WE ARE DELIGHTED TO WELCOME TODAY'S GUEST AUTHOR,MARIA VICKERS. MARIA IS SHARING CHAPTER ONE OF HER NOVEL, 'CAPTAIN'S OBSESSION' #RWRTeamBlog #ReadWriteRepeat WARNING: Over 18's CONTAINS PROFANITY
- 6 days ago
- 8 min read
Chapter One
Captain Pink
One minute. Sixty seconds. Blink, and it was gone before you knew it. And in the aftermath, you were forced to live with the decisions and consequences for a lifetime, watching time tick by, never ending, adding to your torture, giving you an unending prison sentence.
“Captain Pink!” Ghoul snapped on the other end of the line, yanking me out of my thoughts. I wasn’t sure why I fell down that particular hole, but it had been happening more often lately.
“What?” I growled in irritation. Okay, so I was the one who’d called him when some nobody decided to ring me up out of nowhere and demand to talk to me. The offender dropped Ghouls name like the flavor of the week at Baskin-Robbins, and that had been enough to intrigue me…or at least make me call the asshole.
“You called me,” he spoke slowly, making each word its own sentence.
“I did do that, but you’re the one who passed out my number like some shithead carving it into a bathroom stall.”
“I did what?” I could hear him sigh long and loud, and I almost laughed. To my right, Odin, my VP, sat down and shook his head. I did love giving my friends shit. That was what they were there for. Right?
“Someone called me up about an hour ago. Threw your name out there so I wouldn’t hang up on his ass.”
A pause, and then he asked, “Did he say what his name was?”
“How many fuckers have you given my number to, asshole?” I snapped, and it was his turn to laugh. The fucker. I’d like to say he was a bastard, but it was in the name and already implied. Royal Bastards MC.
“Well, there was that whore in Wichita.”
“Fuck you.”
“Not to mention the guy in Cleveland.”
“Ghoul…” I drew out his name long and low as I ran my hand through my hair. He was one of my closest friends, a man who knew almost all of my secrets, and yet, he annoyed me like no other. Odin snorted, and I corrected myself. Odin knew how to annoy and piss me off faster than a tick bit a hound. And he’d been doing it for almost two thousand years. I’d have probably killed him off long ago if it weren’t for Farmer. He’d been around just as long and seemed to balance us out in a way nothing else could, which was saying something. It was also a testament to his temperament, considering his father was Ares, the god of war. I wouldn’t necessarily call Farmer a pacifist, and yet, he was slow to anger and would do anything possible to avoid having to fight. But if the battle was brewing, and there was no way to a peaceful resolution, he was a fierce warrior, and one you wanted on your side.
“Relax, Captain Pink. I’ve only given it out to two people. Tater might need you for some shit going down in Idaho, which, before you say anything, I know is a shit ton of miles between you, but he might need as many Bastards as he can get. If it wasn’t him, then it has to be Aegis.”
I opened my mouth and closed it again. Aegis? Was he fucking serious? Unable to stop myself, I rolled my eyes. “The shield Zeus had made for Athena?” I asked through clenched teeth. Most thought it was just something Zeus used or Athena wore, but the head of the Greek gods had it made especially for her to protect her from her enemies. And she had a lot of them. I would be lying if I said I never wanted to strangle her myself. She might have been the goddess of wisdom, but she didn’t know when to shut the hell up or back off. Like many gods, she was a narcissist and loved the sound of her own voice. Her opinion was the most important. Yet somehow, for all her faults, she managed to pull her head out of her ass when it came to her nephew. She loved Farmer and doted on him, and he returned the sentiment, calling her his favorite aunt. Personally, I thought Farmer had a screw or two loose.
“That would be the one.” He could hardly get the words out because he was laughing so hard.
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I sighed and counted to ten as I listened to his wheezing on the other end. He found this hilarious, while I found it irritating. He did it on purpose, of that, I was certain. “Are you done yet? You sound like you are about to hack up a lung, old man.”
“Old man? Me? You’re one to talk. You are…” his words dropped off, and all I could hear was muttering on the other end. “A million times older than me, oh ancient one.”
I couldn’t help it. I laughed, too. I’d known Ghoul since he was a kid, causing trouble. He’d kept my secrets and pulled me into this brotherhood when I needed it the most. Of course, it was originally because he needed my help with an issue in Mexico and a few other things. Farmer and Odin were with me for that run, and by the end of it, I walked away with my road name, Captain Pink. All because they ran out of black raincoats and only had a bright pink one left. I wore it with pride, though. Hell, no one could look as good as me wearing that damn thing. “You got me there.”
We laughed some more with Odin shaking his head and mumbling, “Is he trying to stroke her ego? It’s bigger than the planet as it is.”
Raising an eyebrow, I asked, “Which is worse? Hers or your father’s?”
