Connected in Pain : A Motorcycle Club Romance Trilogy of Crow & Rylynn

by Ryan Michele

  Sophia was a damn good mom to both of her kids. Loved them with everything she had inside of her and would give them the world. She was very active in their school and knew everything going on.

  “Nice. You hangin’ in there? Need anything?” I asked, knowing that she had money. One, because I sent it to her every month and two, she had a great job at the local insurance company. Not to mention, her dick of an ex-husband had to pay her child support and alimony; my attorney at the time made sure of it. Sophia and I were long over, but I’d always take care of her.

  Her head shook. “We’re good.” Sweet. Too damn sweet to be mixed up with the likes of me, but part of my family all the same. I hoped one day she would find herself a good man who did right by her.

  “You call me, you need anything.” She nodded as the game started, focusing all the attention around us to the boys on the field.

  Ravage had a shit ton going on, but I told my boy I’d be here, so I was.

  Fourth quarter, the Panthers were up by three and needed to make a touchdown to seal the deal. The play set into motion, the ball flying in the sky directly into my boy’s arms in the end zone. The crowd around us went wired, slamming their feet on the metal bleachers and screaming at the top of their lungs. The colors red and white twirled in the air from the cloths the cheerleaders sold and made a mint.

  Greer had a wide smile on his face as his teammates slapped his helmet in congratulations. The entire Panthers’ side was on a high of excitement. Here in Alabama we took all football as serious as they come. None of that pussy shit. Hardcore down and out, football was as sacred as church. Our church that was. Panthers and Roll Tide all day every day.

  Two men caught my attention walking in front of the gate on our side of the field, and everyone else around us because they were yelling very stupidly that the Panthers sucked ass. The once rowdy crowd now turned into a silent one. The men’s steps were sloppy telling me they had one too many. And people said I was a dick for what I did. At least I’d never show up to my kid’s game drunk off my ass making a damn scene like these fuckers.

  “Get your ass on the other side of the field!” Brewer called out as the drunk guys looked up to our area, wide smiles on their faces like there was some sort of inside joke we weren’t privy to. I could feel it before they did it, that gut feeling that they were going to cause trouble and were going to be in for a rude awakening. My gut was rarely wrong.

  “Oh, the Panthers got themselves a gang,” the tallest of the men said again stupidly, practically tripping over his feet.

  I let out a low whistle. My brothers and I all rose while the two assholes were laughing and throwing their heads back, not paying a lick of attention to what was going on around them. Mistake. We got to them and stood right in their path so they had to stop and look up… all the way up to see us. They were short little fuckers. Stupid and small, never a good combination. If they weren’t fast, they were really in trouble.

  “What the—?” the shorter one said, halting his step and grabbing on to tall guy and finally catching his attention.

  A low murmur came over the crowd, and we had no doubt every eye in that stadium including the players and coaches were on us. We were Ravage therefore not stupid enough to beat the fuck out of these two with all these witnesses. Security was supposed to be everywhere; obviously, someone was falling down on their job and would get a call Monday morning.

  It made this situation our business to handle and get out of the damn stadium.

  “We’re your escorts,” I ordered, cracking my knuckles in warning, wondering if they caught my meaning because their eyes didn’t show it. Morons. Great.

  “You can’t make us leave!” the short one, aka stubby, yelled.

  “The fuck we can’t,” Phoenix added into the mix. “You either walk yourselves out of here.” Phoenix got very close to the men and whispered, “Or we make you.” The sound was so menacing it made me smile. He was a twisted fuck, but damn happy he was on my team. He’d lived in Rebellion all his life just like me, going through this school and running this town. We didn’t become close until senior year.

  “You can’t hurt us,” the taller one, aka stick, said. “We have the right to be here. Our kids are playing.”

  Phoenix turned to me. “Seriously. These fuckers couldn’t put two and two together.”

  A hand came to my shoulder, and I looked over to Brewer. “You know we could make a citizen’s arrest.” To this I smiled then nodded.

