20. Raker
CHAPTER 20
Raker
S unni was an infuriating little sexy as shit thorn in my flesh. Everything she wanted was everything she was not allowed to have with me. Marriage. A family. You were either a whore or a wife, and Sunni was a damn Grade A contract-signed whore.
But, on the other hand, I absolutely could not live without her.
I had been ball-deep in whore pussy since I was an 18-year-old recruit. But if getting her back meant giving all that up, I would. What was the point of random pussy if I was going to wish it was Sunni instead?
The day after tomorrow I had another meeting with the Righteous MC to finalize the plans for the wedding.
And I was going to blow it up.
Everything.
I was going to blow up every single agreement I’d made in the last year to get more power and status.
If Sunni wanted marriage, she’d get marriage.
So I put a notice in the daily paper I knew Sunni read every morning that my upcoming marriage to Sunni Twenty-Four would be taking place in a week’s time, and I went to the Righteous MC to break off my engagement and rip apart the agreement we’d spent weeks negotiating.
They were sitting around their clubhouse having morning devotions.
I waved aside the offer of their club girls to suck my cock.
“I am here to cancel all marriage negotiations,” I said. “I am going to be marrying someone else.”
“You don’t want me?” Elizabeth squeaked.
“No,” I said. “I’m going to be marrying Sunni.”
“A whore, Raker?” Command asked, his fists clenching on the table. “You are going to throw aside my daughter in favor of marrying your favorite club girl ? Have you lost your mind?”
“Fuck you,” I said succinctly. “This isn’t a debate. I’m telling you what’s going to happen.”
I turned away from their shocked faces, and pulled open the clubhouse door.
“We are going to go ahead with the ceremony,” Command said, a curious note in his voice. “I think after you hear from the Elders you will change your mind.”
“I will not. Don’t fucking bother.”
So of course the next step was a messenger priest from the Elders.
“Raker d’Sanguine, congratulations on your upcoming marriage,” the priest said.
I only grunted.
“We will not certify a marriage between a son of one of the Founding Families and a common whore,” he went on, his hands clasped devoutly over his copy of the Holy Words, his weedy little Adam’s apple bobbing up and down.
“The only women fit for marriage are pure virgins. Not whores.”
Anger prickled under my skin, growing to what felt like a raging inferno, and I gripped him by the front of his robe and slammed him up against the clubhouse wall.
“Get the fuck out of here and don’t come back. I don’t care what the Elders say. I am marrying Sunni.”
I released him and the priest staggered back, clutching the hems of his holy robes.
“You’re making a mistake. Raker d’Sanguine, if you continue in this reckless disobedience.”
I bared my teeth and charged forward, catching him in the ribs with my boot.
Then I gripped him by the back of his gown and hauled him bodily from my property.
Something was fucking rotten with this system. I didn’t need this much shit for marrying the woman I loved.
That night, I rode out to the desert in high moonlight. My goal was to see for myself that Sunni was wrong, so I could extricate her from this ridiculous goddess worship group. We needed the Elders to perform the water ceremony to ensure the people of Resurrected had enough to drink. Didn’t we?
The holy ritual place surrounding The Fountain was heavily guarded, but I knew this land, and was easily able to evade the guards.
When I reached the huge mound of The Fountain, I brushed aside the dirt to find the water extractors. These were the empty cisterns the Elders prayed over on holy days. I reached for my crowbar and snapped the lock while muffling the sound.
As usual, my thoughts were on Sunni. I loved how she looked pregnant. After she gave birth, I wanted to fill her up again. I would love her baby as if it was my own, and then we would make more.
Then I looked down at the extractors.
Shit
They weren’t fucking dry at all. They were loaded, goddamn soaked with water! So much water, absolutely gallons of it! The Elders were holding it back, to dole out to us in little drips and drops in accordance with our obedience.
For several long moments, I bent over the extractor stunned.
How many ceremonies had I been to where the Elders prayed over the extractors, sometimes making us come back day after day as they pretended to coax water out of the ground.
I was filled with a red-hot fury, and I bent down with my flask to fill it up, guzzle the holy water directly from the source.
This was a capital crime, punishable by death, but at the moment I didn’t give a shit.
These ancient old goddamn fuckworms.
I moved to the next extractor, broke that lock, and looked in.
The same thing.
And it was true of every extractor.
Gallons upon gallons of water. And even worse, there was evidence that they were in continuous use, for these soft-fingers fuckers to guzzle down themselves.
I heard quiet footsteps behind me, and I gripped the crowbar tighter, whirling around and smashing it in the face of the guard advancing on me.
He fell to the ground, and I left as I heard the alarm begin to ring.
An intruder has been spotted
When I arrived back, my brothers were drinking beer in the common room and I called an emergency meeting right then to tell them what I had found.
When I finished you could have heard a pin drop.
“You mean there is more water under the ground?” Builder marveled. I always thought that was just an old story.”
“There is,” I said grimly. “And I plan to get it all. I’m not letting the Elders keep us from it anymore.”
“Who is with me?”
There was silence for a moment.
“You seriously expect us to stand with you on this mad idea just because you want to marry a whore?” Apostle asked tightly.
I twisted to look at my cousin, and suddenly I saw him for what he was. A slick, slimy weakling who had used the cover of religion to hide who he truly was. And how he talked about Sunni should have been my first clue, only I was too stupid to pay attention to her warnings.
And suddenly I felt pretty fucking revolutionary myself.
“I’m tired of being their little bitch errand boy, and anyone who doesn’t like it can leave.”
“I won’t countenance this, Raker,” Apostle said, his mouth pressed together primly. “I’m not going to be a part of this.”
“Good. Get the fuck out.”
The other brothers were whooping it up, but it was Teacher I was watching. The other brothers were up for anything that meant more water, but Teacher’s approval meant the whole damn plan might actually work.
I watched Teacher’s big brain turn as he eyed me with an expressionless face.
Builder was pouring out big messy mugs of beer but I still watched Teacher.
“You’ll need more allies to do this,” he finally said. “Not the Righteous.”
I opened my mouth but he broke in.
“I don’t want to hear a damn word about who your pops or your granddaddy had a grudge against either. If you want this done you’re going to need someone with experience. And there’s only one MC Prez with that.”
Fuck. He was right.
“Fine,” I said. “Make the calls.”
“Now,” I said, “let’s go do some reconnaissance.”