Switch

I tried to imagine what this place had looked like just a few months ago. It was hard to believe anything had ever been here. Now, it was just a vast expanse, an open field framed by the woods. Given a few more months, the woods would start to reclaim even this spot. The charred remains of the Wolf Den, our clubhouse, our home had been hauled away weeks ago. If I closed my eyes, I could still smell the smoke.

We were lucky to be alive. The attack on my club had been calculated, devastating, and deadly. Our rivals, the Hellz Rebels, had taken the bold step of coming after us where we lived. They violated an unwritten rule. They put our families in harm’s way.

Now, we were at war.

Sly Cullinan, my prez, stood at the edge of the field. He had a bottle of Jack in his hand. He passed it back and forth with our veep, Dex McClain. Sly looked like he’d aged ten years in the last month. The gavel weighed heavy on him. Everything he did, every move he made was for the good of the club. These were uncertain times.

Sly took a swig of whiskey and pointed the neck of the bottle toward me. I reached over and took it from him. It was fire going down. But it was a good burn.

“It’ll be better the next time,” I said, pointing to the field. “Bigger.”

We would rebuild the Wolf Den. It was just a building, after all. Our club, our collective soul was intact.

“I don’t know,” Sly said. “It might be years. Until we get clear of this shit with the Rebels, it may not be the time to do something flashy.”

Never mind the psychological hit of losing the clubhouse, the Wolf Den had been one of our main sources of revenue. It was the busiest bar in Green Bluff, California.

“They don’t get to take this from us,” I said.

Sly turned to me. Since the Den was bombed, some of the guys were staying in Sly’s new house. His old lady, Scarlett, had opened her heart and home to as many as would fit. Sly said she was nesting. She’d just found out she was pregnant with their first kid. I knew the timing couldn’t be worse, but Sly deserved that kind of happiness. We all did.

“I didn’t say forever,” Sly said. “Just for now. We’re okay. Gunn’s shop expansion is doing even better than he predicted. It’s better we focus our attention on fixing engines and custom builds. Too many variables running a public club right now. We’re too short-staffed on the civilian side. People are spooked. None of the girls from the Den are willing to come back now. Or, they’ve had to take jobs out of town.”

“Shit,” I said. Sly was right. Revenue-wise, we were doing okay with the bike shop, our security contracts, and our investments in a few MMA fighters. But that’s with everyone pulling double and triple duty. Money was going to run out eventually. It was eating at Sly. He felt responsible for all of us. We all knew it wasn’t on him, but he felt it anyway.

“Scarlett’s been doing the books for Gunn, but she’s running ragged,” he said.

Scarlett and Gunn’s wife Brenna were the only civilians we had working directly for the club right now. Dex’s wife Ava was a nurse. Angel’s wife Maura was a lawyer in town.

“Is that why you asked me out here?” I said, passing the whiskey to Dex. I didn’t like the hard look on Dex’s face. He’d been quieter than usual. Dex had been back with the club for a little over six years now. He’d done hard time over in Illinois on false drug charges. Sly had been the one to bring me up in the club. I knew his moods better.

“This was my idea,” Dex said. “I’ve got to ask you to do something you won’t like.”

I raised a brow and shot Sly a look. He stayed stony-faced.

“Anything,” I said. “You know you don’t even have to ask.”

“Before you say that …” Sly started.

“No,” I said. “Whatever it is, you know what my answer will be.”

“Switch,” Sly said. “I need you to know I wouldn’t even think of putting you in this spot. But shit’s getting tighter. Money-wise, sure. But on intel. I’m fighting a war on two fronts and it’s getting harder to figure out who our allies are. The cash flow part, I can deal with for a little while, at least. But there’s going to come a time when we have to make some hard choices. The Pagano family sees an opportunity with things being how they are.”

The Pagano family was one of the largest crime families in the country; we’d won a hard-fought peace with them years ago. But I knew what Sly was worried about. With the Hellz Rebels on the attack, the club was vulnerable. They might try to leverage that to get the club to do their dirty work again. We were walking a razor-thin line having gone legit years ago.

“Just tell me what you need,” I said. I had a hunch. As the only bachelor member in the club now, I expected Sly to ask me to take bigger risks than the others. I was ready for it.

“Switch,” he said. “I need you to reconnect with your pops.”

My jaw dropped. Of all the things he could have asked me, I hadn’t expected that.

“You’re the only person Mad Max will talk to,” Dex said. I realized this had to have been his idea. Of course it was. He of all people would know exactly what Sly needed from my old man. “You’re the only one he might remotely trust.”

