DAY ONE…

 

NATE

 

The Black Reapers logo wasn’t anything special at first glance. Just a skull with the MC text right next to it. Out-of-towners didn’t think much about it. To them, it was just another logo for just another MC.

I knew how special it was though. Wearing the patch meant you were somebody. The people of Ivory knew what they were looking at. It took a special kind of man to wear the patch. Someone the people could depend on. Someone the people could look up to. Someone the people respected.

All my life, I had dreams of wearing a patch. Any man who grew up in Ivory wanted to get patched in. Riding around on a bike and hitting the open road… Commanding the respect of the townsfolk… Yeah, that’s the shit that I wanted to be a part of.

Right now, I had the attention of a hot blond who just couldn’t keep her hands off of me. She knew to respect the patch.

Her index finger trailed along it as she stared at it.

“You’re a Reaper?” she said.

She looked up at me, her eyes wide in disbelief.

This is what I’m talking about.

“Not yet,” I sighed. “It’s just a matter of time though. Every man has to serve his time as a prospect. Once he proves his worth to the club, then they make him a full patch.”

“You think you have what it takes?”

She arched an eyebrow at me. The doubt on her face only made me laugh.

There were times when I would’ve been uncomfortable talking to a girl. Now that I was a prospect, it was like things changed. My kutte was a suit that gave me superpowers. I couldn’t remember the last time I had this kind of confidence.

“I’m in good with the president himself,” I said. “Garnet tells me all I gotta do is keep my head down and work hard. I don’t see how it can’t happen.”

“Hard work, huh? That sound like something you can handle?”

“Hard work isn’t something I’m afraid of. I enjoy… working hard.”

She bit her bottom lip and gave me a look that would’ve made any man pop on the spot.

The boys warned me about women like her. Sluts hanging around bars just looking for a club member to sink their teeth into. They weren’t women. These were insatiable creatures of the night who wanted nothing more than to take heads and mount them on their walls.

I wasn’t looking for an old lady though. Tonight was just about tonight. It would all be forgotten in the morning.

“Stephanie,” she introduced herself.

“Nate.”

“Maybe you can buy me a drink and get to know me a little better, Nate.”

“Yeah… Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.”

“I’ll be waiting for you.”

She gave me a wink and puckered her lips toward me. Stephanie was the kind of woman just begging to bent over. Right now, that was all that I was looking for. The cost of a few beers would be worth it.

I headed to the bar to get the adventure started for the night.

Finn’s was as wild and crazy as it always was. Most bars in the town were run by clubs. Clubhouses were always more relaxed than other places because the MCs kept everybody in check. Finn’s though… Finn’s wasn’t run by any MC. That meant there was nothing to hold anybody back.

Club members were always settling shit outside. Women treated men like they didn’t have old ladies back home. The bartenders passed out liquor like it was candy regardless of how drunk someone was. Yeah, Finn’s was lawless. It was the perfect opportunity to cut my teeth as a prospect.

I pushed my way through the crowd and made my way to the bar. Sully and his girlfriend Gina were standing next to me.

Dorian was the youngest patch in the Reapers. Everybody called him Sully. He was only a couple of years older than me and he looked it. His face looked young, without any of the wear and tear that came from age. His arms weren’t as decorated with ink as the other club members. You couldn’t tell that he was a new patch with the kind of confidence he had.

“How are you doing?” Sully said to me. “Still hanging in there?”

“I’m doing all right,” I said. “If I’m lucky tonight, I’ll be doing a lot more than hanging.”

I looked over at Stephanie waiting for me at the side of the bar. She blew me a kiss, that same seductive smirk still on her face.

“Stephanie?” Sully said.

“You know her?” I said.

Sully looked away from me and shrugged.

“I’m not gonna tell another man what to do. But I’ve heard stories.”

“You don’t think I’ll catch anything, do you?”

“I don’t know her personally. All I’ll say is that this isn’t her first rodeo. It’s probably not her hundredth, either…”

“Dorian!”

Gina slapped her boyfriend across the chest.

“What?” Sully said.

“Don’t talk about other women like that.”

“I’m just saying. I’ve heard stories. That’s it.”

Gina rolled her eyes and looked at me.

“You have your fun, Nate,” she said. “Don’t listen to gossip. You club members are like a bunch of schoolgirls…”

Gina didn’t care too much about biting her tongue. Just from looking at her, you could tell she was the kind of woman who said what was on her mind. You had to have that kind of confidence if you were willing to put your body on display like she did. Stephanie was the kind of woman you slept with but Gina was the kind of woman you kept around.

The two of them enjoyed the scene at Finn’s. The rest of the club members were scattered around the bar. I kept to myself and got my drinks. Stephanie was my only goal for the night.

