The Rising Sons Motorcycle Club (9 page)

“Oh, God, a biker! What does he look like?”

Raven laughed and kept going with the story to cover her real excitement. “Well, he’s a little older than me. He got out of the military not too long ago.”

Becca interrupted Raven’s stream of conscious. “He’s ripped, isn’t he?”

Raven blushed. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d done that. Her eyes went wide.

“Becca, are you trying to steal him from me?”

“If you aren’t going to enjoy him, I will. Is he inked?”

Raven giggled. It was a feminine sound that didn’t come from her often. “He’s a biker. What do you think?”

“I think he’s probably got tats from head to toe.” Becca looked like she would squirm right out of her seat.

“I know he’s got his club’s logo on his upper arm. Beyond that, I’m not too sure.”

Becca had a wide smile on her face. Her sparrow was the last thing on her mind. “I bet you’ll find out, though. Won’t you?”

“All right. You just keep your mind out of the gutter. If you keep distracting me, you’re going to get a biker pin-up on your shoulder, not a sparrow.”

Becca feigned fear, and she straightened up in the chair, looking forward. “Do your worst.”

Raven got the gun loaded with black ink, then traced the sparrow on Becca’s shoulder. As she worked, she was imagining what would happen that night at the meeting. It was all she could do not to imagine a night with Gunner. She’d decided that there was no option besides her passing the first test. After all, Bear was free and the charges had been dropped.

Every time that warm thought came into her head, Raven realized that she still owed Allan.
 
Gunner’s kiss only complicated things.
 
Maybe he
was
jealous, and that was his way of trying to marking his territory.
 

There was only one person who knew the reason behind the meeting. Gunner and Raven had their guess, but Raven especially didn't want to count any chickens. It was one of her rare nights off at the club, so she showed up just ten minutes before the executive meeting was supposed to start.

Aside from the seven or eight motorcycles in the parking lot, the place was deserted. A good night could see more than forty there at a time. Raven guessed some non-Sons had already been turned away for the night. Most of the regulars understood that it was a club-controlled bar. They did what they were told and they respected the law of the land. Everyone except Earl McFadden, of course. Raven rolled her eyes and shook her head thinking of that man, the catalyst for the off-schedule meeting.

It was almost nine o'clock on a Saturday night when Raven pushed through the door into the club. The place looked like it had just been shut down. Aside from two tables, the chairs world turned upside down. All the neon signs advertising beers were shut off, and no guitar-heavy classic rock poured from the speakers or the stage.

"Ah, the girl of the hour." Bear pushed his chair back and stood up, a stupid, wide grin on his face.

Raven smiled back out of politeness, but was off-put by Bear. She'd never seen him that happy, and that made her uneasy. She could handle angry. She could handle assholes. She could handle any foulmouthed biker that walked into the bar. What she couldn't handle was a president that had given her nothing but backhanded compliments all of a sudden throwing arm over her shoulder.

She looked to the two tables. Most of the bikers that had arrived were the senior members. Gunner was there, along with a few of the old-timers that had ridden with Bear at the club's inception. In terms of muscle, the core group in front of her may have been passed their prime, but they were the real strength behind the Rising Sons Motorcycle Club.

Gunner gave a look that almost made Raven laugh. Embarrassment. She never thought she'd see that come from the hardened biker, but Bear had managed to get it from Gunner somehow. "All right, all right. Bear, let the chick sit down.”

The president laughed. "All right. Have a seat, darlin'."

Raven grabbed a chair that was resting on the table behind her. She spun it up right and set it down in the only free space at the two tables. It was just like the pickup ride, stuck between bikers again, and her heart was racing, because it was Gunner she drew closer to this time.

She tried not to look over at him, her talk with Becca fanning the flames. Before that, Raven hadn’t even seen it as a spark, but after the kiss something had ignited.
Not right now,
she told herself. Raven had bigger things to worry about as she sat surrounded by the most important members of the Rising Sons.

She exchanged nods and silent greetings with the members at the two tables. Before anybody else could speak, Bear stood behind his chair. "I'm standing in front of you tonight because of Raven. We all know Earl McFadden is trying to destroy this club, and he took a big step forward getting me thrown in jail. Raven, on the other hand, took an even bigger step forward… for the club."

Raven’s heart sang. Gunner had been right. The meeting was about her test of loyalty, and everything made it sound like she had passed. She clenched her jaw tight and tried to keep her cheeks from going red. He wasn't the only one fighting embarrassment. Raven’s pride swelled as she tried to keep herself together.

"Whatever she did, all the charges are dropped, and they let me walk. Clyde? You and me's been outta prison for more than twenty years. Well, I got a taste of it again yesterday, and it ain't any easier. I saw the same look in everybody's eyes. The guard, the judge, you name it. They are out for blood. They’re out for us."

