More Bite than Bark (Savage Warriors MC #1)

Chapter One

“Shit!” Jake said on the other end of the line. “Are you kidding me? This is huge. Give me a sec.”

Sounds on the other end of the line went distant, but Hex had no trouble hearing his old buddy say. He leaned back in his office chair as he listened.

“They’ve got Switchblade. They’re holding him for us and want to know if we want him turned over to authorities or if we want to handle it ourselves.”

He heard other voices but couldn’t make them out. Then Jake came back on the line.

“Can you give us an hour? We need to contact our other chapter and then hold church. Can I get back to you?”

“Sure. I’m headed out for the night in the next couple of hours, but send me a message and I’ll relay it to Wrath to take care of until I get back.”

They said their goodbyes and Hex leaned back, tilting his chair back as he closed his eyes and wished he didn’t have to go tonight. But if he didn’t show, then his mother would be on his ass, and that was the last thing he needed right now.

Mitzie Rogers was difficult to get along with under the best of circumstances, it was ten times worse when she wasn’t getting her way. Despite trying for the last six weeks to convince her that he did not need to attend tonight, she insisted.

To her, his not showing up to her best friend’s daughter’s wedding was a huge insult and just could not be done.

Mother and Sandy Williamson had been best friends for as long as Hex could remember.

When both husbands had been killed in a boating accident when Hex had been 10, it had only made them closer.

But what he couldn’t tell her was about the night when Elizabeth, or Elle as he’d always called her, had shown up at his door.

Hex had always wanted more with her, but had known she was off limits.

She was somebody as Mother would put it.

She claimed she loved him, but she also looked down on how he’d chosen to live his life.

It had started when he’d joined the Army right out of high school and had only gone downhill from there.

When he’d returned from his enlistment with tattoos on both arms and long hair, astride a motorcycle he hadn’t been good enough.

He’d only seen her once after he’d gotten back, but the way her eyes had skimmed right over him, as if she didn’t even see him.

It had cut deep. That been just after he’d come home, almost five years ago now.

He had avoided her since then, as much as he could.

Given that, and what Mother had said, he knew jeans and his cut wouldn’t be acceptable for tonight.

Mother had made sure he had something appropriate to wear when she had picked him up and taken him to get a tux fitted.

He sighed and pushed himself out of his chair.

He needed to get changed or he would be late, but first he needed to check in with his vice president and make sure they could manage the prisoner without him.

Not that he could use the man in the boat storage building at the rear of the property as a reason not to go.

No one but his brothers knew he was there, well except for the Demented Souls, but they were half way across the country and didn’t even know exactly where the Savage Warriors were, much less where on their property to find the man they were looking for.

Hex had made sure the man was secure himself. He had no doubt the gang leader would not be escaping. That would be one thing off his mind as he did what he couldn’t get out of tonight.

With a sigh, he heaved his large frame from the chair and headed to find Wrath. They needed to talk before he was out of hand all evening.

Hours later, Hex tugged at his collar. The last thing he’d wanted to do today was put on this monkey suit and watch the one person he’d ever thought about settling down with, commit herself to someone else.

But his mother had insisted in that tone that Hex knew from experience meant that if she didn’t get her way in this, he would pay for it later, and usually in ways that made whatever he’d gotten out of in the first place preferable.

He knew it wasn’t an accident. Still, he hadn’t found an excuse Mother would accept in order to excuses him from this ordeal, so here he was.

People milled around, chatting and visiting while they waited. Hex stood in one corner and wished the bar he’d seen men setting up for in the next room, was open. He could use a drink about now.

“Look like you’re happy to be here,” Mother whispered as she approached, a slim glass of champaign in one hand.

“You’re pushing it.” He glanced at the glass and wondered where she’d gotten it.

He detested the bubbly wine, but if that was all that could be had right now, he’d take it.

He hoped the bar had something harder when it finally opened.

He glanced that way. “Where’d you get that.

” Hex nodded to the glass his mother held.

“There are waiters wandering around with them. Really, Kevin. I raised you better than this. Sandy is my best friend. The least you can do is show up and watch as the woman you’ve known all her life gets married.”

He ignored her. What she didn’t know was the reason he didn’t want to be here. It wasn’t the having to get dressed up and put on a show, like she thought, though that was no small part of it.

The biggest reason he didn’t want to be here was because he did, but he didn’t want to be a guest. He wanted to be the one standing up there, waiting for his Elle to come to him. But she’d chosen someone else.

And now he was being forced to sit and watch her choose him again.

Fuck. He needed a drink.

“For goodness sake, Kevin, at least smile.” Mother poked him in the side along with the admonishment.

He clenched his teeth to resist telling her for the millionth time that he preferred Hex to his given name.

