Page 1 of I Remember Moscato

Chapter One

Jagger

From my earliest memories, I knew I wanted to be a rock star like my dad. He’s the founder and lead singer for Twisted Bonds. They were known worldwide, but when my dad retired, he and his band passed the name down to me and my siblings. I have two brothers and two sisters. Together, we’re the new generation of Twisted Bonds. My oldest brother, Bowie, is our drummer, my brother Presley is our lead singer. My twin sisters, Lennon and Marley, play rhythm and lead guitar. I’m the baby of the family and the bassist.

We grew up in Chicago, Illinois—my parents are both from here. When my mom and dad got married, he wanted her to have family nearby in case he was touring and she couldn’t go. Both sets of grandparents each live about ten minutes away from us. They’ve always had a hand in raising us, but we were also lucky enough to go on tour with our dad when we were growing up.

We’ve been playing music together basically since we could hold our instruments. We started playing gigs when I was in the eighth grade. Mostly we played parties and school functions. Eventually we were allowed to play in bars, but we had to be out by 10 pm because we were still underage.

Five years ago, our parents started their own brewery, Twisted Brewery. Our brewery specializes in specialty beers—strawberry, honey and cherry are our most popular ales. So in addition to us playing our gigs, we talk to restaurants and bars about our beer. Our band is starting to gain popularity. The fans of the original band haven’t quite warmed up to us yet. But they will. As for our beer? It’s getting popular in Chicago. It’s kinda cool to walk into a bar and they know who we are before we even start talking.

We haven’t hit the more well-established places in the city yet. Our parents wanted to get in with the smaller restaurants and pubs before we ventured out into the big ones. Dad wanted our beer to sell, not his band to sell the beer.

The dream is to be able to supply beer for the sports venues here. Chicago is crazy about sports—we have the Chicago Redhawks (hockey), Chicago Panthers (baseball), Chicago Stallions (basketball) and the Chicago Leopards (football). We have season tickets for all four teams. Besides being raised on rock and roll, sporting events have always been high up on our family outing list. Even when my dad was touring, mom and our grandparents would take us to games.

This weekend we’re going to a strip club. Which may sound like a weird thing to do with your siblings. For us? It’s just another day of doing things together. My sisters, Lennon and Marley have gone to this club before. It’s usually an all-male show. But tonight they’re doing a mixed show, men and women. It should be a lot of fun.

Quinlan

When I left Portwalden, Oregon, I don’t know what I was looking for. I already had a family that loved me. Parents who would do anything for me, Silas and Annabelle. Two sisters and two brothers, Devin, Scarlett, Henry and Lauren, who I love with all my heart. But no matter how much we all loved each other, I wasn’t blood related to them. Which is never something they brought up to me, but I felt it. I felt it deep inside me that I was missing something. Even though, I will always be grateful to my parents for adopting me. If they hadn’t, I might be a different person than I am today. But because of them, I’m strong and I’m a survivor.

Everyone here knows my story. How my biological parent or parents left me on the front step of the church. Which made me feel like I was discarded like a bag of garbage. There wasn’t even a note to say ‘we love our baby, but we just can’t take care of her.’ Nothing. Just two day old me…in a cardboard box with some newspapers. Not even a blanket in the dead of winter. It was pure luck that Reverend Michaels found me as fast as he did. Or I wouldn’t be here today.

I applied to several colleges my senior year of high school. I told myself which ever one accepted me, that’s where I would start my life. My parents were really sad that I planned to leave Oregon. They hoped that I would pick a college close to home like my brothers and sisters did. I told them I needed to go somewhere where no one knew me. Our town is so tiny that literally everyone knows each other.

I was accepted to all of the colleges I applied to. I chose to attend Wolf University in Chicago, Illinois. It’s not too far. I mean, I could’ve gone to Crimson University in Boston. My parents were okay with my decision, but they still tried to get me to stay in Oregon.

I’ve been in Chicago for four years. And I am lucky enough to have the best friends I could ever ask for. We all met during the first week of school, somehow we all found each other and just clicked. And with finding our group came acceptance into an MC family and now a mafia one too. They’ve helped to fill that void that’s been in me all these years.

This past year, the first of our group got married. Luciana Bastianini is the youngest daughter of the president of the Cimaruta MC. She’d always been the one that said no to dates and long term relationships. Then one day she saw Rónán O’Callaghan. That’s all it took, one look and she was hooked. To be fair, he saw her at the same time and he says he knew she was his. Now they’re married and pregnant, due in a couple of months. I used to think like her, that I didn’t need a man to make me happy. And that’s still true, but watching Luciana and Rónán? I know that I want a love like theirs, that one true everlasting love. The one that supports you and enhances your life. That’s what I want. My one person in this world that understands all of me. The good, the ugly and the in-between.

Chapter Two

Jagger

“Are we sure this is a good idea?” Bowie whispers to me as we stand in line to get into Luminescence.

“Lennon and Marley wouldn’t make us go to an all male show…” I trail off as I look at my two brothers. They have the same concerned look on their faces. We look over at our two sisters and they’re trying to look innocent. Fuck. I think they tricked us.

“You wouldn’t.” Presley frowns at them.

“You’ll just have to wait and see.” Marley giggles.

I do see a mixture of men and women in the line and I saw a poster with both men and women on it. But I didn’t look at the date. Next time I’ll do some research before blindly following my sisters. There’s a lot of people in line—there’s a line for VIP, which we’re in, and one for general admission.

“What’s the difference between general admission and VIP?” I ask Lennon.

“VIP gets the booths and the first three rows inside. And at the end of the show, you get to go into the area with the dancers and hang out with them.”

“So the general admission has to leave when the shows over?”

“No, they’re just in a different area. I’ve seen the dancers go into the general area too, but it’s more fun in the VIP.”

I still don’t know what to expect tonight. But I’m always up for a new adventure.

We ended up waiting in line for about thirty minutes before we’re let inside. When we get inside, there’s booths that line the walls and there are tables in the back for groups to sit at. The main area has rows of chairs that fill up from the front to the middle of the room. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but this definitely wasn’t it.

Quinlan

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