Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Flesh markets were a commonplace in the underground. They were a seedy way for pervy men and women to buy people for their entertainment. It was a disgusting practice that I wished would disappear. If I could guarantee the victims didn't get hurt, I would air bomb the auctions with a drone. But alas, that wasn’t a plausible scenario, so they needed to be infiltrated and circumvented.
So, when the unlikeliest of allies called me with the exact details for our crew to raid an auction being run by Auberto Di Maggio, one of the local capos. When she called, I thought she was putting a hit on him. She turned it all around by surprising me with the one thing I truly wanted obliterated.
Part of me was curious about how Andria's little endeavour was going to affect the balance. My brother Erik used to tell me stories of a mob boss who had morals a lot like our own. Then one night, they slaughtered his family and burned their house to the ground. Antonio Andretti, his pregnant wife and their three children were burned beyond recognition.
It made me wonder what a seventeen-year-old would have against one of the largest syndicates in the west. I wasn't privy to all the plans she had for them, but I had heard about some unknowns making waves. They weren't running scared yet, but if I was successful at stopping Moretti's auction this weekend, it would put a serious dent in their operating revenue.
I picked up my phone and called my brother to see if he wanted to help me tonight.
“Kujo, we've got something.”
“When?”
“Saturday.”
“Sorry, can’t. I’ve got one of my own. What’s the job?”
“I got a lead on a flesh market being held in the warehouse district by one of the capos.”
“Which capo?”
“Auberto Di Maggio.”
He whistled. “Shit. Alright. You should take Hunter with you.”
“Seriously?”
“He’s dealt with these before.”
“So have I, but he barely has any tact. I’m gonna end up punching him out by the end of the night. Either that, or he’ll meet the sharp end of my knife. You know you taught me how to stab someone and miss all things vital. He’ll wake up in the hospital with pain in his stomach and a pint less of his blood.”
“I don’t care. You’re taking Hunter with you.”
“Why?”
I really didn’t want to get all dressed up and go to a sex slave auction with him. The last thing I needed to be around was scantily clad people with the object of my unrequited desire. Not to mention all the men who wanted to get off with the next new thing.
“I know the two of you have your issues, but you need to resolve them so you can work together to complete this task.”
The first time I met Hunter, I wasn't sure what to think. I never went to playschool, and the only other children I had been around were girls. His mom made him hold my hand the whole time. The thing that stuck out the most was how safe it made me feel.
Unfortunately, as the years went on, the dynamics of our relationship morphed into a love-hate battle of wits.
Hunter was four years older than me, and had already been chasing tail long before I even grew my tits. But the moment those babies came in, everything changed. The first thing I noted, I was no longer included in anything my brothers and their friends did. Kujo and Brandt didn’t want me anywhere near their testosterone-laden friends. They got hives every time I was in the same room as them.
It was isolating.
At the same time, I didn’t really care to be around them while they were trying to find the next biker babe to bang in the clubhouse bathroom. The last thing I wanted to see was their lily white asses bouncing as they railed them on the pool table.
Even then, I didn’t actually figure out the reason why they didn’t want me to hang around anyone. Not until one of Brandt's friends wanted to teach me how to play pool. Anyone who knew me, knew I could whip a grown man's asse at pool. Then again, this guy graduated with him a couple of years earlier. A lot had changed in two years, so that could have been the reason he didn't recognize me.
Either way, I didn’t care.
In that moment, I learned what it meant to be desired. Someone finally saw me as more than Erik’s kid sister. I was more than the skinny little blonde girl with pigtails who chased the boys around the yard.
Nope.
It didn’t even matter he had no idea who I was, or that he assumed I was completely hopeless at pool.
Not at all.
I lapped up the attention and played along. Part of me even relished at the feeling of the hardness in his jeans as it he leaned in behind me to show how to hold the cue. Too bad it only lasted a second, though, because Kujo showed up and threw him across the bar. I was told not to come back to the clubhouse until I dressed like a little kid again.
It didn’t matter because those brief moments I spent with him had shown me something I would never learn from a book. The memory of the heat coming off his body as he lined up behind me was fuel for too many lust filled daydreams. Gone was the sad little girl who crushed over Hunter’s dismissal.
Instead, in her place stood a woman empowered by not only her brain, but her body.
The knowledge firmly filed in the back of my mind, I returned the next night wearing less provocative clothes and little to no makeup. Their stance on my outward appearance lasted a couple of years, until I used my looks to infiltrate our rivals and carry out contracts. By then, everyone who was in the inner circle knew I was a prospect. Those who didn't soon learned I was untouchable.
The ones who didn't were dead or would never make the same mistake again.
That was what the punks at school didn't realize. I wasn't just some biker slot looking to ride a cook and get a patch. I already had my cut and earned my patch.
I did it all by the age of seventeen.
In fact, Hunter was still prospecting when I got patched in. It wasn't because of my last name, either. No matter how many assholes believed it was. My body was tall and lithe. I looked older than my age and I could sneak into a lot of places.
Erik taught me how to be a chameleon.
It gave me a lot of the high profile, maximum risk cases. I completed every single one they assigned me. Sometimes I even brought in more high-value contracts, especially when they learned of my skills.
The club had no choice but to give me What I deserved.
A place at the table.
The first woman inducted into the Renegade Reapers MC.
I only hoped I made our dad proud in his biker bar in the sky.