I dropped my head. I swallowed past the urge to shout “hell no.” I’d just told the both of them that I’d do whatever it was they wanted me to. But this?

“For what?” I said.

Dex turned to face me. His eyes were cold and dark. I couldn’t begin to imagine what it had been like for him, locked away for over a decade. And he’d gone in covered in Great Wolves M.C. ink. It made him a target. It might have broken a lesser man. Hell, it had broken a lesser man. My father. The only difference was, Dex was innocent of his crime. My old man was guilty as sin.

“Max has his ear to the ground on the inside. We need to know the Rebels’ next move before they make it. We need intel from every direction. We need to know whether Max is still loyal to the club.”

I could taste acid in my mouth. My father, Max Madison, had been one of the club’s founding members along with Sly’s uncle, Blackie Murphy. But my father ended up on the wrong side of a falling out with Blackie. It was part of the chain of events that landed him in prison for murder. And once inside, he ratted on the club.

“I haven’t talked to him in fifteen years,” I said. “Not since I was a kid. Why do you think you could trust anything that bastard has to say?”

“I don’t,” Sly said. “But I need other people to think I’m still listening.”

Sly came to me and squeezed my shoulders. “And you know I wouldn’t ask you to do this if I didn’t need it. I need it, Switch. The club needs it. You’ve gotta reconnect with Mad Max. I’m sorry. I know what I’m asking.”

He didn’t. He couldn’t. I’d been paying for my old man’s mistakes my whole life. But Sly was my prez. He had the weight of the world on his shoulders and now he was asking me to take some of it.

“Shit,” I said, grabbing the whiskey bottle from Dex.

Sly slapped my back. “I know what this is going to cost you,” he said. “I know what it’s worth.”

I handed the bottle to him. “You don’t mind, I need to be by myself for a little while.”

Sly narrowed his eyes. “Switch …”

“I’m not stupid,” I said. “I just mean I’d rather ride back by myself.”

We were all on edge over just about everything. A few months ago, one of our prospects got capped waiting at a traffic light. Another message from the Hellz Rebels.

“Yeah,” Sly said. “Yeah, man. We’ll follow you to the fork. Then you give a shout out when you get where you’re going.”

I know he didn’t like the idea of me riding alone. But I needed it more than ever. I wanted the wind in my lungs and the road whipping under me.

“How long?” I said. “When do you want me to do this?”

“The sooner the better,” he said. Sly and Dex shared a knowing look. It took me a beat, but I realized what the hell they were up to.

“Shit,” I said. “You’ve already arranged it.”

Dex stepped forward. “Two weeks. Normally takes two months to get approved on the visitors’ list. I pulled some strings. Let’s just say the government still owes me a few things.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Yeah.”

“Go,” Sly said. “Take your ride. Tomorrow, we meet back at my place for church. We’ve got a lot to discuss.”

Sly grabbed my fist and slapped my shoulder. He let go of me and Dex stepped forward to do the same. This request of theirs had just been a formality. There was no way for me to get out of seeing my old man. I couldn’t hate them for asking me, but I still felt hollow as I left them there in the ruins of the Wolf Den and headed home.

I wanted to keep heading north and go all the way up the coast. If things were different, I would have. My heart stirred as Green Bluff loomed ahead of me. It would have been so easy just to take off and never look back. Go nomad.

I never would have. No matter how much I hated having to do this thing for Sly, he knew I could never turn him down. I would rip my heart out for him and this club and that’s exactly what he’d asked me to do.

My father, Max Madison, had betrayed the club. Only an alliance with some of our enemies on the inside had kept him alive all these years. When I was fourteen years old, the Devil’s Hawks M.C. had tried to lure me away from my father’s legacy. But Great Wolves blood flowed through my veins, no matter how much of a bastard my old man was.

Sly could have turned me away. He had no obligation to look out for me after what my father did. But my mother got sick and died not long after my pops went inside. I was only twelve at the time. Old Blackie Murphy had every intention of making me live with my father’s sins. But when Sly took over the club once and for all, he had a different opinion. I was sixteen years old by then and headed down a path that might have landed me in a cell right next to Mad Max. It was Sly who made sure that didn’t happen. In so many ways, I owed him my life.

I was thinking of all these things as I took the next curve, going way too fast. But I knew my bike like I knew my body. It was part of me. Riding had saved me as much as Sly and the club had. Still, I was almost going too fast to stop when a little red car swerved in my lane.

