I Dare You To Meet Me
Chapter 18

I ended the call with Reykon before I got to the mall, the cab dropped me off at the front door, I paid for the ride, and got out.

My friend had helped me come up with a plan so I could survive for a whole year with my father in his motorcycle club without dying trying.

My feet moved in the direction of the bank, the first thing I would do would be to unlock all my accounts so I could access my money.

I needed to buy a lot of things, I also needed to get in touch with the shareholder members of the board of directors of my family’s company. I needed to talk to them to make it clear that from now on I was in charge.

Hell, I was going to take over a company, and I hadn’t even gone to college.

I grimaced at the thought, I needed to find a way to get through classes without wasting so much time.

Thanks to the fact that I was still dressed like a high society princess, the bank procedures were incredibly quick and easy to complete. In less than two hours I had access to at least five bank accounts, three of them open for credit and two for debit. I had my cards, as well as a benefits program.

I thanked the man who served me, and left the bank.

My first stop was the clothing stores. I may have had a whole closet full of brand name clothes still with the tags on, but I couldn’t wear them. If at first I wanted to hide who I really was, I didn’t see the point anymore. My plan was to pretend to be the perfect daughter again so that no one would ask me any questions and I could leave as soon as possible for Russia. Those plans had gone to hell, and I didn’t plan to hide for a whole year.

The clothes I bought were not as expensive as the ones Mom had picked out for me, and definitely not something she would approve of, but she wasn’t here to tell me anything anymore. I bought jeans, shorts, short skirts, t-shirts, shirts, blouses, jackets, tops. All in dark colors, black, navy blue, gray, white, red, magenta. I didn’t buy dresses, because I had a lot of those in the apartment, besides I didn’t wear them. I also bought some high boots, some comfortable tennis shoes, and some fluffy slippers.

I wasn’t going to buy anything else, but as I passed by the lingerie stores a strange excitement ran through my body, and without being able to help myself I jumped in. I ended up buying at least ten sets of the most daring underwear, also all in dark shades. I left with a satisfied smile, there was no better way to boost a woman’s self-esteem than by pampering herself.

I didn’t want to admit that as I was choosing a black lace three-piece ensemble a few eyes of the same color flashed through my head and made heat flood my body. Because by the f*****g hell that was never going to happen, I would never let that biker get into my bed. Or at least, that’s what I kept telling myself.

My last stop at the mall was the electronics store, I bought a new cell phone, because mine was shit and a laptop so I could work on it.

Once I finished all my shopping session I walk to the fast food part, I leave all the damn bags, (because f**k there were so many), on a table and I approach to order my food, I’m not the healthiest person in the world but I wasn’t careless either. I chose a Japanese food stand and ordered a teriyaki and some California sushi rolls.

I enjoyed my food as much as I could, cherishing the beautiful moments of solitude I had left. When it was more than halfway through the afternoon I decided it was time to leave.

I left the mall and took a cab to my apartment, I needed to pick up a few things before giving up my freedom. Again.

(…)

It was almost eight o’clock at night when I finally arrived at the famous Black Ravens Clubhouse, the one where four years ago I had discovered that my father had another family.

The cab dropped me off right at the entrance of the huge building. Several bikers were outside discussing or smoking. They saw me and my three suitcases arrive with a questioning look on their faces.

I had changed my clothes, now I was wearing sport pants with a matching sweatshirt and comfortable shoes. The makeup had disappeared from my face and I looked like a different person, I carefully approached the entrance of the bar dragging my luggage as best I could, too proud to ask for help.

I took a big exhale of air before pushing open the doors and finally entering.

The place looked exactly the same as it had days before. Big men with muscles of steel, long hair and abundant beards enjoyed alcohol, cigarettes, gambling, and female companionship. The women in the place looked at me with superiodity and disgust as they scanned me, and I sneered back at the sight of them so proffered and scantily clad.

Gods, don’t they have an ounce of dignity to keep from groveling so much?

Before one of those cats could get on top of me because of the look I was giving them, a boy of at least six feet or ninety, blond as the sun, brown skin, marked muscles and green eyes identical to mine approached me.

-Did you get lost, little princess? He asked me with a cutting tone.

-Where is your daddy? I answered indifferently.

He raised an eyebrow while he crossed his arms and looked at me with a mocking smile on his lips.

-Our father is in the office discussing important things with the club brothers.

It was my turn to get cocky.

-Your father, shouldn’t you be there, I mean, if he trusts you so much?

The smile disappeared from his face.

-I’m warning you, you little brat, I have no idea how you managed to get into our lives, but if you think you’re going to get a single penny out of my father, you’re very wrong. I will not let a leech like you take advantage of us, so be very careful with what you do, I can turn your life into hell if I want to, is that clear to you?

