Viper (Hell's Handlers MC 9)

It’d been a while since she’d thought of their early years with the club.

As she turned down the frozen foods’ aisle, Cassie chuckled aloud. She’d never forget the moment Viper and Sarge found out the Hell’s Handlers would require them to prospect despite the fact they’d just finished a yearlong prospecting period with their former club.

Man had that been a tough pill for Sarge to swallow. It’d been the first time she’d seen the volatile side of the man who’d eventually become the club’s president. Unfortunately, it had been the first of many.

CBAPTER THIRTEEN

1982 - TENNESSEE

Cassie stared at her reflection as she brushed her teeth with the cheap, non-electric toothbrush they’d picked up at a drugstore in Colorado. It sure beat the piece of junk the first motel gave her back in Oregon. Still, for as long as she could remember she’d been using an expensive electric brush that pulverized the germs and claimed to far outperform standard toothbrushes. Funny thing was, her mouth felt exactly the same after brushing with the three-hundred-dollar toothbrush or the three dollar one.

Silly thing to notice, but it was just a small part of the massive changes one week’s time had brought to her life. The discount jeans and T-shirt were another change. Had she ever even worn something that didn’t include a designer label? At her father’s house in Washington, not a single pair of shoes she owned had been purchased for less than three hundred dollars. Now it all seemed like silly, frivolous things to care about. None of it spoke to who she was or why the man waiting for her out in their motel room wanted her. In fact, losing the wearable status symbols was freeing. The stuff she’d owned hadn’t been for her, but for others. To be seen as an equal among her family and friends. To impress others in her social circle. To keep her father happy.

Such pointless reasons and unnecessary pressure to belong to a class she couldn’t stand. The woman looking back at her seemed lighter without expensive makeup, designer clothes, and judgmental peers dragging her down.

She liked this version of herself better already, and it’d only been a few days of changes. Viper sure seemed to like her too.

Her insides fluttered at the thought of him as they seemed to do every time her mind drifted his way, which was pretty much all the time. So far, it seemed as though she’d really made the right decision joining—

“There’s no way. There’s no fucking way. What a bunch of horseshit.”

Cassie froze, toothbrush halting over her back teeth, as Sarge’s angry shouts bypassed the closed bathroom door.

A loud roar followed by a crash had her heart racing in her chest. She spit out the mouthful of foamy toothpaste and did a quick rinse job before throwing the flimsy bathroom door open. As she wiped her mouth on the back of her palm, her eyes widened. “Whoa,” she whispered.

A bedside lamp lay in dozens of sharp shards on the motel room’s carpet. One misstep and she’d be making a trip to the ER so she stayed put and kept her bare feet safe.

Muscles bunched, face contorted, and fists curled, Sarge paced the length of the room like a wild animal in captivity. Whether he didn’t notice his boots crunching over the shattered remains of the lamp or he didn’t care, didn’t affect the outcome. Those giant feet ground bits of glass and ceramic into the thin brown carpet with each pass. Cassie bit her lip to keep from asking him to stop.

“Listen, brother,” Viper said, calm as could be. He sat on the edge of one of the queen-sized beds in their fifth motel in eight days, wearing nothing but open jean and some briefs. “These guys don’t know us from shit. It sucks ass, yes, but I’m not surprised the club wants us to prospect. Actually, I didn’t realize you were expecting an automatic in.” There was a measured tone to his words as though he spoke carefully. In the times they’d been alone on the trip across the country, she and Viper had talked about everything under the sun. He gave her the tragic details of his relationship with Vanessa, and she’d shared the disaster of her best friend being pregnant with her half-sister. They’d shared stories from their childhoods and details of their dramatically different family life growing up and currently. When they’d reached more recent years, Viper told her how he met Sarge the first day they became prospects. Part of that story had included warning her of Sarge’s occasional temper and erratic behavior.

Now she had the unfortunate opportunity to witness it firsthand, for the third time. Seems Sarge was less than pleased with the idea of another year prospecting. She knew next to nothing about motorcycle clubs, so as they’d crossed the country, Cassie had asked question after question. Some to Sarge, but mostly to Viper who seemed thrilled by her interest in club life. Just seemed logical to arm herself with knowledge before getting to Tennessee. Being in a new environment without friends or family was going to be challenging enough without being totally blind to the life.