Abe Read online

  Lewis shook Girth’s hand next, who accepted the congratulations with his usual straight face. Lila looked proud and happy beside him and then Lewis came up to me.

  “I heard you were wrapped up in a sling,” he said with a laugh as he thumped my back and I smirked.

  “Didn’t need it anymore,” I told him and some of the others laughed.

  It was back to being our usual Church meetings. Our MC had never been the kind to take things too seriously. We weren’t ever involved in anything major, till the last few months when Lila’s life was in danger from the Dark Legion and then Fred got killed. Now that this was all over, things were back to being its usual relaxed way.

  “Actually, Lewis. I thought I’d bring up something I wanted to discuss. Since this is a Church meeting after all,” I said and put down the empty shot glass on the counter.

  Lewis raised his brows and nodded his head, even though most of my other brothers in the MC were still talking amongst themselves. They couldn’t imagine there could be anything serious enough to have to shut up about.

  “What did you want to discuss, Abe? Something about the garage?” Lewis asked, referring to the auto body shop we ran as a side business, which I was in-charge of.

  “No, it’s not about the garage. It’s about the MC,” I replied and he looked confused. Then he went over and sat down on a bar stool and turned his full attention to me.

  “Our MC?” he asked and there was a lull in the conversation now, some of my brothers had turned to us as we talked.

  “Yeah, our MC. I wanted to talk to you about expansion plans,” I declared and I pushed my hands into the pockets of my pants as I held his gaze firmly. I was expecting some resistance.

  Lewis blinked, then looked at his daughter, Lila and then Rodeo, before he looked at me again and snorted.

  “Is this some kind of joke?” he asked and some of the guys chuckled. I clenched my jaws and shook my head.

  “No, there’s nothing funny about it. I’m serious. I think we should look into expanding the Marked Skulls,” I told him. Rodeo cleared his throat and stepped up between us.

  “Abe, you need to fucking calm down, you’re still running on adrenaline from last night. You saw how close we got to losing that fucking fight,” he snarled and I looked at him and nodded.

  “Exactly. How many more times do you want to come close to losing a fight? How long do you want us to be known as the weak underdogs? The MC without enough members,” I declared and turned my gaze towards Lewis again.

  He was clutching his shot glass in his hand and glaring at me like I’d slapped him across the face.

  “Brother, you need to think about what you’re saying here,” Sal, one of the other members, stepped up behind me and placed a hand on my shoulder. I yanked myself away from him, continuing to stare at Lewis.

  “We need to get new recruits, get fresh blood added as prospects to our MC. We need to think about getting our hands dirty in the real shit; weapons, drugs, protection,” I continued and Lewis jumped off the bar stool and stepped towards me threateningly.

  “Abe, fuck man! We are not in a position to expand. We killed the guy, but we got our asses beaten in the process. You know how long it’s going to take before we can get into that shit? And you think The Dark Legion and the others are just going to let it slide?” Rodeo raged against me and I held my ground.

  I was done being a small-timer. I was bored.

  “Do you not remember what happened the last time we stepped on the Dark Legion’s shoes? My daughter nearly got killed. They fucking kidnapped Lila!” Lewis growled, coming up close to me and shouting at my face.

  I breathed deeply and nodded.

  “And Lila’s life was in danger because we weren’t prepared. We had to get Girth in to protect her. We won’t have to do that if we have our own men, if we have more men like Girth on our team. We don’t have to cower in the corner, afraid of the Dark Legion,” I replied to him, as calmly as I could.

  Lewis’ eyes were widened, bloodshot…he was glaring at me. I could see Rodeo running a hand through his hair over and over again.

  When Lewis realized that I wasn’t going to break eye contact, he looked over his shoulder at Girth.

  “What’s your take on this psychobabble bullshit?” he growled and I looked at Girth, who was glaring back at me.

