“We ain’t gonna call the cops. Okay?” he said to me.
I swallowed hard, and my eyes searched around for an avenue of escape. Panic burned through me when I didn’t see one.
“Kid, we’re gonna clean this up. We know what he was gonna do. We won’t let anything happen to you, but you gotta trust us, okay?”
Shaking uncontrollably, I dropped the chain that I realized was covered in blood and things I didn’t want to think about. Then I started to hyperventilate when I saw the blood splattered on my clothes and the wall. My vision started to get spotty, and I dropped to my knees before I blacked out.
The day the Royal Bastards found me in that alley may have been one of the worst days of my life, but it was also probably the best.
The then president, Rowdy, had been true to his word. They had cleaned up what had become a crime scene, and no one ever knew about what I’d done. The crazy thing was, they never expected anything for it. At the time I hadn’t understood why.
They even given me a job cleaning up their tattoo studio and their strip club. I would go in every morning before they opened and clean for a few hours at each place. I only made minimum wage, but it was enough to get a tiny efficiency apartment for me and Monique.
As soon as I’d saved enough for the deposit, I moved us in. We weren’t in a relationship, but she’d been the first person in ages to treat me like a human being instead of a check for fostering me. She’d kinda become the sister I never had.
They were even letting me make payments on an older-than-dirt bike so I had transportation I could afford.
“Boy, I need to talk to you,” Rowdy said, and I looked over my shoulder as I dumped the trash can in the dumpster.
“Okay?” I asked, suddenly wary.
He motioned inside, and I followed him, the heavy metal door slamming once we were in.
“Hey, baby,” Cookie said as she passed us on her way to the dressing room. I guessed she was working the lunch shift. Barely older than I was, she was one of the dancers. She also gave me a blowjob for helping her moving her shit to a bigger apartment. After that, she and I hooked up occasionally, but we were on the same page and that’s all it was.
She also didn’t give me shit for wearing gloves or not touching her when we fucked. I let her think it was a kink. That was easier than explaining the truth.
Rowdy went in the office and pointed to the chair. He closed the door and took the seat behind the desk. He liked to make people wait, and this time wasn’t an exception. He steepled his fingers and studied me.
Patiently, I waited.
Finally he got to what he’d called me in for. “What do you think of being a member of the Royal Bastards?”
He couldn’t have shocked me more if he’d said Mother Theresa had given birth to him and the Pope was his father. “Excuse me?”
“You deaf?”
“No, sir,” I said with a rapid shake of my head. “I just thought I heard you wrong. You asking if I’m interested in becoming a member of your club was, well, unexpected.”
“That didn’t answer my question, boy.”
“Yes. The answer is yes.”
“Good. There’s something you need to do before you can prospect though,” he said cryptically, and my guts churned. It could be anything, and I hoped they didn’t want me to kill someone again. I had no idea if they had some kind of gang-like initiation or something. They were tight-lipped about their club.
And Ireallydidn’t want to go to jail at eighteen.
“What would that be?” I said, cursing the slight tremor in my voice.
“You need to learn specific skills.” He leaned back in his chair and locked his hands behind his head.
“Like?”
“You’re gonna join the army and become a Ranger or Spec Ops. Then come talk to me.”