Reign's head actually jerked back slightly, taken by surprise no doubt.
I wasn't stupid. I knew women weren't allowed in biker gangs, almost as a rule. It just wasn't done. MCs were about brotherhood. Meaning, no sisters. Meaning, we were, as a sex, relegated to the status of clubwhore or old lady and that was it. We spread for you and fetched you beer and never, ever, interrupted you when you spoke or showed you any disrespect whatsoever.
"You're fucking with me," was Reign's response a couple long seconds later.
"No, I'm not fucking with you. If dipshits like Moose can get a chance, I don't see why I can't."
"Dipshits like Moose, huh?" Reign asked, a sexy grin toying with his lips as he brought a hand up to stroke his cheek.
"Yeah, I..."
The sound of another bike cut off my response as I turned to see the bike park next to mine, two people on top. Driving was a man. He was tall and a lean kind of strong with colorful tattoos and blond hair that he left long on one side of his head and shaved to a buzz cut up the other. He had dark green eyes and unmistakable bone structure that looked just like his brother's. Cash, Reign's younger brother and also the vice president.
He got up, giving me a charming as all hell smile as he slung an arm around the hips of the woman who had ridden up with him. She was tall and leggy with a killer rack, long blond hair, and brown eyes. There was something about her. I wasn't sure if it was the way she carried herself or the depth of her eyes or what, but it was as if everything about her screamed: I can handle myself.
"Who is this?"
"This is Maze," Reign said, waving a hand at me. "And she thinks she is going to be our next probate."
Thinks.
That didn't slip by me.
And, judging by the way the blond woman's eyes narrowed slightly, it didn't slip by her either.
"Thinks?" she asked, angling her head toward Reign, raising a brow at him.
"Oh, shit," Repo said, a boyish smile toying at his lips, making his eyes do that dancing thing again.
"Yeah, Lo," Reign said, seemingly unaware or just unconcerned by the way she had straightened and pulled away from Cash.
"Are Janie and Summer in there?" she asked, moving toward the gate, not so much as pausing so that Reign and Repo both had to scramble out of her way before she plowed into them.
I looked over at Cash, maybe a little charmed by the huge smile he had on his face as he watched his woman storm away. "Is it a good or bad thing if Janie and Summer are in there?" I asked him, dropping my voice a little low, not particularly wanting Reign or the Repo guy to hear.
"Depends on where you stand, sweetheart," he said as he tucked his hands into his front pockets. "For Reign... I'd say he's in for a world of shit if the girls club put their heads together about this."
"And for me?" I asked, wondering what the girls club was and how such a thing existed in the testosterone-centric world of outlaw biker gangs.
"For you, sweetheart, I think it means that you will be getting a shot to prove yourself whether Reign likes it or not."
I turned back toward the man in question just as the door to the compound opened and Lo reappeared flanked with two women. One was a gently curved redhead with freckles and gray eyes. The other was an incredibly short and thin woman with long black hair, blue eyes, and arms covered in tattoos. All of them were looking at Reign and each of them looked ready for a fight.
"Oh, shit," Repo said again, lips twitching for a minute as he took a step away from Reign as the women started to approach.
Reign closed the distance, obviously wanting to keep me out of whatever was about to transpire. But, I guess he didn't factor in that this 'girls club' was pissed and therefore not overly concerned about keeping their voices down. And then, I got to stand back and watch as the girls club leashed into not only Reign but the innocent Repo and Cash, each of them their own kind of angry, all of them yelling over one another. Reign stood there stoically while they raged, arms crossed over his chest, everything about him suggesting that he had no plans on bending.
But then the redhead moved away from the other women who were still yelling, got in close to Reign, put her hand on his upper arm and leaned up toward his ear. I swear the second she touched him, his body language softened slightly. His arms fell from his chest, one moving casually to rest on the woman's hip as the side of his face rested on the side of her head as he listened to whatever it was she was whispering to him.
