40
“What’s your name?” I asked him.
We stood outside the diner on Shepherd Street where I’d just had an early breakfast, and he’d bought himself a cup of coffee to go. I recognized him from the party at the club the other night. He’d been serving drinks. A new hanger-on. They mostly came and went, but a number of them hung on. Like him.
“Drew. Drew Reigert.”
My gaze flicked over him. I knew that name. This kid definitely looked familiar, and it wasn’t just from the party.
“Where you from?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
“Meager, South Dakota.”
I hadn’t seen or heard from Tania in years, and here was her baby brother offering himself up to me and the Flames. Drew was ten years her junior, and from what little she’d mentioned to me, he was a hell of a lot of trouble. They’d lost their dad when Drew was in kindergarten. The boy had never really known his father, was naturally hyper, and a crazy handful for his mother and two sisters who’d struggled to keep their family afloat.
His brown eyes beamed at me. I knew the signs. Boy wanted to prospect. Eager to sit on a huge burning piece of metal and wear leathers, colors that would make feeble humans sit up and take notice.
I adjusted my sunglasses on the bridge of my nose. “Yeah, I’ve heard of Meager.”
His eyes widened under my silent scrutiny, his teeth scraped his bottom lip.
“Why should I trust you, Drew Reigert from Meager, South Dakota, home of the One-Eyed Jacks?”
I’d become wary of the Jacks now that Jump was their President. And he certainly kept out of my way.
“You shouldn’t trust me,” Drew replied.
I cocked an eyebrow. Well, that was refreshing.
“Until you put me through the paces, that is. Do what you got to do. I get it. I’m good with it.”
“Glad to hear it.” I kept walking.
He strode alongside me. “I’ve been going from shit job to shit job. I came up here months ago to see if I could talk to you guys.”
“What’s the matter, tired of Mommy’s cooking? Sounds like you get bored easy. That’s real life, ever heard of it?”
“That’s true, I do get bored easy. But that just tells me that I haven’t been challenged properly yet.”
Now I was listening. “That so?”
“Yep.”
“I’ve seen you around here before,” I said.
“I’ve come to a couple parties, and I’ve helped out here and there.” He held my gaze. “I’m serious about wanting to prospect for the Flames. For you.”
Not many hanger ons ever dared talk to me.
“You never prospected for the One-Eyed Jacks, hometown boy?”
“Nah, they aren’t the Flames of Hell.”
“Come by today and I’ll have our housekeeper give you a toothbrush. You can get that grout between the bathroom and the kitchen tiles all white and sparkly. The way I imagine it used to be in the eighties.”
“I could do that.”
“Did you ever do it for your mother?”
He laughed. A full belly laugh. The kid was relaxed, sure of himself. I wasn’t sure I liked it. I could spot bullshit a mile off, and as President of my club I had no time for it.
“I’ll take that as a no. Shame. What do you got to offer me, though, other than potentially clean white grout and shiny tile?” I asked him.
He shook his hair out of his face. “Anything you want. Whatever you need. I’m a quick study.”
He held my gaze, his brown eyes unwavering. All eagerness and sincerity. Maybe what he needed was the right direction for a change.
“Other than getting bored easy, you got any disabilities, quirks that would affect your work performance?”
“No quirks, not really, except for enthusiasm.”
“Being a prospect, you’re on call 24/7. Participation is mandatory at all functions, no exceptions. Club comes first before all things, even your dick, maybe even your mommy.”
“Right, understood.”
I gestured at the decked out Shovelhead chopper a few yards behind him. “That your bike?”
“Yeah. Got it last year.”
“You got a trust fund maybe?”
“No, not me. I got a brain, and I use it to get what I want, and I wanted that bike. The previous owner placed it in a bet. Owed someone else a lot of money. I swooped in and won it fair and square.”
“You come by in an hour. That toothbrush will be ready for you.” I strode toward my bike, giving him a final look.
A grin broke across his face. “Yes!”
“I’m calling about your brother.”
“Drew? What about Drew?” Tania’s voice grew higher. “Is he okay? Is he in trouble?”
“He’s been with me for a few months.”
Silence. A sharp exhale of breath. “What does that mean exactly?” she asked.
“He came to me on his own. Wants to be a Flame.”
“You’re joking.”
“Would I call you to joke?”
“No, you wouldn’t.”
“I don’t know if he’s told you, he doesn’t talk about his family, but I wanted you to hear it from me that he’s getting patched in. Didn’t want you to think I set out and recruited him, targeted him on purpose.”
“Okay. I don’t know if I should say thank you or be careful.”
I laughed.
“Look, he’s been quite the anarchist since high school. My mom’s real upset about his brushes with the law the past few years.”
“He’s proven himself a solid worker, capable. It’s going up for a vote next week.”
“Good luck to the both of you,” Tania murmured.
“You mad?”
“I don’t know. No. You might be just what he needs. You run a tight ship from the little I know. My mom and sister are going to freak, of course. Are you still vice-president?”
“No.”
“Oh, sorr—”
“I’m president.”
“Whoa. Oh boy. Congratulations, Finger.”
“How are things with you, Tania?”
“I’m getting married.”
“To that guy?”
“Yes. Kyle.”
“So it’s good?”
“Yeah, yeah, it’s very good. We’re happy.”
She knew better than to ask my relationship status. I had none, anyway. Women frequently tried with me, but I was never interested enough. There was no point in exploring any “thing” with anyone.
“Stay that way, Tania.”
She let out a dry laugh. “I’ll try.”
“You’re doing good work, man. You caught the mistakes the accountant made last year, now you caught a prospect ratting out our business to a fucking cop. You keep catching shit for your club, well appreciated.” I leaned back in my chair in my office, our German Shepherd, Leper, curled at my feet.
