Chapter 2 Crypt
“You still lookin’ for Rachel?”
“Yeah,” I answered as I shut the door to my hotel room, shoving the key inside the pocket of my cut. I became a nomad years ago and never thought I’d want to put down roots for anyone, anywhere. That changed when I met a woman.
Well, the right woman. Two years into my five-year stint, Rachel showed up at Ely State, and I haven’t stopped thinking of her since.
“What if she don’t want ya, you ugly fucker?”
“Fuck off, Skinny.”
Skinny had been my cellmate for four of the five years I spent inside.
He got out a year before I did and was the only person waiting for me when I finally got cut loose.
There was a time in my life when I wouldn’t have given a shit, but now it was different.
I had held onto a tiny flicker of hope that maybe Rachel would show up and be waiting for me with my Harley.
She wasn’t there.
Didn’t stop me from carrying through my plan.
“I’m checked in. I’ll let you know how it goes.”
“Best of luck. You’re gonna need it.” His laughter ended as he hung up.
He might be an asshole, but he was one of my closest friends. A brother who took me in when I had nowhere else to go, and I wouldn’t forget all he’d done for me.
It took three weeks to finally get a message to Grim and ask to meet up.
I wasn’t stupid. If I wanted to get close to Rachel, I needed to befriend her father, and that meant having a meet-up with Grim and the club.
They finally agreed to meet me at the rodeo in Vegas.
Apparently, Hannibal knew guys who ran the circuit, including a few bullfighters.
I got invited to tag along with Grim, Mammoth, Hannibal, and a few other club members.
I’d gotten ready early and rushed down to the hotel lobby, walking to the pavilion where the rodeo was being held.
I’d chosen the same hotel as the competitors, which meant I didn’t have to go far.
Fate must be on my side because I snagged the last available room.
The whole weekend was booked solid because of the rodeo.
I reached the entrance and stood to the side, watching for Graven Bastards MC cuts.
I was thirsty as fuck since I didn’t have time to do more than check in to the hotel before the meeting.
My throat was dry, but it wasn’t the issue.
I didn’t know how Hannibal would react when he saw me.
Would he remember me from three years ago and how I saved his daughter’s life?
We never saw one another much in gen pop. He kept to his group, and I stayed with mine. That was life inside. You learned real quick how shit went down, and loyalty was one of the few things that kept you safe.
Hannibal didn’t spend long behind those bars. A year, if I remember right. Just long enough to have one birthday and a visit from his daughter. It must be fate that I met Rachel that day. There was no other explanation.
She was meant to be mine.
But there was another reason I wanted to look up Grim and the club in Tonopah. I had a connection to them, one I’d kept a secret until I could meet them face to face. I wasn’t a stranger to these men. At least, not when I was a kid.
My old man used to ride with the Tonopah GBMC. Back in the day, he’d been known as Lockjaw. I never knew what happened to him other than that he died before I was born. My mother moved out of Tonopah and relocated to Carson City, where I grew up, never knowing my biological father or his past.
I only learned about the truth from one of my mother’s letters.
She wrote to me every week while I was inside, never once believing I deserved to be arrested.
She was wrong. I beat a man within an inch of his life and shot him in both knees and his groin.
The fucker deserved it for raping my sister.
Michelle still struggled with the aftermath of that assault.
Trey Burrows wouldn’t be raping any other women, and now he was maimed for the rest of his pathetic existence. Someday, I planned to finish the job when the law couldn’t pin it on me.
But that was something I would focus on another day.
Today, I was anxious for numerous reasons, but I’d never let that show.
Weakness wasn’t something I could afford.
Not when my future depended on the Graven Bastards MC and their response to my proposition.
I wanted to prospect for them and hopefully find a place in the club my father loved.
More than that, I needed to be close to Rachel.
I couldn’t think of a better way to get her attention than by becoming a club brother to Hannibal.
Sweat was already appearing on my brow and the back of my neck as I stood under its bright rays. It was hotter than I expected today, though with Vegas, even in December, the temps could reach scorching levels.
I scanned the crowd, wondering when I’d see Grim and the others. Just when I thought they might not show up, I sensed a shift in the air. It almost felt like an electric current buzzing over the bare skin on my arms.
My head swiveled to the right. They were here.
Grim, his V.P. Mammoth, who I’d heard stories about, Rael with his freaky black and white themed face paint that made him look like a skeleton, and Hannibal.
