Page 3 of Renegade

“I told you to wait outside—” My father began, only to be interrupted by Grey.

“Jesus Christ, Comedian—you brought the kid here?”

I puffed my chest up. “I’m a man now.” Somehow, my voice remained steady. Grey calling my dad ‘Comedian’ confused the heck out of me. My dad was the least funny person I knew.

Grey looked between me and my old man before answering, “You put him up to this?”

My dad shrugged. “This is where he’s gonna end up, Pres. It’s time he knows what his old man does. I don’t want him growing up thinking I’m a nobody.”

Grey shook his head. “He’s not staying—we’ve got club business to attend to and I don’t think anybody here is hurting for babysitting money. Get him out of here and get back so we can get started.”

I knew most people didn’t think much of me because I was smaller than most of the guys my age, but for whatever reason, Grey’s words hurt the most. A ball of fury settled in my chest and I didn’t even think before screaming, “Fuck you! I’m staying.”

The room went deathly quiet and my dad looked like he was on the verge of falling over in shock. I knew I’d messed up; nobody went against Grey.

Grey’s jaw was clenched tightly and he regarded me in silence for what seemed like an eternity. “You want to stay? Fine—stay. Get him upstairs in a room.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but something in Grey’s eyes stopped me. Instead, I followed Wolverine dutifully up the stairs and into a bedroom.

“Stay in here, kid. Don’t come out—no matter what you hear. Got it?” He crossed his massive arms across his chest and leaned against the door, clearly waiting for a response.

I tried to match his stance. “Yeah, I heard you. Don’t leave this room for any reason.” I gave him a thumb’s up and shuffled over to the bed.

Once the door closed, I began looking around for an escape route. Grey probably told the guys to guard the hallway, so I was going to have to find another way to see what was going on.

There was no way I could run away after what I’d done downstairs. I’d wanted to prove to Grey that I was man enough to hang out with these guys. Maybe if I joined in they’d all see that. I slid the window open and eyed the drop to the ground below. Without a second thought, I slid through the window and held onto the windowsill for a brief second before letting go.

My ankle rolled against the hard dirt and I bit down on my lip to keep from crying out. It wasn’t swelling and I could still move everything, so I figured it wasn’t broken. When I tried to stand up and put weight on it though, my foot refused to cooperate with me. I ended up hopping along the side of the house on my good leg, looking nothing like Robert “Scandal” Jackson, Jr. fromCobra.

I wanted to be Scandal more than anything—the guy was unstoppable. He was an ex-Navy SEAL who could do martial arts. When my mom asked me what I was going to be when I grew up, I’d tell her that it was a tie between Scandal and Brisco County, Jr. Nobody would mess with me then.

Right now though, I resembled a flamingo with a broken leg as I hobbled around in the dark. Voices carried from the back of the motel and I pressed myself up against the building, trying to make myself invisible.

“Beast wants out, huh? After all the fucking things this club has done for him?”My dad’s voice boomed over the rest.

“It ain’t like that, Comedian. I can’t be running shit anymore—I got other plans for my life. I didn’t know what the hell I was doing when I patched in,”answered the voice that must’ve been Beast.

I crept closer until I could see them; then I quietly sank down onto my knees and wrapped my jacket tighter around my body.

Grey walked up until he was in between them. “Enough. You want out? Fine. You know the routine.” He placed a revolver in Beast’s hands and stepped back.

Beast’s hands were shaking, but he held the gun up to the side of his head. I could see the sweat running down his face. He was probably ten years older than me, but he looked like a scared little kid with that gun up against his head.

I cupped my hand over my mouth to quiet the sound of my breathing. I’d known that my dad was in a club, but I’d never seen any club that required members to kill themselves to get out. This kid, Randy, had a club a few blocks over and I was a member for a little while until I got bored. They never did anything but talk—I left after the fifth meeting and nobody made me do anything like what Beast was about to do.

The gun clicked and I flinched instinctively. He was still alive. Beast stripped off his leather vest and dropped it in Grey’s hands before walking toward the door.

“We’re done here, yeah?” Beast stood with his hand on the door. “Jamie and I are fucking out of here.”

My dad grinned and I swallowed past the lump in my throat. That smile never meant anything good. “Well, that’s where we got a little problem, Beasty. You can’t walk out of here with anything that belongs to the club. That includes your kutte, your bike, and your bitch. Ain’t that right, Pres?”

Grey nodded. “You know the rules, Beast. Jamie might’ve been your ol’ lady, but she’s club property now.”

Beast shook his head in anger before walking inside and slamming the door shut behind him. My dad let out a roar of laughter. “Hell, I’m going to be the first in line to sample some of that ass.”

Grey took a swig from his beer can, not saying a word. I was flooded with disappointment. He knew my dad was married, but he didn’t care. None of them did. They just did whatever the crap they wanted to do. It wasn’t right. I’d always imagined Grey as one of the guys on TV—one of the good ones.

He wasn’t. Not at all.

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