by K E Osborn
Crash’s face drops instantly to a pale white. “Oh, shit, really? I do feel a bit hotter than normal and my throat’s a bit dry. Shit!”
Shaking my head, I punch a smirking Techie in the arm. He chuckles and shakes his head. “Fuck, it sounds like a mild case of hypochondria. Hopefully, that’ll settle down given time.”
I burst out laughing as do the other guys around me, but Crash creases his eyebrows and shakes his head. “Why the fuck are you laughing? That sounds nasty?”
“Techie chuckles and nods. Only hurts for a while, but it’s worse for us, trust me.”
Crash furrows his brows and pouts. “What’s that fucking mean?”
“It’s hard watching you suffer,” Techie replies.
Chuckling at poor Crash, who’s oblivious to us teasing him, I bite my lip trying not to burst into fits of laughter.
“Okay, right.” Crash’s eyebrows scrunch together.
“You’ll be fine, you cockhead, I’m just fucking with you,” Techie replies making us all laugh that little bit harder.
Unexpectedly, the lights all shut off, throwing the range into complete darkness. My heart rate spikes as I look around the room. The only light, a green emergency exit sign turns on, sending a dull hue over the area. We all grab for our weapons, pulling them out and wracking them. Lights don’t just turn off on a place full of club of bikers for no reason, trouble is coming, we just have to wait for it to walk through the door in its size eleven boots. Aiming our guns at the door the silence is deafening. I can only hear the heavy breathing of my brothers in the room, and the footsteps stepping toward the door from outside the room. I’m not sure what the protocol is here, shoot first ask questions later, or see who the intruders are first then shoot. I have no idea. I’ll follow Mad Dog’s lead on this one.
The door swings open with a creak and four men saunter in the room. They all appear to be Mexican in race, sporting black moustaches and ponytails, in contrast to their expensive designer suits. A cold shudder runs down my spine as I glance to Mad Dog, who’s furrowing his brows obviously wondering who these guys are just like the rest of us.
Chops points his gun right at their heads clicking off his safety. “Who the fuck are you?”
All four men raise their hands placing their weapons on the bench to the side. We all stiffen targeting our guns with precision aim. Taking some harsh deep breaths, I watch the guys at the back just to make sure they’re not hiding a weapon while everyone’s distracted with the guy at the front, who takes a step forward raising his hands in surrender and looks right at Mad Dog. The tension in the air is so thick you couldn’t even cut it with Wesley, Steel’s knife.
“We’re just here to talk,” the lead Mexican guy announces in his thick accent.
My heart’s racing. Last time something happened like this it was an all-out war with the 5113ers. Blood was spilled, lives were lost. Who knows what their game is?
“Why the dramatics with the power outage?” Techie asks.
The leader shrugs and smirks pointing to one of the other guys. “Manuel thought it’d give us mood lighting. Dramatic effect and all… he’s a romantic at heart, our Manuel.”
Manuel nods and shrugs as Chops brings the barrel of the Glock right up against the leader’s temple. “What. Do. You. Want? Whoever the fuck you are,” Chops enunciates.
The leader smirks and nods. “Name’s José. I’m here on behalf of my employer—”
“Who is?” Mad Dog interrupts. We all keep our Glocks aimed at the four Mexicans.
“All in good time, Amigo. We noticed you’re planning to distribute guns and drugs to the streets. We’d like to see that doesn’t happen. My employer kindly asks you cease distribution, and either take your business elsewhere, or you move your business to other avenues of profit.”
Mad Dog chuckles and shakes his head. “Kindly tell your employer to suck my giant fat hairy cock.”
I smirk as snickers filter through the room, but not from the Mexicans who are all frowning and shaking their heads. José leans over to the bench and picks up his gun. I tense the same as everyone else. We’re all aiming our guns, fingers on the trigger, waiting for him to make his move. He simply holsters his gun and raises his hands in surrender.
“My employer will be displeased. I’ll be seeing you again, Mad Dog.”
