CLINT
M y first weekend with Ivy cemented her into my life. The foxes bonded with her quickly, finding Ivy to be the right combination of sweet and sour. My club brothers realized she wasn’t a delicate flower they might accidentally squish. Everyone—including me—had assumed a lot about Ivy based on her size and past.
By Sunday, Ivy had started working on stripping down in front of me. She showed me the faint scars on her arms from when her fragile, premature newborn skin was marked by the IVs and medical tape.
My thoughts were on Ivy when I rode to southern Arkansas. The Black Rainbow MC had agreed to meet us at a bar in a town located on the border between our two states.
My uncle Devin was there when we rolled up early. Looking good for a man in his mid-forties, Devin held himself in the rigid way I noticed from a lot of retired military men.
Today, Devin wore the battered leather jacket Shay bought him years ago. His shoes were scuffed up, and his jeans looked a decade old. If my mom were here, she’d lecture him on pampering himself with decent clothes.
“The local cops know I’m in town. They aren’t saying or doing shit while this happens,” Devin assured me. “Do I need to sit in on this conversation, or can I walk across the street and get a McFlurry?”
“Enjoy your dessert,” I gestured toward the McDonald’s. “But if this meeting goes sideways, be careful not to spill your McFlurry while ducking.”
“Is that a genuine worry?”
“I don’t know, honestly. The president of this club got his ass handed to him by Ford years ago. There’s no way to be certain if he’s holding a grudge or not.”
Devin glanced at Elle, standing with the other Crimson Guard members. I knew he didn’t think his niece ought to be throwing down, especially now that she had Sutter.
Rather than start a debate he wouldn’t win, Devin kept his mouth shut and strolled across the small town’s main street.
As I entered the bar with our people, Rock walked around outside, searching for issues. He was rightfully paranoid. The Black Rainbow Motorcycle Club didn’t have a warm and fuzzy reputation.
Years ago, their former president and a dozen of their guys rode to Little Memphis after hitting up a club in the real Memphis. They planned to bully Joker into turning Little Memphis into a satellite chapter for the Black Rainbow MC.
“You’d work for us,” was apparently how Wrecker put it.
Before that encounter, Joker had replaced a psycho named Trigger who ruled Little Memphis for decades. People feared Trigger in a way they hadn’t feared Joker.
Occasionally, other clubs and organizations tried hustling in on Little Memphis, which sat at a prime spot for illegal highway commerce. Joker suffered zero patience for anyone stirring up trouble like Wrecker and the Black Rainbow MC did that day.
Years later, I wondered if the men from that brawl still held a grudge.
Zodiac Bondi had been an enforcer back then. I didn’t know the details about how he became president, but I assumed he didn’t gain his new rank through soft-spoken diplomacy.
Today, Zodiac strolled into the bar with a half dozen men. His dark blond hair was slicked back, revealing icy blue eyes. He had a thick, neatly trimmed beard. His tattoos were on display, thanks to his gray shirt’s short sleeves and unbuttoned front. The guy dressed like a hitman with a flair for lounge singing on the side.
The Black Rainbow’s VP stood near the door, eyeing us from under his beige cowboy hat. Exile was built like Zodiac. His hostile gaze scanned our group before he offered an unimpressed little snarl.
The club’s road captain—a dark-haired and scarred former Marine—tried to flank my group on the right until Sabrina stepped in his way and smiled brightly.
“Fuck off,” she mouthed dramatically and then gestured with her jaw for him to get back with his people.
Though I didn’t react to her behavior, Zodiac cracked a grin.
“All these pretty little biker gals,” he told me as his long-haired blond enforcer swept to my left and got blocked by Rock.
“I won’t smile at you, bitch,” Rock muttered at the other man. “But feel free to get your ass over there with your president.”
“You’ve been asking for a meeting for a while. Now, you’ve got one,” I told Zodiac when he didn’t immediately speak. “So, what did you want?”
“Ever heard of the Void?” Zodiac asked, getting right to the point.
“Sure. They’re the shadowy mob syndicate that supposedly killed the Mississippi governor and were behind the fires at the Arizona power stations.”
“They’ve supposedly done plenty of shit, but no one knows for sure,” Zodiac said as his gaze washed over my people and lingered on Elle. “They like to grab women off the street, apparently.”
Assuming he knew Elle was my sister, I didn’t fall for his attempt to rattle me.
“What does that have to do with my club?”
“The Void isn’t a scary story bad guys tell each other. Though everything blamed on them is likely exaggerated, the organization is very real. They’ve been repeatedly tagged doing shit in my territory.”
Zodiac fell silent and again focused his gaze on Elle. I didn’t dare look at my sister to see if she noticed. Men were always trying to intimidate me by subtly threatening Elle or one of my cousins. Never Rowdy, of course. He had a reputation for fighting dirty, ever since he bit off a guy’s nose.
“I don’t see how my club can help with your Louisiana problem.”
“We grabbed a guy a while back,” Zodiac said, having peeled his gaze from my sister. “He told us a lot of juicy shit about his bosses in the Void. Most of it was probably garbage. He didn’t seem like the type to be let in on secret meetings between mafia bigwigs. However, he did mention one of the guys who ran the Void was from Little Memphis.”
This news hit me right in the gut. I felt my brain overloaded with questions. A lot of crazy shit went down before I was born. When Trigger ran the club, the city was in a constant state of chaos. He liked to keep things wild. Once Trigger was dead, Little Memphis learned to behave under Joker’s steady hand. Was this Void hotshot from before my time, or did I know him?
