Page 11 of Kairo

“There you go, in your feelings, but Imma let it slide… tonight. Tighten the fuck up before I have to make you tighten up.”

“Yeah, aight.”

Everyone else feared him, but I didn’t. Any emotions that a normal person would feel no longer existed inside of me. I was alive on the surface but dead on the inside.

He laughed. “Just like Kumar.” He cleared his voice. “Still alone?”

I looked around. “Yeah.”

“We ride,” he said.

“We fall,” I said.

“But Iron Knights.”

I sighed. “Stand tall.”

The call ended.

Iron Knights was my bloodline. My great-grandfather was a founder. Everyone on my father’s side of the family was affiliated with the Iron Knights, but when I was born, my father moved us to another city and kept me away from it. When I was younger, I thought the Iron Knights only rode motorcycles and wore cool leather jackets. The older I got the more I begged my father to let me learn to ride. I wanted to honor his name and be a part of the family legacy.

Any time I would mention it to him, he would turn stern and warn me it wasn’t my future to be an Iron Knight. My future was brighter and bigger than being an Iron Knight. He would preachabout how dangerous motorcycles were. Instead, he taught me how to ride all shapes and sizes of bikes. We bonded deeply over our love for motorcycles, and that was a memory I held deep in my heart.

When my father was murdered, it was the first time I was exposed to all the members of the Iron Knights. Everyone affiliated with the Iron Knights wore their leather jackets and rode their bikes. Everything looked thrilling. Everybody looked like family. I felt that the Iron Knights were the closest thing to my father and family after losing him.

A few days after the funeral, Uncle Jap appeared at the house. He went over how my father left my mother and me set financially. Once the two wrapped up, I approached him to join the Iron Knights. In the beginning, he was hesitant. He debated on letting me become a member for a month. After much pleading, he decided to let me in.

A part of me wished I wasn’t so eager to join the club. Since joining I turned cold. Uncle Jap trained me up to be vicious. For the past eight years, he removed the light that I saw in anything. His motto was that we are all here to die, so what was the point? There was nothing that fazed me. I’d stared death in the face so many times it was second nature. Uncle Jap had me out on a mission to avenge what happened to my father. My father was innocently killed by the Savage Saints.

When Prez’s wife got murdered it began an all-out war between the two clubs. There was always an underlying beef, but that was all it was because one group thought they were better than the other. Once his wife died, all blame pointed at the Iron Knights. My uncle swore they had nothing to do with it, but Prez swore they did. Both of them were egotistical and only cared for themselves so I didn’t know who to believe. All I knew was that the Savage Saints were responsible for my father’s death.

They murdered him in broad daylight. He was pumping gas and headed on his way home to take my mother out for her birthday. I had never seen my mother so devastated. Since that day, she never celebrated a birthday. She would go visit his grave and spend all day there. It burned me seeing my family go from smiling and happy to being broken. That was why when Unc came to me with the proposition of going undercover I couldn’t help but say yes.

The plan was to go in and become a member. I would learn their trade and about all their undercover stuff. Once I learned everything, I’d take it back to the Iron Knights so we could come up with a plan to wipe out the Savage Saints. It was unexpected when they asked me to be Junebug’s bodyguard, though. My uncle and I went back and forth about it. I wasn’t trying to take over the situation, but with much pushing and bitching from him, I agreed. Now here I was, bodyguarding Junebug.

I stayed outside until the sun fully rose and went back inside. By the time I turned the corner, Junebug was coming down the stairs. She wore a white silk baby doll nightgown with a matching robe. She had her hair pulled to the top of her head in a bun. She didn’t have on an ounce of makeup, showing off her flawless skin. She rubbed at her eye, showing off her long white nails that matched her perfectly painted toes. As soon as she touched the bottom step, we made eye contact. She stared at me, and I stared at her. Neither of us said anything. I’d been around a lot of women, but none as innocent and beautiful as Junebug. It baffled me that someone like her was even associated with the Savage Saints.

She cleared her voice. “Good morning,” she said.

“Morning.”

“Sleep okay?” I nodded. “Not a man of many words, I see.”

I wasn’t a person who liked small talk. I’d always been a straight to the point type of guy. Plus, I was only here for one job,which was protecting Junebug and getting as much information for the Iron Knights as I could.

“I’m hungry. I’m going to grab breakfast and then head to the gym. You can go home,” she said.

I shook my head. “Give me a second. Let me grab the keys and I can go.”

She huffed and stomped her feet. “Listen, my father was just talking out his ass last night. He doesn’t mean for you to watch my every move. As long as we check in together and as long as he sees us together it should be fine.”

“No disrespect, but I’m here, and I wouldn’t dare go against Prez’s words. He asked me to do a job, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

She folded her arms across her chest, causing her breasts to push up. I tried to keep my composure and not stare at how perky they were. Her nipples were damn near bursting through the gown.

“You’re scared of my daddy?”

Internally, I screamed,ain’t body scared of her weak ass daddy, but I remained quiet. I had a job to do and couldn’t blow my cover.

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