Chapter 1
Haze
T his has not been a good week for me. The Grave Diggers MC have showed back up in our hometown and are slowly stirring the shit to epic proportions. The clubhouse is currently on lockdown and with our families, we’re packed in, elbow to elbow. Tempers are starting to flare, particularly between the wives and the club girls, who should by all rights be shutting the fuck up and deferring to the old ladies. It’s like the club girls are all craving a property cut because they think it’ll bring them status and respect, but they can’t even manage to respect the women currently wearing them. They can be exasperating sometimes. Thank God Mel is good about reining them in. She’s the head girl and outranked by all the old ladies, but she has a tendency to say and do things to get control that the old ladies are too nice to do. She’s been more short tempered with them than usual because she’s got a lot on her plate. Her and Tracker’s baby is only three months old, and what with running the bar in town and trying to sort out squabbling club girls, she’s at the end of her tether. Tracker’s doing his best, and when she’s here he hovers over his old lady like an overly protective lion guarding his pride.
For the last couple of weeks, Mel only ever looks at me with daggers in her eyes. She’s pissed because I let her new hire get away. I keep reminding her that the beautiful redhead was just here to interview, and I’m not allowed to hold women hostage, so when she legged it, I wasn’t gonna stop her.
Things just go from bad to worse, when one of the club girls I’ve fucked a bunch, lunges over the bar and tries to take a swipe at my brother’s wife, who was helping Mel out tonight. That pisses me the fuck off, Trix doesn’t deserve to be harassed by some club girl who doesn’t really understand the full implications of her own behavior.
I start making my way across the crowded room. When I’m about five feet away, Mel reaches out and shoves the woman away, causing her to stumble back and land on her ass. When she jumps to her feet and tries to hurl herself across the bar again, I step in front of her causing her to collide against my larger and virtually immovable body. She bounces back and glares up at me.
“Haze, what the fuck. I thought we were friends,” she says angrily. Her normally pretty face is twisted with rage.
“Sure, you can call it friends if you want, Brittany, but it doesn’t matter how friendly I am with a person, I’m not going to let them put the smack down on my brother’s old lady.”
Brittany points towards Trix with one hand, stabbing her finger at my brother’s wife emphatically. “It’s her fault. The dumb bitch—”
I don’t even let her get the sentence out. Instead, I grab her by the arm and start walking her towards the door. “It doesn’t matter what she said. She’s an old lady. You don’t get to shit talk her or put your hands on her.”
Once we’re on the front porch, she opens her mouth, no doubt to justify her behavior. I cut her off at the pass because this whole situation is just ludicrous.
“Look here, Brittany. I’ve gotten to know Trix pretty well since she married into our family. I can’t imagine her saying anything offensive enough to warrant that sort of behavior. You can’t keep lashing out at everyone when you get angry.”
She folds her arms across her chest and her brows furrow. “I don’t.”
Before she can continue, I let her arm go and take a step back. “Yes, you do, Brittany. You’ve gotten into it with almost every woman associated with our club at one time or another. You run around acting like you’re operating in a consequence free environment, and I draw the line at you putting your hands my brother’s old lady.”
“She doesn’t deserve him. You know it, I know and so does everybody else in the clubhouse.”
“That’s not your decision to make. I’m talking, but you’re not taking in what I’m saying and that pisses me off. I don’t have all day to waste with you.”
She glances away and says grudgingly, “She’s just Hellfire Hounds trash that cleans up real good.”
“It’s not her fault her granddad was the president of Hellfire Hounds. They’ve been patched over in any event.”
“I fucking hate her and Tracker too. Both of them are enemies of our club,” she says stubbornly. “One day they’re going to double-cross the Legion and I guess that’s what it’s going to take for everyone to admit I was right.”
“Look, you can hate who you like, but that doesn’t give you the right to throw hands. What the hell were the two of you arguing about? I know it wasn’t my brother because he’s one of the few brothers that never hooked up with you.”
