by Eve R. Hart
I knew if I looked at it now, I wouldn’t get through my morning routine of checking messages and emails. It didn’t matter that there wasn’t many of either, I needed to do it before I left. If I was headed that far away, then I couldn’t leave without making sure everything was going to be set for the next few days. Good thing I remembered to water the half-dead plant at the last minute because I knew Art wouldn’t think of it. Hell, he probably didn’t even know the thing was there even though it was right next to the coffee pot.
Art gave me a nod as I headed out just before noon. This wasn’t my first out of town job but I’d never been that far before.
I had no plans to let him know that I would be making the drive straight through. I had to pinch and save any chance I got and I knew I could handle a ten-hour drive. Hell, with the way I was going to keep the pedal to the metal, it wouldn’t even be ten hours.
Not even an hour later, I had my car loaded up. After only ten minutes of trying to get her to start, I was ready to go. My phone was charged and the address of the one in the file was plugged into my GPS. I just had to stop and get gas and I was on my way.
CHAPTER THREE
Lake
I had the night off and I knew I’d be spending that time hanging out with my brothers. And yep, just like I figured, I ended up at the club owned bar right next to the garage. I did run back to my room first and scrubbed the day off of me. Not that I needed to because the women that hung out at the bar were ones that would take any of us that they could get, any way they could get us. Hell, I probably could’ve given up showering for a week and still had one fall into bed with me with no problem.
That wasn’t to say that I got naked with every one of them that looked my way. I wasn’t a saint but I wasn’t as bad as some of my other brothers. Sketch. Yeah, he was pretty much always the example. I had a good idea that he never had a night where he didn’t get laid. For Sketch, giving his attention to just one person meant it was a slow night. I had no clue how he got the energy. But then again, he was a good five years younger than me.
Not that I was old by any means.
I took a seat at the bar next to Ky and Mason. Ky, of course, hardly able to take his eyes off the man slinging drinks behind the bar, while Mason was looking indifferent as always.
“Well, this is where the party is at, huh?” I said jokingly.
Mason chuckled while Ky cut his eyes over to me.
“How’s your sister doing up there?” I asked Ky, feeling like I hadn’t really talked to him all that much.
“Doing good. That place seems to be just what she needed.”
Sure, we worked side-by-side at the garage but now that he didn’t live at the compound, I felt like our heart-to-hearts had died off a bit. All right, that was a bit of an exaggeration. With all the shifts in the club and Ky settling down, things were different. Same was said for Brand.
I looked around wondering which of us would be the next to fall.
My eyes landed on Sketch and I just about choked on a laugh thinking about it. I couldn’t picture him in a relationship, day in and day out with the same woman. Not even in that overly stupid romantic comedy kind of way.
There were brothers that liked to party hard. Like Blade, Charming, and Tripp and it was clear that they weren’t looking for anything permanent.
Dade was going through some shit right now and I had a feeling he wouldn’t see a good thing even if it hit him in the head with a two-by-four.
Cable was reserved most of the time but that didn’t mean that he didn’t take a woman or two back to his room on the regular.
Fitz was… too shy. I imagined it would take him a few years before getting the nerve to talk to a chick. Not really sure how he turned out that way being raised in the club lifestyle. I could almost see him more as the stalker type— but not in that creepy, killer sort of way.
Then there was Mouse. We were pretty much the same as far as women went. Not balls deep in something random every night but not turning down something if it caught our eyes. The way Mouse actually sat down and carried on conversations with chicks made me think that he craved something more than the dumb, desperate women that tended to throw themselves at us. I could agree with that. There was something to be said for a woman that had a brain and maybe even an opinion of her own.
Mason had too much drama going on to even think about letting someone in. That wasn’t me guessing, that was the downright truth. He was still fighting with his bitch of a baby mama and struggling to see his kid. And since he wasn’t a dumb fuck, he knew that bringing someone into all that mess right now would not do well for anyone. He was more focused on getting to know his son and sliding into his new roll in the club’s VP seat. Sucked that he missed out on so much time not finding out about his son until he was already like seven years old or something. You could see how it hurt him and now all he wanted to do was get to know the boy. It was bullshit that it was such a hassle for him.
Then there was the Prez.
My eyes shifted over to the end of the bar where Iron was sitting. I wasn’t surprised to find him nursing a beer and keeping watch over all his men. His children. Yep, sometimes he got that dad vibe going on and not in the kinky ‘call me daddy’ sort of way.
Iron was rough and hard but also cared about the club and all of us here. He had a soft spot for the women that claimed his men— and yes, you read that right. Come on, we all knew it was the woman that held the power, and their balls.
Maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing.
But I wasn’t there yet and I wasn’t sure I’d ever be.
There were days that I hated myself too much to even think that I’d ever be good enough for someone. Days when all I wanted to do was focus on my club and what needed to be done. Days when I figured nothing else mattered other than my brothers.
I knew there wasn’t someone out there for everyone. That sometimes you just got what you got. And the thing was, I couldn’t complain one single bit about what I had now. It was a good life. It wasn’t even a lonely one because all I had to do was walk out of my room and there would be someone there.
