Chapter 1
CHAPTER ONE
axel
FOUR MONTHS AGO
Bullets, blood and a shitload of anger follow us as we ride toward the clubhouse.
The road in front of us is only lit by the headlights of our bikes, everything else is covered in inky black.
I look in my rearview mirror to see Bear driving our black van.
His expression is murderous and I bet if I check the faces of my brothers riding next to me, they will look the same.
We ride into the darkness as if we are being chased by the devil himself, and maybe we actually are.
I’ve been a part of the Hell Chaser’s for six years now, their Enforcer for five, and never have I been a part of a shit show like tonight.
We’ve been driving for almost thirty minutes now and I have run through every single second of our drop.
From the moment we pulled up to the warehouse everything felt off.
The job was easy; meet up with the buyers, unload the guns, get paid and then get out of there.
But instead, we were ambushed, masked men entered the building from all sides, guns blazing before we even realized anyone was there.
Lucky took the first shot to the leg; next one was to his shoulder before I was able to get him into the van. Bear, Jax and myself were able to return fire and somehow get out of there without any more damage.
My bike rumbles under me as I push her to move faster. I need to release this frustration, but until I’m back at the clubhouse this is the closest I’m getting.
All I want to do tonight is get drunk, find a club girl to take up to my room and forget about this shit for a few hours. Tomorrow I’ll figure this out. Tomorrow I will find whoever thought they could fuck with us and slowly drain the blood from their bodies.
There’s a party at the clubhouse tonight, a welcome-home-party for Knife. I take a moment to reel in my anger as I park my bike, giving Bear a head nod as he drives the van around back.
“Get the fuck out of the way,” I growl at the clump of people standing in front of the door.
This place is packed, I can barely get the door to open wide enough to pass through.
One of the women from the clump looks at me and then quickly starts to pull her friends out of the way.
No doubt she can probably feel the venom in my words.
My first stop is the bar.
Usually, I’m the happiest guy in this place.
Booze and women are two of my all-time favorite things.
But tonight, I’m not in the mood. I’ve never handled betrayal well, especially when it puts the people I’m supposed to protect in harm’s way.
I crack my neck, allowing the tension to flow out around me as I muster up the energy to welcome Knife home after being locked up in State for the last five years.
A palm slaps down on the middle of my back and I hear a hearty laugh I haven’t heard in a long time.
“No shit, Axel, you’re Enforcer now?”
“Been gone too long, Knife. That’s old news.” I can’t keep the shit-eating grin off my face as we give each other a quick hug. “Good to see you, brother.”
“Built like a bear and the biggest asshole I know; guess you were born for the job.” His words are slightly slurred and from how bloodshot his eyes are I’m thinking Knife is making the most out of his first night of freedom.
“Hey, I’m about to go find Misty, but let’s talk tomorrow. I got some shit to sort through with you,” he says as he catches a glimpse of his old lady across the room.
“Okay, yeah, come by the shop, and we’ll talk. You good?” Warily I watch for any signs that something might be off. I’m already feeling on edge from earlier and really could go without anything new popping up.
He looks back at me with a smile. “Yeah, man, all good. See you tomorrow.”
Cal, Tank, and Mia are a blur behind the bar. The sound of beer bottles being opened and drunks yelling out their order fills my ears as I look for whoever is the least busy.
A flash of platinum hair whirls by me as Mia dances around, shaking her shoulder-length hair as she wipes a glass dry.
Her large blue eyes scan the room, probably making sure no one gets out of line.
She’s tiny, standing right at five feet, but has this whole mama bear thing going on.
Mia is Cal’s cousin by blood but she grew up here with the rest of us.
You would think she was everyone’s little sister by the way she’s constantly doted on.
I reach the bar just in time to catch the beer she slides towards me.
“Are you okay? You look pissed,” she yells over the rowdy crowd. Letting out a long huff, I pick up the beer and chug.
“You could say that.”
Her eyebrow rises as she gives me a “want to talk?” look. I can’t discuss what happened during the drop with her so I decide to change the subject. I nod towards the craziness behind me.
“You okay back here tonight? If shit gets too crazy, come find me, and I’ll have a prospect take you home.”
She stops mid dance move and laughs at me. “Axel, you do know I can handle myself in here, right?” Mia puts her hand on her hip, “And anyway, no one is going to mess with me with the likes of you to scare them off.”
She’s right about that. No one would dare fuck with her here.
“Just promise me you’ll come get one of us if you need us, okay?” I level her with a no-bullshit stare.
“Huh?” she leans a little closer.
