In some ways, Reese chose this life, but in other ways, he wasn’t only born into it, he was destined for it. Anyone can sit around a table outside in the late spring heat and talk about having a sense of freedom while chowing on a greasy piece of pizza, but to actually enact that freedom, earn it, fight for it, defend it, and honor it was a whole other thing.

These kinds of words constantly floated through Reese’s mind, and lately it had been worse. Charters across the state and country were being harassed for what the club’s now main President called small dick swinging bullshit. Close friends were in jail, waiting on charges, trials, and verdicts. Others were scattered, taking their rides, their cuts, taking that freedom for what it was worth, willing to fight right up until their last breath to prove to the patch that they weren’t going to give up or give in. Some were going to end up running with the lost men, meaning they’d have to take their own patches off their cuts and burn them. A shot to the club, but if that was the only way to survive, then that’s what you would do. And if any of those brothers came strolling into Watersald, Reese already knew that he would vote to patch them back in.

Sitting to the left of Levi, wearing the VP patch was maybe just part of being born into destiny, but Reese took it seriously, considering all he had to give up to get there. Carefully navigating the club through these tough waters, while keeping old deals alive, and finding new ones.

As he sat on his ride, finishing what he knew could always be his last smoke, he took a big drag, dropped the smoke, and stepped on it. He exhaled and looked off to the distance. Mountains bled into the hazy horizon as the midday sun pounded down on him. His all-black attire and black leather cut that read Back Down Devil MC across the back with the signature skull wasn’t always comfortable in moments like these, but it was a rite of passage to wear the cut. And the only way he would be caught without his cut was if he were dead.

“You ready, brother?”

Reese turned and took off his sunglasses.

Ellis was walking toward him, a keyring hooked around his pinky finger. He was the money guy of the club, making sure dues were paid and the clubhouse was stocked with food, beer, booze, and women. He had short black hair, slicked back, always looking wet. His lip forever curled up, looking pissed off, ready to attack.

“Give me that,” Reese ordered and put his right hand up.

A warm breeze kicked up and threw some of his hair across his face. It wasn’t exactly long, but long enough. Ellis tossed the key and Reese caught it without looking.

“You sure we weren’t followed?” Reese asked.

“Best I can tell,” Ellis said. “Who are you worried about?”

“I’ll give you three guesses,” Reese said as he approached the old door to the old storage unit. “But the first one doesn’t count.”

“Funny,” Ellis said. “DRM and the runners aren’t going to bother us up here. And if they wanted to start a fucking fight right now, I’m equipped.”

“Meaning what?” Reese asked as he tried to turn the key, but it wouldn’t budge.

“Check this out,” Ellis said.

He slid a small, dirty leather bag off his back and opened it to reveal that it was almost empty, but had only a few items in the bottom that caught Reese’s attention.

“Jesus,” Reese said. “Is that…”

“Grenades, brother.”

“What the hell are you doing with that shit? You getting ready for a war?”

Ellis raised an eyebrow.

Reese turned his head away.

We are in a war. I get it, bro. I get it. Fuck.

“One of those stupid pricks even sniff around here, I’ll pull the pin and blow their assholes all the way up to Huma,” Ellis said.

“Let’s not draw any attention to this charter,” Reese said. “We’re one of the few left standing right now. Holding our ground. Don’t give them ammo to come after us.”

“A couple of fucking grenades compared to what we deal with?” Ellis asked and laughed.

“Yeah, right,” Reese said.

Shit had been weighing on his shoulders for weeks now. Trying to figure out how to seal up a couple of deals and then convince Levi to use the cash for something else. Even just for a little bit. There had to be a way to put some money into real estate or land development that would give the club a sense of legitimacy, and allow them to breathe through the bullshit sweeping across the state and country.

Yet, here was Reese, messing with an old key in an old lock on an old storage unit that hadn’t been open in probably close to ten years. Not since…

The lock finally popped.

“Got it,” Reese said.

“I was going to shoot the fucking thing,” Ellis said.

“Yeah, right, then Benny would be on your ass.”

“He really cares about this place, huh?” Ellis asked. “It shows.”

Reese opened the door and covered his mouth and nose. “Ah, shit.”

“Whoa, bro, that’s bad. That smells like… shit…”

The pungent odor punched Reese in the face quite a few times as he stood there, hoping the air would get in there and make it smell a little better.

He waved his hand and looked at the stacks of wooden furniture and filing cabinets that went from floor to ceiling, along with cardboard boxes thrown around. Add to that several different colored totes and a motorcycle, and here was the childhood that Reese never had, and the pieces he forever tried to forget.

“Fuck, Benny is an asshole for this,” Ellis said.

“Too bad he’s good to us,” Reese said, stepping forward into the storage unit.

“I’m not going in there,” Ellis said. “You’re on your own.”

“Thanks, brother.”

“No sweat.” Ellis turned and leaned against the open door and took out a smoke. “Hey, you know Benny blows his cash on women, right?”

“What the hell do I care about that?” Reese asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t get it. Paying for pussy. That doesn’t sit well. That’s like paying for… water…”

Reese looked over his shoulder. “We do pay for water, Ellis. You pay the fucking bills at the clubhouse. People buy bottles of water.”

