Raiden's Choice (A Ravens MC Novel Book 1)

by J. L. Leslie

  I don’t tell him that I doubt he ever will. That body has yet to surface. I have no doubt in my mind that it never will. There’s no telling what Cal and the Rykers did to her.

  Griffin takes a deep breath before continuing. “There was an arrest made at the scene of those businesses and it was a member of the Ravens’ motorcycle gang.” Club. “He was very forthcoming with information on your father and what he was planning to do with the insurance money, Raiden. I’m sorry.”

  That’s not possible. Not possible at all. “So my father was burning down the businesses he owns for insurance money?” I ask, desperate for some sort of real explanation.

  “People do desperate things for money, Raiden. I’m certain he wasn’t aware that someone was living in a rental room on the second floor of one of those businesses when he had his gang member commit arson.”

  “My father wouldn’t do that.” I defend him immediately and Griffin shakes his head.

  “Raiden, you’ve said so yourself that you barely know him. How can you defend him right now? Especially when the two fires from last night are most likely linked to the diner fire?”

  “How can you say that?” I yell, standing from the chair I’ve been sitting in. “My dad loved that diner! He built it for my mom!”

  “Listen to yourself! You’re defending a man who has done vile and awful things, Raiden! He’s guilty and you know it!”

  “This is what you’ve always wanted, isn’t it?” I ask him. “My father! You’ve wanted to take him down since we got together and that’s all that has mattered to you! The truth sure as hell doesn’t!”

  I hear Griffin calling my name as I storm out of his office. When I reach my car, I pull out my burner phone and immediately call Luka.

  “What kind of fucking bullshit are you trying to pull?” I yell. “You know I would never fucking go for this!”

  “Whoa, slow down, nothing has even happened yet.” he says, quietly.

  “Fuck you!” I scream. “My father was arrested this morning!”

  “That wasn’t part of our plan. I assure you, I wasn’t involved in that.”

  “So the Rykers didn’t burn the businesses down last night and frame my dad?” I ask him, my voice shaky.

  “Raiden, it’s not possible. Cal was on a drug run with most of the members last night. He gave no orders to burn any businesses that I’m aware of.”

  ~Luka~

  I stay on the phone with Raiden until she makes it to work. She tells me everything Griffin told her and we still have no clue who would’ve supposedly ratted Dax out. No one from the Ravens has been arrested and no one from the Rykers burned any businesses down.

  Still, Dax is in jail and there’s a dead body. The news has officially reported him to be Nathaniel Joyner, son of the pizzeria owner and victim of what is believed to be an act of arson. The other business was an arcade located right beside the pizzeria. Both were popular tourist attractions because both were great family businesses and hot spots. There was no need for either business to be burned down other than both had excellent insurance policies that would be cashed in.

  Raiden and I both know Dax would never do that. The insurance money he received from the diner was being used to rebuild a new diner. None of it was pocketed.

  What was also strange was how fast two and two was put together. I know Raiden said Griffin admitted he’d been building a case against Dax, but for him to be arrested for three arson fires in less than twenty-four hours of two of them, is very hard to believe for me. Just doesn’t add up.

  While I try to figure out what the hell is going on, I grab the pair of jeans I have lying across my dresser and pull them on. I pull a t-shirt from the second drawer and slip it on, not caring that it’s wrinkled.

  I know Cal is expecting me to be at the clubhouse by three o’clock, but I still have some time to kill. I open the top drawer and dig around in the back for my burner phone. Dax insisted I purchase one when I decided to join the Rykers. I only wish Raiden had called me on it instead. I call the only other person that knows what I’m doing. Eric.

  “I’m a little busy right now.” he answers.

  I imagine that he is. With Dax in jail, Eric’s status as the vice president of the Ravens is officially upgraded. I’m sure he has his hands full with trying to keep the club calm.

  “Any news on who the supposed snitch is?” I question.

  “Not at this time. I have someone checking into it.”

  “Any change in our plans?” I ask, knowing now they’ll actually work even better with Dax’s arrest. It’ll be more believable.