“Just promise me you’ll come get one of us if you need us, okay?” I say louder this time.
“Huh?”
“For fuck’s sake, just pro--” Mia stands up straight and smiles at me like she just won a jackpot. The little shit can hear me just fine. Sliding me another beer, she pats my hand.
“Fine, I’ll—AHHHHH! Marley!” Her ear-piercing scream stabs my eardrums as she flies out from behind the bar.
Like he owns the place, my best friend and the number one pain in my ass, Blaze, walks into the party with his arm slung around his woman, Marley.
He’s been bringing her around a lot more and the other women of the club have immediately accepted her as if she is a long-lost sister, separated at birth.
I’ve never been one to care about who people bring around, but everyone recognized their relationship for what it is immediately.
They’re end game for each other, and that’s not a pun because Marley is some insane tech genius.
Blaze tries to pull Marley back as she practically flies towards Mia, but she’s too quick.
“Getting slow there, old man.” I chide him as he makes his way over.
As my best friend, he punches me in the shoulder. As my Vice President, his annoyingly smug gaze cuts to me.
“What the fuck happened today?” he gruffs as he nods to Cal for a drink.
“Someone must’ve got a jump on our drops.
” My fingers work aimlessly to get the wet label peeled from my beer bottle.
The anger I felt earlier, seeping into my limbs again and leaving me aching to punch someone.
“We’re going to have to hold off on next month’s run until we figure out what’s going on. ”
It’s a necessary step, and postponing won’t set us back too much.
The club has numerous other businesses around town that keep our coffers full and members financially set, but the runs are really big pay days.
I can already feel the brothers breathing down my neck about finding who did this so we can get on with business.
“This isn’t ideal. Not with the Reapers showing up more and more around town. We don’t need another thing to worry about.” His voice is low as he scans the crowd. “Handle it, fast. Let me know what you learn.” Without looking at him, I nod in agreement.
I don’t need a reminder that the Reapers MC are making appearances in our territory.
A few days ago, two Reapers were fucking with Jones, a local grocery store owner who was just trying to close up shop.
Not only were they in our territory, but they were blatantly fucking with people they know are under our protection.
Luckily, I was in a good mood and allowed one of them to crawl back to their clubhouse.
Crawling because I set his piece-of-shit bike on fire after breaking his jaw.
The other one, well now that I think of it, I need to figure out what I’m going to do with him.
He’s been tied up in the basement, and every day one of us works him over for information. Fucker’s loyal, I’ll give him that.
But I’m growing bored. I’ll give him one more day before I start removing appendages.
That growing feeling of dread has me shoving the empty beer bottle away from me. They had to have something to do with what happened tonight. It’s the only thing that makes sense.
“You find her yet? She flew off like she was on fire.” Looking around him, I no longer see the spunky brunette and pint size bar tender jumping up and down like drunk sorority sisters.
“She’s probably introducing Mia to Jenna.” He scrubs his hand down his face and chuckles. “Mar brought her best friend, Jenna, with her tonight. I’m going to let them have some time together.”
“How gentlemanly of you.” Barely paying attention to him droning on about Mar, I wave to Cal for another beer.
“Marley just so happened to forget to mention I’m the vice president of a motorcycle club and that they were coming to a biker party.”
“Oh shit.” That catches my attention as two ice cold beers are placed in front of us. “Well, she’s in for a wild night.”
Placing my back to the bar, I take in the insanity of the clubhouse.
Strippers dance naked on tables while brothers are drunk and strewn across every corner of the space.
The people who chose to party here worship us as if we are gods, and that just spurs everyone on to do whatever the hell they want.
The Lighthouse, a more upscale strip club in town, supplies the women.
It’s club-owned and run by Fang, who, right about now, is probably upstairs enjoying a private show.
That man is disturbingly good with numbers and can charm the pants off of any woman.
He’s turned what was a funky, drowning peep show into a classy, go-to strip club within a year of taking over.
Club girls make their rounds, desperately shoving their naked assets into the eyeline of any member that will give them the time of day. Some aren’t even waiting to get upstairs as they give into their lust-filled obsession of sleeping with one of the brothers.
Unless you’re a part of this world, being here might be a shock.
“What’s her name again?” I ask nonchalantly, wondering if I’ll run into her tonight.
“Jenna.” He says flatly, turning to glare at me. “Try not to fuck this up. She means a lot to Marley and I don’t need you and your little dick fucking it up for me.” Sauntering away, he flips me the bird and a little bit of the weight I’ve been carrying comes off my shoulders.
“For your information, my dick is huge!”