Sons of Perdition

THE DEN was packed to the brim tonight. Hell, most nights it was packed regardless, but tonight was a celebration. Tonight a couple of Prospects became full fledged members of The Sons of Perdition. They’d proven themselves to be loyal to The Sons, something that few men managed to do. Many of the current members had been around a long time or they were related by blood.

That’s how it was with my family. My grand daddy was the Founder, the first President of the club. The man could look at you and have you down on your knees begging for your life before you even knew why you were begging. My daddy took after him and became the next President. His younger brother, my uncle, was the Sergeant at Arms. Then daddy met momma and things changed. My uncle accused him of being too caught up in his old lady to take care of the club’s income and protect it’s members.

My daddy and uncle’s relationship fell apart soon after grand daddy died when I was six. They fought constantly, creating rifts in the club and between members. My uncle instigated our enemies and tried to plant shit on those who sided with my daddy. It all escalated one night when the bar got shot up. My daddy lived, but momma didn’t. They found and arrested my uncle after a gun fight and he was sent to life in prison.

Daddy changed after that. My brothers took the brunt of it and I was left alone a lot of the time. After all, I wasn’t allowed to be in the club. It was bad luck to have an old lady as a member, blood related or not.

When my brothers were able, they each were voted in. The oldest of the three boys, Lars, became the Vice President. He mirrored daddy in almost every way - especially the bad ways. The second oldest, Sebastian, was Road Captain, and finally, Axel was the Sergeant at Arms. Daddy remained the President, and held the south in a firm choke hold under The Sons.

I watched from behind the bar as my brothers and dad sat crowded around a table in the corner, always alert with eyes on the door. Seb caught my eye from across the room and nodded in my direction, a sly grin on his face. This caught the attention of our dad because he turned his head towards Seb, whose expression instantly faded, and turned his attention to me instead.

“Uh oh,” Marissa, one of the old ladies snickered, chomping on an old piece of gum, “Looks like daddy’s callin’ you, Princess.”

I rolled my eyes at the nickname, huffing as I stepped out from behind the bar. I side stepped and shimmied past bodies before finally making my way to their table.

“How much you make tonight?” he asked gruffly.

I shrugged, crossing my arms over my chest, “I dunno, probably two hundred at least.”

“So, you’re tellin’ me that on a Friday night you’ve only made two hundred?” he scoffed, leaning back in his chair, “I’m sure Marissa over there has made twice as much as you and the bitch is starting to melt.

“Yeah, well, I ain’t gonna flash my tits to the whole bar or my brothers to get you extra cash,” I snapped, unable to hold back the anger that boiled in me.

His hand balled up into a fist, the tattoos that lined his hand and knuckles flexing as he squeezed tight, “If you weren’t my daughter I’d have your ass thrown out of this place months ago, Lennon.”

I opened my mouth to say something when Lars was suddenly by my side, his hand wrapped around my elbow, “C’mon, let’s go take a breather, Len.” He motioned to Seb and Axel to follow him. Dad stared at the four of us, lips pursed tightly as he watched as move through the crowd outside. It was nice to take in a deep breath of something other than smoke and shitty perfume for once.

Lars let out a heavy sigh as Seb and Axel came out after him, the heavy back door to the bar slamming shut behind them. “You know not to fuck with the old man, Len, but you still manage to open your god damn mouth, huh?”

I glared at Lars, “I’m surprised you haven’t backed him with throwing my ass out, you ass kisser.”

Lars’ face twisted with anger as he took a step forwards to me, only to have Seb and Axel step in between the two of us, “Knock this shit off,” Axel ground out, grabbing a hold of the collar on Lars’ cut which had The Sons of Perdition logo stitched onto the back, “We’re blood. Family. Both of you get your shit together.” he let go to Lars’ collar before adding, “Especially you, Lars. You’re the fuckin’ VP.”

Lars grumbled something under his breath and took a step back. Seb took this opportunity to lighten the mood and swung his arm around me, grinning as he pulled me closer to him, “I think we gotta worry about Len over her more than Lars.” I ducked underneath his arm, smacking him upside the head as I did so. He let out a laugh as I took a step back from him. Lars laid a hand on my shoulder, giving it a squeeze. He didn’t need to say anything, he never would anyways, but I always knew what he meant.

I grabbed a hold of the door, yanking it open, “Alright boys, go back inside,” I gestured with my free hand to the open door. The boys all shuffled in, Seb ruffling my hair as he went by, Axel, ever quiet, just gave my upper arm a squeeze.

I followed in after them, the quiet from outside vanishing quickly as the inside of the bar swallowed it up. Loud music, loud people. A thick fog of cigarette smoke hung in the air as I moved back behind the bar. Marissa was gone by now, either out roaming the bar or jerking off some guy in the bathroom. I busied myself by wiping off the bar counter and bringing back glasses to be washed. As I wiped off some beer that had been spilled on the bar top, I glanced back over to the table again, only to notice a new face had joined. It was a man I hadn’t seen before, and he was patchless. His cut was currently empty, but looked as if it had been patched before. He didn’t have the air as just being a Prospect or a Member.

He was covered in tattoos as far as I could tell, both arms, hands, and knuckles and all the way up to his neck. He was the definition of ‘bad ass, scary biker’ that people saw on TV; tall, dark and dangerous.

I must have been staring too long because he looked over at me through the dim light of the bar. I wasn’t someone to be swayed by any man, but my heart jumped into my throat when I caught him staring.

A sharp whistle brought me out of my staring contest with him, and I blinked quickly, looking in the direction of the noise. Daddy was motioning over to me, holding up two fingers in the air. Letting out a sigh, I pulled out two bottle of PBR from underneath the counter and popped the tabs, making my way back over to the table.

“Lennon,” my dad stated as I set the bottles down in front of him. He leaned back, gesturing casually over to the new visitor, “This is Easton. He’s gonna be the club’s new Enforcer.”

“Where’d he come from?” I blurted out before one of the boys had a chance to stop me. Daddy’s jaw clenched as the words came out of my mouth, but it was Easton who replied.

“Defected from The Highwaymen.”

“Why?”

Easton’s eyebrow cocked slightly, followed by a devilish, sly grin as he settled back into his seat, reaching out to grab the other bottle of beer I had brought over.

“They didn’t give me what I want.”

I blinked, a bit taken aback that he would be so open with me. Most members weren’t, whether it be they were just assholes or scared of the daughter of the President.

“What do you want?”

He only grinned, and that weird fluttering feeling came back again. Lars cleared his throat, angling his chin towards the bar, “Got a couple boys over there, Len.”

I cleared my throat, taking a step back from the table. Before I was able to get too far, daddy spoke up, “Oh, Lennon,” I turned to look at him, “You better figure out a way to shut your mouth when you talk to a member. These boys are your brothers, your blood, so they’ll put up with your shit.” He paused for a moment, “It ever gets back to me that my smart mouthed daughter has disrespected anyone, I’ll deal with you myself.”

I could only nod at his threat. Easton’s gaze never left me, and at one point I thought I had seen it soften slightly, but I must have been imagining things. Quietly, I took the empty beer bottles back with me to the bar and did my job until the bar died out in the early morning.