“Maybe we should bottle up pussy and sell that.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Ellis grinned. “Nothing. I’m just saying that Benny hasn’t been the same since his wife died.”

“No shit,” Reese said. He ripped off the top of a green tote and it was just a mess of papers. He snapped the lid back on and went to the next one. “He met Anne in high school and they never looked back. Maybe their dream was to buy this place and retire happily. You know?”

“This shithole? That’s the dream?”

“It’s only a shithole because Anne died,” Reese said. He opened another tote and found the same mess of papers.

“I know that,” Ellis said. “Fuck, man, that’s why I don’t get involved. Imagine putting in all those years. Passing up all that pussy, only to have your old lady get tagged by a drunk driver while crossing the fucking street. Fuck.”

Reese put his hands on the tote and looked back at Ellis. “No offense to Benny, but I don’t think he was passing up any women, you know? Not exactly a looker.”

“He had money. Money makes every guy look good. Like booze makes any woman look good. Money and booze, brother, the devil’s playground.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Reese said. “Just be happy that Benny finds a way to cope so he can help us when we need a private storage unit.”

That made Ellis chuckle.

There were more than a few times when the club needed to rent out a storage unit for a few hours to take care of some private business.

“What are we doing here, man?” Ellis asked.

“Told you, I wanted to find something.”

“What?”

“Something,” Reese said.

He took the lid off a cardboard box and jumped back. “Fuck.”

“What is it? Something dead?”

“Looks like a rat’s nest or something,” Reese said. “Oh, shit, man, that smells bad.”

“Let’s get out of here,” Ellis said. “This place is a dump.”

Reese slipped the lid on the box and turned. “Hey. I didn’t ask you to come here.”

“You asked for the key.”

“That didn’t mean you were coming. This is my fucking stuff here. This is my fucking life.”

“What the hell is a motorcycle doing in here?” Ellis asked. “Why not ride it, bro?”

Reese gritted his teeth. He felt the anger rise up way too quickly. He watched Ellis suck on his smoke and knew that parts of his past weren’t well known by the current members. There had been some turnover for a little while as Levi cleaned up some old scars left behind from a war that Reese had been too young to fight, but old enough to remember.

“If you don’t want to be here, then leave,” Reese said.

“Hey, I’m sorry. I’ll keep my mouth shut on it. You keep looking. I’ll keep talking about Benny. Women, man. They fucking twist you right up. Look at him now, dropping all his money down at the strip club.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Reese asked as he started to climb some boxes and totes. He did so carefully to keep his balance and not fall into the mess of papers, mold, and shit.

“Not for your girl running it,” Ellis said.

Reese snapped his head back. “Hey. Fuck yourself, Ellis. Don’t say shit like that.”

“Sorry again,” Ellis said with a cocky grin. “I’m just saying, she does well because of it.”

“The other girls do better,” Reese said.

“Benny likes them big and curvy, top to bottom.”

“Good for him.”

“Me? I take it all. I’m neutral, you know? I just appreciate women for who they are.”

“You mean, what they look like naked.”

“Yeah, what did I say?” Ellis asked.

Reese laughed.

Balanced with a foot on each tote, Reese peeled the top off another box. He found just what he was looking for. Another messy box of papers. But this one had pictures. The first one Reese could see was of two boys, seven years old, tall and skinny, one blond haired, one brown haired, standing next to a lake. The brown haired kid was holding a big frog in one hand.

He plucked the picture from the pile and stared at it. He felt like if he stared hard enough and long enough, the picture would come to life. Or better yet, maybe he could go into the picture. Sit with those two punk kids and tell them what was going to happen to their lives. And tell the kid with the brown hair to watch his back like he’d been warned so many times. To stay the hell away from the badge, no matter how much it seemed like a friend. And to the kid with the blond hair… don’t fall in love with the pretty girl that lives down the street. Her daddy was a cop and he was going to do everything to tear the blond haired kid’s family apart.

The thing with the past, you could never change it.

Reese knew that.

He wasn’t stupid. And he wasn’t going to get lost in some storage unit and go down memory lane. The place hadn’t been opened in years for good reason.

He flipped the picture upside down and took the newspaper clipping, folding it carefully and tucking it into his pocket.

He put the lid back on the tote and retreated back down to the floor where it was a little more stable. Not much though; not when you considered the heat on the club, the town, and everywhere they went. All Levi wanted to do was keep current relationships strong while Reese wanted to make sure that the past didn’t come back to repeat itself.

The first time things went bad, Reese lost his best friend.

The obituary in his pocket was proof of that.

* * *

Reese shut the door and wrestled with the lock again. He then flicked his wrist and threw the key at Ellis. Ellis hurried to chase it through the air, balancing his fresh smoke between his lips as he did so. He caught the key and tucked it into his pocket.

“Can we leave now?” Ellis asked, the cigarette dancing up and down between his lips.

