Mark
“So, Mr. President, I guess I don’t have a job if I ever get out of here,” Alan said into the phone on the other side of the visitation booth. And he was actually smiling at me. I figured I must have been hallucinating. There was no way he was looking at me with pride in his eyes.
“What do you mean if?” I asked him. The if bothered me.
“It really doesn’t look like I’m getting out anytime soon, Mark,” he said, and he sounded a little down, as if he were actually disappointed to have to relay the news.
I wondered what had happened. He’d been keeping his head down and staying out of trouble, or at least he said he had been. It didn’t seem right that he would have been held in there longer. He must have seen the question on my face, because he answered it.
“Let’s just say your old man has been up to his old tricks,” he said with a wink.
“Come on, Pop, don’t you want to get out?” I asked him.
“Look, I’m handing you the president title, okay? You should be happy that I’m doing that. Besides, I’ve been in touch with some of the old-timers. They told me everything. You’ve earned it, kid. I’m going to hold things down on the inside for a while.” He sounded like he was talking about retirement instead of prison.
“So you do know about everything,” I repeated.
“Yes. I know about the Demons. I even hear the remaining guys have agreed to stick to their own territory.”
I smiled. “Yeah, and they’re going to be working with us instead of against us, to ensure that the supply chain isn’t interrupted,” I told him with a low voice.
He listened and nodded. “You’ve done well, son. You really have. I’m proud of you.”
I smiled and sat up a little straighter. My dad had never spoken to me like that. He’d certainly never told me he was proud of me. He had been busting my chops as far back as I could remember, taking every opportunity to belittle me and humiliate me. But not this time. This time he was praising me. My chest puffed out with pride.
“So how much longer are you going to be in for?” I asked him, not sure of what he’d done to get extra time.
“Only a few extra years. No big deal. I want to give you time to get things sorted,” he told me.
“What about your grandson?” I asked.
“Pictures? I don’t think he needs to visit his grandpa in jail, man.”
Me either, but I wasn’t going to say that out loud. I had come in to share the good news from the MC with him, not belittle him.
“Yeah, we’ll bring you pictures, Pop. Hey, I’ll even bring Nora in some time to meet you,” I told him.
“Yes, do that. I have to meet the woman bad enough to be my boy’s old lady.” He didn’t even laugh like he was cracking a joke. He spoke to me with a kind of admiration and genuine awe in his voice.
“She’s not my old lady,” I told him.
“Not yet, but it won’t be long, I’m sure,” he responded with a wink.
“You’re crazy, old man. Maybe I’ll wait to bring her by once that belly’s showing better so it’s like you get to meet her and our boy,” I told him.
“You already know it’s going to be a boy?” he asked.
“We just found out the other day,” I admitted to him. It had been a few weeks since the Demons confrontation, and we had gone in together on the last visit so her doctor could meet me.
That had been an experience. The doctor was a little put off at first to have a biker walk into his office, and he’d said as much. After we talked a bit, though, he realized that there was something special about Nora and me. She wasn’t like the club girls, who were often treated like pets or property. She was my girl, and I tried to treat her the same way anyone would have treated their girl.
“So, when’s the ceremony?” Alan asked me. “The senior members have assured me they’re going to go ahead name you the official president of the club. You’ve already got all the votes to take over. You’ve impressed everyone.”
“I’m not sure,” I said. I was a little caught off guard. No one else had said anything to me about taking over.
“Well, you should probably get back to the clubhouse and find out,” he said, looking down at his wrist like he was looking at a watch, though they didn’t allow him to have one on the inside. Jewelry of any kind wasn’t allowed.
“Yeah, I haven’t heard anything about a ceremony or meeting or anything like that,” I told him. “Hey, Pop, thanks,” I told him before I hung up the phone.
“Of course, son. Now go claim your MC. Go carry on my legacy. Shadow Reapers is ours,” he said with a smile on his face.
We hung up the phones and rose together on opposite sides of the glass. I felt like I stood a little taller as I turned to leave. I figured it was merely a side effect of how proud I felt as I walked away from my father.
I was still reeling from it when I showed back up at the clubhouse. Sure enough, a table had been set up in the main room, and the senior members sat on one side of it. The rest of the MC stood on either side of the room, leaving a space for me in the middle. I hadn’t expected a ceremony. I had only expected it to be a formality handled in the boardroom, with an announcement made to the rest of the MC later.
###
Nora
Ozzy and I stood in front of the table of senior members, waiting on Mark to approach. Ozzy had been nominated by the board to be the one presenting Mark as president to the rest of the MC. I had been asked to be there because of my position at his side.
