1
Inodded my head at the prospect when he set a beer in front of me. He tapped the bar in acknowledgement, and I quickly lifted the bottle, bringing it to my lips.
We were having a party to welcome Katie back home, the president of the Bloody Royals MC. We had parties here at the clubhouse all the time, but this one was bigger since the Bloody Royals’ president was coming home from prison.
Katie had just spent nine years inside for murder, arson, and assault of a police officer. Theonlyreason she got out after only nine years was because of her ‘good behavior’. There was no doubt in my mind that she had managed to find some way to bribe the judge into letting her out early. Katie was a hell of a work of art, but she was a damn good president and an even better briber.
“Katie's back!” I heard one of the prospects announce
Everyone started whooping and hollering, excited over Katie's return to the Bloody Royals and the Black Skulls. Most of everyone had missed her, especially Travis, her husband. He had been a real dick since she had gotten shoved into the back of that cop car nine years ago. Katie's time inside had twisted her family in all kinds of ways.
Heather—their youngest child—who was now sixteen, could pretty much just be labeled as a club whore since Travis had given up on trying to get her back in line. She loved getting dick as much as she loved sucking cock.
Clayton—their middle child—who was now twenty, was a no-good piece of scum. Normally, the family of the president would be someone with a title, but Clayton was so strung out on drugs that no one knew what to do with him besides stick him in the garage to work on cars all day and hope he wasn’t too fucked up to injure himself.
Then, there was Colton—their oldest. He was another story entirely. At fourteen, he had watched his mother get wrestled into the back seat of a cop car. We all thought he was doing okay. Hell, most of the time, we still did. Cole let his emotions out through retaliation against other clubs and in club women.
At sixteen, I was “lucky” enough to be one of those women that he used on a rough night. Don't get me wrong; the sex was great, but he was out of my bed right after it happened, and he never spoke of it again. Cole was a real dick, and most of the time, I daydreamed of knocking him down a peg or two. However, there were still times that I wanted to be sixteen again and have him fuck me into his mattress.
When the crowd cleared out from around Katie and her family, I walked over to where they were standing. I wasn't planning on holding a lengthy conversation with any of them. I wasn't much of a person for long conversations to begin with. Not to mention, I knew Katie and I would clash heads before we ever held a decent conversation.
I smiled at Katie as I walked up and hugged her. I had to show respect because of her title. She and I just had more differences than anything else. She was a hard person to argue with, but I managed to find myself in some kind of heated conversation with her most of the time.
Instead of ruining my night, I figured I would just be kind to her. “It's good to have you back,” I said, plastering a smile onto my face.
She smiled, looking around her. I knew she was happy to be home. Hell, five months inside was a lot for me, too. I had only been out three weeks, and I was still ecstatic to be back here. I never wanted to go back to that hell hole they called jail again.
“It's good to be back,” she told me, bringing her attention back to me. “Nine years inside is damn boring, especially when everyone there is too damn afraid to start any shit with you.” Travis cut her a dark look. “There was the occasional stupid person who tried me, but they quickly learned their lesson.” She cocked her head to the side. “Say, didn't you just get out a few weeks ago?”
I muttered a curse, refusing to meet Cole’s eyes, knowing he was going to be pissed about not knowing. Cole believed in protecting family, and the clubs were family. Keeping secrets was a big no.
No one but my mom, dad, and Travis knew about me going inside, and now, I guess Katie knew, too. I had gone inside for arson and gotten out on good behavior. I was blowing up another club’s warehouse, and some girl saw me and ratted me out to the cops. I’d told Travis not to retaliate and that I would just suffer the consequences of getting my ass caught. He hadn't been happy about it, but I knew it was a better decision for the clubs.
“I thought you were visiting your aunt and uncle during that time to take a break from the club?” Cole asked me, making me look up at him
Oh, boy, he was pissed.
Anger swirled in his blue eyes. I knew he felt like I was betraying the club by keeping this a secret. The girl that ratted me out was attached to some dangerous people that wanted to hurt the clubs, and I wouldnotallow that to happen.
The ATL could suck a fat one before I let them start a war.
“The club doesn't need to know everything that goes on in my life, Cole,” I bit, not letting my eyes give anything away. “The fewer people that knew about my time spent inside, the better. They were trying to take the whole club down with me.” I looked back at Katie, taking my eyes off Cole’s seething form. “Yeah, my time inside wasn't great. I had to make some alliances, but there were a lot of enemies. A lot of people inside have a problem with the Black Skulls and a really big problem with me.”
I was known as a ruthless bitch, and I was always the one picked to do a lot of the dirty work around here, people knew my name and hated me. Even if they didn't have a problem with the Black Skulls, they most likely had a problem with me.
Katie tapped my shoulder where my knife wound was. I winced a little bit. It was still healing even though I'd been out of jail for a minute. There had been one girl inside that wanted the clubs to go down and wanted me to suffer. I got in my share of fights with her, but she always had the upper hand due to the number of people she had in her pockets.
“Oops, sorry.” Katie said, not at all sounding sorry though. “I didn't know it still hurt.”
Like hell, you didn't.
“Yeah,” I muttered, figuring I needed to shut this conversation down now while I still had a chance and before I punched Katie in her face on her first day home for prodding my shoulder like that. “I've got to go. There's drinks to drink and people to lay.” I didn't want to stand around and dwell on my time in jail. And Katie was doing what she did best—pissing me off.
Katie laughed the fakest fucking laugh I’d ever heard in my life. I ignored her, turned around, and walked off. When I got to the bar, I sat back down on my stool and ordered a prospect to get me a beer, watching Cole as he hugged his mom and walked off to one of the club whores.
It sucked for the women. They allowed themselves to be treated like dirt just to try to become one of these guys’ old ladies. I didn't understand why anyone would want to be an old lady. All you did was whatever your boyfriend/fiancé/husband told you to do. Personally, I enjoyed my freedom to do and say as I pleased.
Clayton walked over to me and sat his ass on the stool next to mine, ordering two fingers of vodka. “Are you still looking to get laid?” he asked me in a voice that I thought was supposed to be seductive, but he failed at it. I cocked my head at him and smirked a little. I decided to just let him think he accomplished what he was trying to do. I didn't want to hurt his feelings. Besides, even though he was fucked in the head from all the drug abuse, he was still a decent-looking guy. He’d be doing good if he was fucking clean.