Page 3

CHAPTER 3

Kilo

U nlocking the door and flicking on the lights, I went through my morning routine of opening up the business. Overdrive and I had pooled our money together a few years ago and bought an existing indoor shooting range and gun store. The owner had been old as dirt and ready to retire and we were all too happy to take over.

We each worked here three days a week and made damn good money doing it. It gave us both a lot of free time for club shit, too. And we had a couple of our club brothers who knew how to run the place in case we needed some time off.

Like a couple weeks ago when we’d gone up to the White Mountains to help out our new friends, The Viking’s Rampage. They had a club over in Tucson and had run into a bit of trouble. I’ll be honest, after a fight like that, I was jonesing for more action. It was like a hit of heroin to us former service members. I missed the days when war was my life.

I looked up from polishing the glass case as the door opened. The woman had that ‘harassed mother’ look written all over her face as she stuttered to a stop and blinked at me in confusion.

Smiling at her, then down at her daughter who was clutching her leg, I pointed behind her. “Next door.”

“Huh?”

“I’m guessing you’re looking for Tappin’ Toes?”

She blinked again, then nodded.

“This is Double Tap.” I jerked my thumb over my shoulder at the wall of weapons behind me. “Gun store and shooting range. Dance studio is the next door over.”

Her eyes dropped to the tattoos on my hands as I pointed her in the right direction again. Her hand fluttered a little, then landed on her chest. “Oh. I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be,” I told her with a grin. “Happens often.” Or often enough that we had a running joke about it with Jess, the owner of the dance studio. That tended to happen when gun toting men showed up in the middle of her dance classes.

“Thank you,” the mom said, smiling at me and guiding the little girl back out the door.

Leaning on the case, I watched as she glanced back then flushed when I caught her looking. I chuckled and went back to work. I pulled out the rifle I’d taken with me up to the White Mountains. Breaking it down, I started giving it a thorough cleaning.

Ever since we’d met the Viking’s Rampage and the Berserker’s Rage MCs I’d been thinking about our own club and where we were going with it. I had a feeling Ruck had been having the same thoughts because he’d called for church Thursday morning. I was really hoping he was going to start taking us in a different direction.

For a while, after a lot of us had gotten out of the military, we just needed quiet. And peace. And we had a few members who were still actively in the military, one was even deployed right now, but the rest of us were getting antsy.

We were men created for war. For hard times. And while it’d been nice to take a break from all that, there was a burning in our blood that needed to be slaked. And the flames were starting to build.

None of this was on Ruck. We’d voted to take it easy so we could all start figuring out how to live after leaving the military. Most of us bought, or started, businesses. And building those kept us busy and contained. Add in partying and fucking and life had been good. But more and more we were chomping at the bit to get into some shit.

The incident up in the mountains had fueled me and now I was feeling that old need surging back up inside me once more. The need that drove me into the military to begin with.

The hours passed quietly, with a couple of regulars coming in to use the shooting range, then heading home. The sun was starting to set. It was only about an hour from closing time when the door opened again.

“Hey Kilo.”

“Jess. How’s it going?” I asked.

We’d gotten to know the woman whose building was next to ours pretty well over the last few years. She was a good lady. In her fifties and sweet as could be. She often brought us cookies. There wasn’t much I wouldn’t do for a homemade chocolate chip cookie. She’d found my weak spot. My stomach.

“So that asshole across from me parked in one of our spots again. Sandy ended up having to park way out in the lot. I was wondering…”

“I’ll walk her to her car,” I offered before she even had the chance to ask.

Her face broke out into a grin. “Thank you, Kilo. I just-” She broke off and shook her head.

“He still giving her trouble?”

“I don’t know,” she sighed. “He keeps parking in our spots no matter how many times I ask him to knock it off. He hasn’t asked her out again, but I just get the feeling she’s not telling me everything. You know?”

“Yeah.” I grabbed my Glock and shoved it in the holster I had clipped to my belt. Arizona was an open carry state. I also had a concealed carry permit, but for dickheads like Shawn from across the way, it was better to let him see what you were packing. He was too much of a coward to confront a man though. No. He liked to harass young women. Young married women.

