Chapter One
Clint
Everyone was there, crowded into the chapel meeting room. All the guys from my home club in Tacoma, plus two guys from the leadership in Los Angeles, were staring at me. I’d created a big flow chart of the operation so everyone could easily follow the money. My hands were shaking and I was nervous as fuck.
This was my first attempt at doing anything with the club leadership. I’d spent the last year clawing my way out of a gambling addiction and now I was ready to get something started for the club. Tate had spent the year making sure I was busy as hell and trusting me, even before I trusted myself. I had to repay the club and I had an idea for a new business venture. We’d import cars from Asia that were illegal in the U.S. for various reasons—sometimes they simply went too fast, other times they were deemed unsafe. Whatever the reason, I could retrofit the vehicle to the customer’s demand and the club would handle the paperwork with the state to get the car registered. I even had a guy who promised a steady supply of buyers. I just needed the club leadership to agree.
“That’s my plan.” I set my pointing stick against the easel. It was really a piece of aluminum welding rod that I’d grabbed from the clubhouse garage. I hoped no one noticed. I was trying to look professional. “Any questions?”
“Why can’t you complete the same business model from the club’s garage here on-site?” asked Volk. He was the president of the entire freaking Demon Horde motorcycle empire and he called the shots when it came to the cash. “Why do you need to go off-site? It’ll be a lot more expensive.”
I’d anticipated that question and went to my section of the presentation on market research.
“I feel that containing our venture within the secured compound of the club will minimize our customer base.” I knew this shit cold, so I just let it roll off my tongue. “While yes, our main business will be fixing up our import vehicles for resale, there is no way we can’t take on easier work like oil changes from the general public. It will also be easier to hide any information from the tax man and provide a cover for the fucking cops.” Shit. I cleared my throat. “By being out in the open, it will reduce our visibility to law enforcement.”
“I’m ready to vote this,” Volk announced, sitting back in his chair. “Tate, you wanna do the honors?”
Tate needed a vote of all the club members and the club brass. He went around the room, calling for votes, starting with us regular members. Ten guys all said aye. I nodded to each guy. They knew how much time I had put into my business plan and how much I wanted to make this a success. Finally, the vote got to Volk, the national president, and Hawkeye, the vice president. They were from the Los Angeles mother chapter and it was their money I would be spending.
“Aye.” Volk slapped the table. “It’s an easy vote for me.”
“You did a lot of damn work,” Hawkeye began. He chewed on his cigar and was still looking at my proposed revenue chart. “My vote is aye. I think you’re a good investment, kid.”
Yes. They’d voted yes. I let out a huge breath, like someone had kicked me in the damn ribs. I was gonna have my own business—well, with the club as a partner. Tate walked over and shook my hand.
As I gripped his hand, a cell phone ringtone pierced the air, and I groaned. I would kill the motherfucker who forgot to turn off his phone—then I realized it was mine.
The ringtone was unfamiliar because it was the special one I assigned to my mom. Why the hell was she calling me at midnight? I apologized to Tate and sent her to voicemail. She immediately called back.
“You need to get that, son?” Tate asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I’m sorry,” I apologized to everyone. “It’s my mom.”
The guys laughed. “Go out in the hall for a quick call,” Volk said. “We got some business to work out still.”
I left everyone in the meeting room and closed the door behind me, then called my mom.
“It’s your nana,” she explained. “I’m not sure how much time she has left.”
Nana’s kidneys were having trouble again. Damn. Back when I was gambling, she had loaned me some money. She knew what it was for and why I wanted it, but loaned it to me anyway to teach me a lesson. When I couldn’t pay her back, admitting my problem to her was one of the things that woke my ass up and got me clean. I couldn’t let her go without saying goodbye. I got the details and went back into the meeting room.
“Everything okay?” Tate asked.
“Not really.” I shook my head. “My grandmother’s in the hospital. We gotta make this fast—I need to go.” I pulled out a chair and went to sit down.
“Don’t sit,” Hawkeye said, walking over to me. He offered me a handshake. “You go visit that old lady in the hospital. We’ll work out the details with Tate. I’m looking for a nice, reliable family man to run our business, and it sounds like you’re it.”
“Shit. Thanks, man.” After another round of handshakes, I was outta there. In less than five minutes I was on my bike and heading to the interstate. It was a nearly three-hour drive to the hospital; I hoped I would make it.
As soon as I hit the hospital, I ran through the automatic glass doors in the emergency room and skidded to a halt. I had no fucking clue where Nana was and there was no one at the information desk. There was a big pair of double doors for medical personnel only, so I went through them. An alarm started to buzz, echoing off the sterile hallway. I blinked, trying to get used to the bright fluorescent lights. It was a lot different than the whiskey-soaked clubhouse.
After a few turns down the hallway, the alarm faded and I found a few couches. My mother and Aunt Margie were getting coffee from a vending machine as I walked into the waiting area.
“Clinton, baby.” Mom smiled. “I’m so glad you’re here. Nana’s going to be fine. I tried to call you, but you were already on the road.”
I let out a huge breath I hadn’t known I was holding. I loved my nana, but she was eighty-two—we all knew her time could be coming soon. Until then, I wanted her to live every possible moment she had left.
“Thank god.” I collapsed into a chair next to the vending machine. “How is she?”
“Her kidneys are shutting down.” Mom gave me a grim look. “She’s going to need dialysis twice a week. So, looks like we’ll be going to Longview a lot more.”
The tiny fishing town where my parents and Nana lived didn’t have a hospital, much less a dialysis center. A trip into Longview would be two hours each way. That would be eight hours a week on the road for an octogenarian.
“There’s got to be tons of places in Tacoma,” I blurted out. Tacoma was huge, with several hospitals—Nana would have access to great health care. But I was the only one in the family who lived there. “She could stay with me.”
“You know, that’s a good idea,” Aunt Margie said. “Would save us a lot of hassle.”
My mom smiled and patted my arm. “Honey, you’re a twenty-nine-year-old bachelor.” She rolled her eyes. “You don’t want to live with your nana.”
“You know what she did for me. I’d still be betting on anything with a score if she hadn’t stepped in,” I countered. This crazy fucking idea wasn’t half bad. I owed her my life and the small amount of money I’d been able to save. She had been the first step on my road to recovery. Having to pay her back was an important piece in my recovery last year and this was my chance to help her.
Then I thought of what Hawkeye said. He wanted a reliable family man running the import business. “I just got a big promotion. I was thinking of moving out of the clubhouse anyway. You know, getting a real place.”
I hadn’t given a single thought to moving out of the clubhouse before. I liked it there. I could bring home who I wanted and when I wanted. No one ever batted an eye at the occasional stripper or hooker. The whiskey was plentiful. It had been paradise for the last four years.
Now I had a business, though. I envisioned coming home late after a day of hard work and trying to relax to loud, thumping music and the sound of Rip with his fuck of the month getting it on in the next room over. I had nowhere to cook a proper meal, so I lived on sub sandwiches from the joint down the street. I realized right there in that stupid hospital hallway that I was sick of it. Fuck the clubhouse, I could use a change of scenery. One of the prospects would be thrilled to have my old room.
“It might be nice to talk to someone in the evening.” I shrugged. “Besides, I love Nana and this would help everyone.”
“Think about it, Jean.” Aunt Margie looped her arm through my mom’s. “Mom has Dad’s navy pension and that little bit of retirement from when she worked for the dealership. She could pay rent and even hire a home health-care worker to help him out.”
My mom looked at me and then at Aunt Margie. “All right. But it’s okay to change your mind.” She pressed her lips together.
“I won’t change my mind.” I shook my head. “Nana is moving in with me.”