by Jade Kuzma
“I get it,” he said with a nod. “You don’t have to worry—”
“I know what you’re thinking. You think this is all about getting into fights with people who disrespect us. You think this is about not squealing to the pigs. That shit goes without saying. You gotta be there for the club when they really need you.”
“What do you mean?”
“You got a lady in your life, Nate?”
He shook his head. He was listening so intently to me that I was amazed he was able to keep his focus with all of the bullshit going on around us.
“Good,” I said. “But if you ever do find a lady, the club will have your back.”
“I… I still don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“A lot of women will try to take advantage of you. Some whores in town just wanna say they slept with a club member. The patch is just a trophy on the wall to them. I’m not telling you not to hook-up with these sluts. But the club’ll be there in case you lose your mind.”
The understanding slowly dawned on his face. He nodded softly, his eyes shifted toward the ceiling like he was searching for his own thoughts.
“I think I get it,” he said.
“Women. Drugs. Money. Ivory’s a small town but there’s a lot of shit here that can fuck you up. Treat the patch well, and it’ll do the same in return. It’ll always look out for you. We’ll look out for you.”
“Yeah… Thanks, Garnet.”
“Now… Let’s stop talking about that shit and have ourselves a good time. We don’t come out here for you to listen to me lecture you about wearing the patch.”
We both leaned up against the bar together. I ordered another round of beers. Nate kept up with me, pounding each one down faster than the last.
It was already late in the evening but everybody in the bar was only just getting their night started. The conversations were getting louder. The women were looking sluttier. The assholes around me started getting drunker.
None of that shit mattered to me though. Tonight was just a time for me and the rest of the club to enjoy ourselves. There wasn’t shit to do in Ivory. Folks like us had to get by with what we had.
I wasn’t keeping track of time.
Nate seemed to be getting the worst of it. His cheeks were bright red even underneath the foggy lights of the bar. His hair somehow got disheveled. The kid was bleary-eyed as he struggled to pick up his next beer.
“You all right, kid?” I said with a laugh. “No shame in bowing out.”
“Hey,” he said, his words slurred. “I’m just fine, motherfucker.”
His eyes widened as soon as he realized what he said. If he was anybody else in the club, even one of my own patches, I would’ve popped him in the mouth. But not Nate.
I glared at him for a few seconds but stopped just before he pissed all of the beer he had down his jeans. I smirked and slapped him on the arm.
“Drink up, big man,” I said.
We toasted to another drink. I downed my beer fast just like the others. Just as Nate was about to put the glass to his lips, someone bumped him from behind. Most of the beer spilled out onto the floor.
“Hey!”
Nate turned around and looked up at the big man standing behind him.
This should be interesting…
The big man was some punk from some club I didn’t recognize. Bald-headed. Tatted-up. He was tall, too. But he was one of those motherfuckers who tried to disguise his fat as muscle.
“Watch what the hell you’re doing,” Nate said to him.
“Take it easy,” the bald man said with a laugh. “That was an accident.”
“You spilled my beer.”
The man looked down at Nate’s glass and shrugged.
“You still got some left.”
“You gonna get me another one to replace it?”
The big man looked like he didn’t care until this point. He cocked an eyebrow in obvious anger.
“Listen, dweeb. Give it up or I’ll teach you a lesson.”
“How about I teach you a lesson?” Nate responded.
Nice job, kid.
Nate didn’t back down even though that was probably in his best interests. I put a hand on his shoulder to try and calm him down.
“All right,” I said. “That’s good enough.”
“Listen to your daddy,” the bald punk said. “Fucking prospects… Don’t know their place.”
He turned his back to us. Nate looked up at me. All of that alcohol in him and he was still pissed. But I wasn’t about to let him get into a fight he couldn’t handle.
“Remember what I just said earlier,” I said. “We always have each other’s backs.”
I tapped the man on the shoulder. He turned around like he was angry to do it.
“What do you want?” the man shouted.
“Outside.”
One word and he started eyeballing me. He sized me up before scoffing.
“Outside,” he said with a nod.
He started walking outside with the rest of his crew. I turned to follow him and Nate grabbed my arm.
“Hey,” he said. “Wait. You want me to get the rest of the club? You can’t take on all of those guys by yourself.”
“The boys are playing poker.”
I winked at Nate and headed outside.
It was a cold night. The air was crisp. Shit was a relief from how crowded Finn’s was.
The bald, fat man took his shirt off to try and intimidate me. He did all the stereotypical tough guy shit. Cracking his knuckles. Rocking his head back and forth. Gritting his teeth. I’d seen it all before. Shit might as well have been calisthenics with what I was about to do to him.
“Kick this guy’s ass!”
“Teach him a lesson!”
There were four other guys with the man, rooting him on like some pathetic entourage. I took my vest off and handed it to Nate.
“This’ll just be a second,” I said to him.
I turned around to my opponent and held my hands out. He put his fists up and immediately charged at me.
