2. Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Wolf
The stale stench of alcohol and vomit invades my nostrils and my stomach churns. Spike rolls over on the couch, scratching his balls before snoring once again. A prospect lies across the pool table with one of the sweet butts wrapped around his torso.
The sweet butts hang around the clubhouse, hoping one day to meet their forever biker, but until then, they know as part of the package, they’re here to take care of any of the brothers who ask. Man, I hope that fucker knows what he’s doing.
Shaking my head, I sit down at the bar. I’m fucking exhausted. I pulled an all-nighter at that track for no good reason except to ream out my brother who doesn’t fucking listen anyway.
Behind me, someone groans, the door to the bathroom slams open and retching ensues. Exactly how many times will these fuckers puke before they figure out their limit for alcohol?
Despite just turning twenty-eight years old, sometimes I feel ancient around these assholes. Now my baby brother, Duke, is going to be a daddy. I thought I taught him better but, the wrap-it-up conversation we had when he turned fourteen went right over his fucking head.
A baby. Has he lost his fucking mind? The mere thought gives me hives. Idiot.
Although I encouraged him to join the MC years ago, he declined. I respected his decision because it’s not meant for everyone, even though it runs in our blood.
However, I know what that brotherhood means which is why I chose it. Our father and grandfather’s legacy lives within these concrete walls, and I’ll be damned if I don’t continue the tradition.
My grandfather Bub Castro formed this MC with Joker’s father and three other men some fifty years ago. At the time, it was to avenge a young woman’s death. Joker’s father, Stone Montgomery did not accept the verdict when the mayor’s son walked despite the evidence proving the brutal killing of his sister.
The Shadow Saints were born out of those ashes to make shit right.
Now, Duke’s changed his mind about joining. I worry about the reasons behind it, but he’s smart and tough, he’ll do just fine if this is what he really wants.
I wish he had picked anyone but Reverend Abernathy’s daughter though. The man is hardly a threat, not like some of the other local MCs, but he’s annoying as fuck on a good day and the last thing we need is the man breathing down our necks about his future grandchild.
As a rule, MCs aren’t usually friendly with each other, but we’ve found trouble with the Smokin’ Aces assholes, and they’ve made it their mission to fuck with us at every turn. It all started before I was old enough to wipe my own ass, but I’ve been patched in long enough to know, the bad blood was born out of greed over territory and business.
We should have ended this feud a long time ago, but our focus remains on our families and their safety. However, their time is coming. We’ve been patient long enough. Their sins are too many and they continue to wreak havoc that the Saints have to clean up.
We can’t afford for our attention to be divided, and I don’t know if this is the right time for Duke. I warned him, but he’s never wavered in his intentions, and this is what Joker, the president of the Shadow Saints MC, sees when he looks at my brother. Either way, it’s worth the mess if he and his woman are safe.
“You hear anything?” Joker says, sitting down beside me at the bar.
Dropping my fork to the plate of eggs before me, I take a swig of coffee and say, “Nope. That fucker Sprocket didn’t know shit.”
With a sigh, Joker rubs his forehead. Still in his prime at barely past forty-five, Joker looks every bit of his age today.
Joker takes his role as president seriously and I know the death of two of our brothers weighs on him. It was a drop gone wrong and all we know is that the Aces were behind it.
How they knew when and where we’ve been making our drops remains a mystery, but the devil on my shoulder suspects it was someone from the inside. But who?
I know Joker has considered it too. It’s the worst form of betrayal because once you become a brother, nothing is more sacred than the people you’ve sworn loyalty to, and the colors proudly displayed on your skin.
If someone has betrayed us, how far are they willing to go? Are the women in danger too?
“Romeo and Hand are doing another drop tonight. I want all hands, on deck. If these fuckers think they can mess with us, they better think again,” Joker says before grabbing a bottle of whiskey and drinking straight from the top.
Romeo is a good guy. He’s been here since the beginning, long before me. He knew my father, who respected him as much as he did Joker. Hand came along five years ago, patched in shortly after and has shown his loyalty in countless ways.
I hope to fuck that I’m wrong because I don’t want to look into the eyes of one of my brothers and know that they’re a fucking snitch. My skin burns at the notion, and I bite back a surge of rage.
