Ryker by Jeneveir Evans
Chapter 11
I’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. Lived it and I’m still here to talk about it and help someone else if I can.
~Iyanla Vanzant~
Viper
October 14th, 1999
After Ryker called this morning, I’d worried all damn day. He and I had struck up a friendship over the years. We’d both had to do shit for our clubs that involved us working together. Things I was glad as fuck I wasn’t having to do anymore. Things that had gone against everything inside me.
I’d had to do several atrocities throughout my life that I wasn’t proud of. The killings I’d had to do seemed mild in comparison to some of the other dealings I’d done. The gun and drug exchanges were some of the worst. I had despised having to do the drug deals. I knew how many innocent lives would be harmed because of them. But I’d done them to keep some of my brothers from having to. The gun deals hadn’t been quite as bad. I knew the main use of them would be to take out other dealers.
I think that’s why I could easily reconcile my conscience over the kills I had made during the years. The fuckers I’d offed had all been scum of the earth. I damn sure wasn’t proud of any of it. It had left a dark stain on my soul. I had feared for years if I didn’t get away from SoS it would eventually change the man that I am. I knew Ry felt the same way. We’d talked about it many times.
I was nineteen when I met Ryker the second time, the first being Sturgis, he was thirty and had recently been made the VP. I’d ridden with a group of men from SoS to Hell’s Retribution’s compound. From our very first meeting, he’d picked up on my hatred of Satan and Devil. I think at first that is what drew us together, our mutual hatred of our Prez’s. From that point on, we’d meet several times a year at each other’s compounds. We also met up at every Sturgis rally.
When I had to go to their compound, I’d always stay at Ry’s house. That had given me the chance to know his family. He was as fiercely protective over them as I was of mine. He was like me. A man who was rough around the edges. A man who wouldn’t hesitate to do whatever was needed for his family, but a man deep down whose core was basically good.
I would have turned to Ry for help with SoS if there had been any way of him helping me. I hadn’t because his situation was just as bad as mine, if not worse. I wouldn’t have dared to add the extra pressure on him to help, especially when it would have had the potential to put a target on his and his family’s back.
This morning I’d heard in the tone of his voice that things were turning into a shit storm for him. If there was any way I could help him out, I was going to do it. Over the years, we’d saved each other’s asses a couple times on a few deals we’d had that had gone south during an exchange with other buyers.
I glanced at the clock on the wall. It was three-thirty. I’d waited as long as I could, I felt like I needed to talk to Dog now. I cleaned up my work area, let the guys know I was leaving and headed toward the Clubhouse.
Once in the Great Room, I grabbed a beer at the bar, twisted off the cap and tossed it into the trash as I made my way toward Dog’s office. I stopped in the doorway to find him going over paperwork. I tapped my knuckles on the door and he jerked his head up.
“Christ, it should be illegal for anyone to be able to move that quietly,” he muttered as stretched his back then leaned backward in his chair. “Fuck, Brother, you know you don’t have to wait for an invite. Get your ass in here and take a load off.”
I settled into the chair on the right side of his desk and watched as he swung his chair around, grabbed a beer, and removed the cap as he turned back to face me. He took a long draw off of it as he studied my face.
“Normally it’s you asking me this. Vip, what has got you thinking so deeply?”
I sighed heavily as I stretched my legs out in front of me. “Got a call early this morning. It was from Ryker. He’s coming down with his entire family in the morning. He wanted me to find out if they would be allowed in the compound to visit with Bane. He wants to see his new grandson.”
~*~
Mad Dog
I continued to examine the expression on Vip’s face. Something else was troubling him. I knew the man, I could tell he was worried and somewhat hesitant to talk about it. He should know better by now. I trust this man implicitly. I know he’s led a much rougher life than I have, yet I know once he commits to something, once he gives his word, once he gives his friendship, it’s yours for life unless you fuck him over.
I knew I could ask him right now to go kill someone for me and he’d do it in a heartbeat if it didn’t cross his moral boundaries.
