Page 2 of Abe (Marked Skulls MC 3)
Lewis shook Girth’s hand next, who accepted the congratulations with his usual straight face. Lila looked proud and happy beside him and then Lewis came up to me.
“I heard you were wrapped up in a sling,” he said with a laugh as he thumped my back and I smirked.
“Didn’t need it anymore,” I told him and some of the others laughed.
It was back to being our usual Church meetings. Our MC had never been the kind to take things too seriously. We weren’t ever involved in anything major, till the last few months when Lila’s life was in danger from the Dark Legion and then Fred got killed. Now that this was all over, things were back to being its usual relaxed way.
“Actually, Lewis. I thought I’d bring up something I wanted to discuss. Since this is a Church meeting after all,” I said and put down the empty shot glass on the counter.
Lewis raised his brows and nodded his head, even though most of my other brothers in the MC were still talking amongst themselves. They couldn’t imagine there could be anything serious enough to have to shut up about.
“What did you want to discuss, Abe? Something about the garage?” Lewis asked, referring to the auto body shop we ran as a side business, which I was in-charge of.
“No, it’s not about the garage. It’s about the MC,” I replied and he looked confused. Then he went over and sat down on a bar stool and turned his full attention to me.
“Our MC?” he asked and there was a lull in the conversation now, some of my brothers had turned to us as we talked.
“Yeah, our MC. I wanted to talk to you about expansion plans,” I declared and I pushed my hands into the pockets of my pants as I held his gaze firmly. I was expecting some resistance.
Lewis blinked, then looked at his daughter, Lila and then Rodeo, before he looked at me again and snorted.
“Is this some kind of joke?” he asked and some of the guys chuckled. I clenched my jaws and shook my head.
“No, there’s nothing funny about it. I’m serious. I think we should look into expanding the Marked Skulls,” I told him. Rodeo cleared his throat and stepped up between us.
“Abe, you need to fucking calm down, you’re still running on adrenaline from last night. You saw how close we got to losing that fucking fight,” he snarled and I looked at him and nodded.
“Exactly. How many more times do you want to come close to losing a fight? How long do you want us to be known as the weak underdogs? The MC without enough members,” I declared and turned my gaze towards Lewis again.
He was clutching his shot glass in his hand and glaring at me like I’d slapped him across the face.
“Brother, you need to think about what you’re saying here,” Sal, one of the other members, stepped up behind me and placed a hand on my shoulder. I yanked myself away from him, continuing to stare at Lewis.
“We need to get new recruits, get fresh blood added as prospects to our MC. We need to think about getting our hands dirty in the real shit; weapons, drugs, protection,” I continued and Lewis jumped off the bar stool and stepped towards me threateningly.
“Abe, fuck man! We are not in a position to expand. We killed the guy, but we got our asses beaten in the process. You know how long it’s going to take before we can get into that shit? And you think The Dark Legion and the others are just going to let it slide?” Rodeo raged against me and I held my ground.
I was done being a small-timer. I was bored.
“Do you not remember what happened the last time we stepped on the Dark Legion’s shoes? My daughter nearly got killed. They fucking kidnapped Lila!” Lewis growled, coming up close to me and shouting at my face.
I breathed deeply and nodded.
“And Lila’s life was in danger because we weren’t prepared. We had to get Girth in to protect her. We won’t have to do that if we have our own men, if we have more men like Girth on our team. We don’t have to cower in the corner, afraid of the Dark Legion,” I replied to him, as calmly as I could.
Lewis’ eyes were widened, bloodshot…he was glaring at me. I could see Rodeo running a hand through his hair over and over again.
When Lewis realized that I wasn’t going to break eye contact, he looked over his shoulder at Girth.
“What’s your take on this psychobabble bullshit?” he growled and I looked at Girth, who was glaring back at me.
“It makes sense. We need to build up our base, whether we get involved in other businesses or not. We’re too small to defend ourselves well right now,” Girth replied and my lips stretched in a grin.
Lewis eyed me strongly, while Rodeo muttered away under his breath behind him.
“He says it makes sense,” I repeated Girth’s words.
“We need to fucking stay where we are. We need to keep doing what we’re good at!” Rodeo stormed towards us again and I faced him. I knew none of my brothers were expecting this from me. I was younger than them, I had been more interested in the garage than the other aspects of the business up until now. None of them had expected it to be me who wanted more, to grow ambitious.
Lewis raised his hand, which silenced Rodeo and the others. He squinted his eyes at me, watching me closely and I stared back at him, holding my ground.
“What’s gotten into your little head?” he hissed and I shrugged my shoulders.
“I’m just bored of doing the same old shit,” I replied and he stepped back, nodding his head gently.
“Lewis, we need to think about this. We can’t afford to expand right now, we can’t get involved in more shit that’ll piss the Dark Legion off!” Rodeo growled from behind him.
With his eyes still focused on me, Lewis spat on the floor.
“Listen to you mewling like a little girl!” he snapped and Rodeo gulped.
“I just want us to have a slice of the cake that the others are eating,” I looked at Rodeo who rolled his eyes away from me.
“Fine. I heard you. There could be something there,” Lewis said and Rodeo threw his arms up in the air.
“You want us to expand? You do the business. Get us new prospects, guys good enough to match Rodeo, Girth and yourself and then I might consider the idea,” Lewis said and I smiled widely.
“How many times am I going to have to fucking repeat this shit? We cannot afford to expand right now!” Rodeo growled.
“Yeah because we don’t have enough members. I plan on changing that!” I snapped at him.
“You have a plan, eh? You’ve been thinking about this?” Lewis asked and I nodded my head.
“Yeah, I have a few new prospects in mind. I want to test them out first and see if they’ll be a fit,” I replied.
“Where? Where will you find these new guys?” Rodeo asked and I turned to him again.
“Word on the street is that there’s a new kid, part of a street gang, he has a promising career ahead of him. Strong as a mule,” I said and smiled at Girth who nodded his head.
“Which fucking street gang?” Rodeo snapped and I fixed my eyes on him.
“The Romeros,” I replied and he rolled his eyes again.
I didn’t care how much Rodeo bad-mouthed me now. We were brothers in arms. All I needed was one chance, to prove this new kid to my MC and then they’d see the light. They would realize that I was making complete sense.
Chapter 4
Alexis
I was on a day shift at the supermarket today, and I was at the back storeroom, counting stock. Joshua, one of my colleagues, was there with me and we were sifting through the boxes of baby diapers.
I caught him gazing at me from time to time, and I pretended like I hadn’t caught him looking. The last thing I needed right now was for him to bring up that topic again. I adored him as a co-worker and a friend, but that was it. Joshua had other ideas and I was tired of letting him down.
I dabbed at my forehead with the back of my hand and Joshua looked up at me with a smile on his face. He was bent over one of the boxes and I caught his eye.
“Tired?” he asked and I smiled w
eakly at him.
Joshua was one of those few people I enjoyed working with at the supermarket. He was sweet, friendly and attentive and had been trying to get me to go on a date with him for over a year now. Despite all his good qualities, I just missed that spark. He was clean looking, with typical boy-next-door looks and he seemed to be really into me, but I just wished that he made my heart race in my chest.
Not that many guys had. The last time I could remember feeling giddy for a guy was Max Leonard in High School; the jock, the guy who dated all the cheerleaders and there was no way that he and I could ever get together. Moreover, I should have known that guys like him spelt trouble. I needed to practice what I preached; but that didn’t stop me from lusting after a ‘bad boy’ and Joshua was just too nice. He was someone I could picture myself growing old with and raising children with…someone I knew would be good for me, but foolishly, I wanted more than just that.