I was amused how he tried to intimidate me, I didn’t like his damned threats one bit, apart from the idiot he was very wrong if he thought he could make me feel inferior just with a few words.

They really didn’t have the slightest idea who I was, but I guess they would find out sooner or later.

-Don’t get in my way, brother, and I’m not getting in yours. I pronounced the word brother slowly and with contempt.

We both challenged each other with our gazes, I was so involved in our discussion that I didn’t notice how the noise of the place decreased and how we were the center of everyone’s attention.

At that some heavy footsteps become present, and my gaze is fixed on seven impressive men who seem to fill the room with their mere presence.

I immediately recognize my father in the middle of everyone, to his right was Hunter along with a biker with short hair to his skull with a scar on one of his cheeks and no beard, behind him another man with brown hair tied in a high ponytail and beautiful gray eyes, to his left two completely identical hairy men, hazel eyes, full of freckles on their noses, and full of tattoos and intimidating as hell. The last one was behind the red twins, and he looked old enough to be my grandfather, his black hair had several gray hairs, not so short, but not long enough to have to hold it back, he had a perfectly trimmed beard and whiskey colored eyes that saw everything like a hawk looking for its prey to eat.

I didn’t show it, but I felt myself dwarfed with the magnitude of the big bikers and their heavy personalities. And I almost took a few steps back and looked down when I saw myself being the center of their attention, only my pride made me stay where I was.

My father’s green eyes saw me standing next to his son, and his brow furrowed, the footsteps of the seven quickly approached where we were, I felt my body tense as did that of the brat next to me.

As they approached, I was able to be able to read the title patches that were sewn onto the leather vests they all had. My father’s said President, Hunter’s said Vice President, the one with the scar said Executor, the one with the gray eyes said Route Commander, one of the twins said Sergeant at Arms while the other said Intelligence Officer, and the oldest of them all read Treasurer.

My father and his entourage stopped really close to my person, and I felt the piercing stares of all seven. Hades clapped his hands a couple of times and with that ended any noise that will still be left in the room.

-All right brothers, many of you will have already heard the rumors while others won’t have a f*****g clue what’s going on, so open your ears wide and listen to what I’m going to say I’m not going to say it twice and whoever doesn’t listen to me will earn a pass to the beating of their life- A long silence where he ran through everyone with his heavy gaze was present before continuing- That woman over there- He pointed at me with a nod of his head- Her name is Natasha or Tasha, she is MY DAUGHTER and she is going to stay with us for a while. I will not tolerate ANY F*****G DISRESPECT IN HER DIRECTION. While I have no doubt that she will know how to put them in their place, I warn you that if I find out that you lay a f*****g hand on her, you are going to end up without her. So they better keep their dicks in their pants and their comments to themselves. We have all voted, and even though she is not an official member of the Black Raven, she is under our protection. Is there any doubt left in your minds!

The last was practically shouted, and other shouts of assent followed. The faces of those offered were now wary and resentful, the men seemed to look at me as if I had grown a third head out of nowhere and it had long fangs that could bite them at any moment. My stepbrother seemed to want to reduce me to ashes with his eyes.

But none of that mattered, not when my father motioned for me to follow him and the other bikers with him. I relaxed my shoulders by shaking them and carefully picked up my bags so I could follow him, he took me to the same office as last time.

I saw the green-eyed man’s intentions to follow us but a brunette with protruding breasts approached him and demanded his attention. I rolled my eyes as I watched him follow her gawking, men.

Arriving at the office I found myself hemmed in by the odd circle of bikers, my father was sitting behind his desk, with Hunter to his right, the old man to his left. I had a twin on each side, on my left the grey-eyed biker and on my right the one with the scar. I crossed my arms and waited for him to tell me whatever he was going to tell me.

-First I would like to introduce you to my inner circle and those responsible for the Black Ravens functioning as they do. You already met Hunter Hell who is my VP, this one on my left is Theodoro Bullet Prescott he is our Treasurer- The grey haired guy gave me a nod which I returned- The mountain of muscles and the one with the face of little fleas on your right is called Maxim Toro Martinez he is the Executor- The guy didn’t even see me, so I didn’t even give him half a glance- The one with the slicked back hair is Salazar Bloody Woods and he serves as the Trail Boss- The gray-eyed guy winked at me and I felt him relax me with that strangely paternal gesture- The twins are Drey Diablo Sanchez and Drew Demonio Sanchez, They are the Sergeant at Arms and the Intelligence Officer respectively- The red one on my left greeted me with the first name and the one on the right with the second, I returned the greeting, and I tried to find some way to identify them, but I couldn’t find any- Alright everybody, this is Natasha White, she is my daughter and Kore’s daughter, she comes from Russia but she can speak English perfectly-.

My father finished his speech and got a poisoned look from me.

