Midas
After we lost Serena in the club last night, we searched every inch of that place, not wanting to leave her alone. When we finally found her, Dante had his arm around her and was escorting her and her friends to a private room. I wanted to go after them, but once I saw the bouncer standing guard, I knew we would never get to her.
We had to cut our losses and leave. By the time we got home last night, our dads still weren’t home. Which was fine with all of us. The less time we are forced into the company, the better.
I’ve tried texting Serena this morning, but all my messages have gone unanswered. I hate not knowing where she is and who she is with. The more time that passes without a word from her, the more I worry that her stalker finally got his hands on her.
Logically, I know she is either with her friends still or with fucking Dante Lupo, but that doesn’t stop the irrational part of my brain from spiraling.
As much as I want to solely focus on Serena, I can’t. Dad called a meeting at the clubhouse for who knows what reason. As much as I want to stay far away from him, the clubhouse has always been a second home to me.
To the outside world, growing up in a motorcycle gang must seem so crazy and dangerous, but it wasn’t. Pops always made that place safe for everyone. He would organize bi-weekly family dinners. He built a playground in the back for the kids to play with. He even turned the basement into a kid zone that was filled with toys for every age.
All those memories were some of my favorites growing up, but they disappeared when my father took over. He turned the basement into an interrogation room. The playground in the back was demolished. Family dinners ceased happening.
Now, the place has become hollow. An empty shell of the goodness that was once beaming through every corner of the place. Families are no longer welcome, especially kids. Wives had become disposable. Every foundation this place was built on was destroyed.
Odin, Zeus, and I are the only ones- that we know of- that want things to go back to the way they used to be. The way the founders of the club wanted. The rest of the members, especially the newer ones that were initiated when my father took over, are loving and thriving in what this has become.
Sitting at the bar in the clubhouse, I stare around at the men who were once family to me. I grew up here with them, or at least most of them. The older generation that is still around, which isn’t many, are the only things that remind me of the good times in this place.
All the newer/younger men in this room are just as vile as our fathers. They came here looking for a place where they could break the law, and it would be encouraged. They came here for power and money, and there is no shortage of both.
Sure, the money we make is better than any job in town, but the way the money is made makes me sick now. I never cared before, too used to it, but things have changed, and I am finally seeing the toxic environment this is.
The music is loud, the lights are down low, creating eerie shadows in every corner of the room. If that isn’t the perfect metaphor for what this club has become, I don’t know what is. A few girls I don’t recognize are wearing nothing and dancing to the music. I caught one of their eyes when I walked in. The blank stare and emptiness in her eyes were a clear sign she was high on Z.
The club quickly agreed to start pushing it, and the demand for it is already so high. It is one of the most addictive drugs I have ever seen on the market. I have been stopped more than once at school by some junkie begging me to hook them up with more. I normally just ignore them, not wanting to engage, but I have had to get into a few fights because they are so persistent.
I take a sip of my beer and stare down the hall towards the bedrooms. Dad called us here for some unknown urgent reason, and the fucker hasn’t even left his room. I know what he is doing back there. Fucking some poor girl that is probably drugged out of her mind so he can have the fun he wants. But there is a niggling feeling in the back of my brain that I should go to his room.
I finish the last of the beer before slamming the bottle on the bar top. My mind is made up, I need to know what is going on back there. If I walk in on my dad fucking, it wouldn’t be the first and probably won’t be the last, but the need in me to know what is going on is too loud in my head.
I cling to the shadows at the edge of the room until I make it to the hallway. The music starts to slowly fade as I make my way down the hall to the room at the end. My father's room. I reach for the handle, ready to open it, until I hear voices.
“What the hell are we going to do about Dimitri? He has been blowing up our phones constantly, wanting that information on Serena.” Ryker complains.
Who is Dimitri, and why does he want to know about Serena?
“I say we just give him the most basic information that any fucker would know about her just to get him off our backs. He can’t know any more than that.” Axel chimes in.
“I agree. We don’t know why he wants her yet and giving him to much information will only fuck us over in the long run. But we still have the problem of him wanting us to take her if he deems her interesting enough.” Dad says. I can hear the exasperation in his voice.
“He can’t have her. She is ours. We have our plans for her, and I refuse to let that Russian fucker fuck them up.” The anger was clear as day in Ryker’s voice.
I stand there for a few more minutes, hoping to hear more about their plans for Serena or who Dimitri is, but they say nothing else about either topic. Eventually, I give up and walk back down the hall.
My mind reeling with what they said. We always knew they were a threat to Serena, but now there is a new unknown threat to her too. I need to get Zeus to investigate who Dimitri is and how he is connected to our dads. I also need to figure out exactly what their plan is and how I can stop it.
