1. Ryan
Chapter 1
Ryan
Three Years Ago
“Hey, Ry, when are your parents due back?” Dakota asks.
“They should be here any time,” I mutter as I tighten the bolt on the bike I’m working on.
“I can’t believe they’re adopting another kid. I think they’re trying to beat my parents,” he laughs.
I shake my head. “I think your parents are still in the lead, and Mom said this will be the last one. Apparently, this girl is already fifteen. She was being abused. Talia shared a foster home with her for a while. Talia saw her when Mom took her to the clinic a couple of months ago. Apparently, the foster parents broke her arm because she forgot to lay out a pack of hamburger for supper that night,” I tell him.
“Christ. I’m glad your mom got her out of there then. Let’s face it though, if she hadn’t my mom would have,” he laughs, and he’s not wrong. “So, they’re stopping at seven?” he asks.
“Yeah,” I mutter as I pick up my tools. “That means you and your nine siblings still win the biggest family contest.”
Mom and Dad got married when I was young. Mom and I have always been tight though. She loves me, I never doubt it. Hell, once she almost died for me. I may not be of her blood, but she never cared. Dad says all the time that the luckiest day of his life was when he met my mother. I say the same thing. I don’t want to imagine where we’d be without her, but I figure we’d both be dead. They had my sister Lottie not long after they got married. A year later, they adopted my brother Micah. Mom got pregnant unexpectedly with Avery just a few months after that. Dad said since Mom seemed to only have girls, we were going to have to adopt another boy. They decided to wait until Avery was out of diapers, but it was only two months after Avery was born that Mom discovered she was pregnant with Noah, Jr. Mom said it was their last child, so she named him after Dad. Things had settled down, at least until the local children’s home called my parents and asked if they could serve as foster parents for Talia. Talia was older, the same age as Lottie actually. She was going to be shipped to an orphanage out of state when the facility she was in was damaged in a flood. They’d found homes for everyone but Talia. That seems to be the way of things, sadly. Younger kids always find homes and the older ones are just shipped from one facility to another. We kept Talia for almost a year before Mom and Dad asked if she would like to be a permanent part of our family.
We were all kind of relieved when Dad announced that our family was complete. We have some bumps here and there, but we all get along together pretty well. We’re a family. It’s a loud and boisterous affair when we’re all together. Avery and I are the quiet ones, but it has been good. I’m still not sure how I feel about adding one more person to the mix, but I don’t guess my vote matters. I don’t really live at home anymore. I’m there for family dinners and I visit here and there, but I mostly live at the club now. I’ve been prospecting for the last two years and I’m due to patch in soon. I’ve worked my ass off for the club. It’s my dream to take the reins from my dad someday. It will have to be a club wide vote though, so I’ve worked hard to prove myself. My best friend LD has been prospecting with me. We’re going to be patched in together. He's my brother, as much as any of my real brothers. That’s not to say I’m not tight with them. Especially Micah. He’s also been prospecting with the club. My brother Noah is younger, but he hasn’t really gravitated toward the club. He may be named after my father, but he’s more like Mom. He’s more at home in the kitchen. Mom and Dad are already prepared to send him to culinary school. It has been his dream since he was ten. Other kids were out playing, but Noah was inventing recipes and cooking dinner for the family. No one complained because even at ten, he could make better food than any restaurant that I’d ever been to.
“We still on for dinner tonight, Ry?” LD yells as he walks out of the clubhouse and heads over to the garage.
“Shit. Sorry, man. We’re having dinner in town at the Iron Grill to welcome Aspen into the family.”
“Well, hell. Can I come?”
“You want to come to dinner with my crazy family? I thought you said you hated the noise and chaos?”
“I do, but if I don’t have dinner with you, I’m stuck without an excuse to tell my father why I can’t take Iris to that damn ballgame.”
“Hey, it’s a girls’ volleyball game. You might find a new woman to play with,” I joke.
“Dude, I am not getting in the pants of girls that my sister is friends with. That’s just not happening.”
I roll my eyes. “You don’t seem choosey about putting your dick where your brothers put them,” I point out. LD is famous for enjoying the club candy. Most of the single guys are. I never have. I know what I want and it’s a woman like my mother. A good woman who will stand beside you when the going gets tough. I’m also part of the club for life. There’s no way I’m bringing my old lady in—once I claim her—to deal with women I’ve fucked over and over. I’ve seen other members of the club have issues with that. It’s not something I’m going to subject a woman I love to. I’ve had a few women, but I’ve not really been serious about any of them. We mostly scratched mutual itches. I don’t really have a type, but I’m sure that the minute I see her, I’ll know. Dad said he knew the minute he looked at Mom—even if he fought hard not to love her.
They didn’t have the best of beginnings. That might be why I’m so careful about who I have sex with. Dad almost pushed Mom away. I will not make that mistake.
“Fuck you,” LD laughs.
“No thanks. I don’t swing that way,” I clap back, closing the portable toolbox and standing up. I look up at the wall on the garage where the clock is. Shit. I need to get moving. If I’m late my parents will have my hide.
“What time are we leaving?”
“As soon as I can get inside and shower,” I answer with a sigh. I’m dreading it. I shouldn’t be upset that Aspen is going to be part of our lives. Part of me is though, and I can’t even tell you why. I’ve not even met her. She’s been by the house several times, but I’ve been out of town for club business. A few times, I made up reasons I couldn’t be there. I know I disappoint Mom, but I just didn’t want to meet my “new sister”. I can’t be late tonight. If I am, it will hurt Mom, and I refuse to do that.
“Cool. I’ll meet you out front in about thirty minutes?” LD asks.
“That works. Don’t be late. I can’t afford to get on Mom’s bad side.”
“Does your mom even have one of those?”
“Fuck if I know, and I don’t want to find out,” I respond in complete honesty. With that, I jog to my room here in the club. The quicker I get to the restaurant, the sooner I can leave.