Chapter 5

Harley

I carefully press my ear to the metal door to listen in. These doors were crafted from old boat docks nearby, and are thick. Making it hard to hear anything. Still. This might be the closest I’ve been to that table in a long time. My heart pounds so loudly I gently place my hand on the swell of my chest trying to calm myself so I can hear what’s being said.

“Governor Timothy hasn’t paid us back. He still owes us ten grand for making that leader protesting the rebuild on the Animosity Community, disappear,” my dad informs the table. My mouth parts hearing we killed a protestor to help a governor.

“That build wiped out a lot of wildlife.” Viper’s tone grim, and I frown thinking about all the animals losing homes. Viper is one of the younger men at the table and has a fascination with snakes. I hear he has a poisonous viper in his room, but that’s not why they call him Viper. One time last year he walked through the club with a bottle of half-filled Jack Daniels bottle in one hand and was completely naked. I caught a glimpse of a snake tattoo winding up the side of his hard body. A viper to be exact. My spoon fell into my bowl of Fruit Loops as I’ve never seen a naked man look so beautiful before, the clinking sound caught his attention and he winked at me as he continued his way through the clubhouse as if his erect cock wasn’t swinging freely. It was so long, it could be a snake. So it begs the question. Do they call him Viper because of his lengthy cock, or is it because of the tattoo?

He’s the Sergeant at Arms. You need a weapon, he has it. I hear his room has guns of all sorts on the walls. I’ve tried to pick the lock to see for myself, but it’s impenetrable.

“Aw, look. Viper grew a vagina,” Roadie teases Viper for caring about the demolition of nature. Roadie is our road captain and just happens to be Benji’s dad. I’ve known him a long time. He’s getting older in age though, I don’t think he will be able to lead many more rides due to his sore hands and back. I head the last ride they went on they had to keep stopping to give Roadie’s hands a break.

“Are you wanting to fuck me now, Roadie? I knew you were fucking gay,” Viper strikes back.

“Only if there’s a tight pussy in between those ass cheeks,” Roadie replies seriously.

“Enough,” Dad orders the banter to stop. “He has threatened to burn down our club, and turn us over to the police if we retaliate in any way,” my father informs his men. This news makes my nostrils flare. This is my home, my life. Surely my father won’t just sit back and let this man breathe after such grave threats.

I bite my bottom lip as I listen in, my ear nearly suction-cupped to the door.

“We should send a warning,” Bridge states. Bridge is one of those men that look like they just got out of prison. Hairy, tattooed, and built. He’s quiet, and mysterious too. Only thing that breaks that outlaw look is the fact he hates driving his bike over bridges. Benji told me Bridge has driven an hour out of the way from the rest of the men just to avoid a fucking bridge. Nobody knows why he hates bridges, and if you ask, all you get is a serious, intense stare. Like he might snap your neck.

So, nobody asks anymore.

“Whatever we do, it has to be a smart move. Bold and quick so he can’t follow through with his threats,” Dad clarifies.

“You can’t trust politicians,” Viper sneers, and I roll my eyes. Viper doesn’t know shit about politics, so his statement is vague as shit.

“Babe, what are you doing?” I snap upright, my spine stiff. I’ve been caught listening in to club business, which is a big lawbreaker of the Shadow Keepers. We don’t have a lot of rules, but the ones we do have are firm and the law we live by. It’s not like the laws normal citizens follow, those are trivial compared to ours if you disobey them. There is no hope for you here; you’re fucked. I remember one time Benji and I sat on the stairs as we watched Roadie and my father take a blow torch to one of the member’s backs burning off his club colors for underselling some of our top pot and keeping the profit. I’ll never forget the smell. Benji tried to cover my eyes, but I wanted to watch. Something drew me to the violence and excited me.

The sound of Tickles clearing her throat makes me tense, and my head snaps in her direction. She’s a club bitch and thinks she belongs here more than I because she sleeps with everyone. The men call her a club cunt, but I hate that fucking term just about as much as I hate her. She’s got cherry red hair with blue streaks, and fake eyelashes so big they touch her thin eyebrows.

She’s not fat, but not skinny. She has curves, and big breasts to match. I’ve seen her naked more than I’d like as she has no shame walking around without any clothes on.

I know I’m no good for Benji, but when Tickles gets around him and bats those lashes, it’s like all the butterflies in my stomach die off one by one. I want to kill her.

Seeing Tickles stare at me as she waits for my response on why I am listening in to a chapter meeting has my hands rolling into fists. I want to hurt her, but even if she is just a club slut… she’s one of ours and I can’t touch her without repercussions.

“I was just seeing if they had started their meeting, I needed to ask my father something and didn’t want to interrupt,” I lie with a fake smile. She rolls her eyes and tucks herself behind the bar for a morning drink. Vodka with a splash of orange juice.

Keeping my head down, I make quick of my footwork, and I head back upstairs to our house. I grab my leather bag from the corner and start stuffing it full of clothes as quickly as I can. If my dad isn’t going to protect this club with guns blazing, and won’t trust me behind the table with him, then I will fucking do a job by myself. Without his consent.

I have to find my place in this world, and if breaking club law and going behind his and Benji’s back is the only way… then so be it. They won’t kill me for disobeying, I’m the club princess after all.

Pulling open my top drawer full of panties, I dump them on the floor, grabbing the pistol just before it clanks to the carpeted ground. Pulling the chamber open, I make sure it’s loaded and shut it again. Dad doesn’t know I have it, nobody does. I snatched it from Roadies’ holster one night when he was so drunk he passed in the middle of taking a piss by the back door. He thinks a hang-around stole it. Which is something that is very likely to happen. A hang-around comes around when parties are going on, someone who wants in the club but hasn’t shown their full worth yet. To have a gun from a Shadow Keeper, that is show and tell at its fucking finest.