  The bastards yelled and screamed the entire way out of the field as we physically removed them from the game. It made me miss the last few minutes, but the Panthers won and I got to see my boy score. All was good.

  When we handed them over to security with a smile, Brewer spewed some shit about a citizen’s arrest. The guards did nothing but take the assholes. Sometimes being within the law worked in our favor, but this was very rare. Not gonna get arrested for something as stupid as these fucks, but if I ever saw those fuckwads again though, they’d be seeing my fists.

  The door opened and Greer came through lugging his huge bag filled with football gear and no doubt smelling like shit, tossing it to the floor in the living room. My place was only a few blocks from the clubhouse. A two story, blue-gray sided home with not one bit of landscaping around it.

  When I bought it, the developers had it all decked out with bushes and shrubbery. One of the prospects pulled it all out. There wasn’t time to deal with shit that wasn’t important. The grass got mowed and the rest of it could go to hell. I couldn’t give two shits that the old lady two doors down on the opposite side of the road hated it.

  It wasn’t her haggard ass out there weeding and mulching all that shit.

  “Hey, son. Great game.” I reached out tagging my boy around his neck and bringing him close to me, giving him a squeeze. Then seeing his smile, I released him.

  “Yeah. Need a shower.”

  He wasn’t wrong. He smelled like a locker room filled with thousands of sweaty boys going through puberty and not one was wearing deodorant.

  “Go. Come back and we’ll talk.”

  He nodded and climbed his way up the stairs. Moments later the shower turned on. I grabbed a beer moving to the living room. The sectional was huge. No other way to describe it. Each of my kids and myself could lay on the fucker spread out and not touch.

  Bought it just for that reason.

  This room was simple. Couch, coffee table, and huge ass television with a gaming system below it. There was surround sound throughout the room allowing us to hear every crunch during a game.

  Van, short for Savannah, said it needed pillows and blankets. Therefore, I gave her the cash and made Greer take her to the store. Didn’t know what store and didn’t give a fuck.

  They came back with a shit ton of stuff, but most of it was for their rooms here. The living room only got the necessities, pillows and blankets. They were stored in the closet mostly when my kids weren’t here.

  My mind spun as I took a pull on my beer. There was so much going on at one time. Waiting for information to start flowing was difficult. Thinker. That was what my father always called me growing up.

  He said I used to have to think up plans for everything. Every scenario had a different outcome, and I needed to be prepared. Some things never changed. Except now things could mean life or death. Back then it was more like how to build a boat out of Legos while missing a prominent piece.

  Greer came jogging down the stairs, went into the kitchen where I heard the door of the fridge open and shut, then came into the living room sitting down with a whip of wind. He tore off the top of a Gatorade and downed half of it in one gulp.

  Sixteen-years-old and driving. I wasn’t sure how my boy got so grown up so fast. Time ticked every second and most of the time we didn’t notice.

  When Greer was born, Soph and I had no clue what to do. We were so lost. Changing a diaper was an experience. Even with all our struggles as new parents, he turned out pretty fuck
ing great.

  “Son.”

  His eyes lifted to mine with worry etched inside of them. Open and honest was what my kids and I had. No matter the consequences we communicated and it became a staple. It only took him a second to start. “Mom is dating someone, and I don’t think he’s good news.”

  “Okay. Why not?” Sophia sat by herself tonight. Surely whoever this asshole was wouldn’t leave her to that. She was too good of a woman to be treated with utter disrespect.

  “The other day when I came home from practice, Mom was gone and he was there. I found him in the office looking through some of Mom’s stuff. When I went to the door and he saw me, he said he lost a fax that Mom let him put through on the machine. But, Dad, he wasn’t anywhere near the fax machine.”

  “Did you talk to your mom?”

  He shook his head. “She really likes this one, and I don’t have any proof of anything. He just rubs me the wrong way. There’s something off with him.”

