“Didn’t want to interrupt the cop powwow. Nice to know nothing’s changed while I was away.” I hugged Crusher back and we shook hands. Then the room erupted as the rest of my brothers made it to me.
“What the fuck, Speed. Why didn’t you tell us you were coming back?” Stroker said and gave me a man hug.
“Wanted to surprise you guys, Prez.”
“Well that you did, son,” the Prez said and stepped away making room for the others to get in back slaps and handshakes.
As I looked around at the familiar faces of my family, there was several missing, “Where’s Devil, Coast, Flirt, and Jag?”
“They’re in town. When they get home, we’ll go down to the strip club and have some fun. Give you a chance to rest and get your stuff settled at your place while we wait on them. You been by the place?” Crusher asked and all I could do was shake my head in reply. It would be the first time back in the cabin after Cutter’s death and in one instance I was happy to be back but in another, I knew it would feel different without him around.
“Jesus, another one. Now the reunion is over, do you think we can get this taken care of before I grow old?” Hell, looked like we’d all forgot about the sheriff and deputy in the room.
“Ah, sweet cheeks, you feeling neglected?” Crusher turned and spoke to the deputy and from the fire shooting out of her eyes, I expected him to burn to ashes in front of me.
Just as she opened her mouth to speak again the sheriff cut her off, “Carly, let’s go. Time to let these gentlemen be with their friend.” Sheriff Lance started for the door, the deputy following and none too happy by the expression on her face.
“Glad to have you home, Speed. Let’s see how long you can be back without getting a ticket,” the sheriff laughed and patted me on the back as he walked out the door.
“Never going to live that shit down, am I?” I really wasn’t asking a question, ‘cause they hadn’t let me forget back then, so why the hell should now be any different. But one could hope.
Most of the men in the room chuckled and then disbursed to do their thing. I was back and each would catch up with me sooner or later.
“You done this time, Speed?” Stroker asked.
“Yeah, had enough. It was time to come home,” I said, which was the truth for the most part. I’d re-upped before I came back for my dad’s funeral, knowing I wouldn’t be able to stay around the club with him gone. The Marines kept me busy enough not to think about him every day but his death still bothered me. Questions plagued my mind at night when it was dark and quiet and I had time to think on things other than trying to stay alive myself.
Excerpt from Vengeance
KO Ink Book One
By Harley McRide & Carson Mackenzie
“Seriously, man. This is the place you are looking to purchase. What the hell? Why didn’t you tell me before we got into the fucking car, I would have told you no fucking way then, instead we wasted our time. This is like a hell to the no.”
Yeah, I am the oldest and my brother has no fucking vision. Which I find quite funny considering the man is a tattoo artist. Christ, if he and the rest of my brothers didn’t look similar, I would accuse our ma and dad of adoption.
“Mike, this is the building that housed the gym we fucking trained in growing up, it is part of our history. We spent a lot of time growing up in this place. Mic was one of the best trainers around along with being a role model for the delinquent youth of Woodland and the surrounding neighborhoods,” as I spoke, I watched my brother’s eyes, yeah he was starting to remember how the O’Malley brothers grew up. We had always been fighters so our parents placed us in the local gym with the hopes to curtail our energy and keep us on the straight and narrow. And I get how he would forget some of it, hell even I do, until the moment I walked back into our parents’ living room and then the memories all came back. Seriously, looking now, I wish my parents would have allowed me to purchase a new home for them like I wanted to. Somewhere in a quiet suburban neighborhood where you didn’t hear the police sirens go off every night. But they insisted this was their home, where they fell in love, where they had a family, and where they raised us and taught us how to be honest and loyal. Family was everything, in that we all still agreed.
Our parents had done a good job on a steel worker’s paycheck with a stay-at-home wife and seven kids. Money was tight, but they made it work.
“Fin, I get it, but that is you, why would I want to come back from out west, working in an established shop to damn, a building that has seen a hell of a better day.”
Again, no vision, tat artist. My brother’s problem was change, he hated it. I know this and so does everyone close to him. At least the ones he lets get that close. So yeah, I’m getting our buddy and his business partner to help me out.
“Kink, help me out here. I am retired. I went as far in the MMA as I could go. I’ve had my shot within the Mixed Martial Arts and I want to come back to the area and help the next generation move forward in life. Give them goals to reach for. You are all about family and brothers just like me. Am I wrong wanting to bring mine back together?” Kink rubbed his hand down his face and turned to Michael.