  “No.”

  That’s all I need to know for now. I know he’ll update me if anything does change and I know he’s doing everything he can to find out what happened with the fires. He’s loyal to Dax and the Ravens. He won’t just lie down and allow Dax to be railroaded.

  “I have several prospects I’m working on. They’re pissed that Cal hasn’t upgraded them to be members. I don’t think I’ll have a problem bringing them back with me.”

  “Just keep doing what you’re doing.”

  I hang up and head out of my room, grabbing my boots on my way out. I curse when Lincoln stirs from my couch. I’d completely forgotten he’d crashed here last night.

  “Who were you talking to so early?” he grumbles.

  “It’s not early, sleeping beauty.” I quip, ignoring his question. “Get your lazy ass up. We need to head in.”

  He ducks his head down, curling an arm over his messy blonde hair and pulling the blanket over his chest. I know if my dad were here, he’d be raising hell about how badly he needs it cut. I let it slide. At this point, I have no room to talk. My own hair his grown out past my usual short length as well.

  “Five more minutes.” he assures me. “Then I’ll get up.”

  I realize then that there’s a woman on the other end of my couch because she tugs the blanket back down to cover herself up. I shake my head as the two of them play tug-of-war before Linc gives up and gets up, exposing a bare, naked ass to me. He scoops up his clothes and heads towards my bathroom. The redhead snuggles back under the blanket.

  Ten minutes later, Linc is freshly showered and we’re headed to the Rykers’ clubhouse. I told the redhead, whom I now know is Sabrina, a club whore, to lockup when she leaves.

  As we pull up to the clubhouse, I realize there are way more motorcycles here than the usual amount. Linc looks at me and shrugs. We walk in together and it’s like a fucking celebration inside.

  Cal approaches us, his arm slung around Sully’s shoulders. “Come have a drink with me Varellis. We need to celebrate.”

  “What are we celebrating?” Linc asks.

  “The Ravens’ head has been cut off. They can no longer fly.” Cal grins.

  Linc lets out a cheer and accepts the drink Cal hands to him. I accept a drink too, but don’t share the same cheerful sentiment.

  “Cal, you should know the Ravens won’t fall apart just because Dax has been arrested.” I tell him.

  “So you do know what’s happened.” he states.

  “I have ears.”

  “And what have your ears heard?”

  “That one of his own snitched.” I answer honestly because I know this is most likely what Cal has heard too. There’s no need in me pretending to have heard otherwise. “You need to carry on with business as usual. I guarantee the Ravens will.”

  Cal gives me a slight nod. “For now, we drink.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  ~Raiden~

  I look through the plexiglass and wait for any sign of my dad. I know he’ll raise hell about me coming to visit him, but I don’t give a shit. These circumstances are different. This isn’t some overnight jail stint. He won’t be getting out tomorrow.

  When I see him, I pick up the phone and wait for him to do the same. He runs a hand through his dark hair and clears his throat.

  “What are you doing here?” he asks, clearly annoyed.

 
“It’s good to see you too.”

  “You shouldn’t have come.”

  “Well, I’m here anyway. How are you?” I question, noticing some slight bruising under his right eye.

  “I have men in here, Raiden. I’m fine.” he answers. “Talk to your guy and find out why I’m here.”

  “I…can’t. We’re not speaking right now.” I explain, knowing he’s talking about Griffin.

  My dad’s eyes grow dark and his jaw clenches. “Are you telling me you can’t do your fucking job, Raiden?”

  “He’s the reason you’re here. He did this. I’m done with that job.”

  “He can still be useful. Fix it.” he spats.

  “I can’t.” I tell him and even though there’s plexiglass between us, I can feel his disappointment.

  My dad stands and hangs up the phone without speaking another word to me. I brush away the tear that escapes before it has time to roll down my cheek. I suck in a sharp breath and hang my phone up. I know he isn’t coming back.

  I leave the jail and as I drive to Griffin’s office, I’m numb. It’s been a long time since my dad was disappointed in me. Not since I dated Cal. It took him a while to get past that, but he did. I earned his approval again. I made him see that I was strong. That I was an asset to the Ravens. Now I’ve shown him that I’m a failure.

