didn’t turn. Fuck, I disconnected the damn mic.
Black spots began to float in my vision, I was going down and it was going to be bad. I used all the strength I had and screamed out for Clean. I used his given name for emphasis, hoping he would hear. Everyone was coasting so the roar of our bikes was at a low growl and not the usual roar.
By some fucking miracle, it seemed Clean and Ripper had slowed down. It felt like I was literally on my last breath.
“Barry!” I screamed as loud as possible and could feel all the tension in my core give. I was falling, I couldn’t even tell what side I was falling towards but I knew it was going to hurt. I hoped he fucking heard me.
“Oh shit!” Clean yelled.
I nearly laughed before my head bounced hard off the asphalt, the hard helmet barely protecting my skull. My leather coat seemed to burn into my skin and the blue sky turned red in my vision, the blood pooling on my face.
I could smell the burning rubber coming closer. My brothers were here.
Chapter 4
I opened my eyes and could see the sterile-looking ceiling.
I’m in the hospital. Well, thank fuck for that.
I tried to sit up but the pain in my back was excruciating. I wasn’t going to be a bitch about it though.
“What in the fuck are you trying to do to us Brother?” Alex’s voice said out from somewhere in front of me.
“Prez, that you man?” I croaked out. It felt like I hadn’t spoken in years instead of a night.
He walked over to my bed and stood over my head, “Well I promise you it ain’t the fucking Easter bunny.” He touched my shoulder and moved his hand slowly. Like I was a piece of porcelain.
