Chapter
Grey
Six Weeks Earlier
I sat on my bike as I watched the happy family.
The young woman, the young boy, and the baby she lovingly cradled to her chest.
“Ready?” Nuke asked.
I looked back at the family and shook my head.
Now wasn’t the time to wish for shit I’d never had.
And it sure as hell wasn’t the time to wish for shit, I had no way of making it happen.
I lifted my chin at Nuke.
He circled a finger, and then we all started up our bikes.
The rumble from ten bikes made the windows on Main Street vibrate.
I smirked.
As we passed by Sallie’s General Store, I felt my neck prickle.
If I had looked over my shoulder... I would have seen her.
Cause in our part of Pierre Parrish, that was in the great state of Louisiana, we had a few sayings... really, they were omens if you truly thought about it.
And one particular omen had to do with Sallie’s General Store.
See, the omen was that if you passed by Sallie’s General Store and there was a woman in a long black dress stepping out of the door, the person that is the other half of your soul is within twenty feet of you.
I was the dumbass who hadn’t looked back.
But that hadn’t entered my mind, not when it was on what we were in town doing.
We had been scoping out businesses that we could buy for a quick turnaround or for properties that we could get really low and slowly build them up just right.
And now that we were done, we made the drive back to the clubhouse.
We backed our bikes into a long row at the front of the clubhouse.
I parked my bike next to Nuke, our President, since I was the Vice President.
I lifted my chin at Xander, Saint, Kettle, Grimm, Khal, Jury, Wolf, Lyle, and Hamm, who had ridden with us, and then I made my way inside.
Striding over to the bar, I took a shot that Kourt had set down in front of me and tossed it back.
As the liquid burned down my throat, I headed to the room we used for church.
Then I took my seat to the right of Nuke’s chair, pulled out the paper, and the weed.
Once I had the blunt rolled perfectly, I tagged my lighter, lit it, and took in a long, deep pull.
I held it in, and then slowly I let it out.
I pulled my phone from kutte and checked it.
No new messages. No missed calls.
Really, I was checking to see if my sister had reached out.
I haven’t heard from her since I forced her to detox at the club.
And now... I doubted I would see her unless she wanted something.
And yes, I know what you’re thinking. Why are you enabling her?
She’s family.
The only family I had left.
And therefore, I would do what I could for her.
Just as I took a hit from the blunt, I heard boots hitting the floor.
Nuke entered, followed by Wolf, Kettle, Saint, Grimm, Xander, Khal, Jury, and Merlin.
I lifted the blunt for whoever wanted it and wasn’t surprised when Grimm tagged it, hit it, then passed it to Khal. He hit it, then passed it to Nuke.
Nuke took a pull from the blunt, then banged the gavel.
“We’re buying that row of storefronts. Added income. Profitable. Provable. We’ll be able to launder some cash that way, too.” He said as he took another pull from the blunt, then handed it to me.
“All in favor, say aye.”
Around the room, we all heard aye, and a few hands lifted in the air for their silent agreement.
In other words, Xander, Grimm, and Kettle.
I took another pull from the blunt as Nuke banged the gavel, “Motion passed. Now we need to talk about who is going to replace Minnie and Tamber.”
Jury lifted his chin, “A few girls who work at Bliss have asked about any openings we have.”
Bliss was the strip club we had opened a few months ago, right after Xander had gotten his woman to forgive him for being a giant asshole.
“Who?” I asked.
“Baby, Yolo, Diamond, and Hannah.” Jury said.
I thought about the girls he had mentioned, “No on Baby.”
Kettle jerked up his chin along with Khal.
Wolf lifted a brow, “Why not?”
“You were on a mission. You missed seeing her poking holes in Khal’s condoms so she could land him.” I said.
Wolf nodded, “Got it.”
“Does anyone have an issue with Yolo, Diamond, or Hannah?” Nuke asked.
“Hannah has a mouth on her, so I’d put her ass on probation,” Xander said.
When no one else said a word, Nuke banged the gavel.
“Okay, now that that’s out of the way, we need to talk about what Asher asked of us.” Nuke said.
I lifted a brow, “And what has Asher asked of us?”
Asher was the president of Zagan MC, based out of Mississippi. They were an alley of sorts with us, as well as Wrath MC, and all their chapters, which dominated the southeastern coast. They were also allies of Immoral Saint’s MC out of Georgia.
Nuke lifted a brow at my question, then he rolled his eyes.
