“Is that Venom and Ricochet?” I question.
“Yeah. They came out here together to celebrate. So did Enzo, Dmitri, and Seamus. They’re over in the kitchen gettin’ one of the prospects to fill up their cups.”
Shit. I didn’t realize I was so important for all these people to come across the country, but Dad is the VP.
Zane goes up to the room where we hold church, inserts the key and turns the knob, then pushes it open. Once we’re both inside, he shuts it and goes over to the table where a cardboard box sits.
I stare blankly at the box while my heart begins to thump faster than a rabbit trying to outrun a fox. I know what the box means, and more than that, I know what’s inside of it.
“You may be leaving, Dex, but you’re one of us. I know you’re going off to college and shit, but you’re a man now and I won’t have you out there without protection. Plus, not gonna have you out there wonderin’ if this day would ever come.” Zane takes off the lid to the box, peels back the tissue paper, and holds up a black leather cut.
It’s sicker than I ever could’ve imagined. Looks just like everyone else’s, but I notice one thing. It doesn’t say prospect. It has my fuckin’ name on it. I stare in disbelief. “I think you know I’m a lil’ caught off guard by this.”
Zane chuckles, flashin’ the smile that no doubt gets him laid by anyone he’s interested in. “Yeah, well, I had a vote two weeks ago. Everyone here wants you in the club, brother, and you’ve been here your entire life. You’ve grown up with the Reapers Rejects, and I damn hope you die a Reaper too. The cut is yours. If you want it, that is.”
“You seriously think I’d ever turn this down?” I question, holding back the frog stuck in my throat.
Zane smirks, walks over to me, and slides the cut through my arms. “Welcome to the club, brother.” He brings me in for a hug, and I hold onto him for a minute longer than I would if I was any other man.
“Thank you, Zane. You don’t know how much this means to me.”
“Yes, I do, and I know my dad would’ve loved to be here to see this day.”
I nod, missing Fist, Ashley’s dad, more than anything. He’s the man she named my little brother after. He was . . . a man to be reckoned with. He was given the name Fist for his savage brutality back in the day. However, I feel like Heart would’ve been a better name. His anger balanced out his compassion, and I was damn lucky to grow up around such a person.
I only hope I can be half the man he ever was as I venture off across the country to college. Even more than that, I hope I’m ready for whatever I’m walking into.
“You’ll give us updates as soon as you find anything out, right?” Zane asks.
I nod. “Yeah, the second I know anything, I’ll call you.”
Someone at Stonewall University fucked with the wrong girl, assaulting her in the middle of the park, and I’m going to be damn sure to catch whoever it was. Being a student at Stonewall should give me an advantage, one that my club brothers don’t have, and I plan on getting to the bottom of this.
1
Ember
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Bethany asks. I hadn’t realized how much meeting her would mean to me when she’d popped into my life. Barely a senior in high school, hating the world, Bethany entered my life. In doing so, she’d helped me understand what I was feeling.
The day my uncle Tombstone introduced Bethany to me at the clubhouse, I didn’t know who she was and made a complete ass of myself. See, I grew up in the club from the time I was twelve and have held a grudge against the very men I love dearly. My uncles, Reaper, is the President, and Angel, is the Vice President of the club. They were my mom’s brothers. My other uncle, Bethany’s dad, was my dad’s brother.
My family tree is confusing to everyone, including myself, most of the time. Having to explain it isn’t always easy and people ask me if I’m from some backwoods West Virginia bullshit. I can’t stand it, and it’s probably why I’ve been so rebellious.
Well, maybe not. I know why I have. I just hate thinking about it. My parents died in a house fire when I was twelve and for the past six years, I’ve felt the pain as if it were yesterday. I know I shouldn’t, but when you live through a traumatic experience like I have, it’s kinda hard not to.
Glancing at my cousin, I give her a weak smile and nod. “Yeah, it’s the right thing for me to do, Bethy,” I tell her as I pack up the rest of my things. I’d come to stay with her a week ago, wanting to spend some time with her before heading to Stonewall University. I had worked my ass off in order to get away from everyone and everything that hurts in Texas.
My uncles and the rest of the members of the club didn’t like it; however, they understood why I was doing this. To find myself as well as my freedom from the past. Texas hasn’t held anything but pain for me, so hopefully, going to Stonewall will be the fresh start I need.
“Okay, but I wish you were going to one of the schools around here at least, and not five-plus hours away from me,” she says, sitting on the bed in the guest room of the house she shares with her man and his band. Though, I say house. It’s not just a house. It’s a freaking mansion where each member of the band has their own wing.
“I know, but unlike the other schools I applied to and got in, I have a full-ride scholarship to Stonewall.” I shrug.
“I get it and understand where you’re coming from. I expect you to call me when you get there and daily calls after that.” God knows I love her, but since Bethany became pregnant, she’s been a total mother hen, even before I got to her house.
I’d driven up from Texas to spend time with her and so she could take me to the train station. I didn’t think I would need my car up there. Living in a dorm, I figured I’d be able to walk wherever I needed to go. If there was somewhere off campus, I could always grab a taxi or an Uber.
“I’ll be back. It’s not like I’m going off to join the Peace Corps, Bethy. I’m just going to college,” I murmur, hefting my duffle bag on my shoulders. My suitcase was already downstairs, ready to go.
“Alright, well then, let’s get on the road before I change my mind and demand you stay here.” And there go the hormones again. She’d tried all week to get me to change my mind. However, nothing was gonna work. I wanted to go somewhere where no one knew about me or my relationship to the MC world.
Sighing, I throw my duffle bag on the floor and flop down on my bed. It’s been an exhausting day of traveling. After Bethany left me at the train station, it’d taken a while to get here. Then, of course, dealing with a talkative yet creepy Uber driver, I finally made it to the dorms.
“You must be Ember.” I lift my head from the bed to see a girl my age sitting on the other side of the room. I’d been so exhausted when I stepped into the room, I just went straight to the first bed and flopped down on it.
“Um, yeah. Hi.” I don’t know what else to say due to exhaustion.
“I’m Cara,” she says, smiling.
“Sorry to have just come in here like this. It’s been a long day and I mean long day,” I mutter.