Page 25 of Abe (Marked Skulls MC 3)
“I’m not a fucking coward,” he said, smiling and I nodded my head.
“Those were your words, not mine,” I said, reaching for his shoulder and thumping it.
He looked over at his friends and then back at me again.
“I trust these guys. If you need more new prospects for the MC, these are your men,” Oz said. Rodeo had joined us, and he threw an arm over Oz’ shoulder and dragged him in for a playful choke.
“Full of fucking surprises, this kid,” Rodeo laughed.
“Bring them to church, Oz, we’ll get the women to look at their bruises and wounds and after that, we’ll talk to Lewis about making them prospects,” I said. Oz beamed at me with excitement.
“I volunteer to do the convincing,” Rodeo said.
Behind us, we could hear the boats sailing up to the dock in swarms. They were carrying the crates of weapons with them, reading to be shipped to our warehouse.
“This solves the problem of keeping guard on the warehouse,” Girth said walking over to us. “Me and two of the Romano boys can do it,” he suggested and Rodeo and I both agreed.
“Before you do that, we have to get back to the bar before Lila and Jordan throw up a fuss about you two,” I said. Girth and Rodeo looked at each other sheepishly. They didn’t know how bloody lucky they were that they had the love and support of good women on their sides.
I had an empty house to go back to, and more cans of beer to keep me company.
“Let’s get the stock out first,” Rodeo said, and pulling Oz with him, I watched them greeting the ship’s crew with handshakes.
Rodeo had accepted Oz, he’d accepted the Romano boys and most importantly, he’d accepted my ambitious plans for the MC. All I needed was Rodeo and Girth’s support and I knew that winning over Lewis to the cause was going to be easy now.
I ran a hand through my hair, realizing that my right hand was caked with drying blood. I did it. I finally did it. I’d proven to Lewis and everybody else in our city that the Marked Skulls were on their way and we weren’t going to back down.
Chapter 27
Alexis
I woke up to the sound of my cell phone ringing. Not that I had been sleeping to begin with, I’d just been lying in bed, visualizing Abe’s face over and over again. I felt like a naive giddy teenager in love with a high school heartthrob.
It was Courtney on the phone.
“Alexis? I just heard about Oz, is he all right?” she asked and I sat up in bed with a jerk.
“What are you talking about? What happened to Oz?”
“I heard that he got mixed up with some shootout at the docks, with the Marked Skulls MC. Loads of men got hurt,” Courtney said. I didn’t let her finish, I was already out of bed and hurriedly changing into any clothes that I could find on hand.
I ran out of the apartment and got into my car. I knew exactly where I needed to go to find more information.
At T-Bone, I could see the parking lot full to the brim with bikes and muscle cars. It seemed like there was a party raging inside. The music was loud and even from outside, I could hear raised cheering voices.
I gulped before I stepped in, tucking in my messy hair behind my ears. I wasn’t sure of what I’d find inside.
When I pushed open the door, I saw that it did look like a party! Even though there were several men, sitting around on bar stools with their shirts off. These were the guys with bruises and gunshot wounds on their bodies. I recognized a lot of their faces, most of them were the Romano boys.
Amongst them, my brother sat with a can of beer in his hand and a girl working on bandaging his left bicep.
“Sis!” He cheered joyfully, jumping off the stool and rushing towards me. I could see now why it was so easy for Oz to get swept up in this. There was a sense of celebration and camaraderie in this place. Even though there were so many of them who were wounded and hurt, everyone seemed to be in a happy mood.
Oz pulled me into his arms and I patted him down, checking for where else he might have been hurt.
“You heard?” he asked and I nodded my head, trying to gulp down the tears in my eyes.
“Courtney heard and she called me. I didn’t know what happened, are you okay?” I asked and Oz hugged me tightly.
“I’m fine, sis, it was great! It was amazing! We won!” he screamed, over the noise in the bar.
“You must be the sister,” two women had walked over to us as Oz and I separated. I recognized them from the last time I was at the bar. One with blond hair neatly tied in a braid, and another raven haired—both as beautiful as the other.
“Hi, I’m Alexis,” I said nervously.
