“No,” I said, as blankly as I could, so that he wouldn’t feel encouraged to continue this conversation.
“Okay, then it’s your makeup. There’s something different about you,” he said and I noticed the way his eyes roamed over me, over my body…dropping to my breasts, before settling on the spot between my legs.
I felt my cheeks flush and I turned from him and walked some distance away. There was no way I was going to return his advances. I had no interest in him or any of the men who frequented this place. In fact, I couldn’t remember the last time I was interested in anyone. If it was…it had to have been before Luke died. Because since then, all I’d felt was emptiness.
“Where are you going, honey?” I heard the guy’s voice, while I had my back turned to him.
“Nowhere,” I replied and I continued to polish the glasses, just at some distance from him.
“Come back here. I want to talk to you,” I heard him say and I kept my back firmly turned to him.
“Get outta here before I kick your ass!” I heard a voice, and before I’d even turned around, I knew that it was Viper. I let out a small breath that I didn’t realized that I was holding in. When I turned around and looked at them, Viper was holding the other’s guys collar bunched up in his hands and pulling him off the stool. When the guy had scurried away, Viper took his chair and fixed a smile on me.
“You didn’t have to do that. I can take care of myself,” I said to him, rolling my eyes indulgently at him. As much as I hated to admit it, I was thankful that Viper scared the guy off so I wouldn’t have to dodge his advances for the rest of the night.
“It was my pleasure,” Viper said and reached for the bottle of Jack Daniels and poured himself half a measure as I watched him.
I’d tried being polite with Viper already, letting him down gently every time he asked me out, but he just wasn’t getting the hint. Besides, these guys weren’t anything if not persistent. Luke was just like them. He was just like his friends.
“Here by yourself? Where are the others?” I asked him, walking up to him with two glasses in my hands and the towel thrown over my shoulder.
“Just me. I thought I’d stop by and check up on you before I go meet the others,” Viper said, and even though I wasn’t looking at him, I could feel his eyes on me. Searing my skin as he watched my every move. Would it have been very bad if I was attracted to Viper? He belonged to the MC world that I knew so well. He was a friend of Luke’s. I’d known him for a long time…but I couldn’t just conjure up feelings for him when they didn’t exist.
“You don’t need to check up on me every day, Viper. I’m fine,” I told him, trying to smile as genuinely as I could. Ever since Luke’s death, the guys were constantly checking up on me. They were afraid that I was depressed…and they felt the same protectiveness towards me that Luke had felt. In essence, I’d inherited a dozen new protectors in the place of my older brother, and I wasn’t exactly thrilled.
“I know I don’t, Brooklyn, but there’s no harm in it either, is there?” he said, sipping his whisky as he spoke to me. I shrugged my shoulders and sighed. There was no winning an argument with these guys, I knew that. Daddy had been the same and so had Luke.
Members of The Dragon Knights did not back down. People who messed with them, learned that the hard way.
Essentially, they were all the family I had left now and at the thought of that, I smiled at Viper. He might have been trying to date me, but ultimately, he was still a part of the gang. One of Luke’s friends, and I appreciated the support they had all shown towards me since he passed.
I poured him another measure of Jack in his glass and he picked it up and tipped his head in my direction.
“You’re an angel, Brooklyn,” he said with a smile and took another large sip. I wished I liked him that way. Despite his harsh appearance of tats lining his arms and most of his torso, I could tell he wasn’t as hard as he seemed. I just felt more like he was an older brother. Not that he could ever replace Luke, but the way he tried to protect me reminding me of that brotherly feeling.
“Thank you, Viper, and now if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to get back to work,” I said, still smiling at him and I walked away from him towards some of the other people who had taken seats at the counter.
From the corner of my eye, as I took their orders, I saw Viper finish his drink in one large gulp and then he was gone.