“That’s interesting, sure,” I replied rather than show my hand. “But I’m not sure why you’re meeting with me based on something a rando told you under duress.”
Annoyed by my response, Exile fumed next to his president. I felt tension rolling off the other club, except for Zodiac. He behaved as if the world was his bitch.
“The Void doesn’t work like a wrecking ball,” Zodiac explained. “They don’t come into an area and kill the opposition and take over. They’re more like mold, hiding in the dark places where we can’t see. They claim your low-level guys, like snitches and lookouts. They invest in the parts of your business you don’t worry about. They spread to your police and rich backers. Then, one day, after they’ve corrupted your organization down deep, they attack. Before you can fight back, everything falls out from under you. Then, you’re either owned or ended by the Void.”
“And you know that how?”
“A guy I knew from juvie worked in Dallas with an old-school mobster. He watched the Void rot the organization from within.”
“And you think this will happen to our club or yours?”
“The Void wants Louisiana. We’ve known that for years and played whack-a-mole with their bullshit. My club has cleaned out the mold where we could, but the Void just keeps coming back. As for you, there seems to be a festering grudge between Little Memphis and a top man in the Void.”
“Assuming your information wasn’t a red herring.”
Zodiac stroked his beard and shrugged. “I see no downside to an alliance between our clubs. We’re located far enough away from each other to avoid stepping on anyone’s toes. But size matters when dealing with people like the Void.”
“Alliance makes us sound like equals. But the last time your club came around, you were looking to make us bitches.”
“That’s the past. I’m looking at where we are now. The Black Rainbow runs Louisiana. You have Arkansas tied up. Texas is falling city by city to the Void. Tennessee has its masters. Mississippi has our allies, while you have friends in Oklahoma. We could create a wall against the Void, looking to move north and east.”
“Define what you want out of this alliance.”
“We share info. If one club needs aid, the other is willing to ride in and help.”
I glanced at Rock next to me and imagined his view of the situation. His father ran a broken club in Rawlins until the Little Memphis club came riding into town. Oz Savo could have been a stubborn ass and started a war backed only by a small club and no leverage. Dumb men often followed their egos.
However, Oz gave Joker a chance, which led to a handful of the Everything Nice Crew relocating to Rawlins. Their leader, Ginger Jones, married Oz. Rock existed today because his father was willing to roll the dice with an unknown.
“Alliances are never a bad thing,” I agreed. “But you know Tricky runs the Jokers club. He doesn’t obey me, and I don’t take orders from him. If you want to create a firewall, you’ll need to make a deal with Tricky, too.”
“Surprised he didn’t come along with you.”
“He’s been patching in guys from your neck of the woods,” I said and studied the men around him. “You’re aware of his view of your club.”
“Tricky has a hangup over old management.”
Rock pretended to lose his temper and demanded, “What about these young men fleeing your territory?”
Zodiac offered him a snakelike grin. “We don’t mind someone embracing our castoffs.”
“Is that what they are? Or are you corrupting the Jokers from within?”
“You know my club had a shake-up a few years back,” Zodiac said and shrugged like he was bored of talking about the issue. “Men disappeared. Others were pushed out. Those boys running to Tricky for a new home are the sons of former club members. They want to ride with a club, but they’d never find a place with us,” Zodiac explained and then glanced at Elle. “I have high standards.”
Ignoring him eyeballing my sister, I pointed out, “Tricky doesn’t want your people riding in Little Memphis, but he can’t call dibs on the entire state. He also can’t stop an alliance between my club and yours. But you need to be aware of how I don’t call the shots with Tricky, and I won’t have you forcing the topic.”
Zodiac smiled and glanced at his VP. “Didn’t I say Clint was a reasonable man?”
“Colored me shocked,” Exile replied. “He’s far more reasonable than his father.”
“I’m my own man and rarely beat men to death with bats.”
Zodiac slightly lifted his left leg and admitted. “I still feel it when the air gets cold.”
Elle snorted behind me and whispered something to Sabrina. They both looked at me, waiting for what would happen next.
“Why don’t we order wings and something to drink?” Zodiac announced. “We’ll sit down and share a friendly conversation between new allies.”
Rock nodded and gestured at Exile. “Let’s sit away from the others, so you can tell me your secrets. That way, I can compare them to the bullshit your president tells mine.”
The mood in the bar shifted from openly hostile to a more relaxed yet still aggressive undercurrent. I settled at a table with Zodiac.
“Why don’t you have your pretty sister join us?” he asked as his gaze searched out my people crowded together in the back.
“Because she’ll spend the entire conversation reminding you how our father kicked your ass.”
Zodiac grinned. “Is that how Crawford Reed remembers that day?”
“Your people asked for that beating.”
“No doubt. Wrecker was up on a very high horse during the later stages of his reign.”
“Where is he now?”
Zodiac shrugged. “It’s probably time for his afternoon nap. Retirement has made him lazy and given him a pot belly.”
I lifted my shot of whiskey to Zodiac. “Well, here’s to us living long enough to know such luxuries.”
Zodiac raised his shot glass and nodded at my words. We downed the whiskey and settled back into our chairs. Over the next half hour, we shared greasy wings and information on the Void.
By the time our two clubs went their separate ways, I knew a few things. One was Zodiac wanted to fuck my sister. Two was Tricky needed to join this alliance since his VP’s grandfather might be the reason a top Void asshole was gunning for Little Memphis.