The club owns Angel’s Construction Company, Rebellion Garage and The Watering Hole. Most of the Brothers work for one of the businesses. I work for the construction company that my cousin Hoss runs. I’m a welder by trade, however, I’m pretty much a jack of all trades. I can run heavy machinery, I pound a mean hammer, know my way around plumbing, heat and air, and even electrical. If it needed to be done, I could do it.
Up until earlier this year most of the members were related to at least one other person, if not more, in the club. A couple years ago, Beau, our President Mad Dog’s son, brought home two men, Rebel and Predator, during one of their leaves from the Army. It didn’t take long for my fellow Brothers and myself to decide that we wanted Reb and Pred to prospect for us. There was one little problem, they didn’t want to leave their Pops, Viper.
Viper was the Vice President of Spawns of Satan MC out of Kentucky. SoS truly was a ruthless, do anything 1%’er club. Viper had somehow managed not to fall into the dark side of the club. Instead, he spent over twenty years in SoS trying to figure out a way to leave the club without any retaliation against him, his family and a select few Brothers and their families. Finally, he found a way.
He ended up out maneuvering the President of SoS, Devil, in a deadly game of mental acuity. Viper came out on top, Devil ended up dead. Viper victoriously fought his way out of the MC to save his family and six of his Brothers. In February, he patched over to ARMC, along with the six men he saved, thus allowing Reb and Pred to prospect. I admired the hell out of Viper. He’s good people.
A month or so later, Beau brought another couple of his Army buddies, Creed and Brick, to prospect for us after they mustered out of the service. A week after that, a couple more men, Casper and Ghost, showed up to prospect. They are friends of my cousin Shadow who is in the Army. I really don’t know what Shadow does. The one thing I do know is that he’s a team leader and the missions he runs are classified.
Cas and Ghost were Delta and had been on Shadow’s team. I knew they had planned to make the military their career, only something happened on their last mission that left them suffering from PTSD. When it came time for them to re-up, they knew the best thing for them was to transition out of the Army. The military lost two good men and ARMC was in the process of gaining those men. Once their prospect time was over, I already knew they would easily be voted into the Brotherhood.
All of these changes have resulted in the club growing and becoming more dynamic. The new men brought with them a spark of life that had seemed to be missing for a while now. I can honestly say that I like each new man that has become a part of the club in the last few months. Besides being really good men, they brought with them new skill sets that complimented ARMC.
From the time I was little and first visited ARMC’s Clubhouse, I knew that being a Brother was what I wanted to do with my life. While my dad had never had the desire to become a member of the club, his brother, my Uncle KJ, was a member.
I used to bug the shit out of KJ to take me with him when he was going to the Clubhouse. I loved being around all the Brothers. I liked how they interacted with each other. Then there was the bonus of being able to look at all their bikes. Sadly, for me, that didn’t happen nearly as much as I wanted it to.
KJ, well, my Brother now, is the sheriff of our county. I know that seems like a big conflict of interest, but it works for him and for our MC. Not that many civilians knew he was a Brother in the club. That was kept on the down low. We sometimes helped KJ out on things that the law couldn’t do anything about and KJ had our backs if we needed his help.
My cousin Bane and I had grown up together and we were only months apart in age. He is my best friend. My dad and his mom are brother and sister. To say that we were around each other all the time was an understatement. We’d been in diapers together, learned to crawl, walk, run, whatever it was, we did it together. From the first time we had noticed a motorcycle, joining ARMC had been our goal.
See, I really am living the good life, so I couldn’t figure out what the fuck was going on with me lately. I was in a freaking ass weird mood and I hated it.
I had just raised my beer to take another drink when the hottest damn woman I’d ever seen in my life walked through the door of The Watering Hole.
“Holy shit,” Bane drawled out. “Will you fucking looked what just walked through the door?”
Doom and Brute both whistled and I noticed that Blood and Slaughter were heavily eyeballing the women that were with her.
