Chapter Thirty-Three
Iswear I never thought I’d be wearing a fucking prospect cut again, but in some ways it felt like a fresh start. Maybe that’s why they did it. Letting me just go back to being patched in as I was before was more of the old. This was the new.
They were going fairly easy on me too. My first day as a prospect was on demo day, and that was a day long ‘party’ of brothers from both chapters, and workers they’d hired in, coming and going as they worked on trashing the place.
I wasn’t actually getting to break the place down though.
I was on the fucking gate with Henley. Prospecting with him was more pleasant than it would have been with a real prospect.
We were both club guys. We’d both done our time before, so this was us just marking a little more time before we could go back to what we loved.
“Jesus, hang on. My phone’s ringing again.” Henley’s phone had buzzed a few times, and he’d been dismissing them with a grimace, but clearly something was wrong.
“Go, man. I’ve got this. Nobody’s coming and going anyway.” I stared longingly at the crew of my brothers, slamming away at brickwork with sledgehammers, and other equipment, as the site was demolished right in front of us.
In some ways it was sad seeing things smashed down, even though it’d never really felt like home, but in others, it was exciting. It was seeing the future starting to build around us, even though demolition was literally the opposite. You have to dispose of the old to make way for the new, right?
“FUCK!” I spun on my heels to see Henley gripping his phone, panic on his face, and his breathing more of a rasp.
“Shit, what is it? You okay?”
He lifted frantic eyes to mine, and shook his head. “She… it’s my best… she’s in trouble. She fucking needs me.” He cast his eyes around the mess of the camp, but I was already running for the group of Presidents and VPs standing and surveying the work happening all around them.
“Trouble, prospect?” Fuck, I hated that.
“Henley’s got a friend in need. Danger. I don’t fucking know. He needs to help her.”
Nobody even hesitated. I had four voices telling me to go with him and back him up, and that’s all I needed.
“Let V know if she shows.”
They waved me off and I ran back to find Henley pulling the gate open.
“I have to go, man. I have to help her.”
“I know. I’m coming with.” He hesitated for half a second, and then nodded, saluting to the bosses over my shoulder.
“Thanks. We’re heading to the train station.”
We headed off, with me still hating our fucking prospect cuts, but keeping my focus where it belonged, on helping out this lady friend of his.
Whoever she was, she was really important to him, because he wouldn’t just plan to abandon club duties if she just had a flat tyre or something.
Hell, maybe he would. Maybe I would. It depends on so many things.
He was riding faster than I’d imagined he would on that beautiful ride of his. He had several and alternated which ones he came in on but this was a sweet semi-custom V-Rod, and I’d love to art it up for him.
The train station was up ahead, and I could see him trying to check his phone as he slowed, the stupid fucker. That’s a one way ticket to… well, a ticket, or worse.
He tucked it away again, and gestured to me to follow him away from the entrance, and down a side road. What the fuck.
We pulled up beside a woman who was huddled in the doorway of a closed business, a backpack hugged to her chest, and her head down.
Henley was off his ride in seconds, gesturing at me to stay put, so I used that time to keep my eyes open on the area around us.
Something about this was off. This wasn’t just a woman in need.
This looked like a woman in hiding, or on the run. What the hell was he dragging me into?
He wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight, as that backpack slid down onto the ground between them. Was she crying? I pushed up my visor, watching them closely to see if she was hurt or something.
He dug out his phone again, making a call, then tapping at the screen, all while I sat astride my ride, engine still running, trying to watch them, and our surroundings for trouble.
At one point, a dark car appeared at the end of the road, and I watched as Henley shielded the woman behind him, and watched it grimly as it passed us.
It didn’t stop though, so I had no idea what that was about.
Finally, he approached me, motioning at her to stay put.
“I’ve got to get her somewhere safe. It’s all arranged. Can you wait with my ride? I don’t have a spare helmet, so I’ve called a cab, but I need to see her in safely. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“You don’t want me to get someone to pick it up and move it somewhere safe?”
He gave me an ‘are you kidding me’ kinda look, and I took it for what it was. Nobody rides that beauty but him. I couldn’t blame him.
“Need me to update the Pres?”
“Already done. I’m sorry about this. I’m taking her there, then I’ll get back and you can go. I’ll grab a spare helmet on my way back to wait with her, just in case I need to take her anywhere else.”
“Is she okay?”
He scratched his jaw as he glanced back at the huddled figure. All I could really see was long dark hair covering her face as she hunched in fear. Nothing about her was okay, but I had to ask.
Finally he looked at me again. “She will be. If it’s the last thing I fucking do, she will be. Thanks, man. I’ll be quick.”
I watched as a taxi swooped by and parked beside them, and then they were gone, and I was waiting some more.
V
When I arrived at the club, ready to help swing a sledgehammer, or even better, get to swing a wrecking ball, the first thing I noticed was nobody on the gates, which was weird. I knew Rocket told me he was on gate duty, because he was pissed he was missing out on smashing the place to bits.
I leaned on my horn until someone approached the gate, and it was Harley.
He waved before he dragged the gate back, and that’s when my eyes focused on the mess of the compound.
The largest building, the dorm, was still being smashed down, but the office and lounge building was already just rubble, as was the storage building, and a few men were approaching the meeting room they called ‘church’.
I parked up in the area marked off as ‘safe’ and stepped outside, still surveying the carnage as I joined Harley at the gate.
“Where’s-”
“He went out with Henley, some rescue or something. He’ll be back soon.”
Rescue? “Is whoever it is okay?”
He shrugged. “We’ll find out when we’re meant to, love. You wanna smash some shit up?”
“Fuck yes!”
He led me over to the meeting building, where a bunch of bikers were standing staring at it, like it needed some kind of reverence before it got trashed.
