PROLOGUE
Falcon
I can’t remember the last time we had a blizzard this bad, but it’s been a couple of years, at least. Here in Portland, we get a lot of heavy rain, as does the rest of the Pacific Northwest. Often times they don’t tell you about how much snow we’re set to get. A lot of times, we don’t have intense winters, maybe averaging about five or six inches . . . but this one blizzard landed us with about two feet of snow. So, what does one do in a blizzard where we can’t go anywhere?
Well, we throw one hell of a party. Seeing as we’re feeding about twenty people on the regular, we always have enough food to cook. I have a couple of the clubwhores go out once every week to go get whatever we need. Otherwise, we don’t need much more shopping done. If anything, it’s small things for the shop, for working on our bikes and shit, or it’s a beer run. Usually, Moneybags takes that duty upon himself. The man loves to decompress with some booze a couple nights a week. He doesn’t go too far with how much he’s drinking, but he definitely has a couple beers to relax. But don’t we all? Fuck, if I didn’t drink, I don’t know how I’d deal with my stress.
Kinetic, Charlee, and their daughter Vivi ended up coming here last night before the storm hit. Now they’re snowed in, but it’s not a big deal. We’re all one big family, so I’d rather have everyone in the club here anyway. When we’re all in one spot, it’s easier to protect our own. Kinetic doesn’t live here full-time, though. He and Charlee live a few miles away.
“I bet you’re excited about not having to go to school, huh?” I ask Vivianna, who also goes by Vivi. She’s Charlee and Kinetic’s little girl, who Charlee had years ago. She’s probably around eleven or maybe twelve years old. Not too long ago, Charlee came back into town to help with her mother. She was going through a divorce at the same time, or maybe it’s been finalized. I’m never one to pay too much attention to other people’s personal shit like that.
“Yeah! But you know what I’m more excited about? Planning my twelfth birthday party! Mom and Dad said I could do anything I wanted . . . so I need to figure that out.”
“It sounds like you have a lot of important things to mull over.”
“Mull?” Vivi raises her brows and looks at me in a confused manner.
“Yeah, it’s another word for ‘think about’ or ‘think over’, I guess.” I’m not a fucking English teacher. I don’t know what I should be telling her.
“Hmm, weird. I’ve never read that word before, and I’m a bookworm. Maybe that’s what I’ll do for my party . . . make it something to do with reading, have bookworms and stuff. What do you think I should do, Uncle Falcon?”
The fact this kid is so polite always cracks me up. She calls all of us Mister and then our road names. For all I care, she could call us just by our road names, but I’m sure it’s something her momma has her doing.
The three dogs go running by us and pull me from what Vivi just asked me. One of them is a smaller pup, a Siberian Husky. Blue is actually one of my dog’s pups. I got first pick of the litter since Ghost was the stud dog and then came to the realization I didn’t need another dog. Kinetic had always wanted another dog, and since he now had Vivi I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to give her a pup of her own. Vivi named it Blue because of the little dude’s blue eyes. Kinetic’s German Shepherd, Koda, that he’s had since he was in the service, and Ghost is my white Siberian Husky that I’ve had for many, many years. My boy’s probably going to be seven this year, and I can hardly believe it.
“Uncle Falcon?” Vivi pulls me from my thoughts.
“Well, I think you should do whatever you want to do. What makes you happy?” I ask the little girl, and she ponders over it for a few moments.
“Reading, but my friends don’t like to read as much as I do. I think I should make the theme something else, something they’ll like too.”
Uh-uh. We’re not going to have her starting this shit. “Fuck them and what they want. It’s your party, and you’re going to be the guest of honor. All they have to do is support you and do something you want. Your friends will have fun because they’re with you. They won’t care about the theme or none of that.”
Vivi giggles lightly, and there are a few moments of silence. “You really think so?”
“Yeah, I know so. Those little fucks only care about showing up for you.”
Vivi giggles again and looks around the room nervously. “Uncle Falcon, you said a bad word twice. Mom told me if I ever said that, I’d get a butt whooping.”
“Oh, well, she’ll have to give me mine first, I guess, so you’re safe in the meantime.” Vivi laughs at my words, and Snowden chuckles lightly. He’s only a few feet away from Vivi and me.
“Vivianna! It’s time for you to go to bed,” Charlee yells over the music, and Vivi sighs in front of me.
“I’d better get going. I’m gonna throw a bookworm party. It’ll be fun, and my friends will show up because they’re coming for me!”
I give Vivi a high-five, and she runs off to find her mother. Since she’s going to bed, I’m sure things are going to get a bit rowdier. Vivi’s the only kid in the club, and for the most part, we keep things very PG when she’s around. I’m sure some PG-13 and R-rated shit are happening behind closed doors, but as long as they’re behind closed doors, I don’t give a shit.
As Vivi finds her mother, I watch as Charlee wraps an arm around her. Kinetic’s staring at Charlee with their daughter. I want that. I want to look at a woman the way Kinetic is and undoubtedly know she’s my entire world. In the past, I haven’t found a woman who I could imagine being with for the long haul. I’ve had a couple of ‘long-term’ girlfriends, but the longest might’ve been two or maybe three years. They weren’t women I could’ve imagined being the mother of my kids, so I ultimately ended things. The truth is I want kids, and I want them badly. I just don’t know if that’ll ever happen for me. I hope it does, but I’m not going to be the person who forces it, either.
The music is turned up a bit louder as Charlee and Vivi leave, and luckily, Kinetic’s bedroom is on the other side of the clubhouse. I doubt they’ll hear the music, but I know when I go to bed, I’ll keep hearing it. Most of the bedrooms are up the stairwell, but mine and the VP’s bedroom are down the hallway off the main room, in the same hallway the room we hold church is in. The only way to gain access to any of these rooms is through an electronic pin pad.
Bowser swings his arm around Feisty and plops her up on the bar. She has red hair, the same color as Merida from Brave. The only reason I know about it is because of Vivi. She watches some Disney tv shows and movies when she’s at the clubhouse with her mom and dad. Feisty is a damn good fuck. She’s one of the resident clubwhores, but she’s the one who will give you the biggest headache too. I damn well know she wants someone to claim her as theirs, but with her attitude, I don’t know if any of us will. She causes problems, likes to fight, and doesn’t mind getting into an argument. I don’t think any of my brothers want a woman like that, or a woman we’ve all practically fucked . . . but I could be wrong. I have friends from other clubs who’ve ended up with clubwhores. My good friend Hammer from the Reapers Rejects MC ended up making a former clubwhore, Shiloh, his ol’ lady.