Turning to glare at me, she responds, “If you must know it was you. I told her that I’m the only club girl who is old lady material, and I have my sights set of you.”
“That ain’t gonna happen. I’ve made it abundantly clear that I’m not looking to settle down.” When she didn’t immediately respond, I add, “That doesn’t seem like something worth fighting about. Are you sure you’re not targeting her because of her family affiliation with the Hounds.”
“The bitch told me that you’re not gonna settle down with a club whore, and I lost my temper a bit.”
Something dark twisted in my gut. “Trix shouldn’t have called you a club whore, but in her defense that’s what they openly called club girls in her grandfather’s club.”
“Yeah, I told her that you weren’t like that, but she wouldn’t listen. She told me to stay the fuck away from you and that’s when I decided to smack that damn condescending look off her face.”
“If you put your hands on her again, it’s not gonna be me talking to you. I’m gonna send Vapor. You know how savage my twin brother can be when someone messes with his old lady.”
“Damn, Haze. Why you gotta be that way with me? We’re close, you know?”
“Look Brittany, I know we’ve hooked up a bunch of times, but I told you it’s just a hook up for me, nothing more. So, don’t start thinking we’re gonna be a couple.”
“It’s because I’m a club girl, right? Just like Trix said.”
I reach out, put one hand on her shoulder, and tell her the cold unvarnished truth. “No, it has nothing to do with the fact that you’ve been with my club brothers. If I wanted you in my property cut that wouldn’t stop me. The reason we’re never gonna be together is because I don’t love you. Besides liking to hang around the club and enjoying sex, we don’t have one single thing in common.”
“We can develop common interests. If that happened, you might fall in love with me.” She licks her lips seductively like that’s gonna make me to a U-turn.
“I’m not interested in trying to force feelings I don’t have. I’d be the worst kind of bastard in the world if I let you believe there was a chance, when I know deep down inside there isn’t. You need to let go of this idea and move forward in another direction.”
“We can still fuck, right?”
I hate the hopeful tone in her voice but I gotta make a clean cut. “No. I don’t think that’s a very good idea. With everything going on with the Grave Diggers MC, I won’t allow myself to get distracted with women or booze. Those of us who wear the Savage Legion cut swore an oath to protect this club and that’s what I intend to do.”
“Fucking fine,” she flings back. “Be that way. You’re not even the best-looking brother in the club.”
“I never said I was,” I respond indulgently. I’ll take her insult on the chin because getting rejected is hard. I’ve been there a time or two myself. I know how it fucks with a person’s mind and self-esteem.
She reaches over and tries to shove me with both hands. It doesn’t get her anywhere, so she growls and storms away towards the far reaches of the parking lot. I feel like I dodged a bullet with that one. It’s my own fault for allowing her into my bed one too many times.
My brother steps out of the clubhouse and comes over to me with a worried expression on his face. “Tracker pulled me out of a meeting with the club officers. I heard what went down. Thanks for looking out for Trix.”
“I don’t know why they’re fucking mixing it up over me of all people.”
My brother sighs. “I hear Brittany has laid claim to you around the clubhouse. Says she’s your forever girl.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it. I just told her that was never going to happen. Then again, Trix isn’t making friends and influencing people by calling the club girls whores to their faces.”
My brother looks chagrined. “Yeah, I’ll talk to her about that, but I think you’ve got bigger problems than you realize with Brittany. That girl is obsessed with you, and I don’t see her giving up until she has your ring on her finger.”
“Well, I blame you for that. We were both cruising along, minding our own business and enjoying the single life. Then you had to go and wife Trix fuckin’ up at the speed of light. Naturally, the rush job you did with her, is giving Brittany delusions of what could be between her and I.”
A huge grin jumps onto my brother’s face, and he slaps me on the back. “Don’t blame my marital bliss for your inability to set boundaries with the women you fuck.”
