Chapter 1
CHAPTER
ONE
brEW
Present day
Bang, bang, bang.
I wince, cracking an eye open.
Fuck. It’s morning already?
“I know you’re in there!” Haze calls. “Just passed the skank on the sidewalk, she yours?”
I was pretty drunk last night, but I definitely didn’t bring anyone home. Not that I remember. I feel the space next to me. Vacant and cold. I let out a sigh of relief.
I don’t need women complications on top of everything else in my life right now.
“Fuck off!” I yell, pulling the pillow over my head.
The bastard keeps knocking. I don’t know why he doesn’t just use his key, then again, he’s probably misplaced it again if he’s knocking. Can’t a man get some fucking peace around here?
I groan, knowing he won’t go away. If there’s one thing my little brother doesn’t let up about, it’s annoying me.
I throw the pillow off, flip the comforter over, and begrudgingly land my feet on the floor.
Scratching my balls, I pull my boxers on, then find a t-shirt nearby.
Yawning, I walk the length of my loft, switching my coffee maker on as I pass by, taking my sweet time because I want to punch Haze in the face for waking me up on a Sunday.
When I finally yank the door open, he waves a bag of food in my face. “Lucky,” I mutter.
He laughs, barging his way in. “So who was she?”
I run a hand over my face, closing the door behind me. “She wasn’t mine.”
He pops a brow. “You’re still a virgin?”
“Shut the fuck up.”
I head back to the kitchen as he makes himself at home on the stool on the other side of the counter. “Sad really. I thought your luck was changing.”
“I don’t need luck. I’ve got plenty of pussy throwing themselves at me every day. Somethin’ to do with bein’ a Rebel.”
The NOLA Rebels are a big part of my life.
The club I live and breathe. But I also live and breathe my own rules, which is why we started Nomad Brothers Security.
We contribute to club coffers, but we own the business.
I’ve done some shitty jobs over the years, and we always help the MC out when they need extra security at The Vault; the strip club we own downtown, but it was time to spread our wings.
Personally, I think they could’ve come up with a better name than Nomad Brothers, but whatever. Haze and Logan like it. I’m the middle brother, so I just get to go along with whatever the majority rules.
“Uh, huh, you’re a real Romeo. Frankly, I’m worried about you, so are some of the guys.” He reaches over to feel my forehand. “You burnin’ up?”
I whack his hand away. “If you spent more time worryin’ about your own non-existent love life, you’d not be so interested in mine.”
“What love life?” he scoffs. “You know if you spent more time bein’ a little nicer to chicks, you may find it’ll help instead of barking at them. After all, you attract more bees with honey.”
I shoot him a look. “I don’t bark at them, I’m not a dog, but if they annoy me, then I send them on their way.”
He pauses, then bursts out laughing. “If they annoy you? Bro, you’re annoyed by someone breathing in the same room as you.”
“Why are you here annoyin’ the fuckin’ livin’ shit outta me?” I groan.
He raps on the counter. “Good news. Sawyer got a hit on The Grid.”
I glance up.
The Grid is one of the major trafficking networks that operate out of Louisiana and the South.
The same people who trafficked Valencia and left her out in the desert to die.
The very same pieces of shit I’m still tracking down all these years later because my vengeance will never be satisfied.
I promised her family I’d find every last one and I’d put them in the ground.
I may be an asshole, but I keep my promises.
“Show me.”
He holds out a hand to stop me. “Hold your horses, we had an agreement; you won’t go in guns blazin’ until we have all the facts.”
“The facts bein’ let’s not waste time. You know how that irritates me.”
He sighs. “We’ve been doin’ this for so long now… don’t you think it’s time—”
“For what?” I argue. “To forget about what they did? About what they took? Not just from me, but her family.” I can’t say her name out loud.
I turn around, ready to make my coffee, but it’s a ruse.
I can’t look at him. This pain inside? It feels like a ticking time bomb.
Like at any given moment I’m going to explode.
And for those that know me, I keep my cool.
I never shout, raise my voice, or act on impulse.
Acting like a wildcard will get you killed.
So despite what my brother says, everything I do is meticulously planned out. I leave nothing to chance.
Blame my background in the Special Forces.
I served as a Green Beret in the army for a decade.
Freeing the oppressed is in my blood; unconventional warfare is my middle name.
I loved what I did, but I left because of injury, and back then I wanted to settle down.
I scoff at the memory now. If I’d stayed, would Valencia have ever been in this mess in the first place…
“Nobody is forgettin’ any of that, but are you gonna spend your life living in the past? Bro, I want what you want, but this rules your life.”
I ignore him. Putting a pod into the machine and heating the milk. “You’re givin’ me a migraine, and it’s not even ten o’clock.”
“Even if we keep runnin’ these assholes down, it’s like whack a fuckin’ mole. When one branch closes, another one opens.”
