Page 98 of Healed

Around the seating area was a small convenience store, run by Jade, and a hairdresser, which was very much The Bird’s domain.

At the back of that was the tattoo parlour, which was owned by Dante and Hacksaw, with Hacksaw having taken on Jenna as an apprentice.

“It keeps her mind off Shark,” Vienna told me with a sympathetic shrug.

Down the street from the tattoo parlour was another pub/café, which was opposite a children’s play park.

There was also a small building with an animal sign outside that I had never seen before.

“What’s that?” I asked.

Vienna let out a barking laugh. “That’s Steph’s.”

“Its… a pet store? Here?”

“When I tell you it’s the lesser of two evils, just trust me on that one. If she had her way, every shop here would be replaced with pet-related stuff. She wanted to install parrots in the café next door. Dante finally agreed to let her run her own pet supply shop, so long as she, and I’m quoting directly here, ‘stays the fuck out of my way for a minimum of ten hours a day.’”

“Wow,” I laughed. “She really winds him up, doesn’t she?”

“She never used to be this bad. Before Rachel came back, she was mildly annoying, but never like this. Ever since she and Rachel became friends, they’ve become a terrible influence on each other. And, now that they have Sin club as well, none of us are safe.”

I’d seen enough of Sin to believe every word.

We continued walking, passing through the small village that resided towards the back of the compound. This had around fifteen houses in it, each for a member of the club and their family. Nestled nicely in there was another cafe/library, which also doubled as a nursery for the children, run by Heather.

“Are there many children here?” I asked, not really understanding the need for a nursery.

“Not really,” Vienna said. “There’s Bee, Axe-man and Trex. There are older kids, like Ant’s nephews and they always bring a gang of friends with them. I like that, it’s starting to feel like the old Disciples again.”

I could tell by the shine in his eyes that he meant that. He had always loved being in the junior division, so to see it coming to life again had to mean a lot to him.

Towards the back of the village was another large bar, and the second main house. Opposite that was the club graveyard.

“Who uses the house now?” I asked, remembering that Crash and Kitty were supposed to retire there.

“It’s a dorm room, basically. I know Ant holds his Descendents meetings there, and they all pretty much sleep over every night. They’ve turned it into their own little fortress.”

“Are the Descendents going well then?”

“Yeah. It started with his nephews when he got custody of them. And then from there, they recruited a few lads from their school, and last I heard there were around fifteen members.”

“Wow. It feels like only yesterday you and Dante were running the youth division.”

“Yeah, and nearly driving Crash into an early grave because of it,” he chuckled.

He led me to one of the benches dotted along the side of the road. “We’ll take a break for a few minutes and then I’ll show you where everyone lives, if you want?”

“That would be nice. I also want to have a look in that pet store. And, if possible, I want to grab some shit from the convenience store.”

“Jade’s.”

“It says Devil’s outside.”

“Call it Jade’s—trust me.”

I looked at him with amusement, and he said: “I told you. Ever since Sin, you old ladies are well above your station. You gotta call it Jade’s or pay the tax.”

I laughed and asked him what the tax was, but inside I was replaying his words over and over.