If I find out someone betrayed us, I’ll skin the colors off their back myself before burying them alive. They should have time to consider their sins before they go straight to fucking hell.
The sight of Joker guzzling from the bottle turns my stomach and I look away. How many years did he drown himself just like that before he finally pulled his head out of his ass? Too many, that’s how long.
I don’t blame him. His loss was hard but thank fuck he’s stepped from the abyss. We need him now more than ever because those fuckers have to pay. I vowed it when he lost his wife ten years ago and the burn remains today.
“You got it,” I say, my appetite all but gone.
“Also, Draven’s all up my ass about a car. See what you can find. My baby deserves the best.”
The best might be an overstatement. Draven, Joker’s daughter, is more than a handful, and growing up an MC princess, she’s also got the personality to show for it.
Ever since the little minx grew tits, she’s been a bitch on wheels and most of us avoid her. I don’t know what crawled up her ass and died but I’m glad it’s not me who has to rein her in.
She needs a car, fine, but that’s as far as I’m willing to go. Keep that hormonal teenage mess as far away from me as possible.
“Bro,” Duke says, and I give up on my breakfast altogether. Pushing the plate away, I nod to Toni when she picks it up with a wink and takes it away.
I take a moment to stare at her luscious ass before turning my attention to my brother. He’s got a lot on his mind, I get it, but I can’t speed up the process.
He’ll be a prospect until he ain’t and that’s just the way it is.
“C’mon,” I say, standing.
“Where we going?”
“To find a car.”
Lilli
By Monday I’ve set aside Miriam’s words because, in this, there’s nothing I can do. I hope she makes this work for her sake and her baby.
We’ve avoided speaking about her predicament and my adventure, but I’ve been consumed by thoughts of Wolf.
Up close he was more potent than I could’ve imagined but I’m left cold in the wake of his attitude. Which is laughable because he’s a big bad biker. He was hardly going to spout sonnets when he met me.
Still, I can’t erase the vision of his pretty eyes staring at me curiously before he learned who I was, and it all fell flat.
Unfortunately, I’m reminded of Darcy’s cruelty when I spy her in the school lot and the knot on my forehead, explained away as a clumsy accident, throbs at her presence.
Rachel chatters beside me but all I can focus on is the witch who humiliated me in front of half the school. All of which follows me through the halls throughout the day.
By the time my last class rolls around, I’m exhausted, and no one has even said anything to my face. But I hear the whispers and surprisingly, rage grows for the girl who thought to bring me down.
She’s not in any of my classes because she failed most of them. I’m grateful for the reprieve, until I exit and spy her leaning against a locker, staring at her phone.
Although I’d like to tell her exactly what I think of her, I’m no match for the scrappy girl who’s been defending her reputation since Daddy ruined it.
Sliding away, I hope to avoid her, but she must sense my presence, like all predators do because her head pops up and she meets my gaze across the assembly line of students heading for the parking lot.
She smiles, flipping her dark hair and I frown before following the tide. But I know she’s behind me, and I pause before the exit hoping to keep this from Rachel.
She’d no doubt go straight home and tell Mama, a circumstance I don’t want to entertain and sends a shudder through me that I hope Darcy doesn’t see.
“What?” I ask when she stops before me.
She glances down at my skirt and button-up shirt with a smirk. “Back to hiding?”
“Hiding what?”
“Behind your Daddy’s so-called religion.”
“I don't know what you’re talking about,” I say, glancing out the doors.
Rachel is waiting by the fountain and it’s only a matter of time before she comes looking for me.
“Here’s the thing,” she says, leaning against the wall beside me. “Your daddy’s a hypocrite and you are too.”
“Oh?” I lick my lips and dip my head.
“Yes, because dear ol’ Daddy is fucking Janice DuPont and you’re parading around like the whore I supposedly am.”
“I’m sorry. What?” Janice who? No way. Daddy would never…
She cocks her head to the side. “Didn’t you know?”
When I stare at her with wide eyes she chuckles. “You didn’t. Cute.”
“That’s not true,” I say, rubbing my burning sternum. It can’t be true. Can it…?
“Yes, it is. I can prove it.”
“How?”
“Friday after school. Ditch your sister and I’ll show you.”