Chapter 1
Reeze stepped out of the dilapidated shack on the outskirts of town. Dawn was beginning to break on the horizon, a thin streak of sunlight already visible. Soon the day would be here, and with a deep sigh, he wiped the blood from his hands with a dirty towel.
The night’s task had dragged on, and he didn’t like how it had ended at all, but there was nothing he could do about it now.
He had done what was expected of him. He was loyal to his club, and this had been his job.
Now that it was done, no one knew he had even been there, and what had happened was nothing more than another memory in his head, like so many others.
A memory that would soon fade and take its place in that hidden part of his mind.
With his errand done, he straddled his Road King and headed home.
What he needed now was a shower and a few hours of sleep.
He had worked until midnight and then taken care of club business, and he was tired, exhausted really, because with everything going on around him, he hadn’t had a quiet moment in a long time.
Tonight, it was time for a meeting, and he had promised to be there. Not that it was a promise he could break. It was his duty and obligation, and no one skipped a meeting once it had been called.
He wasn’t complaining. This was a life he had chosen, grown up with and worked for, and even though he sometimes found the things expected of him difficult, he wouldn’t trade it for anything. He had done his part, proven his loyalty and earned his patch.
The moment he parked outside the dilapidated block of flats where he lived, his phone rang.
Lotta, it read on the display, and he sighed before he even answered. This couldn’t be good; he knew that from pure instinct. A call from her at this time in the morning was more than enough to ruin his entire day.
“What do you want?” he growled.
“You can pick Molly up from school!” the female voice hissed at the other end.
“What, pick her up from school? She’s only just started for the day, hasn’t she?” he muttered back. It wasn’t his turn to have his daughter, and even though he was more than happy to spend time with her, right now he needed a shower and some sleep.
“Yeah, but they called from that fucking school. She got into a fight. Again. She’s your daughter, so go and get her. I’ve had enough of her shit.”
“Her shit? She’s eight. At eight, you don’t have shit,” he hissed angrily.
Lotta snorted.
“Are you picking her up or not? I have several meetings, and I really can’t have that little bastard here with me.”
Reeze felt anger bubbling up in his throat. He didn’t tolerate Lotta’s condescending way of talking about their daughter; he never had. But right now, he had even less patience for her bullshit. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed heavily before giving in.
“Yeah. I’ll pick her up.”
He ended the call, started the bike again and headed for the school.
Luckily, it wasn’t raining and spring had finally arrived, so he didn’t have to arrange for a car and could take Molly on the bike instead.
She loved riding with him, and he often let her, simply because he knew how much she enjoyed it.
A few kilometres later, he arrived at Lill?ngen's Primary School and pulled up near the entrance.
As soon as she heard the motorcycle, Molly came running out and threw herself around his neck, crying.
“Sorry, Dad. Sorry... but Albin tore my backpack,” she sobbed.
He wrapped his arms around his daughter and kissed her forehead.
“It’s okay,” he said soothingly, smiling at her.
Behind him, someone cleared their throat with authority.
“Could I have a word with you?” said a stern female voice.
He turned and gave Molly’s teacher an indifferent look. He really hated that witch. She had made his life a misery ever since he himself had gone to school here.
“Of course.”
“Very well. Then we’ll go into the classroom.”
Her tone was as tart as a lemon, and Reeze couldn’t help wondering how she managed to sound like acid reflux on a daily basis. In the privacy of his own mind, he wondered whether it had taken years of practice to achieve that level of perfection.
He followed her, Molly clinging to his arm.
This was definitely not how he had planned to spend the rest of the morning, but he would just have to accept it.
It wasn’t the first time he had been here, and it wouldn’t be the last. The teacher also seemed to look increasingly constipated every time they met.
They had never got along. The ghosts of the past still lingered, at least in his head. Maybe they did in hers too. Reeze hadn’t exactly been a model pupil, and the animosity clearly remained from those days.
The teacher showed him into the classroom and turned to Molly.
“You can wait out here. I want to speak to your father in private.”
Molly nodded uncertainly and sat down on a chair in the corridor. Reeze gently ruffled her hair before following the teacher inside with his head held high.
As soon as the door closed behind them, she turned her attention to him.
“These fights have to stop. This isn’t the first time Molly has been involved in one.”
She looked at him as if she were judging his entire existence: his life, his appearance, everything.
In her wrinkled face, he could read both disapproval and a complete lack of empathy.
The look was the same one she had given him when he had been her pupil, and perhaps she despised him even more now.
Reeze wanted to knock that judgemental expression straight into the floor, but he knew better. Instead, he steeled himself and glared back at her.
“Maybe so. But then you’ll have to make sure Albin stops harassing my daughter. As long as he keeps going after her, I can’t guarantee the fights will stop.”
“This isn’t about Albin...” she began.
“No? Then what the hell is it about?”
He crossed his arms over his chest and straightened to his full height, making every centimetre of it deliberately apparent.
“That my daughter doesn’t take shit? That she won’t stand there and let him destroy her things, her clothes and her school supplies?
Do you think that’s okay? A boy three years above her hits her, bites her and tears up her things, and it’s only when she fights back that everyone suddenly loses their fucking minds?
He comes running, crying and whining, and you do his dirty work for him.
So what the hell is this actually about? ”
“You need to understand that we don’t resolve conflicts with violence here at school, and your daughter’s behaviour is extremely inappropriate,” she snapped.
His voice dropped, dangerously close to breaking point.
“So her behaviour is inappropriate. What about his? Is that allowed?”
“Of course not...” she defended herself as Reeze took a step closer. She backed up behind the teacher’s desk as if it might protect her.
“Then do something about it and you won’t have any more fights.
Or is it because his mother sits on the council and his father is a lawyer that you don’t have to have this conversation with them?
Is it because I’m a biker and work in a bar and Molly’s mother works in a shop that you come whining to us instead?
Because we’re worth less than corrupt politicians and lawyers?
Because Albin’s parents have more money? ”
The teacher gasped.
“No,” she stammered. “It has nothing to do with your financial circumstances—”
“Then deal with the real problem and you’ll avoid the fights. But as long as that little bastard keeps laying his hands on my daughter, I’ll encourage her to give as good as she gets. And if it doesn’t stop soon, I’ll make sure it does.”
He gave her a malicious smile.
“In my own way...”
With that, he left the room and slammed the door behind him.
“Come on, flea. Let’s go.”
He lifted his daughter with one arm and carried her through the corridor.
Out in the school-yard, a group of kids had gathered around his bike. Albin, who was clearly trying to act like the big man in front of the others, had climbed onto it. But the sight of Reeze coming towards him made him scramble off quickly when father and daughter approached.
“You shouldn’t touch Dad’s bike,” Molly said firmly.
Albin looked frightened.
Reeze set his daughter down before turning to the boy and pulling him closer with a firm grip on his shoulder.
“And you’re not going to touch my daughter either,” he hissed, fixing him with a dark stare. “Things usually end badly for idiots who play with things that don’t belong to them. Don’t touch her again...”
He deliberately shifted his cut aside just enough for Albin to see what was hidden beneath it.
The boy froze, and the next moment the other children burst out laughing as the front of Albin’s trousers darkened.
“He pissed himself!” they giggled.
With a nasty smile, Reeze put the helmet on his daughter, straddled the bike and rode away.