Spawn
The Next Day
Imight have been the only biker I knew in the entire world—let alone the Devil’s Patriots—to enjoy opening the shop.
I was by no means a weak introvert, but there was something about the early morning when everyone shut the hell up, did their work, and left you alone that was just very relaxing. Satan, Sonny, and I rotated our days being the de facto “manager” of the repair shop during business hours, but you could always tell who was in charge just by the tone and mood of the place.
Sonny operated with a little more force and vigor than most, like he wanted to prove a point. I liked to think I ran a tight ship, albeit one with not much yelling and demonstrative force. And Satan usually showed up, made sure everyone was on time, and went back to take a nap until about eleven or noon.
After what had happened last night, I needed the fucking silence.
I couldn’t make heads or tails of anything. Melissa suddenly being back in Phoenix? The Black Reapers bringing in Mason? Him not recognizing me?That last one, I’m sure of.
It was a shitload to deal with in the span of roughly an hour. It didn’t fluster me, or at least I’d never admit it now if it did, but it was a lot more than we usually dealt with here. I’d have to reach out to Melissa at some point—I couldn’t let her be here without sayingsomething.
As for Mason, the less that was said, the better.
I started work on a Honda Accord when I heard the sound of a bike pulling up. I did a quick head count. We had one member and two prospects here, our usual numbers unless a member wanted more shifts. Had I forgotten that I’d promised a member an extra shift? No, that seemed unlikely.
I tensed a bit as I told everyone to stay inside. It was early for another Devil’s Patriot, but it was also early for a King’s Man or a Black Reaper. Then again, these days, who the fuck knew?
I stepped outside and breathed an enormous sigh of relief. It was Satan.
Satan?
“The hell you doing here?” I said.
“I know, fucking feels like I woke up at four a.m. like those fucking military weirdos do,” Satan said. “I know you’re overseeing shift, but you’re also in charge of everything for the day.”
“Everything? The hell?”
“I ain’t quitting, if that’s what you’re thinking, so don’t get your wishful ass up.”
I didn’t have plans for that. I did admit, though, I didn’t always agree with Satan’s approach to things. And this was likely to be no different.
“No, Sonny’s off for the day, and Hailey just learned of some serious family shit.”
Which means Melissa…
“Something with her sis—”
“Spawn,” Satan said in a polite but firm tone. “Your best bet is to stay the hell out of it. I’ll leave it at this. This is not ‘serious family shit’ that you would joke about with a fellow Devil’s Patriot, let alone a woman.”
I pulled my lip back and drew a deep breath in through my nose. Satan nodded, revved his bike back to life, and started to turn out toward the street.
“If Black Reapers come, talk tomorrow. If King’s Men come, kill ‘em.”
I nodded as Satan peeled out, leaving me to wonder just what the hell Hailey and, by logical extension, Melissa were now dealing with. Someone had to have died, right? There just weren’t that many situations that mandated concern of a higher level like this.
It couldn’t have been either of them that died. Satan would have come in here and grabbed a machine gun to shoot King if Hailey had been killed. He would have said something to me if Melissa had perished. So what the hell was it?
I returned to my work and threw myself full bore at it. I didn’t talk to anyone until lunchtime, and even then, it was only to tell them that I was taking a quick lunch. But that didn’t mean that there weren’t words in my head. I kept thinking about Melissa and if something had happened to her.
Or to someone she cared about.
What had happened the last time this had come up? She’d had a grandmother die while we dated. Back then, she just told me to stay the fuck away, albeit in nicer terms than that. And I did. But it was indicative of a larger issue.
She got fucking distant. There was no apparent reason for it—up to that point, I’d treated her well and done nice things. But she just…I guess she just didn’t want to be around me at times. Like so much in my life, when things got frustrating, I fucking solved them.
