Page 22 of Lush Curves

“Of course I have! They’re bad news… criminals and murderers and drug dealers…” Annie stopped abruptly as the knowledge hit her like a lightning bolt. “Vic joined the MC, didn’t he?”

Sam turned his teacup around in his hands. “He did.”

“They pay well, I guess.”

“They do. Well, theydid. The money was way better then.”

“Yeah? How come?”

“Because back then when he first patched in, about fifteen years ago, the Devils were big into illegal things. Bigger risk means a bigger payday, so Vic did pretty much anything he was asked, and he socked away the cash for my education. But since Wolf Connor took over about a year ago, he’s worked to get the club away from all that stuff. Connor’s working to make the boys legit, and he’s got his hands full. Resistance, inside and outside of the MC. Not everyone wants to be a law-abiding citizen, even if my brother does.”

“And legit businesses take in less cash than murder-for-hire, I imagine?”

“For sure.” Sam looked at her now, wondering if she was preparing to make a break for it. “That’s the place that Vic drew the line, Annie. He never killed anyone on a contract. He promised me that when I found out where the money was going from, and I told him that I was dropping out of college to keep him safe. He told me that he was never an Enforcer, that his function was more to do with sourcing stuff that the club needed. Alcohol, bikes, women… and yes, drugs.”

“But hehaskilled people?”

Sam was silent. “Yes. He’s never told me, but… yes.”

“You’ve never asked?”

“No.”

“Will you ever?”

“No. I – I don’t want to know the details. But I – Idoknow. No way he’d have been able to stay a patched-in member of the Devils unless he’d taken at least one life. Iknowthat.” He shrugged. “That’s how these one-percenter boys play, honey. They’re thugs and criminals and the worst kind of people you can possibly ever imagine. The word ‘club’ conjures up a summer tree house, a bunch of guys playing pool and drinking beer, riding their bikes around the mountains. But that’s not the reality. These guys would kill you as soon aslookat you, and my brother has been one of them for almost fifteen years – and he did it all for me. To give me the future that he thought I deserved, even as his own was taken away forever. Vic traded in a pro football career to keep me, then he traded in his own safety and sanity for me to become a doctor.”

Annie nodded, but Sam was staring at his hands again.

“I know that he did bad things, Annie, and I know that if I knew what they all were, I’d probably never be able to look at him the same way ever again… but make no mistake, honey. He’s my brother, and he’s the person who saved my life – over and over again, in more ways than one, from the time that I was twelve years old. So I look at him with the best eyes that I can, and if that means not seeing every single part of him or his life, well… I can choose to do that. Iwilldo that, for him.”

“I understand,” she said gently. “Do you worry about him? Even now that the club is going – what did you say? – going legit?”

“Yes,” Sam said, meeting her eyes now. “Yes. Every day. Believe it or not, Vic’s actually gained some impressive and marketable work skills over the past decade. He knows all about running a bar, knows everything from negotiating contracts with suppliers to hiring and training staff to balancing the books. I want him to leave, find work at a non-MC-affiliated bar or restaurant, but he won’t go.”

“Why not?”

“Because he’s the club Vice-President. He has serious responsibilities helping Wolf Connor take the club legit and legal, and he’s needed there. Besides… those men are his family by now. He calls them his brothers, and I know that some of them really are. Connor, for example, has pulled Vic through things that I can’t even imagine, because I wasn’t there and Vic will never tell me what went down, and that makes them as close as brothers in all the ways that really matter. I respect that, I even kind of understand it… but the fact remains that the MC is a target for some huge anger.”

“From who?”

“Other MC’s that they’ve worked with in the past. Criminal circles that they did dirty work for. Road Devils members who hate the law, the police, the government, and who took great delight in running counter to all of those things. Wolf Connor’s decision to break ties with most other MC’s – the one-percenters ones for sure –and to end the illegal activities contracts, and to tell his guys that he’s the President and this is the direction that he’s taking the club, have all caused some serious waves.”

“So… even if Wolf has taken the club legit, your brother is still in danger?”

“Yes, especially now. The Devils are vulnerable to attacks, to inner rebellion and dissent, to retributive acts, to people looking to silence them. Vic and the boys have dirt oneveryone, Annie, and although Wolf Connor has assured their ex-partners that nobody in the club will rat anybody out, lots of other clubs are nervous, especially since a rival club has basically imploded recently. The President of the Fallen Angels, Ace Cuddy, turned on his own brothers and turned informant, and helped to being down Kirk Jensen’s entire operation.”

“I read about that in the papers,” Annie said. “It was a bloodbath. Weren’t most of the Fallen Angels members killed in a shoot-out or something?”

“Yes. They had Ace Cuddy held hostage, and rescuers went in shooting. No negotiation or warning –they just opened fire and went for maximum damage. Last I heard, ninety percent of the Angels’ members were dead, most others arrested, a few on the run, with every cop in the state looking for them.” Sam hesitated. “Vic was there when it all happened. He – he and Connor were among the rescuers who went in, intent on murder and mayhem. So you see, Annie, Iknowmy brother has killed people. I could make the argument that they weren’t very nice or good people, but I won’t do that. As a doctor, I took an oath to saveeverylife that I could, and I make no judgment whatsoever about the value or worth of any life. I fight as hard for an MC one-percenter as I do for a newborn baby, so I justcan’tjustify things that Vic’s done by saying that the guys he killed were mouth-breathing scum of the earth who were just wasting oxygen. If I evenstartedgiving one life more worth than another, thinking that some people deserved to live more than others, then I’d become the kind of person and doctor that I don’t want to be.”

“So how do you get square with it? With what Vic has done, the lives he’s taken?”

“By telling myself that if Vic hadn’t killed those people, whoever they were, thenhe’dbe dead instead,” Sam said quietly. “If it comes down to my brother or someone else –anyoneelse – then I’malwaysgoing to hope for him to see the sunrise.That’show I sleep at night, honey, right or wrong.”

“And how, exactly, can it bewrongto wish that a person you love stays alive?” Annie asked tartly. “I think that pretty much anyone would agree that they’d prefer their loved ones see the sunrise, instead ofnotseeing it?”

“Well…” Sam faltered, his brow wrinkling in a way that she found quite adorable. “Well… yes, actually. That’s – that makes sense.”

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