My eyes scanned the bar again. I had no idea who was next to get caught in the web of love, but I imagined that it would be fucking hilarious no matter who it was. And I would make sure I was there to watch the whole thing go down— you know, poking fun at them and making jokes every chance I got.
“How are the prospects doing?” Mason asked effectively snapping me out of my stupid thoughts.
“I like that Colby guy,” Ky said.
“Me too. He listens, doesn’t ever complain, and seems loyal.”
“He works hard and has respect for Chris and the old ladies,” Ky added with a sharp nod.
“What’s his story?” I asked because for the most part, the guy kept his yap shut. Which was good but it also meant that he didn’t spill much about his life.
“Sick mom. He took care of her until she died a few years back.”
There was more to the story but that was all Mason was going to say on the matter. I was sure that if there was anything he thought we needed to know, he’d say it.
“What about that one?” Ky asked tilting his head to the prospect in the corner that had some nearly naked woman grinding on him while he looked like he was grinding his jaw. I barked out a laugh because he didn’t look like he was enjoying it at all. But I could tell the fact that Sketch was there hooting and hollering in encouragement was the reason he hadn’t pushed her off of him.
I bet he thought he had to take that. Sketch was only trying to help him out.
“You talkin’ about Fire Beard?” I asked before I could think better of it. I may have had a bit of red in my hair but it was more of a dark mahogany tone that could only be seen in the daylight. But he was a full-on bright beacon of ginger.
“Fire Beard?” Mason asked, voice low but brow raised high.
“Yeah,” I said with a shrug. “It’s what I call him in my head.”
That made the two of them chuckle.
“Think we should make that one stick,” Charming said and I didn’t even realize he’d walked up and heard that part.
“It didn’t come from me,” I said with a warning as I held up my hands, then laughed. “Anyway. I like him enough. He doesn’t fuck around when he’s on patrol and he doesn’t try to set himself apart. He actually responds when talked to. And he can carry on a conversation.”
Maybe that last part wasn’t really something that was a requirement to be patched in but it said a few things to me. Like that he wasn’t one to hold shit in until the point that it bubbled over. It also gave me a sense that he wasn’t trying to be an outsider and that he would easily slide into being a brother because he was already on the verge of being a friend. And it told me he cared. He wasn’t in it for the patch, to try to get some cool points to make his life seem more meaningful than it was. He wasn’t there for the shiny perks of being in the MC like the tempting women that threw themselves at you or the intimidation that came with just wearing the cut. No, he was there for something more. The same thing that made up the heart of the club.
“What are we talking about?” Mouse said sliding up to the bar and setting his empty bottle down.
“Prospects,” Ky grunted out.
“Oh, my favorite subject.” Mouse said with laughter in his tone. “I don’t like that skinny one. He’s always giving me the eye and thinks I don’t notice.”
We all barked out a laugh.
“The one that keeps looking at Tripp’s ass?” I asked, pointedly looking across the room at the prospect in the corner who was slyly trying to check out Tripp as he bent over the pool table to take a shot.
“Oh,” Mouse said sounding like he’d just lost a bit of steam. “Wait, you think he’s checking me out too?”
“You’re such a dumbass,” Chris said with a shake of his head as he set down a fresh beer for Mouse.
I knew he’d only caught part of the conversation but enough to know what we were talking about.
“I am pretty sexy, I guess,” Mouse said puffing out his chest like a dumbass.
Ky playfully punched him in the shoulder and he stumbled a little more than he should have. I looked at him for a long moment. Mouse drank but he hardly ever got drunk. Which I could see by the way he picked up that fresh beer and sucked half of it down in one pull, was what he was trying to accomplish for the night.
“That one,” Mouse said pointing to a woman at a tall table near the door. She fluttered her eyes at him and gave a timid smile while her girlfriends chatted around her. “I’m gonna go talk to her.”
He shuffled off and the rest of us shook our heads.
“He’s gonna feel great in the morning,” Mason said sarcastically as he got to his feet.
We scattered then. Mason going to sit by Iron. Charming to find someone to fill his bed for the night. Ky stayed his ass at the bar, which wasn’t a surprise to me.
I headed off to the pool table to have a front-row seat to the Sketch Show. It was always amusing to see him do the shit that he did. Oh, and the stories he had to tell. If it were anyone else, I would have said they were greatly embellished, but it was Sketch, and I’d seen first hand some of the shit he’d gotten himself into.
“Lake, my brother,” he said as I walked over. One arm was around some busty blond and the other was held out like he was waiting for me.
With a shake of my head and an eye roll, I gave in and let him get me around the neck. After one good squeeze, he released me.
“This is Miriam,” he said pointing at the blonde.
“Mary Ann,” she corrected him but she was still giving him a dazed happy look.
“Same thing,” he said with a shrug.
And I wouldn’t have expected anything different.
