Bonnie was supposed to meet Ricky at the Specters club house that afternoon, and I went with her to hang out and wait for Clyde.
I parked my bike down the side, along with the others and waited for her to climb off.
The Specters and the Reapers were well acquainted, even friendly toward one another. Me and my crew were always welcome at their clubhouse, and vice versa.
They had a way better set up that us, and I loved it there. It was an old motel that Beast had bought years ago, when the money started rolling in. They had their own kitchen along with a whole heap of little dorm rooms down the back. They even had their own bar, complete with a dart board, pool table and a stripper pole, along with girls who knew how to work it.
"Mind if I hang around?" I asked Bonnie off handedly.
"Sure," she responded. "But you don't have to baby sit me."
"You realise that Ricky's just trying to get down your pants, right?"
She raised an eyebrow at me.
"I'm aware of that," she answered. "But he actually pays me, and considering we've got a lot of money to make back after this morning..."
"He pays you for your tattoos, or..." I laughed and she punched my arm.
"You know I'd never cheat on Clyde," she told me firmly.
"I'm just teasing, darlin'," I grinned, draping my arm around her shoulders and lead her through the doors of the clubhouse.
It was no secret that a lot of the girls who hung around the Specters were strippers or sex workers. When Bonnie and Clyde had first moved here and I'd introduced them to everyone, practically the whole club had swooped in like vultures, hoping she was the new girl, which, being the loyal little lady that she was, she'd firmly denied everytime. Clyde and I gave her shit about it ever since.
Ricky was at the bar when we got in, and patiently waited while Bonnie set up, alternating between staring at her tits and checking out her ass. I took a seat next to him, thanking, Kelly, the girl at the bar, as she placed a pint in front of me, and gave Ricky a warning look, which he ignored.
He tried hitting on Bonnie while she worked, but she seemed oblivious, staying polite and professional the whole time.
"So, what's a pretty little lady like you do for fun?" He asked her, placing his hand high up on her thigh.
She shifted out of his reach as she answered.
"Tonight I'm spending some much needed alone time with my husband."
She put emphasis on the word as she brought up Clyde, and I watched as Ricky sneered.
"That psycho?" He winced as Bonnie applied some unnecessary pressure to the needle. "A girl like you could do a whole lot better than him, you know, sugar."
"I'm very secure in my marriage, thank you," she replied coldly.
"Everyone say that, because they feel they have to," he replied. "You know, it never hurt anyone, screwing around with someone else, occasionally. Keeps it interesting"
Bonnie made a noncommittal sound, and continued with her work.
"So, when are you gonna let me fuck you?" He blatantly asked, after a few more attempts at leading the conversation away from Clyde and to whatever was going on in his pants.
"Like I tell you everytime you bring it up," she said bluntly, not taking her eyes off the piece she was inking on his forearm, "that's never going to happen."
"That's what they all say." He smirked, and Bonnie stopped tattooing to tilt her head questionably. Only she could look that innocent as she was about to roast someone.
"Do girls often tell you they'll never fuck you?"
Ricky stuttered and stumbled over his words for a reply, but came up with nothing, and Bonnie finished the piece in silence while I smirked over my beer. She was right; I really didn't need to babysit her.
"Ace."
I turned at the sound of the gravelly voice and grinned as Beast made his way toward the bar, pulling up a chair beside me. He was as tall as he was wide, wearing a sleeveless blue shirt which showed off the faded tattoos covering his beefy arms, matching the ones across his bald scalp.
He was the president of the Specters, and had been for as long as I could remember. He'd been close to my dad, and to Marcus, I knew, but things had gotten weird between them when Axe went away.
I didn't know what happened, but Marcus rarely spoke to him and never seemed real happy when I told him I'd been around the club.
Beast was a good guy, even with a criminal record as far as the eye could see. He'd helped mum out with making payments after dad went away, despite her firm protests, insisting she wanted nothing to do with him, Axe or the club. He had always looked out for me, even after mum remarried and my family split apart.
I asked Marcus about it one day, thinking maybe he felt sorry for me because I grew up without my dad, but Marcus just told me that there was more to it, and that he'd tell me one day, when I was older. I was still waiting for that day.
"Long time, no see, kiddo," he said as Kelly poured him a beer and refilled my empty glass. "What you been up to?"
"Just the usual," I told him, laughing. "Nothing much changes around here."
"You're not wrong," he agreed. "How are all the old boys?"
"Good," I answered, trying to think if anything worth talking about had happened lately. "Rob's a grandpa again, and the charity ride that Graham put on raked up over seven hundred. But yeah. Not much else really."
Beast laughed, good humored, and slapped me on the back.
"You're wasting your potential in that club, kid," he said. "You're the youngest by probably thirty years, in with a group of old blokes reliving the glory days."
"I'm not the youngest," I protested, eager to defend the club. "There were three other guys my age who are third generation Reapers, now, and we even have a few new prospects."
Beast nodded, but didn't say anything for a while. I knew that he meant nothing by it, but the guys in the Reapers had looked out for me my entire life, especially when it fell to shit, and I wouldn't hear a bad word spoken about them.
