Chapter Twenty-One
Melissa
February 13, 2025, Little Rock, Arkansas.
Dani and I had finally made it to Little Rock, Arkansas. In Dallas, the day before, I had traded in my SUV for a smaller car. I purchased it under the name Danny had created for me. After the note in El Paso, I had to consider the possibility that whoever was leaving them knew my vehicle and my phone number.
So, I replaced them both.
It amazed me how muscle memory worked. I hadn’t been home in ten years, yet I knew exactly where to go.
The roads I traveled were achingly familiar. I traveled to the clubhouse as if on autopilot. I hadn’t spent a lot of time there, but I knew where it was. The streets were filled with memories, reminding me of the life I led before college.
When I still had a family.
I pulled over to the curb, not yet ready to enter the gates. The building that loomed ahead of us looked the same, aside from a little more worn. The guard shack that sat by the road had been replaced and I wondered what happened to it.
Had a car plowed through it? Did someone shoot it up in a drive-by? Or worse, had someone set it on fire or blown it up in some misguided attempt to take over the club?
I’d heard the stories. The kids at school who knew who my brother was never passed up an opportunity to gossip about the outlaw club. The laws they broke. The drugs and guns my classmates bought from them. Going so far as to ask me how many brothers I had slept with. Which one stole my innocence?
Joke was on them. My innocence had been stolen long before my brother joined the MC. Only no one knew that, except me. And the man who stole it.
But he was dead.
Killed by my brother.
The brother I now needed to help me save and protect another little girl who I was determined would hold on to her innocence until she chose to relinquish it, only when she was ready.
With a deep fortifying breath, I pulled up to the gate. I knew the drill. I rolled my window down and handed my license to the prospect.
My real license.
There was no reason to lie about who I was here.
As he handed it back, he asked, “What do you want?”
“I’m here to see Ellie Thomas.”
Yes, I needed my brother, but I wasn’t ready to see him yet. First, I needed to know what kind of woman Dante thought was trustworthy enough to give his daughter too.
“No one here with that name.”
“She’s an old lady.”
“Ain’t no old ladies here. We got club whores, but ain’t no brother gonna claim a bitch that’s openin’ her legs for every man in there.”
“What about Ryder Thomas?” I asked, getting frustrated.
Maybe the guys who had old ladies didn’t bring them to the clubhouse. Keeping their old ladies at home meant they could fuck the whores without being nagged, I guess.
“Ain’t no one here with that name either,” he said, spitting on the ground beside my vehicle. He laid a hand along the roof and leaned in. “You looking to be a club whore?”
“Could I speak to Gunner, please?” Refusing to dignify his question with an answer.
“Look, lady, you’re battin’ oh for three. You wanna try a fourth name?”
“What are you talking about? I know Gunner is a patched member.”
“Sorry, lady. Ain’t no one here named Gunner.”
I stared at the prospect, asking silent questions he couldn’t answer.
How could he not be here? The club was his life. He wouldn’t just leave. He wasn’t dead. The monthly deposits into my bank account assured me of that.
“Is Steele still the president?”
“Yea.”
“Could you call him, please? I need to speak to him. It’s urgent.”
“Lady, Steele is fuckin’ busy. He don’t answer to every bitch that rolls up lookin’ for him.”
“Please, just tell him Mellie is here. Gunner’s baby sister. He’ll see me. I promise.”
“Lady—”
“Please, what could it hurt to ask? If he says no, I’ll leave.”
He stared at me for a moment before looking back at the huge building in front of me. I thought for sure he would refuse, but he surprised me when he shook his head and walked back to the shack and called the clubhouse. While he spoke to someone, he turned back, fixing his eyes on me.
“Yea, ok.”
He hung up the phone and leaned over. I sighed in relief when the gate began to move, sliding to the side, allowing me to drive in. I pulled up to the front door and quickly hopped out, pulling Dani out with me.
I jogged up the steps to the front door, and a shudder racked my body as I remembered the last time I stepped into this building.
My excitement had me swinging the door open hard enough that it flung back and hit the wall. My eyes took a minute to adjust to the dark room, and I stepped forward, scanning the men and women that lounged around.
My nerves were like little shockwaves searing through me as my eagerness to share my news overrode all sense of self-preservation. Gunner had forbidden me from ever coming to the clubhouse alone. But I knew he was here.
I wanted to tell Gunner first, but the words were bubbling so close to the surface that I was afraid they would spill over to the first brother I knew.
Moving toward the bar, I saw Smokey sitting on a stool, a club girl hanging off his arm. He would do. The thrill of being accepted to my first-choice college had me so enthusiastic I forgot where I was.
Before I could reach the bar, an arm swung around my waist and I was pulled back against a hard chest.
“What do I have here?” The man that held me against his body whispered in my ear, “I licked you first,” as he licked my neck, causing a shudder he mistook as desire. “That means I get to break you in.”
