Page 33 of Jagger
I sighed heavily and ran my hands through my hair in frustration. “Yeah, he is. He’s an asshole, and that’s the nicest thing I can say about him.” I debated telling her the rest, knowing that her family was so much different than mine, but I knew she’d find out eventually. I let go of her hand to put the car in gear and pull out of the parking spot, waiting for the gate to open so I could pull out onto the street. Once we were moving, I reached for her hand again, resting our joined hands on her upper thigh.
“Ace is my uncle, King’s half-brother. He’s been in and out of prison most of his life and was a shit-ass father to my cousin Lucky even when he was out. Sinner and Grandma Frankie raised Lucky after his mother OD’d during one of Ace’s stints in the pen. When Grandma Frankie was first diagnosed with cancer, Lucky moved in with us to make it easier on her and Sinner.” I paused and glanced over at Molly to find her looking at me with sympathy. I could deal with sympathy, but I hated the thought of seeing pity, or worse, revulsion as she heard about the rest of my fucked-up family. I still needed to fill her in on Christy, too, I reminded myself sourly.
“The only reason Ace is even in the club is because he’s blood family. He showed up long enough to claim a spot as an officer, which he got only because he’s the son of the founder. He’s still pissed because was voted in as the Road Captain, which is the lowest rank among the officers. He thought the President’s spot should be his, since he’s actually older than my dad, but Sinner didn’t even know he existed until he was sixteen or so.”
Molly didn’t seem to look too shocked so far, so I reluctantly pushed on with my explanation of the seedier side of my family. “Sinner had been hookin’ up with Ace’s mom for a while when he met my grandma. When he dumped her for Frankie, she was pissed and took off without telling him she was pregnant. She pinned it on some other guy, and Ace didn’t find out the truth until his mom reached out to Sinner shortly before she died. Ace had already been in and out of juvie by then. He came to live with Sinner and Grandma Frankie and decided to prospect for the club once he turned eighteen. He hadn’t been patched in a year before he was arrested for some shit he was doin’ on the side and was sent to prison. Lucky was born right after he went in that first time.”
Molly was quiet while I talked and other than shaking her head a couple of times, she didn’t really react to what I was saying.
“He’s actually managed to stay out of prison for a few years now, but I don’t trust the motherfucker as far as I can throw him. He manages Fallen Angels, our strip club. Bodhi works there, too, as the assistant manager.” I didn’t add that King had Bodhi there to keep an eye on things and make sure Ace didn’t take advantage of the dancers. I had a gut feeling that my dad was looking for a way to get Ace out of the club, but it wasn’t easy to strip a brother of his colors, especially one who was club royalty. It seemed like he wanted to just piss Ace off enough that he’d turn in his cut.
Some clubs didn’t allow that, especially the one-percenters. Once you were in, you were in for life, mainly to ensure your allegiance to the club and their illegal activities. Our club charter was different. If a member wanted out, he had to pay a hefty ass fine to do it. The club would then vote on whether the member would be allowed to fraternize with any club members or would be banned from club property. I only knew of a few members who had turned in their cut, and they had done it due to family situations and a move out of state. They all left in good standing and most stayed in contact from time to time. Others, like Sinner, were considered retired from the club, but still paid dues and were technically still members, just not active.
“It sounds like Lucky is an appropriate road name for him. He was lucky to have you guys to look out for him.”
I smiled at Molly’s softly spoken statement. Leave it to my Angel to find the one bright spot in the pile of shit I’d just laid at her feet.
“I don’t know about that, but I guess he turned out OK. You want to know how he really got his road name?” I smirked.
“Probably not, by the look on your face, but go ahead. Why is he called Lucky?”
“Because when he was fourteen, he came home and told Rome and me that he had gotten lucky with our neighbor’s seventeen-year-old daughter. Grandma Frankie heard him, and God she was pissed to hear him bragging about it. She told Sinner and my dad that night at dinner, and King said he wasn’t sure if he was lucky for bagging the girl, but that he was damned lucky that Grandma hadn’t smacked him when she’d heard about it. When it came time for him to be patched in, King did the honors and chose that as his road name.”
Molly burst out laughing, and I chuckled at the memory of it.
“Dare I ask why you’re called Jagger?”
I groaned and rolled my eyes a little before confessing. “Well, Angel, that’s what happens when you’re fifteen and tell your brother that you got to dirty-dance at Homecoming with the hottest cheerleader in school, and then you brag that you have‘moves like Jagger’.”
Molly laughed even harder at that one. “Oh my God, you didn’t!”
“Yes, ma’am, unfortunately I did. Rome called me Jagger half the time from then on, so it just seemed natural by the time King picked my road name.”
“Is it OK if I ask about some of the others? I wondered earlier if that violated some kind of biker etiquette.”
I snorted at the idea of biker etiquette. “In some clubs, it’s considered rude, I guess. But in ours, hell, you’ll hear stories about it around the clubhouse. Somebody is always busting somebody’s balls over it. Trust me, if that damned Maroon 5 song comes on, those assholes turn it up and call me out.”
“OK, so can I assume that Bodhi’s road name is because of his hair, because he has a Patrick Swayze Point Break surfer look going on.”
“Yep, that’s exactly it.”
“What about Trick, or your brother?”
“Well, Trick, who I’ve known since I was about ten, used to do tricks on his BMX bike, which led to tricks on his first motorcycle, which led to a broken leg when he was a prospect. His last name is Patrick, so King shortened it to Trick.”
“And Rome?” she prompted.
“Now, Rome is a different story entirely. First of all, his road name, if you look at his patch, is actually Romeo, and that’s because of Abby. The first time she spoke to him, he was kissing some chick up against Abby’s locker. Abby had seen him with a different girl a few days earlier, so she said,‘hey Romeo, move outta my way, I’m gonna be late for class.’She called him Romeo to piss him off after that, and then by the time we were prospects, we all called him Romeo because he was pining away for his Juliet. Abby was still only sixteen by then, and her dad’s a cop who threatened to have Rome arrested if he even looked too hard at Abby while she was underage. Once Abby turned eighteen – the day of her birthday actually – they got together, and Romeo eventually got shortened to Rome.”
“Oh, that’s so sweet!” Molly squealed in delight, and I just shook my head.
“Yep, it’s a regular Hallmark movie moment.”
Molly pinched the back of my hand, and I yelped as I looked at her in surprise.
“Be nice. I think it’s a wonderful love story.”
“Yeah, it actually is pretty great,” I admitted. “Rome’s been lucky in love, unlike most of the men in the Morgan family.”
