Chapter 1
Ace
I yawn as I run a tatted hand through my hair and walk into the garage toward my bike. My whole body aches, every muscle screaming for me to turn around and go back to bed but, of course I ignore it because duty calls and all that shit.
I didn’t get in until fucking three this morning. I'd been on a run for four days—my second one, taking my big brother's place so he could be home with his family. And yeah, I did say family.
Caleb got his way.
After months of Dirty refusing to meet his son's teacher, Caleb finally got his wish. He set his dad up by inviting Ms. Robins and her adorable seven-year-old daughter, Lyra, for dinner behind his back. My brother went from steaming fucking mad to completely hooked.
Hol had issues with commitment. She wanted to focus only on her kid and her job, but Dirty and Caleb wormed their way into her heart. Then shortly after, shit hit the fan once they became exclusive, a word I never thought I would use for my brother.
Cheryl overdosed Dirty on the day he was going to hand his cut to his woman with cocaine and sexually assaulted him, she also tried to destroy Hol's career.
Despite all this, both Hol and my brother are doing well.
Don't get me wrong, Holly is struggling but with my brother putting her before everything, including the club, she’s slowly healing. Lyra is, too.
After Cheryl harmed my brother, Hol struck her with a pole, killing her instantly.
Shocked, Hol withdrew to process what had happened—what Cheryl had caused —and the desperate action Hol had taken to protect my brother.
It was much needed but then soon after that shit happened, the mother and sister of Hol's deceased ex-boyfriend kidnapped Lyra.
As a result, Lyra now experiences severe separation anxiety from Dirty, Caleb has become very protective, and Holly is still recovering from a gunshot wound sustained when the woman tried to kill her, believing that would help her take Lyra.
Now, the kids and Hol don’t like to be away from my brother. So, instead of him doing the runs, I am. I’m two in, and I’m fucking exhausted. But I won’t complain to Dirty, I don’t want him to feel bad.
“It is a good thing I have a small house in town,” I mutter to myself as I open my garage door.
Over the years, brothers have built houses behind the clubhouse.
Except for Tank—he owns a whole fucking farm where he lives with his girl and their kid.
I had a house right next to my brother’s, which I’ve now left.
I handed the keys to a reluctant Doc after I started searching for smaller properties when I learned the truth about my fucked up conception and all I knew growing up was a goddamn lie.
My house is also one row up from my parents and even though there is plenty of land between them, it’s still too close for my liking.
I moved out a few weeks ago, and so far, only Doc is aware. I like my home, I like how small it is.
It’s only a one-bed, I’m not looking to settle down.
I don’t want a wife, a girlfriend, or a fucking old lady.
I certainly don’t want kids, especially after watching my so-called mother overcompensate with Caleb and Lyra since I stopped communicating with her hoping they’d help me see reason which is just fucking pathetic.
I won’t subject my children to having to deal with her as a grandparent. I mean, fuck, she threatened to abort me just so Dad wouldn’t leave her, like some spoiled evil bitch.
My jaw ticks at the thought of the shit with Mama, and I climb on my bike before starting her up.
Shit will hit the fan when everyone figures out I’ve moved off club property.
Fuck, upsetting the two gremlins isn’t on my to-do list today, or in the next five fucking years if I’m honest. I just hope Caleb and Lyra can forgive me because moving off club grounds did good for my fucking sanity especially with how much I was beginning to fall.
I’m fucking surprised I haven’t caught an STD with how much I drowned.
I rev my Harley, and slowly back out of the garage. I press the button to close it, glancing at my small home. It’s not the seven-bed, seven and a half bath with a sunroom, gym, and theater room I built, thinking I might settle down someday. But it’s mine, and the perfect size for a single man.
***
My phone rings for the fifth time, twenty minutes later, as I pull up outside the diner, and I sigh, knowing it’ll either be Mama yet again or Dad to bitch at me for not speaking to her.
I swear she’s pissing me off. You’d think she’d take the fucking hint.
I get it, I’m her son, but the woman threatened to get rid of me if my father left her, despite knowing she was the one who opened her legs for someone else, all because he was busy earning enough fucking money to keep her happy.
All the years I watched him devote to her. All the years I watched him treat her like a queen when she didn’t deserve it.
Shaking my head, I grab my phone from the inside of my cut when it rings yet again, but I frown seeing it’s not my mother or father but my brother.
“Dirty?” I answer with concern.
“You gave your fucking keys to Doc?!” he shouts and I move the phone from my ear, wincing before I swallow hard, then suck my lip ring into my mouth.
Fuck.
“He told you?” I accuse, and Dirty chuckles darkly.
“No fucker, Tracker came to see me and said he’d buy the property off the club for whenever he’s in fucking town confusing the shit outta me!” he snaps, and I wince.
Shit, I forgot Doc mentioned Tracker has been after my house ever since he noticed I wasn’t staying there anymore.
The fucker is a nomad brother. He is a Devil’s brother but rides around from one MC to another, never staying in one place for too long.
“Alex –”
He cuts me off, “That house is your fucking home!”
