by Blair Grey
BLADE: AN MC ROMANCE
The Steel Wings MC – Book #2
By Blair Grey
Copyright © 2019 by Blair Grey
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Chapter 1
Blade
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“It really isn’t that big of a deal you guys,” I said, letting the exasperation show in my voice. “It’s just the fact the contractors are this far behind schedule that has me pissed off.”
“It’s not like it’s too bad,” Kage grinned. “I mean, it could be worse. I wish I had the problem of waiting for my own house to be built. I’m looking at renting for the foreseeable future, so I don’t see how you have any room to complain.”
“Because I’m going to be homeless if I don’t get into the place when my current lease is up!” I said. “Seriously. What am I going to do? Move into the garage for a few weeks?”
“At least you’d be around to work on the bikes,” Roman laughed.
I shot him a look, but all the guys were feeding off the energy of each other, poking fun at my situation and teasing me for having to deal with it. I wanted to tell them I had it all under control and to forget that I brought it up in the first place, but I was too far in for that.
With the little I’d said already, I knew I wasn’t going to be living this down any time soon. The only thing I was happy about was the fact I was with a smaller group of the guys, rather than most of the MC. If I had to speculate, I’d say these men around me now were some of the closest people I had in my life.
Jett, our President, Roman, our Sergeant at Arms, Kage, our Secretary, and Trak, our Road Captain, were all hanging around, as well as a few of our closer friends who weren’t on the committee.
Though I wanted to believe I was closest to Jett as the Vice President, I had a feeling I was closer to Roman. There was something about the way he and I connected that was just close and pure.
Though, that wasn’t to say we weren’t all close in our own way. I’d always thought of it as a brotherhood more than anything, and that’s what really mattered to me.
When we hung out, it was impossible to predict who was going to be around and when. For the most part, it tended to be the same handful of us who spent time at the bar around the same time during the day, but the MC was a lot bigger than just the handful of men on the committee, and I saw familiar faces all around town.
Of course, as the vice president of the MC, I was second highest in the entire club. I was the one who acted as president when our actual leader wasn’t present, and I took care of much of the middle man work that rose between the members of the committee and our president himself.
It was an important job, there was no doubt about that, and I loved every second of it.
Growing up, I didn’t have much of a family life. My parents fought a lot and wound up getting divorced before I was even in high school, and while I maintained that I was unscarred by the event, that was far from true. The fact of the matter was that I never fully got over it, and I still held something of a resentment toward my parents, though I did try to stay on good terms with both.
The MC, however, changed my life. From the day I joined, I found brotherhood unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. They were family in every sense of the word, and far more family to me than I ever thought possible. I would do anything for these men. Anything at all.
More than once, we’d laid our lives on the line for each other, and we always came out stronger for it. I was proud to call these men my family, and I knew they felt the same toward the MC – and toward me.
So, I didn’t mind all the teasing that they were giving me now about the fact my house wasn’t yet done. It wasn’t really anyone’s fault. Life got in the way sometimes, and that’s what happened with our contractor. He was a good man, and he worked hard. Many of the guys in the MC had used him for one thing or another in the past, and I knew he was doing his best to stay on track.
But, with the ups and downs of life, there was no way for him to keep up with the projected timeframe, and I would have a few weeks – if not a couple months – to have to figure something out.
“Why not tell Hank you’re going to live with him since he’s the one who hasn’t gotten your house done yet?” Jett teased.
“Would you want to live with that guy?” I asked with a laugh. “I mean, that’s about as close to living in a garage without actually living in a garage I think I could manage.”
“He seems to be doing just fine with the lifestyle,” Jett said with a laugh and a shrug.
“And, I’m happy for him. But I’m not going to do that to myself. I mean, come on… I’ve been planning and working toward this for months now, I really thought it was all going to come together for me as planned.” I shook my head.
“Well, that makes an ass out of you then,” Trak joined in with the others and teased me himself. “Hey, I know what you should do!”
“What?” I was almost afraid to ask. I knew Trak could have some pretty crazy ideas, and I braced myself for just about anything to come out of his mouth now.
“Why not move in with your mom?” he asked.
The smirk on his face said it all without him having to say anything to me, and I quickly shook my head among the laughter of all the others.
“You know how I feel about that!” I retorted.
“Why not?” he asked, his eyes merry with the delight of the moment.
“Because I’m twenty-eight years old!” I shot back.
“And what’s your point? Do you really think that’s going to make a difference? Lots of people are in their thirties and still living with their parents these days!” Trak said.
“First of all,” I spoke slow and condescendingly, “I’m not a lot of people, and secondly, I’m not going to move in with my mother. I’m too old, and it’s just not going to happen, even if it’s only for a few weeks.”
