Struck Love

Asshole got the bright idea to rip the ATM out of the wall on the side of the building. Clearly a stupid fucking idea. Thankfully, we don’t have too many of those anymore.

Sounded good when we were fifteen and drunk and high off our asses. We didn’t know it back then, but we were trying to piss our fathers off. Both of us for different reasons. It’s Arch’s favorite thing to do still to this day. Hell, he’d only struck up a friendship with me when we were kids to piss his old man off who at the time was the mayor. While my dad was the president of the local MC club, the Ravens.

His dad is the only reason we didn’t end up in jail. However, it did land our asses in the military for it. We stayed put for a handful of years. It was good for both of us. It shaped us into the men we are today. The only reason I came home was because my old man died. I had no plans of ever taking over the Ravens, but here I am running this place and trying to clean it the hell up.

“Any other business we need to handle?”

“Copper,” Arch says, dropping his feet off my desk to get up and get himself another beer.

“I’ll take one.” It never ends with that little shit.

“I told you I’d take care of him,” Arch offers with a wicked glint in his eyes. If only it was that easy. Nothing ever is.

2

Olivia

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Vee asks as she hands me a flashlight. I take it from her, turning it off and double-checking the batteries before I shove it into my bag with the rest of my crap.

Vee’s grandpa being some crazy doomsday preppers is coming in handy for once. He was so sure the wrath of God would be coming one day that he stocked up on everything he thought he would need. Unfortunately, he didn’t live to see that day.

I never understood the man’s logic. If you ask me, he should be happy he kicked the can before God’s wrath could get to him. He might have called himself a preacher, but I don’t think any god is going to be letting that horrible man into any sort of heaven. And I want no part of any heaven that would allow him entrance.

“Yes. I’m going to prove to my brothers and Dad I can do this.” Vee bites down on her bottom lip. Something she does when she wants to say more but holds it in. It’s what she’s been taught to do by her family. To keep their secrets. “Vee.”

I give her a look that says Out with it. We’ve been best friends since kindergarten. I can read her better than anyone. She glances around her small bedroom, making sure no one can hear whatever it is she’s about to say. No one else is here.

Vee moved out of her grandfather's house right after we graduated from high school. I don’t know how she did it, but she managed to talk him into letting her move into one of the trailers on the back side of his land. He’d always been so strict and controlling I was shocked when he said okay. He liked to keep everyone close so that he could keep them under his thumb.

He has dozens of trailers all over his two hundred acres of land. He always had new random people showing up and staying in them. Had being the key word. We're not sure what is going to happen to all his stuff now. Maybe I’ll finally be able to talk Vee into moving in with me at my dad’s. Something I’ve been trying to do since her mom died and she got stuck with her creepy freaking grandpa.

“You’re afraid of the dark,” she whispers, making me smile.

“Spiders too,” I add, making us both tremble.

“See! This is a terrible idea. We should forget the whole thing and stay here. Watch movies or something.”

“We’ll have Thor. He’ll keep us safe.” I point to her Saint Bernard. He lifts his head from off her bed. He’s taking up the whole dang thing.

“He can’t stop the darkness.”

“That’s why I have the flashlights,” I remind her. She gives me a skeptical look. “It has to be tonight. It’s my best shot to find out if Eddie is even there and collect information for my brothers so they know if they need to get a search warrant. Or if they need to be searching somewhere else altogether.”

Every Saturday night the Ravens have a giant party in their massive clubhouse. It’s my understanding that a lot of the members actually live at the house. Eddie Harris is one of those members, and he’s been missing for two weeks.