Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Outlaw Royalty
“ W here’s my ride?” Linc asked as he rested spread out on the table meant for prayer but had often seen more blood than most wanted to actually admit.
“We got you covered, brother,” Darrow said. “Monte showed up with the big boy and hauled your ride here. I’ve got Virus and Fitz already working on it.”
“They fucking shot me,” Linc said.
“Who is they ?” Cyrus asked.
The President of Sins of Fire Real Anarchy West stood five-ten tall, black clothes, black leather, black hair, and eyes just as black.
He leaned over his VP and waited for an answer.
“No idea,” Linc said. “Had to be something with Monte though. We were separated on purpose.”
“He’s fine,” Priest said. “Not a scratch.”
“This was a hit on your life,” the old man Custer growled from a seated position with a homemade cigarette dangling between his lips. “I can give you some names if you’d like. I’ve got some real good names to say.”
“Can the fifties bullshit memories, old man,” Cyrus said. “Our VP took a bullet to the shoulder. Fucking close to his chest. You know what we’d be doing right now…?”
“Looking at a fucking casket,” Slade said. “Jesus, brother.”
Slade grabbed for Linc’s left hand.
“Where’s the doc?” Linc asked. “She going to take a while? Do I have enough time to get my dick sucked?”
“By who?” Priest asked. “Slade? You two are holding hands over there.”
“Fuck you,” Linc groaned with a smile.
Priest grabbed between his legs. “Aw, buddy, if you want it that bad, I’d break you in half with this monster.”
“Can all the dick sucking and fucking stop for a minute here?” Cyrus asked.
The door swung open and Deed led the doctor in.
“Love hearing that language already,” Dr. Hazel said. “You never really get used to it.”
Cyrus turned and jumped toward Dr. Hazel.
He offered his hand to her and lowered his head. “Doc…”
“Jess,” she said. “And skip the royalty stuff, huh? There’s a guy with a bullet in his chest?”
“Chest, shoulder area,” Slade said.
Dr. Hazel wasn’t her maiden name. The rest of her was all hers though. Not a single guy in the room could keep their eyes off the stunning doctor. High heels. Long legs. A skirt above her knees. Wearing a shirt. Perfect tits, hugged tight by her bra. She looked way too much like her mother—Ginger.
Her father was the outlaw that started the club. Everyone knew the Cutter family. Led by Johnny himself. The true outlaw. The original outlaw. The one who saved the town for decades from drug use and big money developers promising cash and chain coffee businesses on every street corner.
Johnny went toe to toe with clubs, gangs, police, feds… you name it and Johnny faced it and won. The only battles he lost in his life where the ones to his wild former stripper wife, which resulted in Johnny becoming a one-woman man. He fell in love with Ginger hard. Ginger gave birth to Jess. And Johnny was then a king with his queen and his princess.
The other battle Johnny lost was to goddamn cancer. A bellyache he figured was from too much hot sauce on tacos after a whiskey infused bet from the guys to eat twenty tacos in one sitting, turned out to be a massive amount of stomach cancer that had already started to spread.
Johnny took his last ride on a Sunday morning. He debated praying to God on that ride, but didn’t want to waste the notion of repenting when there were others in the world who needed the big guy more. Forty-eight hours later, Johnny sipped his last sip of whiskey, kissed his wife and daughter one last time, then shut his eyes and never opened them again.
Jess was only ten. And as far as Ginger went… she spiraled. She tried to get back into stripping but time had told her no. That pushed her deeper into a black hole and in a sad, twisted hand dealt of fate, Ginger started fucking around with H . One bad batch killed her.
Jess had just turned eleven. One of the other old timers took Jess in. Warren and his wife Amelia. Jess grew up as royalty and her dreams of becoming a doctor had been fulfilled.
She never intended on becoming part of the club in any capacity but she understood how that world worked. Stepping into the clubhouse was like stepping into another country. A whole new set of laws applied.
“There’s the princess,” Linc said with a grin.
“Call me that damn name one more time and I’m leaving the bullet inside of you,” Dr. Hazel said. “It didn’t go through?”
“Nope,” Linc said. “I can feel the fucking thing hanging around in there.”
“I have some stuff to numb you. You know I’m not fully equipped here.”
“You give the same speech each time, kid,” Custer said with a prideful grin. “Just go to it. You’ve got this.”
“Thanks, Pop ,” Dr. Hazel said with a smile back.
Something not many knew but when the time came to foot the bill for medical school, Custer sold a few of his most prized motorcycles, along with a cabin in Oregon, and he paid the entire thing for Jess.
Why? Because Johnny was her father. To these outlaws, Johnny was and still is God.
And as far as any more of the backstory goes… that’s that.
Whiskey and painkillers had Linc’s mind feeling floaty and offering up dreams about being a kid. Here’s what he saw…
He’s ten years old, standing on top of a playground. Kids run around, yelling, enjoying the limited freedom before being tossed back into a classroom for more learning. The thought of that made Linc want to vomit.
A hand touched his back, trying to push him off the top of the playground.
“Have a nice fall, jerk!”
Linc caught his balance with ease and spun around to find his best friend ever smiling at him.
“Javen,” Linc said. “Holy crap, dude. You’re really here!”
“Where else would I be?”
“You’re in jail.”
“Jail?”
