Page 56 of The Vow
They’d gotten in the car and were driving on the highway back to Carmelo’s apartment when he saw it.
Max.
The youngest member of the MC. A prospect, and younger brother of one of the member’s wives. Phantom’s wife, Sophie. Max was a tearaway, coming to the MC was meant to provide him with a bit of purpose and security when his parents obviously couldn’t cope with his illness. He had a brain tumor, and it was encroaching on his frontal cortex, and his eye. It meant his risk-taking and judgment was becoming more and more impaired, and his vision in one eye, too. He’d started wearing an eye patch, because he knew it looked ugly. Poor kid.
But Max had taken to MC life much quicker and easier than anticipated.
And now there he was, hurtling down the highway on his motorcycle, a huge Harley. One of the Latino prospects was riding next to him, filming on his phone, grinning and struggling to keep up.
For a start they were both going too fast.Secondly, Max wasn’t sitting on the bike, oh no, he was surfing on it. Stood up on the seat. He was wearing his leathers and a helmet, thank fuck. He then popped his butt back down on the seat, with a cheer and a fist pump, and then proceeded to pull another stunt, yanking the giant bike onto its back wheel to again, whooping and hollering as they streaked down the highway, between cars, a police cruiser with sirens screeching and lights flashing shot past behind them, trying to keep up.
“Wow,” Lena exclaimed, as they noisily tore past Carmelo’s car. “Was that…” she sat forward to try to see. “That’s the Black Coyotes emblem on their backs, isn’t it? They are MC members?” Her eyebrows rose.
“Fuck,” Carmelo spat, gripping the steering wheel to contain his anger.
Lena’s eyes were wide and she chuckled. “I keep hearing about how disciplined the Black Coyotes are, how reliable, what a tight ship President Colt runs-”
“Yeah, he won’t be pleased to know about this-”
“And now I see Black Coyotes joy-riding down the highway?” Lena’s lips were pressed together playfully but her eyebrows were raised reproachfully.
“Yeah, I know, Black Coyotes are usually tight, there’s always a bad apple, or whatever the expression is-”
“One bad apple can spoil the whole barrel,” Lena quoted the age-old adage.
“Yeah, fuck it, I got to talk to Colt about this. He’s endangering other people’s lives doing this, it isn’t just a bit of teenage angst, he’s speeding, he’s got the other prospects involved, those stunts are reckless and dangerous, he’s putting the local police in a tight spot, ‘cause if we do nothing about this we’ll lose the respect of the town… we got to go to the MC clubhouse right now.”
“That’s okay, you were going to drop me off there anyway, right?”
Carmelo frowned. “Yeah, but at four, we had a few more hours. I’m going there right now, I got to speak to Colt about Max…”
“I get to see the MC Clubhouse?” Lena was instantly excited. “I’ve been dying to go there ever since I found out I was set to marry one!”
Carmelo sighed with a wry smile on his face. “I wasn’t planning on taking you any time soon, on a Saturday, most people will be there…”
“What’s wrong with that? Am I an embarrassment to you?” She flicked her hair and scowled.
Carmelo almost laughed. “No, and you know it, I’m the one cramping your style. It’s more the MC… things might be starting to get wild-”
“It’s mid afternoon,” Lena said with a confused frown.
“Yeah,” Carmelo scoffed. “They better fucking treat you properly. I don’t want them fucking around-”
“I’ll be fine, I’m a big girl, I can look after myself,” Lena tutted away Carmelo’s concern. He loved her spirit, like no place was unconquerable for her.
He flashed a smile at her while keeping his eyes on the road. “I know, but the MC… it’s not what you are used to, let’s just say that, Princess.”
Lena
“Phantom, buddy, can you do me a favor? Can you look after Lena for me, please? I gotta talk to Prez.” Carmelo nodded between Lena and one of the most terrifying men she’d laid eyes on. And, being a mafia daughter, she’d seen her fair share of terrifying-looking men.
The guy merely blinked back at Carmelo, and fixed her with a stare. A dark, yawning, empty stare from the chasms of hell. Lena gulped.
“Um… hello,” she said politely but her high pitched voice betrayed her. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and turned back to Carmelo, about to argue back. But he’d gone already. She looked down at her ankles to see if Cal would provide her with any back-up, but no, the dog had trotted off and made himself at home in a big dog basket by the bar. Cute that he had his own dog basket here but now she stood by herself, feeling very aware of how alone she was.
She turned back to the guy in front of her. Long curly hair, leather jacket, a beautiful little button nosed face set in a permanent, predatorial scowl. Always ready. Ready to hunt. Ready to kill.
He nodded to the bar. She followed his gaze dumbly. “I… er… what?” she stuttered.