My office was no longer the mildewed former bedroom that Kwik’s office had once been. We’d completely renovated the old farmhouse, as well as the detached barn out front, and the large shed at the other end. The old farm was an excellent location. Feds who constantly tried to do surveillance on us, and there were many, were easily spotted.
Even better, we’d finally stopped renting the property and bought it outright with the cash I’d insisted on putting to the side. There had been plenty of groaning among the men about the money crunch when I first presented the idea. I explained to them that you couldn’t blow everything you had on partying or let it slip through your fingers on the usual expenses just because you happened to have some extra one month or two. Planning ahead was a good thing.
The memories of my dad always rushing to scrape cash together at the last minute not only for his old lady, their house, their kids, but even to pay his own club dues, had never left me. Misery. I detested it.
The cost of the farmhouse wasn’t too bad as the family we got it from had sold off almost all of the property over the years in an attempt to keep up with expenses, taxes, their loans, and they were eager to sell. There was just enough land for us to have privacy for both our business and our good time. Now, my brothers were proud that we actually owned something. The “Farm,” as we called it, was ours.
Over the past few years, Tania’s little brother had proven his dedication, loyalty, and capabilities as a Flame. He’d settled in just fine with the bros, and now he even had an old lady, Jill. He had worked a lot of construction in his time, and spearheaded the final section that had to be done on our clubhouse and the adjoining garage we’d started building a few years back. He’d pitched in on security, too, setting up an improved alarm and camera system on our property. He’d then recruited a prospect, Den, who was a computer and electronics freak to maintain it. I’d been right about Tania’s brother. He was all raw potential. He’d just needed the right opportunity and some guidance.
“Catch keeps catching.” Drac ruffled Catch’s hair, handing him a glass of whiskey. He filled my glass and his own, and hiked himself up on the edge of my desk.
“I still can’t believe he did that, Prez,” said Catch. “Mikey seemed like a good guy. He seemed all right. Always on time, positive attitude, never complained. He’s insisting he just shot his mouth off when he shouldn’t have. That cop was working undercover as a college kid. I mean, she was really hot, but—”
Drac cracked up laughing. “A female cop got his tongue flapping?”
Catch took a healthy gulp of his liquor. “Yeah.”
“He did it, and you need to believe it,” I said. “People seem to be a lot of things. You need to be ready for all those possibilities.” I leaned back in my chair and enjoyed the sweet searing heat of the whiskey in my mouth.
“Really shouldn’t be trusting the hot chick with her lips around your cock,” said Drac, raising his glass to Catch.
I glanced up at Drac who shot me a grin. He was one of the very few people on this planet I did trust. I’d built my club up in the world of the Flames of Hell with him alongside me and Mishap in the shadows. We were now an island fortress in our piece of the USA.
“Yeah, trust is a very, very fine line,” I said. “A fucking high wire.”
Catch shifted in his seat. “So, uh, Mikey...”
“Tonight.” Drac finished his drink and poured himself another. “Tonight he’ll get what’s coming to him.”
Once the sun fell, the bonfire was fed and burned hungrily in the center pit of the compound. The flames crackled, darting and licking around each other. The heat rose in the crisp night air, lighting up everyone’s faces. Glimmers and shadows. Anticipation and dread.
I motioned to my men and they brought out the informer: Mikey the prospect. His face was bruised and marked. His fingers broken. I had a thing for broken digits. Everyone needed a brand.
He stopped in front of me. “Please! Please, don’t do this!”
“Beg.” Drac shoved him forward.
Mikey’s legs buckled underneath him and he dropped to the ground ten yards in front of me. The crowd quieted.
“She tricked me, man! I didn’t know who she was! It was an honest mistake! I’m sorry.”
Sorries, mistakes. I didn’t have wiggle room for those notions.
“We don’t talk to outsiders. We don’t talk business to nobody.” My voice boomed over the buzz of the fire. “Fucking simple. You don’t get it. You never will. Your weakness and your vanity put our club at risk.”
“Please!”
“We are one percenters, boy, and that isn’t some clever label. But it seems you didn’t realize that on the other side of that coin, we are one-hundred percent in with all our blood, all our fire. We are the fire. That takes strength and character that you obviously don’t have.”
Drac handed me our old Marlin 1894. Murmurs rolled through the crowd at the appearance of the long rifle.
Mikey shuffled back on his feet, stumbling onto his back. “No! Please! I’ll do anything! Anything you want! Please.”
“There’s no coming back from this shit. The damage is done. You’re useless to me now. You’re fucking scum.”
I raised the Marlin and aimed at his face, my heart quieting; an odd quiet, a noiseless hush I relished. I took in a slight breath, and that satisfaction zipped through me, streamlining, focusing my every sense on my target, on the perfect weight of the firearm in my hands.
I snapped the lever down and pulled the trigger. The explosion silenced everything, the vibration shuddering through my shoulder, my arm, my chest. Mikey’s body jerked back, quickly dropping in a pile. That split second of sweet ferocity possessed me, sating me.
There was a hush in the courtyard, except for the fire in the pit. Those flames roared and leapt to the drum of my heartbeat. I pitched the Marlin back at Drac who caught it with a lift of his chin.
I let out a whistle and Leper trotted to my side, head raised, eyes on me. “There’s my boy.” I rubbed his head, and his tail wagged back and forth.
Catch stood alone at a distance, his eyes on what was left of his prospect, a brooding expression on his face. Members took turns kicking and smacking at the lifeless body in the yard, until they lost interest.
The party took on a life of its own. The corpse was finally gotten rid of and forgotten.