by Jenika Snow
Evernight Publishing ®
www.evernightpublishing.com
Copyright© 2016 Jenika Snow
ISBN: 978-1-77233-710-5
Cover Artist: Sour Cherry Designs
Editor: Karyn White
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.
This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
DEVIL MAY CARE
The Grizzly MC, 12
Jenika Snow
Copyright © 2016
Author’s Note
This novella is a look into the lives of the next generation of the Grizzly MC. Although it is written so it can be read as a standalone, it is highly recommended that you read the previous Grizzly MC books in this series, as well as Reckless (The Sons, 1), to better know the characters, their lives, and the world they live in.
Chapter One
Saya sat in the uncomfortable plastic chair, this scene familiar, but one she would never get used to. For the last five years she’d been coming to the prison to see her father. Every once in a while she had been able to actually hug him, feel his warm breath as he told her he loved her. But then there were the times she had to sit behind this plastic, the phone beside her the only way she could hear his voice.
There was a loud buzz and clank, and then she saw her father walking through. The prison guard unlocked him from the handcuffs, and despite the fact she was accustomed to this scene, she hated seeing it.
Lars “Reaper” Hendrix was not only her father, but also the president of the Death Bringers MC. She knew the reason her father was serving all these years behind bars was because of her, even if he tried to make her see it wasn’t her fault … which he did constantly.
But it was her fault.
If she’d only listened to him and not dated that piece of shit her dad wouldn’t be here.
But that was five years ago, and now she had to tell him she was leaving.
Taking a deep breath as she stared at him, Saya knew he’d be happy for her, but that her leaving town would also mean she couldn’t visit him every week like she had.
He grabbed the phone that was beside him.
She did the same, hating the fucking plastic separating them.
“Hey, baby girl.”
She smiled at her dad, and took in the fact he was really starting to pack on the muscle. Reaper had always been a big guy, at a towering six-foot-five and strong enough that she’d always envisioned him being able to pull a tank barehanded. Of course she’d been a little girl when she thought that, but her dad had always been bigger than life, and had always been the person that had protected her.
“Hey, Daddy.” She smiled.
He had a full beard going on, and despite the ugly orange jumpsuit he wore she could see the tattoos that lined his arms, hands, and even neck. His salt and pepper colored hair was on the shaggy side, but his light blue eyes, the ones that were the same shade as hers, looked back at her with happiness and love.
“How have things been, sweetheart?” he asked in his gruff voice.
“As well as it could be going.” Her heart was beating fast and hard, and she knew that although she kind of hated telling him she was leaving, she had to because she knew he wanted her to have a future.
“Well, did you hear anything?” he asked with hopefulness in his voice.
“Yeah, I did actually.” She paused a moment, and he lifted a dark eyebrow.
“Well?” He was grinning.
“I got in, Daddy.”
His grin widened, and he leaned back in the chair, pride clear on his face. “I knew you would, sweetheart.” After a moment of silence and her not responding, his face sobered and he leaned forward again. “What’s wrong?”
She shook her head. “I just hate leaving because I won’t be able to come here every week.”
He made a low grunt, as if what she said wasn’t an issue. “Saya, honey, you going to college an hour away means more to me than anything else. I won’t lie and say I won’t miss you, but I’m glad you will be getting out of this shitty ass town.”
She smiled, but she still knew she’d miss him like crazy. “Daddy, I’m the reason you’re in here, so I feel bad just leaving—”
“Saya,” he said her name in that voice that told her he was serious, that he wasn’t fucking around. He leaned in another inch, his eyes hard. “Baby girl, I know you feel like the reason I’m in here is because of you, that you think you dating that motherfucker after I said not to is the reason he almost…” He stopped and breathed out, the anger clear on his face. “I’m only going to say this once more, Saya. Okay?”
She nodded.
“That fucker is paralyzed from the waist down, and having to eat from a tube, because of what I did to him, and because of what he tried to do to you.” He held her gaze with his for a suspended moment. “He tried to take from you something you weren’t offering, and because of that I took action.”
The night they were talking about flashed through her mind. She’d moved on from almost being raped by that asshole, but on the heels of that was the fact if she’d listened to her father and stayed away from that bad boy vibe she got while with Mal, things would have been different. But Saya had always been into the “bad boys”, had always gone against the grain when she’d sought out someone. It just so happened she should have listened to her father back then.
“There is no point in thinking about the past or that worthless piece of shit, Saya,” her father said with a slight gruffness to his voice.
But he’ll be thinking about me for the rest of his life.
Yeah, that asshole deserved what he got, and she felt no remorse over his current condition. What she cared about was the fact her father got caught.
