Levi couldn’t believe that his life had come down to this. He was kicking a bunch of old veterans out of a vacant house, so that his club could cook meth there to sell to the kids at the local high school. He thought about Krissy as he touched the tattoo on his neck and for the first time since she died, he hoped that she couldn’t see him from wherever she was. Making the first two leave had been cake. As soon as they saw Grant and Levi, they grabbed their pitiful belongings and made a beeline for the door. But the third guy came out of the back room and demanded to know what they were doing there. Grant repeated his spiel about the new owner wanting them out, and the old guy went off. He started yelling about how he’d fought for his country in Vietnam, and as Grant started tossing the belongings left on the floor toward the front door, Levi found himself thinking about his Pops. When they finally got the old guy herded out onto the porch, he got even more confrontational. Grant had taken out his gun and for a few seconds, Levi thought his friend was actually going to have to shoot the old guy.

He knew that he was taking the coward’s way out by watching the street and letting Grant deal with him, but after seeing the old furniture the men had set up in the house and realizing they were just a bunch of harmless old drunks with nobody but each other in the world, he just wasn’t sure he’d be able to shoot the guy if he had to. Luckily, the old man eventually wore himself out, dissolved into a coughing fit, and finally slung the old canvas bag he was carrying over his shoulder and left.

“Damn,” Grant said as he tucked the gun back into his waistband. “I thought that old fucker was going to make me shoot him.”

“Yeah, me too,” Levi said. He looked around at the dilapidated houses around them and then back at Grant. “You ever wonder what happened to our lives?”

Grant raised an eyebrow and said, “What do you mean?”

“I just mean that our time used to be spent doing more productive things. This is shit. You and I have both been in the club for over five years. Why is Cheney giving us a shit job like this?”

Grant shook his head and said, “Unfortunately, once we lost the gun deal because the Invaders pulled out and decided not to let us move them through their territory, I don’t think there was much left except for the shit jobs. It’s almost like we’re starting from scratch.”

“I don’t know how much longer I can do this shit,” Levi said, walking toward his bike. Grant followed him and as Levi slid on the back of the bike he said, “I think I’m going to go to Nashville tomorrow and talk to Stone.”

Grant got on his bike and slid on his gloves. “Things are tense right now all over the place. Losing that deal with us was a big blow to the Invaders too. I’m not sure inviting trouble by switching from one struggling club to the other is your best bet right now, Levi.”

“Something has to give.”

“Why all of a sudden?” Grant asked. “Before…” Grant hesitated and Levi said:

“The accident?”

“Yeah. Before the accident, your dad was making a lot of noise about the meth lab, but you didn’t seem bothered by it. Why is this all coming up now?”

Levi shook his head. He honestly didn’t know how to put it in words. “Maybe I was too preoccupied with my own life before, to notice how shitty things had gotten. The night Spider went ballistic and Cheney sent me after him was the first night I realized just how much what we were doing affected other people. I mean, Spider was an asshole from day one, but you should have seen him on this stuff we’re cooking. He was…sub-human, and we’re pushing this stuff to kids. Doesn’t that bother you at all?”

“I don’t think about who buys it, or what it does to them. I mean, it’s not like we’re forcing anyone to take it. It’s supply and demand, like tobacco or alcohol. If someone buys the product and uses it to ruin their life or someone else’s, are we really responsible for that?”

Levi had heard that argument before. It was the one Cheney had given his father the first time his dad went off about them selling meth. Levi remembered actually sitting there nodding as Cheney recited the words that day. He’d thought that his father was overreacting. But Levi had never seen first-hand what it could do to people, until the day he killed Spider. He was still reeling from that when his dad and Krissy died…and now he was beginning to have suspicions that the “accident” wasn’t an accident at all. He felt like he was racing toward his breaking point but he didn’t know how to get off the tracks.

* * *

When Grant and Levi got back to the clubhouse, Grant went to tell Cheney that the job was done, while Levi went back out to the shop to see what kind of progress Mickey had made on the bike. He found the mechanic at his worktable with pieces of his dad’s bike’s brakes spread out before him. “Hey, Mick, how’s it going?”

Mickey picked up a shop towel and wiped off his greasy hands before reaching for his pack of cigarettes. As he stuck one between his teeth and lit it he said, “There’s just no way for me to tell if the brakes were working or not, Levi. The report you gave me from the cops shows the trajectory and the point of impact and skid marks. That’s how they came to the conclusion that your dad’s bike didn’t stop, or even slow down before he hit that car. The car must not have seen him coming either because he didn’t brake until the last second. The report says he was traveling at least double the speed limit, based on the trajectory of the impact, so stepping on his brakes when he did probably only made things worse. I’m sorry, Levi, but looking at these crushed-up parts is just giving me a headache. It’s not telling me anything.”

Levi reached over and picked up a black rubber piece of tubing and held it between his fingers. “Is this part of the brake line?”

Mickey nodded. “Yeah. All the lines were twisted up and pulled loose. Some of them were burned and melted to the exhaust. That’s all that was really salvageable.”

Levi held up the thin tubing and looked at it. There weren’t any visible breaks or holes in it, and he knew it was a fantasy to believe the one salvageable piece would give him some kind of proof that his dad’s brakes had been tampered with. He sighed and Mickey went on to say, “I can save a lot of the chrome, but the gas tank was demolished. I’m sorry, kid.”