“Dog, I’ll vouch for them. Ry and his family are good people. Ry’s a good man. I trust him, Brother.”
“I trust your word on that, Vip. I don’t have a problem with them being here. It will make Bane’s day to have his Dad see his woman, his son and his home. Besides, I’d like to meet him. I know you’ve said he’s in a worse club than you were in, for you to sing his praises like you have, I’ll admit it has me curious.”
He lifted his chin at me, but I knew that wasn’t everything.
“Vip, what has you so troubled?”
~*~
Viper
It wasn’t like me to be unsure, only on this I was. There were times I forgot that I haven’t been here my entire life, but at other times I still felt like I was the new kid on the block. That I didn’t have the right to ask these men for help, especially when it came to a friend from my past.
I knew in my gut that Ry was about to head into something deep and dark. If the man asked for my help, I was going to give it. I wasn’t sure how Dog would take that. I wasn’t putting my loyalty and dedication to ARMC or my friendship to Dog before Ry, however, I couldn’t leave my friend hanging. If I did, what kind of a man would that make me?
“He asked for a private meeting between you and me.”
“Alright, that doesn’t sound too bad, Vip. I don’t have a problem meeting with the man.”
“Dog, I have a feeling things are heading toward a reckoning for him.”
I took a long drink of my beer and set it down on Dog’s desk. I pulled the tie out of my hair and ran my hands through it. I was worried as fuck. I knew Ry had a good group of loyal men behind him, but he didn’t have enough to go up against King. I had a feeling I knew what he was going to ask, to request of me, of the club. The same thing I would if I was in his shoes. I was going to do it too. I was going to give him that peace of mind.
“Vip, it’s not like you to be, hell, I can’t exactly describe it. You’re acting like you're nervous, yet it’s not just that. Worried, concerned, apprehensive, all of that combined.”
I tipped my head toward him.
“Fucker, talk to me,” he growled.
“Dog, I told you that I had to do shit with SoS that wasn’t good. I never did tell you all the shit I had to do. I didn’t want y’all to judge me for it. I did what I did to save my family and my men.”
“I know that, Vip. I don’t have a problem with it.”
I grimace. “Dog, Satan, and later Devil, had me running a lot of shit that if I could have gotten out of doing it, I would have. I’ve killed people, Dog. I’ve run guns and even drugs. I hated every fucking second of it, yet I knew if I didn’t do it, my family or my men would suffer. I couldn’t allow that.”
“Figured as much, Brother.”
“Satan, then Serpent, and later Devil, kept doing business with the Prez of HRMC, King. SoS would buy drugs from them and they would buy guns from us. Sometimes the clubs would pair up and sell to an individual buyer. The Prez’s of both clubs would take turns meeting each other at the other’s compound. Over the years I was one of the men who would go to Hell’s Retribution’s compound for meetings.
“Ry knew that I didn’t want to stay the night at his clubhouse so I’d stay at his place with his family. He did the same when he came to SoS’s compound, he stayed with my family. Dog, he and I got close considering we were in different MCs. More than once we’ve saved each other’s asses.
“If he’d been in a place to help me with SoS, I would have gone to him for assistance. I couldn’t though, his situation was just as bad, if not worse, than mine. Yet I know if I had asked, he’d have done what he could.
“I guess I’m telling you all this so you will look at him with open eyes. Don’t go into a meeting with preconceived notions. I know that Deb is your cousin. I know you’ve heard what she said and that has to be floating in the back of your mind when you think about him. But, Dog, I’m telling you now, while he might have fucked up and not claimed Deb when he had the chance, there was more going on than everyone knows.
“His dad was not only a founder of the club but the VP as well. When Ry was twenty-one, his old man Thor and several other members were killed when a drug deal went bad. I never met the man, but Serpent talked about him. He said King wasn’t always as bad as he became until Ry’s dad was murdered. Dad said when Thor was killed, it was like King’s conscience died too. From that point on, King started turning to his darker side.