“Now you listen to me, baby girl,” her father said, his voice warming as he looked at her. It was the voice he’d always used when he’d read her bedtime stories when she was younger. “It’s just you and me in this world, and I won’t let you waste your time away because you think I can’t handle it on my own.”
She could have laughed at that. “I know you can handle anything, Dad.”
He grinned. “And I know you can handle anything, too, baby girl. But I don’t want you worrying about me, okay?”
She nodded, knowing he was right. He was always right.
“And I know that situation…” He paused after he said that, his hand on the counter a tight fist. “I know after that incident you’re stronger, too.”
“I am, Dad.”
“Then you aren’t going to worry about me or this place, Saya. You’re going to go to school, and kick that in the ass like you do everything else you put your mind to.”
She couldn’t help but chuckle.
“It’s always been me and you against the world, sweetheart, but it’s time you made your own path.”
Even now she remembered him in his leather vest, his beard scratching her when he leaned down and kissed her forehead. He’d been this big bad MC president, but with her he’d been gentle and sweet, protective and always having her best interest at heart.
It was just them in this world since her mom decided to skip town when she was only six years old, and now at twenty-two Saya was ready to start the next chapter in her life. Sure, maybe starting college at her age wasn’t what “normally” happened, but she didn’t care about
any of that.
“Tell me you’re going to do this headfirst, sweetheart, and tell me you’re going to say fuck this place and the past.”
“I just worry about you.”
He exhaled roughly and ran a hand through his hair. “I know, and I don’t want that. I know you’ll still see me. It’ll just be when you can. I’m okay with that. In fact, I’m glad you’ll be out there getting on with your life and not having to look after your old man.”
Although she’d always been there for her dad, making sure he had hot meals when he wasn’t at the MC, that his laundry was done, and that they shared their regular movie nights on Sunday evenings, she also knew he always kept her close. Even if it wasn’t him that did it, the other MC Patches always were around. They were her family, whether blood or not, she looked at them as older brothers, men that would die for her because she was part of their inner circle.
“But you won’t be alone. I’ll make sure you’re still protected, even if it isn’t me actually being there.”
“I know you will,” she said and smiled.
They spoke for another ten minutes before their time was up, and after a tearful goodbye because she probably wouldn’t see him again until she was settled in at her new apartment, she knew she would see him again.
This was just the next chapter in her life.
****
It was late, the music was loud, the liquor was flowing, and Jakob sat by himself in the corner watching the action. He had a beer in front of him, a joint between his lips, and even though there were tits and ass and pussy on display, surrounding him, his cock was softer than a piece of uncooked dough.
Nice fucking image, man.
He turned his focus to Mason. The brother grabbed a few things before he was heading out to be with his old lady. He didn’t bring Ryeissa to the club often, at least not when all this debauchery was going on, and Jakob wouldn’t blame the Grizzly Patch. If Jakob had anyone of importance like that in his life, a female that was his only, he’d keep her far away from the skanks that surrounded him on a daily basis.
“You want some company tonight?” a club whore said.
“Keep moving,” was Jakob’s response.
She shrugged and moved on to the next Patch.
Bodhi was behind the bar playing bartender to The Brothers of Menace Patches, Havoc, and Kink’s son, Link. Link happened to stop by to drop something off, but had ended up getting his dick sucked by a sweet-butt in a backroom ten minutes after he showed up. Now he was bullshitting with Jakob’s brother.
Jakob finished off his beer, which was piss warm and tasted like shit. He had the roach of a joint between his thumb and index finger, and once he finished off the beer he finished off the pot, as well. The smoke surrounded him, but then again the room was filled with a hazy cloud from the cigarettes and marijuana that were being inhaled freely.
Empty.
Alone.
Not right.
Those evil words filled him, creating this darkness, these shadows within him.
He got up, grabbed his bike keys, and headed out. He didn’t say anything to anyone, and despite the fact he wasn’t drunk and barely had a buzz from the pot, he knew he shouldn’t be driving.
He got on his bike, put his helmet on because safety first and all that bullshit, and cranked the engine. Once on the street he took the back roads, all of them deserted this time of night. That was good, though.
He was heading home, and the trip, although only seven minutes from the clubhouse, was still unsafe. But dammit if he didn’t like that rush.
He opened up the engine and cut the corners sharp. The wind blew in his face, the darkness on this stretch of road intense. Clouds hid the moon, and if not for his night vision it would be a dark cloud surrounding him. That rush started to fill him as he looked down and saw the asphalt moving swiftly beneath him.
He reached up, turned off his headlight, and grinned when the darkness really enveloped him. Although he could still see fine, there was that adrenaline moving through his veins, the power that he felt. He wouldn’t do this if there were anyone else on the road, because he may be taking his own life in his hands, but he wouldn’t risk anyone else.
