Page 24 of Ink

A short ten minutes later, I find myself sitting in one of the booths at Venom Lounge, the bar owned by our MC Prez. I haven’t been here in a while and it’s like I am seeing the place for the first time. We typically hit the bar at the clubhouse but on random nights and special occasions, we crowd in here along with the locals who stop in and get a drink or two. The lounge is all deep greens and black leather with a black lacquered bar and tables that sit on a polished concrete floor.

I am pleasantly surprised to see Eaden, our newest patched-in brother, come over to take my drink order. “Brother. What are you doing here tonight?”

“Eh, the prospect, Detroit typically works this bar most nights needed an extra set of hands tonight since the club honey who works with him called out sick. I lost the coin toss so I’m here.” He shrugs his shoulders to show it doesn’t matter to him one way or the other

“Good ol’ prospect. I like that guy.”

He chuckles. “Yeah, me too. Artemis won the coin toss but I could have sworn he looked sad about it.”

I stare at him for a beat thinking about Artemis. I hadn’t known he was in town until I saw him. He’s been on the road for months, singing at one bar after another. It would be nice to have him back for a while. He’s a great guitarist and his vocals are as good as anyone if not better than what you hear on the radio.

“Anyways, what would you like me to bring over?”

“Yeah, I’ll just have a beer. Rider’s joining me though.”

“So I better bring a scotch over.”

I give him a sly smirk because Rider is predictable. The man loves a good scotch and since Eaden probably serves Rider more often than anyone else, most likely has his brand memorized. In fact, he probably knows all the MC brother's drinks. By the time I’m done overthinking our drinks, Eaden is back at the bar and Rider is striding in through the door.

My fingertips are itching to text Carmen but I know she wants to have a fun night with Rayleighn planning the wedding. I am trying not to bother her and let her have the night but my possessive side wants to know what she is doing. That she made it safely and that everything is all right.

Rider slides into the booth and eyes my drink. “Did you order me a scotch?”

I shake my head. “I didn’t need to. Eaden’s here tonight.”

He blows out a breath, making his lips flutter. “Thank goodness for small favors.”

Rider doesn’t seem like himself; he looks absolutely exhausted. I slap the back of my hand high up on his arm. “Hey, don’t let the club shit get to you.”

His lips go flat and the sides of his mouth turn down. “Ink… man, I’ve got too much to lose. We’re like six weeks out from the wedding.” He looks around the room and then leans further into me. “Listen, don’t tell anyone but Ray’s pregnant. It’s early, really early, so we aren’t ready to tell anyone. My ass can’t be going to jail but I can’t say no to any of this because it’s practically my fault that we’ve got beef with the other club.”

I”m not going to let him beat himself up over something that he didn’t start and wow, he’s going to be a father. Not that he already isn’t to Colton, but just wow. Eaden takes that moment to bring over his scotch. Eaden can tell there was tension and bless him he immediately backs away from the table after dropping off Rider’s drink. I lean back into the table, being mindful of people overhearing our conversation.

“Congratulations! That’s big news, man. For real. That’s amazing. I’m actually kinda jealous. The more I’m with Carmen, all I can think about is one day her being swollen with our baby.”

Rider looks over the rim of his glass at me, his eyes going wide. He pulls the glass away from his lips and wipes his mouth with his thumb. “I take it that’s going well then. I’m guessing you’ve locked that situation down?”

I chuckle. “She’s been living in my house for over a week now thanks to her parents basically disowning her after what happened and finding out that she started seeing me. Poor girl, she gives me a second chance and her parents didn’t even bat an eye before they took one look at me and gave her an ultimatum. But don’t think I didn’t jump at the chance to get her in my space.”

Rider shakes his head before taking another sip. “You gonna make it official with the club?”

“Fuck yeah. I just haven’t had the chance with everything going on. I gotta get her an ol’ lady vest made. I know we’re moving fast but it’s been months in the making.”

He raises his hands up in surrender. “I’m no one to judge. I took one look at my sweet ladybug and I knew she was the one for me.”

I pick up my beer and take another swig. “You know this isn’t your fault though right? Those assholes were just looking for a reason to start shit. They should never have helped out Ray’s piece of shit ex-boyfriend. He wasn’t even a prospect. He was some hanger on and they took advantage of the situation..”

He takes another long swig of his drink, drains the glass, and slams it down on the table. “I know but I can’t help feeling responsible. Now the majority of the club is having to deal with it. They even called Artemis off the road. Shooter, he got shot. No pun intended. Several ol’ ladies got roughed up including Carmen and that poor girl has been through enough to have that happen to her.”

I shake my head in understanding. I get all of this but I can see it from another perspective. I’m not Rider and I know he feels a lot of responsibility. He owns one of the club businesses. He’s about to get married and have a new baby. So I do the only other thing I think can help him tonight. “Let’s get another round of drinks.”

An hour later and we’ve commandeered a notepad and are making the ultimate list of who’s hottest in the MC. We’ve been arguing over Griz and Hammer for at least three minutes. I’ve created a privacy fort from beer bottles and the front calvary is Rider’s empty scotch glasses. I’m starting to think the wings Eaden insisted we eat aren’t helping soak up any of the alcohol. We’ve had a fuck ton of alcohol tonight.

“No, no Griz is definitely above Hammer,” Rider insists, yanking the pad away from me. “Give me the pen, you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I surrender the pen and pad, sitting back in my chair in a sulk. I don’t know that I care where Griz and Hammer rank but I’ll fight to the death for Detroit to be top dog. I’m not going to tell anyone this in the harsh light of day, but he’s very symmetrical. Too pretty for this lot.

“Not to sound vain” -he’s definitely about to be vain—“but I should be in the top five.”

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