“So what, we stop?” I bark. “If you want out, dickface, just say the words, I’m not stoppin’ you.”
I hear him sigh; I know he means well, but he doesn’t know what it’s like. The love of his life is still walking the earth. She may be a cop called Willow who hates him, but she’s still breathing. “I don’t want out, I just…”
“Spit it out, for Christ’s sake,” I mutter.
“You have no life.”
My brother is too much of a pussy to drink the coffee that’ll put hairs on his chest, so I don’t even ask him if he wants anything. This isn’t a fucking cafe.
“Wow, don’t even sugarcoat it.”
“Not here to kiss your ass, bro, just here as a truth teller.”
I turn back to face him. “What did Sawyer find?”
Sawyer, my MC brother Pipe’s older brother, came to work for us not so long ago. And he’s the best at what he does; sneaking around unnoticed and hacking into shit.
“A possible location for a new branch.”
It’s like music to my ears. By day I enjoy the security field; surveillance, alarms and CCTV mainly, but we’re moving into personal protection and patrols.
The business has expanded fast, and while Logan sticks to running his bar, we’re always trying to rope him into joining the Rebels.
He’s stubborn, and while he has nothing against the Rebels, he’s a lot like me.
Broody. Check.
Grumpy. Check.
No complications. Double check.
I don’t see an issue. Haze has always been the brother with the big mouth. I prefer to let my fists do the talking. It’s quicker that way.
“Where?”
“Between Texas and Oklahoma.”
“They’re stayin’ away from Louisiana.”
“Too many of us on the ground,” Haze sniffs. He hates these organizations just as much as I do. “With Big Papa on board, nobody in the underworld would be stupid enough to try it around these parts.”
I take another sip, the coffee adrenaline kicking in as my mind ticks.
Big Papa took over the underworld in New Orleans when we got rid of all the scum a few years back.
He controls everything now, but the MC are allies.
Underground fighting is one of his biggest earners, and keeping drugs, underage prostitution and guns off the streets.
He also hates pedos and traffickers as much as we do.
So if shit was gonna go down in our city, he would know about it.
This, however, is out of his jurisdiction.
“When do we head out?”
He frowns. “You don’t even wanna hear about what I know?”
I shrug. “Why would it matter?”
“You’re reckless.” He points at me. “This is why I worry because the lines are blurrin’. Gotta fuckin’ move on from this shit.”
“I’ll move on when they’re all dead, that was the deal,” I bark.
“When you’ve punished yourself enough?” He cocks a brow.
My throat dries up. “I wouldn’t judge if I were you. You’re soundin’ like a broken record when it comes to excuses about Willow. How is the divorce goin’?”
He clears his throat. My brother doesn’t like it when the spotlight is turned on him. “Don’t believe in divorces.”
“Does she know that?”
He flips me the bird. “She’ll come to her senses.”
“Clubbin’ women over the head and draggin’ them off into a cave is frowned up now.” I deadpan.
“I take it back, you’re just as grumpy on a Sunday. Here I was thinkin’ a day off would have you in a much better mood, but I think you’re gettin’ worse with age.”
“Shut up and tell me what else you know.”
“Like I said, Sawyer’s workin’ on it, but I’m sure you’ll be wantin’ to take a road trip.”
“Got that right.” I half smile. Cracking skulls is one of the things that brings out a short-lived slice of happiness; when people deserve it, of course. Most of the miscreants I run into in this job calls for violence, and I’m just the man to do it.
“What we need is to set up surveillance,” Haze goes on. “That’s where Diamond and the Stiletto Riders come in.”
The Stiletto Riders are an all female MC based in Saddle, Texas. They’re not 1%ers; same as the Rebels, but they are badass. Their prez, Diamond, runs a tight ship, but even they don’t get all the bad guys.
They patrol mainly south Texas starting from Houston, and I admit, they do a fucking good job. Even I can respect that.
I’m not against chicks being part of the MC, heck, Stella; a recently patched in member at the NOLA chapter, proved her worth. She got out of a set of handcuffs, disarmed an enemy, and shot another dead.
“They on the trail?”
“Not exactly.”
I rub my chin. “I’ll call Diamond.”
“No need, some of us are still useful some of the time.” He grins.
A few silent moments pass.
“I’ll rest when it’s done.”
“Famous last words.”
He’s right. I don’t mean it, not one word. There will always be someone to pay for the wrongs of others.
My job is to see that the innocent get justice.
Vigilante justice maybe, but justice all the same.
“It’s settled then.” I take another sip.
“We ride at dawn.”
I pique a brow. “It’s mid mornin’.”
“I know, I’ve just always wanted to say that.”
“Jesus fuckin’ Christ,” I mutter. “It’s way too early for this.”