Chapter One
Alexis and Nico, sixteen years old
Alexis sat on the old, scarred deck that was on the outskirts of Steel Corner. Her family had gathered for a cookout just on the other side of the lake, but it wasn’t just her mom, dad, and brother, but her extended family, too—The Grizzly MC. She had snuck away after everyone had finished eating and were sitting around talking. She loved her family and loved the MC, but sometimes it was nice just to get away from it all. The MC life was pretty hardcore, but it had been all she had known while growing up. Cookouts at the clubhouse, even a lockdown when there had been some issues with a bombing concerning one of the other MCs in the next town over years ago where what she had lived … all she knew. At only sixteen she knew all about the vulgar, dangerous, and illegal atmosphere exuded by her father, Brick, and all of the other Grizzlies, which were like her family. Of course her dad always tried to keep her out of the reality of the life they lived. All The Grizzly MC members did, but it still seeped through. She wasn’t this powder puff little girl that was blind to how her father and the club made money, or that their paths had been vile and volatile—probably still were in fact. She might not be an “adult” in the legal sense, but she also wasn’t a child anymore either. But her dad and all of the other bikers treated her, their children, and old ladies like gold, and didn’t thrust them into that violent part of their lives. They provided for them, made sure they were happy, and sheltered them from their lifestyle and all that it entailed. They were also protective to the border of being crazy with the need to keep them safe.
She dangled her feet off the deck and stared off at the lake. It was pretty quiet for the most part, but not a lot of people liked to hang out in the same place when there was a Grizzly gathering. How sad that even after all of these years, and well before Alexis was even in the picture, or so she had heard, the majority of the residents in Steel Corner were still so … fucked up? They would never realize all the shit the club did to protect them and make sure their pathetic little lives didn’t end up six feet under by people that wanted to control this town and them, too. If not for her father and the members that she considered her family, this town would be filled with prostitutes on every corner, drugs being sold to children, and violence erupting all around then. The Grizzlies might carry around their own thundercloud at times, but in the end they did more good than harm.
The cool water lapped at her toes, and she closed her eyes and just listened to the water moving along the shore. Sometimes she imagined herself in another world, one where she wasn’t the daughter of the Sergeant at Arms of a feared biker club, and where her dad wouldn’t snap a guy’s head off if he even looked at her the wrong way. She supposed that was why she was still a virgin, and had never even been kissed. But even though that part sucked big time, she couldn’t lie and say she didn’t love her life. She may only be sixteen, but she was far behind the other girls she went to school with when it came to sexually experience. Her mom was the gentle loving kind that still checked on Alexis and her brother even though they weren’t babies anymore. And her dad was big and strong and could have a grown man cower before him with a look alone. He might be scarred, but she loved that mark on him. She had traced it many times over while growing up, and when she had looked at his face she hadn’t been afraid, but had only felt the love he had for her. That scar was something that she always knew made him real, and that just because someone on the outside might not be perfect to others, they were still whole and living the way they wanted. Her father was invincible in her eyes, and her role model. That was why she didn’t butt heads with him when he harped about the dangers of boys and “all they want from a pretty girl”. Even now she laughed because she could hear his voice in her head saying that as he stared down at her.
“You look like you’re thinking hard, Alexis.”
She looked over at Nico, who had his hand in the front pocket of his plaid shorts, and was making his way toward her. She smiled instantly. Nico was the twin of Lucas, and son of Tallin “Jagger” Landon. He was the same age as she was, and they had been through everything together, but their closeness wasn’t just about that. She felt connected with him, more so than to any of the other Grizzly MC kids. Even now she still thought about the first time he had approached her and said he was going to marry her. They had been two, and he had given her his favorite tow truck to “cement the deal”. It still made her smile to this day when she thought about that.