“All the men in the club had respected and admired Thor more than they did King. A group of them went to King after Thor died and told him that they wanted Ry to be made VP. He’d argued that Ry didn’t have enough experience. King told them if they would stand behind him, that when Ry had more experience under his belt that he would make him the VP.
“King asked the men not to say anything to Ry about their conversation. He convinced them if Ry knew that the VP spot was already his one day that Ry wouldn’t have the chance to mature the way he needed. He told them he’d name Hitman as the VP and once Ry had some years under his belt, then he’d remove Hitman from the VP spot and put Ry in it.
“King then went to Ryker and told him that if he would make his daughter Layla his Old Lady that in a few years he’d name Ry as the VP.”
I grabbed my beer and took another long drink before continuing.
“Ry told me he hated Layla, always had. Said she was a whore, his best friend Brawn backed him up on that, and Brawn would know, he was Layla’s cousin. Dog, Layla was bad news all the way around from what I heard and I heard that from several men.
“Ryker was raised in the club. It was all he knew. He wanted the chance to be the VP, and possibly the Prez one day, so he agreed to make Layla his Old Lady. Dad told me that everyone knew Ry hated being an only child and swore he would one day have a lot of kids. When Ry made the agreement with King, he thought he’d at least get children out of the deal.
“Ryker revealed all of this to me over the years he and I have been friends. He told me he’d been with Layla for over four years when he met Deb and he said the minute he’d seen Deb, he’d fallen hard for her. Ry said he wanted to take her back with him the first year but knew he couldn’t because of Layla. He said if he had taken her back, King would have made her a club whore. He told me he couldn’t have handled that so he knew he had to let her go.
“He said when he found her the second year, he’d known instantly that he was going to renounce Layla as his Old Lady and claim Deb. Ry stated the day Layla turned up at camp and started toward his tent. He said he made a move to stop Layla and King warned him not to stop her. He told Ry if he turned out Layla that he could kiss the VP spot goodbye. King also told him that if Ry tossed Layla aside, then he’d find some way of removing Ry from the club.
“Ry said he froze. That what King said hit him hard. The club was his home, his family. He said his fear of losing that stopped him from saying anything. Ry said once Deb was gone, it hit him what he had done and he’d hunted for her the rest of the rally. He said he showed her picture everywhere and asked people if they had seen her. No one had.
“Dog, I know you’re probably thinking that this is all on Ry’s word. And you’re partly right, it is. But I asked Dad about all of this and he said he believed everything Ry had said. It was common knowledge that Ry had always wanted kids and when he found out what Layla had done to him that he let her bleed out. Dad said King had bragged to Satan and him how he’d stopped Ry from claiming a little whore at Sturgis one year.
“Brother, I believe Ry one hundred percent. I’ve never known him to lie to me. What would be the point? He has always been there when I needed him and I have done the same for him.
“Don’t ask me how I know, I just do. Maybe it’s because it’s what I would do. Dog, I have a feeling he’s going to ask us to let his family stay here while he goes back and tries to save his men. Prez, I can’t tell the man no. If I have to move my family off the compound and get a place where we can all live and I can keep his family safe, then I’ll do it. I’m not trying to say this as any kind of ultimatum to you. Fuck, Dog,” I uttered hoarsely. “He’s my friend and I can’t turn him away when he needs help. I just can’t.”
~*~
Mad Dog
I’d never seen Vip this impassioned about anything. I’d seen him worried, concerned, mad, furious, in a rage, but not like this. This went deep. If he respected Ryker this much, then the man had to be decent because Viper was no man’s fool. I’d often thought he was kin to Seer because it seemed like they both could look inside a man’s soul and know the good, bad and ugly of him.
There was no way in hell that I would let Viper move off the compound. If he was this concerned about Ryker’s family, then ARMC would help out. Hell, these people were Bane’s family too. That’s one thing this club had always tried to do, protect our own, and that included a man’s family.
“Vip, you know there’s no way in hell…” I broke off when Vip tilted his head. I knew someone was heading our way. It wasn’t but a few moments before Bane appeared in the doorway.
~***~