Page 58 of The Echo of Violence

“Mercy.” Kaz walks over and climbs up on the table beside her.

“Don’t bother, Kaz. I don’t want to hear it. I’m well aware of how women are less than men in the MC world. I just thought we were better than that.”

“Hey, don’t lump us in with that idiot. I don’t give a shit who she fucks as long as it’s not you.” Scope leans over and bites her ear, making her shiver.

“And just saying, I’m with Scope. Unless Eightball here declared his intentions to make Jinx his old lady, then she’s free to fuck who she wants, just like he is.” Kaz shrugs.

I cross my arms over my chest and bite my tongue when he looks at me with a glint in his eye, daring me to say something.

“So, what did you want to talk to us about?” Wizz asks, redirecting Mercy’s attention.

“You want us to leave?” Splinter questions.

“No, it’s okay. They’d only bring it to you anyway.” Mercy sighs. “You know I love you, right?” she starts, looking at Scope before she faces Kaz and Wizz.

I take a step back to give them the illusion of space.

“Of course,” Wizz answers, while Scope just stares at her.

“I’m happy being your old lady, so don’t think for a second I’m not. I just need something more.”

When nobody says anything else, she continues. “I always wanted to help advocate for those who needed it, especially women. Don’t take this the wrong way, but growing up in an MC, I was very much aware of how women were treated like second-class citizens—at least until Luna came along and shook everything up. Anyway, it shaped me. It made me more determined to prove myself. My uncle told me I could grow up to be anything I wanted. That was until I told him I wanted to prospect for Carnage. Apparently, there were some things I couldn’t do, and it had nothing to do with how strong or smart I was. It all boiled down to the fact that I was a woman. And in the eyes of the MC, that made me good for only one thing.”

“That’s why you became a Candy girl?” As short-lived as it was.

She nods at me. “I wanted to make a difference. But more than that, I wanted to show Carnage how wrong they were to write me off just because I had a set of boobs. Of course, they learned that lesson in the end, and it had nothing to do with me, but even the most progressive MCs still have a long way to go.”

None of us argue with her because she’s right. Hell, we might not be the most liberal club out there, but some were regimented in their beliefs no matter how fucked-up they were, and that went beyond the male-female divide. Some clubs had an issue with skin color and sexuality. For people that like to scream fuck the rules, we have a strict set of our own that varies depending on which club you belong to.

“We don’t have anything in the rules about women not being able to prospect,” Wizz states, but Scope jumps in before he can say anything else.

“The mother chapter does, but each club tweaks the bylaws to fit them, and we decided not to make it an exclusive sausage fest. Not that we advertise it. But as first lady, you can’t prospect, Mercy.”

She shakes her head. “That’s not who I am anymore, and I wouldn’t put you in that position. Or the rest of the prospects. We all know you’d treat me differently, and by association, so would everyone else. It wouldn’t be fair. I still want more than this, and talking it out with Jinx made me realize what that is exactly.” She swallows, making sure she still has all of our attention.

“I want to open a women’s center, some kind of shelter for those who need it. But I want to offer them more than just somewhere to escape the life they’re running from. I want to help them build a new one. Jinx and I were thinking of offering classes. Self-defense, counseling, training, and helping them find jobs—that kind of thing. We don’t have everything figured out, but that’s our idea.”

“Jinx wants to do it with you?” Splinter asks.

“I asked her. She said to talk to you first, and then we have to have a conversation of our own before we agree to anything.”

“I’ll need to run a background check on her, Mercy. I don’t want you tied to someone we don’t know enough about.”

Mercy tenses but bites her tongue.

“We’d need to crunch some numbers, but I’m not sure we’d have enough to cover a project this size, plus all the business we already have in the pipeline ahead of yours,” Scope says, making Mercy turn to look at him.

“Don’t worry. I wasn’t going to suggest pulling the funding for your strip club in favor of my center. It’s not like I’ll be bringing money in anyway. Places like this require donations to keep them afloat. Like I said, I haven’t worked out all the details. But if I started small and grew it gradually…” she trails off with a shrug.

I don’t say anything, waiting to see what her men’s opinions are.

“It’s important to you?” Kaz asks, tucking her hair behind her ear.

“Yeah, Kaz, it is. I need something more. I’m going stir-crazy. I guess I could work at the strip club—”

“We’ll figure it out,” Scope growls, making me laugh. No way would he ever let her work there.

“There will be rules. I don’t care how pissed you are. I won’t jeopardize your safety, and like it or not, your position with the club means you have a permanent target on your back.”

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