Every time he said it to her, she told him she’d named him Kevin and it was a perfectly good name.

She didn’t understand why he would choose to use some trashy road name instead of the respectable name she’d given him.

He’d heard it as many times as he’d asked to be called Hex.

Eventually, he’d given up. It wasn’t a fight he felt like having.

Especially today when it would take every ounce of his self-control to sit on that chair and keep his mouth shut.

He schooled his face to blankness. There was no way he could pretend to be happy, but at least he could try to avoid scowling at everyone.

“I’ll see what I can do,” he said. “Excuse me.” He spotted one of the waiters and headed his way.

He needed alcohol and if the stupid, fucking, foofy wine was all he could get, then he’d drink it, at least until he could get something better.

When he reached the waiter, he picked up two glasses, downed the first as if it was a shot and put the glass back on the tray.

“Thanks,” he said to the waiter as he turned away, second glass in hand. This one he’d take a little longer to drink. But probably not much.

A moment later someone tapped on the microphone, sending a dull thump through the sound system before they spoke.

“We’d like to thank everyone for coming tonight, the bride is almost ready so at this time, we’d like to invite all our guests to take their seats.” Hex didn’t recognize the voice and assumed it was someone from the band that would be playing later.

He made his way to the rows of chairs, planning to find one in the back, preferably in the corner, so he could see as little as possible. What he hadn’t counted on was Mother.

She seemed to appear out of nowhere, hooking her arm in his and all but dragging him to where she wanted to sit.

That’s how he ended up sitting one seat in from the aisle, way too close to the front.

He wanted to get up and move, but Mother’s hand on his leg stopped him.

Not seeing any other option he drank the last of the campaign from his glass and set it under his chair to retrieve later, then leaned back and focused on slow deep breaths.

He could get through this. He’d survived people throwing grenades that landed close enough he’d been hit by shrapnel.

He’d been shot at. He’d killed. All he had to do today was sit still for an hour and keep his mouth shut.

Somehow he already knew it was going to be that last one that was the hardest.

The music changed and everyone stood. Hex couldn’t stay seated without drawing attention that would only make Mother angry, so he stood beside Mother, his body facing the aisle, just like her, but his mind flicked back to the night a couple of months before when Elle had shown up at his door.

Neither had been completely sober. Hex had let her in, they’d drank more and talked for a while, then their clothes had come off and they hadn’t talked anymore.

He'd known for a long time he’d wanted Elle as more than a friend, but that night, or more accurately, the next morning, he realized she was the only one he wanted.

But she hadn’t called after their night together. And she hadn’t answered when he called, nor returned them.

Then he’d received the invitation. He’d been tempted to find another woman.

Hell, he could have gone to Savage Angels, the strip club the Savage Warriors owned and ran.

The girls were clean, and they weren’t allowed to sleep with the customers.

The Warriors might not be the most upstanding citizens in Wilmer, but there were things they didn’t condone, and prostitution was one of them.

Still, if he’d gone over to the club, one of the girls would have offered to help him relieve a little pressure.

There was a reason he’d stayed away. Even the thought of one of the Angels touching him made his stomach churn.

The music continued, but the tempo changed, drawing his attention back to the here and now.

His mother had made sure he’d had the education to know they’d been playing Pachelbel’s “Cannon in D”, while everyone took their seats, now as it changed, he knew Elle would appear soon, as Wagner’s “Bridal Chorus” began.

He wished he could just walk out. If it wasn’t him she was going home with, he didn’t want to watch her commit herself to anyone.

But that was his problem. He was here and he couldn’t just leave.

Well, he could, but he’d be paying for it for years to come.

Hex kept his gaze on his hands, one clasping the other in front of him, as he waited.

Murmurs spread through the audience. The back of Hex’s neck itched.

He ached to twist around and look for whoever was watching him, but he remained still.

He locked his joints and did his best to remain as still as possible.

He didn’t want to draw anyone’s attention.

While he might not want to be here, this was Elle’s day. He wouldn’t steal that from her.

After what seemed like an hour and a half, but was under five minutes in reality, a man Hex recognized as the pastor from the church he’d grown up attending thanked everyone and asked them to be seated.

Hex sat, sliding back in the seat and wishing he was wearing jeans and boots instead of this damned tux.

Just one of many reasons he wanted to get out of here.

Shifting to get comfortable, he let his gaze scan the room, looking for where the itching on the back of his neck was coming from.

At least he started to. He froze when his gaze landed on Elle.

She stood in front of at least two hundred guests, staring up at the man she’d agreed to marry, with a look he recognized as resignation. This wasn’t what she wanted. He knew that as well as he knew his own name, both of them.