Prologue

Brawn

 

“Hey, man, what’s up?” Usually Shift waited and caught up with me after work if he needed me for anything. What the hell was he doing at the jobsite first thing in the morning?

 

The last time he rode out to meet me that early, it was because our old VP had died. I dreaded to know what kind of news he had for me now.

 

“I have a job for you,” he said after we greeted each other with an embrace. He wasn’t even trying to keep his voice down. He didn’t care who heard him.

 

“A job?” I said quietly as I walked farther away from my boss’s trailer, making sure no one could hear us, especially not Mr. Kelly.

 

He laughed. “It’s okay, Brawn. This isn’t an MC job. Well, it sort of is. One of the guys just bought a Cal King mattress and wants you to build him a nice frame for it.”

 

“That’s all you came out here to tell me, bro? That could have waited until the end of the day.” I laughed, though I wasn’t amused. He didn’t have to come out and pull me away from my day job to tell me about a side project.

 

“Yeah, it’s Brash. He says he’s willing to pay you a pretty good bit for it, too.”

 

I could see in his eyes the real reason why he came out to my dusty old jobsite to tell me about the offer. It wasn’t because Brash had just moved and would probably need more work done. I had actually been waiting to hear from him about furniture for his patio and a few things he wanted done around his new house.

 

No, the reason Shift had come out was to offer me money for my side work. It figured.

 

“Man, I can’t accept payment from one of The Twisted Ghosts. You know that.” I was pissed he would even make the offer.

 

“Hey, you won’t let me give you any money, so I figured you’d accept some for a job,” Shift said, trying to justify his dick move.

 

“Look, I’ve already been talking to Brash about some of the stuff he wants done around the new house. I’ll get with him about the bedframe, but that’s it. I’m not asking him for money, and I’m definitely not accepting any,” I told him and started to walk away.

 

“Then, what the hell are you going to do?” Shift called behind me.

 

He was right to ask. What the hell was I going to do? I hadn’t planned on working in construction as a carpenter. I had planned on opening my own place. That was why I stopped working for Mark. I didn’t want to accept anybody’s stupid charity to make it happen, though. I wanted to prove I could do it on my own, make my own calls.

 

“I’ll figure something out,” I told Shift.

 

“Sure you will. You’ve been working for this dick bag for how long?” he asked, stepping closer to me.

 

I shook my head. “I don’t know, man. Why don’t you tell me, since you’re so worried about what I’m doing? You tell me how long I’ve been here. You tell me how broke I am and how I haven’t earned any money for the MC. You tell me, Shift. And while you’re at it, tell me how to fix it.”

 

“I’ve already told you how to fix it, bro,” he said coolly, standing back and holding up his hands like he was giving up on talking anymore about it.

 

“Cool. That’s all you got, though, isn’t it? Just loaning me the money or landing me some good charity work. I see.” I nodded, trying to drive my point home with him and hoping my brother would finally understand where I was coming from. I didn’t want any charity work. I didn’t want any fucking handouts.

 

“Come on, man, this is what the MC is all about. We help each other out when we can. You’re more than Ghost family, brother. You’re my real family. Let me help. I don’t want to see you doing something stupid like running a strip joint just to help with the money for the MC,” Shift insisted. “You still have a chance to follow your dream.”

 

Carpentry to woodworking weren’t just dreams though. They were the only natural talents I had, other than getting women into bed. I could have any woman I wanted.

 

Unfortunately, there wasn’t a whole lot of respectable work out there for a guy who could do what I could, sexually. My goal, instead, had always been to open my own shop and go into business for myself. But I was going to do it myself. I didn’t want to owe anyone any part of my business at the end of the day.

 

“I have time to follow my dreams is what you mean,” I corrected my older brother. “In reality, it takes money to do that.”

 

“Okay, it takes money. Funny how we always come back to that part of it. How much are you making here?” he asked me. His voice was stern, as his question was rhetorical. He already knew I was only making pennies on the dollar working for Mr. Kelly.

 

Of course I didn’t answer. I looked down at the dry, dusty ground and kicked at the loose dirt with my work boots. The fact was I was making pennies on the dollar compared to what I could have been making on my own.

 

“You’ve been working for him for how long now? It’s been a while hasn’t it?” he continued his questioning.

 

I nodded. “Yeah, it’s been a minute.” I kept my answer short and quick.

 

“How much have you been able to save up toward starting your own business?”

 

That was the nail in the coffin. I hadn’t been able to save up any money. I barely made enough to keep my head afloat. All the while, everyone could see the dollar signs in Mr. Kelly’s eyes. He kept our hours long and our pay short. Didn’t want anyone doing better.

 

“Listen, if you let the guys help you out and pay you for some of the work they need, you’ll have enough money to get off the ground. And you know how it works, Brawn. Once you get to where you can help the MC, you get a cut of the profits. Off the top. Payment for your service to The Twisted Ghosts.”