“What are we waiting for? A blessing? Take it down,” he snapped at the bikers, who all frowned at him.
“Isn’t it sacred or something? It’s our church.”
I sighed, snatching a sledgehammer from one of them, a prospect, and stomped over to the building. To be fair, I hadn’t considered how heavy a sledgehammer even was, but I wasn’t about to back down now. I still had something to prove with this lot, and this was my moment to make a start on that.
“Shall I, Harley?”
He laughed. “Do it, V. Get them going for me. Be careful though. Caroline will kick my ass if you get hurt.”
I rolled my eyes, because she’d no more kick his ass than she’d raise her voice. She might glare a bit, and hiss angrily at him though.
I staggered back a half step as I raised the sledgehammer, and positioned myself at the main door, figuring I should be able to at least break that without looking like a twat.
“I name this door Ted, and I’m going to FUCK IT UP!” I yelled the last part as I swung the sledgehammer, and it smashed into the door with a satisfying crack. It didn’t split it like I’d hoped, but it definitely did damage.
I whooped out with exhilaration as I did it again, and then others joined me and began smashing at the double doors and frame, and the trundle of a heavy vehicle told me shit was about to get real.
A few hits against the jarring solidness of the door, and wall, and my arms were aching and I needed a break. Pretty pathetic, right? I passed the sledgehammer to the prospect, and he went to join his brothers.
“Thanks, V. I get that they felt weird about doing it, but it had to be done,” Harley said, standing beside me as he watched the demolition in progress.
“Is it weird for you?”
He sighed, rubbing his jaw as he gestured around.
“I’m one of the members of the old club that was here, so yeah, kinda. It was a place I wanted to call home, but it never became that until Phoenix arrived. Trashing it is the best way forward, but it does feel a little sacrilegious doing it.”
A yell behind us made us spin, and there he was. My man. Running through the rubble and many people, almost tripping over a discarded pickaxe, and turning to yell at someone for it.
“He’s adorable,” I said as I watched him, and I heard Harley chuckling beside me.
“You made him come alive, you know. This is not the guy who arrived at this club almost a year ago. This isn’t even the guy who made a new start at my shop with me.
There’s something lighter about him now, like he’s carrying less anger or sadness.
Don’t know exactly, but he’s different. Happier. Let’s keep him that way, shall we?”
I glanced over my shoulder at Harley, since I’d stepped closer to Rocket, who was now arguing good-naturedly with the guy he’d yelled at.
“Do you doubt me? I know we had our issues, but we moved past them. We’re being honest with each other now. We’re… this is our forever, Harley.”
He nodded, looking satisfied at least with my answer, which was a good thing, because it was the truth.
“Thanks for letting us stay at your flat. It’s nice.”
He laughed, as Rocket finally reached me. “It’s shit, but it was never home. I found that now, with Caroline.”
Rocket wrapped his arms around me in a bear hug, lifting me off my feet, which was no mean feat when we were both tall.
“Baby! I missed you!”
Harley laughed, walking back to supervise the destruction of their ‘church’ building.
“You’re… squeezing the life… out of me!” I gasped out as that tight band of strength loosened, and I could take a deep breath, my feet back on solid ground.
“Sorry. You been smashing shit up with the guys?” He looked so eager to join in that I hated being part of the reason he couldn’t.
“I tried. Got noodle arms now.”
He laughed, rubbing his hands up and down my arms, which soothed but also kind of abraded my skin as my sweater dragged against my skin. Still, he looked so happy and alive, that I didn’t want to risk diminishing that.
“Was everything okay with Henley and his friend?”
His smile dropped, and he lifted his hands to my face, cupping my cheeks, and staring into my eyes like he hadn’t seen me in forever.
“I love you.”
“Um… same, but why?”
“Because you care about people. Don’t underestimate how much that matters. And the truth is, I dunno. She looked… traumatised. I don’t know another word for it. He’s taken her somewhere safe, but that’s all I know.”
I rested my hands over his, trying to offer comfort in return for his sweetness.
“It sounds like she’s in good hands now, and he’s got all of us backing him up, right?”
Rocket nodded, leaning close and kissing me softly, sweetly, like he just wanted to be touching me, even though we were surrounded by so much noise, and so many people.
As much as that might have been a strange impulse, I was starting to wonder if it was as much about claiming me in front of them as it was about being close to me.
And for a woman who kept insisting she didn’t need a man, I rather liked being claimed by him.
“Baby, wanna sneak off somewhere and fuck?” And the spell was broken again. I shoved against his chest and he backed up, offering me that cute little smirk, because he knew he was baiting me, the jackass.
“You know I’m not about to get naked in this building site, idiot. Still… get me home later, and I just might let you have me.”
His smile widened. “Home? Harley’s place is home?”
I pressed a finger over his lips. “Stop being obtuse. You know what I mean. You’re my home, I’m just sorry it took so long for me to realise it. I love you, and I’m keeping you. So… about these old lady tattoos. Am I getting one of those anytime soon?”
He whooped out loud and picked me up again, spinning us around, and nearly taking us both down, as he staggered on some scattered rubble.
“Oi, back to work, prospect!” He flipped Micro off and grabbed my face again.
“For reals, right? You get my ink, you’re mine. No more changing your mind, and no going back to cuntface.”
I smacked his chest. “Use that word again and I might just reconsider.”
He just kept staring at me, so I sighed.
“For fucking reals, Rocket. You saved me. You found a broken husk of a woman, and you breathed life into her again. You gave me a reason, for everything, for why things fell apart before you, for why I ended up here. A reason to live. So if you don’t ink me, I’ll just have to pick another biker-”
Lips on mine silenced me, and that’s probably a good thing.