Relinquish (4 page)

I had just crossed into west Texas near Abilene and my bike started making crazy noises. I wasn’t a real mechanic or anything. I tinkered with shit and half-assed fixed stuff my whole life, but I was at a loss as to what was going on. I had to pull over, I didn’t want it to completely break or I knew I would never be able to repair it. ‘Bout an hour later, Prez and some of his boys rode up. I about shit my pants, being confronted by a group of mean looking fuckers. At the time, I was a lot younger and smaller. I thought they were going to rob me and possibly kill me. I had no clue just how ignorant I really was. I guess now though, I see many others are just as unfamiliar to our ways. Imagine my surprise when the brothers gave me a bottle of water, helped me fix my bike and let me ride with them to a truck stop down the road for a burger. They wanted to make sure my bike didn’t fuck up again after they took off. They turned out to be a good bunch of rough guys. Prez was kind and easy going. I was given a little sample of the life and was hooked from then on, even though I was leery for a while about the commitment they all gave the club. They became the family I didn’t have before. I’ve always wanted Sadie to come down and be a part of things here. She also deserves to have a family supporting her and be surrounded by people who would care about her. I think she would end up enjoying it as much as I do. I’ve always loved club life and devoted a lot of my time to it.

“Alright, on that note, this shit’s done!” Prez says and the gavel is slammed once to signify the ending of our Church meeting.

We all slide our chairs back and head to the bar. I know there will be a lot of bitching and moaning over Nikoli coming up. I personally don’t mind Niko. I get a good vibe from him. He seems like he’s dedicated to Tate and taking care of shit. I can usually tell if a fucker’s shady. 

I walk down the dark hall to the bar. On the wall there is a banner with our club crest and a few pictures of the clubhouse being built. We had a huge party to celebrate the club’s resurrection. We had a large barbecue outside all day, and drank plentifully into the night. That was before we had club issues to deal with and we were just a group of guys riding. The club has been around a lot longer than I’ve been in it, but the compound is only about five years old. We are a cluster of wanderers who are all native-by-choice Texans. We love our state, never met a group of more proud people. I love travelin’ the US, period, but something about southern air just pulls me more to it. I grab a glass and head over to Cain and Ares’ booth. These two have been getting pretty cozy with each other, but I’m still close with both of them regardless of their budding friendship.

“‘Sup, brother.” I look at Ares’ giant ass. He looks like he bench presses his bike for fun. Then throw a chin nod at Cain. Ares nods at me and gestures for me to sit.

“Brother.” Cain gives me a two finger salute and I pull up a chair to the end of the table. I plop my glass on the table and it lands with a loud
thunk
.

“That serious, huh?” Ares chuckles. I grin. I had to go on a few runs with him when I was newer to the club. Our Prez likes for the Enforcer to sort of break people in. He took me to shake some fools down. It got a little bloody but I handled it. Since then, we’ve been cool with each other. I wouldn’t ever want to really go again though. I don’t have a strong stomach for some of that shit and try to save it for the times it’s really called for.

“No idea, man, hook a brutha up,” I say and slide my glass forward with my finger. Cain hands me a lemon, cheesin’ at me.

“I don’t want this shit!” I joke and throw the lemon wedge at him. He and Ares both laugh. Bad ass MC Enforcers and they fuck around like a couple of kids. I take a long pull of whiskey from my tumbler and smack my lips.
Exactly what I needed.

“Ahhhh, that’s some good shit. So what’s the plan with Nikoli?” I glance at both of them. They exchange a look and then Ares plays with his glass, trading it hand to hand. He looks at me and rubs his chin.

“Well, looks like Prez is callin’ Tate to give him the okay. From my understanding, Niko’s gonna head up here so he can talk directly to Tate when needed. If we need reinforcements or anything then he can call for back-up. Granted, Tennessee is far away, but they would be able to get here in half a day if required. Niko will stay in a hotel in town, but can chill out at the club too. Tate is going to see if he can get a hold of anybody with the cartel to get the gun situation handled on their part. Right now we are mostly worried about getting Brently close enough to the club so he stops getting harassed.” He takes a sip of his drink then continues, “I guess the crazy fucks keep leaving dead cats on his apartment doorstep. Not just dead, but slain, with their guts lying in view. Those pussies are threatenin’ to gut him. I wouldn’t mind having a little fun with them myself.” I nod.