 

What he meant was that once I was able to launder some of the MC’s cash and make it look legit, I was going to be able to make more money because some of that cash was going to be paid out to me for my service, basically hazard pay for risking everything for the MC. It meant letting Numbers handle my books – no, his name wasn’t obvious at all.

 

“No thanks, brother.” I grabbed Shift’s shoulder. “I want to do this on my own.”

 

“And you can. I do,” he said with a smug little grin.

 

“You’re full of shit, too,” I told him with a laugh. The only thing keeping the strip club off the ground was the money from the MC.

 

“That may be, but at least Numbers makes all that extra dough look vegan kosher in case anyone comes looking,” he reminded me.

 

I sighed and kicked around more dirt. Talking about the MC in front of my boss’s office made me nervous. Mr. Kelly wasn’t the most upstanding individual himself. There were stories. He was connected somehow, had ties to the mafia or some other criminal organization. Whether or not he did, I wasn’t completely sure, but he did seem to listen to our every word and watch our every move at work. He kept a close watch and tried to run a tight ship. It was like he was keeping an eye on his employees for someone else.

 

Because I worked for Lucas Kelly, I had come under fire for not providing any assistance or service to the MC. No money ran through Kelly’s office for The Twisted Ghosts. To make matters even stranger, there were three or four bikers working for him, each of us from different MCs. We all agreed to behave ourselves while keeping an eye on Kelly to make sure he was legit. So far, there was no definitive evidence that the rumors about him were true.

 

“Just think about it,” Shift said with a hand on my shoulder. “I know you gotta get back to work, brother. Stop by the clubhouse this afternoon so we can talk more.”

 

“Don’t worry about it,” I told my older brother. He was always trying to help, but I was getting tired of walking in his shadow. As my older brother, he was always in front, always leading the way. Not this time.

 

“Well, the offer stands,” he reminded me, removing his hand from my shoulder.

 

“Thanks, but I’ve got a plan already,” I lied. I didn’t have a plan. I had been trying to figure one out for months, trying to find some way to get the money I needed without having to go to my brother or the MC. So far, nothing, but Shift didn’t need to know that. I needed him to think I had it all figured out so he’d stop hassling me.

 

He shot me a knowing glance – knowing I was full of it; the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree. “All right, whatever. You’ve got a job if you want it, payment if you want it. And if you don’t want it, fine. Just keep working here with your shady ass boss.”

 

I was taken aback by his sudden shift in tone. He sounded downright offended that I was reluctant to accept his help.

 

He leaned in and lowered his voice. “When the shit hits the fan, you better remember where you stand,” he threatened, and I could only guess he was talking about when things went south for Kelly. There were a lot of eyes on him, waiting for him to make even the slightest mistake.

 

Shift’s warning made me instinctively glance over my shoulder.

 

Shift really bought into the MC. He was one of the senior members, one of the heads of the club. I was surprised he wasn’t the VP, even though everyone treated him like it, including the VP himself.

 

I had never really bought into it. I had been pulled in by my older brother, just because. Without our parents around, James and the rest of The Twisted Ghosts had raised the three of us, including Hero, our little brother. Even as a junior member, when I could have used my honorary membership to frighten off the kids at school without ever having to prove myself, I didn’t care much for it. I earned the respect of my peers on the track field after school, and not because I was on the track team.

 

Or maybe it was their fear I earned.

 

The Twisted Ghosts offered me little more than a roof over my head and cooked meals. That was a lot more than some kids had on the street. They made sure I stayed in school and got an education. And once Mark realized I had talent, he took me under his wing as an apprentice.

 

That was also when I discovered that wearing my kutte in public, complete with my colors, got me more than just the recognition of my peers. It attracted a lot of women, and by the time I graduated high school, I had already earned my reputation.

 

Shift, Hero, James, and Mark were my family. The rest of the MC was just a bunch of crusty old dudes reliving their glory days or a bunch of young guys all trying to look like somebody their girlfriends saw on TV. There were a few old-timers doing time on the inside because of the illegal activities members sometimes got into. The MC never took heat for anything, as every single operation was set up to look like some individual pursuit.

 

As I watched Shift speed off and kick up dust behind his Harley, I shook my head. I hadn’t had a choice in joining The Twisted Ghosts, but I wasn’t going to let him drag me down with everyone else when the shit eventually hit the fan for them.

 

It always did eventually. For every MC. We weren’t special.

 

While we had stood around talking, more people had shown up to the jobsite. It was time to start the day, while trying both to hatch a plan to do things on my own and ignore my brother’s offer for charity. I had a few ideas, but I didn’t know where to start, and I felt stuck at that jobsite, working for a man who wasn’t paying me enough to allow me the kind of time I needed to make anything actually happen.