by Brogan Riley
Knowledge can be deadly sometimes.
You don’t wake the darkest nightmares, do you?
Epilogue 1
Jackson
Ten years later.
My hand searches for Poppy’s as I slide my eyes over the façade of my clubhouse.
“You’ve kept it in good condition for all these years,” I say.
Ricky bows his head at me. “Why would I not? We’re friends.”
Like hell, but it’s good to know he thinks so.
He has the local chief constable on his payroll. Four of his men are working in the department as police officers. Two of his men are working in the prosecutor’s office. He is the king here. He is the authority and the law.
“It’s all yours again,” Ricky says.
I doubt it’s for free.
Ricky’s eyes meet mine and I see anger in his dark gaze. “I know what honour is, Jackson. I know what a good cause is.”
There’s a raw passion in his voice that sounds so genuine my lips curl into a smile. I extend my arm towards him and we shake hands.
“Thank you, brother,” I say.
Ricky nods at me, a grin crossing his face.
My eyes travel to his kids talking to the three of mine by the edge of the cliff. They’re all teens now except for my son, Dominic who’s nine.
Santi scratches his shaved head. “So, Prez, it’s time to party, right?”
“Right,” I say.
Santi’s wife, Cherry, widens her cold blue eyes. She looks like a Valkyrie, almost as tall as her husband. Her long platinum-blonde hair waves as their baby girl screeches in her arms.
Santi laughs as he takes the baby from her and pulls her to his chest. “You don’t like parties, Tianna? Parties are fun.”
“A lot of fun,” Cherry says with a pinch of sarcasm.
My eyes slide over Santi’s son, Chikere, holding my youngest kid against his chest. Ana is only four, but she’s already decided she wants to marry Chikere. She’s holding on to him like her life depends on it. The little shit follows his every step like a puppy.
I lean towards Poppy and kiss her on the top of her head. She winks at me and we pull forward. I enter the bar and the smell of the past engulfs me. My memories hang in the air.
Everything is like I remember—Fiona standing behind the bar top, Tyler sitting on the bar stool, Declan seated next to him, Shirley bustling among the couches.
Everything is so new—there’re kids, a lot of them. They’re young, fierce, hungry for life and adventure. A horde of troublemakers.
There’re old ladies. A lot of them. All beautiful and unique. Marion, Alexandra, Cherry, Fiona, Sonja, and Poppy. Priest’s Gina. They both look like two mountain people. It must be the cavern they occupy, I guess. Nate’s Violet who’s also Cade’s Violet. Alright, I have no opinion. I’m just happy for them.
Tyler has a loving family with Fiona. Declan has found peace in Alexandra’s arms, or more precisely between her legs. Sonja is happy. Poppy blooms every night. I make her bloom more and more beautifully as time goes by. That’s my job as her husband, right?
I stroke my beard with my fingers. It’s streaked with grey. My hair falls to my shoulders. It’s streaked with grey too. A thick scar adorns the right side of my face as a few more stretch down my arm. Yep, I’m an ugly old bastard.
My wife still looks very sexy twenty-five. She chopped her hair a few months ago and now has a cute bob with heavy front bangs. Her eyes are mesmerizing seduction.
She started writing songs for an alternative rock band some time ago, which brings in good money and makes her feel fulfilled.
Her hand squeezes mine. “Let’s have fun.”
I nod at her. “Let’s have fun.”
Her hungry eyes slide over me as though I was twenty again. Excitement surges through my veins. I’m gonna wreck her tonight.
She purrs and rubs her body up mine. “Love you.”
“You’d better.”
I feel her delicate hand slide down my butt. She squeezes my flesh and winks at me.
I love her so much it hurts.
She’s my Poppy.
***
One summer evening, Zeus enters my clubhouse. I nudge my glass of beer at the sight of him. His two bulls take positions in two opposite corners of the bar.
I knew he’d come, but seeing him in my bar in person is not the same as talking to him over the phone.
He demanded that I see him, so I agreed.
I don’t know how the dick has found me.
He bows at me, and I bow at him. We walk over to the office and settle ourselves at the table. I pour us two shots of tequila. We clink glasses.
“To freedom,” Zeus says.
“To freedom.”
We down our tequila.
Zeus puts his elbows on the table and grins at me. “You have my hair.”
“The fuck what?” I explode and then freeze in my chair.
“But you have her eyes.” He shoves his hand into the pocket of his leather jacket and takes a wallet out. He opens it and pinches a photo, pulling it out. “My brother let go of her and she could hide.” He passes the photo to me.
I put it on the table and stare down at it, trying to understand.
I don’t fucking understand.
I’m looking at my mother’s young face.
“She could hide so well, I couldn’t save her,” Zeus says. “I found you when you were thirty years old and she was long gone.”
