Deke glared at them for a moment. “I don’t want to be your leader. No one else should be in a position to have to tell you what to do and how to live. That’s something each of you has to do for yourselves.” He glanced around at the two dozen men sitting there.
Most of them had a dazed look in their eyes.
Breaker shook his head. “You don’t understand.” He ran his fingers threw his long hair. “Most of us have nowhere else to go. As bad a leader as he was, Bear held us together for a long time. He used fear and intimidation to keep his position. Over time, he made us weak and took away our pride, but it wasn’t always like that. When we started out, this MC was something we could say was a good thing. How we lost that and let him take over, no one knows but with the right leadership, we could be great again.”
Deke shook his head. “But I’m no leader, hell I’m about the youngest one of you here. It would never work, most of you wouldn’t take orders from me on that fact alone.” He glanced around him again, then looked Breaker in the eye. “Me and Gator are looking for a place of our own too. We left Maine a few years ago under similar circumstances. I couldn’t stay with the MC there because I didn’t believe in what they stood for. We thought this place was a good place until it wasn’t anymore. We were on our way out the door when this happened.”
“You and Gator haven’t been here more than a few days,” Breaker admitted.
“It didn’t take us long to find out what we needed to know.” Deke shook his head.
“Yeah, I know,” Breaker agreed. “It took you guys’ days to see what it took Bear years to accomplish. That’s not something we can be proud of. Most of us have been disgusted about this for a long time now.”
“Like I said, that’s something you guys need to do as a club.” Deke looked around. “Now that you know what went wrong with Bear, it’s up to you not to let it happen again.”
“We could do it quicker with a good leader,” Breaker urged. “Someone strong and young enough to mold us into better men.”
Deke shook his head. “I’m looking for a club with values I can live with. I want to work every day towards a common goal, ones I don’t have to look over my shoulder to watch out for the cops or backstabbing members looking to gain power every day.”
“You could have that here with us,” another man told him as he came to stand behind Breaker. “That was our dream at one time as well, then Bear got us into the drug trade and we lost our way quickly after that.” He looked around. “Some of us have wives and kids and this place isn’t safe for them. I know I’d never bring my girl out here.”
Deke glanced around the room.
Most of the guys were willing to meet his eyes and those that didn’t just glared at him. Those were the ones who had something to lose.
“If I do this, things are gonna change and not everyone is gonna like it. For those who stay, there will be rules to follow. For those who chose to leave, you have to move out of town altogether. If this were my club, I’d want it to be clean and legit. I don’t care about the booze but it will be watched. No more drinking yourselves under the tables. There won’t be any drugs anymore. No dealing or using allowed. If you want to do that shit, you don’t do it here. From now on, we all pull our own weight by means of a job with the club getting ten percent right off the top. This town has a lot of potential for all of us to make a good living.”
Breaker showed a moment of surprise then glanced around at his men. “Only ten percent?”
Deke gave him a single nod.
Breaker looked at his men. Most of them were nodding. “Bear took forty percent.”
Deke shrugged. “I’m not Bear. I have a different plan for the club I lead. In fact, I was getting ready to move out. This club had nothing I wanted at this point.” He shifted his stance and stared at them. “I’ll be honest with all of you. When I got here, I saw a lot of potential in this town. I grew up in the MC life, it’s all I know, but this MC wasn’t what I was looking for. I wanted something I could be proud of and I wasn’t proud of this place at all.” Crossing his arms around his chest, he told them, “Gator said that most of you were decent men and while I agree with him until you demonstrate what you can do to make this a better MC, you’re all on notice. I will not tolerate disrespect at all. Not to me and not to each other.”
“And if we can agree with all of that?” Breaker asked.
“Then we can try it.” Deke nodded. “Those of you who deal drugs are free to leave if you insist on that lifestyle. I know the money is good and all that but it’s not what I want for this club. Take your business elsewhere. I won’t stop you, nor will I take the money you make doing it. I want nothing to do with it. We have a lot to do to rebuild this club but it can be done.”
Breaker nodded over at Bear’s body “And him? What do we do with him?”
Deke glanced over at the body and stated flatly, “Drag his ass out to the woods and let the wild life finish him off. The circle of life will take care of him. We can’t exactly call the cops can we?” He turned to Breaker and asked, “I came in here for a shovel. Do you have one?”
Breaker nodded and walked toward him. “We have tools in the garage.” Pausing he asked, “What are you going to do with the girl?”
“I’m going to give her a final resting place, somewhere quiet and nice. She didn’t deserve what happened to her. She didn’t have any ID on her and we don’t really know anything about her except her first name. We can’t even notify her family but from what she told me about them, I doubt they would care anyway.”
Breaker went over to a shed to grab a shovel and a tarp. Handing them to Deke he asked, “Are you going to stay and help us rebuild this club?”
“I’ll think about it,” Deke replied. “But I meant what I said about the drugs. I won’t have them in my club. That’s not going to go over with some of your men. It’s good money and that’s not easy to give up.”
