Page 67 of Grace's Redemption
Twelve
MASE
Icaught just a glimpse of her and my world imploded along with my heart. Four years and she still had the same effect on me.
My mind played images of her over and over behind my eyes. The curly brown hair, her bare shoulders, the flowy leather skirt and her lean muscular legs. They all reminded me of someone and then recognition hit a second later it wasthesomeone and my heart hadn’t stopped beating out of my chest since.
I should have booked a flight to Vegas or rode up to Atlantic City on my way back. My poker face was on point.
How did my Gracie end up in a female motorcycle club?
She had her cut; lightweight black leather with pink panels flung over one shoulder. I only saw a part of the emblem, but recognized it from the other ladies in the bar.
They weren’t serving us drinks or making us feel welcome. No, these were badass ladies who made you respect their position in the club dynamics. Their president, Justice, the woman was bangin, with a beautiful body and an air about her made you take notice. Justice stood out because I saw her huddled up with Razor after Grace disappeared.
The rest of the ladies, different sizes, shapes, colors. I’d never seen a female biker club who hung with the big dogs. This was going to be a new experience.
I sat back and observed the whole night, waiting for the next ball to drop and scanning the area for another glimpse of my ghost. She must have noticed me, too. I didn’t see hide nor hair of her for the rest of the night.
The rest of her crew seemed to keep their distance from me, too.
I could have asked, but I was more curious to see how it played out.
The Guardians were a club. They just played biker gang and in their play got caught up in something way over their head I suspected.
They talked the talk and walked the walk, and the few times we tangled with the Vipers together, they’d held their own, but they weren’t like us. They weren’t my concern.
With Gracie as a member, they came to the front of my radar.
I’d long suspected my brother’s death wasn’t as simple as everyone made it out to be. Derrick had disappeared off the face of the earth shortly after the incident with Grace.
As much as I hated him thinking I could kill the only woman I could ever love, I couldn’t tell him or anyone else the truth.
Him leaving sat with me wrong, but he gave me my freedom. I owed him the same courtesy.
Mattie tried to take out the Vipers President’s son, so he was taken out. Eye for an eye. My dad assured me, Mattie was working on his own.
I didn’t buy it. Mattie wasn’t a killer. He didn’t have the stomach for it.
Maybe he was trying to prove himself.
I’d been searching for the actual shooter for years and I wasn’t satisfied despite my father’s assurance it was taken care of.
I didn’t simply want to take the guy out, I wanted to know why and how and then send his ass to a painful agonizing death.
How did a rival club member roll up into our compound and kill him? It had been hours from the attempt on the Viper’s life. No one can mobilize that fast which made me believe, my brother’s hit was put out there first, but who ordered it and why? Were the two events connected? Who would gain from taking out the sons of two motorcycle club Presidents?
“Will you stop sulking? You’re my fucking VP, start acting like it.” Dad said.
“I never signed up for this shit and you know it.” We spoke in hushed tones, but a blind person could see our relationship hadn’t gotten any better over the years. A Viper took out our former VP, Robbie, Robert Mulligan, six months ago. His death opened up a hole in the club leadership. My father relied on me to fill it. It all worked out the way he wanted it. My father thought he was giving me a gift. He didn’t know me at all. In fact, our relationship had deteriorated to the point we barely spoke unless we were shouting at each other.
I took the position at the urging of my guys.
When I returned, he promised to increase our efforts to go legit. He said he would step down as President and give me full rein soon and then the club would be mine to do with as I wished. I asked him every few months, was it time.
He simply answered with a no. After six months, I stopped asking.
It didn’t matter. I didn’t want to be the President of his club. My guys, the ones closest to me, they were the ones I would follow into battle and not worry about getting shot in the back.
