CHAPTER ONE
TARGET
Laughter fills the front yard of the clubhouse, the Arizona sun beating down on my bare back as I am polishing my baby, while watching my actual human babies run around chasing a prospect.
Emmi and Rex are my twins, they are ten going on eighty, especially Emmi. She is full of fire and sass. Rex is more like me, ready to take on the world and smile doing it.
“Dad, look, I can catch Reid,” Rex shouts, as he clings like a spider monkey to the prospect’s leg.
The young man, who is barely twenty-one, grins down at my kids. He has only been here for about six months and he has made a good impression on the other members, and my kids have taken to him.
The club’s president, Racer, took over from Tank a year ago after a small bout with illness. He runs a tight ship and that includes bringing in prospects who he thinks will actually fit with the club.
“I can see, kiddo.” I smile.
Those kids are my fucking world, outside of the club.
When they came into the world screaming, me and their mom fell in love with them. Ruth and I only stayed married for another year after they were born, then things started to change. It was like we just grew apart, sex became a rare occasion, and we just became distant.
We sat and talked it out, because I knew that we still loved each other although it was a different level of love. It was not an easy decision but we decided to divorce. If we are being honest with ourselves, it was the best thing we ever did besides having the twins. We became our old selves again.
Ruth is one of my best friends— we get along better now than we ever did— she remarried a man who is also a good friend, and they have a baby who I adore.
There will always be a connection between the three of us but that is for another time.
An SUV pulls through the club gates, and I squint, shielding my eyes with my hand to see who it is.
I see out of the corner of my eye as the prospect steps in front of my kids, and I grin. He adores my babies, and I know from seeing him with them that he would lay his life down for them both, and that is what shows me that he will be a good brother in the future.
My dogs, who I paid a small fortune for, stand to attention. My boys, Zeus and Ares, stand in front of the prospect, but Charm, my girl, goes between my kids as they stop playing to see who just arrived.
They may be dogs, but they are like four-legged bodyguards.
Climbing to my feet, I pull the cloth from the back of my jeans to clean my hands. Collecting my cut from the hook on the wall, I slip it on over my bare shoulders, walking toward the SUV.
The doors swing open and I smile seeing who just exited.
“Well, if it isn’t the woman I wanted but was stolen from me.” I grin widely at Lilith with my hand over my heart in mock heartbreak.
“Oh, hush you.” She smiles brightly at me then steps into my arms.
“If I didn’t trust my woman, I would snap your fucking arms for touching her,” Jack calls out, although he is grinning at me.
I am so fucking glad that he pulled his head out of his ass and claimed his woman. For years he pined over her, and her him, but because of Jack’s son Dom, Lilith kept her distance then she almost married some dickless guy who the club had to deal with.
“She loves me, really. And how is that kid of yours?” I ask, keeping Lilith tucked to my side, smirking at seeing Jack scowl.
“He is good. Gearing up for another competition on his board. Scares the shit out of his mom.” He nods to Lilith.
Dom was more than happy to call Lilith his mother, after he own birth-bitch being exactly that, a bitch who tried extorting money from the club.
“Get inside, it is hotter than Satan’s balls out here,” Racer calls out.
We all turn to look at Pres, who is standing at the door that leads into the club.
“Come on, let’s go and fill Racer in on the reason Logan needed to come here,” Jack speaks up.
“Emmi, Rex, let’s go.”