DAX
“Nothing like a morning ride to get your blood pumping, huh?”
Micah slugged me in the shoulder as we walked back into the clubhouse after returning from our morning ride. He laughed, his voice sounding much the same as his motorcycle; the Carolina Devils’ sergeant-in-arms had spent much of his life on the harder side of the MC lifestyle. He was a veteran of the road, tough as nails and rough around the edges. And he had loved every minute of it. His passion for riding rubbed off on everyone who got near him.
“Yeah, you got it, brother.”
I came back from the morning ride feeling more focused and mellow than my hard ass counterpart. While he ran a hand across his shaved scalp and tugged at his goatee with a look on his face like he was ready to either start drinking or start fighting, I was ready to get down to the business of helping our president run the MC. There was a lot going on, and I’d taken Micah up on the offer to ride so that I could clear my head for the day ahead.
“You remind me so much of your old man right now, it’s crazy,” he mused, looking at me through the reflective lenses of his dark shades. I couldn’t see his eyes, but I could feel their intense stare, grabbing me and holding me in place.
“What do you mean?” I chuckled. That was one hell of a compliment to put out there like that.
“He used to always tell me that the morning ride helped him clear his head for the day ahead. I can see that in your face right now. You’ve even got the same look on your face, brother. He’d be proud of you as VP.” He clasped his hand on my shoulder as we entered the main room.
I didn’t know what to say. Thanks, man didn’t seem to cut it, and it wasn’t like he rarely went into this nostalgic, reminiscent mode of his. The more time we spent together, the more I heard about how much like my dad I was becoming. It wasn’t like the man had passed away when I was a little kid; he’d raised me in the MC, so it shouldn’t have been a surprise that I shared some similarities with him. Still, it was nice to hear it sometimes, especially when there was serious business on the table.
We’d been having a lot of troubles with a rival MC in the area, the Wild Kids. Over the years, they’d caused a lot of problems for us, but more recently, we’d had several run-ins with them. They were becoming more of a problem, a real problem – encroaching on our business, harassing members, and even threatening people close to the MC. There had even been a few fights, with the guys showing up at some of the bars where we were known to hang out, specifically to challenge our authority over our territory surrounding Charleston.
“In speaking of work.” I tilted my chin up to point out our president heading toward us from the clubhouse office. Dan wore a welcoming smile as he approached us, but I could see in his eyes that there was something serious on his mind.
“Dax, Micah, I’m glad you two are back. I need to talk to you about something.”
He put an arm across my shoulder and walked me over to the bar. Micah followed, pulling up a stool on the opposite side of me from Dan. It felt like we were about to sit down and have a few drinks, but it was far too early for that.
Well, maybe not for Micah. He’d been known to go for days at a time. Instead of reaching over behind the bar and grabbing a beer, though, he pulled out a crumpled up pack of smokes and set it on the bar. He fished out a cigarette and started tapping the bar with it, flipping it between his thumb and forefinger after every tap.
“Y’all have a good ride this morning?” Dan cut his eyes from me to Micah and back.
“Yeah, it was alright,” I answered while Micah nodded behind me and cleared his throat.
“Yeah, what’s up, boss?” he said, getting to the point.
“You remember my daughter, Fawn, right?” Dan looked right at me while he talked, though his question sounded like it was directed at both of us.”
“Mhm,” Micah answered, his voice purring like an idle bike.
“Yeah, of course.” How could I forget?! Fawn and I had grown up together, both of us raised in the MC since her dad was the president and mine the vice-president of the Carolina Devils. But it was more than that, and I was pretty sure both of the older members sitting next to me knew it.
Wait, why was he asking about Fawn? She’d been gone for years. Suddenly, cutting through my own nostalgic emotions was the realization that something must have happened to her. She would have been the perfect target for the Wild Kids, in keeping with some of the other people they’d targeted, like my dad.
“Is everything okay, prez?” I tried to mask my concern, to downplay it as the same kind of concern I would have had over anyone else instead of letting him see how deeply troubled I was at the idea of something happening to Fawn.
“Yeah, everything’s fine. She’s taking a nursing job in Charleston, so she’s moving back.” His nonchalance in throwing the information out there like it wasn’t that important didn’t seem to match the serious look on his face. He’d only revealed a little bit of the news to us; there was more to come.
“That’s great news, boss,” Micah said behind. “Isn’t it, bro?” He clasped a hand on my shoulder again and gave me a slight shake.
“Yeah, that’s great to hear.”
My enthusiasm was lost, I felt, in my conflicting emotions. Fawn had been my first crush. Hell, for the longest time, she’d been my only crush. We were inseparable as kids and, later, as teenagers, until it came time for graduation and college. My future had been laid out for me. I was going to take my dad’s place as the VP of the Carolina Devils, and my own goal was to eventually branch out, forming a satellite chapter somewhere like Atlanta. The MC was my life, the only life I’d known. Fawn had different ideas, of course.
Being a few years behind me in school, she had already seen me graduate and pursue my “career” as a member of the Devils. After her own graduation, however, she’d gone off to college to study nursing. She had no interest in being involved with the MC. She certainly hadn’t been interested in dating a biker. Going off to college was her ticket out, and Dan had encouraged her, trying to keep her at arm’s length from the dangerous lifestyle the rest of us lived. I knew she wasn’t going to be thrilled to be back among us, but I also wondered what would have inspired her to take a job in our territory.
“I thought you’d be more excited, Dax.” Dan seemed disappointed that I wasn’t jumping up and down for joy, but there was a lot more to it for me than simply being overjoyed at getting to see my old childhood friend again.
