Page 128 of Girth (Marked Skulls MC 1)
Joining the MC that dad and Bryce belonged to was never my plan. Even though I had grown up with its influence around me, I didn’t know how to operate in that environment. Bryce was heavily involved. He was just a few months away from getting patched and being made a full member of the club. He was hoping to be patched before he left for his next tour in Iraq but things didn’t work out like he wanted. I’d stayed away from the club. I wanted an education. I wanted a career. But when Bryce died, everything changed. I felt a need to follow his footsteps in the military, so I enlisted shortly after his funeral. What would he have wanted from me now? I bit back a laugh. He probably would have wanted me to join the club. Axel had brought up a good point.
“You want me to join as a full member?” I asked him and he stepped towards me again. He placed his hands on my shoulders and smiled at me, reminding me of the way dad used to smile proudly at me. I looked around the bar slightly. Being in the club was going to be the closest I could be to my family.
“We can patch you in right now if you agree, Gunner. Given your lineage, you wouldn’t need to prove yourself during the initiation process. We’ve been waiting for you to return from your tour. We’ve been waiting to have another Alton in the Club. This is what your father would have wanted for all of us,” Axel said and he pinched the flesh on my shoulders with his hands. Then he let me go, stepping back to look at me some more.
“Gunner, you don’t need to think about this. This is your destiny, man,” Glock said beside me and when I looked at him, he had an encouraging expression on his face.
I turned to Axel again and took in a deep breath. When I was younger I had fought to stay away from the club, because of what I thought it would make me become. But now, that I had been to war, and have killed, maybe this was the right path for me. Maybe it was the distraction from my thoughts that I desperately needed.
“Okay, let’s do it,” I said and a cackle of congratulations erupted in the bar. As though all these men were waiting around to hear my response.
People thumped my back, hugs were exchanged and Glock didn’t leave my side. Axel followed my every movement with his watchful eyes as I took steps into my new role as a full member of the Bad Disciples.
“C’mon men, let’s get him patched up,” Axel finally interrupted the celebrations and I nodded. Might as well strike while the iron is hot, I thought.
***
“You’re finally one of us,” Glock was saying, as we all sat around the bar drinking. The patching ceremony was over and now it was time to celebrate.
“He was one of us since he was born,” Tank said, crushing the can of beer in his hand as he emptied the last drop down his throat. I’d known these guys as acquaintances because of their association with dad and Bryce, but now I was getting to know them personally. They all respected dad, he was the one who had brought them under his wings as young new members of the club when they were in their late teens. They owed their lives to dad and were treating me like royalty.
Tank’s long brown hair shook, which he had tied into a ponytail, as he shook his head while guzzling another can of beer.
“You must have so many stories from before our time!” Hunter said, looking at me eagerly with his baby-blue eyes. He was the youngest one in the group, barely twenty-six. I was grateful for Hunter, it meant that I wasn’t going to be the youngest one around. I was older than him by a year.
“Dad didn’t talk much about the MC with me. He probably never thought I would join the group,” I said, sipping on my own beer.
“Bet he’s smiling now!” Sniper said with a laugh and Glock thumped my back encouragingly again.
“We all knew and loved your dad, Gunner. He was an inspiration,” Tank spoke again and I wondered if this guy ever smiled. He had a consistent poker face, which made him the perfect bouncer for the bar.
“And your brother…Bryce was a brother to us too,” Glock added and I nodded my head at them. I hadn’t spoken about dad and Bryce this much in a very long time…long enough for me to replace the wounds of their memories with new fresh ones.
“We’re heading out to another bar,” Sniper stood up and I noticed that the others in the bar, including Axel were picking up their leather jackets and preparing to leave.
“Let’s go, Gunner,” Glock said as he stood up and I emptied the remaining beer down my throat.
“You guys go ahead. I’m going to hit the sack early tonight,” I said and tried to smile at them so they wouldn’t see just how weird I was feeling. At Church, with people who knew dad and Bryce so well. It was like I was walking around their ghosts. I needed some time and space to straighten out my thoughts.
“Are you kidding?” Hunter said and it was Axel who stepped in then.
“Let him be, boys. Gunner, we’ll see you when we see you. You’re dismissed for the night,” Axel said and I tipped my head at him again.
“Night,” I said and left the bar, thankful to be able to step outside again. I watched as the others got on their noisy motorcycles and started riding away. I smiled and waved at Glock as I put on my own helmet and jumped up on my bike.
Even though dad and Bryce had kept me away from the club, they had damn well taught me the biker way of life. Hell, I had been on my first bike before I even knew how to walk. Maybe this was what I needed. I had the tattoos, I had the bike and I had a family legacy…maybe joining the Bad Disciples was what was missing from my life and I just didn’t know it.
I rode away from the bar, in the direction of my apartment, with the voices of the men ringing in my ears. This had to be for the best. I could feel close to my family again, especially since they had welcomed me in with open arms.
I slowed down just a block away from my apartment, when I noticed that PJ’s was still open. It was a small dive bar I used to frequent before I left for Afghanistan. It was a quiet place with a crowd who liked to keep themselves to themselves.
Who was I kidding? There was no way I was getting any sleep. I decided to stop and have a drink by myself before I went back to the apartment.
Parking my bike along the pavement, I walked into the bar with my helmet still on. I took it off my head as I went straight towards the counter, and that was when I saw her. Our eyes met and I knew she was the sexiest thing I had ever set my eyes on.
Chapter 4
Brooklyn
I knew I was tired, but was I actually that tired that my jaw nearly dropped when the handsome stranger walked into the bar? He shook his head when he took his helmet off and I noticed his closely cropped dark brown hair and the way his blue eyes shone dangerously in the dim light of the bar.
I had always prided myself in not embarrassingly drooling over guys, but this one was a completely different ball game. It was like he had stepped off the front glossy cover of a men’s health magazine. He was tall with a ripping broad chest. He was wearing a thin white cotton t-shirt and even under his black leather jacket, I could see the way his muscles moved.
“You’re new,” he said, sitting down with a thump on one of the bar stools in front of me. I forced myself to recover my voice, blinking furiously to make myself go back to normal. His cheekbones were high and chiseled and he had a perfectly square jaw with a light dusting of a late-night shadow. I caught the glimmer of the metal tags that hung from a chain around his neck.
“I’m Brooklyn,” I said and realized that was not what he asked. He grinned, and the corners of his lips stretched as he placed his helmet on the counter beside me.
“And new,” I added quickly and he watched my every movement from under heavy lidded eyes. His gaze was piercing and yet he looked bored. I was giddy with squealing excitement inside, like a teenager who had just spotted a rock star.
“We’re closing up soon,” I said to him, as he flipped over a glass beside him.
“Hit me with your best whisky,” he said instead, ignoring my statement. I gulped, and then got the bottle and poured into his glass. He drank it in one quick gulp and banged the glass
down on the counter again.
“So, how new are you?” he asked and I shrugged my shoulders, trying to avoid looking directly into his eyes.
“Couple of months,” I replied, even though I knew exactly how long it had been. I took up this job a week after I’d heard the news about Luke. Of course, this guy didn’t need to know about it.
“I’ve been away,” he said and placed a hand on the bottle I was still holding. Gently, he pried the bottle away from me and poured some more whisky into his glass. I watched him closely, the shape of his nose, the sharpness of his jaws…how powerful he looked.
“I have to close up soon,” I repeated myself and he looked up at me again. His gaze was de-stabilizing. Like he was shooting arrows at me or something. Just his stare was enough to tighten the knots in my belly and I pressed my legs together.