“It’s okay, Mick, I’m not sure what I planned on doing with any of it anyways.”

Mickey smiled. “I kind of had an idea while I was working. I know this job was more about figuring out the accident, and I’m sorry I can’t do that for you. But as I was pulling the bike apart I started thinking about how good some of this would look on your bike. We could straighten the handlebars, and the pipes on one side were hardly scratched at all…I know it’s a small consolation, but it might help you get past your grief to know a part of the old man was riding with you.”

Levi smiled. He liked that idea. “Yeah, Mick, that sounds great. Thank you.”

Mickey put a hand on his shoulder and said, “No problem, kid. I loved your old man. He will be sorely missed.”

Levi nodded and thanked the mechanic again before leaving the shop. He planned to get on his bike and go back to his apartment, but his phone rang before he made it to the bike. He looked at it and saw that it was Cheney. Cursing, he put the phone to his ear.

“Hey, Cheney, did Grant find you?”

“Yeah, good job. I have another one for you.”

“So I’m guessing my leave is over.”

“I’m sorry, Levi, but you know club business has to come first.”

He tried not to sigh out loud as he asked, “What’s the job?”

“I need you and Grant to take a shift sitting on that house. I don’t want any problems while the cooks are working. No vagrants or nosy neighborhood watch assholes, and most especially no cops. I got a contractor friend of the clubs to get us a permit that says we’re renovating the house. That’ll explain the electricity and water…but you know how the cops in that neighborhood are. The nosy bastards might just show up.”

“And if they do, we do what?”

“Figure it out,” Cheney said. “I’d like to say just shoot ’em, but they’re like roaches—that’ll just bring more of them scurrying out from their hiding places. I trust you and Grant to handle it if it comes up. Be there at seven tonight; you two are taking the overnight shift. I’ll send two prospects to relieve you in the morning. I’m not as worried about what might happen in the daylight as I am what might go on at night.”

“Alright,” Levi said, reluctantly. “I’ll be there.”

He tucked the phone in his pocket and slipped on his skullcap. He needed a drink, and it was only two in the afternoon. He thought about stopping at the Greasy Wheel, a bar the club hung out at, but decided that he wasn’t in the mood for company. He stopped at a liquor store instead and bought a bottle of whiskey. Once he got back to his apartment, he stripped down to his shorts and sat down on the couch with a glass of whiskey and a joint. He turned on the TV and leaned back into the cushions, sipping his drink and inhaling the strong weed. His thoughts turned to Krissy again. When she was alive, he had humored himself, believing that he was the strong one in the relationship. But now that she was gone, he was beginning to wonder if she’d been his strength all along.

Krissy was a tiny little thing, but Levi found out almost as soon as he met her that it didn’t mean she was weak. He was at a party one night and he’d gone out back to sit on the steps and smoke. He wasn’t a fan of big crowds or of trying to make small talk with a bunch of people he hardly knew. He had a blunt that night and he’d smoked it slowly, trying to drag it out for as long as he could. The weed he used to roll it was strong and by the time he finished it, he was high and thinking about going back inside and finding a girl to take home with him. He had just gotten to his feet when he heard a commotion out behind a storage shed in the back yard.

“Ow! Fuck! You little bitch, you bit me!”

“You grabbed my tit!”

Levi was amused by the sound of the argument and he thought he’d go over and be nosy instead of going back inside. He walked over to where he could see the outline of a couple behind the shed. The guy was average size, maybe six foot tall, with long legs and a lean torso. He wasn’t wearing a kutte and instead of the standard roughed-up jeans and t-shirts most of the guys in the club wore, this guy had on a polo shirt and jeans that looked brand new. Levi looked from him to the girl, who was wielding something that looked like a shovel. In contrast to the guy’s height, she looked like a little girl. She wasn’t more than five foot tall, maybe five one or two at the most. She had on a pink t-shirt that had bling across the front, but Levi’s eyes were not on the bling. Even in the dark and from a slight distance he could tell that her tits were huge. Levi was a breast man—he always had been—and for a few seconds he was mesmerized by the proof that this was no little girl he was looking at.

“You’re crazy. Why did you come out here with me if you didn’t want to fuck?” The tall guy yelled at her.

“You said you wanted me to see the moon.”

He laughed and she raised the shovel like she was going to hit him with it. With his hands up to protect himself he said, “It was a line. Jesus, do you live under a rock?”

“If I did, I’m sure I’d find all kinds of slimy creatures like you under there. That grab of my tit is all you’re getting tonight, and if you try and touch me again, I’ll use the edge of this shovel to cut off your tiny dick.”

“Jesus! You’re insane.”

“You wanna stay around and find out just how insane I am?”

“No fucking way.” She stepped back to give him room and the guy took off around the shed. Levi was almost choking on his laughter. When the guy was gone and she’d lowered the shovel, he put his hands together and clapped. Stepping out of the shadows, to the sight of her gorgeous but surprised-looking face, he said:

“Bravo. That was an amazing fucking thing to watch.”

She narrowed her eyes at him and said, “I have a shovel.”

Levi chuckled. “I can see that. You won’t need it. I was just here to watch the show.” That was what he said, but as soon as he saw her he felt it, that tug in his soul that told him he’d found Her. It was three weeks later before she finally let him touch her and once he did, he was addicted. Luckily for him, she was too, or she might have used her shovel to cave in his skull.