“Damn, boys, those are some mighty fine-looking women,” Slaughter said as he straightened up in his seat, his eyes already settled on one woman.
I don’t know how long I just held my beer aloft as I watched the red-headed waif head toward a table with three other women. I couldn’t tell you if the other women were short or tall, thin or thick, blonde or brunette, nothing. My eyes could only see the vision of the woman I knew immediately was made for me.
Just minutes ago, I’d had the thought I didn’t want a woman in my life permanently. At least I’d thought that until the sexy urchin walked into the bar and scrambled my brain. I hadn’t even moved in my chair, my body was frozen. Yet my insides felt like they were on a rollercoaster ride that was never going to end. I was being taken to the highest point, looping through twists and turns, then plunging to the bottom, only to start the ride again.
Her natural red hair complimented her pale freckled complexion. I’d always been a sucker for redheads with freckles. They were my kryptonite. The draw this woman had on me left me reeling. I’d never before felt the hard pull of a woman tug at something inside me. That all changed the minute she walked into the bar. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I’d see a beautiful woman and want to take her to bed, I was a man after all, however, this woman had my entire body humming. I was drawn to her like a moth to a flame.
I was normally quiet. I wasn’t shy per se, I just always stayed in the background. Bane was the outgoing one. Bane was this loud and boisterous person who seemed to crave attention from everyone. Me, not so much. I stayed on the edges. I was comfortable there.
I knew that I couldn’t stay on the edges right now, because if I didn’t get to the cute vixen, Bane would get there before me and I’d be cast into the shadows. As I set my beer down on the table, I vaguely heard Doom speaking.
“Damn, Bane, if you were wanting that little redhead, you’re fucked Brother. Think someone else wants her more.”
I did too, I wanted her more. I got up and made my way to the table where my future was sitting with a gaggle of giggling women.
“Ladies,” I murmured as I stopped by their table. “How are you doing tonight?”
More giggles ensued. Each woman was looking me over. I knew I wasn’t bad looking. I’ve even been told I’m a good looking man. Several women have actually told me I was better looking than Bane, only he usually ended up with more women. Not that I have ever really thought about trying to compete with him over a woman.
I did know that I needed to get to this woman fast or Bane, with this charismatic personality that tends to captivate the ladies, would have her falling at his feet. If he didn’t, one of my other Brothers would.
The looks I was getting from the ladies stroked my ego. I wasn’t going to lie, I liked looking good so I made damn sure I kept in shape. I looked at the redhead and smiled.
“Hey, would you care to dance?” I asked her, mentally holding my breath.
In a voice that almost made me combust right then and there, she breathed out breathily, “I’d love too.”
I held out my hand to her and when she placed hers in mine, I swear on all that’s holy, I felt sparks run up and down my body. I heard her inhale deeply and knew she felt something as well.
I led her to the dance floor and a slow song came on as I pulled her into my arms. I tucked her into my body and breathed in her scent. I swear I could get drunk on her fragrance, vanilla and lavender. I drew in another deep breath. Yeah, pretty sure I was already dru
nk on her.
“I’m Eagle,” my lips touched her hair as I leaned my head down to tell her my name.
“I’m Kenzie,” she said as she tilted her head back to look at me.
“First time I’ve seen you here.”
Jeez, Eagle, real suave there.
“This is the first time we’ve come to this bar. The girls wanted to try something different.”
“Well, I’m fucking glad you did. I would have hated to have missed out on ever seeing your face.”
“Yeah, I’m kinda glad we came tonight too,” she flashed a sexy smile at me.
“Do you live in Rogers?” I asked, hoping she said yes. I wanted to get to know this woman if she’d give me the chance.
“I live in Springdale but my friend Cathy, the blonde one in our group, lives in Rogers.”
“What brought you to the bar tonight?”
She looked at me and bit her bottom lip. My cock twitched as my eyes zeroed in on her teeth toying with the tender piece of flesh that I’d love to draw between my lips and suck on.
