It helped that their leader, a ruthless criminal known only as Eduardo, had made plenty of his rivals disappear. The lowlifes that remained gave the Devil’s Dragons the respect they demanded.
Just the thought of Hunter involving himself in that world made me grimace. He hadn’t told me much of why he’d done it…
I knew it had something to do with his sister. She disappeared a few months back and the police had done nothing but file a report and tell him they were very sorry. Hunter turned to the biker club for help and, and whatever terms he’d offered in return, they agreed.
His sister was brought home four days later. She looked like she’d been put through hell…
She probably was, if the rumors about where she was taken were true.
I feared that he’d joined them in payment.
Maybe I can talk some sense into him, I thought to myself. Surely, Hunter will see things my way.
Daddy opposed the Devil’s Dragons for all of the obvious reasons. He wasn’t exactly a big fan of Hunter either, and the second he caught wind that he was joining the ranks of those infamous criminals…
Yeah, lets just say a swift ban on Sarah-Hunter contact was very quickly enacted. I had to promise daddy that I’d never, ever see Hunter again.
But true love doesn’t have to resort to such stupid promises, does it? I was going to go see my man and save him from whatever trouble he was squeezing himself into.
And that was the end of that.
I pulled into the parking lot, ominously passing an entire fleet of motorcycles. The entire goddamn club must be here, I thought to myself.
Parking my car, I crept out and walked past the line of bikes. My first impression had been wrong. There were way too many motorcycles here… I stopped counting around thirty.
Half of them looked out of place. They were dressed different from the others with blacked out engines instead of the chrome I’d come to recognize.
Are there two clubs inside?
I might not have been a cop myself, but I knew trouble when I saw it. I’d grown up around enough law enforcement to know something big was going down tonight.
That didn’t matter. I was past the point of no return. Hunter was inside, and I needed to see him.
I swallowed my apprehension and continued onward, passing around the side of the building and to the very front. I paused and allowed myself to be repulsed by the exterior décor for a moment.
Bright pink neon signs flashed in my face, offering all sorts of lewd decadence and fun times inside.
Yeah, okay, I mumbled to myself.
Glancing around quickly, I spotted a few people ambling around on the pavement. It didn’t look like any of them were paying any heed to me, although I knew that I could never be too sure.
I was ripped from my thoughts. I’m spending too much time loitering around outside, I realized. What if somebody sees me out here and tells Daddy?
Steeling myself, I reached for the doorknob and pushed myself inside, totally prepared for the rest of the night ahead.
Spoiler alert: I was really fucking unprepared.
2
As I pressed into the building, my eyes immediate drew to the surprised hostess. I recognized her as one of the previous year’s graduates; I think her name might have been Chastity. Tall and lithe, she played up her excessive perkiness in the workplace with accent ponytails. She stepped out to try to head me off as I came in.
“Sarah! We weren’t expecting you tonight–”
“Where’s Hunter?” I asked immediately, cutting her off. I didn’t mean to be rude. I needed to see him, and I just didn’t have the time for this.
“They’re in the back,” she answered involuntarily, then scoffed at herself for the slip. “Now’s not a good time, though. I can send word for you if you’d like. Can I get you a drink of water or something – wait! – You can’t just…”
It was too late.
The moment that I processed her answer, my beaten-up Converse sneakers were taking me around the edge of the club and towards the private rooms.
I crossed down a hallway, glancing into open rooms and throwing a couple of doors open. I interrupted a couple of private sessions by mistake, choosing to apologize and close the doors again as I continued onward.
Chastity had just about caught up to me in her heels when I threw open another door, slamming into a tall, broad chest… not Hunter’s chest, but that of an older, gristlier stranger.
I peeled my face from his leathers, staring up at the distinctive patch of a long red dragon with great, curled goat horns, coiled through flames.
The emblem was immediately recognizable.
It belonged to the Devil’s Dragons MC.
“Lost, little missy?” An ancient, dusty voice growled. I stared up into the thick, scraggly beard of the biker, and into the curious but stern eyes gazing down upon me.