CHAPTER ONE
Knight
It had been almost a year since that night we took down Savage and his club. I couldn’t believe it was that long ago. A lot had happened the past year. I felt like I hadn’t really slept or taken a break the whole time. We were working hard on getting the new chapter set up and before I was voted in for the new table, I felt like I’d spent more time down on the coast than I did at home. And then when I did go home, it felt like I was turning around and heading back as soon as I stepped into the clubhouse. But all the hard work had eventually paid off.
Wilmington was a decent sized city on the coast of North Carolina. It was butted up to a major river and was surrounded by beaches. Too many of them to list off. In truth, there were two main ones, the rest were so small you might miss them if you blinked. The city itself was divided off into its own sections. The downtown area, which spanned the side of the river, had an old town charm to it. If any of us headed outside the compound to do anything, we usually headed there.
I had really come to like the city the more time I’d spent there. So much that it wasn’t that hard to accept the new patch I was offered. I knew I’d miss home but the honor of being offered a chair at the table was something I simply couldn’t pass up.
The first two months we spent looking for a location to open up a mechanic shop, bar, and tattoo shop. We also needed a place for the compound. That had been the hardest thing. There were options, but nothing felt right. We looked at warehouses, an old school, and even a long forgotten strip mall. Nothing that we came across had that “feeling” of being right.
Then we hit the fucking jackpot. Loch, Diesel, Ky, Brand, and I happened to be on this search, so we were the first to see the place.
It started with finding the rundown mechanic shop. Right next to that was a building that could have been some sort of convenience store at one point. Neither place was amazing, but the fact that they were right next to one another was a plus.
The interior of the mechanic shop wasn’t in horrible condition but definitely needed an update. My guess was the place hadn’t been closed that long. It only had four bays and by the way the brothers had been carrying on, I could tell they wanted more. But the place had room to add on.
The empty building next to it was nothing but a shell. With a good gutting and cleaning, I could see it as the perfect set up for a bar. It wouldn’t be huge, but it would be perfect for what we had in mind.
The two buildings shared a giant paved lot, which was full of cracks and potholes. I knew the river was not far from where we were, given that I could see the huge bridge that led into town. We were close enough to the bridge that you could faintly hear the traffic crossing over it.
While we were walking the back lot, which was surrounded by a thick line of trees, Ky noticed a trail between the trees. And being the adventurous and overly curious guy that he was, decided to take a little walk.
Come to find out, there was a mostly built motel behind all that foliage. To say that we were all shocked and ecstatic would have been an understatement.
Fucking jackpot, right?
Two days later, we had someone showing us the place. Turned out that some big developer had grand ideas of turning the area into a new tourist section of town. He wanted to target the middle class on vacation. Hence the motel and not a high-end hotel. It seemed like the guy was someone that had a lot of money but no idea how to execute his plan. And when he couldn’t buy out the old man that had owned the mechanic place, he gave up and moved on, leaving a partially built motel behind.
It also seemed like the guy didn’t know what he was doing. Who would build something so far back where it couldn’t be seen? And not to mention the fucking forest he’d left there keeping it completely hidden.
Couldn’t deny it was all fucking perfect for us though. Two buildings of rooms with outside access. Each room had its own bathroom. Both buildings were two stories and the one in the back had a view of the river from the top floor. The front building had been set up as the main one. It had more rooms and in the middle had a huge area that served as the lobby with an apartment on the top floor.
Needless to say, we took it and were currently still working on making it ours. Half the rooms had been done and were filled by the brothers. Since we didn’t have that many members yet, it wasn’t a big deal. The main area we turned into a common room with pool tables and a few TVs. There was also enough room to put in a kitchen and a few long tables and still keep the laundry room.
The upstairs had been split into two parts. Iron, the club’s Prez, took half the space and made it his home. It wasn’t huge but he swore it was enough. The other half housed two rooms—an office and a huge meeting room.
So far, this chapter was coming along nicely. I had my own place but sometimes stayed at the clubhouse. Most of the time, it seemed like a handful of guys would end up back at my place, though.
There wasn’t much surrounding the shop and bar. That was a blessing and a curse. It took a while for word to get around that we had the shop open, which now housed added on bays.
I felt like we’d really come a long way. I was happy with the way everything had turned out and with how well the club was running. We had good men, a collection of brothers from all over as well as a few new faces who’d put in the time and had already gotten their patch. We had a bunch of decent prospects. The businesses were up and running, including the tattoo shop that Brand ran on the outskirts of downtown.
Things were good. I had my place in the club and took it seriously. I had the docks to keep watch on and a place at the table. I couldn’t have wanted for more.
While the table was incomplete, only because we didn’t have VP yet, I had hope that things would work out soon enough. It wasn’t ideal but we weren’t going to put just anyone in that position. Iron, the prez, had mentioned a few times that he had a plan in the works but he wasn’t going to bring it to the table just yet. I had no idea what that plan was but I had enough trust in him that I didn’t worry about it.
There had also been talks about bringing in an additional enforcer. With all that we had going on, I didn’t think it was a bad idea.
So to say that we were still new and trying to figure it all out was a very true statement. As much as we were able to hide that from the outside world, all of us sitting at that table knew the truth. However, I believed we all worked together well enough that things ran smoothly. We’d get there, I had no doubts.