Grim walked right up to me, stopping only a few inches from my face. It was intimidating as fuck, but I didn’t move. “You didn’t tell me who you were, kid.”
I blinked. How could he know?
“Yeah. Lockjaw’s son.”
The others didn’t seem surprised.
“There a reason you didn’t mention it?”
I squared my shoulders, hoping I didn’t look as spooked as I felt. “Because it’s not the type of thing you say over a phone call.”
“Damn. He might be as smart as his old man was,” Mammoth joked.
Oh, wow. It never occurred to me until right now that they all knew my father. They spoke to him. Rode with him. These men were his brothers. Yes, I knew that, but hearing and seeing the connection was emotional and overwhelming. I had to fight the urge to cry.
This club was the only connection to my father and the man I never met.
“Or as smartass,” Rael added with a snicker.
I blinked at Grim. “Lockjaw was my dad. I, uh, never got a chance to meet him.”
“No, son, you didn’t. He died when your mama was pregnant with you, about twenty-seven years ago, am I right?”
My head bobbed. I wasn’t capable of forming an answer.
“We got something for you.” Grim ticked his chin toward Mammoth.
The big guy was clutching a leather vest. “Take this and put it on. You’re no nomad.”
I grabbed the cut as my fingers brushed over the patches. “Crypt.” They knew my name.
“You’re one of us,” Grim announced.
“A Graven Bastard?” I dared to ask.
“Hell yeah,” Rael answered with a slap on my back.
The others nodded.
“I didn’t expect this.” I shrugged off the nomad cut I’d worn since leaving prison and slid my arms through the holes of my new cut, straightening the supple leather as it settled on my shoulders. “It feels right.”
“Looks right too,” Grim agreed.
“Yeah, you’re one of us,” Mammoth announced. “I feel it.”
Hannibal hadn’t said a word. He stared at me like he was trying to figure out where he’d seen me before. “We met in prison.”
“We did,” I confirmed.
“Didn’t know who you were then.” Hannibal’s sharp gaze stayed locked on me as I resisted the urge to fidget.
“I didn’t either.” It wasn’t a lie. I got my mother’s letter and learned the truth months afterward.
Hannibal turned to Grim. The Devil’s Ride.”
Huh?
“Yeah, I know. We’ll discuss it later.”
Hannibal nodded, keeping his gaze laser-focused on me.
And yeah, it made me feel a bit antsy.
Did he put it together yet that I saved Rachel’s life?
“Need a drink?” Rael asked as I cleared my dry throat.
“Yeah. Maybe more than one.”
“That’s what I’m talking about,” he laughed, steering us toward the beer stand.
The dust from the ride seemed to be stuck and clogging my airways. I rode from Carson City to Vegas without a break, never stopping until I checked into the hotel.
Nodding, I walked beside Rael as he reached for my shoulder and squeezed it.
This felt good. I never dreamed I’d be so welcomed into the Graven Bastards.
I inhaled a shaky breath, trying to still the quake in my body.
Acceptance was a dangerous emotion. It was the gateway to others like trust, devotion, and loyalty. It left you vulnerable.
But these men would never betray me. I knew instinctually because they cared about Lockjaw. He died defending the club and his president.
I turned to Grim. “I want to know everything I can about my father.”
He nodded. “Not now. Back at The Crossroads, Crypt.”
I dipped my chin with respect. A part of me wanted to call him my president, but I wasn’t sure how far this went yet and what would be expected of me. I’d learn in time.
For now, I would enjoy meeting these men who would become brothers in every sense of the word.
“Get out of my damn way!”
I blinked as a kid pushed his way through us, bumping into Rael, Mammoth, and Grim. Shocked, I watched as the little demon spawn kept running, and a man, who had to be his father, rushed to grab him.
Now, I knew the kid had been rude and deserved to be punished, but his reaction surprised me. Why wouldn’t the father notice and apologize for his son’s behavior? He didn’t. In fact, he didn’t spare us a glance as he grabbed his son’s elbow and started to walk away.
Grim looked pissed, but Mammoth reacted first. The mountain-sized man stood in front of the kid’s father, blocking his path. A growl rumbled up his chest that should have shocked the shit out of both of them. The kid began screeching and demanding his dad let go of him.
That was when I heard a stranger’s voice. A guy in a black leather vest, no patch, walked up to us with his hands in the air. “Excuse me, gentlemen, I don’t mean to sound like I’m eavesdropping, but it seems there’s a problem. May I assist?”
Who the hell was this guy? Did he know the father and son?