Page 13 of Joyride
“You’re Shade’s sister,” I state.
“Yup, sure am.” Her voice is clipped.
“Not close with him?”
“I used to be,” she says. Her eyes are distant as if she’s replaying a memory in her mind.
“Enough said. Not my business,” I tell her. She gives me a small, thankful smile, making my heart skip a beat. The fuck? I’ve never had a girl make me feel like that fromsmilingat me. Hell, I’ve never had a girl make me feel like thatever.
“So, Sketch,” she says. “How’d you get that name?”
“I’m always sketching shit,” I explain. “I’m pretty big into drawing, and I’m a tattoo artist.”
Her eyes light up. We fall into an easy conversation after that. I come to a conclusion— boyfriend or not, I need this girl in my life.
9
Sketch
We pullup to Gator’s place a quarter after three. Climbing out of Clutch’s car, I get a look at his house. It’s a huge farmhouse. If I had to guess, I’d say it had anywhere from eight to ten bedrooms. We walk around to the backyard where there’s music playing, along with lots of laughter.
“Clutch, Diesel! Good to see y’all again.” I’m going to guess this is Gator. He turns to me. “And you must be Sketch. I’m Gator. Welcome to my humble abode.”
I chuckle. “It’s nice to meet you. This place is amazing. How much land do you own?”
“Oh, roughly eighty acres,” he tells me.
“Not bad,” Kicks mutters.
“Come meet the rest of the guys,” Gator says. We follow him to a picnic table full of people. There are a few scantily clad women scattered around. Gator stands at the head of the table to introduce everyone, pointing as he goes. “This is Biggie, Chaos, Rex, Outlaw, Vegas, Kamikaze, and Macgyver. Fellas, these are a few of the brothers from Savage Menaces MC and Riders.”
Head nods and hellos are exchanged.
“Some of you ride bikes,” I ask.
“Chaos, Mac, Rex, and Vegas do,” Biggie informs me.
“Barbie, get some chairs for our new guests,” Gator orders one of the girls. She and another girl each bring two chairs over for us.
“Take the girls inside. We have things to discuss,” Gator tells her. As soon as all the girls are inside, we get down to business.
“So, all of y’all want to be part of the Savages?” My eyes move around the group.
“Yeah,” Chaos says. “We’ve all taken time to mull it over and we’ve all talked about it. This is what we want.”
“Why Savage Menaces,” Kicks asks them.
“You hear things out on the streets. From what we’ve all heard y’all are, without a doubt, not to be fucked with,” Outlaw says. “But, we’ve also heard about the brotherhood. That’s what drew us in the most.”
“Y’all will need to come out to Texas and meet Bull, Buster and the rest of the club,” I inform them. “I’d say the half that wants to be Menaces come first, then those who want to be Riders can come out a week or two later.”
“That’s doable,” Gator states. “How long are y’all in town for?”
“At least through the end of the week,” I tell him. “There’s a tattoo convention I’m interested in next weekend. I’m still trying to talk these assholes into staying long enough to go.”
“I’m down to stay,” Clutch announces.
“He’s down to get his dick wet,” Kicks says. Everyone laughs.