It didn’t matter how aggressive he was. He was too fat and slow to lay a finger on me. His swings were violent. He screamed with every punch. I kept moving around, trying not to laugh at how ridiculous he looked.
The crowd around us started to grow. There were fights at Finn’s every night but something tonight had gotten everybody’s interest. Maybe it was because of how fat and sweaty my opponent was.
I could hear him huffing and puffing with every punch. His punches somehow got slower. He looked like he couldn’t even stand up straight even though I hadn’t touched him.
My turn.
I raised my fist up just as he moved toward me. I clocked him right on the jaw and rotated his head on his fat neck. He immediately stumbled back and fell down to a knee. I raised my hand up to finish the job.
“Fuck this!”
I put the guy to sleep just as his boys jumped on top of me.
“Garnet! Look out!”
They were all on top of me. Fists and boots were flying. Shit hurt but not enough to break my focus.
People always got overwhelmed in situations like this. They just went wild and stopped concentrating. That was the last thing you were supposed to do.
The problem with fighting in a group was that you got too confident. You felt like you could do whatever you want. A man alone was more dangerous than anything.
I popped up and connected with one of them across the jaw. I spun around and clocked another one in the face. Another one swung at me. He caught me on the cheek but not as hard as I gave him in return.
Three down, one to go.
The last man put his dukes up and sized me up. The fact that I’d downed the rest of his boys didn’t seem to bother him.
I held my hands out and gave him a chance.
“You really wanna do this?” I asked.
He responded by swinging at me. I moved out of the way and threw a punch hard into his stomach.
He yelped like the asshole that he was as he collapsed to his knees. I looked down at him and didn’t bother trying to put him to sleep.
The crowd dispersed after they got their amusement. I moved back to the fat man and started searching through his pockets.
“What are you doing?” Nate said. “You’re not gonna rob him, are you?”
“It’s not robbing if it’s not his in the first place… Ah, here we go…”
I found the punk’s wallet and pulled a few bucks out. I handed them to Nate just as I heard the police sirens behind me.
“Freeze! Hands up!”
I followed their orders and smirked at Nate.
“Go get yourself another beer, kid.”
“What about you?”
“A night in jail isn’t gonna hurt me. Don’t worry. The rest of the club will keep you company for the rest of the night—”
Just as I finished, the cops grabbed my arms and twisted them behind my back. I sighed as they cuffed me and stuffed me into the backseat of their cruiser.
I looked out the window and watched as the punks I just dealt with were arrested the same as me. Nate himself had disappeared back into the bar.
“How you doing tonight, Officer?”
“Shut up,” the cop responded.
“Tough night, huh?”
I sighed a deep breath and chuckled softly to myself.
“Well, I guess that’s Ivory for you…”
Reaper: Chapter 3
DECLAN
I walked into the clubhouse the next afternoon to get my day started like I always did.
The Grindhouse was how it usually was during the day. A few guys on their lunch breaks just trying to enjoy a beer before they headed back to their boring office jobs. There wasn’t much else going on in the bar though, which was how I liked it.
I walked over to the bar and reached over the counter to pour myself a shot.
“We missed you last night.”
I didn’t pay much attention to Ghost’s familiar voice as I pounded down my shot. The sting of the alcohol cleared my head from the slight hangover that was lingering. I had to keep it in check with just a little more alcohol before the vibrations near my temples turned into pounding.
“I missed you, too, sweetheart,” I replied.
I turned to Ghost and he smirked at me.
I’d known him as long as anybody else in the club. It was an easy decision to make him VP. He was the wisest one out of all of us. He even looked like it, too.
He stroked his beard and leaned up against the bar next to me.
“Nothing serious?” he said.
“Just had to teach a few punks a lesson. Actually, I had to teach Nate a lesson, too.”
“And what lesson was that?”
“That we always got each other’s backs. He might just be a prospect but I’m still looking out for him. Speaking of which…”
I searched the bar to make sure I hadn’t missed him.
“…Where the fuck is he?”
“Relax,” Ghost said. “We took care of him. Sent him home. He’ll probably be sleeping in the entire weekend after all that beer he had.”
“Sounds like he had a good time.”
“To be young and free… I miss those days.”
“Do you?”
“…Not really.”
Ghost and I had been through it all at this point. Most guys would’ve been worried about me spending a night in jail but he knew that shit came with the territory. When you were patched up in a town like Ivory, cops were always trying to teach you a lesson. They never did get through to guys like Ghost and me though.
“We got business to discuss,” I said. “Everybody here?”
“I’ll round everybody up.”
Ghost left me so he could tell everybody to get into the chapel. I poured myself a glass of water and chugged it down. Dehydrated and slightly hungover. That’s how I knew it was the weekend.
Ghost and all of the other patches headed into the chapel. I followed right after them and closed the door behind me. The meeting room was quiet except for the boys shuffling into their seats.
I sat at the head of the table and looked around to make sure that everybody was present and accounted for.
Brawn. The muscle of the group. Everybody who looked at him thought he was made in a lab or something. Probably the most indispensable patch in the club.