Odin clenched his jaw and his fists, his knuckles turning white and his hands becoming redder than his face. “Do not bring him into this or speak his name around me.”
“Hard to do when you have the same name?”
“And whose fault is that?” he snapped.
I had been the one to give Odin his road name. At first, it had been a joke of a nickname I called him when I wanted to annoy him shortly after meeting him. It stuck. He could have changed it at any point in time, but he had been called Odin for about two thousand years, and that was his own damn fault. “Completely mine. But Farmer helped.”
“He played follow the leader.”
“Neither one of you had to follow,” I retorted, a giant grin on my face.
“Sometimes I want to murder you.”
“Awe. I love you too.” I wrapped my arm around his neck and pulled him close, kissing the side of his head to annoy him.
In true Odin fashion, he pushed me away, stood up, and stormed out of the clubhouse. Seconds later, I heard his engine roar to life, and he left. We were a brotherhood. The three of us had been friends for most of our lives. Our backgrounds bonded us. Three warriors who were the children of gods and goddesses, whom most of humanity believed were nothing more than myths and legends.
“Are you done?” Ghoul asked, but I could hear the humor in his voice.
“I might be.”
“What happened to Odin?” Farmer asked as he sat down.
“I annoyed him,” I said with a smile. “You’ll like this one.” I set my phone down on the table. We were in the main room of our clubhouse, but other than two men by the door, the place was empty. Hitting the button for speaker phone, I said, “Ghoul, tell Farmer about the guy.”
“Aegis?” Ghoul asked.
“Is he serious?” Farmer shook his head, a smirk on his face. “She’ll like that one.”
“Will you fuckers get serious for a moment? I don’t have all day to spend on the phone with you idiots,” Ghoul growled.
“Sure you do. First, you gave out my number not once, but twice, without telling me, and second, you decided it would be a good idea to nickname some nobody after a famous shield used by Athena, the daughter of Zeus and Farmer’s beloved aunt. You walked into this,” I informed him, sounding as innocent as possible.
We heard some more grumbling, and I watched as Farmer covered his mouth, attempting not to laugh and failing miserably. “He has you there, Ghoul,” Farmer managed to say.
“Assholes. Both of you.”
“We know,” Farmer and I said together, and Ghoul laughed.
“Listen, the kid—”
I interrupted. “Kid?”
“I say kid, but he’s twenty-one.”
“Still a kid,” Farmer stated, and I nodded in agreement.
“Yeah, well, everyone is a kid to you two assholes. I wasn’t the one who gave him that name. Sac did. Said it just came to him. I don’t know. Anyway, we call him Aegis. He’s been a go-between for us before, gives us information on things going down or coming to market, gives us a heads up when trouble is coming sniffing, and has prospected for us.”
“Why isn’t he over in Cleveland with you then?” I asked.
“His dad got real sick and needed his help or some shit. He was good for us, and I thought he might be able to prospect for you, seeing as you have established the St. Louis Chapter of the Bastards.”
“Ghoul, you know that isn’t a good idea for a lot of reasons,” I said, dragging my fingers through my hair.
“Are you telling me everyone is like you?” Ghoul countered.
I knew what he was getting at. No, not everyone was like me, but most of them were. Besides Farmer, Odin, and me, there were eight others, and of those eight, only three were completely human, but they knew. They were privy to our secrets and knew how to keep their mouths shut. I didn’t know this kid from Adam—I could practically hear Ghoul laughing his ass off and asking if I actually knew the first Adam. “Ghoul…”
“I’m not saying you share your deepest, darkest secrets with him. Feel him out yourself. Make this a little test. He said something about having a stash of guns his old man wanted to move. Talk to him, check out the merchandise, and then decide. I honestly don’t know if this kid has what it takes to be a Bastard, but he hasn’t steered us wrong yet.”
Glancing at Farmer, he shrugged and nodded. At that moment, I knew I wouldn’t deny my old friend. Instead of immediately accepting my fate, I groaned. “Fine. I’ll talk to him, but no promises.”
“That’s all I ask for, brother.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
We talked a little more to get caught up on everything, but eventually, I called Aegis back and made plans to meet him in a secluded area. If he fucked me over, I’d bury him where no one would ever find the body.
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BIO
Maria Vickers is a bestselling and award-winning author who currently resides in St. Louis, MO with her pug, Hunny. She has always had a passion for writing and after she became disabled in 2010, she decided to use writing as her escape. She believes that life is about what you make of it, you have to live it to the fullest no matter the circumstances.
Getting sick changed her life forever, but it also opened doors for her that she thought would always be out of reach.
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COMING SOON: On Monday 20th, July, our wonderful team member, author David W Thompson is sharing an excerpt from his novel, 'His Father's Blood'.
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