My eyebrows shoot up. “Oh, you think you’re fuckin’ funny now, don’t ya?” We both know that I’m the prankster in our family. “Your humor is just a pale imitation of mine and you know it.”
Just then Siege storms out of the clubhouse with a multitude of club brothers at his back and Tracker in tow. Even though he’s just a prospect, he’s useful because he knows more about the Grave Diggers MC than the rest of us. Growing up in an allied club to the Diggers garnered him a wealth of knowledge.
Brittany was right about him and his sister growing up in the Hellfire Hounds MC. How could they not, considering their grandfather was the club president and their father fell protecting their club? Still, Tracker was looking for a way out long before all their family secrets came spilling out of the proverbial closet.
Siege glances at me and says, “Load up. We’ve got a lead on a gun shipment the Diggers are picking up down in San Loredo. If we get there first, we can keep them from getting their hands on more guns to fucking shoot us with.”
My brother and I give each other a nervous glance and follow our club brothers out to the parking lot. All our motorcycles are lined up in long rows. As I approach my bike, what do I see but Brittany trying to force the lock on my storage compartment. I take off running, hoping to get to her before she can damage my paint job. Grabbing her by one arm, I spin her around.
“What in the ever-loving fuck do you think you’re doing?” My gruff tone causes her to freeze in place.
Siege stalks past us and gives her an aggravated look. “It doesn’t matter what in the hell she’s doing. All the club girls know better than to mess with our bikes.” Shoving her away from my motorcycle, he tells her, “Consider yourself permanently banned from the club.”
“That’s not fair. I’m one of the few women truly loyal to this club.”
I’m taken aback by the sheer unmitigated gall this woman has, to be arguing with our club president. Siege just keeps walking, saying only one word, “Rider.”
Our sergeant-at-arms pulls her aside and I don’t hear what they’re saying because two dozen motorcycles start up at the same time. While I’m strapping on my helmet, I can see the color drain from her face. She begins nodding her head like a bobble head doll as I pull out. I quickly put her out of my mind because I have more important things to worry about than a stubborn club girl.
***
I turn the situation with the Grave Diggers over in my mind as we head to the rendezvous site. The Grave Diggers MC patched over our long running rivals, the Hellfire Hounds around nine months ago. It was a shitshow that led to their club president’s arrest and eventual death in jail. King was a nasty piece of work. The world is only better for not having him in it.
My brother ended up taking the old president’s family under his wing. His granddaughter, Trix, became Vapor’s wife. Though it turned out she wasn’t actually King’s granddaughter—her real father was Jamus, one of King’s old friends. King’s oldest grandson became one of our best friends and a prospect for our club. Tracker fell hard for Mel and she for him. If prospects could put their old ladies in property cuts, Mel would we wearing his. As it stands, that will have to wait until He’s a fully patched brother.
Trix and Tracker’s younger brother, Hark, was living with Jamus, he might not be a blood relation, but over the years Jamus had looked out for Trix’s siblings, and now he didn’t have to keep his secrets he’d stepped up after King’s death. All in all, it has been a real mess but it’s nice having more people around the table, and since my brother married Trix, I view her and her brothers—and even Jamus—as my extended family. Being raised in the brutal one percent club their grandfather founded was a good lesson in how they didn’t want to live their lives, moving forward.
I’m deep in my own thoughts, so it takes me a minute to realize the person driving the jeep I just passed is none other than the gorgeous redhead who ran out on her interview at the clubhouse a couple of weeks ago. I’m fairly certain she wouldn’t be able to recognize me amongst all my club brothers on the road today because we’re all wearing helmets that obscure our faces.
I’ve thought of her more than once since our chance encounter and wondered if she’d managed to find a job yet. An image flashes through my mind of walking into one of the local coffee shops to find her mixing fantastic brews. I’d be frequenting the place on the regular, just to get a chance to chat her up. Such were my thoughts as I rode to one of the biggest battles our club had ever known.