“For the lady,” I handed Stephanie her glass and the two of us toasted to the night.

“So, Nate… What is it you do?”

“What do I do?”

“Sure. You’ve got a job, don’t you?”

“I work in computers right now. Got an office job filing paperwork.”

“Oh, right…”

She looked away from me.

Shit.

I was losing her. I had to do something. Quick.

“But I’ll probably quit once I get patched in. There’s plenty of work for the club.”

She perked up when I said it.

“What kind of work?”

“There’s all sorts of things the club needs me to do. Accounting. Bartending at the clubhouse. Fixing up people’s rides. And there’s other work.”

“What kind of other work?”

I knew better than to talk about club business with anybody outside of the club. Shit, I didn’t even know too much myself, since I was only a prospect.

But the promise of a night with Stephanie was tempting. She kept staring at me, narrowing her eyes like she was on the verge of dropping to her knees and sucking my cock.

“Well, I—”

Someone bumped me from behind and spilled some of my beer on the floor.

“Shit!” I muttered as I held up the glass.

“Hey, sorry, man.”

I turned around and looked at the guy who did it.

I hadn’t seen him before. I guess that wasn’t surprising with how many people were in Finn’s.

He was as tall as me. His head was shaved clean. He looked older, his forehead wrinkled. He didn’t have any tattoos and he wasn’t wearing a kutte, so he didn’t look like a club member.

I thought about putting him on his ass right then and there but he put his hands up innocently.

“Sorry,” the man said. “Forgive me?”

Most guys at Finn’s had too much of an ego to apologize for something like that. I’d seen it myself. I was still sober enough to see that he wasn’t worth it.

“Just make sure you don’t do it again,” I said.

I turned back around toward Stephanie.

“Fucking assholes,” I sighed. “No respect—”

Another bump made me spill more of my beer.

“All right,” I said as I spun around. “You got a problem or something?”

“Maybe I do,” the stranger said. “You’re standing in my space.”

“Teach this guy a lesson, Nate. Kick his fucking ass.”

I already had enough reason to deal with him. Stephanie was more motivation I didn’t even need.

“Wait right here, Stephanie,” I said.

“Oh, this’ll be fun,” the man said.

I marched toward the exit, determined to make an example out of the guy. Stephanie was gonna be a wild story I told the other guys about. This guy looked like he wanted to be a part of my night, too.

“This way,” the man said. “If you’ve got the balls.”

He walked out of Finn’s and moved over to the alleyway.

It was fucking dark and I could barely make out the man standing in front of me. The music from inside Finn’s vibrated through the walls.

I took my vest off and tossed it to the side. I put my fists up, ready to put this guy to sleep.

“All right, motherfucker,” I said. “Let’s get this over with so I can get back to my lady.”

The bald stranger just stood there with his hands on his waist. I started to get more frustrated waiting for him.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I said. “You wanna do this or not—”

He suddenly pulled his hand from the back of his waist.

Bang.

I heard it before I even saw it.

The loud crack of a gunshot was unmistakable. The pain in my stomach was sharp. It was so warm… so wet… It was like nothing I’d ever felt before.

The impact dropped me to my back.

It hurt but my groan was more from disbelief. I put my hand to my stomach then held it up. The sticky red that covered my palm was like something out of a nightmare.

“Why did you…”

I looked up at the stranger and saw a van parked in the alley. The backdoor opened and he pulled someone out of it. But the person wasn’t moving.

Just a body…

“What are you…”

The man stared at me. Even though it was dark, I could still see his eyes. Blue eyes that were glazed over.

His throat shifted as he swallowed.

“Sorry, kid,” his voice suddenly soft.

He took a knee down next to me and reached for my piece. I braced myself, waiting for him to finish me. But all he did was fire a couple of shots at the body next to me then drop it on the ground.

He put his own gun on the dead man next to me. Then he hopped into the back of the van and shut the back door. It sped off down the alley and disappeared into the darkness.

I laid in the alley with a dead body right across from me.

Shit…

I could feel the blood flowing out of me. I didn’t have much time left.

With the last bit of strength, I had left, I pulled my phone out and dialed.

9…

1…

1…

A few rings and I got a response.

“911. What’s your emergency?”

“I… I’ve been shot…”

“You’ve been shot?”

“Finn’s… I’m in the alleyway… Next to Finn’s…”

“Sir, we have someone on the way. Where are you exactly?”

“I…”

It was getting too hard to fight. My eyes started to flicker. I laid down and stared up at the night sky. The stars were out tonight. It was so dark but so peaceful.

“Sir, are you still there?”

I heard a commotion next to me coming into the alley. It was the last thing I heard before everything went black.