Needle. If there was one guy who got on your nerves, it was probably him. At first glance, he was just a blond-haired, blue-eyed punk who looked like he spent too much time in front of a mirror. He had a big mouth, too, so he acted like he was the best member of the group. But when it came down to it, I wouldn’t want anybody else having my back.
Petey. He never talked much. He spent most of his time by himself. But when shit needed to get done, it got done. While Brawn spent most of his time lifting trucks to stay in shape, Petey was always reading some shit so that the entire club didn’t get left behind.
Sully. The newest patch. He was young. He was probably the most upstanding citizen. Firefighter. Ex-military. He was a hero in this town. It was good to have him around.
Then there was Ghost, who took a seat right next to me. Probably the only man besides me that commanded the most respect in Ivory.
Needle leaned back in his seat and put his hands behind his head.
“What’s up with the prospect?” he said.
“What do you mean?” Ghost replied.
“I mean, are we sure we wanna put him up for a patch? He can barely handle his liquor.”
“We already had a vote,” I said. “He’s a prospect. End of discussion.”
“I’m just saying,” Needle said. “Maybe we can get Brawn here to take him to the gym so he’s not—”
“What part of end of discussion don’t you understand?”
Needle put his hands up and feigned innocence. Sully rolled his eyes like the rest of us wanted to do.
“Nate’s young,” I said. “But he’s got a lot of potential. Let’s see what he can do before we make a decision one way or another.”
“What’s going on?” Brawn said. “Did you call a meeting just to talk about the prospect?”
“No. We got business. The Triads are looking to give us some work. Middle of next week.”
The Black Reapers made a deal with the Chinese Triads. Ivory was a small town but there was a big city in every direction. Rather than get their hands dirty, the Chinese paid us to move their shit from one town to the next. We took all of the risk but damn if that shit didn’t pay well.
“All right,” Needle said. “Another shipment. Business as usual.”
“Nah, things are different,” I said. “New procedure.”
I straightened up in my seat and leaned forward across the table. Even Needle was listening closely.
“Lieberman’s getting closer,” I said. “The Chinese are getting a little spooked. Even though we’re the ones taking the risk, they’re afraid of us getting caught.”
“That’ll never happen,” Ghost said.
“It won’t. We’re still taking more precautions.”
More than a year ago, Agent Jane Lieberman showed up. You had to be suspicious around any federal agent. When a fed shows up to a small town like Ivory, you knew something was up.
“Ghost,” I said. “You’ll take the shipment with Needle. Same as usual. Petey, Sully, you’re running out east. Brawn, you’re with me. We’re going west.”
“We’re taking multiple shipments?” Ghost asked.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “Decoys. The Chinese are still going through us and only us. Lieberman might be a crazy bitch but she’s not stupid. She’s got her eyes on us. Chinese insist we do what we can to throw ‘em off.”
“No problem,” Needle said. “Feds wouldn’t catch us even if they knew what we were doing. Nobody in this town can ride like me.”
“Ha!” Sully said with a laugh. “I’ve seen you ride before. Shit, it’s no wonder yo
u haven’t been caught yet.”
“Oh, please… You got a nice starter bike. It’s cute. But you haven’t done the shit on your ride that I have.”
“Whatever.”
“Maybe we should bet on it.”
“I already take all of your money at the poker table. I’m not gonna rob you even more.”
“Sounds like you’re scared. A man who fights fires is afraid of a race. Who would’ve thought?”
I coughed to shut them up before they could bicker any further.
“Anything else?” Ghost asked.
I looked around the table and shook my head.
“I’ll call another meeting when the shipment comes in,” I said. “Stop arguing inside of the chapel, ladies. Meeting adjourned.”
Sully and Needle got right back into it as they left. Petey and Brawn followed behind them, laughing the entire time. Ghost looked at me and shrugged. The boys would never come to blows but Ghost knew he was the man that had to step between them if shit did get stupid between them.
I sighed as I stepped out of the meeting room and back into the clubhouse. I immediately noticed the love of my life leaning up against the bar. I couldn’t help but smile at the sight of her.
Michelle was the most beautiful woman in the world. Long, black hair with curls. Full lips. A nice pair of tits. Fair skin. The right kind of curves that fit right in my hands.
She turned to me and gave me that stare with those brown eyes of hers that had me hooked from the moment I saw her. The first time I saw her I just wanted to fuck her. But now that I’d been with her for so long, I wanted even more. I chalked it up as another perk of being club president.
“Hey…”
I walked up to her and kissed her mouth. I darted my tongue between her lips and she didn’t resist. All of the wrong kinds of thoughts were swirling around in my head.
But before I could get any deeper, she put a hand on my chest and pushed me away.
“I was about to ask you what the hell happened to your face,” she said, her voice stern like a parent about to scold me. “But I can taste what happened last night.”
“And how was ladies night?” I asked. “Are you telling me you didn’t have a few drinks?”
“Katrina doesn’t drink like that. Not since Bella. And Anna was never a wild drinker. Gina… Well, she’s Gina…”