Page 2 of Scythe's Salvation
“I appreciate that, Chuck,” I drolly reply. I’m sure my sarcasm just went over his head, but Amara caught it, shoves me sideways by shoulder checking me and mouths ‘behave’ which has me rolling my eyes at her.
He closes the back liftgate of my SUV and taps the side as he says, “Y’all are all set, ladies. Have a great day!”
“We will,” Amara calls out. “Thanks again for all of your help!”
I roll my eyes again where she can’t see me as I get into the driver’s side. Right now, with all that we bought, I’m glad I went for the extended length version of my vehicle. Because with her as my copilot, I’m stuffed to the gills. Otherwise, we would’ve had to make two trips.
“So, Starbies?” Amara asks as she buckles up. “I could use one of those cold drinks.”
“Fine. I’ll get Chance one too since he enjoys them as well.”
After pulling into the drive-thru, I hear the unmistakable sound of a cluster of motorcycles coming down the main road through town. The Imperial Knights MC are icons in Roanoke. Their club name has changed a few times over, but everything they’ve done for the town and community has left a good impression. I’m not ashamed to admit that the first year after Chance was born, I utilized the store they set up that helps families out who are struggling. Not so much for toys, but for clothes, because he grew like a weed. He’s tall for his age, too, which he must get from his sperm donor’s side, because I’m barely above fivefeet six inches. To me, that’s average for most women, although Amara’s memaw is a tiny little thing.
“Okay, now that I’ve got my treat, let’s take this to your house and drop it off, then go and get Chance,” Amara suggests. “That way, you can bring your bathing suit and we can float for a bit before Dad fires up the grill.”
“You inviting us to dinner?” I ask.
“Of course,” she replies. “The door’s always open for y’all.”
Since it means I don’t have to cook, I’m definitely down for floating in the pool. I know once Chance gets in, our rest and momentary relaxation will be over, but that’s okay by me.
CHAPTER
ONE
Scythe
I openanother box of supplies and then take a second to stretch out my knotted neck and back. About a month ago, after Cuda and I decided we were going to open up Imperial Ink, both presidents came to us and said the club was fronting the money to help bring more money into the club’s coffers. With the brothers from Cedar Creek still here in Roanoke, there are a lot of extra bodies and mouths to feed, not to mention the cost of putting small cabins and modular homes on our property to fit everyone.
Dragon runs his guys from Cedar Creek, while Brick oversees us, but they’ve come up with a few businesses that can expand should the situation change and they opt to relocate elsewhere, such as the tattoo and piercing parlor. I’m just happy to have a new place to lay ink since the location I was working at is two towns over. It’s far easier to roll out of bed, grab a shower and what-not, then hit my girl and ride for ten minutes, than to have almost an hour commute. Not that I mind riding that long, it’s more because of the traffic, which is generally at a standstill.That doesn’t make my girl all that happy since she needs to move to stay cooled down.
“Getting too old for this shit,” I mutter as my shoulder seizes up.
Last week, I fell off the fucking ladder while helping install the shelves we need in our storage room. Since both of us have worked in different places in the past, once we got the go-ahead from Brick and Dragon, we sat down and decided everything we liked about the shops we were in and designed ours accordingly. One of our must-haves included a stockroom where everything had a place. There’s nothing worse than going into the supply room to grab some new needles only to find that the boxes are empty. It’s happened to both of us from time to time.
But since I fell, my shoulder, neck, and back have been giving me fits, which pisses me off. I’ve never had issues with muscle spasms, not even when I played football during high school. Those two-a-day practices in the Virginia heat and humidity were no joke, and a lot of my teammates experienced muscle cramps from being dehydrated.
“You ever think about maybe getting checked out for those aches and pains, brother?” Cuda asks as he walks into the room and catches me with my balled-up fist against my lower back.
“As if,” I scoff. “When is there time?”
We’re on a tight deadline since some of my customers from the old place found out that we’re setting up shop in Roanoke. In fact, we’ve both already got a full book for the first three months once we open the door, for fuck’s sake, since Cuda has his own following. We still need to hire a receptionist who will be responsible for making sure we get all the legal documentscopied, plus he or she is going to oversee our inventory to make sure we always have sufficient supplies on hand.
“May wanna make time. Saber’s old lady swears by a massage therapist she found, maybe that would help? You gotta get straightened out before you start having to bend over a client with your gun,” he says.
A massage? Hmm, thoughts of soft hands working my muscles has me thinking of happy endings. It’s been too long since I got my dick wet, but with all the extra brothers around, they’re keeping our club girls busy, and I guess with age comes maturity, because I no longer want to fuck someone every one of my brothers has touched. As busy as we are these days, there’s no time to head into town to try and find a willing woman, either. So, it’s been me and Rosy Palmer, along with lube, for far too long.
“Did Hawg check into that software program we found?” Cuda questions, grabbing the next piece of shelving and setting it in place. He quickly adds a few screws to ensure it’s not going anywhere, then continues putting the boards up. I had been installing the L-brackets after I measured everything twice, so it’s an easy job. Picking up my drill, I start going behind him to add the extra hardware so that the shelves stay put.
“Yeah, he says it should work the way we want it to,” I reply, gritting my teeth at the pain still shooting through my body. Hell, I don’t think I hurt this bad the time I laid my bike down, which destroyed my leathers and gave me a few road rash scars.
It just adds character,my mind whispers, making me snicker. Sometimes, my inner monologues crack me up. I may be the club’s Enforcer, but life experience has given me a warped sense of humor, that’s for fucking sure.
“Good,” Cuda says. “Fuck, it’s really coming together, isn’t it?” he asks after standing back to admire the finished look.
“Yeah, now we just need our furniture to get here, and we’ll be ready to start slapping down some ink,” I state. “Need to check and see what the fuck the hold-up is on it because it should’ve been here.”
Hawg helped get us all the legal shit we have to have to be legit, including the forms that each client has to fill out before we even touch them. The inks, needles, and shit are set to arrive in the next few days, and we’ll probably see if we can get one of the old ladies to come in and give us a