  “It makes sense. We need to build up our base, whether we get involved in other businesses or not. We’re too small to defend ourselves well right now,” Girth replied and my lips stretched in a grin.

  Lewis eyed me strongly, while Rodeo muttered away under his breath behind him.

  “He says it makes sense,” I repeated Girth’s words.

  “We need to fucking stay where we are. We need to keep doing what we’re good at!” Rodeo stormed towards us again and I faced him. I knew none of my brothers were expecting this from me. I was younger than them, I had been more interested in the garage than the other aspects of the business up until now. None of them had expected it to be me who wanted more, to grow ambitious.

  Lewis raised his hand, which silenced Rodeo and the others. He squinted his eyes at me, watching me closely and I stared back at him, holding my ground.

  “What’s gotten into your little head?” he hissed and I shrugged my shoulders.

  “I’m just bored of doing the same old shit,” I replied and he stepped back, nodding his head gently.

  “Lewis, we need to think about this. We can’t afford to expand right now, we can’t get involved in more shit that’ll piss the Dark Legion off!” Rodeo growled from behind him.

  With his eyes still focused on me, Lewis spat on the floor.

  “Listen to you mewling like a little girl!” he snapped and Rodeo gulped.

  “I just want us to have a slice of the cake that the others are eating,” I looked at Rodeo who rolled his eyes away from me.

  “Fine. I heard you. There could be something there,” Lewis said and Rodeo threw his arms up in the air.

  “You want us to expand? You do the business. Get us new prospects, guys good enough to match Rodeo, Girth and yourself and then I might consider the idea,” Lewis said and I smiled widely.

  “How many times am I going to have to fucking repeat this shit? We cannot afford to expand right now!” Rodeo growled.

  “Yeah because we don’t have enough members. I plan on changing that!” I snapped at him.

  “You have a plan, eh? You’ve been thinking about this?” Lewis asked and I nodded my head.

  “Yeah, I have a few new prospects in mind. I want to test them out first and see if they’ll be a fit,” I replied.

  “Where? Where will you find these new guys?” Rodeo asked and I turned to him again.

  “Word on the street is that there’s a new kid, part of a street gang, he has a promising career ahead of him. Strong as a mule,” I said and smiled at Girth who nodded his head.

  “Which fucking street gang?” Rodeo snapped and I fixed my eyes on him.

  “The Romeros,” I replied and he rolled his eyes again.

  I didn’t care how much Rodeo bad-mouthed me now. We were brothers in arms. All I needed was one chance, to prove this new kid to my MC and then they’d see the light. They would realize that I was making complete sense.

  Chapter 4

  Alexis

  I was on a day shift at the supermarket today, and I was at the back storeroom, counting stock. Joshua, one of my colleagues, was there with me and we were sifting through the boxes of baby diapers.

  I caught him gazing at me from time to time, and I pretended like I hadn’t caught him looking. The last thing I needed right now was for him to bring up that topic again. I adored him as a co-worker and a friend, but that was it. Joshua had other ideas and I was tired of letting him down.

  I dabbed at my forehead with the back of my hand and Joshua looked up at me with a smile on his face. He was bent over one of the boxes and I caught his eye.

  “Tired?” he asked and I smiled w
eakly at him.

  Joshua was one of those few people I enjoyed working with at the supermarket. He was sweet, friendly and attentive and had been trying to get me to go on a date with him for over a year now. Despite all his good qualities, I just missed that spark. He was clean looking, with typical boy-next-door looks and he seemed to be really into me, but I just wished that he made my heart race in my chest.

  Not that many guys had. The last time I could remember feeling giddy for a guy was Max Leonard in High School; the jock, the guy who dated all the cheerleaders and there was no way that he and I could ever get together. Moreover, I should have known that guys like him spelt trouble. I needed to practice what I preached; but that didn’t stop me from lusting after a ‘bad boy’ and Joshua was just too nice. He was someone I could picture myself growing old with and raising children with…someone I knew would be good for me, but foolishly, I wanted more than just that.

