Always (Next Generation The Skulls 1)

His dad had asked him to allow others to fight their own battles, and with him being older, he’d be in more shit if he did.

He had a couple of friends he’d kept with him who weren’t club members. They were close, not as close as he was to some of The Skulls, but a close second. Dean and Eddie came from rich parents, but they were the kind that had a country club. Both of them were forced to wear polo necks and khaki shorts, and they both hated it. They didn’t completely understand what it meant to be part of club life whereas the guys back in Fort Wills did. He missed them. Tabby the most. He even missed Daisy. There was a time she offered an easy smile but now, she just seemed permanently attached to being a bitch, but again, he didn’t know her. Tabby told him she was going through stuff and it wasn’t his deal, so there was no reason to delve into that kind of drama. This was what made his life different to Tabby and The Skulls. Fellow Chaos Bleeds kids were younger. Even Vincent and Phoebe’s kids were older than him. For the most part, he was alone.

After dinner, he did the dishes with Elizabeth, and his father called him out to the backyard as he picked up his keys. He’d gotten a text from Eddie about a meet-up at the back of the library.

Pocketing his keys, he walked out back to find his dad putting some chair together.

“You okay, son?” Devil asked.

“Yeah, I was just about to head out and spend some time with the guys. That okay?”

“What about school?”

“I’ll be back. You know that.”

Devil leaned on his knee. His father was near sixty but didn’t look a day over forty, at least Simon didn’t think so.

He suddenly realized that one day, he was going to wake up and his father wasn’t going to be around anymore. The club would be his. He didn’t like it. To him, Devil was going to live forever, but he couldn’t deny his dad was constantly getting older. What would he do when Devil wasn’t there?

After pulling out his cell phone, he texted his friends to let them know he wouldn’t be there tonight, removed his jacket, and knelt down. “What do you need?”

Devil chuckled. “I can still put shit together, son. No, I was wondering on our next run if you’d like to come with.”

“Your run?”

“You know, when we have to go and pick out a woman or a family from a bad situation.”

“Oh.” That was what The Skulls and Chaos Bleeds did now. They worked as a protection detail with the Billionaire Bikers MC in helping families or women in fucked-up, abusive situations and provided them shelter, a home, anything they needed. Simon had also heard that they helped to rescue trafficked women. It was the Billionaire Bikers MC’s MO. They helped lost women.

The Skulls and Chaos Bleeds were part of it. They helped where they could. There was a time a run meant delivering guns, drugs, whatever Ned Walker wanted, or whatever deal they had going. Simon had been young at the time. When both clubs had nearly been wiped out more than once by long-forgotten enemies, Lash and Devil had both agreed for the safety of their clubs and families that it was time to go legit. No more danger surrounding them. The days of lockdowns were so far in the past, he struggled to remember them. It was crazy.

It was during some of The Skulls and Chaos Bleeds lockdowns that he’d gotten close to Tabby. The love of his life.

“If you’re not up for it, I understand. We never know what kind of shit we’re walking into and it’s not for the faint of heart.”

“No, it’s not about that. Believe me. I want to.” He laughed, running a hand down his face. “You know, one day, I want to be like you.”

“No, son, you’re going to be better than me.”

“I doubt that.”

Devil stopped twisting a screw and looked at him. “Being a leader, the club President, you need to have doubt from time to time. What you need is to own up to it, and accept it. You’ve always got to be one step ahead of the game. You think I’ve been rooting for your education because of your mother, it’s not. I need you to be able to think on your feet in case anything goes wrong.”

Devil rubbed the back of his neck. “These runs, Simon, they’re dangerous. I’m not going to pretend with you. I know how desperately you want to be part of the club, and if so, you need to know what you’re getting yourself into.”

“When do you know when a run is going to happen?”