I slammed on the brakes and skidded into the berm, kicking up dust and gravel. The red car overcorrected and spun three times before ending up facing the wrong way on the other side of the road.

“Christ!” I shouted, cutting my engine. I whipped my helmet off, ready to do some damage to the asshole behind the wheel. It was just what I needed. Bloody fists might do more to calm my soul than even more bourbon would. I stopped short as I crossed the road. The driver got out, slamming the door.

Her hair flew wild in every direction. Long and blonde, looking like a damn shampoo commercial. She’d hit the road marker hard, twisting the front end of her car. Smoke billowed from the hood.

“You lost your mind, lady?” I said, practically frozen in the middle of the highway. There was no one around this stretch of road. Just her and me. I still couldn’t see her face with her damn hair flying in front of it.

I saw enough though. She had legs for days. Little red shorts that nearly matched the color of her car. It was too damn cold to be wearing something like that. She must have come from down the coast.

Finally, she got better control of her hair than she did her car. She tucked it behind her ears.

She was almost fucking perfect with full lips, big blue eyes, and a little dimple in her cheek even when she wasn’t smiling.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “Really, I am. I didn’t realize the road curved so sharp. And there hasn’t been anyone out here for miles. You came out of nowhere.”

“You all right?” I asked, softening. “And where the hell do you think you’re going anyway? Because you’re right. This is nowhere.”

Her car made a popping sound and the engine caught fire. Instinct kicked in and I reached for her, pulling her to the other side of the road.

“Shit,” I said. “There’s no help for that now.”

She blinked back tears. She looked me up and down, her eyes settling on the patch I wore. She read it silently, her lips moving.

“You’re a Great Wolf,” she said.

“Yeah. My name’s Switch. You’re all right now. I’m afraid you’re gonna have a hell of a time getting a tow truck out here this time of day and this far out.”

“My phone!” She jerked away from me and ran back to the car. My heart lurched. She really did have some kind of death wish.

I ran after her. She opened the door and grabbed her purse off the front seat. I took her under the elbow and got her on the other side of the road again. The car sputtered and belched. The fire was working itself out, but that car wasn’t moving anytime soon.

“I’m fine,” she said, fishing for her phone in her giant bag. “I’ll call a tow.”

“Where were you headed?” I asked.

She looked at me, blinking hard. “I ... uh ... well ... I suppose I was headed your way. The Wolf Den. I was told if I kept heading down this road, I’d run right into it.”

I cocked my head to the side. Was she for real?

“Well, you were told right except for the part where you’d also need a time machine, lady. The Wolf Den isn’t there anymore as of about two months ago.”

Then she did the one thing I didn’t expect. Her eyes filled with tears. “Oh. I mean ... oh. Then I guess I really am heading nowhere.”

God, she smelled so good. That dimple in her cheek and those long legs did me in. I wondered what she’d look like if she smiled.

“It’s okay,” I said. “We’re about ten miles from Green Bluff. That’s the next town. If you’ll trust me for a little bit, I’ll give you a ride in. Then you can worry about what to do with your car. I know a good garage.”

She hesitated, biting her bottom lip as she considered me. She was younger than I realized when I first saw her. All that hair hid a lot. Twenty maybe. Not much older. A little flare of protective rage went through me as I imagined what might have happened if she’d been stuck out here and found by anyone but me.

“I guess I don’t have much of a choice. Um ... thank you. Switch? You said your name was Switch?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said, extending a hand to shake hers. She took it in a firm grip for so little a woman. I had the hard urge to pull her close and keep her safe.

“Kitt,” she said. “My name’s Kitt.”

“Good,” I said. “Come on. It’s going to get dark soon. I’ll take you to the garage. There’s a little diner nearby and a hotel if you’re in need.”

Kitt brushed a lock of her hair behind her ear. She gave me a hint of a smile and it warmed me.

“Okay,” she said. “I guess I shouldn’t be too afraid of the big bad wolf, huh?”

I couldn’t help myself. I growled for her benefit. Kitt’s mouth opened in a sexy little ‘o.’

“Come on, Red,” I said, eyeing her tight little shorts. I tossed her my helmet. She put it on, covering up that mass of blonde hair. I mounted my bike and waited for her.

Kitt stood beside me for a second. I watched her skin flush in the little vee of her black tee shirt and wondered what the rest of her looked like.

Then Kitt threw one of those long, luscious legs over the seat and wrapped her arms around my waist. She squeezed me tight as I veered back on the road and rocketed toward town. I revved the engine, loving the little gasp she made as the power of the bike rolled through her.