Hastie led me to a high rock where several members were sitting. I couldn’t help but notice the presence of the club’s colors. Yellow and orange decorated all the cuts the men wore. The one standing turned around and Lucky’s grin became the first smile someone shot me.
He clasped hands with Hastie and pulled him in for one of those manly hugs. I smiled as Lucky tucked me under one of his massive arms. “About fucking time!” he cried. “Thought you were going to miss out.” Despite the half grin on his face, Lucky’s intelligent eyes darted between Hastie and I, noting that something was up. As angry as I was with Hastie, I had promised Lucky I’d be here. He either decided not to mention it or knew it wasn’t his business.
“Welcome to the family, brother,” Hastie said with a genuine smile.
“Congratulations,” I added.
“Thanks, man.” With the way Lucky was grinning, I was afraid his face would break; it was so big. He sidled up to me, leaning in. “Check it out.”
He lifted his cut to expose his bare chest over his heart. The colors of the club were inked into his bronzed skin. It was a beautiful rendition of The Tempter—a hooded female holding a scythe sitting on the edge of a burning sun. The colors—yellows and orange—swirled together, mesmerizing in its beauty. Ink often told a story about its wearer. Some people used it as a way to remember. Others, like Lucky tonight, got it to commemorate a milestone. The ink was as effective as a brand—no one would question who you were or whom you belonged to. Lucky was now Glory MC.
“That’s amazing.”
Grinning, Lucky nodded over his shoulder. “Come meet some people.”
“Oh, okay.” Although I’d been working at Neptune’s for a while now, I had kept mostly to myself, allowing Hanna to deal with Glory MC. Unfortunately, the redhead wasn’t around now to act as a buffer. Climbing the big rock, I followed Lucky to find Seven hanging there in the midst of some big, badass bikers.
She held a can of beer in her hand and tipped it towards me when she saw me. “Hey.”
“Hey. How’d you get here?”
“I got a lift from Lucky earlier.”
I quirked an eyebrow at that. Just this morning, they were annoyed with each other. Now they were best friends? She shrugged her shoulders at my look. “He’s being nice tonight,” she said by way of explanation. “So I am too.” Well, if that was the case, I decided not to pursue it.
“Indy, meet Glory MC. This is Newt.” Lucky pointed a finger at a big burly man with a black bandana wrapped around his head. “He’s vice-prez of Glory MC.” Shades shielded his eyes while the rest of his face was covered with a dark beard. Like Lucky, he also wore a cut, but a white wife beater lay against his damp skin. Tattoos ran up both his arms, but it was the ink he had on the side of his neck that caught my attention. In the dim lighting emanating from the fire cans, I could make out the head of a smoking pistol.
“This here is Beck.” My eyes dropped to the guy sitting before me, his elbows resting on his knees. He held a can of beer in one hand and a joint in the other. Despite his casual stance, power radiated from him in waves. His eyes met mine and though nothing changed in his expression, his eyes sparkled with intelligence.
“That’s Kitt,” Lucky finished as he tipped his beer towards the guy sitting next to Seven. “They’re both sergeant at arms.” Kitt inclined his head and gave me a gamine grin. Even in the shit lighting, I could make out the bridge of his nose where it looked like it had been broken recently. I continued to take in the rest of him and noticed an obvious trend. Tattoos. Facial hair. Leather. And always with shades despite the fact it was night time. Was that the prerequisite to get into Glory MC?
“Yo, Lucky!” someone called out from down below. “We’re about to light the fire. Want to do us the honors?”
“Sure thing.” I took that as a sign to step back as the bikers got to their feet. All in a line, we treaded down the side of the rock until we hit the muddy ground below.
A crowd had gathered around a mountain of stacked wood in the center of the clearing. About six feet high, the bonfire would burn even higher once lit.
Lucky moved forward to grab the beer bottle that had newspaper tucked into its neck. He gripped his lighter and brought the flame to the tail end of the newspaper until it caught fire in a flash of light. Tipping his arm back as if he was readying to throw a football across an arena, Lucky launched the blazing bottle into the stacked wood before him. As the bottle burst and fire met wood, the bonfire began to burn steadily thanks to the added accelerant, emitting an orangey glow over the crowd. “Blood in, blood out!” Lucky called out into the night.
