ALL THE RAGE (writer: T.M. Frazier)(77)

“Why the f*ck are you here, Rage?” Bear asked again.

I took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “Okay, so here it is. I was wrong. I’m sorry about leaving Thia, but I had to, and trust me someday I’ll tell you the story, but it was for a guy, not just any guy but THE guy.” I started to ramble.

“I heard. Goon. Warrior,” Bear said, rolling his hand around for me to keep going. “Your point?”

“My point is that I have a proposition for you.”

“Go on.”

“I want to pledge my loyalty to the new MC,” I blurted out. “Well, to you and to the Warriors, but that’s it.”

“And why would you do that? You’ve always said you’d never do that. It wasn’t your thing.” Bear stood up and leapt over a stack of files. “What’s got you changing your mind?”

I flashed him a small embarrassed smile.

“The guy,” Bear said, and it wasn’t a question.

I nodded. “Yes. The guy. But not just the guy. I used to do this…thing I do—”

“Murder and mayhem,” Bear interjected.

“Yes, whatever. Well, I used to do it as a release, and I wanted people to fear me because I didn’t want to get close to anyone because bad shit happens when you get close to people.”

“Now you don’t care if people fear you or not?” Bear asked, crossing his arms over his chest like he couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing.

I cleared my throat. “No, but I’ve learned recently that I’m even more frightening when I have something to fight for. Someone. So if you’ll have me, I’d like to be on your team. Team Lawless.”

“What’s the catch?”

I sighed. “I may not be available every time you call. I’m doing something else that may take up a bit of time. And I want your loyalty back. For me. And for…him. MY him. Goon. Nolan,” I said. “Just like you’d give to the family of any of your brothers.”

Bear nodded. “I’m still pissed at you for leaving Thia like that. But since you’ve suddenly turned smart and it seems that you’ve regained your senses, you might want to think about finding her and apologizing yourself. The only reason I didn’t come after you myself was because she told me not to. For some reason, my crazy bitch likes your even crazier ass.”

“I like her too,” I admitted.

Bear shook his head and blew out a breath. “I don’t know if I can get used to this new Rage. Gonna take some time, that’s for f*cking sure.” Bear paused. “Fuck, I know what you’re up to.”

“Huh?” I asked, looking around the room at random things, anywhere to keep from looking at Bear.

“You’re trying to unite the MCs.”

“I didn’t say that. I wasn’t here and I didn’t say that. But if I were here and I did say that, then it would be a really, really great idea to give each other a reason to not want to kill each other moving forward.”

Bear scratched his beard and grinned.

“So…yes?” I asked.

He let out a breath. “Yeah, but don’t f*ck it up. You know what happens when someone crosses me. I don’t give a f*ck that you’re a girl, you cross me and I’ll unleash hell on you and Goon,” Bear warned.

I nodded, his warning did nothing to diminish the pure joy surging through me.

Bear walked me down the steps toward the gate. On the way, we passed several members who were all cleaning up as if a tornado had touched down the night before.

A bloody tornado.

“One hell of a party ya’ll had here. Sometimes you just need a good old fashioned blood bath to get the juices flowing, don’t ya think?” I asked.

Two brothers walked by, one of them tapping the other on the shoulder and whispering in my direction. I returned their whispers with a sweet and over enthusiastic smile, which quickly had them turning their attentions back to the banner they were raising. With one of them on each side of the courtyard, they pulled down on ropes attached to a pulley, raising the huge black sign so that it would be the first thing everyone saw when they first crossed through the gates. It read THE LAWLESS, MC in bright white lettering, which matched the new patches I’d noticed on Bear’s cut.

“I’m gonna have to agree with you on that one,” Bear said, taking in the destruction.

“Oh!” I exclaimed as we reached the gate, clapping my hands together. “There is one more thing I want.” I pointed to the only garment of clothing I ever saw Bear wear besides dark jeans. “I want a cut,” I said, hopping on the balls of my feet.

“No f*cking way,” Bear said with a laugh. He lit a cigarette. “Don’t you think Goon would be a little pissed that his old lady is wearing a Lawless cut? You didn’t want a war, right?”

“But he won’t give me one, just a stupid little one that says OLD LADY on it, and that’s not what I want. But why not? Because I’m a girl? That’s f*cking sexist. I could take down most of the brothers in here without so much as having to touch up my nail polish,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest and tapping my foot on the ground. “Just because I have a vagina and not a dick doesn’t mean—”

“You having a * has nothing to do with it,” Bear said, still smiling, unaffected by my tantrum.