“No, my home is on Peach Drive,” I admit reluctantly, and he growls into the phone that has me wincing.
Shit he’s pissed.
“Those houses are only one or two bedrooms, Luca!” he reminds me, and I sigh.
"I already told you, Alex. I'm not settling down. I don't want a family," I retort, fed up with this shit.
Fuck, a few months ago, the fucker went in on a bet with the officer and old timer brothers. They all bet I’d be settled down with a wife, a kid, and another on the way by next year but too bad for the brothers—it’ll be the easiest fucking thirteen hundred bucks I’ll win.
“You’re being pathetic and immature,” he snaps, and I raise a brow, but before I can call him out, he continues to rant, “Yeah, fine, our mama was a whore and doesn’t deserve Dad, but why in the fuck are you allowing her actions to stop you from finding someone, huh?
You see me and Hol, Stone and Rose, Trigger and Ash, Anchor and Sum, Doc and Brit and fucking Tank and Jas.
We’re all fucking happy, popping out kids left, right and fucking center so why are you so hell bent on sticking to the shit she did when we’ve shown you that you can be very fucking happy if you found the one! ”
I shake my head at his rant.
He’s forgetting what all those relationships have in fucking common.
Huffing, I look up at the diner—a white building with a dark blue strip, a building I have built from the ground up.
I open my mouth to start to remind him of the shit every couple, including himself and Hol, has been through but instead, I frown hearing screaming, glance inside the large wall window, and groan at the scene.
“Fuck’s sake,” I growl.
“What? Don’t like some home truths, huh?” Dirty snaps, “Well, tough shit, and I’ve already told Tracker the house isn’t for fucking sale. Doc has given me the keys, you will be moving back home!”
I roll my eyes and state, “Okay, one, I’m not moving back, give it to Caleb for when he’s older, and two, AJ has just tackled Harriet across the fucking table.”
He’s quiet for a moment as I watch Jake, my chef, who is on his last warning for his lateness, tries to split him up before Dirty mutters, “Fuck...” and I huff, because yeah, fuck.
Shaking my head, I say, “You forgot the one common thing with all those perfect fucking relationships you mentioned, big brother. Every single one of you has suffered one way or another. Take Jas—she fucked up by not going to Tank when his mom and hers threatened her. She gave birth alone and kept him out of their lives meaning he missed fucking everything. Or what about what fucking Anchor did—he took a situation the wrong way, and his love was taken from him, held in a cage and fucking abused for months. All of you have had heartache. Honestly, I don’t want that shit in my life, and I don’t fucking need it.
” I climb off my bike. “I looked up to our parents. I cherished their relationship, wanting something like that despite the shit I saw you brothers go through. Only to later find out my own fucking mother didn’t even know who my dad was at one point.
She was going to abort me if he didn’t stay after she fucking cheated for no reason.
She made me realize love doesn’t fucking exist, only pain.
So stop with the fucking lecture. I’ve moved off club property because I can’t be fucked with her or the constant demands to settle down from everyone else.
This is my fucking life, Alex. Let me live it how I want, while you live yours! ”
I hang up and take a deep breath as I look in the window again and groan. Jake holds his head with a scowl while Harriet pulls AJ’s short bob.
Fuck sakes.
Shaking my head, I storm towards the diner, ready to just say fuck it with these two women before I bang the door and boom, “What is going on here!”
Both women quickly pull apart and look at me with wide eyes, and Harriet stutters, “S-she, she –”
I already know what it's about because my fucking dick and I decided to have a quick fuck with her. Now she thinks she fucking owns me. I cut her rambling and point at them both and growl, “You two shouldn’t even be on shift together!”
Should I have fucked Harriet when she works for me? No, I shouldn’t have, but I was pissed, Mama was in my room at the clubhouse after I got out of the shower, and she demanded I speak to her. She emphasized that what happened was in the past, and that I needed to grow up.
My anger took hold after I informed dear old mom that I’ve disowned her, and Harriet was just there.
One big fucking mistake that has bitten me in the ass.
I can't find a fucking waitress I haven't fucked, and that won't cause shit, to fill in part-time to keep these two women apart.
Doc tried, too, while I was on the run for the club, but he couldn't either because as soon as he said my name their eyes lit up like fireworks.
And I can’t exactly fire these two when they bring in a shit ton of customers.
“I got called in,” AJ chokes, and my nostrils flare as I glare at my head waitress, Trish, who quickly flinches and looks away.
Fucking bitch just wanted some entertainment.
“Both of you, get your shit, and get out now,” I say coldly as I glare at them, and both gasp, and I declare, “You are both suspended, and while I’m at it, Trish, pack your shit, you are fired for bringing this shitstorm to my diner!”
“Dirty,” Trish gasps, but I ignore her and storm towards my office, fucking pissed because now, not only do I need to call in two waitresses who only want to work so many hours a week because they attend college, but now I need to find a new fucking head waitress, or if I can help it, preferably a fucking waiter.
This is why I refuse to settle down. All women are patch chasers as far as I’m concerned, and they turn fucking nasty if they get a brother's cock.