In a startling uproar, the many members of Glory MC erupted in an enthusiastic response. “Blood in, blood out!” they repeated. Hastie’s deep roar rang in my ears even as the crowd cheered. The entire act sent shivers down my spine. Much like feral wolves, these men howled into the night. So wild and free.
As the shouting calmed, my eyes slid to Hastie. His eyes weren’t on me though. They were focused beyond the raging bonfire at a woman playing with sparklers. She wore a pair of short shorts and the fabric spanning her chest looked more like a Band-Aid than a shirt. Against the dark sky, her skin gave off an orangey glow, cast off from the fire. Her hands, so delicate and smooth, waved the sparkler around as she laughed, her head thrown back in utter revelry. What would it be like to be that free? I could never let my guard down like that, not without the fear of relapse.
The woman caught that I was staring at her and smiled. Then her gaze drew up to land on Hastie behind me. My body immediately stiffened and I resisted the urge to hang a sign around Hastie’s neck that said
He’s taken
. Despite our fight earlier, Hastie was still mine for the moment and I wanted every woman here to know that.
A deep voice interrupted my thoughts and I stepped back to see the big, burly biker whose impressive beard had caught my attention earlier, standing beside us. “Brennan’s here,” he said to Hastie.
“Shit,” he muttered. By Newt’s grim expression, I could tell that whoever this Brennan guy was, he wasn’t good news. Worry bloomed inside of my chest as Hastie’s eyes found mine. He had yet to speak a word to me since our fight earlier.
“Come on,” Newt said again, urgency now ringing the words.
I stood there, waiting for Hastie’s reaction. He cursed again.
Darkness clouded over my eyes as my brows furrowed. Where was he planning to go?
“Go on,” Seven said as she curled her hands around my arm. “I’ll watch her.”
Still not speaking, Hastie’s green eyes landed on me. Nodding to Seven, he turned without a word to me, following Newt as they walked towards where we had come in. I kept my eyes on Hastie’s retreating figure until the darkness swallowed him up. With him gone, I felt as if my security blanket was taken away from me, leaving me utterly without warmth.
“What’s going on with you and Hastie?” Seven asked once we were alone.
I shrugged, trying to hide the ache that bloomed in my chest. I could tell she wasn’t buying it for a second. “We fought earlier.”
“Over what?”
“Something stupid.” Saying it out loud I realized how true the words were. I hated this feeling of not being able to be with Hastie right now, especially when he was off doing who knows what. He could very well be in danger and I couldn’t do shit about it.
I felt stupid worrying over something I couldn’t control, but this was all part of the gig. If I wanted to be with Hastie, I had to deal with the danger he lived in on a daily basis. How did Hanna handle it? The constant worrying, the threat of the unknown, the uncertainty of if your man would return injured, dead or whole.
The same went with Hastie and his possessiveness. He’d have to deal with me flirting with other men at Neptune’s, smiling and laughing, knowing that even though I may look like I was having a good time with them, that in my heart, the pieces felt whole only when he was by my side.
We were still brand new, and figuring this all out meant we were trying at least. But right in this moment, with Hastie angry and me confused with my own rollercoaster emotions, this felt harder than I thought it would be.
Seven wrapped her arm around me and leaned in. Dammit. My running thoughts were taking over, making it difficult to concentrate on the conversation before me. I forced myself to focus on her. “You’ll work it out,” she said with a reassuring squeeze on my forearm.
I wasn’t too sure of that. The Hastie I knew would never leave me here without his protection. Had our fight changed how he felt for me? Did my outburst make him realize I wasn’t worth the trouble?
I let out a defeated sigh and pushed the thoughts from my head. We were at Lucky’s hog roast and I didn’t want to stand around moping when I already stood out. My clothes acted as a sure giveaway that I was not one of Glory MC. While everyone else was decked out in black leather and denim, I was in a white outfit that showed off too much skin to feel safe. I wanted to cover myself, to hide and distance myself from this world that seemed so sparkling and gorgeous, but it only reminded me of what I couldn’t ever reach myself.
On a yell, Lucky called us over to him. As we approached, I tried to ignore the suspicious looks of the other members as we passed by them to an area less populated. Lucky sidled up to Seven and handed her a pistol. “Know how to shoot?”