“What else can we do?” Breaker frowned.
“I told you, this town has potential. There’s a strip club not far from here and a couple of bars for sale. I was talking to a guy in town named Zipper and he had some ideas too.”
Breaker chuckled. “Bear never saw you coming and that’s a good thing.” He shook his head. “I think you could be a good thing for us. I hope you consider staying here and turning this club around.”
“It isn’t going to be easy. We’re bikers and most people look down on us for just that reason. I want to build a club that people don’t look at with fear and distrust. I love the biker life, hell it’s all I’ve ever known but I’ve seen the best and the worst of this life and I want something somewhere in the middle. It can be done but not without hard work and we’d all have to keep our noses clean.”
“I think we can work with that.”
CHAPTER TWO
Now twelve years later, Deke and Gator were running two strip clubs and three small bars, along with the MC. They were all pulling in a tidy profit. The rules were still in place and the men understood what happened when you broke them. They had some of the seedier members stay and they were each caught doing things that the club wouldn’t allow. Most were run out of town, and some disappeared. Deke knew some of the men took out the trash in their own way. Still, things were profitable and well run. The women who worked in their clubs came and applied for the jobs themselves. No female was ever treated without respect in his bars and clubs.
Deke had a battle from the get go on his hands, as he took over the club. Cleaning out the riffraff and drugs had been hard but earning the respect of the remaining men had been worth the effort. It had taken two years to get to the point where they bought the first bar and strip club but slowly, they had worked hard to get to where they were today.
The club was doing well and providing enough to be able to hold their heads up. The women and families of the men had come together and worked hard for the unity they shared. The men found they could trust Deke to keep his word. He listened to their concerns
and ideas for the club then acted on the ones he thought would work. He became a good leader and had taken his place in the club with pride.
Gator never liked the strip clubs like you would think a man would, no he preferred the bars to run and that was okay with Deke, as long as he had men he trusted in each location.
Deke had also invested in other properties around Troy. They were now looking into spreading out into other areas of business. Their accountant had proclaimed them solvent and making a damn good profit.
Today, him and Gator stepped off the porch and made their way into the woods. Each of those twelve years had been a turning point for the club and each one had made it stronger.
But this day was always hard for him. Each year made it worse in some ways. In other ways, every year gave him a tiny bit of peace. Their footsteps were softened by the leaves and debris on the floor of the woods. Both men made their way to a special place hidden there. Only they and Gator’s woman, Reva knew why this place was special. Several years ago, Reva wanted something special out here. Something they could all look at and something Gillian could be happy with. Gator had added a small manmade pond out here, one with a waterfalls and its own generator.
Reva maintained the area and often came out here to think. She appreciated the quiet and would sometimes talk out her own problems here. She always said there was no one here to judge her and it helped her feel closer to inner peace. That no one person was perfect, least of all her and it helped her clear away the drudge of everyday life to come out here.
When the two men broke into the clearing, they weren’t surprised to see her sitting there. Gator had added a bench for her several years ago and as they joined her, Reva smiled. “This place is perfect. I don’t know why you guys come out here but I’m glad you do.”
Deke stared at the pond and to a spot just to the left of the water. Neither he nor Gator had ever told anyone where they buried the body all those years ago. They felt a secret wouldn’t stay a secret long if too many people knew it, so this was a secret only they shared.
Gator reached out and took her hand. “Honey, this place is very special.” He glanced over at Deke and they stared at each other for a long moment. Deke gave the other man a brief incline of his head and Gator took a deep breath.
“Sweetheart,” he began. “Twelve years ago when we came here, this club was a mess. I never brought you around it, because you wouldn’t have been safe. The leader was an absolute bastard who treated women like whores. No one deserved that.”
Reva stared at him then at Deke. “But you guys changed all that, didn’t you? I mean you took over and made this club into something you could be proud of.”
“But that took more than we wanted to give,” Deke replied. “We were ready to walk away from this place and get back on the road until we found what we wanted.”
“What happened?” she asked softly.
“I couldn’t let their leader rape a young girl.” Deke’s softly spoken words shattered the quiet. “I stood up to the bastard and it cost her, her life.”
“The bastard killed her with a knife to the back. That was after he beat her and almost raped her,” Gator grumbled.
Reva raised her hands to her mouth in shock as she looked from one to the other of them. Finally, after a few minutes she whispered, “What happened then?”
“One of his own men shot him right between the eyes.” Gator growled. “But at least he saw it coming. He didn’t get it in the back like a coward.”
“What happened to him?” Reva asked.
“I told his men to drag his sorry ass out to the woods and let him rot,” Deke stated.
“Good for you,” Reva snapped. “I hope the wolves and rats ate really good that week.”
Gator chuckled softly. “You are so bloodthirsty, woman.”
“Damn right.” Reva nodded. “Bastards like that deserve what they get.” She glared at Deke. “What happened to the girl?”