“Fuck, I get where Fin is coming from. Michael, I don’t want to lose your talent, man, nor my partner, but I see what you can have here too, if you want it. Your brother wants to bring his wayward family back together and plant you in the area where you started the brother bonds to begin with. You been around me and my brothers in the MC long enough to know family is everything. Think, this would at least put you close to your aging parents, the ones you and your other brothers bitch about not seeing enough.”
“Yeah.”
Oh, I could see Michael’s resolve slipping. Now to reel him in.
“Michael, the others will follow you if you open up a shop here beside me. Come on, you, me, them, the O’Malley boys back in the neighborhood, giving back. Close to our parents and our little sister, Mia, who at twenty-three, needs us. Dad will have all our asses if she ends up with some shithead from here that none of us like. He won’t take the excuse of “sorry we weren’t there to protect her”. He will hold each of us responsible, you and I both know that. Plus, hounding her as a grown woman should be incentive enough. The spitfire made our lives a living hell growing up, she was everywhere, and the freakin’ tattle telling alone when we were teenagers should definitely be worth it.
“You remember her telling Ma and Dad when you popped Cathy Francis’ cherry at fifteen?” I watched Michael’s eyes narrow. Yep, he was coming around.
“Dude, your sister ratted you out on the first time you had sex? How come I never knew about this?”
I smiled ‘cause Kink was going to give him shit for the rest of his life for that little info drop. Kink had grown up with us. Left for the military, got out, joined the Warriors and opened up his tat shop. Michael and he had stayed in touch and then Michael moved out west to go into business with Kink, ultimately recruiting our other brothers to follow. I had given them each shit about being the artistic types and afraid to get in the ring and hurt their hands. Those were the days, I got as good as I gave. Between Kink, Tony, Reese, and my brothers, they made me the best at my skill. I may have improved over time on my fighting skill, but the bruises and the injures they dished on me, toughened me. I wouldn’t have made it through the ranks of the MMA if they hadn’t pushed me.
“You know, with the special ink you have been honing, it would help with the security business Tony is going to run alongside with my gym. Going to give my boys jobs so they can concentrate on training and moving up the ranks without having to worry about finding the time for it all. Tony said he would love to use the ink to keep track of the guys when out on jobs. With Tony’s training from the military, your ink, and his knowledge to teach you and the others how to monitor, is a goldmine waiting to be tapped.
“Think, all of us from the neighborhood, back from wherever we’ve been, together again. The old folks still here are going to re
member us; the younger ones will learn real quick about family, responsibility, and what it means to belong. Well, with exception of Kink here. Don’t think we can talk him into giving up the west coast to come back home. I think there is still some of the cops on the force that would remember him from his youth. The fuckers threw a party the day the bus pulled out with him on it, headed toward Fort Dix and the military future he was ordered by the judge to be a part of,” I busted out laughing and so did Kink and Michael. They had to be remembering the same as me about Kink beating the crap out of the police captain’s son. Little prick had it coming, shouldn’t have made fun of Kink, calling him a pussy for always working on that first piece of shit bike he bought and rebuilt.
“You still got that bike, Kink?”
“Fuck yeah. Keep it stored in back of the shop. Uncover it when I’m missing home. Best memories, man. But you are right, my home is out west. Though I come to visit a couple times a year, I can’t imagine giving up my life with the MC to move back. And brothers, my brothers would never make a club move to the east. Face it, no way cops could deal with them and you guys all in one area.
“Mike, I have a proposition for you?”
I eyed Kink, ‘cause with him, you never knew what that phrase could entail. But with his next words, I should have known. He may have moved on from the area, made his home somewhere else but it didn’t mean the neighborhood wasn’t a part of him anymore.
“Join your brother, Mike. We can still be partners out west and here too. Let’s branch out Slinging Ink. One on the west coast and one on the east coast. I want in on this one too. Will make me feel like I’m still part of the old neighborhood even when I am not here. Whatcha say?” Kink looked at him and so did I. I watched his facial expressions change with the thoughts that were evidently running through his mind.
“Going to depend if the others want to make the move back here too.”
Oh fuck yeah, one brother almost there. The others I knew would follow because they wouldn’t want to be left out. Brothers who like nothing better than to compete against one another. Never even mattered who won, it’s about the thrill of competing.
About the Author
Carson lives in New Mexico with her two sons and her five Great Danes. Books have always been a part of her life. Nothing is better to Carson than curling up and relaxing with a good story, losing herself in someone else’s world while leaving hers behind for awhile.
As a new author she hopes to bring you into her different worlds, giving you a chance to escape everyday responsibilities, if only for a few hours.
Snatched: MC Romance (Haven MC Book 1) Page 13