I grin at the mention of Jim, the old WDMC president.
“Would you change anything though?” I ask, already knowing his answer.
“Fuck no.”
I smile.
TWO
Faye
DO you know what love is?
Love is when your husband is the president of a motorcycle club, fucking hates that you’re going to work for the feds, but doesn’t stop you.
He might give me shit about it, but he isn’t telling me that I can’t do it. Probably because he knows I won’t listen either way, but still. He knew what I was like when he married me. If he wanted obedience, he should have chosen someone else. I secretly think he likes that I am the way I am, because it definitely keeps things interesting. He just accepts me flaws and all, and I accept him just as he is in return. When you have such loyalty, such love surrounding you, there’s nothing that you can’t accomplish.
Now I want to put my powers to good use. As a lawyer, and with my contacts, I can make a change, I can help. I can stand up for the small people, the ones who don’t have a badass MC at their backs, the ones who stay quiet to stay safe. I can be their voice, their superhero. I defend the MC every time something happens, and while I love protecting our MC family and will continue to do so, I want to do something else now. I want to give back in some way. Before I became a badass MC wife, I was just Faye, an ambitious law student with a smart mouth and a strict upbringing, but that Faye had her own dreams. Now I can make all of them a reality.
I started working for the feds as a consultant, but now I find myself wandering off into other areas. Because of my biker ties and gift of the gab, they like to put me in tight situations, and I like the challenge of getting out of them. Last month they used me as a liaison to talk to a biker in prison. He refused to speak to anyone about anything, but that was before me. Now? We have his club’s drug dealers behind bars.
Faye: 1
Drug lords: 0
The thing I like about working with them is that I never know what case I will be given next, or what they will ask of me. I’m also able to say no. I don’t have to do what they ask; it’s up to me, so I like the autonomy of it. I like networking and getting to know everyone in this city. Connections are important, especially in a lifestyle such as mine.
“Talon is coming in for a talk,” Dex says as he walks past me in the clubhouse kitchen. “So don’t kill him on arrival.”
“Why would I kill him?” I ask, wrinkling my nose. “I actually don’t mind him. He’s with Tia, and he’s Shayla’s cousin. Although, he’s never been to the clubhouse before, so what’s going on?”
It definitely isn’t normal to bring a man who is not in the MC to the clubhouse—in fact, it’s unheard of. Even though Talon seems to have a different set of rules from everyone else, this is one that should still apply to him. He’s the president of the Wild Men MC, a club that used to be our enemy, but one we’ve now made peace with, mainly because of Talon himself.
“We voted,” he says. “He’s in.”
I go still. “What do you mean, he’s in?”
Only one thing comes to mind: Talon must’ve left the Wild Men. But he’s their president? Surely not . . .
“Someone in his club betrayed him, Faye. His heart’s not with the Wild Men anymore. He made some comments in passing, so we decided that he and Ranger are welcome to join the Wind Dragons. The rest of them can do what they want. I’m guessing they’ll choose a new president and carry on.”
Dex goes on to tell me that, as everyone had begun to suspect, Talon found out he had a rat working with the Kings of Hell MC. He was selling and distributing drugs behind Talon’s back. Talon still doesn’t know who it is, but he has some ideas. Because of the mole’s betrayal, information leaked about Shayla, putting her in danger of being killed. She pretty much has a target on her, and no one is happy about how everything played out, especially when some of it could have been avoided if the traitor had stayed true to his club.
Dex and the men are helping Talon find the mole, but no one is any closer. I don’t even want to know what they will do to him when they find him. I can see why Talon would want to step away from his MC after that. The Wild Men are nothing like the Wind Dragons. They have no sense of family and loyalty. All they do is drink, fuck, and fight. No morals, no substance.
I’ve only met two of them over the years—Talon and Ranger—and they were nice enough. But now it looks like they will be coming to us. Still, it seems a little too easy. How can they just switch MCs? Nothing in our lives comes easily. We’ve fought for everything we have. And we still have to fight to keep it.
“Won’t they want revenge on Talon then?” I ask, knowing the harsh reality of MC politics. “Surely he won’t be able to leave so easily?”
“I don’t think so. Slice, Talon’s right-hand man, is staying with the Wild Men to take the lead, and he understands why Talon wants to go. He said he’d help us find the mole, ’cause he doesn’t want a rat in his ranks either. We’ll handle it,” Dex says with confidence. “Besides, all they really have is old men who don’t even know what time of the day it is. I’m not too concerned about the Wild Men anymore.”
“You need to find him,” I scoff, my hand closing and opening, itching to have a weapon in it. You think a man is scary? Try messing with the mother of two small children. Ever since I witnessed firsthand how dangerous this world was, I’ve pushed myself to train with various weapons, honing myself into what I like to think of as a modern warrior woman. I’m much more than what meets the eye, and I’ve worked so hard to get to where I am today. The women in the clubhouse look to me for guidance, and if something bad were to happen, it’s me they’d expect to handle things. Years ago, on the night that one of our women, Mary, died, I wasn’t ready for what happened. Was I brave? Yes. Did I handle the situation the best way that I could at the time? Yes. But if I could do it all over again, if I was better prepared that night, I like to think that Mary would still be alive.