That’s how long I want to be with this man.
The sky was the most beautiful aqua blue as I laid next to Reaper on the picnic table, in silence. I’d never felt so at peace anywhere.
“How do you know about this place?”
“Every Shackled Son does,” he said. “This place was where Creed originally founded the clubhouse. The original clubhouse exists just down past the waterfall, but it’s cut off now. Have you heard of the Forsaken Crew lore?”
He sat up a little, leaning on his elbow as he looked down at me.
Shaking my head, “No. Is that how the Sons started up?”
Reaper nodded. “It started way back when Henry Creed, the founder of the Sons, was transported here as a convict. He’d made a friend on the ship, Elijah Ayres, and when they got to the settlement, they were the ones all the prisoners went tofor anything that needed to be dealt with. Both of them didn’t back down from the guards, and they were respected. Stronger together, like brothers in chains, not by blood.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“What always happens with power…”
“Greed,” I answered the unasked question.
He nodded. “They broke away from the settlement, and took a large chunk of the prisoners with them. They lived in the bush. I guess they became bushrangers, fighting against the corruption of the English guards. A lot of men lost their lives in their fight for freedom.”
“What caused the split to happen?”
“As they both continued to cause chaos against the English, their motivations diverted. Elijah wanted stability, a leadership as you will, which is directly against what Creed was fighting for. He wanted freedom, whereas Ayres wanted an empire.”
“And? Jesus, it’s like pulling teeth with you.”
He chuckled. A warm, genuine chuckle that lit me up from the inside. How could I be hot for a man’s chuckle? What has he done to me?
“They fought, alliances were divided. It culminated in a shoot out. Both were wounded in it, but at the end of the shootout, they came to an agreement. Territories were split, men chose their sides. Ayres built his Ironborne Crew, and Creed settled in a dusty town with his men, and they built their businesses and went out hunting for sport. They lived off the land, away from the cities that were emerging. Slowly, in the twentieth century, it formed into a motorcycle club.”
“The split remains to this day?”
He nodded. “As you see, Ironborne and Shackled Sons are always trudging along the line that was drawn. We’ve had turf wars over the years, but nothing that would tear Sydney apart.”
“Even after all this time?” I asked him. “Surely with different leadership you can come to an agreement.”
“Maybe,” he sighed, running his finger down the middle of my chest, and down to my thigh. “Now that Mannix is in charge, there may be something we can do. He’s not like his old man.”
“Mannix?”
“Yeah, the guy driving Frankie away from Crossbones earlier,” he said. “How does she know him?”
Mannix? She’s never mentioned Mannix. “That’s Man—oh…she calls him Manny. She just met him, seems like a good rebound for the whole thing with Chaos.”
“Hmmm.”
I could see a stormy cloud cross over his gaze, as if he’s deep in thought. “What’s up?”
“Chaos isn’t happy. He saw who it was. Whatever happened between the two of them, it wasn’t one sided.”
“You said he wasn’t a relationship kind of guy.”
“He’s not,” Reaper answered easily. “But, I have seen the way he looks at Frankie, and I saw the way he was itching to wrap his hands around Mannix’s throat at the thought of him being with her. Maybe…something changed. I know it did for me.”
“She swore until she was blue in the face at the diner that the thing with Chaos was over and Manny was her new man, but when I mentioned Chaos to her, she got agitated, and looked away. I figured he broke it off painfully and she was upset about it.”
Reaper sighed. “He’ll get over it, so long as she doesn’t start shit with the Ironborne and cause us grief.”