  It would have been nice for him to have been happy to see me. To see his daughter. But I know right now he’s in president mode. Everything is about the Ravens. That includes me. He can’t treat me like his daughter right now. He’s treating me the way I want to be treated. The way I should be treated. Like a Raven. That doesn’t change the fact that his attitude stung. I just have to suck it up and do my job. Do what he needs me to do.

  “Hey, Beverly. Is he in?” I ask, as I approach her desk.

  “Oh sweetie, he’s still in court. I’m not sure how long this case will be.” she replies and I nod.

  I feel defeated yet again. How can I fix things with Griffin if I can’t even see him? Do I want to see him?

  “Raiden?” Steve’s hand startles me as he touches my shoulder. “Griffin might have a late afternoon. Why don’t you come see me a minute?”

  I look at Steve and do a good job hiding my disgust. Both of us know he doesn’t like me and never has.

  “I really need to get to work. I was just going to stop in for a minute.” I explain.

  “Good. I won’t keep you long then.” he smiles and I want to vomit. Instead, I reluctantly follow him to his office, which is right next door to Griffin’s.

  I hear the soft click of the door as he closes it behind me. I stay alert, honestly not trusting Steve for one second. I casually walk around his office, looking at the pictures and books on his shelves.

  “Griffin told me about the bust on your dad.” he states.

  “Yes.”

  “So the case he was building was successful.” he observes.

  “Apparently.” I keep my answers short, not looking at him, but looking at pictures of who I assume is him and his young daughter. She couldn’t be older than twelve or thirteen in the pictures. A blonde haired, blue-eyed little girl.

  “How does it feel to know the man you’ve been fucking had your father arrested?” he laughs and it’s full of cruelty.

  I turn around and cross my arms, glaring right at him. “How does it feel to know your little girl is fucking the president of the Rykers?”

  His face grows serious as he points his finger at me. “You don’t know what you’re talking about!”

  “Is this your daughter in the pictures?” I ask, cocking my head towards his shelf. His reddening face is my answer. “Then I know she’s with Cal Harrison.”

  “You don’t know a fucking thing!” he yells. “My daughter went missing three years ago, you bitch!”

  Steve turns and scatters all his files and papers from his desk in a fit of rage. I open his door and slip out as he lets out a yell of anguish. Beverly glances back at me, but doesn’t say anything as I wave at her and leave.

  Maybe I got it wrong. Maybe it’s not the same girl. I’ve only seen the blonde with Cal briefly. I can’t say for certain that it is her. Either way, it shut him the fuck up about my dad.

  ~Luka~

  “What’s even funnier is the patrol shit they do!” Cal laughs. “Do they really think that keeps us from their territory? I stopped doing patrol months ago. It’s a waste of fucking time.”

  “It worked pretty well when I rode with them.” I tell him, smirking and he scowls. The prospects sitting with us perk in interest. Cal can’t stand it.

  This is what I need him to do. He gets riled up pretty easily. I need him to play into my plans so he’ll trust me a little more and the prospects will think he’s a shitty president.

  “When we patrolled, your guys stayed the fuck away. Occasionally they engaged us, and to be honest, they were no match.” I inform him. “Just telling you the truth.”

  Cal doesn’t seem happy about this and I knew he wouldn’t. In fact, I was counting on it. It doesn’t take much to make the Rykers look inadequate.

  “Do you remember the patrol schedule?” he questions. Bingo.

  “Sure as hell do. Dax had us memorize that shit. He’s organized and meticulous as hell.”

  “Maybe we should show the fucking Ravens who’s boss.” he grins and I nod. The plan is finally taking flight. Maybe there won’t be any dead bodies. Well, any dead Ravens.

  Cal and I go over the patrol schedule and which Ravens are patrolling where. As expected, he wants Kane’s patrol unit because Kane is the Ravens’ top enforcer. I suggest that Cal let me take lead with that group since I’m familiar with the area and he has no problem with that. With more Rykers in town, we outnumber the Ravens three to one. Before they were here, we outnumbered them two to one and the Ravens knew that.