My eyes meet his sad ones. “That’s impossible,” I rasp. “She was a publisher. A widow.”
I burned all the photos of her I had. There was no memory of her left except for her tablet in the graveyard around an old chapel.
Zeus fixes his eyes on mine. “You never met your father, did you?”
“He died before I was born.”
“Mateo died twenty years ago.” He draws in a deep breath. “It wasn’t safe until four years ago. Now, it is safe, so I want to see my grandchildren twice a month.”
“The fuck what?” I try to process the information, but I fucking can’t.
“Mateo was sterile,” Zeus says, “but didn’t say anything until the day of his death.” He grabs the bottle of tequila and refills our shot glasses. “I’ve watched over you for all these years. You love trouble, son, and you have a damn good taste in women. That wife of yours?” He nods several times and then downs his tequila. “Now, introduce me to my grandchildren.”
There’s a pause. My deep breath interrupts it. “Ricky?”
“My very distant cousin.”
“Now everything makes sense.”
“I want to meet the kids at last.”
“You and my mother?”
“What do you need to know?” There’s pain in his voice. “She was twenty-six. I was eighteen. She was lonely and scared. I was young.”
Excerpt: His Rose
Chapter 1
Seke
Dakota’s wise eyes shift towards mine as she moves closer to me. I stroke her head and pride fills my heart. She’s the only bitch allowed to attend church plus she’s the only one allowed to sleep in my bed.
Nikusha puts his elbows on the worn out oak table. “Can I talk to you, Prez?”
I sweep my long hair down my back. My road name Seke means black.
Black like my hair.
I nod, pouring us two shots of vodka. “Talk to me, brother.” I stroke Dakota’s furry back and she wags her tail, growling quietly. “Good girl.” I pat her head and then turn my attention to Nikusha.
All the brothers except us left the office ten minutes ago. I always stay for an hour or two after church has ended to think about my business or to enjoy some solitude. Sometimes I just like to do nothing. In such moments, Dakota stretches out her fourteen-year-old body in the corner of the office and waits for me patiently.
Nikusha draws in a deep breath.
I patched him in seven months ago. Except for two prospects, he is the youngest of all the brothers. There are ten
of us in total. We’re a small club but each of us can knock out three men in a fair fight.
There’s a well-equipped gym in the basement of the clubhouse. If anyone doesn’t want to work out they’re excluded from my club.
Nikusha nods several times. “It’s about my sister-in-law, Prez. My brother just drank himself to death, you know. Suka blyad. He was a fucking gambler, and a drunk for the last ten years.” He crosses himself. “You don’t disrespect the dead, but my brother was…”
A waste of oxygen. I can see that in his blue eyes. It’s tinged with pain and resignation. The scumbag was Nikusha’s blood brother after all.
“My sister-in-law,” he continues, “she’s got no money, only debts. No home. Her two kids—“
“Bring her to the compound.”
He nods, gratefulness glimmering in his eyes. “Thank you, Prez.”
The Liberty Pirates MC runs a lucrative business. It’s a small zoo to be precise and is the main source of our income. We run the bar mainly for fun, but it also brings in a few grand a month.
We sometimes rescue animals from cruel people. We party a lot. We ride our bikes.
“No problem, Nick,” I say.
There’s a small unoccupied house in the compound, so Nikusha’s sister-in-law could move into it as early as tomorrow.
“How’s your wife, brother?” I ask.
“Very pregnant.” He grins as he pats his own round belly with his hand.
Samantha, his wife, sells tickets for our zoo, or will be selling them until the baby is born. She’s been working for me for five years. Nikusha is a mechanic, a damn good one. He responded to my job advertisement three years ago. He worked hard as a prospect, and now he’s working even harder as my Sergeant at Arms.
Samantha is getting bigger and bigger and so is her husband.
Justin, my vice, and his wife, Ally, run the bar. Rain and Flasher, our prospects, look after the animals. They’re also cleaners, gardeners, painters, plumbers. I expect them to learn fast and do a very good job for my club. Tank, my secretary, helps me launder small sums of money for the local Mafioso—no big deal, but we can’t call ourselves law-abiding citizens. We don’t do any other illegal shit. Arnold, my enforcer, sometimes removes a piece of scum from the face of the earth—once every two, three years. Again—no big deal because it’s not crime. It’s justice. Some thugs are just too cruel to be rehabilitated. We never off women—we just warn them. They are always so scared they change their ways immediately.
Barnaby, a patched member, has been on the road for a few months and that is because his wife cheated on him. He told her she was never to cross his path again and hit the road. Crispin and Delano, two patches, drink a lot and fuck every round ass topped with big tits. Crispin is a veterinarian. He killed a young woman while driving and decided to join my club instead of shooting himself. Delano is a pretty boy and is studying to be a veterinary nurse. He has rich parents who demanded that he go to law school, but he chose my club instead.