“Seriously, Pres. What are you talking about?” I asked.
Then I looked at the brothers and saw the same looks of confusion on their faces.
Nuke caught the looks as well, then he frowned, pulled his phone out of his back pocket, hit some buttons, then he sighed, “I forgot to fucking hit send. Fuck me.”
“Not if you paid me to,” Xander quipped.
Nuke chuckled, “Nola would cut your balls off.”
“Then she’d feed your balls to you,” Merlin said with pride.
Xander’s crazy ass self did nothing but smile.
Nuke chuckled, “Right. Now, about what Asher needs from us. Apparently, they are about to go to war with a club. And he asked that we join in this war.”
“Ah, heard about that. They stopped ten shipments of kids from leaving the states to be trafficked.” I said.
Kettle growled.
Xander’s eyes narrowed.
“We bathe in blood,” Grimm growled.
Nuke locked eyes with all of us, and then he nodded, “Got it.”
And then we planned on what we needed to do and how we could help.
***
Three weeks later, we rolled up on the clubhouse of the Shady Demon’s MC.
And in two hours, their clubhouse was up in flames as tendrils of smoke wafted up to the sky.
Lines of it stretching.
I grinned at my brothers.
Some were clean.
Some were covered in blood.
But as I took in the forty-four kids who had been locked up in a barn, I grinned.
Because that was forty-four kids who would get to go back to their loved ones tonight.
Asher walked over along with his brothers, Pipe, Coal, Irish, Priest, Rome, Creature, Stoney, Trigger, and Whit.
We all clasped hands and slapped backs.
Just then, the Alabama Chapter of Wrath MC, who had also helped, walked over: Declan, Rhage, Thrash, Havoc, Tinker, Rocket, Cross, and Bash.
“Always a fucking pleasure,” Declan said as he shook hands with Asher, then Nuke.
“Y’all are invited to stay the night at the clubhouse,” Asher said.
I looked at my brothers, then at Nuke, and said, “Appreciate it, but a few of us gotta head back home.”
I looked at Grimm and Kettle; they wouldn’t want to go because the girls who stayed around MC’s didn’t listen and would try to get with them and would try to touch them. And that was a big hell to the fucking no.
Saint would want to get home to Ophelia and the kids.
Xander would want to get home to Nola.
And Merlin would want to get home to Tempie.
After Kettle, Grimm, Saint, Xander, and Merlin left, I followed Nuke with Khal beside me, Wolf behind him, and Jury behind me as we headed to the Zagan MC clubhouse.
And behind us, the Alabama Chapter of Wrath MC followed.
***
I had just taken a pull from my beer when the door opened, and a woman walked in.
I eyed her and frowned.
She was a tiny thing with long black hair.
She looked mixed with something, but I didn’t know what.
I was too far away to catch anything else.
But what shocked the fuck out of me was that Rome, the Sergeant at Arms of Zagan MC, was the one moving.
Rome was striding over to her, one hand going to the side of her face with a softness I didn’t know he possessed.
“Who’s that?” Wolf asked.
Irish chuckled, “That’s the woman who owns his balls, and she doesn’t even know it.”
Pipe smirked, “Yeah. That’s Collins. She’s Gage’s daughter, he’s the tech guru for the Dogwood Treasure chapter of Wrath MC.”
I nodded, “Gotcha.”
I heard about Collins through the grapevine years ago. She had been six or so when she had been diagnosed with cancer, and she had beaten it.
Looking at her now, you never would have known.
Rome growled.
Priest chuckled as he stood and popped his knuckles, “Let’s go find out whose ass we’re kicking.”
Coal smirked.
***
And two hours later, I was bent over laughing.
See, her neighbor has been asking her out, and she has been telling him no.
Well... he had the bright idea to break into her house and wait for her.
She had been out buying things for a me day as she called it.
Meaning she did a lot of self-care stuff on Sundays.
And in order to save money, she waxed herself.
And when she walked into her house, he tried to jump her.
He didn’t know that she was a biker’s daughter.
Therefore, she did some tricks that her dad had shown her, and the man was now handcuffed to her bed with a giant pink dildo shoved in his mouth.
She had driven to tell Rome when he didn’t answer her call.
But that wasn’t the worst of it.
Nope.
See, Collins was still fuming after we had followed her to her house.
And as a result of that, Priest and Trigger were now slapping waxing strips on the man’s balls.
I was laughing even harder along with Khal and Wolf as they pulled the strips, and the man’s bellows rent the air.