José turns around knocking Chops’ gun from his temple and saunters out the room with his minions following. Everyone looks around the room wondering what the fuck just went down. We have no idea who they were, where they came from, who their employer is, and more importantly, I haven’t seen them before at work, so they’re not known to the police. These guys could be dangerous. The lights turn on and I bring my gun down slowly, now that the tension seems to have left the room. I’m fairly sure the Mexicans are gone, but Ryder and Crash take off outside to make sure. They don’t even have to be told by Mad Dog.
“What the fuck?” Chops murmurs looking at the Prez.
“Techie?” Mad Dog questions as Techie pulls out his tablet and starts to run a search.
Shaking his head he huffs. “I can’t find anything. I really need more than just a first name and ethnicity. I, at least, need a full name, handle, location, place of employment, something to go by other than just a Mexican called José.”
“Puzzles are like clues, challenging to master, but easy,” Jigsaw says and we all look at him and I furrow my brows.
“But easy?” I ask wanting to know if there’s more to his riddle.
“Ja,” he simply replies smiling brightly and slapping my back hard.
“Okay, so we have nothing. Let’s get back to the clubhouse, we’re obviously not safe here. Pack up boys, let’s go,” Mad Dog announces. I take a deep breath wondering who the hell is gunning for the Virginia Satan’s Savages now.
We quickly pack up our stations then head back to the clubhouse. As I’m riding my Hog the wind brushing my face, I can’t help but be on guard. I’m watching the road, but also my flank and occasionally turning to check my six, just to make sure there’s no Mexican tail on our arses.
We pull up to the gates of the clubhouse. Sentinel opens the gates letting us ride through. He was majorly pissed he didn’t get to come to the range with us, but someone needed to stay and watch the clubhouse. Unfortunately, as always seems to happen, he drew the short straw along with Lookout.
We all duck walk our Hogs into their parks and Shogun greets Mad Dog happily waving his tail. We all jump off our bikes, placing our lids on our handlebars and start marching toward the clubhouse. The atmosphere is quiet. I think everyone’s reflecting on the events at the range. Stepping into the clubhouse through the black door, ‘Battery Acid’ by Queens Of The Stone Age plays loudly on the stereo. Noticing two guys standing with Lookout, I wonder who they are. Both tall. One with facial hair, but it’s all strange like he’s trying to grow it, but it’s all patchy like he’s going through puberty. He looks scruffy with his lanky posture and shaggy brown hair. The other is a darker brown, but he appears more masculine than the other with a full beard. He’s fuller in tone, but still lanky in all respects. These guys look kind of weird to me. I turn to Mad Dog and he furrows his brows looking at the two strangers who seem to have taken up residence in our clubhouse.
Strolling up to them, I tilt my head upward in a greeting and half-smile. “Hey.”
“You a brother here?” the really lanky, scruffy one asks.
Nodding, I smirk. “I am.”
“Stealth, this is the two prospects looking to join up. This motherfucker here is Blade…” Lookout points to the more normal looking one of the two, “…and this motherfucker is Acid.”
Opening my eyes wide, I nod. “You already have road names?”
They both stare at me blankly as Lookout smirks. “That’s their birth names, Stealth.”
Swallowing hard, I nod. “Oh.”
They glare at me. The one who looks more like a gutter rat than a human—Acid, I think—
curls his lip at me. “You have a problem with that?”
I shake my head. “Nope, not at all.”
Acid grits his teeth baring them to me like a rabid dog, and I wonder what the fuck this guy’s doing. I think he is on acid, not named after it.
“Okay motherfuckers, let’s go.” Lookout grabs Acid and Blade by their belt buckles and pulls them off toward Mad Dog. They both let their hands fall to their sides and their faces scrunch up in confusion as Lookout grabs them basically by their cocks and drags them away. Chuckling to myself, I turn to grab a much-needed beer. A tingle runs down my spine when I see Skye sitting down at the bar. I smile looking over at her beautiful face always feeling a pull toward her. I want to protect her from this life. She’s so sweet and beautiful—she doesn’t belong here.
Stepping up to the bar, I take a stool next to her and sit down. “Hey, gorgeous.”
“Hey handsome. Heard there was trouble at the range?”
I nod and sigh. “Yeah, not sure what the hell happened actually. My head’s still spinning from it.”
