Page 1 of Blade's Return
1 BLADE
Six Years Ago
“You have everything covered, stop worrying,” Bear laughs.
“Man, this is an important meeting. I don’t want to fuck it up,” I mutter as we walk toward the Convention Center in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
Bear surprises me by stopping before we begin walking up the concrete steps leading to the entrance. He claps his large, beefy hand on my shoulder, giving me a squeeze. “There’s a lot in this fucked-up world that I worry about, Blade, but I’ve never worried about you. You are going to ace this meeting and we’re going to achieve every damn thing we want. I have no doubts at all, and you shouldn’t either.”
I stare at my brother. I can see the confidence he has in me. He’s fifteen years older than I am and he’s basically been the only father figure in my life. His approval means everything to me. “Thank you, Bear. I never want to disappoint you.”
He grins and pounds me on the back. “You never will.”
We start walking into the building. I allow myself to concentrate on him, trying to calm my nerves at the same time. Bear and I don’t really look like brothers. He took after our mother, who was a proud daughter of a Cherokee chief. My hair may be the color of my mother’s, and I have her eyes, but I mostly look like our father. That’s hard to swallow because he was nothing but a piece of shit. Bear’s hair is long, falling near the middle of his back. He is battle-hardened from his years in the Saints Outlaws Motorcycle Club. He moved from the mother chapter in Boston, coming back home to Cherokee, North Carolina to take over care of me after our mother died.
Right now, it would be even harder to tell Bear and I are related. He’s wearing his faded jeans, a Metallica tee, with his hair hanging free and untamed, and his club cut proudly worn—regardless of the purpose we’re here today. On the other hand, I’m in a suit and tie. My hair is neatly trimmed, and my beard is gone. Fuck, I don’t even recognize myself when I look in the mirror. I don’t like it, but everything hinges on getting the approval for this casino.
I’ll do whatever I need to do to ensure success. Our people need this. Right now, the town is a dying tourist trap, forcing proud people to play dress up—showing off their Native American heritage—and pose for pictures. This casino will put a stop to that, while injecting some much-needed capital. With that, we can make sure housing, as well as educational and professional opportunities are offered to our people and their children—like it should have been all along.
This is important to both of us but even if it wasn’t a dream I shared with my brother, I’d still do it. I owe Bear everything. He put me through school, uprooted his life, and then allowed me to prove myself as a member of his club. I worked hard so that I could rule it beside my brother, yet only the immediate club recognizes me as the Vice President. It wasn’t a position I was handed, I earned it, taking down any challenge for the office that I received.
Now, I’m hiding who I am. I don’t want any of these bigwigs thinking I’m part of the club. I’ve taken steps constantly to hide that fact—I’ve had to. We didn’t want any bias from the assholes on the board. They didn’t need to find a reason to deny our right to put in the casino. After we get the approval and have the right men in place, they’re all in for a shock.
It wouldn’t be so bad, but there’s a club trying to move into our area that Bear has been fighting. The Feral Kings MC are slime. We’ve been fighting them for a while. We’ve lost a couple of members in the war, but we’ve taken some of their ranked members, too. We’ll win, but right now is not a good time to wage an all-out war. Bear says we have to make the casino our priority. He’s right, but the quicker we can take the Feral Kings and their president, Eyeball, out—the better. He’s a sick, twisted asshole who is quite literally a psychopath. If any man deserves to die, it’s him.
“Bear!”
At the sound of my brother’s name being called out happily, I look and watch as the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life makes her way over to us. She’s stunning. Long, wavy blonde hair that is pulled high on her head in a ponytail that still falls past her shoulders. The woman is also sporting a slim but athletic figure, with just enough curves to make my dick stand up and take notice. I admire the soft white dress that falls just a little above her knee. It clings to her body, but still looks almost innocent on her. My favorite thing about her, however, is that she’s probably a foot smaller than I am. I tower over her and there’s just something I really like about that. I can’t explain what it is. I’ve never really noticed a woman’s height before but fuck if I don’t like her being shorter than me.
“Hey, Livy. How are you doing, sweetheart?” Bear asks as he gives her a hug. As they break apart, I notice that his face softens in a way that I haven’t seen since years ago, when he first began seeing his old lady, Ayita.
“I’m good. How’s Ayi?”
I blink at the nickname she uses for Ayita. Bear’s the only one I’ve heard call her that. Who is this woman and why has Bear been keeping her hidden from me?
“Good. I’ll tell her you asked about her.”
“I miss her.”
“She misses you, too. She’ll like knowing that you were asking about her. We were beginning to think you’d forgotten us.”
“Like that’s possible. Tell her to call me and we’ll have lunch together or something—if you ever let her out of your sight,” she jokes. She lets out this little laugh that seems to wrap itself around my cock, affecting me as much as if she’d wrapped her hand around me and begun stroking. I’ve never had this kind of reaction for a woman and I’m not sure what to do with it now …
“Hey, it took me years to find a good woman. I’m not going to let a minute go by where she doesn’t know she’s valued.”
From where I’m standing, I can see her smile as she looks at my brother. It’s clear the woman is gorgeous. Yet, there’s something more about her. There’s a tenderness—an unspoken innocence—that brings light around you, just by standing next to her. When her laughter moves into a sweet smile on her full lips, I’m lost. Absolutely lost. Finally, her gaze moves to me, and I’m frozen in place by how beautiful her blue eyes are. It might be wishful thinking, but I think she is as affected by me as I am by her. I hear the slight intake of breath and notice the way her eyes slightly dilate. When she licks her lips—clearly nervous—I have to hold back the growl of arousal that wants to escape.
“Are you ready for the meeting?” she asks, pulling her gaze away from mine, although she does seem reluctant to do so. Which is the only thing that keeps me from putting my fingers under her chin and forcing it back.
“Definitely, I brought my ace in the hole. This is Blade Aetos, the lawyer we’ve hired. He’s going to do great things for the people here in Cherokee,” my brother promises. I look at him, confused. Why would he use our father’s name? Sure, that’s what is on our birth certificates, but we hate that Greek asshole that is labeled as our father. We always use our mother’s maiden name. Plus, he introduced me as a lawyer—not his brother. I thought he would, since he obviously trusts this woman. I also doubt he’s missed the way I’m reacting to her. Still, I don’t question him right now. However, I’ll do it as soon as we’re alone.
“Oh,” she exhales. “You’re a lawyer?”
It could be my imagination, but I swear she seems relieved. “For only the last couple of years, but yeah,” I answer.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Blade.”
“You, too …” I pause, arching a brow in a silent question.