I make my way back to the bar and see Odin and Zeus walk inside. Our eyes instantly meet, and I nod my head towards the outside. They both know exactly what that means and where to meet.
A long time ago, we had to learn the hard way that the walls have ears here and nothing we said was a secret. We needed a place that was all our own here, where no one could overhear. The only thing that remotely worked for that purpose was an old shed out back, far away from any wondering eyes and ears.
The shed has been here since the beginning. Pops originally used it for storage, but when things started going missing, he brought everything of value back to his house. Since then, nothing and no one has used it.
I wait for Odin to leave first. A few minutes later, Zeus. And finally, after enough time has passed, I walk out the front door. The door slams behind me, feeling a million times louder than it is. I glance at the MC logo painted on the door. It used to be the one thing I wanted more than anything in the world. To be a member of the MC. To join the brotherhood that was created by like-minded people. An institution that stood for something. Now, it mocks me every time I look at it.
Even if things were the same as they used to be here, it still wouldn’t be the thing I wanted the most in the world. Now that title was held by the blonde living next door to me. The girl who came to town and turned everything I knew on its head. My angel. Serena.
As I walk to the back of the property, I constantly check over my shoulder, too paranoid that someone is following. Most wouldn’t be stupid enough to try and cross me, but there are a few men who are fiercely loyal to my dad and would die for him if they were told to.
I pull the metal door open and walk inside the dusty shed. The four metal walls show some signs of rust, but they’re still intact enough. There is no furniture or anything in here. It’s not a place we hang out, just somewhere private to have quick conversations if we need to have them.
Odin is leaning against the furthest wall, a joint poking out his mouth, and a plume of smoke hanging in the air. The sticky-sweet scent masks the musky scent that clings in here.
I nod my head to both before grabbing the joint from Odin and take a long hit. I hold the smoke in my lungs until I can feel the burn before finally exhaling.
I don’t bother with niceties. There is no point. I just started talking, telling them everything our fathers said in the room. As the words leave my lips, I can see the anger and concern grow in their eyes. We all know how dangerous our fathers can be, and when they want something, they get it. Up until now, we only had speculation that they wanted Serena. We saw how they looked at her, but there was never any proof that they thought she was more than a hot piece of ass to them. Now, everything has changed.
They really could be her stalker. I thought the idea had merit when Serena said it, but this just points to them a hundred percent. They are the ones who have been watching her. Taking pictures of her. They may not have hurt her that night, but they could have easily been the ones to.
If they ever got their hands on her, I have a good idea what they would do. Serena is sweet, kind, and too good a person. That’s why I call her angel. She is better than what any of us deserve.
Our fathers are the devil. They will corrupt her. Break her. Kill her. She would never be the same if they got their hands on her. I would never be the same if they did. I would kill them before I ever let that happen. Even if I had to die trying. I would make sure the last thing I did was save her from their depravity.
“Well, this might be the proof we need to prove that they are behind the attack. But who is Dimitri?” Odin asks.
“I can’t think of anyone powerful we know named Dimitri. So, I’m guessing he isn’t a part of any gang around here.” Zeus says. He takes a deep breath, looking guilty of something, but I don’t know what. “I might know someone who can help.”
“Who?”
Zeus ignores my question completely, not even looking at me anymore. “I’ll make a call after this bullshit meeting.”
I nod my head, agreeing, but the niggling feeling of something being off course through me. Zeus doesn’t keep secrets from us. So why won’t he tell us who this person is that could help? Maybe it’s someone he met on the dark web. Someone who wants to be anonymous, but they would have given us a little bit of details if that was the case.
Before I can ask any more questions on the subject, he opens the door and storms towards the clubhouse. Odin and I stand side by side as we watch him. You can feel the anger pouring off him even from the distance put between us.
“I don’t like this.” I keep my voice low, not wanting what I am about to say to possibly carry to Zeus. “Whoever he was talking about can’t be good if he didn’t share anything with us.”
“Maybe.” Odin quips. “But do you really think Zeus would get anyone involved in anything to do with Serena if it wasn’t safe?”
Odin makes a good point. Though Zeus probably doesn’t know what he is feeling towards her, he does love her. That’s clear to see to anyone. He would never do anything to hurt her. He would protect her until his last breath.
A bit of the anxiety I was feeling washes away, but the last remnants of it are still there. I hate not knowing and being left in the dark. It doesn’t sit well with me. I have always been the leader among the three of us. We have always talked about everything and made decisions together. Zeus keeping something from us worries more than it should.
“Let’s head back and get this pointless meeting over with.” Odin claps me on the back before walking out of the shed and towards the belly of the beast.
I take one last steadying breath before making my way towards what was once a haven and is now hell on earth.