“You’ll think it’s bad if I tell you.”
“Try me.”
“My friends heard that bikers frequented this bar and were, umm...”
“Looking for some action from a biker, huh?”
Kenzie blushed bright red.
“Yeah,” she mumbled.
“How about you sweet Kenzie? You looking for some action from a biker?”
I didn’t think it was possible for her to get any redder but she somehow managed it. She looked at me through her eyelashes trying to gauge my reaction and damned if she wasn’t torturing her bottom lip again. That had my fucking cock going rock solid.
“Darlin’, if you keep tormenting that lip, I’m gonna have to rescue it.”
I groaned when her tongue swiped across it. Without conscious thought to where we were, I ran my hands under her jaw, tilted her head back, and tugged that piece of tempting plumpness between my lips and sucked lightly on it. She whimpered, which spurred me on. Before I even realized it, my tongue was thrusting into her mouth, lazily swirling around hers. I felt her arms go around my neck as she stood on her tiptoes, slanted her head, and kissed me back.
Our tongues mated, drawing pleasure from each other. Our lips pressed hard against one another’s, like we couldn’t get enough of the other’s kiss. I know I sure couldn’t get enough of her and didn’t know if I ever would. My dick was all happy pressing against her body. This fey creature in my arms was unraveling me in a way that I’d never experienced before. I wanted to thrust my cock deep inside her and make her mine. Because she was, she was mine. She might not know it yet, but she would, and soon.
I don’t know how many songs we made out to and I really didn’t care. I was close to the point that we were going to have to take this somewhere else, because I seriously wanted to be inside the tight little body that was in my arms.
“Damn, Brother. You gonna let her come up for air?” Bane inquired as he slapped me on the shoulder.
I could have killed him for interrupting us. I reluctantly pulled away from Kenzie’s hot as fuck mouth. I smiled lazily when I saw her eyes were glazed over. Oh yeah, I affected her just as much as she affected me.
“Come play pool with us, Eagle. All your girl’s friends are with us at the table.”
I glanced where he was looking to find that the Brothers I had come here with tonight had corralled the other women from Kenzie’s group to the pool table area. The girls were sitting around two of the pub tables with a Brother on each side of them.
I looked down at Kenzie and uttered softly, “You want to go over there or stay here and dance some more?”
“Hell, Brother. I don’t think you can call what y’all were doing dancing,” Bane stated as he smirked at me.
I stared at Bane wondering what the hell his problem was. He never acted like this. Kenzie stared at me, indecision clear on her face.
“It’s whatever you want to do, babe,” I said softly to her.
She raised her right hand and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear.
“I guess we can go over there for a little bit if you’ll bring me back to dance again.”
With eyes that I know were heavily laden with desire, I replied huskily, “Kenzie, we can do whatever you want.”
She flushed, nodded, then stepped away from me and headed toward the tables.
“What the fuck is your problem, Bane?” I snapped at him, pissed he had interrupted us.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Eagle.”
“You could see I was busy.”
“Yeah. I saved you from fucking the girl in the middle of the dance floor.”
“You sound fucking jealous.”
“Nah, Brother. I ain’t jealous. If I want the girl, it won’t be any problem taking her from you.”
My eyes widened at his statement. What the ever-living fuck? He’d never said anything like that before. We had made a pact long ago that if one of us found a woman attractive and made a play for her, the other wouldn’t make any attempt at her. I hoped this wasn’t the first time the pact was going to be tested. I swear I would beat the fucker if he tried to take Kenzie away from me, I don’t care if he is my best friend, cousin, and Brother.
“Yeah, whatever,” I growled at him. “I’m heading to the john then grabbing a beer. I’ll be over there in a few minutes.”
~***~
Chapter 2
Lust is the devil’s counterfeit for love. There is nothing more beautiful on earth than a pure love and there is nothing so blighting as lust.
