Renegade Path

Dex parked in front of a small white garage and motioned for me to get out.

“Is this where you interrogate rival club members?” I asked.

“Shut up.” He laughed and shook his head.

Bricks keyed open a padlock and unwrapped a length of chain from around the metal garage door’s handles.

An all-black Harley Electra Glide sat in the middle of the concrete floor.

“What’s this?” I asked, staring at the two bikers.

Dex shrugged but couldn’t stop grinning. “Graduation present.”

“I earned my GED a while ago. Try again.”

Dex scratched his head. “Are you always so difficult, Vapor?”

“What? Is it a ‘thanks for not snitching’ gift?”

Bricks chuckled. “That’s exactly what it is.”

I ran my gaze over the bike again. It was a couple years old. In good shape. Still out of my price range.

Dex ran his hand over the seat. “Juliet mentioned you two wanted to take a cross-country trip.”

“We talked about it.” Before I got arrested and thrown in jail.

Was she still willing to go with me?

“Probably be good for her to get out of town for a little bit. See some new scenery. Be good for both of you.”

“I can’t afford this, Dex.”

His smile slipped. “What part of gift confuses you?”

Bricks slapped his hand on the handlebars. “This one’s the carbureted model. Got almost the same power delivery and throttle response as the fuel-injection ones. Plenty of horsepower and torque to haul you, your girl, and some shit wherever you want to go.”

“Yeah, thanks for the specs, Bricks. But I can’t—”

“Shut up, Vapor,” Dex said.

This time I frowned at the strange nickname. “Why do you keep calling me that?”

“It’s about time you had a road name.”

Bricks spread his hands wide. “Ulfric said you moved all silent and deadly sneaking into the house to help rescue him.”

“Rescue is a bit of a stretch.”

The smile slid off Dex’s face. “You’ve given me the impression you’re not interested in patching in to any one particular club.”

I shook my head. Thanks to Dex, I’d gotten a taste of how a couple of different clubs worked. I liked and disliked things about each of them. Pledging my life and loyalty to one club? Nope. There was only one person in this entire world who I wanted to devote all my time and energy.

If she still wanted me.

“Nothing personal, Dex. I’ll help you out whenever you need me,” I promised, because holy fuck did I owe him one hell of a debt now. “But I’m not interested right now.”

He nodded. “Long as you take care of my girl, you’re a friend to my club. I’ll always have your back. You’ve earned Ulfric’s loyalty as well.”

I swallowed hard, fighting off showing any emotion.

“Vapor can exist in two states simultaneously.” He poked me in the chest. “That’s you. Civilian and outlaw.”

“Plus, the silent and deadly thing,” Bricks added.

Vapor. I kinda liked the name, even if I wasn’t ready to admit it yet. I squinted at Dex. “A little pretentious, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Dex answered with a hint of a smirk. “But so are you.”

“Me?” I burst out laughing. “The foster kid?”

“Be thankful. We got a brother down in Virginia with the road name Pants,” Bricks said. “So, it coulda been worse.”

As much as I enjoyed yanking Dex’s chain, the thought he’d put into choosing a nickname for me left an unfamiliar warm sensation sliding through my chest. For the first time in my life, I felt like I belonged. Maybe in a few years, I’d rethink prospecting for his club.

Dex slipped a leather cut off of a hook on the wall. “This goes with the bike.” He turned it around, showing me the blank back and the rocker on the bottom that simply said “Nomad.”

Nomad. That word resonated. No home. Always moving from place to place.

“You can’t wear our colors if you haven’t been voted into the club.” Dex tapped a small, rectangular patch on the front. “But you’ve earned one of these.”

It was the same patch I’d noticed on Dex’s cut the day I met him.

Respect Few, Fear None.

“For doing time without snitching,” he explained. “Any Lost King you run into will understand what it means.”

My throat tightened. I could only take so much of this emotional torture before I’d break. If I teared up in front of Dex, I’d never live it down.

He pulled me in and hugged me, slapping my back a few times.

“Thanks, Dex,” I rasped, returning the hug.

“You got it.” He glanced at the bike. “Come over Sunday. I’ll help you map out a route. Murphy has some numbers and names for clubs that you can safely stop at wherever you go.”

“Thank you. Appreciate that. I gotta save up more money first.”

“You wanna paint this up nice, you come see me,” Bricks said. He glanced at Dex and stroked his hand over his chin. “Rock—our president—needs an extra set of hands in his shop if you’re planning to stick around over the summer and need some cash.”