“I mean, I’m glad she’s going to be back around. It’ll be nice to see her and everything, and to know she’s safe.” I tried to keep myself from sounding too defensive.
The fact was I didn’t want to see the same thing happen to her that happened to my fiancée. She’d died in a car accident a couple of years back, while Fawn had been off working on her career. Everyone knew the Wild Kids had been behind the accident that took her from me. They had targeted her to get to me, to break me down. All it had done was make me that much more dedicated to seeing them wiped out. It also made me wary of having someone like Fawn too close to me, someone I cared about who could easily become another target for them.
“We can definitely keep her safe.” I could hear Micah’s grin in his voice, his eyes on the back of my head.
“That’s why I wanted to talk to you about her moving back.”
“If you want, Micah and I can get a few guys together to keep an eye on her for you.”
“That won’t be a problem at all, boss. She’s in good hands.”
Dan sighed and glanced over my shoulder at Micah, cocking an eyebrow. Was I missing something? From the look on my buddy’s face, I wasn’t the only one who wasn’t following our president’s train of thought. We certainly weren’t mind readers. He needed to clue us in.
“I was thinking of something more personalized than having a handful of guys act like a security detail. She’ll never go for that.”
He looked like he was about laugh as he thought back fondly on her attitudes toward the MC. He paused long enough for the next thought to sink in before he even said anything. He looked at me, and I could already see it in his eyes. I knew what he was going to say.
“She needs someone like you, Dax, to watch out for her. She’ll accept you as her escort, bodyguard, or whatever else she needs you to be. She would never allow me to put a group of guys on her like that.”
There it was. Fawn and I were going to be together again like we always had been. Well, sort of. I was being assigned to her like some babysitting gig. It wasn’t like we were going to be hanging out the way we used to. It was going to be work. The question was whether or not I could keep things professional between us.
“Is there going to be problem, Dax?” Dan waved a hand in my face to get my attention, pulling me out of my head.
“Nah, that won’t be a problem, will it?” Micah’s hand on my shoulder, gripping and squeezing, brought me back the rest of the way.
“No problem, prez. I look forward to seeing her again.”
The last time I’d seen her was at my father’s funeral. She’d only been there for a few minutes, though, long enough to share her condolences and give me a hug before running back off to her new life. I couldn’t deny the nervousness I felt over seeing her again.
“Good. I’ve got Carson on his way over to her new condo to help her finish unpacking and bring her here once she’s done.”
“Sorta like an initiation, huh, boss?” Micah was still tapping his cigarette on the bar.
My stomach sank, and I felt all the color drain from my face. We were no longer talking about some sort of hypothetical arrival or bodyguard gig. We were talking about her showing up that day. I was going to see her soon, but it was going to be nothing like the last time I saw her.
“More like a welcome home kind of thing,” Dan said, wrinkling his nose and furrowing his brow. I could tell he didn’t like the idea of initiating her into anything, least of all the MC.
“We’re not throwing a party for her?”
Micah’s voice rumbled behind me. I drifted away again as the two kept talking, their voices sounding more and more distant, until I couldn’t understand what they were saying. I wasn’t upset about seeing my old friend, my first crush, or about the feelings I knew would surely come to the surface when I did finally see her. I was worried about how her return to our turf fit into the big picture of what was going on between us and the Wild Kids.
There was no way her arrival wasn’t going to make the kind of news those assholes would hear. They were going to be waiting for the first opportunity to pounce on her. I was going to have to make sure that I wasn’t the only person with eyes on her. It wasn’t because I felt like I wasn’t the best man for the job; it was because I felt the job warranted extra attention.
Despite my troubling emotions, I was going to take the job and treat it like any other. In fact, because of who it was, I was going to do my best to make damn sure she was okay. Nothing was going to happen to Fawn Lowell on my watch.
“So, I hope you both understand we’re not making a big deal about it when she gets here. We’re going to treat today like any other day, treat her return like less than the return of any member of the MC.” Dan fixed a serious, almost scolding look on both of us, like a parent telling his kids to behave for company.
I figured that meant no big welcome home party. Of course, that didn’t mean I couldn’t do something special for her if the opportunity presented itself. That was also the kind of thinking that would get me in trouble, I reminded myself.
“Got it, boss. She’s just another girl coming into the clubhouse.”
“Another beautiful girl, you mean.” Micah chuckled behind me.
“Not even that much. I’ve seen how you guys ogle women. Don’t even give her that much. I don’t think you understand how much she resents the MC.”
I was starting to like the idea of Fawn returning even less, the more Dan tried to emphasize how little she wanted to do with us. I could already see my efforts to protect her causing drama; it was going to be the same old story of the girl trying to get away from the people keeping an eye on her. I had to remind myself it wasn’t anything personal. It was only work.
“I’ll sic the lady killer here on her, and she’ll be just fine. He’ll bring her around.” Micah was obviously talking about me, but I tried to ignore his remark.
“Don’t worry about a thing, Dan. I’ll take good care of her and try to stay out of the picture as much as possible while I’m watching over her. I’ll try not to remind her of the MC and all that,” I promised, though I wasn’t sure how I was going to manage to pull that off when, in reality, I wanted to do what Micah was saying; I wanted to win her over.
“Thanks, Dax. And remember who she is. You’re not to pull any of your usual shit with her. Got it? Leave all of that to those other girls you bring around.” Again, he looked at both of us while he talked.
That was when we heard the two doors on Carson’s car close. We turned to look to see both of them climbing out of his car. She did not look amused to be back with us at all.