And, as much as I loved everyone in the Specters, when it came down to it, they were criminals. They made a living running and dealing drugs, getting drunk and fuxking up rival gangs. There were even rumours that they'd played a part in taking down some gang lord in the city. Honestly, I wouldn't have been surprised
"You know," he said, finally. "If you ever get sick of hanging out with old guys and organising charity rides, you can always join this crew. We could use a young gun like you."
I grinned, staring down at the bar. Honestly, the thought had crossed my mind, way back when I first got my motorbike licence. Marcus was dead set on me joining Hell's Reapers, like him and Axe and their father, when he was still alive, continuing the tradition, and had immediately hated the idea when I mentioned the Specters.
He didn't even want me to be associated with a bunch of criminals, he'd told me, much less riding with them, and he'd kick my ass if I did, because dad wasn't there to do it. The town was overrun with junkies and drug dealers and the like. I was better than that, he'd insisted.
"Thanks," I told him. "But I don't mind charity rides when they're for a good cause."
Beast laughed, draining his pint, and Kelly quickly refilled it for him.
"You need to get away from this shitty town," he said. "Young blokes like you need some excitement in their lives."
I grimaced when I thought about the night before. I could feel the bruises and aches and pains still. They weren't as bad as I thought they'd be, but even so...
"Nah," I took a swig of my pint, shrugging. "Too much excitement gets you in trouble."
"Speaking of," he slapped the bench top, like he'd suddenly remembered something important. "You still hang around with that trouble maker?"
"Clyde?" I laughed. "He's alright. He'll slow down one day."
Beast grunted, non committed.
"I liked the work the two of you did on my chopper," he went on. "Wondered if you wanted another project if business isn't too crazy."
I nodded enthusiastically. We were always busy in the shop, mostly with cars, so I loved it when I got to work on a bike, especially the ones Beast owned. The last one Clyde and I did up for him was one fucking sexy machine. Neither of us would want to pass up an opportunity like this.
"I reckon we could squeeze you in," I promised. "What have you got for us?"
While Beast and I discussed bikes, Bonnie finished cleaning up and came to join me. Kelly was admiring her work on Ricky, and then the two girls started talking tattoos.
Ricky faded into the background, finally taking the hint. The next time I looked over, he was sprawled on one of the couches around the pool table with some scantily dressed red head on his lap.
"I hear your old man is getting out in a couple of weeks," Beast said, changing the subject.
"Yeah," I couldn't help the grin that spread across my face. "He got five years off his sentence."
"That's great kid," Beast responded, though his tone suggested he thought otherwise.
"It's gonna be weird for a while," I said with a shrug.
"Is he going back to the Reapers?"
"Not right away," I answered. "He's just coming to work at the shop for a while."
"Ah."
I couldn't work out why Beast was acting so strange. I thought things were good between him and Axe. After fifteen years, I'd be hanging to see my mates. He was starting to put me on edge.
"Does he know the Reapers patched you in?" He raised a bushy eyebrow at me, and I shrugged.
"I visit him in prison," I told him. "He found out the same day they made it official."
"How did that go down?"
I shrugged again.
"He was fine with it," I said, kind of hesitantly. "The Reapers are just a club, why would he have a problem with it?"
Beast took a moment to answer, downing half of the pint in the silence that followed.
"You know he was one of the Specter's originals?"
I nearly choked on the mouthful of beer I'd just swallowed, staring at Beast. Dad had never been involved in anything illegal before, apart from the one time he killed that guy for kidnapping and bashing my sister, Kim, which he was still paying for.
The Specters were renowned for their illegal activity. They ran and dealt drugs, probably even manufactured them. The only reason they hadn't been taken down altogether was because they had half the cops in this town in their pockets.
Everyone in the club had done time for one thing or another, but dad didn't go away until after he was with the Reapers. He was a mechanic, and a motorbike enthusiast, he wasn't a fucking drug dealer.
"He left to join the Reapers when you and your sister were young," Beast explained, oblivious to the fact that I was reeling. "Said he wanted to do right by his family. He always hated the shit we were into."
"You're not wrong," I agreed, throwing back the rest of the beer.
"Ask him about it," Beast urged. "Or, even Marcus. He could fill you in."
Is that what Marcus had meant when he'd said there was more to it? If dad and Beast had had a falling out about Axe leaving the club, that would explain why he wasn't so thrilled about him coming home. There's got to be something in that, I decided. Obviously there was bad blood between them, after all.
I nodded, not sure how to respond. I doubted that Beast would have heard me, anyway, considering how the thirty or so people in the clubhouse all started cheering and wolf whistling.
I turned around, making a face when I saw Clyde as he pinned Bonnie to the wall, her legs wrapped around his waist, the two of the having one intense makeout session.
They were never overly affectionate toward one another when they were in public, at least not this affectionate, so I knew it was just for show. Ricky was still by the pool table, glowering at Clyde.
"What did you say about that boy slowing down?" Beast cackled and I smirked.
"One day," I repeated. "But I don't think it's him we should be worrying about."