At the display of what was, painfully obviously, some intimate kind of conversation between two people who seemed to love one another deeply, I felt a strange hollow, swirling feeling in my stomach that no amount of denying it could change what it was: longing.
To have that, to have a man as big and scary and stubborn as Reign obviously was lean into you and really listen to something that was important to you... what that must be like.
Then she turned her head slightly, kissing his scruffy cheek and moving away from him to rejoin the two other women who were still ranting. Reign watched his woman for a long moment before he looked at the others, shaking his head.
"Jesus fuck, alright already," he said, sounding both angry and defeated at once. "You want her to have a shot, fine. She has a shot. But she's not getting any special treatment. We're treating her just like we treat all other prospects," he said, slanting a look over at me that made me feel a little cold despite the fact that I was literally sweating down my legs underneath my leather pants. It was gross. "Repo, I need to talk to you for a minute," Reign said, not bothering to speak to me as he and Repo moved away back toward the clubhouse.
"Well, Maze," the black-haired tiny slip of a woman said, looking over at me, all traces of her anger gone in a blink, "welcome to The Henchmen MC. And the girls club. You don't need to prove yourself to us though. With hair like that, I'm pretty sure we'll all fucking like you."
I cast an uncertain look over at Cash who gave me another of his charming smiles. "Told you."
Before I could even figure out which of the new two women was Janie and which was Summer, the door opened again and Repo walked back out.
"Maze," he said, waving a hand, "you're with me. Let's go."
I took a breath and moved through the girls club to fall into step with him as he led me around the back of the compound in complete and utter silence.
So, yeah, K would be happy.
I got my spot in The Henchmen MC, notorious one-percenters, arms dealers, killers.
And, though they had no idea, my protectors.
Of course, I was only breathing easy because I had no idea at the time what being 'with' Repo would mean for me.
Two
Repo
She was hot as shit.
Really, it came down to that initially. Call me a pig, call me a chauvinist, call me whatever, but fuck off if you think people don't notice your looks before they notice anything else about you. So when I walked up to the gates to see Moose and Fox having some kind of conversation with a woman who pulled up on a bike a minute or two before, I noticed first that she was on the tall side and fit, but with a fucking phenomenal ass. Her long, straight hair was dyed the darkest shade of purple possible which, aside from being a huge 'f-you' to societal norms, was hot as hell. Her face, well, it was pretty. She had a somewhat square chin, nice green eyes, and lips that just begged you to get a taste of her.
The next thing I noticed was that she had a killer voice. It was all sex and smoke, a little breathy, a little husky. And wasn't it just perfect that a voice like that was spitting fire?
"No, you listen, bitch, I'm here to talk to the president, not some probate on a power trip so get your head out of your ass and..." her gaze snapped to mine, her mouth closing, her brows drawing together slightly as she did a somewhat slow inspection of me.
I decided right then and there that, once she finished whatever business she might have had with Reign, she and I were going to get acquainted. By 'acquainted' I
didn't mean over drinks and bullshit; I meant I was going to get to know what her ass looked like bent over one of my cars while I pulled her hair and fucked her from behind.
Of course, that all got shot to shit once the girls came out and started raising hell, browbeating the formidable leader of a arms-dealing biker gang. See, it wasn't often people ever even thought to do something like try to go toe-to-toe with Reign. One of my earliest memories of him as a probate was him tearing into the shed where one of the bikers, a slimy fucker by the name of Mo, was being held.
Probates weren't exactly allowed to be involved with official club business, but, well, I was on patrol of the perimeter and I had ears. Hell, you could have been almost fully deaf and you would have heard Mo's screams. Reign came out the better part of an hour later, his body literally dripping with blood.
We, as a group, would learn later that Mo, along with being a lousy drunk, a shameless gambler, and a giant pussy, was also the worst thing a brother could be: he was a snitch. And, see, snitches didn't get stitches as the saying went. Snitches got a timely grave.
So Mo was pushing up daisies and I learned real early that Reign was not a man to fuck with.