How long was someone from the MC going to be sent to check up on me every night? I knew it was supposed to make me feel protected. They were doing it because I was a little sister to them, just as much as I was to Luke, but I was worried that I might start feeling claustrophobic soon.
I was born into the MC. It was my father and brother’s legacy and I wouldn’t have changed anything about them. It was my duty to accept the MC’s protection now. I was a part of the family, but I knew that along with that came a lot of expectations. There were things I was supposed to do and things that weren’t allowed.
I tried to focus on the chatter of people in the bar now, and on the drinks that I was pouring and the money I had to collect. But I couldn’t help but wondering what Luke would have expected me to do about Viper. What would he have wanted for me? The number one rule of the MC was loyalty. That much I knew. Which meant that I was expected to eventually end up with one of them and it seemed like Viper had called dibs on me.
3
Gunner
I headed to Church. After being around them enough, I knew the Bad Disciples called their meetings that. My dad and older brother, Bryce, had attended enough of them through my lifetime for me to be familiar with the term. But I wasn’t sure what it exactly entailed. I was just following orders.
The Rusty Pelican was the Bad Disciples’ haunt, a motorcycle bar in Long Beach and when I entered, I instantly realized that the bar had been cleared of everyone except members. I still couldn’t understand why they wanted me there, why Axel had asked me here specifically. I had nothing to give them.
Axel’s hair had considerably whitened since I last saw him. He’d been good friends with dad and now he was sitting on a high stool in the middle of the bar. Some of the others were playing pool nearby, while others were sitting around drinking. The lighting was too low in the place for me to see their eyes. I preferred looking into people’s eyes. It gave me the upper hand.
“Gunner!” Glock appeared out of nowhere and thumped my back and when he said my name, an immediate hush fell in the room. I thumped Glock’s back too, glad to see my friend…but I couldn’t shake off the feeling either. The feeling that there was something not quite right.
“Axel’s been waiting to talk to you,” Glock said and I looked up at the older man. He was stocky, muscular, with a long beard that used to be dark but was turning gray now. Various tattoos snaked up his arms, and he was clad in leather vest, white shirt and worn jeans. He had fixed a cold stare on me and I looked back at him, holding his gaze.
“Axel,” I tipped my head at him, while the other members of the Bad Disciples surrounded me in a tight circle.
“Gunner,” Axel said my name in a quiet calm voice and I clenched my jaw. “What makes you think you can come back to town? Right under my nose,” he added and a deathly silence had descended upon us in the bar. I fisted my palms on my side. I had no idea what he was talking about, but I knew it couldn’t be good. Had Glock knowingly led me into a trap? I was severely outnumbered and even though I was a highly-trained killing machine, even I wouldn’t have survived an attack from all these men single handedly.
Axel burst out in a loud laugh, and everyone around me started laughing too.
“You should see the look on your face!” Axel laughed, slapping his knee. Glock thumped my back again and I grinned. Feeling a rush of relief flooding my body. This was their idea of a joke? They had a pretty twisted sense of humor in that case.
“Welcome home, Gunner,” Axel said and threw open his arms. Glock gave me a push and I walked to Axel and we hugged.
/>
“Your father and brother would be so proud of you. You followed in your brother’s footsteps and served your country like a real man,” Axel said, holding me at a distance like a proud father.
“Yeah, except that Bryce never made it out of there alive,” I said, trying to keep my emotions in check. Axel stopped smiling and then quietly nodded his head.
“Your brother is missed. You know he was our brother. Just like your father was our leader. But you’ve honored their memory. You’ve lived up to their name and now we want to welcome you in,” he said and released my arms.
With my brows crossed, I looked around at the men surrounding me. Glock was standing to my side, beaming happily and with his arms crossed over his chest.
“Welcome me where?” I asked, looking at Axel again.
“Into the club, of course!” he replied and another round of laughter followed.
“I was never a part of this club, Axel. It was always just dad and Bryce,” I said and every time I said my brother’s name; I nearly winced.