Sandy was his target right now and it didn’t matter that she’d told him she had a husband. He was one of those guys who didn’t think no meant no. Jess had told me what he’d said about her husband not needing to know about them and I’d nearly lost my shit. It was assholes like that who ripped families apart while military members were deployed.

I’d been single for all of my deployments, but I’d seen it happen often enough. Sandy was a sweet girl. Twenty years old. One kid. Just trying to survive while her husband was gone, and this creep was trying to intimidate her into making a stupid decision. She didn’t want to worry her husband, give him stress that could cause him to get distracted and hurt while deployed. Admirable, but that didn’t mean she needed to endure harassment.

Not on my watch.

“I’ll look after your store while you walk her.”

“What about your studio?”

“I’m done for the night.”

“Then I’ll just lock up for a few minutes and walk both of you,” I told her.

She crossed her arms over her chest. “Your mama sure taught you right, Kilo.”

“Thanks,” I replied with a chuckle, holding the door open for her. I locked it behind me. When I turned, I found both women standing there waiting for me.

Sandy gave a sheepish smile. “Thanks for this, Kilo. Jess worries too much.”

“I’d say she worries just the right amount,” I told her as we stopped at Jess’s car. It was parked right in front of her studio, which was where Sandy’s little Honda should be as well. Instead, a BMW sat there. “You want me to talk to him?” I asked Jess.

She sighed. “No, thank you. I’ll go have a word with him again tomorrow.”

Shrugging, I lifted my hand in a wave as she slipped into her car and drove away. “Lead the way,” I told Sandy, motioning to the lot. I fell into step beside her.

“How’s Matt doing?” I asked as we walked.

“Good,” she said with a beaming smile. “I got to talk to him for an hour last night.”

“That’s good.” Deployment was so damn hard on the families. Wives and husbands were left behind, often raising children alone, and missing their partners. It wasn’t much easier on the service member. They had to shove the worry down so they could focus on their job. Otherwise they could get themselves, or someone else, killed. But that wasn’t easy to do when you knew your families were at home, trying to make it all work alone.

When Sandy sucked in a little breath, I followed her stare. Shawn was standing outside the building he worked in, watching us.

I met his gaze and dropped my arm around Sandy’s shoulders. His face dipped into a scowl, but he turned around and went back inside. I hadn’t told Jess, but I suspected he was continuing to take up their parking spaces so Sandy would be forced to park further away. That way he could waylay her on her way back to her car.

Douche.

Sandy sighed and her shoulders relaxed as soon as Shawn walked away. She didn’t seem to mind that I had my arm around her. I’d never once hit on her. I didn’t take other men’s women. This was merely making a point to the dickhead to stay away from her. Sandy knew I was safe. Hell, Matt had called me a few months ago to thank me for watching out for his wife while he was gone.

I didn’t know him well, but he came into the store occasionally and when he was home he was always picking up his wife from work, so we’d talked. He was a good kid. So was Sandy. I couldn’t imagine how frustrating it was for him to be halfway around the world and not be able to help your woman when she needed it.

Which was why Overdrive and I had sort of taken to watching out for Jess, Sandy, and Laura while they were at the dance studio. The women mostly dealt with moms, their kids, and the occasional dance dad who brought their little princesses in, so their clientele wasn’t an issue. It was the men working in this complex that needed to learn some fucking manners.

Jess was right. My mama had taught me right. She was a single mom after my dad passed away and she made sure I knew how to treat a lady. Sure, I was in an MC, so I wasn’t exactly a fucking angel, but that didn’t mean I was like Shawn the Douche.

“Thanks again, Kilo.” Sandy smiled as I dropped my arm and she unlocked her car. “He just won’t take the hint.”

“If you need anything, you call me, or Overdrive,” I told her. We’d made sure all three ladies working at Tappin’ Toes had our cell numbers in case there was ever any trouble. “I’m more than happy to make sure he gets the hint.”

She grinned at me. “I bet. Thanks. I have to go pick up Charlotte from the sitter.”

“Drive safe. Monsoon’s rolling in,” I told her. Thunder clapped a few seconds later, as if to punctuate my statement.

She waved, and I waited, hands shoved in my pockets until her car turned out onto the main road. Turning, I headed back inside. No one was around, so I was going to close early. Nothing worse than getting caught in a monsoon on a motorcycle. I was going to have to race the storm home.