Chapter 1
Idaho
My brother shoved me into the wall, making my teeth rattle in my head.
My only response was a smirk. Something I knew would piss him off even more.
I was used to him blowing up. It was kind of his thing.
He had the patience of a saint ninety percent of the time, but the other ten? Fucking watch out.
"What?" I asked, trying to sound as innocent as possible. "You're not happy to see me, Liam?"
His snarl of frustration sounded like a pissed off animal. "Fuck off, Levi. Why are you here?"
I knew showing up here was bound to piss my twin off, but I was sick of this divide between us.
Business was good, I had some time where I could afford to step away from it, and I was bound and determined to fix the gulf between us.
It'd been years since I'd seen him—not since Daphne’s funeral—and even though he wanted to hit me, it was damn good to have him standing here before me.
His hand curled up into a fist as he glared at me.
Some of his guys piled into the hallway behind him.
I nodded at Static. It hadn't been quite as long since I'd seen our childhood friend.
We still kept in touch and met up whenever I was in town for business.
I didn't personally know the other man standing next to Static, but I recognized him.
Derek Skore, also known as Riptide. He was my brother's VP here in their motorcycle club.
"I'm here to help you out," I said, answering Liam's question.
"I don't need your fucking help."
My eyes strayed back over his head to where the other men were standing.
The looks on their faces said that Liam was wrong.
They did need my help; it was why Static had called me.
This was finally my way back in with my brother and I wasn't going to let the opportunity pass me by. And after our sister died, I knew I needed to mend the rift. Life was too damn short. I’d been searching for years for a way to get close to him again.
It wasn't easy. My brother was a stubborn fucker, and we didn't exactly part on the best of terms. "Not what I heard. "
"Fuck what you heard." He was still raging. When Liam's temper went off it was like he was a pissed off bear. He'd kill anything in sight before he regained his composure.
As though to accent that idea, he slammed his fist into the wall.
I shook my head. He was going to regret that.
We weren't as young as we used to be. "Why don't I come back later?
" I offered. It was the last thing I wanted to do, but he was so fucking spooled up.
There was no way to talk to him when he was like this.
"How about you tell me why the hell you're here?"
"We called him," Static said, interrupting. "Lockout, we really do need his help."
My brother lowered his head, sucking in deep breaths as he tried to calm himself.
It was a technique our mother had shown him when he was young.
Sadness gripped me at the thought of Mom.
I shoved it to the side. There wasn't time for regrets.
I needed to keep my wits about me because I wasn't out of the line of fire yet.
I'd be lucky if I got out of this without a broken nose.
Folding my arms over my chest, I waited while he pulled himself together.
Daphne and I had gotten more of Mom's personality while Liam was a carbon copy of our dad.
Mom had always known exactly how to deal with Dad to focus his temper.
Despite having known Liam all our lives, I'd never quite figured out how to do the same with him.
In fact, it was the opposite. Any effort I made to calm him only further enraged him.
After a few tense minutes, Liam lifted his head and glared at me. "I need to finish church. You can wait out by the bar. Or fuck off. I don't care which."
I couldn't help but chuckle as my brother walked back into the room. Static made a face when I looked at him with my eyebrows raised. "He hasn't changed much."
"Did you think he would?" He stepped forward and we hugged each other. He slammed his palm into the center of my back as hard as he could. "Thanks for coming, Levi."
"We appreciate it, Idaho," Derek said.
My brows climbed higher. "Idaho?"
Derek chuckled. "Static always calls you the man from Idaho. Idaho is shorter."
Static chuckled. "Looks like we've found your road name." He cocked his head. "I assume you still plan to stick around?"
"It's going to piss him off, but yeah, that's the plan."
"Good." Static's eyes flicked over to the closed door. "It's long past time to put all this shit to rest."
"Agreed. Go ahead, I'll wait out here."
The men nodded and went back inside while I walked back out front. There was a woman at the bar now. It had been empty when I came through the door. She was tall, had dark hair, and was fucking gorgeous.
"Hey, Lock. Want a drink?" Her eyes strayed back to the hallway and her brows drew together. "Where're the others?" Her brows drew together as she took a good look at me. "What are you all dressed up for?"
Choosing one of the questions, I answered, "They're in church." I sat down on one of the stools that was in front of the bar.
She looked so confused I nearly laughed. "What?"
"They're in church," I repeated.
I could see her trying to puzzle it out.
I hadn't joined the MC back in the day when Lock took over, but I made it my business to know everything my twin was involved in, so I knew that church wouldn't be happening without the president of the MC there. And I’d hung back during Daphne’s funeral, so I hadn’t met any of Liam’s new family.
I was fucking with her. This had been one of our favorite games as kids, pretending to be one another.
"Levi Sharpe." I held my hand out to her.
She blinked down at it, then back up at me. "...Kit Kincaid." She took my hand and shook it. "I didn't know Lockout had a…"
"Twin," I confirmed. My smile widened as shocked recognition spread over her face.
"He's never even spoken about you," she said, then stopped as twin spots of color appeared on her cheeks. "Sorry, I mean-"
"It's alright," I told her. "I wouldn't have expected him to." I laughed as she studied me intently. I knew for a fact that Daphne hadn’t spoken about me either. We still kept in contact, up until her death, but in order to stay on Liam’s good side, she never mentioned me. I didn’t hold it against her. She was in a tough spot.
