Prologue
Neo
Age 15
Standing on the sidewalk, tears streaming down my face as medical personnel come out of my house. The wind whips its cold breeze around yet I’m numb to the chill.
“I’m sorry, son,” Detective Rylan says coming to stand in front of me. I knew who he was as he knew me. He’d been called to our house on more than one occasion.
He wasn’t just any cop around here doing his job. No, he was my dad’s brother, my uncle. I depended on him for as long as I can remember to help me with my mom. Nothing was the same after dad was killed in a drive-by in retaliation for a case he’d been working. He’d gotten his guy and the next day he was dead.
“Why did she do it?” I ask my gaze focused on the gurney being wheeled out of the house with a black body bag on top.
I don’t understand what was so wrong in her life she couldn’t stand to stay here.
I was her son and she left me.
Now I was alone without either of my parents.
“Son, you’re too young to understand, but one day you’ll understand your mom never had it easy and the demons finally won a war that she’d been battling for a very long time. Your dad, he was the love of her life, the one who pieced her back together again when she was broken beyond repair.”
“Shouldn’t she love me as much? I’m her son,” I mutter, anger starting to set in. How could she be selfish and take herself away from me when I needed her the most. I’m fifteen. I just got my driver’s permit. I don’t know what I’ll do now.
“I know, Nate, I know. But there’s nothing we can do anymore. Come on, I’ll take you to my place. We’ll figure everything else out tomorrow,” he mutters, lowering his head with a slight shake.
Figure everything else out tomorrow? There’s nothing to figure out, she’s gone, and I’m left with zero parents. With me being fifteen and still in school, I can’t just go out and get a job to support myself.
Besides that, as cool as my uncle is I’m sure he doesn’t want me cramping his style. He’s a bachelor living it up as my mom would joke.
Nodding to my uncle, I take a deep breath. My life might have just changed in a way I didn’t want but at the end of the day I knew this day would come.
My uncle guides me to his car and opens the door for me.
“Don’t worry, Nate. I’ll be here for you. I’m not going to leave you stranded in the dark of days. I got your back,” he states reassuringly.
If only that were true.
Five days later we put my mother in the ground. My uncle was shot while on duty leaving him immobilized from the waist down the day after. He might still be alive but he’s not the same man he was before.
For the longest time I always thought I’d grow up to be a cop like my dad and uncle. Not anymore.
Leaving the hospital this last time I walk right into a man wearing a cut. I knew he was part of a motorcycle club right away. My dad had been friendly with the Devil’s Riot though he always warned me to stay away from them.
“Watch where you’re going, kid,” he mutters, reaching out to steady me as I stumble backwards.
“Sorry, sir,” I stammer, nervous by being in this man’s presence.
“You alright?” he asks, furrowing his brow while taking me in. “You here with someone?”
Shaking my head, I lower my gaze to the ground. I have no one. Not anymore. My uncle told me to leave him be and don’t come back.
How great is that to hear when you just lost your mom a week ago?
“Name’s Bear, where you headed?”
Lifting my head, I glance up to look at the man standing in front of me. His name suits him. He’s a giant of a man with a burly beard.
“Uh, I don’t know. I guess I’ll figure it out when I get there.” I shrug.
“Huh, what’s your name, kid?”
“Nathan Rylan.”
“You Rylan’s boy?” he asks, cocking his head to the side.
“Yeah,” I say, confused as to which Rylan he’s talking about.
“You look just like him. Sorry about your old man. Heard about your momma and uncle,” Bear grumbles sincerely.
“Ugh, thank you,” I mutter, unsure of what else to say.
“Look since your uncle’s hurt, and you seem lost as to what to do, why don’t you come to the club and stay with us until he’s on his feet or what not?”
Holy crap.
Is this dude for real?
For some reason, I don’t know why but I feel as if going with Bear will lead me to the place I want to be.
Chapter One
Harley
When did my life turn to what it has become?
I used to be the life of the party. I loved to go out dancing and have a good time. I would drink but not get drunk to where I acted stupid. I had friends I would go out with. We would laugh and joke around.
Not anymore. I barely live a life worth living after the night my world changed. How could I have not seen it until it was too late? The madness in Charlotte’s eyes. Then everything else from that dreadful day. Even though it was a long while ago, it still feels as if it happened yesterday.
I can still feel Charlotte’s mouth on my body, her teeth raking across my nipples. Then of course there is what Mareena did to me with her mouth and fingers. I have nightmares still about her even though I know she won’t be able to hurt me anymore. She still has that power in my dreams. I live it more times than I like to admit to myself.
Since that night I’ve secluded myself as much as possible, going to work and coming back home where I lock myself away. Pretty much my friend, Luna, and I switched roles. I never understood why she refused to go out but having been told her story, I completely get it now.
The women from the Devil’s Riot try to check on me and I do my best to hide the pain I still feel deep inside. Don’t need them to know what I’d started to do, what I’ve contemplated doing. If they knew, Luna would be the first in line demanding her ol’ man get me the help she thought I needed.
That’s not going to happen.
I heard what Rachel went through due to hers, she’d ended up having another beautiful boy named Talon, about six months or so ago. I only know this because I’d been forced to go to a cookout at the clubhouse after he was born. Luna and Shadow are constantly trying to get me to come around. More or less it’s Luna using Shadow to bully me into coming. You don’t tell that man ‘no’ and not because he intimidates you into doing what he wants you to. No, it’s more or less Shadow looks at you, says what’s going to happen, and you go with it otherwise he’s simply going to drag you out whether you like it or not.
The day of the cookout, I’d been a nervous wreck. I always am around large groups, but that day was horrifying. One of the clubwhores, I didn’t know her name, cornered me in the bathroom. Told me I needed to stay away from the club if I knew what was good for me. Then she’d touched my skin, with the tips of her fingers while palming me between my thighs. I nearly threw up at the feel of her hands on me. She’s threatened to do to me, what had already been done and when she was finished, no one would ever want me again.