Page 14 of The Stallion
I was a fucking legacy.
It was time I started acting like it.
Theringceremoniesweresacred and restricted to only the male members of the organization.
Tonight would mark our debut as father and son, leader and legacy, to the Men Under Revue. I knew this would be a monumental occasion for him, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
My father deserved every ounce of recognition for raising me into the man I was—the dutiful son I would continue to be.
“Glad to see you two decided to show up together instead of separately.” Alec wore a broad smile as he approached us at the main entrance of the mansion—a sea of black tailored suits flooding the grand foyer behind him.
“Thank you for taking care of my son, Alec.” My father pulled him into a warm embrace, and the two shared a sigh of relief from everything that had gotten them—and me—here tonight.
“Always, Cole. I know you’d have done the same for me.”
They were two sides of the same coin when it came to my initiation. My father was terrified of losing his only son at the hands of his best friend, and Alec was stressed beyond measure to ensure that was never an option.
“Right. Now that that’s out of the way…” Alec motioned for me to follow. “Dallas, come with me. As the leader of Temptations, your father will be seated with his revue for the ceremony.”
It almost felt wrong not to sit beside my father during such a significant moment in our lives. But every revue had its designated section, which meant we would never be seated together at any of these ceremonies.
I didn’t regret my decision; it was always the right one to make, and would allow me to become so much more.
I was Cole Ryan’s son, not his shadow.
Izonedoutformost of the ceremony.
Once on stage, Dustin rambled, for what felt like fucking hours, about how he had elaborate plans of making the MUR even more powerful and lucrative than his father by expanding our reach outside of Las Vegas in the coming years.Guess the rumors were coming true.
Alec rolled his eyes at the speech, grumbling under his breath about how stupid the idea sounded and that it would never happen in his lifetime.
My father and Alec completed their initiations around the same time, with only a year separating them. They would both be retiring in roughly six or seven years, so luckily, Alec didn’t have to wait much longer for his highly sought-after retirement package—remaining on the payroll and living a life of freedom and luxury with no strings attached.
I knew my parents had already discussed leaving Nevada once that day came—spending the rest of their lives traveling and seeing the world together. My mother always wanted to explore new places.
It seemed easy to obtain—do the job and do it well—but you’d be surprised how many never actually make it to retirement.
“You legacies and your fucking delusional way of thinking—that you can do anything and everything without consequence…” Alec sighed, shaking his head and dragging his hand down his face.
From his body language alone, I could tell he was ready for the evening to be over—or at least for Dustin toshut the fuck up.
“Aw, let the kid have his dreams, Alec.” One of the senior Red Magic dancers chuckled from the row behind us as he leaned in between Alec and me. “Ya know… It could always be worse; he could fund his vision by cutting our paychecks in half.”
Alec huffed out a sarcastic laugh, shaking his head again as Dustin finished his speech and moved on to the main reason that brought us all here tonight—the ring ceremony.
“Sponsors, if you’d be so kind as to bring forth your protégés.”
“That’s us, kid.” Alec patted my knee just before he pushed himself up to stand.
Exiting the row, I followed his lead down the aisle between the Red Magic and Temptations sections, catching a glimpse of my father and his broad smile as we passed him.
“As you may have already heard, this initiation session contained an elimination test between Red Magic and Heaven Down Under. This last-minute decision was necessary to uphold the balance of tradition.”
The fucking audacity.We all knew the members of Heaven were far from pleased with the final result of the backhanded test.
Due to their requirement that all members must hold Australian citizenship, they were already the smallest of the three revues, and losing a member would have been a massive blow to their current roster.
Even though I didn’t personally kill their dancer, I still sentenced them to their fate the second I pulled the trigger in that limo. And that was a decision I would have to live with for the rest of my life.