  “What’s his name?”

  “Simon Bellville.”

  “That’s where I’ll start. If there’s anything going on, I’ll take care of it.”

  He breathed out a puff of air and leaned back in the seat. “Mom’s been lonely and says she met this guy through her work, but, Dad, he doesn’t work there. I don’t know if he’s a client or something. It’s all just really off.”

  “How do you know he doesn’t work there?”

  “Google.”

  I smiled at my boy. The brains on him would serve him well in life. “We’ll get this shit handled. No one is gonna take advantage of your mom. I promise you that.”

  “Thanks.”

  “You always come to me with this shit, Greer. I don’t give a fuck what it is. You come to me.”

  He nodded and took another deep drink of his Gatorade.

  “Right. Hungry?”

  “Hell yeah,” he replied.

  “I’ll order two pizzas.” We laughed as I picked up the phone and dialed.

  Time with Greer was always great. My boy was the spitting image of his dad, and I was proud of that.

  In a few days, it was go time for the run for Xavier and Marcus. Everything had better go fucking smooth or blood would be shed and not Ravage blood.

  I always came home to my kids. I lived for my club, bled for them, but my heart beat for my children. Always.

  9

  Rylynn

  Knocking on the door harder, still no one showed up at Penny’s house. She was the last one who admitted to being with Elizabeth that night she disappeared. If they were the best of friends, my thought would be that Penny knew more than she stated in the report.

  Which wasn’t much to begin with. Penny picked Elizabeth up around seven thirty that night from Elizabeth’s house. They went to The Junction, a local teen hotspot, and grabbed a bite to eat. After that they went to the party at Jonny Walp’s home. They drank beer, played games, and talked to, according to her, everyone at the party. She said that Elizabeth was very well liked by everyone and stopped all the time to talk to people.

  Penny stated that Elizabeth went into the bathroom. She saw her go in and waited outside the door. Two boys came up and tried talking to her, but she said she just smiled at them. After a while, she knocked on the door, but Elizabeth didn’t answer.

  Concerned, she went and found Jonny who got the door unlocked. When they looked in the room, the window was open and Elizabeth was gone.

  Penny stated that she looked everywhere for her inside the house and outside. She even took drives around the area to see if she could find her.

  Moving around the side of the house and looking in the windows, I didn’t see anyone home. There was furniture and the last name Rager was on the mailbox. I assumed the family still lived here. I’d need to try back.

  Walking back to my Jeep, I pulled the file out that was full of papers. I’d printed them all off because I needed to organize it in a way that I could understand. Everything Naddy sent me was just lumped together leading me on a wild goose chase with sections of reports in every which way. It was a mess.

  Now it was in a way I could understand it.

  The picture of Elizabeth Jenkins tumbled out, and I sucked in a breath. Her blonde hair was the shade of Mazie’s and it made me suck in a breath every time. The picture looked of innocence with a pure complexion and very symmetrical face.

  It was a school photo taken this past year before she went missing. Her smile looked happy and true, not fake or trying too hard to be something she wasn’t. Her friends described her as an honest girl who never met a person she didn’t get along with. She was bubbly and energetic, but from several sources she didn’t drink alcohol, but Penny said they did. A discrepancy in the story there.

  The cops had witness statements and interviewed all of the kids that were at this party, including Jonny’s parents who didn’t know he was having a party. Lots of kids saw her at this party saying they just had small talk with her, nothing too serious.

  As I read through the police records with each of the witnesses, my mind rolled through the possibilities of what could’ve happened that night. Having been to a shit ton of parties, there were some frightening thoughts.

  The detectives on the case said that all leads were exhausted, but there had to be something that was overlooked or we’d know what happened to this girl.

  And my bet was Penny. Best friends always told each other everything. There were so many more questions that needed to be asked that I was surprised the detectives on the case didn’t ask. But that wasn’t happening today.

  Jeep in drive and the folder on the passenger seat, I set off for home. My cell rang, the display saying Nox Calling.

