“I know,” I told him.
“Right, yeah. Know your story,” he said, shoving a hand through his short brown hair, his green eyes flashing with the recollection. “You joined the army real young.”
“Too young.”
He frowned.
“Being a part of that world, having access to that kind of power, it made me reckless and extremely cocky. For a long time, I really believed I was untouchable.” I took a beat, then told him, “It cost me a lot.”
I saw him taking my words in. Scott had warned me that, despite his strengths, the kid was still a definite wildcard. Normally, a guy like that wouldn’t have made it past the prospecting period. But Scott had taken the risk, believing his talents outweighed that tumultuous wild edge of his. He’d revealed that it was actually one of the reasons he’d agreed to bring me into the fold. He thought I could have a positive impact on the kid. Hell, from what I’d heard and seen so far, Anarchy was the younger version of me. And Scott didn’t want him becoming the present version of me. He had a soft spot for him and was adamant that he didn’t end up paying the high price that I had.
Uneasiness danced in Anarchy’s eyes, my words clearly impacting him. As I’d expected, though, he blew it off with a strained laugh. “Taking chances is a rite of passage for the young.”
Cocky bastard.
“As long as reason also prevails,” I returned.
He grinned. “Touché.”
“So,” I said, eyeing my bike. “How did you get your hands on it? My house was—”
“Burned to a crisp?”
“Yes.”
“Your guy did an awesome job. There was no trace of those fuckers you killed. None.”
“He’s good at what he does.”
“Prez mentioned that. Knows Jesse just as well as you do, apparently. He said there’s no way he would’ve let your bike burn. He knew how much it meant to you.” He flashed me a self-satisfied smile. “Turns out he was right. Your boy had left it at the end of the driveway, like he knew you’d come back for it, that you’d need it.”
Fuck. He’d seen the way things were headed with me and Scott. He’d hedged his bets, figuring I’d join the Iron Kings MC and fight alongside my old friend once again.
“It was a risk going there.”
“You were gonna go back for it, weren’t you?”
“I know what I’m doing. It was a risk for you to go there. Why did you?”
“Prez wants something done, I get it done.”
Nice try. “It was more than that.”
He met my steely, invasive gaze head-on, something I’d seen very few people do. The kid had balls, that was for damned sure. “This club means a lot to me. Everything, actually. Iron Kings saved me, Spartan saved me, gave me a purpose and all that. The Rogues are a threat to all of it. And you’re the guy who can level the playing field. With you beside us, we’ve got a real shot of ending them and safeguarding everything we all care about more than anything. That’s why I did it.” He grinned. “Besides, you can’t get patched-in without a good, reliable ride. It’s a non-negotiable rule of the MC.”
All good answers.
He’d done it for the right reasons. It hadn’t been some impulsive, adrenaline-chasing act.
I nodded. “Okay.”
Scanning the garage, I took in the more than half a dozen motorcycles that were lining the shop floor.
Noticing the concern on my face, Anarchy told me, “They’re all small issues. If we were doing a quick run we’d let it slide. But we’re preparing for a goddamn war. Can’t take any risks, or have any weaknesses in our rides.”
“It’s just you and Tricks taking care of all of this?”
“We’ve also got Tyson and Matt, a couple of our prospects. I’ve sent them out for supplies. They’ve both got a mechanic background. They’re not bad.”
A roar of a motorcycle sounded outside, coming down the street. I turned to see Scott riding like a maniac. It kickstarted my adrenaline, sending my body into high-alert mode. Scott wasn’t reckless by nature. For him to be riding that way, it meant something was seriously wrong, the urgency it had sparked in him overriding his own sense of wellbeing completely.
He came to a rough stop in the parking lot that had me cringing for both him and his Harley.
He didn’t even have his helmet on.
He swung his leg over the bike and jogged over to us.
“Prez?” Anarchy spoke, coming up on my side to greet Scott. “We got a situation?”
Scott cringed as he took in the sight of the many members’ bikes in need of repair in the garage. “Fuck,” he muttered. “They know we ain’t ready. We been in a peaceable state for way too long since we drove them to ground last time. They wanna take us down before we get near our best. That’s why they did it.”
“Did what?” a voice sounded, and I looked to see Tricks joining us. He was carrying a couple of wrapped sandwiches. “Here, brother,” he said, handing one to Anarchy. “We got trouble?” he asked Scott.
Scott nodded and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He took a few seconds scrolling to something, then flipped it around and held it out for us to see. “This.”
It was a video, high-res security footage. “It’s from Ginny’s. Happened thirty minutes ago. Wrecker was manning the feeds and watched this go down.”
I focused on the footage of the bar, one of the franchises borne from Tonic. During Scott’s briefing to me. I watched as four bikes tore into the front lot and came to an abrupt stop.
“Looks like it’s closed,” I commented.
“Yeah, we’re getting around to closing them all until this is over. This just happens to be the first one we closed. Good thing, cuz there weren’t no civilians around for what went down next.”
I tensed at his words and continued watching as a guy with spiky blond hair strode up to the front windows.
“That’s Wolf, the Rogues VP,” Anarchy
