I couldn’t believe I was getting married either. That a woman like Alexis had said yes to a thug like me.
In exactly six weeks, I was going to be the happiest man alive.
Oz
1
Oz
I woke up to the sound of my cellphone buzzing and vibrating. I could feel it, tangled up in the sheets somewhere on the bed, but in my grogginess, I couldn’t locate it.
“Fuck!” I cursed aloud.
I had no idea what time it was, nor what day of the week it was. All I was aware of was the soft thud of a hangover at the back of my head. I had too much to drink last night, but that was pretty much every night anyway.
We worked hard and we drank harder. If there was any constant in my life, that was it. But it wasn’t like I was complaining. This was exactly what I wanted and I had it now.
I had wanted to be a member of the Marked Skulls MC, and now after a year of being a prospect, I was a full patched member.
After much tumbling around in the bed and sifting through the sheets, I finally located my cellphone. I didn’t have to look at the screen to know who was calling.
“Yeah,” I grumbled into the phone.
“You getting your ass to the docks?” It was Abe. He sounded awake. I had no idea how the man could drink like a tank and then be wide awake and fresh this early the next morning.
“Soon,” I replied, swinging my legs over the edge of the bed and rubbing the sleep from my eyes. I had a sudden panic attack and looked over to the other side of my bed. For a moment I thought I’d brought someone home with me. Which would have been an additional task—trying to get rid of the chick before I could leave for work.
“You should have been there half an hour ago, man,” Abe complained. I could hear him guzzling his morning coffee.
I looked at the clock on my wall. It was half past eight. Too fucking early.
“Well, they’ll learn to wait,” I said.
When Abe was training me, he was a stickler for punctuality. I learned a lot from him this past year, above all, I learned to decide wrong from right and stick to my gut instincts. Abe was the best mentor I could have hoped for, and the man was made of steel—but I couldn’t wake up as early as him even if my life depended on it.
“I want you there in twenty minutes,” he threatened, and I knew he meant it. Before I could say anything, my sister had grabbed the phone out of Abe’s hand.
“How are you, hun?” Alexis’s voice was husky but sweet.
“What do you mean? I’m sleepy,” I replied to her, and even though I couldn’t see her face, I could sense her rolling her eyes.
“I heard you boys had quite the night,” she remarked.
I’d dragged myself out of bed by then and walked over to the bathroom so I could splash my face with water.
“Sure, yeah, it was quite the night.”
“There was a brunette involved I hear, too,” she continued and I sighed.
The biggest perk of Alexis being involved with the MC and being engaged to Abe was that I didn’t need to worry about her. I knew she was going to be safe at all times. The biggest downside of it was that she always knew what I was up to. Which was a pain in the ass.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. There might have been a brunette, but I definitely don’t remember,” I told her.
“A real catch, Abe says,” Alexis added with a laugh. “Apparently, she couldn’t keep her hands off you.”
“Alexis, shut up!” I yelled at her. We were too old now to still have sibling squabbles, but neither of us had outgrown it. Alexis was constantly worried and protective and curious, and in all honesty—I was the same. Till the time that I got into the MC and Alexis found Abe, each other was all the family we had.
“Big boobs and thick thighs, just your kinda gal,” she continued and I growled as I brushed my teeth. I could have, and should have, just hung up the phone but I knew she’d keep calling all day till she’d had her say.
“Are you going to ask her out?”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Like on a date.”
“I don’t even remember her face.”
“You’re not getting any younger, Ozzy.”
She was the only one allowed to call me that.
“Just because you got engaged doesn’t mean I have to!”
“I’m just looking out for you!”
“I haven’t asked you to. Leave me the fuck alone.”
I ended the call and pushed the phone into my jeans. I knew she and Abe would be laughing about it now. At how easy it was to get on my nerves.
It was annoying that Alexis was taking my relationship situation so seriously now. Just a year ago, when she and Abe first met, neither of them were interested in commitment. Abe definitely wasn’t.
I was happy for them, and glad that they’d found each other and relieved that my sister was with a man I trusted. But that didn’t mean I had to find someone, too.
This commitment concept wasn’t something I understood.
Alexis was right. Big boobs and thick thighs were sexy as hell, but it wasn’t like I wanted to stay up all night thinking about the chick I just fucked. What would be the point of that?
There were too many sexy women in the world to chain myself to one. I was going to make sure I didn’t fall into that trap. Besides, my sister was my weak point already. I didn’t want to add another weakness to my life.
Fuck. Leave. Drink. Fuck. Repeat.
That was a good enough motto to live by.
I put on a fresh shirt for the day and I was ready to go. I glanced at the clock and realized that I would be cutting it close. Abe would be pissed if I didn’t get my ass moving.
When I arrived at the docks, Dash was waiting near the parked bikes with a cigarette stuck between his lips. I liked Dash. In fact, he was the one, out of all the fresh-faced prospects, that I had high hopes for. He smirked at me when I swerved my bike in beside him.
