Mina
Mina might not have been invited to the meeting, but she was used to being excluded. She waited a minute for Grill and Skid to get away from the garage before she shot out another door into a side hallway and trotted down a short flight of stairs. She had grown up in the clubhouse. It had been her jungle gym, and she had spent hours finding every hiding spot and secret passageway it held. Her father didn’t know about it, but she had found a passage that led to the rooftop when she was only seven, and she’d spent hours up there looking over the city. For the longest time, it had seemed that there was always something new to find. The fact that it was such an old building and that it had been remodeled several times only helped. There were closets that had secret tiny doorways between them. Large rooms had been divided into smaller ones with only thin walls that made eavesdropping easy. Yes, the old warehouse was a place of secrets, and Mina’s slim body made it easy to utilize them.
Sliding into an old storage closet, Mina climbed up on a stack of boxes and sat on a shelf. A ventilation grill kept the closet from being too stuffy, and it allowed her a perfect view of the conference room in the basement. Paneled in hardwood, decorated with motorcycle memorabilia as well as pictures of the club throughout the years, it was a familiar place. Occasionally, there were meetings Mina was allowed to attend. She had been in that room to meet new members, to say goodbye to those who had decided to retire, and to enjoy the festivities of holiday parties. But when club business was happening, she was always been sent off to her room. She wondered, as she watched the men take their seats, if her father had any idea just how many meetings she had secretly attended.
Skid sat on her father’s right-hand side, where the vice president belonged. She wondered if he had any idea just how much she had always cared for him. From the time he had joined Satan’s Legion, her heart had soared for him. With his dark, slicked-back hair, and those obsidian eyes, he had been the obsession of her teen years. His monochromatic tattoos, each of them done with solid black ink and not a drop of color, only made him seem more badass. It had been immediately clear to her that he wasn’t like the other members. Not that they were bad guys, necessarily, but they were all just stereotypical bikers. Skid was something different, someone that she wanted to get to know better.
It had been an achievement to get him to sleep with her a few months ago, or at least she had thought so at the time. Every dream she’d ever had seemed to be coming true, with his big thick hands possessing her body. All her fantasies had come to life before her eyes, and it had been just as good as she had imagined. Skid had been a generous lover, ensuring that she got what she needed before he did. Mina had been his that night, and in turn that had made him hers.
He had always ignored her before, and she suspected that it was because of her father. Park had done a very efficient job of keeping men away from her, including his most trusted associate. But she and Skid had shared a night of passion, and he was still acting as though she didn’t exist. She had tried to talk to him numerous times around the clubhouse, but he always turned away and pretended he didn’t hear her. It drove her crazy. If Skid was playing hard to get, then he was doing too good of a job at it.
That incident in the garage had been different. Not only was he not ignoring her, he had gone out of his way to talk to her. It had surprised and pleased her. Maybe there could be something between them after all. Maybe it was just taking him a little time to come around.
“Just find a place somewhere.” Park’s voice broke through her fantasy.
Mina’s eyes focused on the room below her once again. The senior members of the club were seated around the big table with Park, but there wasn’t room for everybody. Men in denim and leather lined the walls of the room, crowding in. Never had Mina seen so many members in one spot. Mina knew something big must be going on. Her stomach pulled in a little on herself as she imagined what it might be. Was a rival gang trying to wage war with them? Had someone been injured or killed on his bike?
“All right, men. It looks like it’s time we had a little talk.” Park got out of his seat and strode around the room, looking everyone in the eye in turn. His dark blond hair was slicked back, revealing the tattoos that covered his body and rose up around his neck. Most of them were old-school style, with skulls, swallows, and playing cards. There was even a pinup girl which had been stylized after Mina’s mother. “I’ve found out some bad news. It seems that someone has betrayed me.”
A murmur of discontent waved throughout the room as the men whispered to each other. This was something unheard of. Mina couldn’t remember anyone wanting to leave the club for anything other than retirement, and she would have heard if someone had gone directly against her father’s wishes.