  It only takes an hour for Cal to assign the Ryker members to their designated areas and distribute weapons. I can see the excitement in their eyes at the thought of a fight with the Ravens. And the hatred.

  As we head outside and climb on our bikes, I look to Cal and he holds his hand up. I frown as I watch him walk away, his phone to his ear.

  “What do you mean, “he knows” and how is that fucking possible?” he growls into the phone. “How could you fuck up what we had?” He runs a hand through his hair and I can see his hand trembling. “I’ll fix it, you son of a bitch. Don’t even think about ending our fucking relationship.”

  Cal approaches the bikes and shakes his head. “Change of plans.”

  A few men curse and grumble, clearly showing their frustration at not getting the opportunity to rumble with the Ravens tonight.

  “We have an ADA to kill.”

  I glance over at Linc and he shrugs as if hearing that we’re going after Griffin Knowles is no big deal. Let’s just kill the Assistant District Attorney. Yep, that sort of shit happens every damn day.

  Cal mouths off instructions as to who will stay on target with the patrolling task and decides to take me, Fisk, and Chase with him to track down Griffin. I follow Cal’s lead, not sure if I’m happy that I’m with him or pissed off that my plan is falling through. At least this way I can attempt to do something to help Griffin. Even if he is a piece of shit.

  As we ride, I expect us to go to his house or to the courthouse. It’s certainly not like Cal filled us in on where we would be bagging him. Instead, we pull up to the same warehouse on Palafox where I wrapped Fred Matthews’ dead body up in a tarp.

  “I doubt Griffin Knowles has any business to be done at our warehouse, Cal.” I quip and he rolls his eyes.

  “He’s already here, smartass.”

  Fuck. Apparently whoever Cal was talking to on the phone took care of delivering Griffin right to us. As we get closer to the loading dock, I can hear voices. Two men arguing and cursing, but I can’t make out exactly what they’re saying.

  When we walk in, Cal starts clapping, giving the two men a round of applause. I look a
t them both, feeling disgust in the pit of my stomach.

  Cal smiles and confusion sets in on Griffin’s face. “If it isn’t my two favorite attorneys.”

  Chapter Thirty

  ~Raiden~

  When I get off work, I’m tempted to go to the clubhouse and see if there’s any news, but I don’t. I go home like a good girl. If there is any news, Eric will let me know. Since I haven’t heard anything, there’s no news. I know that. I’m just impatient. I don’t like knowing that my dad is sitting in jail and I’m doing nothing to get him out. I don’t like knowing he’s disappointed in me. That I’m failing at the one task he has counted on me to do. Griffin won’t even take my calls. I can’t fix it.

  I pull into my driveway and stay sitting in my car, letting the frustration and aggravation overwhelm me for a moment. I slam my hands on my steering wheel, cursing and crying in anger. I barely even hear the tap on my window. Through my tears, I look out and see it’s Hayes. I quickly open my door and get out of my car.

  “Hayes? What are you doing here?”

  “Eric sent me. He has news about Dax.” he answers. “You okay?”

  I wipe my tears away and smile at his concern. I’m sure by now he’s fucked every club whore that’s come into the clubhouse, but he’s concerned enough to ask if I’m okay.

  “Yeah, I’m good. Come inside and tell me the news.” I reply and motion for him to follow me.

  I open my door and welcome him in, offering him a soda or beer. He accepts a beer and as I turn to the fridge I feel his arms come around my neck. I shriek in surprise and claw at his arms as he jerks me back against him. I’m unable to twist in his grasp and I damn sure don’t know how to escape a sleeper hold.

  I can feel panic setting in as my oxygen supply lessens. I doubt the Crocs I’m wearing will do any damage to his steel-toed boots so I don’t bother smashing his foot. I do ram my elbow into his ribs over and over, begging and praying that he’ll eventually let me go as we sink to the floor together. On my last hit he groans out and loosens his grip.