“What is this?” Mark asked when he reached the table.
I nodded to Ozzy, standing behind him. He turned and faced his right-hand man. These two were old friends. They went back as far as anyone could remember. They might as well have been brothers.
“Old friend,” Ozzy said, “I have an announcement to make.”
He took Mark to stand dead center in the room, where everyone could see him. There were members, club girls, old ladies, and prospects hanging around, coming together in a circle. I caught myself searching for Alice. It had been several weeks, but I still found it odd whenever I realized she wasn’t around. It was a very strange sensation, but we were all better off, I knew.
“Members of the Reapers, and everyone else who is here, I have a very important announcement to make today,” Ozzy boomed. “We have been gathered here today by the board of senior members to appoint the MC’s new president. As we all know, the current president, Alan Stevens, is in prison for charges related to the last confrontation with the Asphalt Demons. The senior members have agreed to push him out of the way in favor of our new president.”
The room fell silent. I could almost hear everyone breathing as we all waited for Ozzy to make the formal announcement.
“So, my brothers, I present to you the new president of Shadow Reapers, Mark Stevens.” He raised Mark’s arm like he was announcing the winner of a boxing match, and the clubhouse erupted in cheers.
The MC members looked upon Mark with devotion. He’d done it. He’d managed to rally all of the members behind him. He raised both of his hands and brought them down to tell everyone to quiet down for him.
“Okay, for my first action as the official president of the MC, I have someone to acknowledge for his dedication to the club and his support for me. That’s my right-hand man, and my best friend, Ozzy Hayes,” Mark started.
There was more cheering, and I saw how much everyone else in the MC loved Ozzy as well.
“Now, I know my father never had a VP. He’d taken the MC as his own under very unorthodox circumstances and ran things pretty much by himself, rarely even consulting the board for advice, permission, or support. I don’t plan on being that leader,” he said. “I plan on using all the support I can get from the club, because this is all of us, not just me.”
There was a small amount of applause.
“That being said, I want to present you with our new VP. Ozzy Hayes, you are the new vice president of the MC, if you’ll accept the position. You have been my right-hand man since Alan went in. You’ve been by my side this whole time, and I can’t think of anyone better for the position of my second-in-command.”
Ozzy nodded. “I’m honored, Mark. I really am.”
“But that’s not all, brother.” Mark turned to his friend. “Would you also be the godfather to my son?”
Ozzy’s jaw dropped. He looked at me and looked back at Mark. “Absolutely,” he shouted. “Abso-fuckin-lutely.”
“Thank you,” Mark said to him, and then turned around. “Now, speaking of people at my side, where’s Nora?”
I was already on my way to him when he turned around to face me. He held a hand out to pull me to his side as I approached. I didn’t say anything.
I did feel like I queen standing by his side. Everyone looked at me as if I were an extension of him. I was sort of the MC’s first lady, if that was even a thing. I hadn’t heard anyone mention it, so I didn’t think it really was.
“I do have something else to say,” Mark said to the crowd around us. “It’s something I’ve been waiting to say, and I wasn’t even planning on saying it today, but since you guys surprised me with this, I think it’s appropriate to go ahead.”
They already knew about our kid. And I was sure they were going to know soon enough about the baby being a boy, if they didn’t all already know. It was hard to keep some secrets from the MC. I had no idea what he was going to say or do, or why Ozzy and I both had to be standing with him when he said it. Then, he turned to me.
“Nora, I know we didn’t start things off on the right foot. When we started this relationship, it was little more than a business arrangement, but I have grown to love you. You have taught me restraint. You have shown me that there is so much more to life than what I was allowing myself to experience before. You have also renewed my commitment to the MC.”
He got down on one knee and pulled out a small black box.
“Nora, I would be honored if you would be my old lady and continue to stand by my side to help me lead Shadow Reapers. Will you marry me?”
I had always thought it wasn’t a good move to put someone on the spot like that for a proposal, but as it was happening, it felt right. Our relationship had started for the MC. My pregnancy came about in the name of the MC. The MC had brought us together. It was only right for them to be present at the time he proposed to me.
With tears in my eyes and my heart pounding a million beats a second in my chest, I cried, “Yes, Mark. Yes, I’ll be your wife and old lady.”
He got up and hugged me after sliding the diamond ring on my finger. The MC applauded us, and I knew where my place was. I knew I was his, and I knew I wasn’t going anywhere. He no longer claimed me as a possession. With that ring, Mark had claimed my heart.
THE END
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