  “No, I just had a late night,” I told him as he came up to me.

  “Here, sit down, you don’t need to keep standing for this,” he fussed around to find a chair for me.

  “I’m fine, really, I don’t need to sit,” I protested but he had already pulled a chair out of the corner and brought it to me. I sat down and smiled at him.

  “Thanks, I just need a good night’s sleep again, you know? To just get back to a normal routine,” I said and picked up the register again for the stocktaking.

  He was leaning against one of the cabinets, brushing his curly dark hair off his forehead.

  “Yeah, these people seem to keep giving you the worst shifts. Maybe you should speak to Lucy and see if you can get better hours?” Joshua suggested and I nodded my head. I didn’t want to explain to him that I needed the hours. I needed to work as many hours as I could so that I could earn enough to pay the bills and feed two mouths. Oz wasn’t interested in getting a job, but I wasn’t going to let him starve either.

  “Or you know what else might help you relax? You could come over to mine and I’ll cook you a nice dinner. We could have a lazy night in, watch a movie, eat some popcorn on the couch. It might help you unwind,” Joshua continued and he walked up to me now and placed his hands on my shoulders.

  I kept sitting still and licked my lips as he started massaging my shoulders. I didn’t have the heart to tell him to stop, even though he was making me feel uncomfortable. I looked up at him and tried to smile as sweetly as possible.

  “If you’re asking me out again, Joshua, you know what the answer is,” I told him and he shrugged his shoulders and kept massaging.

  “It doesn’t have to be a date, but more importantly, why can’t it be a date?” he asked and I shook my head.

  “Because we work together, and we’re friends. I don’t want to ruin that by dating,” I replied and he increased the pressure on my shoulders, as if that was going to distract me from where this conversation was headed. I was beginning to regret allowing myself to get stuck here alone with him. I was tired of constantly letting him down.

  The door of the storeroom burst open and a man stepped in. Joshua jerked himself away from me. We were both startled.

  The man was in a black leather jacket with a tight t-shirt underneath and dark jeans. He had closely cropped sandy blond hair and piercing blue eyes. I could see tattoos crawling up his neck, while he glared at Joshua and then turned his gaze to me.

  “This area is for staff only,” I said, standing up from the chair. He narrowed his eyes at me before he took a few steps in my direction. I gulped, holding his gaze. He had a straight strong jaw, and a sharp nose. Under his jacket and his clothes, I could sense that he was well built and muscular…he was very strong, at least half a foot taller than Joshua who was quite tall himself. He had a boyish soft look on his face, even though he had a handsome masculine built.

  “Sir, you need to leave this room, this area is for staff only,” I said again, while Joshua remained quietly standing on the side. I got the sense that he was intimidated by this man.

  “I heard you the first time,” he said, in a deep manly voice and I clasped my hands together, a little afraid of what he was going to do next.

  “Then you know that you need to leave,” I said, as he came to a stop right in front of me.

  “It doesn’t matter what I need to do. I want to talk to you,” he said, his gaze traveling from my face, down my neck, to the front of my blouse and back up at my face again.

  “To me?” I remarked and a grin was forming on his face.

  “You are Alexis, Oz’ sister right?” he asked and I gulped.

  ***

  The man tipped his head towards Joshua, without taking his eyes off me.

  “Scurry away, I need to talk to her alone,” he said. I looked at Joshua, who instead of checking to see if I was all right, rushed to the door and left me alone with this man.

  I knew I was attracted to him. He was exactly my type; against all my better judgement—but right now, I couldn’t think about how hot he was, now that he had mentioned my brother.

  “How much does he charge for these massages?” he asked, with that grin still on his face. I stepped away from him, crossing my arms over my breasts. He followed my every movement with his dangerously blue eyes. Under any other situation, I would be drooling over his delicious bad-boy charm, but not today.

  “What do you want with me?” I asked him and he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket.