Martha
I stare at the little house topped with a red tiled roof. It reflects the sun’s rays beautifully like a fairytale creation. My eyes slide over the façade cracked and stained from past storms. The lawns needs trimming, but two palm trees and three stone flower urns holding blossoms of a deep pink colour bring hope to my heart.
“What do you think?” Nikusha asks. His eyes gleam as his hair shines golden in the late spring sunlight. “Nice , isn’t it?”
“Perfect,” I say as I shiver from the touch of a cold breeze.
My daughter Rose scrunches up her nose. “Dirty.”
She’s eleven years old. My son Lucas is twelve. I’m thirty-four. I feel like I’m seventy though.
“We can always move under a bridge,” I say.
“Mom,” my kids say with one voice, looking scared to death.
“I like it,” Rose says as she bobs her head at me.
“I need to say my thank you to your boss,” I say.
“My president,” Nikusha corrects me.
I roll my eyes. “President or boss what’s the difference?”
Someone clears their throat behind me. I turn around, my glance shifting towards that person, and I freeze. I’m looking up at a fallen angel. Raven-black thick hair falls to his waist as his black eyes gleam like the depths of hell. He’s tall and well built. Tattoos adorn his muscular arms and a thin scar stretches across his unshaven cheek. He’s wearing a pair of worn out jeans, a plain grey t-shirt, a cut, and black boots.
I’ve never seen such a dangerously beautiful man. There’s an air of strength and mystery around him.
“I prefer Prez to Boss,” the angel says. “I’m Seke.” He extends his arm to shake hands.
“Martha.” I slide my hand into his enormous one.
His grip is strong. His skin radiates heat as his calluses scratch my palm. A tingle runs down my back.
“So, you like it?” Seke asks.
“I do,” I say. “But the smell…”
I know I should have bitten my tongue, but recently too much has happened in my life—my husband’s death six months ago, my kids’ grief, all the debts, the greedy, heartless landlord.
“We run a zoo,” Seke says, “hence the smell.”
“I didn’t know that,” I say. “Sorry.” I huff out. “It’s not that bad at all and I’m sure we’ll get used to it.”
Seke smirks at me but says nothing.
I flick my eyes over Nikusha. He’s very helpful and supportive, but he doesn’t talk much. He came to my flat two days ago and told me to pack my stuff. My husband hadn’t spoken to him for years and I met Nikusha for the first time just before the funeral. He offered me help, so I accepted it. I had no other choice. He said ‘a nice house in my club’s compound’. I didn’t like the idea of moving in with bikers, but it was either this or under a bridge.
My kids move like they have needles under their feet. They love trips to the zoo.
“You have a job or something?” Seke asks.
“I had,” I say, “until a year ago. Everything’s not as it should be, you know.”
“You want to sell tickets?” Seke smirks at me.
“It’s my dream job,” I say, nodding at him.
Seke chuckles as he tosses back his shiny hair. I melt. This man is a god personified. He looks thirty but exudes the brutal allure of an ancient ageless warrior. Women must throw themselves at him.
Seke
She’s pretty. Exhausted, but really pretty. Her kids are nice, well behaved. They introduce themselves to me as their pleading eyes lock onto mine, so I take them on a tour of our zoo despite Martha’s protests.
Her kind green eyes follow us as the squeals coming out of her kids’ mouths deafen me.
Maybe I could invite her for a drink or two in the bar? She looks my age. We could talk and have fun.
I stopped having fun with bar trash a while ago. It’s tempting when one is young. I’m not young. I kind of want to have a family. Yes, I want to live like Nikusha or like Justin.
The club brothers who are single fuck and trash, but Nikusha and Justin are faithful to their wives. Our unwritten code. We’re filthy bastards, but we respect our women.
Thank you for reading my book. If you enjoyed it, please consider leaving a review.
Check out my other books:
His Rose: Liberty Pirates MC by Brogan Riley
The Shadow Wolves/Devil’s Tears MC Saga by Daniela Jackson
Lucky: Furious Skulls MC by Daniela Jackson
Planned books:
His Cherry: Furious Daggers MC by Brogan Riley
Their Violet: Furious Daggers MC by Brogan Riley
The Arachnid Conclave: A Suspense Romance Novel by Brogan Riley (A Sequel to His Poppy)
Zeus: A Mafia Romance by Brogan Riley
Selene and Jackson: An MC Novella by Brogan Riley
His Lily: A Contemporary Romance Novel by Brogan Riley
Lucas: Liberty Pirates MC by Brogan Ri
ley (A Second Chance Romance)