“What do you want, Romeo?”
“Hey, Princess. Sketch said you weren’t at the clubhouse. What’s goin’ on,” I ask.
“You didn’t want me, so I left. Don’t come looking for me. I’m not coming back.” She hangs up, not letting me say anything else. I try calling her back, but it goes straight to voicemail.
I wake up, sitting straight up, my heart pounding in my chest.
“What’s up? You alright?” Saint’s brows draw together.
“Yeah. I had a weird dream. Where are we?”
“About halfway to our destination for the night. We’re about to stop to grab some food,” he explains.
“Good, I’m fuckin’ starving.” As if on cue, my stomach growls.
We pull up to an Applebee’s twenty minutes later. I climb out of the car and stretch. Shade, Diesel, and Saint head toward the front door.
“I’ll be in soon. I’m gonna make a quick phone call,” I call out to them.
Saint nods in acknowledgment. The dream I had felt too fucking real. I dial Chains’ number, needing to know that she’s still at the clubhouse and okay.
“What’s up?” he answers.
“When was the last time you saw Marley?”
“She’s sitting right here. Why,” Chains asks.
“Let me talk to her.” It’s bad that I can’t take his word for it, but I ignore that.
“Hey, Rascal wants to talk to you.” His voice is distant. I’m sure from handing her the phone.
“Romeo,” Marley deadpans.
“How’s it goin’?”
“Seriously? You called for small talk?” Irritation laces her voice.
“I wanted to check on you.” I smile, even though she can’t see me.
“It’s been, like, what? Four hours?”
“And?” I draw out.
“Goodbye, Romeo.”
“Talk to you later, Princess.” I laugh. I head inside and find the guys.
“Everything alright,” Shade asks as I sit.
“Just peachy,” I smirk at him, and he shakes his head. When the waitress comes by, we each order what we want. It’s not busy here at all, and we get our food pretty quick. The rest of the day is uneventful, as is the rest of the drive the next day. The only thing that happens is Shade getting a text from his buddy, Ric. Ric is one of two guys who run the underground circuits in Denver. He told Shade he has some guys who want to talk about joining the Savage Menaces MC and asked if we could meet up once we got into town.
We got to Ace and Nitro’s house a quarter after five. We took some time to get settled and relax after two days of driving. Now, we’re headed to grab some dinner and meet with Ric and Axel.
“Shade, my man! How’s it going?” Ric greets as we walk up to the table they’re sitting at.
“It’s good, real good,” he replies. “Y’all know Diesel and Rascal. This is Saint.”
We all exchange greetings and sit around the table. A waitress quickly comes by to take our drink order and scurries off again.
“So, tell us about the guys that want to join the Savage Menaces,” I say to Ric.
“Ace and Nitro are two of them,” Ric tells us.
“They’ve mentioned to me before that they were considering it,” Shade says. “Have Breeze and Zero expressed interest?”
“Ace told me all four of them were interested,” Ric replies.
Shade nods his head.
“Is there anyone else,” Diesel asks.
“Yeah,” Axel says. “Four bikers, Flame, Sniper, Thrasher, and Darko.”
“We can set something up for you to meet them tomorrow night if you all don’t have anything going on,” Ric adds.
“We have a meeting with a supplier in the early afternoon. After that, we’re free,” Shade tells him.
“Why don’t we have them come to Ace and Nitro’s tomorrow night?” Diesel suggests.
“I’ll shoot Ace a text and see what he thinks,” Axel says.
We spend the next few hours bullshitting about cars and motorcycles. Once we get back to Ace’s house, I crash hard.
10
Rascal
The next morning, I wake up close to nine. I stay in bed, lost in my thoughts. A few women came up to our table last night, trying to hit on us. All I could do was think of Marley and wonder what she was doing like I am right now. That stubborn woman fucks with my head even when I’m damn near a thousand miles away from her. I stay in bed for another half an hour before I get up and shower.
After my shower, I get dressed and head to the kitchen for some breakfast. When I walk in, there’s a full pot of coffee, hot and ready. I glance around and find Nitro grabbing cereal from the pantry. I pour myself a cup of coffee, drinking it black. Every once in a while, I’ll add creamer to it, but when I’m staying at someone else’s house, it’s easier to drink it black.
“Sup, man? Want some cereal?” Nitro holds the box up.
“Yeah, I’ll take some.”
He grabs two bowls while I grab the milk, and we meet at the table. After I fill my bowl with cereal, I shoot Chains a text.
To Chains: She giving you any trouble?
He texts back right away.
From Chains: Not at all.
I shake my head. Of course, she’s not giving him any trouble. The only person she ever gives trouble to is me, and I’m actually okay with that. I smile to myself at the thought.
“So, I guess we’re having a party tonight,” Nitro says.
“Yeah, Ric wants us to meet some new guys. They apparently wanna be Menaces.”
He nods, mulling it over in his head.
“We’ll vet ‘em and see how everyone gets along before bringing them to meet Bull,” I tell him. “He’s aware that we’re scoping out some new guys, so he’ll be waiting to hear from us.”
“Cool, I’m excited to party tonight. It’s been a while since we’ve thrown a party.” Nitro chuckles. “Ace invited some chicks, too.”
“Yeah, for sure.” For the first time in my life, I find myself completely uninterested in partying.
A few hours later, Shade, Diesel, Saint, and I are pulling up to Higher Zen. I walk in, and a new guy is standing behind the counter. He barely looks old enough to be working here.
His eyes widen when he sees the four of us. We can be a tad bit intimidating. “What’s up? Welcome to Higher Zen. Can I help you find anything?”
“We’re here to see Blaze,” I state.
“I, uh, I’ll go let him know you’re here.” He walks past the tapestry into the back room. While we wait, I walk around the shop, picking out things I want for myself. The door to the shop opens with a bunch of giggling. I glance over my shoulder and catch two pairs of eyes already watching me. If my mind wasn’t already consumed by another chick, I’d invite these two to our party later. I go back to wandering the store. There’s whispering behind me, and from what I can tell, the girls are trying to decide who’s going to come talk to me.
“Hey, how’s it goin’?” Blaze pulls my attention to him.