The tiredness seeped into my bones but I wasn’t ready to leave just yet. It wasn’t the drinking or the constant need to feel like I was still young and could party all night. No, it was the feeling that I got from being here. The fact that I’d helped to build not only the bar and the garage, but this chapter of the club. There was pride and loyalty in the nods to one another. There was a sense of love in the smiles that came from the significant others. There was just this overall scent that I knew I’d never be able to shake off or leave behind. Not that I would want to.
CHAPTER FOUR
Bridget
“Come on, sweet girl,” I said cooing at my car as she started to shake and sputter at me.
At least I had made it into the city.
Now if only I knew where the hell I should go because it was clear that I needed to give her a break soon. Deciding that I should at least find a side street to pull off on in case she did give out on me, I made a right turn.
“Oh, fuck,” I grumbled as smoke began to billow out from under the hood.
It was so thick and gray that I could hardly see through it. I feared this was the end of the road for my gal and me and I might have wanted to cry right now. Mostly because I knew I didn’t have the money to fix her. Or worse, replace her. So now it looked like I was probably going to be stuck here a lot longer than I had planned on.
I barely saw the amazing sign that was just in the distance up ahead. Amazing because it had an illustration of a car and what looked like some tools crossed in an X behind it. My first thought was it had to be a repair shop.
“Please let it be,” I practically prayed.
Just as I pulled over into the broken and uneven lot that housed the building, my car jerked, sputtered, and cut out on me.
With a heavy sigh, I made sure it was in park and pulled my keys out of the ignition. I sure as hell didn’t need her to go crashing through the side of the building and cause damage that I couldn’t afford to repair.
Since it was so late at night, knew that the place wasn’t going to be open. That was fine, I could survive a night of sleeping in my car. And as I stepped out of my car, I knew I was right. The place was closed up tight, not even a sliver of light was sneaking out from under the large bay doors.
That was when loud rock music caught my attention. I slowly pivoted on the balls of my feet, the loose gravel popping and crackling under my Chucks as I moved.
“Oh, what I wouldn’t give for a drink right now,” I said with a longing sigh as I stared at the front of the bar that was across the lot. I wasn’t sure how I hadn’t noticed that when I pulled over. It could have been that I could barely see over the huge puff of billowing smoke that was coming from the front of my car.
I had two hundred and thirty-two dollars to my name. Maybe another buck or two if I turned my car inside out and looked for change. As I glanced back at my old beast of a woman with wheels, I knew that I probably didn’t even have a penny to spare if I was going to try to get her fixed.
“Fine,” I mumbled and possibly even pouted a little.
Ducking back into my car, I pulled out my phone. I figured I could at least call and check in with Art. It was probably a good idea to let him know I made it, sort of. I also needed to figure out how far away I was from the place I was here to scope out.
But as I attempted to make my phone come to life, nothing happened. No amount of pressing the button made the screen light up. Since it wasn’t that old and it was actually one of the few things I’d managed to keep intact, I knew it wasn’t broken. A dead battery was an easy enough fix, just not right now. I supposed I didn’t really have much of a choice but to give up for the night.
A cold chill settled in the air around me and I knew it was going to be a long night. I just hoped I didn’t freeze to death in my car. It wasn’t like I had any other choice right now.
I cleared out the back seat and dug out a couple of blankets from my trunk. As I settled in, I did my best to cover my entire body, including my head. I knew it wasn’t the safest thing, especially with a bar right there. I just hoped that if someone looked in, they would think it was a bunch of crap piled up in the back seat. It wasn’t like
anyone was going to try to steal my car. I mean come on, she was as old as dirt and beat up worse than a rag doll on a rollercoaster.
The backseat was as uncomfortable as one would imagine and I knew I’d be regretting this in the morning. Somehow the sounds of the faded music lulled me to sleep almost instantly.
The loud clink of something hard tapping against the window had me awake in the blink of an eye. I shot up, alert and ready to strike.
“Get out of the car,” a voice said.
I couldn’t really see much and though I knew it wasn’t smart, I started to reach for the door handle. That was when I saw the gun that was trained on me from the other side of the window.
“Oh, hell no!” I said as I pulled the handle with enough force to almost rip it from the door.
My feet hit the ground and before I could even identify my attacker, I wrapped my hand around the barrel and pushed the arm that held the handle away from me. At the same time, I brought my right hand back and let it fly forwards with all my power behind it.
“What the fuck!” my would-be attacker said as he doubled over and brought his free hand up to his eye.
“That’s what you get, fucker. Don’t point a fucking gun at me,” I said and resisted the urge to kick him in the balls. “Dick.” I couldn’t help but add that after the fact.
“Oh, shit!” someone else said somewhere in the background but I didn’t take my eyes off the guy in front of me.
Then there was a round of laughter and that was when I did look up. Which I knew wasn’t smart.
One I could handle. Maybe two, if I had some caffeine in me. But five, well, I was definitely in trouble now. Especially if they were pissed that I’d hit their friend and were also carrying.
“Put ‘em away,” an older man said and I could hear that he was still laughing. “Lake, you alright?”
“Yeah,” my attacker said as he stood up and touched his probably tender eye with his fingertips. “You got me good.”