What stupid asses, messin’ with a President’s kid. They should know better, belonging to a club themselves. I guess they will just have to learn the hard way.

Cain grunts and rolls his eyes. “Why don’t he just send you, Twist, an’ me to go teach ‘em a lesson? That will get shit fixed quick,” Cain snarls. Ares shakes his head and shoots him a chastising look. I think if Cain could solve everything that pisses him off with a fist fight, then he would.

“I already told you, Cain, it will only stir up more shit. Listen to Prez’s orders. Sit back and wait for their next move. Trust him, he knows what he’s talking about. Quit being an impatient fucker. You don’t want to get dead when you have London and your kid.”
Ares—ever the voice of wisdom.
He looks like a giant, dumb ogre, but the dude is actually hella smart. Cain huffs, crosses his arms and sits back. Jesus, this is gonna turn into a giant shit show. I gesture to Cain to grab his attention.

“I agree, Cain. I would like to just fuck them up, too. I got two pieces in my holster with a Snake’s name on them. I just don’t want this shit to come to the compound.  How far does Brently live anyhow? A couple hours right?” I ask and look at them both.

Cain just shrugs and takes a long pull of his beer but Ares nods. “Yeah, brother. I don’t think it will get out of hand enough to come to the clubhouse.”

“Good, we will just make sure to keep it contained. If Sadie comes down, I know she will be fine.” I nod and scoot my chair back. It’s time for me to get the fuck out of here. “Well I’m out, y’all enjoy,” I say as I stand up. Time for me to hit it, then quit it. They watch me, and Cain stands up.

“Later, brother,” Cain says and fist bumps me. I nod to him and then to Ares.

Avery

I walk over to my small table and set Niko’s coffee down in front of him. He eagerly reaches for it and smiles widely at me. He has a fondness for my coffee and relishes the fact I make it for him exclusively when he comes around. He has on a plain white t-shirt and jeans. It’s really strange seeing him so casual when he’s working. I shoot him a befuddled look. I guess Tate doesn’t really care what Niko wears. However, he’s always dressed fairly professional. Well, unless we have plans to swim or something. He was just explaining to me that Tate wants him to go out of town to handle an issue for a while. I’m assuming that’s the reason for the impromptu visit and lack of style in his wardrobe today.

“So what do you mean you have to go out of town? Is that why you look so plain today?” I say, bummed out, and gesture toward his chest.

Emily is busy with Tate, London moved to Texas and now Niko is taking off too.  I seriously don’t know why I stay here. Well, besides school anyhow. Oh yeah, because I’m too poor to take my ass anywhere else, duh. 

“It is exactly as I said. Tate needs me to go check out a few things, so I will be in Texas for a while and leave my shirt alone, you are still in pajamas.”

Wait a minute! Did he just say he would be in Texas for a while? Texas = 2 Piece. I definitely want to visit Texas and if Niko’s going, then maybe I can tag along. He’s getting so much better with his accent. I can actually understand nearly everything he says the first time he says it. Poor guy, the first month or two he was around us, he had to repeat nearly everything he would say a few times so we could understand. Tate hides his accent pretty well usually, but with Niko it’s like a shining beacon. I wish I had an accent. If I did, I would never shut-up.

I wonder if my parents would lend me some money to take with me. I’ll have to call them. I don’t usually ask to borrow any money or ask really for anything, so hopefully they won’t mind. My dad is constantly asking if I need anything, but I’m determined to make it on my own. I know if I accept stuff, then my mom will continuously remind me about it and take the liberty of inserting her nose more into my business. She was a psycho when I first got my Facebook account and she found me on there. She literally commented on every single post I did and friended each person on my friends list.