Seven laughed nervously as she threw Lucky a weird look. “No.”
“Every girl should know how to shoot a gun. Come on, hold it up.”
Stepping back, I gave Lucky a wide berth. I also didn’t want to accidentally be in the way of Seven’s path in case she fucked up. I already knew from experience that her aim was shit. I liked my face where it was, thank you very much.
As Lucky murmured encouraging words to Seven, she aimed the gun off to the side. Left alone, I found myself getting distracted as I gazed around and took in more of the surroundings.
Around the massive bonfire, bikers drank. Music blared from unseen speakers and engines revved in the background, their own soundtrack fitting for the crowd. Women danced around, shaking their asses and touching their breasts. I saw Hanna jump on the back of Knuckle’s Harley, shooting a grin my way before taking off in a cloud of dust and exhaust.
More people had joined the girl playing with the sparklers. It was a beautiful sight as they all danced together against a blacked out sky. I turned to the right and saw two bikers off to the side in the shadows with their pants dipped down as they pissed into the sand. Beyond that—
Skin. The lighting was dim, but I could make out figures. A man’s shirt was splayed open, revealing a hairy chest and taut abs. He wore no pants, his erection stiff and being swallowed by a woman on her knees, half exposed herself. The real kicker was that she held the shoulders of another girl, completely naked, sucking on the guy’s balls. His groans filled the warm night air as he tilted his head back and lost himself.
The look on his face entranced me. So careless and euphoric, I got the sense that these bikers did whatever the hell they wanted, damned the consequences. The notion was temptation in itself. What would it feel like to be so free that the pressure of insanity wasn’t a constant weight on your mind? I could wake up on a hot breeze and feel peace for the first time in forever. Be a little wild. Be free.
A loud bursting sound jolted me and the others around. Squeals from the girls and laughter from the men had me scanning to find what the source of the noise was. Momentary panic flared in me as I thought Seven had shot someone or something, but I realized it was only the people with the sparklers. Someone had accidentally popped a beer can and it was now spraying out like a geyser, coating everyone around.
More laughter ensued. Soon others were popping beer cans for the simple pleasure of spraying it at each other and cooling off. I grinned, watching on as their laughter reached the sky.
“Here,” someone said off to my side. I turned to see Kitt holding a bottle in his large hands. He offered it to me.
With a smile, I accepted it, bringing the bottle to my lips. The alcohol burned all the way down, bringing tears to my eyes. As I wheezed out a short breath, I wondered if it were possible to have your throat dissolve. “Oh God. What the hell is that?”
Kitt laughed, low and pleasant. “Moonshine.”
“Ugh.” It tasted like gasoline!
He held the bottle out again. “More?”
Oh, why the hell not? This time as I drank, the burn felt like I was drinking down hot lava.
“So you’re Hastie’s girl,” Kitt began as he took the bottle from me again.
“I’m not sure if he’d agree with that.” At Kitt’s confused expression, I said, “We fought earlier.”
Kitt laughed in a short burst. “Well, you’re here still, right?”
I was but I wasn’t sure if that meant anything. “Hastie hasn’t ever brought his girls to a bonfire before?”
Kitt’s long hair fell over his face as he shook his head. “Glory don’t bring their women to any roasts unless they mean it.”
“But I came here because of Lucky.”
“Yeah, but you came on the back of Hastie’s bike. That’s saying something.”
I couldn’t deny the little flutter that occurred in my chest at the words. But what it meant, I wasn’t certain. “All these women,” I pointed to some of the dancing ladies around the bonfire. “Are they Glory MC’s women?”
Kitt’s lopsided grin held secrets. “Or something.”
I caught his meaning. What was that word Seven called them? “Sweet butts?”
“Don’t let them hear you call them that or you’ll have a fight on your hands.” I chuckled. Yeah, that sounded like good advice. Though they were women, they looked like they could kick some major ass if they wanted to.
As we talked, the moonshine was working its magic on me. My body felt looser, my tongue less tied. Questions spewed from my mouth before I even thought about them. “And what about the guys? Are they all Glory MC?”
Kitt nodded again. “Every one.”
My gaze scanned the crowd. There were so many of them, each scarier than the last. This, I thought with stars in my eyes, was Hastie’s family. “How many members are there?”