“Lila”
“Jordan” they introduced themselves. Oz looked at them with a grin on his face.
“They’re with Girth and Rodeo, the other senior members of the MC,” Oz added and I smiled weakly at the women.
“We’re all very impressed with your brother here, the men are very happy to have him. We hear that he saved the day,” Jordan said, reaching for my arm affectionately.
I felt a sense of pride as the women spoke about Oz, who was still grinning.
“I just wanted to drop in and make sure he was doing okay,” I said and Lila stepped up and threw an arm around me.
“But you don’t have to go straight away, have a drink,” she said. When I looked, I saw that Oz was already walking back to his friends, leaving me in the care of these women.
“Is…everyone else okay?” I asked, and Lila threw Jordan a look, like they had some inside secret between them.
“Yes, Abe is fine and I’m sure he’d be happy to see you,” Jordan said, with a wide smile spreading on her face.
“No, that’s not what I meant,” I shook my head wildly but the women were dragging me to the counter, squeezing past celebrating men and clinking bottles of beer.
Behind the counter I saw Abe. He was unloading packs of beers, laughing loudly as he spoke to an older man with sparkling blue eyes.
“Daddy, this is Alexis. She’s Oz’ sister,” Lila introduced me to the older man, while I kept my eyes averted from Abe.
“Hello Alexis, I’m Lewis. I’m the President of the MC and we are happy to welcome your brother as a new prospect,” Lewis shook my hand. I felt that sense of pride again. I was glad to hear that Oz had made such an impression on everyone here. It was the best that I could have hoped for my brother. I could see that he was accepted and welcomed into this family of loyal men. They would have his back, they would appreciate his hard work and besides, Oz looked too happy for me to be mad at him.
My gaze drifted to Abe, who was standing next to Lewis, holding cans of beer in his hands like he’d stopped working midway. Lewis looked at me and then at Abe and then at me again.
“Looks like yo
u two have somethings to discuss,” Lewis said, and behind me, I could hear Jordan and Lila giggling.
My cheeks flushed and I looked away from Abe.
“Alexis, can we talk?” he asked, and I gulped and nodded my head. What could we possibly have to talk about anymore?
I watched him walk around the counter. I noticed now that the t-shirt he was wearing had patches of blood on the side. I followed him, as he led the way to a relatively quiet corner of the bar.
“What are you drinking?” he asked, holding a chair out for me at a rundown table.
“I’m not drinking, I’m not staying for long,” I said. Abe nodded his head and sat down across from me.
***
“Oz really came through for us,” he said. He’d carried a can of beer with him and he drank from time to time as he watched me. I felt like my body was on fire, like my insides were burning up with the need to be in his arms.
“You look hurt,” I said and he looked down at his t-shirt and shrugged his shoulders.
“Not as hurt as I would’ve been if Oz’ friends hadn’t shown up,” he told me. I looked over to where Oz was sitting with his friends, laughing and joking, looking happy.
“So, you’re involving the Romano boys in this thing too?” I asked and Abe nodded his head lightly.
“They’re good boys, not as skilled as Oz is but with a bit of work, I’m sure they’ll get there. Lewis approves of them, so they’re all ready to be patched in,” Abe continued, and his words sounded like gibberish to me.
I wasn’t really paying attention to what he was saying; I was more focused on how brilliantly his blue eyes shone, how strong and masculine he looked as he sat there, the tattoos on his neck, his biceps bulging…
“How are you?” he asked, snapping me out of my thoughts. I fiddled with my fingers, feeling nervous again.
“I’m okay…I’m good. Vanity came to my apartment a few days ago, looking for you,” I said. Abe sighed and shook his head.
“Sorry about that, I’ll talk to her and make sure that she doesn’t trouble you,” he told me, leaning over the table as he shifted in his chair. The party continued to rage around us, and I was beginning to feel out of place here. I had resisted this lifestyle for so long, I had been so afraid of it…that now, with Abe and Oz around, the fact that it felt normal, made me uncomfortable. I didn’t want to give in so easily, I had my pride, but I knew I was…I was seeing what Oz saw in this.