The girls club, fuck, I don't know what they were thinking. Maybe it was as simple as knowing Reign, for all his ruthlessness, would never raise a hand to a woman. Or maybe it was just because the women were all certified badasses themselves and were no way intimidated by him like most normal people would be.
But regardless of what balls it took the ball-less lot, they were on a tear. See, all being badasses in their own rights, they really had very little (if any) tolerance of things such as sexism. I didn't blame them per say. I understood that shit. Anyone who had ever seen Janie build a bomb or Lo grapple or Summer hold a gun, yeah, they'd know that this particular group of women couldn't be held to any gender norm stereotypes, not even in the criminal underbelly. So when they thought Reign was being unfair to a woman who might very well be a badass herself, they weren't having any of it.
I had to hand it to them, they got what they wanted.
Though I knew from experience it was less about Lo and Janie's ranting and raving and more about Summer going all soft on him and exploiting the one real weakness Reign had in the world: her, and the feelings he had for her.
Regardless, it worked.
Or so we all thought until Reign led me inside the compound.
"This shit isn't gonna fly," he told me, waving a hand out toward the gates.
"You just told them it would," I said, shrugging.
"Oh, I told them she would have a shot. I didn't say it was going to fly."
I knew Reign well enough to know that he wasn't just pulling me inside to casually bullshit and bitch and whine to me. "What do you need?"
"I need you in charge of Maze."
"In charge of Maze?" I repeated, thinking of all the ways that could be a very, very good assignment.
As if sensing my train of thought, Reign's lips twitched. "Keep your dick in your pants," he said, shaking his head. "I don't care if she has that hot, alternative, 'I don't give a fuck' vibe going on, from now on, she's a probate. And you don't get to fuck her."
I let out a breath that sounded suspiciously like a sigh and nodded. "So what do I get to do with her then?"
"You get to make her life a living hell until she quits or fucks up badly enough to get thrown out."
I paused, choosing not to speak until I resisted the urge to tell him that was kind-of fucked up. Because, fact of the matter was, I didn't get to have opinions like that. Sure, Cash and Wolf and sometimes even older members like Vin would question Reign, push the limits of his patience with their insubordination. But that was a luxury I was not afforded. Not because Reign wouldn't allow it. If anything, I was on Reign's good side. But I learned a hard lesson in loyalty before I happened across The Henchmen and decided they were going to be my life. And that lesson, well, it made me absolutely fucking incapable of behaving even the slightest bit like I didn't fully respect authority.
So I swallowed my objections and nodded. "Alright."
"You sure you got this? I could put one of the older guys on it."
"No, I got it."
I got it for multiple reasons. One, Reign asked it of me. If the prez picked you out for something, you damn sure didn't throw that offer back in his face. Two, I admit that I was curious about Maze. Three, I knew the other guys would do shit that would not only be un-called for, but borderline shitty to her to get her to quit. That would also involve getting the other probates to purposely give her shit, exclude her, make her feel unsafe and unwelcome. And while she was definitely unwelcome if Reign's behavior was anything to go by, she wasn't unsafe. It was a really shitty thing for a man to cross that line with a woman just to make her squirm, regardless of whether they were going to follow through or not.
So I wanted to oversee things to make sure they didn't get out of hand.
As a whole, we weren't bad men. But I knew that it was very easy for decent men to turn downright evil when given permission to do so.
They wouldn't get that chance.
I was on it.
Case closed.
"You already keep an eye on the probates," Reign reasoned with a shrug.
He wasn't wrong. While most of the patched members had rooms at the compound, very few of them took advantage of them. Many of the men had old ladies and kids and houses and shit to take care of. Cash had Lo in a townhouse. Wolf had Janie in his place in the woods. Even Reign had Summer and their daughter, Ferryn, to look after at his place. Not many of the men were at the compound twenty-four seven. I, however, wasn't exactly the settling down type. And I saw no reason to take on a mortgage when I had a comfortable place at the compound.
So I lived there.
I also worked there, rebuilding my cars in the field in the back.
