Page 3 of Sly (Dragon Riders MC 5)
“Lead the way, Sly,” Link said.
We all made our way back out into the bar where Chains sat with a beer. That had, oddly enough, not been touched. I wrinkled my nose as I slid into the booth seat in front of him, watching as his head whipped up.
“Didn’t hear us coming?” I asked.
The guy smiled softly. “Just a bit on edge.”
“Why?”
Link patted my shoulder. “We have a proposition for you, Chains. Sly? You want to fill him in?”
I smiled deviously. “I’d love to. So, here’s how this is going to work: you’re going to have to prove that you’re willing to be loyal to us. To do what you’re told, even though you might not understand it. That just comes with the territory. Around here? You give trust before you get it.”
Chains nodded. “Understood. What do I need to do?”
I leaned forward. “I want you to bring us the one person who’s most important to you in your life. The one person you trust more than your own self.”
“Wait, what?”
I leaned back up. “Bring them with you. They’re going to be in our care for a little while. And once we know you’re good for it, they’re free to go.”
“Wait, wait, wait, wait. You want me to just bring some family member or whatever that you guys can hang onto as some sort of collateral? Like me turning over a wallet or some shit?”
Bowser jumped in. “They wouldn’t be held hostage. Not like that. But we would be watching them. Guarding them. Protecting them, in a way. Because the truth of the matter is that we don’t know you.”
I interjected before anyone else said a word. “Those are our terms for you becoming a prospect. We don’t trust you, so this is how you start to earn that. Bring us the person you trust more than your own mind that we can buddy up with for a while, and you have my solemn word that they won’t be harmed until your prospect reign is done with our group. If you agree to continue.”
Hesitation flashed in Chains’ eyes and I figured we had him. In fact, I almost knew we had him. That was why I wanted to bring up this option, because it sucked. It sucked so fucking bad, especially if he was undercover.
But the man surprised me. “Okay.”
I swallowed. “What?”
Chains nodded. “Okay. I’ll do it. Just tell me the time and place.”
And as I stared into the eyes of a man who I knew wasn’t who he said he was, I watched him match my “check” for a “check.”
This was going to be a long game of chess.2TaraI sighed as I sat on my bed, which hadn’t even been put on its platform yet. I spread my legs out and stretched my arms above my head, trying to get used to the new space. I hated moving in with my brother, but not because I didn’t love him. On the contrary, I loved him more than my own life. But he was a pain in the ass sometimes and way too obsessed with his job.
I’d have to hide my vape pen from him while I was here.
Ben and I grew up as complete opposites. He was the one who always abided by the rules and made sure others were as well, while I was the one breaking them and staying out all night and going to parties and getting drunk. Sometimes, I wasn’t sure the man knew how to have fun, so I was hoping to thread some of it into his world while I was passing through. And I was only just passing through.
Once I found myself another job, I was out of here.
Ben and I grew up in upstate New York. So, it wasn’t a shocker when I decided to go to community college a few towns over. Less than an hour from home, getting a two-year degree in some shit that didn’t matter, only to graduate and become a paralegal which I technically could have done without the damn degree in the first place. It hadn’t been too hard to find a job, though. There had been a law firm a few miles up from my community college that had been hiring, so it was easy to transition from class life to professional life.
Until the person who ran the law firm went to jail for embezzling.
So, yeah. On the hunt for a new job. But in the meantime, I was crashing with my brother that was working as well. His apartment wasn’t very swanky, though. I figured if he was in town working, they’d at least put him up in a decent place.
I could smell the mold in the walls in this damn apartment, though.
However, that only lit a fire under my ass to find my own job and get my own life back on track.
