Revved Up Soul: A MC Romance by Liz K. Lorde

Allen. Whereas Robert’s hair was blonde and spiked up, Allen’s was tousled in a mess and starting to recede ever so slightly.
    Robert leaned over and whispered in Luke’s ear. “Heard you needed a ride today man,” here we go, “shoulda called your boy I woulda tossed my bitch out and been there in a heartbeat.” Though he’d never let the man in on it, Luke truly did not care much for the vice president – they were not close in the least. Well, not anymore at least; for a time they had been close growing up, but things change and so do people. How things were now, was how Luke preferred it to be.
    Luke glanced at Robert. “Well I know how you like to kick your conquests to the curb, I should have considered that beforehand – next time, brother.” Physical sickness swelled in his stomach, just saying the word felt like an abortion of what it implied. He touched the bronze ring on his finger inscribed ‘bro’.
    “Awesome,” he popped his knuckles, “I can’t wait to crack some skull again man, jonesing so bad.” He gave a stupid little laugh, shifting to face Luke. “Hey let me ask you, you think we’re getting screwed?”
    Luke craned his head, a bitterness overcoming him at having to acknowledge his existence. “In my experience this is called sitting.”
    “What?” He screwed his face up confused, “I’m talkin’ ‘bout Earl man, you think he’s getting us too cheap?”
    “Not really our place to decide,” Luke replied, “he pays above street value and we make good money.”
    Turning from Robert, Luke looked to Allen as he did a nice long drag of his cigar – letting the smoke smoothly roll out of his mouth. He sat beside his son, naturally, at the head of the table.
    Feeling his phone vibrate in his pocket, Luke produced it and eyed the caller I.D. Kayla. He stuffed it back where it belonged, even if the meeting wasn’t going down he still didn’t want to pick it up.
    Allen spoke up, “Let’s get down to brass tacks,” his voice was gruff. “We need to get our heads out of our god damned asses and find something ,” Allen sucked and the embers glowed red as fiery rubies.
    The man to Gabriel’s left, Alex, suggested, “What if it’s not the usual suspects, like someone outside the MC’s.”
    Allen narrowed his eyes, “Why? You got somethin’ Lex?”
    “Nah,” he replied, “not really. Just smashing heads isn’t turning anything up is the problem Prez. Startin’ to think we’re looking at things wrong.” Alex was right about that, Luke had been skull splitting since he’d found out and not a damn soul had any dirt on what had happened.
    Gabriel pushed back his hair. “That’s what I’ve been thinking too, it’s all so clean, something doesn’t sit right. Maybe Martine is involved,” he offered.
    Luke unclasped his hands and leaned forward slightly. “That could be,” he concurred, “it definitely explains why everyone would be so hush hush.”
    Robert smirked, “No reason for that Gabriel,” his tone was condescending. “Able barely had a place on the table.”
    Allen looked displeased. “He has a point,” he admitted. As much as I hated the man’s guts, he wasn’t wrong.
    Gabriel placed a finger against his chin thoughtfully.
    Allen raked a frustrated hand through his messy straw hair, placing the cigar betwixt his fingers and giving a long drawn out sigh. “I just don’t know,” he admitted, the hurt behind his every word. “Out of all the Knights they could have offed . . . “
    Everyone nodded and whispered their agreement. Able was the best of us, hell he was what we should have been striving for from day one – he wasn’t about the violence or the smuggling or any of that.
    Allen scratched an itch on his arm, “Point is don’t give up, we need to find something. As for other matters, Robert, Luke, I got word from Shady Earl – he’s ready for the drop.”
    Robert perked up in his chair, the boy had a real problem, but nobody else seemed