“I would do it for the cooking alone,” Kage chimed in. “I mean, think about it: you don’t have to worry about your cooking or your cleaning or even doing your laundry for a few weeks.”
“And the entire time, I have to hear what my mother thinks I should be doing with my life and how that’s different than what I’m actually doing with my life,” I told him. “Trust me, it would only be for a few weeks, but that would be worse than just doing something to get myself sent to jail for the same amount of time.”
“Your mom’s not that bad!” I knew Roman was baiting me, but I couldn’t help it. I took the bait.
“And, how would you know what my mother’s like?” I asked, knowing I would regret the question as soon as it came out of my mouth.
“Because of last Saturday-”
“Shut up!” I shouted. “Don’t you dare act like you and my mother did something!”
But, my retorts were lost in another wave of laughter, and I knew it wasn’t any use. Of course, it didn’t bother me the way the other guys were acting. After all, it was just teasing. They knew how to get me riled up, just like I knew how to get each of them riled up, as well.
We could push each other’s buttons and get each other on the brink of actually getting angry, but then we knew how to back off and change the subject so no one really got upset. I might act like I was offended with the conversation, but the fact of the matter was that I enjoyed every minute of it.
It felt good to have people who got me so entirely. These were the kinds of guys I could see myself spending the rest of my life joining in the cause. I lived for the MC. I would lay down my life for the MC. I would
do anything they asked of me, and I would do it with all the strength and skill I had.
“Alright, so if you’d rather go to jail than be with your mother, then I guess that just leaves one option,” Jett said.
“What’s that?” I asked. “Are you going to tell me to stick my things in storage and move into jail for a few weeks? I mean, we could take the fall for something that went wrong around town, give them someone to pin the blame on, and just call the problem solved.”
“The ironic thing is, I don’t think they’d have to try very hard to pin something on us,” Roman said, and Jett laughed in agreement. Though we tended to avoid getting tangled up with the law as much as possible, that didn’t mean scraps didn’t happen.
We’d all done stints in prison at one time or another, and I knew what it was like. And, I really did mean it when I told the guys I would rather do that than deal with my mother for any length of time.
But, Jett stepped in and bailed me out of the situation. He wasn’t going to send me to live with my mother, and while he didn’t have any spare room in his little house, he did have a solution for me I could live with.
“Why don’t you move into that open apartment on the West Side for a few weeks?” he suggested.
“We’ve got one open?” I asked in surprise, and he nodded.
“It opened up last week. I was going to have it cleaned up pretty good before I put it back on the market, but if you’re in need of a place right now, it makes more sense to have you take it. We’ll deal with the cleaning after you move. In fact, if you take care of cleaning it and footing that bill, I won’t charge you rent,” Jett replied.
“Boom! There’s your answer.” Roman acted as though he dropped a mic, but I couldn’t argue. That was the perfect solution to the problem, and while I knew the guys would be there for me, I was still moved by the gesture.
It wasn’t my preferred side of town to live, and those weren’t my preferred apartments. They were often used by the MC to get an extra source of income, but for now, I was willing to take just about anything to keep from having to deal with a hotel or something even less convenient for a few weeks.
Besides, I was glad the MC had come through for me again. Of course, they would – they always did.
“Thanks, man,” I told him. “I really appreciate it.”
Chapter 2
Alexis
“You wanted to see me?” I asked my supervisor as I stepped into his office.
“Oh, yes, Alexis, thank you for coming in,” he said with a smile. “I needed to talk to you.”
“What about?”
“Always right to the point. I love that about you,” he said. He motioned for me to sit down, so I obeyed, still curious to know where this was all heading.
“As you know, you’ve only got three months left with the program,” he said.
“Yes,” I replied. “Not that I’ve been counting.”
He joined in with my nervous laughter, but then, he cleared his throat. “Well, we’ve got one last assignment for you, and I think you’re going to like it.”
“Great.” I gave another warm smile, though I wasn’t sure what to think yet. I’d been working with the program for a year now, all but volunteering my time to pay back the money they spent putting me through school to be a nurse in the first place.
The idea behind the program was to create both jobs and resources for people who came from less privileged areas, and since I came from a poorer town, I fit the bill perfectly.
I was driven and determined, and I knew I wanted to help people when I grew up. Being a nurse seemed like the best career choice for me, and I was grateful to this program for giving me the funds and the resources to make my dream a reality.
The only thing I had to agree to do was to work for them and go where they sent me for a year after graduating. During the year, I might be sent to the poorer parts of big cities, I might be sent overseas, or I might end up working at normal hospitals working with patients who were being treated for free or very low cost due to their circumstances.