But Jakob was messed up. He could admit that. He didn’t know how to fix what was broken inside, or maybe nothing was broken and he was just ruined? Either way he didn’t know how to change it, or if he even wanted to.
He turned on his headlight again and slowed down once he reached his house. It was a small two-bedroom place his parents had owned at one time, more than ten years ago. Now it was Jakob’s, and it was fucking lonely as hell, if he were being honest.
He dismounted, and for a second just looked into the sky, closed his eyes, and let the nothingness fill him.
Yeah, he was all fucked up.
****
Jakob grabbed the bottle of whiskey from the passenger seat and took a swig from it. He wasn’t drunk, but he planned on getting wasted. It was midnight, and the back roads were barren of life. He pressed down on the accelerator, and his truck lurched forward, moving faster, the wind wiping around him. The window was fully down, and all he could think about was just being free. He hadn’t felt like he was alive in so long, hadn’t wanted to feel anything for just as long.
Watching everyone around him find that happiness, find that connection that they didn’t know they needed until it was right in front of them, had Jakob feeling like he was just moving through life.
He cut the corner of the bend in the road sharply. The whiskey spilled on his legs, and he swerved on the road, the vehicle running over the shoulder, and gravel kicking up everywhere.
Jakob came to a stop, grabbed the whiskey, and took a swig. He wasn’t nearly drunk enough. He couldn’t even describe what he had been feeling for the last few months, but he wasn’t in a good place right now. He felt like his entire world was unraveling, that he wasn’t even where he was supposed to be. After the fallout with Mason he’d started to feel like he was in this fucked up place. And even after he’d patched things up with Mason, and things should have been all good, Jakob felt like things still were going out of control.
The happiness he saw in his fellow Patches, the fact they had old ladies, even seeing his mom and dad having that happiness, made Jakob feel like he was just living life to live. He didn’t feel like there was a purpose. So he found violence, sought out that thrill, that adrenaline rush. It was then that he felt that spark of life again.
He took another swig from the bottle.
“One fucked up life with no meaning.”
But the silence greeted him, surrounded him … like it always did.
He finished off the whiskey, tossed the bottle onto the passenger seat, and headed back onto the road. He drove back to the MC, knowing he would be pretty fucked up soon, and getting arrested for getting into an accident and hurting someone else wasn’t something that would make him feel alive.
Maybe you should have thought about that before cracking open that whiskey and getting behind the wheel.
“Shut the fuck up.” He reached over and cranked the stereo. “Live like there’s no tomorrow,” he said the words out loud that had been repeated many times in the MC. The Patches did live each day like it was their last, because the life they led, the world they lived in, was unpredictable, would chew them up and not give a shit if they survived it.
He turned the radio up even louder.
“Live each day like it’s your last, bitches.”
And Jakob would do exactly that, tenfold.
Chapter Two
Saya unpacked the last box and took a step back. Her hair was tied up haphazardly and dust covered her from the move and unpacking, but she was finally settling in. Being an hour away from home wasn’t that bad, and of course she could still visit her dad on her free time, but it wasn’t just school that would take up her time. She’d gotten a small part-time job at a local bookstore. She’d never been one for reading, but when she’d gotten the job an
d found out she got a discount on textbooks, it hadn’t seemed like such an out of sorts place for her to work.
It’ll help pay your bills.
Truth was her father and the MC always helped her when she needed it, even if she hated having to rely on them financially. But it wasn’t like working retail could support her, especially when she didn’t have a college degree. So, that’s why she had finally decided she couldn’t just sit and waste her life away, worrying about her dad when he didn’t need anyone to look after him.
The sound of motorcycles had her moving over to the window in the living room. She pulled aside the faded yellow twill curtains, a cloud of dust wafting round her and causing her to cough. The apartment was a flop, but that’s just because it was old, stuck in the fifties with the brownish colored carpet and gold speckled linoleum.
She saw the glint of chrome first, and then a row of five Harley with big ass bikers sitting atop them. She was on the ground floor of the apartment complex, and she could easily make out their rockers.
Grizzly MC.
She’d heard of them, of course. Living only an hour from Steel Corner, which was where the MC was located, and where the small college she was attending was, made the Grizzlies nearly a household name.
The bear shifters were big, tattooed, and looked ready to beat ass. Although she was partial to her father’s club, and knowing how large and in charge they were, how they’d go to any lengths to protect their own, she couldn’t deny that just looking at the Grizzlies had her appreciating them and the fact a few people actually stopped and looked at them.
And then one of the bikers turned and looked her way, and although it seemed he was looking right at her, Saya knew there wasn’t any way he could see her. Right? The bikers started riding again, but for just a second that one Grizzly stayed back, looking in her direction. Her heart starting pounding a little faster, and when he was pulling up with the other Harleys she breathed out.