Reese walked to his motorcycle and threw his leg over it. He sat there, thinking. Trying to make sense of too much at once. And fuck Ellis for bringing up even more old shit. Talking about Benny and the strip club. Of course, the MC had a stake in that place, but not big enough to make it all legit. That’s why Reese wanted more. To build the club’s finances through businesses that were a little more legit and carried a little less risk. So, when they had to deal with the police, they could sit there, smile, and watch the police writhe in annoyance. Right now, it was sometimes the other way around.

In the distance, the sound of a motorcycle echoed.

Reese quickly got off his ride and looked at Ellis.

“Fuck,” Ellis said. “DRM?”

“Maybe,” Reese said. Ellis was referring to a rival MC that weren’t as strong as Back Down Devil, but if it was their main crew, it would be eight on two, which wasn’t exactly a fair fight.

“Move the rides?” Ellis asked. “Make them think we’re gone?”

“No,” Reese said. “We don’t hide. We have nothing to hide.”

“Pride, brother. That shit will take you down.”

“Then you go and hide,” Reese said. “Is that why you have grenades? You lost your balls?”

“Fuck you,” Ellis said.

They both stood their ground, hearing the growling of the motorcycle getting louder by the second. It was definitely coming their way.

Reese felt his heart race a little bit. He casually looked around the entire massive area of storage units. This was a good place to wage a little war. It was far away from town. It would attract less attention. And Reese knew this place well. He could navigate all the rows.

Not that they wanted this shit right now. But that’s the way the life of freedom worked. It came with a constant price, and an even more constant reminder that death walked side by side with freedom. It was like they were both on a wire, bouncing shoulders together to see who would fall first.

“Fuck this,” Ellis said. “I’m getting one of these fuckers out right now.” He swung the bag around to his front. “I’ll send a clear warning.”

Reese grabbed Ellis by the shoulder. “Bro, be smart here. You throw that and blow up a few prospects, fine. That’s a lesson learned. But if you take out Sledge or Lyle, you just started a fucking war without a proper vote. And where do you think that gets you? You’ll get your cut stripped off your back and Levi will slit your throat in front of everyone at the table and in the MC.”

Ellis curled his lip.

Reese appreciated Ellis’s wanting to get to action, but that was part of the problem. Everyone had a quick trigger finger. Nobody could take a minute and think shit out. Yeah, maybe thirty years ago it was easier to live that way. Things were different now. And things were going to keep changing.

The motorcycle finally came into view and it was a good thing that Ellis didn’t have a grenade in his hand.

Because it was Luca riding toward them. The oldest member that sat at the table. One of the original members of this charter, hand chosen by the originals of the entire MC. Sure, Luca was a burned-out alcoholic that could never clean himself up, but his presence alone was important to everyone at the table to show how far the club had really come.

He stopped with two inches to spare from hitting Ellis, who didn’t bother to move at all. In fact, Ellis folded his arms and raised an eyebrow.

“Jesus, Luca,” Reese said. “You trying to run him over?”

“I fucking stopped in time,” Luca growled over the rumbling motorcycle engine.

“Eyes aren’t so good anymore, old man,” Ellis said. “Maybe it’s time to get you some cataract surgery and toss your wrinkled ass into a home.”

Luca showed his old, chipped teeth that complimented the craters on his face and scars around his eyes from fists, knives, and guns. He was a real gnarly looking man, almost like a monster. He throttled his motorcycle and let it go, actually hitting Ellis.

That forced Ellis to jump back. He toppled to his ass and was on the ground, eyes wide.

Reese put a hand out and squeezed the brakes. “That’s enough.”

“Little prick,” Luca said.

Ellis scrambled to his feet. “You got my jeans dirty, old man.”

“Sure, it’s not the first time you got your knees dirty for another guy,” Luca said.

I saw Ellis’s hand twitch, wanting to go for his gun.

Last thing Reese needed now was two members to get in a shootout. Knowing Luca, if it came to that, he’d take a bullet to the shoulder, stand tall, and know right where to shoot Ellis to make him hurt, but not kill him.

Fucking outlaws…

“What are you doing here, Luca?” Reese asked.

“Levi called a meeting,” he said. “Wanted me to find you two.”

“He couldn’t call?” Reese asked.

“I don’t know. He told me to.”

“Why didn’t you call?” Ellis asked.

“I don’t use phones.”

Ellis opened his mouth and Reese gently swung a fist into Ellis’s chest. It wasn’t worth the argument. Luca was old school. He didn’t do phones. He came from a time when the only phones were landlines and they were easily tapped into. He refused to appreciate the beauty of technology and being able to use more than one phone, and have ways to never get traced or tracked.

“You’d better get your ass in gear,” Luca said. “Or we’ll be voting in two new members to the table.”

Luca throttled his motorcycle as he walked it back. He turned and took off, leaving nothing but the smell of exhaust and the angry echoing cries of the ride.

“What a fucking old prick,” Ellis said.

“Yeah.”

“Why the fuck can’t he use a phone?”

“It’s not worth thinking about, brother.”

“We’d better get moving,” Ellis said. “Levi will chop our heads off.”

Reese walked slowly. He wasn’t worried about Levi. The club was changing direction whether Levi liked it or not. It was just the natural shift of things. And Reese knew one thing…

If Levi didn’t take the charge and lead the guys in the right direction… then Reese himself would.