~Dwight L. Moody~
Kenzie
July 11th,1998
I couldn’t believe I let Cathy, Donna, and Rachel talk me into going to this biker bar they had been talking about for weeks. Cathy had an itch she wanted scratched by a biker. I swear if I hadn’t been best friends with her since we were little, I don’t think we’d be friends today.
Over the years she had gotten wild. You name it and she’s tried it. I just couldn’t seem to get into the scene she and the other two girls like to play in. For them, it was a party all the time. They wanted to drink, do what they called recreational drugs, and sleep with a different man every night.
After watching my mom slip away from what a man can do to a woman, I wasn’t sure if I even wanted a man. I know there are good men out there, I just haven’t met one yet.
I’d let myself become a recluse since Mom died. I went to work at my exciting job at La’ Chic clothing store where I am an assistant manager and I went home. That was it. Although I had to admit, I’d pretty much always stayed to myself and didn’t go out, lately though, I’ve been so lonely. I’ve been wanting something, needing something. Even though I watched my mom fade away into nothing over my dad cheating on her, a part of me longed for companionship, for a husband and kids.
When I was fifteen, Mom found out Dad was cheating on her. She confronted him about it one day while I was in school and by the time I got home, Dad had already packed his bags and moved out. I hadn’t seen him in the flesh from the day he left Mom and me. It was like he had moved to Timbuktu instead of a few miles away.
In the ten years since that day, I think I’ve only spoken to my dad maybe twenty times. He usually only called me on my birthday and at Christmas. Dad was a legend in his own mind. The great Rex Reynolds thought he was some bigwig real estate agent. His excuse for not seeing me was because he was always too busy with his job to come visit with me. Yeah, whatever.
He broke his pattern when he called me six months ago, a call which I wished I’d never had to take.
I had never been able to understand how Mom let his cheating affect her so much. She had always been this strong woman who didn’t take any shit off anyone, after Dad left, she seemed to become a ghost of the woman she once was. What got me was I don’t really think she missed Dad. I knew there had to be more go on than what she told me. I’d asked her several times over the years to tell
me what had happened. She’d refused point blank in talking about it.
The last couple of years, it was like her mind had just left her body. The expression ‘the lights are on but nobody’s home’ fit Mom to a tee. For her last two years, she never spoke a word. Then six months ago after I got in from work one day, I walked into the house to find her lying on the kitchen floor dead.
She’d apparently waited until I had left for work that morning, then she’d taken every pill she could find in the house. My mom had taken her own life and she’d taken the reason she’d done it with her to the grave. I’d been floundering ever since.
Good ole Dad had called me when he heard she was dead and told me to get the house packed up. Said I could keep whatever I wanted and to get rid of the rest. Since my parents had never divorced, he still owned the house. He told me he was selling it. He basically kicked me out of the only home I’d ever known.
I’d had to scramble to find a place to live while dealing with burying my mom and packing away years of memories, a lot of them not good ones.
The girls had decided enough was enough, that I needed to go out and party. They thought that would pull me out of the doldrums I had been in since Mom died. I hadn’t wanted to go, but finally decided to just do it and get it over with, then maybe I could put the girls off for another six months.
“Did you hear what Carly said about that biker she’d been with last month? She said he was hung and knew how to use it too. Poor thing, she’s been down ever since then. The guy told her it was a once and done deal,” Cathy gleefully informed all of us.
I wanted to kick myself for letting them drag me into coming tonight. I was too old for this kind of petty bullshit. Dammit, I don’t think the other three realized they were in their mid-twenties. They were acting like obnoxious teenagers who were members of a mean girl club.
When we pulled into the bar’s parking lot, I reluctantly got out. There wasn’t anything else to do other than suck it up and get the night over with.
We heard music blaring as we walked into the bar and, although the place wasn’t completely packed, in the corner of the room were the required bikers Cathy, Donna, and Rachel had come looking for. On the way to a table they were giggling like middle school girls. I rolled my eyes at the way they were acting.
Bane (Angel's Rebellion MC: #7) Page 2