I’d seen a lot of heartache rip marriages apart.
Although, there were a few happy ever afters.
Cade and Indy were happily married with a baby on the way.
And if my cousin hadn’t been murdered, he and Cherry would still be happily married and living a good family life with their children.
Same with Mirabella and Jacob. I’d never seen two people more in love. But Mirabella was also murdered by the same man who had killed Isaac, and unable to cope with life without his wife, Jacob had laid his bike down in front of a truck.
Given a chance, their lives would have been rich with love and happiness.
They were proof that love in an MC was possible.
My brother’s fingers snapped in front of my eyes and broke my daydream. “Dude, what the fuck? You high?”
I gave Cade an up-close look at my middle finger and turned back to face Bull. He’d just asked me a question. “Sorry, man, what did you say?”
Bull took off his glasses and fixed his bright, piercing blue eyes on me. He suffered from acute color blindness and it affected his ability to tolerate light, so he usually wore dark sunglasses, even at night. When he took them off, the vibrant blue of his eyes was almost other worldly. It made him look formidable. That and the fact that he was six foot something and radiated a powerful ruthlessness you didn’t want to fuck with.
He was my mother’s younger brother and he had taken the reins of our club following my father’s murder.
“Everything sorted for Tully’s bucks night?” he asked me.
Somehow I was in charge of arranging Tully’s bucks night. He was marrying one of the actresses from Head Quarters, the adult entertainment studio we were invested in. The studio produced adult movies, and more recently, capitalized on its reputation with a line of sex toys. The wedding was due to take place on the grounds of the new studio. A few months ago, someone had burned down the original warehouse, but we’d just finished rebuilding it, and it was bigger and better than before.
Thankfully, I had Mrs. Stephens to help me with Tully’s bucks night. She was our conservatively dressed, modest personal assistant with the horn-rimmed glasses and knee-length tweed skirts. She arranged and supplied everything for the club, from toilet paper and condom supplies, to strippers, weddings, funerals, and birthday celebrations at the clubhouse. She was methodical. Unassuming. But I would bet my balls she had a gimp stashed in her closet. So far she hadn’t batted an eyelid at anything we’d requested for Tully’s bucks night, which was only days away.
“It’s all sorted.” I nodded at our President.
“Any other business to bring to the table?” he asked the room.
“What’s the word on the two overdoses in Humphrey last week?” Hawke asked. “My kid sister is a senior in high school, she said one of them was from West Destiny High and was a football player. Said there is talk about a bad batch of E. Think we need to visit the Knights and see what shit they’re letting loose into our town?”
“The weed drought in this town has extended across the southern belt,” Cade said. “Indy says they’ve had a lot more drug overdoses lately and they think it’s because people can’t get their hands on any weed, so they’re turning to liquor or blow, while some are dabbling in meth, horse, special K, all kinds of shit. Not to mention the oxy and other prescribed meds.”
“People are used to getting a high. If they can’t get it one way, they’re going to get it another,” Bull said.
“Hawke’s right, we need to reach out to the Knights and find out what the fuck they’re up to,” Maverick said.
“Agreed. I’ll reach out to Saber. Find out what shit they’re letting into our goddamn town.” He looked directly at me, Cade, and Maverick. “Make yourselves available this evening. The four of us are going to pay him a visit tonight.”
And with that, Bull brought down his gavel and brought an end to chapel.
CALEB
The next day, I saw it on my desk as soon as I walked into my office at Sinister Ink.
It was a bright pink box with a clear window on the lid. Splashed across the cardboard in a quirky font was the name Honey Bee Cupcakes.
“Ooh, a present!” Pandora said, walking in and putting a box of latex gloves onto the stainless-steel equipment station in the corner of the room. “Is it from her?”
Her being a secret admirer I had somehow acquired over the last couple of months. It had started out innocently enough. At first, she sent me small stuff to the studio—a hip flask of Jack Daniel’s, movie tickets, and a limited edition Easy Rider movie poster that now hung in my workstation. But lately it had gotten weird. A few days ago, it was a lacy thong attached to a Polaroid of a shaved pussy, legs spread and all.