“Abe isn’t here yet,” he told me, knowing full well that I’d be in trouble.
“He called me and woke me up,” I replied, shrugging my shoulders as I got off my bike.
“Oh fuck!”
“It’s fine. He’ll forgive me eventually. As long as I get the job done,” I told him and we started walking together towards where the others were.
We were prepping the dock for the next shipment of weapons that was due to arrive from our Cuban contacts tonight. Since Abe and I were responsible for it, Lewis ordered the prospects to assist us.
None of us were expecting any trouble tonight. So far, since the demolition of the Dark Legions, these shipments and deals with the Cubans had gone smoothly. So, this project was the perfect spot for training the prospects.
Dash offered me a cigarette and I lit it up, greeting the other six who were already there.
The shipment that was supposed to arrive tonight was going to be a big one, and we needed to figure out how we were going to transport it to our warehouse at the other end of the city.
Also, we had to execute the entire thing in pitch darkness. We couldn’t afford to attract any attention. Even though we had cops like Hugh who were on our side, we didn’t want to give them any reason to investigate the docks at night and foil our process.
Abe and I were accustomed to these projects, and we could do it with our eyes closed in the dead of night. It was the prospects who had to be trained in doing it right. We couldn’t afford any mistakes, no matter how sure we were of ourselves. That was the first thing Abe had taught me. We needed to be prepared for anything.
We talked and stood around, discussing the plan. Each of them was being assigned tasks and responsibilities. We needed guys to be on the lookout near the parking lot and some along the docks. Then a few, along with Dash and myself would have to oversee the actual delivery of the shipment itself and then transporting it into our vehicles.
We went over the plan again, just before Abe arrived.
&nb
sp; He shook his head at me, as another reminder that he was disappointed by my lateness. I offered him a cigarette as a bribe, which he took, but not because he’d forgiven me yet.
When Abe took over discussing the plan again with the prospects, I took Dash with me around the docks to investigate the perimeters.
I could sense that he looked up to me already. The way I used to look up to Abe when I was a prospect. That was probably why I liked Dash, he reminded me of myself.
He was full of questions, and I had enough experience now to answer them.
Eventually, after we’d checked every nook and corner of the docks and were confident that we had everything under control, we stood at the edge, looking out at the bay and smoking our cigarettes.
“But we are at peacetime now, aren’t we?” Dash asked.
I knew what he meant. Abe and I were conducting full checks and being extra cautious even though our MC hadn’t faced any attack in the past year. The Marked Skulls were now established as the front-runners in the city. No other MC was going to mess with us. Especially not since we were fair and we played by the rules.
“Yes, we are in peace time currently but things could change very quickly,” I told him.
“Do we know of any competition coming up? Some MC or street gang that might have it in for us?” he asked, and I shrugged.
“Not that we’ve heard, but we can never be too careful.”
“The Dark Legion is finished, right?” Dash continued and I nodded.
“As far as we know, yeah. Most of them are dead or locked up. They’re not going to be a problem for us. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be others.”
When I looked at him, I saw Dash clenching his jaw. He was thinking. Something I encouraged every new prospect to do before they were fully patched into the MC.
This life wasn’t for everyone, and I wasn’t going to sugarcoat it for them. Just like Abe hadn’t done for me. The truth was that being a part of an MC like ours meant we were in constant danger. There was no getting away from it. No matter how far you ran.
If you were going to be patched in, you better expect and you better be prepared for the worst. Our rewards were just as high as the danger we were in. No matter how peaceful and smooth-sailing it seemed for the most part, I could get shot right now, just standing there on the docks smoking my cigarette. There was never any guarantee that I was going to live to see the next minute.
And if you were prepared for that, then you deserved to be patched in.
If the MC had your unflinching loyalty, if you were prepared to take a bullet for a brother, if you were able to make split-second decisions on what is wrong and right—then you deserved to be patched in.
But if you faltered. If you broke easily. If you had doubts, then you turned around and walked away right then.
Dash was aware of this. I’d said it in my introductory speech to the prospects. Abe had nodded along to this in agreement. It was the way I lived my life.
But, I was also aware that not everybody could do the same.
2
Kaya
I wasn’t sure what to expect from Orlando, other than that it was going to be wildly different from the life I’d led up until now. I’d decided I wasn’t going to let anything shock me when I arrived here. I was going to embrace everything I saw and experience this place with an open mind.
It had only been a month of Orlando for me and already, I was in love with the city. This place was miles away from Perry, FL. Not just distance-wise, but also because of how different the two places were.
I grew up in Perry, and even when I went to college, at Florida State, I was only an hour away from home. Now that I really thought about it, the truth was I hadn’t experienced much apart from my little world in Perry and I was glad I made the decision to look for a change.