"You're seriously twin-twins," she said with a laugh. "Sorry, again." She finally looked away. "Want that drink?"
"Sure, Jack and Coke. Thanks."
I watched as she prepared the drink. Despite how beautiful she was, I wasn't really interested. Everything in my life had been put on hold, including women, while I built up my empire. Now that I was at the top, I was finding it hard to shake the workaholic habits I'd adopted over the years.
She set the drink in front of me, giving me a friendly smile, then picked up a clipboard that'd been sitting on the bar. I watched her do inventory as I took a long swallow of the drink. The whiskey hit the back of my throat with a familiar burn.
Picking up my phone, I spent the time answering a few emails and other important business related things my assistant had sent over for me to look at.
Andrew worked nearly as hard as I did. It was the reason I hired him.
The kid was going places and I wanted those places to be within Sharpe Corporations.
"Hey, Vixen."
I looked up and one of the biggest men I'd ever seen walked out from the hallway, the rest of the men following him.
He leaned on the bar, then grinned right before the dark-haired beauty laid a kiss on his lips.
If I'd been interested in dating her, I'd have been disappointed.
Though maybe finding somewhere to wet my dick was something I should look into. It'd been too fucking long.
Flicking through my phone, I pulled up my To Do List and added it.
Right at the top. Get some pussy. Shrugging, I shoved the phone back into the pocket of my suit pants and watched the rest of the men come out of church.
Despite the differences between them, they all had the same shit in common.
They were dangerous. Predators. Ready to hunt the entire world.
It was a good feeling to be that kind of man.
I knew from the way people responded to me in boardrooms I gave off the same vibes.
It made negotiations easy, since there were few predators in my world.
Vultures mostly, and I could pick them off easily.
I'd been in the military right alongside my brother and our best friend.
Reed had changed a lot, the same as me. I'd kept just as close an eye on him as I had Liam.
He was a hot shot lawyer now, but I was actually glad to see him joining the MC.
It amused me that Liam was forcing him to prospect for the club.
Two men paused as they were walking by. The rest were studying me, but not approaching, or speaking to me. These two didn't seem to have that issue.
"Who the fuck are you?" the younger, and gruffer, of the two asked.
His hair was a little longer, down to the ears, and shaggy.
He had tattoos on his neck, down his forearms, and over the backs of his hands.
His hazel eyes were narrowed on me. His friend seemed a bit more relaxed, though no less intense as they both waited for my reply.
"I think that's a bit obvious," I answered with a chuckle. "I'm Liam, from the mirror universe." They blinked a few times before outright ignoring my comment.
"You know what the fuck I mean. Why are you here?"
"Those are two very different questions," I pointed out.
"Butcher," the friend said, tone warning. "He's Lock's family. Leave him be."
I straightened up in my seat. "You're Butcher?"
That was the wrong thing to say. The man tensed up even more and now his friend was giving me a look that told me I was an idiot.
I knew every man in this MC. Well, knew of them.
Had thick files on them, everything from their home lives, to their military careers.
The man standing before me was a wild card.
Though, that might be putting it too nicely.
He was a fucking bomb, waiting to go off. I decided to give him a shake.
"I know you, friend?" The way he said friend made it very clear that we weren't.
There wasn't a chance to answer because Liam, Lockout—I snickered inwardly at the name—came into the room. I'd been the one to give both Lock and Static their nicknames. It was only fair that Static had returned that favor. Idaho. Fucking ridiculous, but it could be worse.
I'd been forced to move there and start up my business in Boise because that was where my original investors had been located.
It hadn't taken long before I had homes all over the country.
I spent more time on planes traveling than I did at any one location, but Boise was still home.
For now. "Everyone, this is my brother, Levi," Lock announced.
He said brother like he was spitting out a piece of rotten fruit from his mouth.
Hush nodded at me. I hadn’t seen him in a long damn time. Not since we lost Daphne.
"Idaho," Riptide interrupted with a grin in my direction.
Lockout gave him a piercing look before continuing.
"He's here to help us out with the school.
Then he'll probably crawl back into whatever hole he came out of.
" The last sentence was muttered and mostly only for me, but both Butcher and his friend—who I was pretty sure was Boone Sutton, also known as Toxic—overheard.
Toxic shot a wicked grin my way. "Gotta love family reunions," he said before nudging Butcher along with him, giving me and Lockout a chance to speak alone.
"Got a few minutes?" I asked.
The muscle in Lock's jaw flexed as he ground his teeth together. "Yeah. Follow me."
Downing the rest of the liquid in my glass, I winked at Kit. "Thanks for the drink."
"Who the fuck is he winking at?" The mountain still standing at the bar snarled.
"Hell, relax," she said as I passed by them.
"Been here ten minutes and you're already causing trouble," Lock said as he led me back down the hall again. "Why do you always fucking have to do that?"
"It's what I'm good at," I told him with a shrug.
His string of curses made me smile as we walked. I'd missed this. Missed him. He didn't know it yet, but I had every intention of repairing the rift between us and sticking around.