She leans forward and rests her hand on my knee. It sends a shockwave through my leg and straight up to my cock making it semi-stiffen. “You wanna talk about it?”
Puffing my cheeks up, I force the air out through a small hole in my mouth and shake my head. “Nah, let’s talk about your day instead.”
She smiles and nods. “Okay, burning tree?” she asks. I nod knowing that even though it’s the middle of February and it’s stinking hot outside, it will still be great to be out of the testosterone filled clubroom and have some alone time with Skye.
I stand up wrapping my arm around her tiny shoulders. She smells incredible as my nose rubs into her hair. She smells like… wait, I don’t even know what that smell is.
“Skye, what scent is your hair?”
She giggles looking up at me as we walk outside. “Well, I’m assuming it’s my shampoo. It’s a combination of things, watery cyclamen layered with leafy greens, blond woods, and airy metallic notes, but I think the main ingredient is jasmine. The bottle says it’s meant to smell beachy.”
Laughing at that ridiculous explanation—it sounds like she’s reciting an advertisement for shampoo—I pull her closer to me. “You’re so fucking cute. Jasmine, we’ll go with jasmine. It’s awesome, keep using it.”
She looks up at me and smiles. “Only ‘cause you want me too. Not ‘cause I like it or anything,” she teases poking me in the ribs.
I smirk as we make our way to a seat under the burning tree. I take my arm from around her shoulders and sit down in the comfortable chair. She follows me down sitting in my lap. Her arm wraps around my neck as she sits sideways. Her hand moves to the back of my hair and she starts to play with it. I love it when she does that. I don’t have time for any of the other club girls here, they’re too slutty. Lunar was always Steel’s girl until Willow came along, but she isn’t here as much now. She seems to be off with the rocker, Danger.
Jess, well she shoots ping pong balls out her pussy, enough said right there.
Aimie, well fuck me, she’s seventeen and I’ve tried so many times to talk her out of being here, but she’s adamant about staying. And the others, well they’re boring.
Skye is the only one who seems like a normal, non-Barbie-like slut in this place. Sure, she has the blonde hair and fake tits, but she has a brain and she isn’t stupid. Or doesn’t pretend to be. That’s what I like about her. I just wish I could stop thinking about Hannah because Skye’s amazing. Then maybe I could get over this sex drought I’m having. It’s been so long I’m sure my cock is going to fall off as a non-required appendage. They do say if you don’t use it, you lose it, let’s just hope that’s not true.
“So gorgeous, tell me about your day?” I ask running my hand up her thigh, her skin’s so soft it feels like silk.
“I didn’t do much. Just hung out with Jess and spoke on Skype with my brother for a bit.”
Smiling, I nod. “Oh yeah, how’s he going?”
“Really good, but he needs a hand on the farm. I feel bad that I can’t be there to help him out.” She sighs and looks at me with her eyes glistening like she might be a little bit upset.
“Hey, don’t feel bad. I’m sure he’ll find help soon, and if not you can always take a holiday to go and see him for a few weeks.”
She nods. “Yeah, you’re right… Anyway, I’m glad you’re back from the range. It was so quiet here today, with only Lookout and those weird new prospects.”
Chuckling as I think of Acid and Blade, I nod. “Yeah, they seem… um, interesting.”
“Yeah, has Acid growled at you yet?” she asks making me chuckle.
“Not growling as such, but he did bare his teeth to me like a dog. That guy is weird.”
She giggles and nods. “Oh yeah, weird with a capital crazy!”
Laughing, I run my hand up and down her arm, touching her comes easily to me. We’ve been getting closer since the day I arrived, and I know she’s been spending a lot less time with my brothers focusing most of her efforts on me. Even though I’m not really giving her much in return other than, I guess, cuddles.
“So what’s the plan for tonight then?” I ask.
She shrugs. “I guess I watch you guys all get wasted like usual. Bunch of heathens that you are.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Oh, is that how you see me?”
She shakes her head. “You? No! You get wasted, sure… but you don’t bury yourself in pussy, or have your head firmly between club girl legs. That’s not your style, Stealth.”
Raising my lip, I smirk. “Oh, and what is my style?”
