Viper (Hell's Handlers MC 9)

“Oh please. First off, you are not old. And what that tale is, is a phenomenal proposal story. Not a breakup story. Though I gotta say, I did enjoy hearing about you telling my dad off.” Shell pressed her lips together as she pushed away the now empty plate of fries.

“He wasn’t a bad man, Shell. He had his demons, yes—”

“And he succumbed to them while dragging my mom down with him.” She rubbed a hand across her baby bump, sinking back into the bench seat.

During her first pregnancy with Beth, Shell had lived in another state without family or club support. This time around, Cassie was thrilled to stand by Shell’s side while she grew the next generation of Handlers. Despite his many flaws, Sarge would have loved to see his baby girl raising her own family.

Cassie nodded. “He did. But he led the club well for many years. And your parents weren’t always unhappy. It’s true, they probably shouldn’t have gotten married, but they had good times together too. Though the best thing to come out of that relationship is sitting across from me.”

That brought a smile to Shell’s face and lightened the shadows in her eyes. While cathartic, talk of the past could dredge up unhappy memories as well. “See, sweetest woman ever, which is why I’m shocked and appalled you flipped me the bird.” The twinkle in her eye told a different story. She probably couldn’t wait to get home and laugh with her ol’ man as she told him Cassie gave her the finger.

They fell silent for a moment. Cassie sipped her coffee while Shell downed a tall glass of ice water.

“You think they might have made it work if it wasn’t for the drugs? My parents, I mean. Think they’d have stuck it out?”

Cassie pursed her lips as she gave that one some thought.

A few days after she and Viper announced their engagement, Sarge cornered her in the club house. She’d been wary and uncertain of how to act, but he’d come straight out and apologized. He’d also promised to do right by Viper and be respectful of her at all times. He’d mentioned how he really did think she was perfect for his brother and that sometimes, when he was high, he lost his head. Drugs weren’t discouraged back then, but he’d told her he planned to stay away from them for the sake of the club and his wife.

A good few years into his reign as president, Sarge’s behavior took a turn for the unpredictable. Not that he wasn’t prone to the occasional irregular and grandiose behavior in the beginning, but Viper had done a stellar job at keeping Sarge even keeled, clean, and focused on what was best for the club.

They’d stopped moving weapons, stayed away from drugs, and began a lucrative loan sharking business the club still relied on today for much of their income. They’d also had a few legitimate businesses as they did today, though most of those had changed over the years. Membership grew and for a while things were great. Sarge and Viper had been a good leading team.

Until they weren’t.

Years down the road, he not only began using drugs frequently but got the club involved in selling everything from Oxy to weed to heroin and everything in between. Viper and the rest of the exec board had been kept out of the loop until the deal had been made and the money had started rolling in. The deception put a strain on their relationship which was felt through ranks as brothers became divided down the middle on their thoughts about pushing drugs.

Viper hadn’t been on the pro side, but he’d been loyal to his president and managed to keep the club from fracturing.

No one, not even Viper, could deny those were lucrative days for the MC.

Until they weren’t.

Until Sarge got involved with a deadly drug running gangster named Reaper and ended up gunned down at a gas station.

In front of his wife and ten-year-old child.

Shell.

Afterward, Cindy’s hatred of the club grew, and she became vocal in her loathing. For years, she tried to remain close and let the club help take care of her, but she’d become so bitter, eventually she pulled away entirely. As a teenager, Shell would sneak away from home and pop up at the clubhouse more often than not, much to Cindy’s dismay. Try as she might, the woman could not keep Shell away from the Handlers. Her enormous crush on Copper might have had something to do with that. Eventually Cindy stopped trying to keep her daughter from the club and let her crash at Cassie and Vipers more often than not. The relationship between mother and daughter had never been the same, and still remained strained to this day.

“Do I think your parents would have stayed together? Oh, honey, that’s a tough one,” Cassie said as she drummed her thin fingers on the table. She grew stronger each day but had a good way to go before getting back to her pre-chemo weight. It’d been a struggle to force herself to eat enough in the aftermath of Viper’s death. Her appetite had all but disappeared, but her doctor had been very firm in telling her to take care of herself, so she tried. “I’d like to think so, but your mother never adjusted well to club life. Her hatred skyrocketed after Sarge was killed, but I’m not sure that a happily ever after was ever in the cards for them. They just weren’t meant for forever.”