I’m not sure how she can tell it’s him just from the sound, but when she points, a small group of motorcycles pulls up near the field, and I realize what the rumbling was now.
We run a couple more plays before Coach calls practice and informs us that we’ll meet in the weight room for a lifting session and weigh-ins tomorrow. Another thing I hate besides the uniform. Why do they need to know my weight?
Jeez, I’m full of questions today. My anxiety skyrocketed this afternoon, and I think it’s because my parents requested I make the drive home today for a family dinner. My counselor encourages me to learn to let go of the things I can’t change or control, but it’s challenging. Control is everything to me.
“Come on, I want you to meet Judge.” Ruby grabs my hand to drag me toward the bikers, but that’s the last thing I want to do. I’m sweaty and need to get ready for the more than thirty-minute drive home.
“I can’t, sorry. Another time. I have to hit the road, or I won’t make it on time for dinner.”
“Okay, maybe next time.” She lets me go and tells me to text her later. I nod as I turn and wander back toward the locker rooms.
Judge
* * *
Driving onto campus, I know my little sister will hear us coming because the sound of our pipes ricochets off the buildings in the valley. My sister is thirteen years younger than me. She’s a little spitfire, too. She was the “oops” baby, but my parents loved and doted on her more than they did me. Little pain in my ass has been given everything she ever wanted. Spoiled rotten is what I call her; Mom says she’s well-loved. Ruby is a handful, though, and now that my parents are traveling, they aren’t here to keep an eye on her. I am. And I’m serious about my responsibilities, but it’s hard with all my other commitments.
My father made me work my way through college, and here’s my sister running around the field without a care in the world. Nonetheless, I’m just as bad as my parents. Ruby earned full-ride and sports scholarships to study down here at the state university. The parents help pay for her dorm housing, and every two weeks, I ensure that her credit cards are good and her campus card is loaded with food money. I’m also checking up on her now before my meeting with the president of the Shiver of Chaos MC. They’ve helped us, and it’s time I paid up for their services. Just so happens that their headquarters is near the campus, right outside of Eastport.
A mix of students mill around as I survey my surroundings. Some are the rich kids you expect to see, who couldn’t make it into the Ivy League, but whose parents still wanted them to have a decent education. Then there are the students who work hard to be here. Those are the ones who walk by with their heads down, rushing off to their next class, while the others linger around as if this is a social club. Case in point: the group of girls in skimpy outfits, sitting as if they’re watching practice, but instead, are gossiping and checking us out.
“Hello, cutie,” a girl from the bleachers calls down, and I peer back to see Spike shaking his head.
All the girls find him cute until they realize he’s sick in the head. Fucker has some whacked ideas about sex. Shit I don’t want to know about. But he’s covered in tattoos and has that long, hanging-in-his-eyes hairstyle. Unlike me. My hair is short, cropped, almost shaved at the sides, with the top being a couple of inches longer, and I keep it pushed back.
I take off my brain bucket helmet and hang it on the bars before grabbing my ball cap and slipping it on backwards. I’m a big guy who isn’t always viewed as a hottie. I also have the don’t-fuck-with-me vibe.
Leaning forward on my tank, I stretch my legs to support me and my flat black Harley Road King. I ignore the girls and watch my sister run a play on the pitch. The scrum is set up, and a curvy, bigger girl catches my eye, holding the line when the hooker pops up with the ball. She tosses it to a scrum half, who then tosses it toward my sister, who is one of the wings. The big girl moves down the pitch to help with the play. Her shorts barely cover her plump, muscular ass, and her breasts jiggle a bit even in what must be a high-impact bra.
I shift on my seat before getting off and adjusting myself. Fucking teenagers got me turning hard. I need to get laid, but I’ve been too busy getting the new factory up and running. Plus, I don’t do club bunnies. They’re only looking for a property patch that I’ll probably never give away. I’m holding out for what my parents have, and I haven’t found that yet. When my patch is placed on my ol’ lady, she’ll know it’s forever. Too many marriages end in divorce, or people have a temporary mentality about marriage; I don’t.
The coach blows a whistle, and the players all gather around her. The girl who caught my eye moves toward them, glancing over at us before the girls on the bleachers, then she joins the huddle. She’s taller than everyone else, making me wonder about her exact height, since she’s that much taller than Ruby. My sister is only five feet three, but this girl is head and shoulders over her.
Given my height and size, she intrigues me. Her dark hair is secured in a tight bun, but as soon as the coach dismisses them, she reaches up and tugs a black scrunchy from her hair. Shiny, curly locks, the color of my favorite espresso, with a hint of red cascade down her back. When another ponytail is removed, the hair settles to her thicker waist.
Fuck.
I adjust myself again and spy Ruby trying to direct the curvy girl toward us. I’m about to get an up-close and personal view of this beauty. She shakes her head as she stares at us, then heads off toward the locker rooms.
I wonder if she’s scared of me, which causes an uneasy feeling in my chest. A lot of the girls who don’t know us are scared. We’re decked out in leather jackets and cuts. All four of us carry visible knives, but our guns remain hidden. The cuts display the club’s name on the back, but from the front, they show only our nicknames and a few other patches.
I’m dressed in a flannel for the fall ride and the loose-fitting jeans I like. I realize that at my size, I come off as intimidating, but I don’t want this girl’s fear, and it gives me pause for a moment. Why do I care so much about someone I’ve never met before? The question sticks with me.
At over six feet four and two hundred and thirty pounds, it’s tough for me to find comfortable clothes that withstand my busy, gritty life. I’m President of the Kings of Anarchy Rhode Island Chapter, but I’m also the owner of several businesses in our small town of Jupiter. I inherited two of them from my father and grandfather, who were also part of the club. My father was the president before me, but my grandfather “helped” the club.
You see, our chapter of the Kings of Anarchy is proficient in making things and people disappear. Not in the ‘put that person in hiding’ way, more like we permanently make them go away. I own a pet cemetery and a crematorium that helps dispose of bodies for the right price. My new business is a legit factory that used to deal in medical devices, which I converted into an agrochemicals facility that provides us all with clean money. But it also houses hydrofluoric acid to help break down everything, even bones and teeth.
We aren’t the nice guys that girls read about in their romance novels. We aren’t even like the television show bikers. We are the bad guys. I do have a few rules, though, and drugs in my town are one of the no-goes. We have legal distribution of marijuana, but no other drugs. That’s what Shiver of Chaos is helping us with. They are working on ridding us of some dealers. They flush them out, and we take care of them without the court getting involved.
I’m called Judge for a reason. I make the rules and lay down the laws. The mayor is on our payroll; so is the sheriff. We don’t own the town, but we sure as hell run it. What we want is how it goes.
My sister skips over to us. Her long, highlighted, deep brown hair, so much like our mother’s, had been in a bun, too, but she pulled it down after the curvy girl did.
“Hey, baby girl,” Spike says as he wraps his arm around her waist and tucks her into his body.
“Hey, Spike.”
He kisses the top of her head, then passes her off to Hooks and Hammer before she gets to me. I wrap her in my arms and lift her up.
