Page 14 of Rider

“What kind of things?”

Griz makes a face. “Shit. My source said that he’s done everything from run drugs to pistol-whipping for non-payments to the club.” Griz pauses to open the bay door back up and take out his cigarettes. He lights one and takes a long drag from it before he starts back up. “They did say that he’s on the outs with the club. He got rough with one of their club hunnies because she wouldn’t hook up with him. He smacked her around and come to find out he didn’t know that she’s got a thing going with their VP. So he’s excommunicated.”

“Did your source say where he can be found?”

Griz took one last drag of his cigarette and threw it far out into the lot. “Nope, but they gave me some ideas.”

“Good. I’m going to call the Prez and ask for an emergency session of Church with all the members tonight. I want to make it official that Ray’s mine and fill them in on what’s going on.”

Griz pushes the button to close the bay door. “Known you for a long time, man. Never thought I’d see you get this ramped up over a woman and settle.”

I shake my head. “Nah, man. I’m not settling at all. She’s a fucking dime and everything I never knew I wanted and more. She’s gonna be my ol’ lady. I know it and I think she knows it too.”

Church is smokey and crowded. When all of us get the call for an unscheduled session of church you drop everything and get there. There’s at least twenty five brothers crowded into the room and most of the guys are mumbling and talking to each other speculating what this could be about. When I had called the Prez earlier in the day I filled him in on everything I knew, what Griz knew, and let him know how serious I was about Rayleighn. He hadn’t met her at the toy drive or been at the club last night so he was trusting my judgment and taking me for my word.

Prez agreed that the club should get involved with my problem and set church up. He started the meeting by hitting his hammer on the sound block and brought everyone’s attention directly to him. “Brothers, I’ve called this meeting tonight for several reasons. Our brother Rider here intends to make a claim tonight over his girlfriend, Rayleighn. I know that several of you have met her and she’s rather new but Rider feels strongly about her so let’s all shut up and hear him out.”

He motions for me to take the floor so I stand up from my chair. I’ve seen tons of guys do this over the years but I suddenly feel the nerves of all the other brothers staring at me. Standing and talking to them about rides or random shit—no problem. Confessing my feelings over someone else, now that’s a different story. I rubbed my sweating palms over my jeans and cleared my throat.

“I met Rayleighn not long ago and the moment I saw her, I felt intrigued and knew she was special. We began to hang out and we just felt this unexplainable connection. I want her in my life for a long time and she feels the same. I’ve met her son and we all seem to fit together. I just want it known that I plan to make her my ol’ lady and I wanted you to all know that. I want her protected and I want her honor guarded. She’s mine.” I sat back down, having said my peace. Now I’d let Prez drop the rest of the news on them.

Prez stood back up and looked around the room. “Any objections to Rider finally getting laid on the regular?” The brothers all laughed and I had to smile at the roasting. I was without a doubt one of the only guys that never talked about all the women I’d been with. For one, because I actually hadn’t hooked up with a ton of women and two, I just didn’t feel it was respectful to the women I had been with to talk about our indiscretions.

“No objections? Great. Next order of business that all of you were called here about has to do with Rider and his lady. Rider mentioned she has a son, he’s young and has never met his dad. Apparently he’s an asshole and is threatening to come into the picture. Griz has done some diggin’ and this guy Grayson is a real piece of work. While he’s not a member of another club he was some glorified errand boy for a club down in Oregon but they’ve cut ties with him. I’m all for Griz and any of you brother’s wanting to help Rider here keep the peace for his lady. Any objections?”

The room remained quiet and I felt like I was holding my breath. No one objected to helping me out and it felt good knowing the club had my back. Now it was time to get down to business tracking this dude down and beating the ever-loving shit out of him for thinking he could come back in someone’s life and torment them. Now that I’d met Colton, I could see how innocent he really was in all of this and it angered me to think that some piece of shit was trying to come into his life and turn it upside down. I get that it was his biological dad but I couldn’t find any positives to him ever knowing him.

Prez knocked his gavel on the block to end the meeting. I hung back with Griz and Ink, who was still annoyed with me over last night, and waited to see if any of the guys would approach me offering up their assistance with the hunt and capture of Grayson. As I waited I thought about what I’d tell Rayleighn. While this was club business, I was aware that I was going to have to be very careful in what I shared with her. I couldn’t have my ladybug getting into any trouble, so the less she knew of the whole situation the better.

It didn’t take long for Hammer to come over to our small gathering. He was followed by Fender and a prospect who had been with the club for about eight months who we’d nicknamed Detroit because all he could fucking talk about when he wasn’t on a motorcycle was his hometown and his beloved Red Wings. Right now though, I was happy for any help and would even take the prospect wanting to prove himself.

Hammer was the first to speak. “I for one am happy to know that you’ll be keeping that girl around. I can tell right quick who’s a keeper and that girl has ol’ lady material written all over her. You better treat her right Rider or you’ve got competition lined up right behind you.”

I smiled and laughed because I knew while he was trying to pay Ray a compliment he was also letting me know he’d step up in my place if I ever fucked it up. With the way they both interacted last night at the club, I had to wonder if Ray found him attractive? I’d have to ask her later what she thought of him. Hammer was a good guy, I always respected him, and the fact that he was going to help proved it. He didn’t owe it to me or Ray.

I looked over to Detroit and eyed him. “What’s in it for you?”

He shook his head. “Nothing. I saw the way you grabbed Casper at the clubhouse so I knew she meant something to you. The club means that to me. I want to do my part.”

I nodded. “Okay, I appreciate the help. Just fair warning, you might get your hands dirty on this one.”

He met my eye. “I expected that might be the case. I’m still here for it.”

Well alright then. It looked like I had four club brothers with me on this one. I was thankful for each and every one.

Rayleighn

It was dark, cold and still pouring down rain when I answered the knock at my door. When I saw it was Carmen standing under my porch awning, soaking wet and shivering, I knew it couldn’t mean anything good. I opened up the door and quickly brought her in from the cold. “You are soaked to the bone. We’ve got to get you out of those wet clothes. Get inside.”

“I’m sorry to show up like this but my car got a flat tire right around the corner and I hadn’t bothered to charge my cellphone so it’s dead. I knew you didn’t live far so I figured I’d take my chances and just run over here as fast as I could.”

I motioned for her to follow me as we walked back towards my bedroom. I grabbed her a towel from the linen closet and handed it to her. She started wringing out her hair, and I opened a drawer and pulled out a pair of sweats and an old t-shirt. Carmen and I were not close at all in size, she was much curvier than me and her breasts had to be at least two letters above mine but both of those items would fit her.

“You’re the best,” she said as she took the clothing from my hands and started stripping down.

I turned my back to give her some privacy. “I can hang your clothes up to dry if you’d like. My dryer isn’t working right now so that’s the best I can do. We can try to wring them out some too.”

“No, don’t worry about it. I’ll just throw them in a bag and dry them when I get home. I don’t want to put you out anymore than I have. Is Colton already asleep? I promise I’ll be quiet as can be. I’d hate to wake the little guy.”

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