“Yes, and now you have to carry on their legacy. Am I right?” Axel said and I glared at him from under my heavy eyelids.
“You have it all wrong, Axel. I don’t know what Glock has been telling you, but being a part of the Bad Disciples was never a part of my plan,” I told him and Axel took in a deep breath. The smile from his face had vanished again. A cold stern look replaced it.
“Glock didn’t have to tell me. I know whose son you are, whose brother…you have their blood running in your veins. You were always meant to be a part of this family,” Axel said and looked around at his men.
I clenched my jaw and stuck my hands into the pockets of my jeans.
“Why do you even want me here?” I asked and Axel was studying my face.
“Because you’re ready, my son. And now you have the military training that we can utilize. What will you do now, Gunner? Get a job bagging groceries? You need to use your skills how your father and brother used theirs before you. Don’t you think that is what they would have wanted for you?” He continued and my brain was working a mile a minute.
Joining the MC that dad and Bryce belonged to was never my plan. Even though I had grown up with its influence around me, I didn’t know how to operate in that environment. Bryce was heavily involved. He was just a few months away from getting patched and being made a full member of the club. He was hoping to be patched before he left for his next tour in Iraq but things didn’t work out like he wanted. I’d stayed away from the club. I wanted an education. I wanted a career. But when Bryce died, everything changed. I felt a need to follow his footsteps in the military, so I enlisted shortly after his funeral. What would he have wanted from me now? I bit back a laugh. He probably would have wanted me to join the club. Axel had brought up a good point.
“You want me to join as a full member?” I asked him and he stepped towards me again. He placed his hands on my shoulders and smiled at me, reminding me of the way dad used to smile proudly at me. I looked around the bar slightly. Being in the club was going to be the closest I could be to my family.
“We can patch you in right now if you agree, Gunner. Given your lineage, you wouldn’t need to prove yourself during the initiation process. We’ve been waiting for you to return from your tour. We’ve been waiting to have another Alton in the Club. This is what your father would have wanted for all of us,” Axel said and he pinched the flesh on my shoulders with his hands. Then he let me go, stepping back to look at me some more.
“Gunner, you don’t need to think about this. This is your destiny, man,” Glock said beside me and when I looked at him, he had an encouraging expression on his face.
I turned to Axel again and took in a deep breath. When I was younger I had fought to stay away from the club, because of what I thought it would make me become. But now, that I had been to war, and have killed, maybe this was the right path for me. Maybe it was the distraction from my thoughts that I desperately needed.
“Okay, let’s do it,” I said and a cackle of congratulations erupted in the bar. As though all these men were waiting around to hear my response.
People thumped my back, hugs were exchanged and Glock didn’t leave my side. Axel followed my every movement with his watchful eyes as I took steps into my new role as a full member of the Bad Disciples.
“C’mon men, let’s get him patched up,” Axel finally interrupted the celebrations and I nodded. Might as well strike while the iron is hot, I thought.
“You’re finally one of us,” Glock was saying, as we all sat around the bar drinking. The patching ceremony was over and now it was time to celebrate.
“He was one of us since he was born,” Tank said, crushing the can of beer in his hand as he emptied the last drop down his throat. I’d known these guys as acquaintances because of their association with dad and Bryce, but now I was getting to know them personally. They all respected dad, he was the one who had brought them under his wings as young new members of the club when they were in their late teens. They owed their lives to dad and were treating me like royalty.
Tank’s long brown hair shook, which he had tied into a ponytail, as he shook his head while guzzling another can of beer.
“You must have so many stories from before our time!” Hunter said, looking at me eagerly with his baby-blue eyes. He was the youngest one in the group, barely twenty-six. I was grateful for Hunter, it meant that I wasn’t going to be the youngest one around. I was older than him by a year.
“Dad didn’t talk much about the MC with me. He probably never thought I would join the group,” I said, sipping on my own beer.