She brings her hand up to my cheek and caresses my face softly. “You’re a one woman man. You’re a give your heart out type, and when you do, you give everything you have to that one woman. You’re a lover Stealth, not a luster like these other goofs.”
Tilting my head slightly at her surmise, I guess she isn’t far off track. I’m not one for going in for just any random pussy and having sex for the fun of it. I like sex to mean something. Call me a pussy if you want, but I wasn’t brought up like my brothers. I was raised to treat women with respect and dignity, so loving them and treating them kindly is the only thing I know how to do—that includes sex.
“You think you know me gorgeous?” I ask.
She smirks and nods. “I know you better than you think, Stealth. I know you like me, you’re drawn to me like I am to you, but you’re guarded. Because you’re a lover, and right now your heart is yearning for someone else. I’m not stupid. I know about your ex-wife and I know you haven’t been apart long, wounds take time to heal. But I’m here, I’m not going anywhere, and I’m willing to wait. However long that might be till you’re ready to open up to me.”
Taking a deep breath, I gaze into her beautiful sky blue eyes as she looks right back at me. My heart beats a little faster as she caresses my face. She draws her bottom lip into her mouth baring down with her teeth on her lip and it instantly makes my cock twitch underneath her. She really is so fucking undeniably beautiful. I can feel it, the pull, the chemistry between us. It fizzles and cracks drawing me closer to her.
Licking my lips, I inhale through my nose as her chest rises and falls dramatically. My hand comes up to her head holding her hair as our faces are mere centimetres apart. My breathing is rushed as her light breath on my face makes me break out into a cold sweat. Kissing her is all I want to do right now, but something is holding me back. Something in the back of my mind is screaming one simple word.
Hannah.
Clenching my eyes shut, I swallow hard and pull back taking in rapid deep breaths. Hearing her sigh, I open my eyes to watch her frowning. I wince at her obvious disappointment at our almost first kiss.
“I’m sorry.”
She half-smiles and drops her hand from my cheek to my chest over my heart. “It’s okay, Stealth. Let this heal first.” She presses on my chest over my heart. “I’ll be here. Our time will come.”
She shakes her head. “No, you’re good for me. Why do you think I’m willing to wait? You’re worth it.”
Taking a deep breath, I inwardly kick myself. After saying something so nice, I should just lean in and kiss her, but I can’t. Hannah is on my mind, and nothing I can do right now is stopping the image of her face from replaying over in my memory.
Chapter Three
It’s Saturday and I’ve woken up from a restless sleep dreaming about Hannah and the kids. I miss them. Not seeing them for so long has me wondering how they are. But I know, staying away is the best option right now. Hannah made it very clear she doesn’t want me, and apart from that, it’s the only option for keeping them safe. Walking out of my room, I step into the hall to see Sentinel talking to Jess outside of his room as if she’s leaving from the night before—sly dog. She looks to see me watching them then she turns back around and saunters off toward the clubroom.
Sentinel huffs like I’ve just killed his fun. I smirk striding up to him and raise my eyebrow. He furrows his like he isn’t going to be spilling any beans to me anytime soon about the club’s wildest girl, but he does leer at me instead.
“Are you getting any intel? I can’t get much working on the gate, but you’re in with the prez, so you need to be reporting everything in.”
Clenching my jaw tight as my heart starts to race in my chest, I bring my hand up and slap him across the back of his head, hard. “Don’t talk in here. The walls have eyes and ears, dickhead. I’ll report in soon, just watch what you say and where you say it. You don’t want to end up in an appointment with Jigsaw at the Chop Shop do you?” I don’t bother to wait for his answer. His behaviour is immature and reckless, and shit like that gets fuckers like us… dead!
Marching out to the clubroom, mainly to get away from the ridiculous conversation that’s just taken place, I walk in to sound of Mad Dog yelling at Penetrator. Turning to look at the commotion, Mad Dog has him by the scruff of the neck and is screaming in his face. Mad Dog shoves him forcing him to fall backward into the pool table. He picks up a pool cue and smashes it over Penetrator’s head. Blood pisses out of his forehead as he falls to his knees. Chops and Jigsaw rush in breaking up the fight. Striding over to Penetrator, I put my hand on his shoulder as he sways on the spot.