He carried me to a dark corner as I kicked and tugged at the arm banded across my middle. I was so scared, my screams were frozen in my throat. My mouth opened and closed, but no sound escaped.
This couldn’t be happening.
Where was Gunner?
Where was Steele?
“Please,” I cried. “Let me go.”
“I like it when a bitch begs.”
He pushed me against the wall. Lifting my hands above my head, he held them tightly in his meaty fist. He rubbed his erection against me as his other hand roughly squeezed my breast and I finally found my voice. I screamed just as the front door opened behind us and my brother walked in.
The weight holding me against the wall was suddenly gone, and I slid to the ground. Pulling my knees to my chest, I wrapped my arms around my legs as I stared helplessly, watching my brother as he pummeled my attacker. I was afraid he would kill another man.
“MICHAEL!”
My hands covered my ears as I screamed out his name. Suddenly, he was on his knees in front of me. His bloody hands lifted me from the floor and carried me out of the clubhouse.
I’d never stepped foot inside the clubhouse again.
Until today.
I held my head high as I once again stepped into the dark interior of the Silver Shadows’ clubhouse. I held Dani tight against me. Desperate to protect her. I slipped to the side and kept my back against the wall as I looked around for any face I recognized.
I knew better now. I wouldn’t be taken by surprise and mistaken for a club whore, despite the prospect outside asking me if I was applying for the position.
I didn’t move toward the bar, just continued searching, letting my eyes wander over the room. I wasn’t surprised to see the faces had changed over the ten years I had been gone. New brothers lounged around; men I had no hope of recognizing. My eyes frantically searched, hoping someone could tell me where my brother was.
“Little girl, didn’t you learn your lesson the first time you showed up here unannounced?”
A heavy breath expelled from my lungs, and my shoulders sagged in relief. Tears threatened to fall, knowing, with him in the room, I was safe.
“Hi, Steele.”
“Mellie, what are you doin’ here?”
“I need help,” I whispered. My tears were on the brink of falling. “I need Gunner.”
His brows furrowed. Confusion marred his face at my words, and my fear kicked up a notch.
“He ain’t here, darlin’. He’s up in Nebraska.”
Now it was my turn to be confused. “Nebraska? What the fuck is he doing up there?” My anxiousness momentarily forgotten as I realized my trip was wasted.
“Let’s get you a drink.” Steele took my elbow and led me to the bar. I sat on a stool, my hold on Dani never faltering. “I told the son of a bitch to make sure you knew he was leavin’.” Steele shook his head, grabbing a beer from the prospect and offering it to me. When I shook my head no, he ordered me a water. “He said he took care of it.”
“He didn’t. I haven’t spoken to him since he dropped me off at college,” I confessed. My eyes dropped to look down at Dani’s head. I didn’t know why I felt shame. I wasn’t the one who walked away.
“What a goddamn asshole,” Steele growled. “King opened a chapter up in Diamond Creek, Nebraska. Five years ago.”
Five years ago? My brother had been gone for five years and I didn’t know. He never said a word. I felt the sting of abandonment all over again. An uncontrolled tear slipped from its confines, and Steele reached up, wiping it away with his thumb.
“What’s up, babe?”
Setting my glass on the bar, I stood up, hefting Dani higher on my hips. The motion must have caught Steele’s attention, because he looked down as though he’d just noticed Dani in my arms.
“You had a kid?”
“Yea,” I said absently.
“What kind of trouble you in?”
I looked at the man my brother trusted. A man I trusted once a upon a time. But couldn’t trust now. Not with the mandate the table put out. Steele was the president of a 1% motorcycle club. He dealt in drugs, guns, and God knew what else. The point was, he would have received the order from the table. The one that ordered Danny’s death.
Gunner was the only person I could trust.
“I just need Gunner. I can’t do this on my own anymore.”
It was the truth. I needed my brother. I wasn’t strong enough to protect Dani on my own.
Steele watched me with a curious gaze. “Let me send a couple of guys with you. They can escort you up north.”
“That’s not necessary.” I made my way to the door, ignoring the others gathered in the room.
“Mellie, wait.”
Just as I reached the door, it slammed open. A man stepped in, carrying another who was bleeding from his shoulder. I pushed myself against the wall, holding Dani’s face in my neck.
“What the fuck happened?” Steele shouted.
“Ambush. Something about a fucking woman.”
Oh God, they knew!
Men rushed forward to help their brothers, and Dani and I slipped through the open door unnoticed in the chaos. Carrying her to the car, I just missed being knocked to the ground as more injured men rushed to get inside.
Quickly buckling Dani into her seat, I prayed I was quick enough to drive out before they remembered to lock down the gate. In my seat with the door closed, I ignored the safety belt, knowing I had precious seconds before my escape would be halted.
Thankful for a push start that prevented me from fumbling with the keys, my hands shook as I pressed the button and the engine roared to life. Backing away from the clubhouse, I’d just made it through the open gate as I heard someone call out.
“LOCK IT DOWN!”