My parents don’t have a lot of money, but they have some. It’s not like they ever do anything. I’m sure they are on the beach, being bums. It must be nice. I work my ass off all the time at jobs and at school, while they just float through life not giving a shit. My whole life was spent growing up in Florida, and we practically lived at the beach.

I love it there, just wasn’t too impressed with the colleges. UT had so many cool things to offer someone looking for a new life. Here, I get to branch out on my own and not worry about my parents butting into everything. My parents are the hippy free spirit types but still super nosey when it comes to their only daughter. You can only tell a person to stay out of your stuff so many times, until you just give in and move to another state. 

I’ve always been closer to my dad. My pops has short, brown hair that’s going bald. If you mention it though, he will tell you he just got a haircut. He’s always wearing a smile too, that’s my favorite thing about him. Dad’s a very intelligent man and has a passive personality. He just goes with the flow and follows Mom around like a lost puppy, nodding at whatever she says. Personally, I think she drove him crazy a really long time ago, so he just gave in and submitted to her dominant persona.

My mom’s more on the bitchy side. We butted heads a lot while I was growing up. I’m stubborn, she’s stubborn and it doesn’t mix well. She wants me to be a doctor or something ‘vital’ like that. I finally got her to back off with me being in accounting. I guess she believes those kinds of jobs are important. I think the jobs helping animals and the jobs that keep people safe are significant. Like the shelter volunteers at animal clinics or the soldiers fighting in the war. Of course being a doctor is important, but just not
my
kind of important. She probably wishes she had a different kid. I don’t blame her. I’ll most likely do a whole lot of nothing with my life.

I’m normally a happy, outgoing person, but I’ve been in a funk lately. I don’t know why I’m so sad or where these emotions come from when they hit me. I think it’s probably because I’m coming to a crossroads in my life and I’m not where I want to be. I should have gone to school for something I would love.

I would love to travel the country and help out in different situations. Maybe help when there’s a disaster and they need volunteers or something. That sounds like so much fun and like it would be a very fulfilling job to have. I know it would make me appreciate even more what little I do have. I can’t imagine the devastation some people are going through, dealing with different bad things that happen. Or even the animals, I would love to help and work with animals.

The world is full of selfish people, just sitting around not doing anything. The world would be a much better place if more people just helped out and were kind to one another. That’s one good attribute my parents have, they volunteer a lot. When I go home I volunteer at the oceanography labs and I love it very much. When my parents visit here, they usually have a Habitat for Humanity project or something related to volunteer for.

With me being a poor student living on my barista’s wages, if they visit they have to stay in a hotel. They usually stopover for only a short period of time which keeps the visit nice, and not too overwhelming. I go back to Florida probably once a year for Christmas, when they send me money.

Don’t get me wrong, I had a great childhood growing up. My parents are just control freaks when it comes to me, probably since I’m their only child and they were so crazy when they were younger. I think that’s one reason why I’m so free spirited now, it backfired on them. My mother tells me to do something and it’s like I automatically venture in the opposite direction.

“
Дерьмо! (shit!)”
Niko yells loudly and I jump. I turn quickly toward him and realize I must have zoned out thinking about my parents. I scan over his body to check for what could possibly be wrong but he just looks angry. The coffee cup is on the table and he has a hand grasping each of his thighs.

“What? What happened?”  I ask, concerned. His pale Russian face is flushed and he’s taking deep breaths. He sends me an irritated look.

“This is so hot! Why must you make it burn my tongue? Every time, you make great coffee you make it scorching hot. It smells great, I love the flavor, yet you burn my tongue. Why?” He sticks his tongue out and fans it. I giggle. He gets so worked up. I’m surprised he even spoke that in English. Normally it would have flown out in Russian.

“Come on, Niko, you know I have to help keep things interesting for you.” He shakes his head at me and grunts.

He walks to the sink and fills a glass with water. He drinks the whole thing in three big gulps.
Geez, no wonder he eats burgers so fast. Do you even taste anything at that point though?
I probably shouldn’t point out that he looks like an angry tomato right now.