  “Shouldn’t I introduce myself to you first? Since I know your name already? I’m Abe,” he said and I flared my nostrils at him, holding my head high up.

  “Let me guess, you’re from one of those motorcycle clubs?” I asked and Abe smiled even wider.

  “You’re quite observant aren’t you,” he said.

  “You’re not doing anything to hide it,” I snapped and he arched his eyebrows, surprised by my high-pitched voice.

  “Do you have something against me or just motorcycle clubs in general?” he asked and I gritted my teeth at him.

  “Why are you here? I have nothing to do with you or your MC, whichever one you belong to, and if this has anything to do with my dad…he’s been dead for a decade!” I hissed at him and Abe breathed in deeply.

  I had stepped even farther away from him, backing myself into a corner and he was watching me, undressing me slowly with his eyes. Underneath my clothes, I could feel my nipples hardening, getting pebbled under my bra. I didn’t want to admit to myself that it gave me a thrill to be watched by him. That I was already fantasizing him pushing me against the wall and taking me right here, in the storeroom. I was trying to fight that urge.

  “This has nothing to do with your dad. I don’t know who your dad is. I’m looking for Oz, your brother,” he said and I felt like a knife had gone straight into my heart.

  The last thing I needed to hear was a guy from an MC coming here looking for Oz.

  “What has he done? Why are you looking for him?” I asked with a quivering voice and Abe stepped even closer to me. I had nowhere to back myself away from him now, I was stuck and now his body was just a few inches from me. His eyes roamed over me, and I could smell him…a musky scent of his sweat and a strong aftershave.

  “You don’t have to be scared, Alexis. I just want to talk to the boy, I have some opportunities in mind for him,” he continued and I glared at him, hoping he’d be able to see the fury in my eyes.

  “You stay away from my brother. Don’t even think about getting him involved in any of your shit!” I hissed and he arched his brows again.

  “Wow, you really have it in for me, don’t you?” he asked, grinning again.

  “I don’t want Oz involved in that life. I know all about it. I know exactly the kind of shit you guys do. I don’t want Oz going anywhere near that!” I shouted and Abe breathed in, squaring his wide shoulders and then he nodded his head.

  “I hear you, and I’m sorry but it’s not up to you. I need to speak to him first, see what he has to say and if he doesn’t w
ant to get involved, I promise I’ll leave him alone. How does that sound?” Abe asked, and I was too angry not to do something. I pushed past him, shoving my shoulder violently against his.

  “Get out!” I screamed and pointed at the door. Abe followed me, his hands were still in his jacket.

  “You’re overreacting here, Alexis. Your brother is already a part of a street gang. I think he’d be happy to get a promotion,” Abe continued and I could feel my body shaking with rage.

  “Oz doesn’t know what he wants, he has no idea what is good for him. He is a smart bright kid and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let you and your gang ruin his chances to have a normal life. Get the fuck out!” I thundered.

  Abe was watching me still, the grin on his face weakened and his brows were crossed now. This had stopped being a joke to him.

  He walked up to me and I glared at him with a quivering lip. He brought his face close to me, close enough to make me think that he was going to kiss me and it made me weak in the knees.

  “I’m going to find your brother, Alexis and I’m going to talk to him,” he said, and with that, he barged through the door and it swung shut with a bang behind him.

  I felt breathless, like I could break something and burst into tears at the same time. A minute later, Joshua burst in through the door again.

  “Alexis! Shit! Are you all right? I didn’t know whether to alert security or if you knew this guy,” Joshua came rushing towards me and I jumped away from him.

  “Keep your hands off me!” I snarled, before pushing past him and rushing out.

  I didn’t know what I was going to do. How was I going to stop Oz now? This guy Abe, was exactly the kind of man Oz would look up to.

  Chapter 5

  Abe

  I walked out of the supermarket, my head filled with thoughts of the woman I had just met. She was nothing like I expected.