Now Linc felt confused.
Jail? How is that possible? We’re just ten years old.
“You need some water, Linc,” Javen said. “You look sick. Come on, I have an idea. Katie has pigtails today. I say we go pull them. I’ll bet you on it. Whoever pulls them the most wins. After school we walk to Huggie’s and loser buys slushies.”
“Pulling Katie’s hair? Man, I think you have a crush on her.”
“What? Never!”
Linc threw his head back and started to laugh. Then he heard a gun go off. That made him jump.
Javen was no longer in front of him. Javen was on the ground, on his feet. Javen was now a grown man. Wearing black jeans, a white T-shirt, and a leather cut. Sins of Fire Real Anarchy West.
A gun goes off again. None of the kids seem to hear it or maybe they just don’t care.
“Javen!” Linc yelled.
“Sorry, dude,” Javen said as he looked up at Linc.
The adult version of Javen… wow did he look mean… Another gunshot echoed around and this time, a bullet struck Javen in his back.
“No!” Linc cried out in both his dream and in reality.
He jumped up and felt a wave of red-hot pain attack his shoulder.
“Hey, you’re awake,” Dr. Hazel said in a calm voice.
Linc gasped for a breath and wiped sweat off his forehead. “I had a dream about Javen.”
“Oh, wow. There’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time. How many years does he have left?”
“Too many,” Linc said.
Damn did Linc miss his best friend. Sitting up there in prison, running most of the MC’s business in the prison, keeping himself busy and alive.
“Talk to me about pain levels,” Dr. Hazel said.
“A lot,” Linc said. “Nothing I can’t handle.”
Linc swung his legs off the table and stood up. He felt very woozy.
Dr. Hazel moved closer to him and touched his sides. She looked up at him. He looked down at her. Her body inched even closer.
“You’re married, Jess,” Linc whispered.
“Since when do you have a code of ethics?”
“Does Mark know anything about this?”
Dr. Hazel shook her head. “He doesn’t need to know about my past. Or what I do right now. As far as he’s concerned I’m on call. I’m at a hospital right now removing someone’s appendix. He’s fast asleep, thinking about his sales meeting tomorrow.”
“Nice, little suburban life?”
“Exactly. White picket fence and all. It’s what I want. What I need.”
“But you still want to fuck me?”
“No, Linc,” Dr. Hazel said. “I would prefer you to fuck me. Not me fucking you. Maybe it’s instinct. The moment has passed.”
Dr. Hazel stepped back and Linc grabbed her wrists. “Thanks for showing up.”
“I always tell myself I’m going to stop. Then the phone rings.”
“Princess knows her place,” Linc said.
Dr. Hazel reached out and pressed her thumb to Linc’s shoulder. Blinding white pain surged through his body.
“I told you not to call me a fucking princess,” Dr. Hazel said.
Linc sat on the table, still smiling.
“You guys and your violence and pain. You feed off of it, don’t you?”
“It’s all we’ve known,” Linc said. “When can I ride again?”
“You’re going to do whatever the hell you want,” Dr. Hazel said. “You got lucky, Linc. The bullet went in and stopped. Very minimal damage. If you want my opinion, that shot was supposed to stop you. There should have been more. Many more.”
“The outlaw gamble,” Linc said.
“Don’t know how you guys do it. I should be leaving.”
“Can’t stay for a drink with me, Jess? Or a smoke?”
“A drink and a smoke and I won’t be able to drive home. Then I’ll end up in your bed, Linc. Haven’t we played this game before?”
“It’s been a long time since the princess sat on her throne.”
Dr. Hazel slapped Linc across the face. He exited the prayer room out to the main floor of the clubhouse. All the guys were still wide awake. Of course. Drinking like fish. Playing pool. Playing darts. A woman sat on the corner pocket of the pool table, legs spread, showing off her vagina.
“Saw this in a video online,” Priest said as he leaned forward, ready to take a shot at a pool ball.
“Sweetie, you really want this?” Dr. Hazel called out to the woman. “I mean, best case scenario that pool ball smacks your labia so hard you won’t walk for days. In reality, if he hits that hard enough, it’s going to cause serious damage. And, no, it’s not going to go into your vagina.”
“What if she’s super soaking wet?” Priest asked Dr. Hazel.
Dr. Hazel walked to the pool table and picked up the eight ball. “How about you shove this up your ass first?”
Priest tossed the pool stick to the floor. Dr. Hazel remembered that the normal rules of society didn’t apply inside the clubhouse.
Would Priest actually… you know… fight her…?
Cyrus jumped in and told Priest to stick his tongue in the woman’s cunt. Cunt. Such a sweet word. Priest walked to the woman and scooped her up off the pool table.
“Priest is a psycho,” Cyrus said to Dr. Hazel.
“No shit.”
“I’ll walk you out,” Cyrus said.
Linc staggered to the open door of the prayer room and watched Cyrus leave with Dr. Hazel.
Darrow walked up to him, fresh beer in hand.
“Thanks, brother,” Linc said.
“Hey, we should talk. When you were out cold, something went down.”
“Huh? You find who did this to me?”
“Not yet,” Darrow said. “We’ll make this right, Linc. But your phone went off. Does the name Nova mean anything to you?”
Linc’s hand opened and he dropped the bottle, leaving glass and beer spraying all around.