I wanted to experience something new. I wanted an adventure. And while Orlando wasn’t a huge bustling city like Miami, it was big next step for me. I’d spent so long living a sheltered life, and never stepping out of the boundaries my family had set for me. Now that I was alone and trying to make it on my own, I was scared and excited, but also optimistic. I had convinced myself that no matter what life offered me now, I was going to do it my way. I had my independence and that meant more to me than the false sense of security my family had created for me.
They weren’t pleased when I told them I was leaving.
I was their prized possession, the baby of the family, the youngest daughter and the apple of everyone’s eye. I loved my family. Of course I loved them! They’d brought me up with good values and provided me with a safe environment and a nurturing home all my life. However, the fact that they also thought they had complete control over me wasn’t something I appreciated.
What they hoped for from my life, was that I was going to graduate and settle down, live near home and spend the rest of my life surrounded by family. So, when I met Gus in college, everyone at home was delighted.
He was charming, found a good job at an auto dealership and it looked like pretty soon he was going to ask me to marry him.
Now when I looked back on those two years when I was seeing him, I had no idea what I wanted. It was like everything I did back then, I did to please my family. Which included dating Gus.
Was I attracted to him in the way I should have been?
Did I truly want him to put a ring on my finger?
Or did I just imagine all of that because it would have made Mommy and Daddy happy? Was I really heartbroken when I found out Gus was cheating on me?
I don’t think I was.
Sure, I cried and screamed and ordered him to stay away from me—he’d broken my trust. But there was a part of me, deep down inside, which was secretly glad this had all happened. Now, my family couldn’t expect me to settle down with him. Not after the way he’d treated me.
But that was not going to be a source of comfort for too long.
Within weeks of Gus and I breaking up, Daddy was already trying to set me up with boys he thought would be ideal for me.
I was twenty-five, too old in their eyes to be without a boyfriend. If I was to get married within the next year, which was their plan—I needed to find a boyfriend soon.
And when they started arranging dates for me, that was when I knew I had to leave. I had to get out of Perry and away from my family. I couldn’t keep doing this. I couldn’t keep living my life according to their terms.
That conversation I had with my folks was perhaps the most difficult thing I had ever done. To sit them down and tell them, not ask, that I was going to leave home.
I tried to convince them it was only going to be for a little while. Just a temporary change in my life so I could see a little bit of the world before I settled down. But maybe they knew, just as well as I did, that once I left, that once I experienced this ‘something new’, I was never coming back home.
They resisted my decision, they put up a fight, but I fought back. I ended up leaving in the middle of the night, taking the last bus out of Perry and leaving a note on the kitchen table for my family to find. It wasn’t ideal. But it was my only way out.
In the initial days first few days in Orlando, I didn’t call to tell them where I was. Not until I found an apartment and a job.
It worked out well for me, I got lucky.
With my savings I was able to secure a small little apartment, and then I applied for work to a new diner that had opened up in the neighborhood. Both those things had happened so quickly, that within five days of my arrival in Orlando, I was able to call my family and give them the assurance that I was safe and well.
Not like that pleased them either, but at least they could stop worrying, I thought. They wanted me to come home and I told them I would, but not any time soon.
It broke my heart to feel estranged from my family, but I knew this was something I had to do if I was going to live my life without regret. Now, when I looked back, I was grateful to Gus for cheating on me. He�
�d given me the perfect ticket to my new life: a life in Orlando, and I was excited to see what it had in store for me.
The walk from my apartment to the diner was short, barely five minutes, and along the way, I observed the neighborhood and basked in the glory of my new independent life.
I was picking up double shifts at the diner these days so I could save more money. Since I didn’t have a social life here, and nothing much to occupy me on most days, I felt better staying distracted working at the diner instead of staying alone in my apartment with nothing to do.
Besides, the diner was where my friend Melody was, so I got to spend time with her there. We’d quickly become good friends during our shifts and she was responsible for showing me around Orlando.
I walked with a skip in my step now as I headed for the morning shift to the diner. I was looking forward to the rest of the day. Melody and the others at the diner were always making fun of how happy I was to get to work, unlike the others for whom this was just a job. For me, it was a chance to get to know the neighborhood and the locals, and to make friends.
I’d never had a job like this in Perry, and as small as it was—this still felt like a huge step for me.
While I walked, a swarm of motorcycles zoomed past me and parked in a hoard outside the dive bar across the street from the diner. I tried not to look but I couldn’t help but notice the big rugged men who got off the bikes and walked into the bar together.
The place was called T-Bone, and even though I didn’t know much about it, I saw these bikers parked there often. It piqued my curiosity, and I wanted to know more. I walked into the diner, and turned to look back at the bikers again, hoping for some strange reason that one of them might look in my direction. I had no idea why.
The diner was about to open up, and other than Melody and the chef, there was nobody else there to greet me.
“Mornin”, she said, rolling her eyes. The day hadn’t even begun and she was exhausted already.
Marked Skulls MC Series: Books 1-5 Page 44