Deke glanced over at the pond. “We gave her something she didn’t have before. Peace and a final resting place that would never be disturbed, I just wished we could have stopped it from happening altogether.”
Reva shook her head. “It played out the way it was meant too. Fate played out her hand and this girl got caught in the aftermath. We can’t always prevent tragedy but we can take care of the results.” She glanced around the area. “You buried her here, didn’t you? That’s why this place is so peaceful.”
Gator nodded. “Yeah baby, we did. All we ever knew about this girl was her first name but we gave her peace.”
“What was her name?” Reva asked.
“Gillian.”
Reva leaned against her man’s shoulder and clasped her hand in his. “Thank you baby, for taking care of her. You and Deke are good men.” She paused for a moment then asked, “Is that when you guys took over the club?”
Deke nodded.
“I think you guys have done a great job here,” she stated. “You turned this club around and made it something to be proud of. I wasn’t sure about this club when we first got here but you didn’t take the easy way out and you and the guys are working hard to make it on your own.”
Deke smiled. “We’re trying.”
“I know the women are happy now.”
“What do you mean?” Gator frowned.
“Some of the women who were around before you took over,” Reva explained. “They hated Bear and never came here for parties or such. They never trusted him and did their best to stay out of his way. You’re right about Bear being a bastard. He took what he wanted and didn’t care about the consequences. He was a user. He dragged their husbands and boyfriends so far down, they were afraid they couldn’t come back from the hell he was making here. But things turned around when you guys took over and now, they are proud of the way things are. You may not know it but you gave these men their pride back and gained their respect. For most men, that means the world to them. You have a good club now. You and Gator did that.”
“It’s a work in progress sweetheart,” Gator whispered. “We have so much more work to do.”
“Yeah, but you now have more people to help you do it,” she proclaimed.
“I just think there’s so much more we could be doing,” Deke commented as he shrugged. “I just feel like I’m waiting for something to happen. I can almost feel the anticipation building at times.”
“Then fate will deal her hand when the time is right.” Reva assured him. “Maybe it’s not the right time yet. You have to have patience and wait until she decides to reveal whatever it might be.”
“You believe in fate?” Deke was stunned.
“I really do.” Reva nodded. “I truly believe that fate put Gator there when I needed him. He saved my life and he keeps me safe. As long as we’re together, I’m not afraid. He gives me the courage to get out of bed and face the day every single morning.”
Deke glanced at her then over to Gator. “You are a lucky man my friend. Don’t ever let this woman go.”
“I have no plans to. She’s mine today and every day for the rest of my life,” Gator assured him.
“Don’t worry Deke,” Reva said. “Your woman is out there and she’s waiting for you to find her.”
“How do you know that?” he asked.
“Every man, woman and child has a fated mate out there somewhere. Most of us find them at some point. You just have to be patient and wait for her. Fate will bring the two of you together then the rest is up to you.”
Deke didn’t say anything for a long time then he nodded. Maybe that was true, if so it would give him something to look forward to.
He didn’t realize fate was waiting for the right time to introduce Deke to his future. She was just moving her into position for them to meet.
CHAPTER THREE
Three Months Later…
At the big oak door of Deke’s office, the man paused briefly and knocked. When Deke called out, he opened the door and came inside. The office was neat
and tidy. The large oak desk in front of him was littered with papers and a laptop but he paid them no mind. As his eyes met the man’s behind the desk, Wiley swallowed hard.
Deke was a big man, six foot six inches, and at least three hundred fifty pounds of raw muscle. His short black hair was brushed back away from his face and his eyes were the color of ice. His hands were just as big as the rest of him and could easily break a man in half. “What’s up, Wiley?”
“We have someone sniffing around, asking questions about one of the dancers.”
Deke sat back in his chair. His fingers steepled while his steely gaze met his Sergeant at Arms. “Now who would be foolish enough to do that?”
Wiley shrugged. “It was a young woman. She first asked Hal about her but when Hal wouldn’t give her any answers, she went into the ladies room after Candy. I don’t think Candy would talk, but you never know what chicks are gonna say.”
“Bring Candy in here,” Deke ordered as he got up and moved from behind his desk.
A few minutes later, Wiley escorted Candy into the office.
She took one look at the big man’s face and began to tremble.
“I understand we had someone asking about Peaches.”
Candy groaned. “She asked but I didn’t answer.”
“What did she want to know?”
“She said she was a friend and just wanted to know if Peaches was okay,” Candy answered truthfully. “She told me to have Peaches call her.”
“Call her where?”
“She’s at the Star Bright, room 104. I swear boss that’s all she said.”
Deke stared at the woman for a moment then nodded. “It’s okay, you aren’t in trouble, but the next time someone asks anything, you better be the one to bring it to my attention, not Hal or Wiley. I run a good place here and give you girls the protection you need to feel safe. I need you to look out for each other as well.”
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