"What are you trying to say, Bear?” Clyde asked. He was a chain smoker, and Raven could almost hear every single cigarette in his voice.

Bear hung his head. When he lifted it again, the years seemed to show up on his face. Every wrinkle was a hard ride, every scar a step up from what he had been. "They got eyes on us. They might have ears on the inside. I don't know. The world just feels a lot tighter than it did two days ago, Clyde."

Everyone took in Bear’s words. It derailed the emotions that Raven had been feeling, but it also validated the thoughts she’d had about the outlaw biker group. The age of leather and Harleys seemed to be giving way to technology. The Rising Sons were something out of a different time; something the law couldn't look past anymore.

Bear shook his head and stood straight again. "But that's not why we’re here. Y'all are here because of this girl." He laid a hand hard on her shoulder. “Every man—or in this first-time case, woman—must prove their loyalty in whatever way they see fit. This ain't some multiple-choice test that you can just wing, and Raven proved exactly where her loyalties lie. Congratulations, Raven. Today, you are one step closer to becoming a Rising Son."

The bikers surrounding Raven applauded. She knew some of them wanted nothing to do with her, but many of them did welcome her into the club. They cheered her on, and she couldn't hold back her blushing anymore. Her smile was uncontrollable. She had passed the test, even though she knew that doing so had put her in debt with Allan. She would worry about that later.

Gunner put a hand on her back, sending electricity through her body. It was such a familiar touch, even though she never would have expected it from him. She thanked her lucky stars that she was already blushing. She didn't understand what he was doing at first, but then it dawned on her that he was pressuring her to stand up.

"Speech, speech," he chanted.

Raven playfully slapped his hand away, but stood. She didn't know what to say. Being that much closer to becoming a Rising Son meant the world to her, but she was at a complete loss for words. She opened her mouth, but all that came out was a giggle—something that made her embarrassed to ride a motorcycle. When the other bikers’ cheers turned into jeers, Raven flipped them off and found her words.

"Screw you all." They laughed, and after a second, she added, "And thank you. This means a lot to me. I know I've only passed one of the three tests, but I will prove myself."

They cheered again, raising their beers and tipping them to her.

The official meeting that Raven had been called to didn’t last more than fifteen minutes, but the heads of the club enjoyed the uncrowded bar with her for the remaining forty-five. They told war stories and drank beer. Raven learned more about Gunner’s time in the Marines, and she heard from the very source about how Bear came from Colorado to California.

She felt a new warmth from the bikers that had been missing when she was just a prospect. She decided that it wasn’t weakness that made her crave that warmth; it was a strength in brotherhood. They were beginning to trust her, and they were beginning to let her in to the true club. She knew she was still a prospect, but for the first time, Raven felt that she was wanted.

Then there was Gunner. Every time their eyes met, she tried to discover what it was that he wanted. He was a source of endless frustration. She knew there were unwritten rules, but she was already contemplating breaking them, even if it was just to find out what Gunner was after. As the low buzz of Raven's fifth beer began to make itself known, she made a deal with herself: pass the other two tests, then deal with Gunner. She didn't know what
deal with
meant, but she would figure that out when she was a full-fledged Rising Son.

As the clock neared ten, they could hear motorcycles pulling up outside. Los Bandoleros was the type of place where men and their ol’ ladies would wait outside. If the place didn't open until ten at night, they'd get there at half past nine. Odds were good that somebody had a cooler, and they’d be able to pregame before the bar opened.

Raven may have passed the first step, but all prospects had to do as they were told. Even though it was her night off from serving at the bar, Bear decided she should tend regardless. Something about building character and humility—she didn't really hear the bullshit line he gave her.

It should have pissed her off, but she was in a good mood. Trask sat at the bar and kept her company while she served. He seemed to be opening up to her. He told more stories about his past and about the club. Raven got the impression that he was warming up to the idea of a woman becoming a Rising Son. She could only listen to him for half an hour, because after that the band got started. From then on, all she heard was Lynyrd Skynyrd, Molly Hatchett, and people yelling for beers.

Some of the other Sons began to filter in along with a regular crowd. Word must have spread, because many of them came up to the bar to congratulate Raven.

After pouring some whiskey, she turned around to see Gunner standing at the bar. He had a cocky smile on his face as he watched her.

She met his stare with a newfound confidence. She was one step closer to being his equal. "What are you staring at?"

"Just taking it all in. Good job, kid. Climbing the ladder. But you're still lower on the ladder than me, so why don't you rustle me up a Jack and Coke?"

Raven leaned in close to Gunner, maybe even too close for comfort. "If I had balls as big as you, Gunner, I’d dip them in your drink." For a tense second he didn't react, and Raven thought she had gone too far. Just as she was about to apologize, she saw the corners of his mouth turn up. He cracked up, slamming his hands on the bar and roaring with laughter.