Stripping Callum (Last Hangman MC Book 6)(13)

I don’t care who I f*ck as long as it doesn’t bring any more heat under my ass than I already have with club wars.

It was harder for her to accept the fact that I’m an outlaw than for me.

In the end, she wanted more than what I could give her. She wanted a relationship and was ready to put everything on the line to follow her heart. In a way, I’m sad I couldn’t give her what she wanted. She was a good woman and would have made someone happy, just not me.

When shit went down with Bennett and the Inferno’s, Lewis was killed in the middle of a gun fight. I’m not gonna lie. I was and still am heartbroken that she was killed in such a way. She was young and had so much to give. She didn’t deserve any of this. I feel responsible for her death. Had she not had any part in this or listened to me, she’d still be alive.

Joining the MC changed my life for the best. I had no purpose in my life before joining them, and being part of a family made me feel like I mattered again which hadn’t happened since Alina and Billy died.

I joined the MC five years ago, not long after my first encounter with Nancy. Had I known she was with Bennett when it all happened, we would have gotten her out of there a lot sooner.

The way I joined the MC is quite comical if I’m honest. Ant and I had a heated fight one night after drinking more than we should have, especially for him, he was still quite young. Although this time it wasn’t because he looked at me in the wrong way or provoked me. When we talk about it, we always get a good laugh out of it.

I’d just left Nancy, and I was riding to a bar. I needed to unwind. The stories she keeps telling me about what she has to do to get by day in and day out are breaking my heart and she still refuses to let me help her. Me being the sucker that I am, I listened to her and did f*ck all. It’s messing with my head, but I understood why she’s being the way she is. It still took me a while to get there, but I guess she’d rather live knowing what’s to come and what she’ll have to do rather than worry about who would be after her and what the consequences would be for the both of us if I got her out of there.

I thought about going to the cops, but there were two problems. I f*cking hate the cops, they are useless; and they are corrupted. Some of the girls’ best clients are part of the local police corps.

I felt helpless about Nancy’s situation. I wish I could go more often to see her, at least I’d be able to protect her from the horrors she has to go through and the perverts she has to f*ck, but they would find it suspicious, and I didn’t have an unlimited amount of cash.

I parked at the bar ready to drink myself into oblivion, needing to forget about what Nancy told me tonight about one of the guys who went to f*ck her last week. I don’t ever want to think about that again, ever, and I wish I could erase it from my memory.

I took off my helmet and climbed off my bike as two other bikers walked past me. They gave me a chin lift in greeting for being a biker, too, I guess. I don’t have the first clue about the biker world. It’s my only escape. When I ride, I’m able to empty my mind and let go of all my worries. I’ve found myself crossing many state borders without realizing it. I never stayed long in one place. I’d stay in a motel for a couple of nights and leave again, going back on the road to free my mind. Some nights, like tonight, it’s not enough, and I need help from my good old friend Jack Daniels to chase those memories that invade my every thought away.

“Nice cruiser,” the one with the long hair said, eying my bike.

“Thanks,” I said, proud of my baby. Sally has become my life after Alina and Billy were ripped away from me. “Yours, too.” I pointed at theirs.

“They are our lives. You look like you could use a drink…or ten. Want to join us?” the bearded one asked me.

“Ten sounds more like it.” I chuckled without any trace of humor.

“Come on in then, my friend.” Long haired guy clapped my back, and we walked in. They looked much younger than I was, and at any other time I would steer clear from hanging out with anyone, but I could do with the company tonight. No bartender likes a depressed drunk guy.

“I’m Ant and this is Gabe,” the longhaired one, who is now identified as Ant, says.

“Callum,” I reply shortly as we settle at the pool table. Ant flags the waitress down, and she comes over almost tripping over her own feet as she sees him giving her some attention. I guess being a biker and known for that has its perks.

“Give us three beers, will ya, gorgeous.” He smiled and winked at her, and I swear I heard her mewl even with all the noise surrounding her.

“Coming right up, sexy face.” She bit her lower lip in what I’m assuming is a seductive way but is far from it. I try not to laugh in case she’s close to them. I don’t want to start a fight, not now at least.

“She’s getting worse every time we come here. You should just f*ck her,” Gabe said, breaking into laughter and I joined him.

“Not going there, brother. She’s a f*cking weirdo and will be clingy as f*ck if I ever do that.”

“Exactly my point.” Gabe claps Ant’s shoulder, and they set up the balls to play a game of pool. “So, where are you from?” he asks looking at me.

“Here and there.” I was purposely vague purely because I had no f*cking clue who these guys were. It’s one thing to have drinks with them, it’s another to open up and tell them my life story.