  “Hey there, handsome,” I teased, answering the line.

  “Ry.” He paused.

  “Yeah, Nox. What’s up?”

  My gut twisted, and the hairs on the back of my neck rose. The seriousness of his tone had me on edge. What if something happened to my dad? Mom? Mazie? Grandma? Anyone at the club? No. This couldn’t be happening again. It was too raw still.

  Breathing in and out deeply, I pulled my head out of my ass. This wasn’t me, dammit.

  “It’s done,” he said cryptically.

  “What?”

  “He’s been avenged.”

  Quickly, I pulled off the side of the road, my hands shaking. Being cut out of the loop when it came to killing my grandpa was difficult. I had to look really deep within myself to find the courage to step back. It was so fucking hard. Every instinct inside of me screamed for action. For vengeance.

  It was the moment that I really understood the club business aspect of the Ravage MC. It was deeper than I’d been taught throughout the years. While my mom would always say that Dad was on club business, that business didn’t affect me. Therefore, I let it go my mind conjuring up all kinds of things.

  Not being naïve to it, but also not fully one hundred percent getting it either.

  Until this. Until some dickhead killed my grandpa and injured my grandma.

  Club business meant retribution for those members of the family hurt or murdered. It was an impact all itself.

  “Really?”

  “Just between you and me, Ry. Got me?” he said. There was no way in hell I’d say anything to anyone. Nox was doing something he shouldn’t do, I knew it, and I was so damn grateful he told me.

  “Never a word.”

  Tears streamed down my cheeks as sadness and relief warred with each other. Two opposite feelings, yet the same as well. My grandpa could rest in peace now knowing whoever took him from us was gone and could never hurt anyone again.

  “Later.”

  “Later.” My later was a bit choky.

  Disconnecting, I tossed the phone into the cup holder, laid my head back on the headrest, and closed my eyes.

  Closure. It would never seal the wound completely, but it was a start.

  It was exactly what I needed to give Elizabeth Jenkins’ family. And I would. />
  10

  Crow

  “I’m done with your shit.”

  The glare Jenny gave me did nothing but piss me off more. She was high as a kite, on what who the fuck knew. She smoked or snorted anything she could get her hands on. Some asshole could crush up Tic Tacs and tell her it would give her the best high of her life, and she’d find the money to buy it.

  Unfortunately, it was usually money that I’d given her for Van which only meant I was enabling her. But fuck, what the hell was a dad supposed to do?

  I knew the answer to that, and it needed to happen.

  “Crow, I can’t go to rehab.” Jenny started crying as the side door opened and her loser of a boyfriend Stan walked in. Great, two junkies to deal with. Jenny went to Stan. “Tell him. Tell him I can’t go to rehab. I have to work.”

  “Work? Where the fuck do you work?” I clipped out, knowing damn well she didn’t have a fucking job. She got fired from the last one for showing up to work high. Go figure.

  Jenny’s eyes flicked back and forth between Stan and myself, indecision in them.

  “Leave her the fuck alone and go,” Stan said.

  In a flash, his shirt was gripped in my fist and my face in his. I slammed his head against the wall. “You forget who owns this house, motherfucker. It sure as shit ain’t you.” I slammed him again. “You get your shit and be moved out tonight. You are not to step foot in this place or I swear to Christ, you’ll be dead.”

  I slammed him once more, releasing him to stumble away from me.

  “Why did you do that!” Jenny shrieked. The bitch gave me a headache every time I was near her.

  “Shut the fuck up.” I glared at her and finally she listened. “You’re gonna pack your clothes, get in the van outside, and it’s gonna take you to rehab. You’ll stay there until you can lay off the shit.”

  “I can’t,” she said immediately. “I… I…”

  The thing that really stood out to me was her first words weren’t that she had to take care of Van, who was luckily at school. No, it was all about her. Selfish and self-centered. Not a good role model for Van.