“Bet he’s smiling now!” Sniper said with a laugh and Glock thumped my back encouragingly again.
“We all knew and loved your dad, Gunner. He was an inspiration,” Tank spoke again and I wondered if this guy ever smiled. He had a consistent poker face, which made him the perfect bouncer for the bar.
“And your brother…Bryce was a brother to us too,” Glock added and I nodded my head at them. I hadn’t spoken about dad and Bryce this much in a very long time…long enough for me to replace the wounds of their memories with new fresh ones.
“We’re heading out to another bar,” Sniper stood up and I noticed that the others in the bar, including Axel were picking up their leather jackets and preparing to leave.
“Let’s go, Gunner,” Glock said as he stood up and I emptied the remaining beer down my throat.
“You guys go ahead. I’m going to hit the sack early tonight,” I said and tried to smile at them so they wouldn’t see just how weird I was feeling. At Church, with people who knew dad and Bryce so well. It was like I was walking around their ghosts. I needed some time and space to straighten out my thoughts.
“Are you kidding?” Hunter said and it was Axel who stepped in then.
“Let him be, boys. Gunner, we’ll see you when we see you. You’re dismissed for the night,” Axel said and I tipped my head at him again.
“Night,” I said and left the bar, thankful to be able to step outside again. I watched as the others got on their noisy motorcycles and started riding away. I smiled and waved at Glock as I put on my own helmet and jumped up on my bike.
Even though dad and Bryce had kept me away from the club, they had damn well taught me the biker way of life. Hell, I had been on my first bike before I even knew how to walk. Maybe this was what I needed. I had the tattoos, I had the bike and I had a family legacy…maybe joining the Bad Disciples was what was missing from my life and I just didn’t know it.
I rode away from the bar, in the direction of my apartment, with the voices of the men ringing in my ears. This had to be for the best. I could feel close to my family again, especially since they had welcomed me in with open arms.
I slowed down just a block away from my apartment, when I noticed that PJ’s was still open. It was a small dive bar I used to frequent before I left for Afghanistan. It was a quiet place with a crowd who liked to keep themselves to t
hemselves.
Who was I kidding? There was no way I was getting any sleep. I decided to stop and have a drink by myself before I went back to the apartment.
Parking my bike along the pavement, I walked into the bar with my helmet still on. I took it off my head as I went straight towards the counter, and that was when I saw her. Our eyes met and I knew she was the sexiest thing I had ever set my eyes on.
4
Brooklyn
I knew I was tired, but was I actually that tired that my jaw nearly dropped when the handsome stranger walked into the bar? He shook his head when he took his helmet off and I noticed his closely cropped dark brown hair and the way his blue eyes shone dangerously in the dim light of the bar.
I had always prided myself in not embarrassingly drooling over guys, but this one was a completely different ball game. It was like he had stepped off the front glossy cover of a men’s health magazine. He was tall with a ripping broad chest. He was wearing a thin white cotton t-shirt and even under his black leather jacket, I could see the way his muscles moved.
“You’re new,” he said, sitting down with a thump on one of the bar stools in front of me. I forced myself to recover my voice, blinking furiously to make myself go back to normal. His cheekbones were high and chiseled and he had a perfectly square jaw with a light dusting of a late-night shadow. I caught the glimmer of the metal tags that hung from a chain around his neck.
“I’m Brooklyn,” I said and realized that was not what he asked. He grinned, and the corners of his lips stretched as he placed his helmet on the counter beside me.
“And new,” I added quickly and he watched my every movement from under heavy lidded eyes. His gaze was piercing and yet he looked bored. I was giddy with squealing excitement inside, like a teenager who had just spotted a rock star.
“We’re closing up soon,” I said to him, as he flipped over a glass beside him.
“Hit me with your best whisky,” he said instead, ignoring my statement. I gulped, and then got the bottle and poured into his glass. He drank it in one quick gulp and banged the glass down on the counter again.
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