Page 15 of Arrow: Riding Rebels MC

Instead of making our space awkward, I grabbed her hand and led her over to Buck’s bike. Snoopy was in the process of removing the current wrap, and the new wrap was on the work bench. Charlie started to climb onto his bike, but I lifted her inthe air and set her on the empty space on the work bench. If she were to ever get on somebody’s bike, it would be mine.

She looked surprised but didn’t comment, probably afraid of the answer.

“Tell me why they call you Arrow? I know that can’t be your real name. I’ll tell you my real name when you tell me why they call you Arrow.”

The reason wasn’t some big secret, but I let her think it was because she wasn’t ready to come completely clean.

“You really want to know?”

She nodded and jumped off the table.

“Yup. You at least owe me that for the whole kidnapping thing.”

I hiked my left eyebrow and folded my arms over my chest.

Charlie mocked my movements, and we stared at one another for what felt like five minutes. I admitted to wanting to kill her husband, but showing this stranger what made me… me seemed like the wrong move. However, the longer I looked into her eyes, I questioned if I just didn’t want to show her the real me because I didn’t want her to be afraid. Charlie was the first person to look at me like she could take me if I stepped to her wrong instead of being afraid of my size and permanent scowl. She was about to give in, and that gave me the push I needed to let her in.

I stood to my full height and used my head to point behind me toward the back of the building where my shed was.

“Now, when we go in here, don’t touch nothing. Doc is off for the next two days, and I would hate for you to bleed out on my clean floors.”

“Whatever. If you’re trying to scare me, it’s not going to work. I’m learning that you’re mostly all talk. Well, unless it’s Boss or Izzy.”

I snorted a laugh.

“Maybe I just feel sorry for you, so I’m acting out of character.”

“Uh-huh.”

She didn’t have to believe me, but the Arrow she was getting wasn’t one that existed for a long time.

I took my keys out of my pocket, picked up the silver lock, slid the key inside, and twisted it. I removed the lock and slid both the lock and keys into my pocket. My movements must have been too slow for Charlie because she pushed the door open and stopped in her tracks with her mouth hanging wide open.

She turned toward me, and it wasn’t hard to read the look in her eyes.

“You’re not surprised?”

She laughed and shook her head.

“Sir, your name is literally arrow. It was kind of self-explanatory, but I was looking for more of the story behind it. However, I can see that your love for arrows may be borderline obsessive because, why are there so many bows and arrows?”

I shrugged. “What can I say? The story isn’t really all that interesting.” I lied.

The truth was, long before I understood what being a part of the Riding Rebels meant, I vowed to never use a gun.

It was easy for me to spot certain things in Charlie because I’d seen them in my mother. My father had a hands problem, and my mother was always on the receiving end of his problem. One day, his hands were replaced by his pistol, and my mother was taken away from me forever. At a young age, I realized that guns didn’t kill people but people with guns did, but there was something about pulling a trigger I didn’t like.

Boss understood, so he made sure everyone in our club did too.

“Well, tell me anyway.”

Charlie walked away from me and ventured deeper into the shed, looking at my babies in awe.

“When I was nine, I watched archery on the Olympics and told Boss that it was something I wanted to do. My brother hates to admit it because he’s a bitch, but whatever I want, he can’t deny me. So, one day he takes me up the road to Annapolis where all the white people be?—”

Charlie’s eyes grew, and she folded her lips inward and shook her head.

“Arrow, please just tell the story.”

---