“You know that I’ve always done my best to take care of you, all of you. I don’t ask all that much in return, considering what you’re getting out of the deal, but one of the biggest things I’ve asked is that you keep your hands off my daughter.” Park’s boots echoed in the big room, and his voice got deeper on that last word. “I thought you respected me well enough to obey my orders, and I thought it was a relatively simple rule to keep. After all, there are always plenty of club girls around whenever you’re feeling the need.”
A ripple of laughter spread around the room, cut off by the sound of Park’s fist slamming into the big table. “It has become clear to me, though, that someone in this room has done the worst thing possible.”
Mina put a hand over her mouth. She had imagined the meeting would be about a rival club or a deal that had gone sour, but she hadn’t dreamed it would be about her. As far as she knew, Park didn’t think of her at all unless he was keeping her from having any fun. She hadn’t mentioned her rendezvous with Skid to anyone; there was no one she trusted that much.
“It has come to my attention that Mina is expecting.” Park’s words seemed to drift right through the vent and into Mina’s brain. She blinked and pressed her fingers to her temples.
The members broke into a roar of talking. They elbowed each other in the ribs and muttered innuendos. They pointed at each other across the room, some casting blame and others gladly taking it.
How did he know? Mina’s vision darkened, and she nearly fell off the shelf that had seemed so steady only a moment ago. She hadn’t told anyone about her secret. Even the club girl she had asked to buy the pregnancy test for her had never found out what the results were. Had she not hidden it well enough in the trash can? Had someone found it and figured out it was hers? Park wasn’t the only person who had been betrayed.
“I’ve trusted you men to protect Mina like she was your own sister, your own daughter.” Park was getting even more worked up now, and the vein in his neck was beginning to stand out. “You can all claim your innocence, but I know that whoever did this is in this room. I’ve been careful not to let Mina out around other men, so there’s nobody else who could have betrayed me like this. And when I find out who it is, I’m going to murder him with my bare hands.” He held out his tattooed hands, the fingers curled and the tendons tight, to show he meant it.
Mina’s eyes flicked to Skid, but he sat at his place looking calm and collected. He was the only member Mina had ever slept with, and she knew without a doubt that the child growing inside her belonged to him. She had considered telling him, hoping that the news would make him come around to her. But he sat still and silent, not volunteering any information to Park. If he had any suspicion that he’d knocked her up, he wasn’t saying anything.
“As for the rest of you, if you have any idea who did this to my daughter, you’d better tell me. Just because we have one traitor in our midst doesn’t mean the rest of you have to be. Turn in the bastard who did this, or you’ll all be paying the price.” He stomped out of the room, leaving the men to discuss it amongst themselves.
Grill said something to Skid, who shrugged his shoulders and shook his head, feigning ignorance.
Mina slowly climbed down from her perch and slipped out of the closet. Her feet were heavy as she trudged back up the stairs, then made a turn to take the back stairwell to the third floor. She closed the door to her room and flopped down on the bed. This wasn’t how things were supposed to happen. She wanted to be with Skid, but sleeping with him hadn’t gotten that for her. Now she was going to have his child, but if Park had his way, Skid would never be around to witness the birth.
Rolling over, Mina looked at the framed picture on her nightstand. The frame had changed over the years, starting out cutesy and pink until it had matured into something simple and black. But the picture had remained the same. Park and Marlena stared out at her from many years ago. It was before Mina was born, and even before Satan’s Legion had been formed. They were just a young, happy couple leaning against her father’s first motorcycle. But Marlena had died shortly after Mina’s birth, and Park had never looked that happy again.
Many times, Mina had wished she could talk to her mother. Growing up around a bunch of rough rugged men had been fun most of the time, but there were some things her father and his friends just couldn’t handle. Once Mina had been old enough to make friends with some of the club girls, she at least had had someone she could talk to about dreams, hopes, and sex. But it still just wasn’t the same. Mina never really fit in with them, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to.
She picked up the frame and ran her finger across her mother’s face. “I’m going to have a baby, Mom. Can you believe it? And no matter what Dad thinks, the father is a great guy.” She held the picture to her chest, hoping Park wouldn’t pummel Skid into the dirt. He was a man of his word, after all.