As such, I was around the most and, therefore, kept a close watch on the probates.
"Not a problem, Reign. I'm on it," I said and was rewarded with a whack on the shoulder before I opened the door and made my way back to the small crowd out front.
Why there was a knot in my stomach, well, fuck if I knew. But there was.
"Maze," I called, cutting off whatever Janie was about to say, "you're with me. Let's go."
To her credit, she didn't bristle or ask any questions or even waste any time saying thank yous or goodbyes to everyone else. She simply nodded tightly, moved through the group, and fell into step, two respectful feet behind me as I led her around the back of the compound where I knew the rest of the probates would be hanging around and talking shit about the chick who thought she had a chance to be in The Henchmen MC.
We had four probates, well, with Maze, five. There was Moose and Fox, the brothers. Moose was as simple as sawdust and as mean as a grizzly. Fox was slightly less stupid, and maybe only half as mean, but he was uninteresting in every possible way. Both were dark-haired with that ridiculous pretty-boy thing going on, but also strong, capable, with impressive juvenile rap sheets and clean adult ones. Duke had long blond hair he generally kept in a bun at the crown of his head. He was on the rough-side looks-wise, tall and solid with deep blue eyes. And, finally, Renny was a fucking redhead. No lie. He was young, around twenty with a thin, scrappy body that he had half-covered with tattoos already. His hair was of the copper-red variety, longish on top, with bright blue eyes. By some miracle, he managed to be freckle-less.
Personally, I favored Duke and Renny as potential members.
But that decision had literally nothing to do with my opinion.
That was all up to Reign with maybe a little input from Cash and Wolf.
"You can't be fucking serious," Moose said as we moved to stand where they were all hanging out around the picnic tables.
"You can't be fucking questioning Reign's decision," I said back with a pointed brow raise that had him shutting up.
"Moose, Fox, Duke, Renny, t
his is Maze. She's the newest probate."
Moose rolled his eyes; Fox raked his eyes up and down Maze; Duke's brows drew together but he shrugged. Lastly, Renny leaned back on the picnic tabletop, arms behind him, and gave Maze a genuine smile. "Smash that fucking patriarchy," he said, catching her off guard because she made a strange snorting noise before she laughed a little nervously.
"She's not going to be bunking with us is she?" Moose asked.
"That's not going to be a problem is it?" I countered.
Moose shook his head and turned away from us as Fox gave Maze a smile that I imagined he thought was charming or sexy, but even to me it looked creepy as fuck.
"The open bunk is above me," Duke said and, if I wasn't mistaken, he meant it as a comfort. I was left wondering if maybe he picked up on Fox's creep vibe and Moose's animosity like I had. If so, it was yet another thing that worked in his favor.
"Works for me," Maze said, shrugging, slipping her hands into her butt pockets and it made her tits press out invitingly.
I sucked in a breath, reminding myself that Reign said she was off limits, and took a step away. "I'll leave you guys to get acquainted. Meet me at the bar in an hour and we'll discuss jobs. Maze, you should run and grab some of your shit."
Because the first plan of the Maze Takedown was to have her working ungodly hours days in a row, seeing if that was enough to break her before I had to get more creative. She wouldn't be allowed to leave the compound. She'd be lucky if she had time to change her clothes.
--
"You know the wrath of shit you're going to get from the girls if they find out what you are up to?" Cash asked as I moved into the kitchen to grab coffee.
"I don't even want to think of the lecture Janie is going to give me," I agreed, shaking my head. Janie might have been Wolf's woman, but she was one of the best friends I had. She was a genuine pain in the ass with all the charm of a porcupine, but there was something about her foot-in-mouth tendencies, about her spine of steel, about her resilience despite everything she had been through that made you have to like her. It also helped that she was one of the very few people I could count on being awake if I called at three A.M when sleep was a foreign concept and the walls were closing in and I needed to get out. Janie had nightmares too. She understood. And she would meet me for coffee or beer or just conversation on occasion.
Repo (The Henchmen MC Book 4) Page 2