Of course, I thought I would almost certainly be sent overseas to work in third world countries. I had no idea there were so many lower class places in the United States that needed help. I had to admit, it came as something of a shock to me when I found out I wasn’t going to leave my native soil.
But, I’d worked for a few months here and a few months there in various parts of the United States, and while I now looked forward to being done with the program and free to make my own choices and go in my own direction, I knew I was going to have to give this last assignment my all if I was going to get the recommendations I wanted from this man.
Mr. Boatman was a fair man, and I knew he would recommend me to any of the hospitals or clinics I’d asked, as long as I upheld my end of the bargain and did as he asked. So far, things had been going great between us. In fact, they couldn’t have gone better, really.
So while I was ready to spread my wings and do my own thing now, I still vowed to take this last assignment with a smile and a good attitude, throwing my heart and soul into it until I finally reached the other side.
Of course, I would treat the people the same and be the best medical practitioner I could be, regardless of where I ended up. But I knew I had to work to prove I could do that even when I was in underprivileged places in the country.
“Before I tell you where you’re going, I want you to know we gave this a lot of thought, and we feel you are by far the best fit for the place. It’s going to come as a surprise to you, since we don’t normally choose to send people back to where they started,” he continued, and I flinched.
I had heard the program would, at times, send recruits back to the clinic where they were trained so they could aid in the teaching of others, and that’s really not what I wanted to do. I wasn’t meant to be a teacher. I was meant to be a healer. A nurse.
I wanted to make people better myself; I didn’t want to take the lead in a classroom setting. But, if that’s what he wanted me to do, then I would be willing to take on the assignment. After all, it was just for a few months, and then I was free to do anything I wanted.
After I had my certificate of completion signed, I would be free to move anywhere in not only the country, but in the entire world. The money I made wouldn’t be fed right back into the program to pay off the debt I owed, but I would be able to finally make money for myself.
I’d finally be able to support myself through my own wages, and I’d be able to work for my own wants and needs. I looked forward to being able to find my own place to live, pay for my own vehicle, and be able to support myself without having to be tied to any contract that also was meant to take care of me during the time of transition.
I was always the kind of girl who wanted to take care of herself, and even though I knew I had to get through training and college to make it to my career, I was also looking forward to the day when I didn’t have to worry anymore about reporting to someone who would give me cards and funds for my gas and my groceries.
I wanted to be entirely supporting myself through my work, and that was on the horizon. But, it was going to require patience. I had to have the patience to get through the next few months before I was in the clear. Totally free to do anything I wanted with my life – free to finally pursue the goals that I had set in place back when I was still in school and trying to decide what I wanted to do with my life.
“I’m ready for just about anything, Sir,” I said with a smile. “Send me anywhere, and I can promise you I’m going to shine just like I have everywhere else I’ve been working.”
“I’ve got no doubt about that, which is why I knew you were the best choice. You see, there’s been a few people who are coming down to the last part of their programs, and the clinic where we’re sending you is looking for someone for those few months. But, you see, they are in a part of the country where there tends to be a lot of violence, and, well, gang activity,” Mr. Boatman explained
“No, we’re going to send you back to your roots. The clinic in Fallen Hills reached out to us, and they’re hoping to have someone in there by next week. I knew it was unusual, but I’m sure you would be happy to head home and work with some of your own for a while, wouldn’t you?” He smiled.
The news hit me like a punch to the guts, and I could hardly think straight. Never in a million years did I think he was going to send me home. In fact, I would rather be sent to the middle of a war zone than be sent back to the place where I grew up.
I left that town and all that was in it a long time ago, and I never had any intention of going back. Sure, they could call it gang activity, but I knew the gangs were all the MCs – the motorcycle clubs that thought they ran the place.
Not to mention my mother was there, and my asshole of a brother. Oh, and who could forget about all the cocaine? That was the stuff of my childhood – the one thing my mother loved more than anything else. Hell, she would choose to get high over spending time with us any day of the week.
We were in and out of the foster care system, and since my older brother had to go through the same shit I had, I’d expected it would mean he would be there for me. But no, he turned his back on me and everyone else in the family, and we still had little to do with each other.
I knew they both still lived there. I didn’t have a father, as much as I wanted. My dad lost battling my mother’s addiction long before now. And, ever since he passed, I couldn’t help but hold a resentment toward my mother for never getting through the addiction herself.
He had tried to help her through it, but she just wouldn’t bend. She loved her coke, and that was the end of that.
I suffered through a childhood of growing up in Fallen Hills among people I would just as much rather forget than try to get along with, but now I was being sent back there. And, I knew I didn’t have a say. Sure, I could tell the supervisor I didn’t want the assignment, but I was so close to being done, and I knew why other people wouldn’t want to be there, either.