-Kozlov, my name is Natasha Kozlov, I stopped being a White a long time ago- I said looking into his eyes and seeing how they darkened, I heard a snort and I gave Toro a bad face but I said nothing- You can call me Tasha, nobody uses my full name and I would appreciate it if it stayed that way-.

The old man, who if I remembered correctly was called Theodore, cleared his throat in an attempt to remove the tension from the place.

-Welcome to the Black Ravens Tasha, your father has told us what has happened and the reason why you are with us, I want to thank you for deciding to be here and I promise you that although it may not seem so at the moment, we are a club where family and loyalty means everything, there is usually no hostile environment between us and I hope that soon you will be comfortable with our presence. I just ask for a little patience, we are not used to be around, um, women with, education, yes, that, so sometimes we will seem a little rude or idiots, none of us will break his word not to hurt you-.

Her calm and gentle tone inspired confidence in me, when she smiled at me as if I were a niece I hadn’t seen for a long time it made my heart soften just a little and I smiled back at her. Although he was very wrong to believe that I was a little lady, I didn’t think it was appropriate to start an argument on that point.

-Now, as you know we are a motorcycle club, and even if there are no problems among us, it doesn’t mean that we don’t have enemies roaming around, soon the rumor that the daughter of our Prez is living will spread like wildfire and many will want to see you or hurt you to get to us. The Prez has told us of your desire to stay out of our way of life and we will respect that, but there will be times where we will give you certain orders to keep you safe and we expect you to follow them- This time it was Hunter’s thick voice that spoke to me and my treacherous eyes were glued to his lips as he spoke.

When they finally rose to his face, his dark gaze told me he had noticed that detail and a grimace of satisfaction came over his face.

-Personally I appreciate everything you are doing for my comfort, but I am not used to taking orders and much less to obey them just because, I will try that my presence is not a burden for you and I will stay as far away from your business as possible, as I hope you do with mine. I really don’t know you at all and I apologize for being so distrustful but I don’t want to risk myself in any way. In a year I am going back to my country and the last thing I want is to have any kind of problem that will keep me in the United States any longer.

I answer, but with my last comment I only manage to increase the tension in the room, more from my father’s body. Hunter’s grimace disappears and his arms tighten.

-We can promise not to meddle where we are not called as long as you are not in danger you or someone from the club. But otherwise we can not stand idly by while something happens, you’re under our protection now and we take care of our own,” he said. And I just shrug my shoulders.

-I don’t think I’ll get in trouble, I’ve only been here for two days and I haven’t been in California for years, but I’ll be careful anyway, now if you’ll excuse me, it’s been a long day and all I want to do is take a shower and go to bed-. I say throwing the hint to my father who nods his head in the direction of the red one on my right.

-One more thing before you go, any doubt or complaint you have about any of the brothers you can say it to any of us, you can call us by our names or nicknames as you feel more comfortable. And we ask for discretion in the matter of the inheritance, we do not want to tell the rest of the club that the place where they live with their families is hanging by a thread, so if someone asks, make up a lie, whatever you want, but do not say the real reason- I nodded without giving it importance, I was nobody to go around shouting our affairs to the four winds. All the men visibly relaxed when I agreed.

-Your brother is not aware of this matter either and I ask you to keep it that way. In the future you will meet your other brother Gael, and despite the notorious contempt you feel for me, please do not show it to him, he is only ten years old and is not to blame for anything. My father’s voice made my anger flare up again. Of course, I had forgotten his other bastard, Bruno and Gael, my stepbrothers, just thinking about it made my b***d boil.

-I wasn’t to blame for anything either, but that didn’t matter for you, did it? -I saw how my comment hurt him and I went ahead before he could answer- I won’t tell him anything, but don’t expect me to become the prototype of the perfect sister either, because for me this is far from being a family, don’t forget our deal Hades, you will disappear from my life as soon as this is over-. She finished very serious.

He looks at me with his green eyes brimming with pain and swallows hard.

-I will keep my word Tasha, Drey will show you where you will sleep from now on, any discomfort don’t hesitate to say it.

-Thank you, good night.

I said goodbye and left the place following the torch number two, as soon as the office door closed he came to help me and I allowed him to take one of the three suitcases.

-I am Drey, but you can also call me Diablo. He said in a calm tone.

-I’m Tasha, as you may have heard, don’t call me Natasha, I hate being called that.

He smiled amused with my warning tone.

-Okay Tasha, come with me, I’ll take you safe and sound to your bedroom for a whole year from now on princess.

Now I was the one who let out a snort of amusement at his nickname.

I followed him as we walked back through the hallway towards the bar, turned in the opposite direction of the office and walked forward until we reached what looked like a huge living room filled with couches and a large flat screen. At the end there was another long hallway full of doors and on one side there were stairs.

-The clubhouse is made up of five floors. The first is where the bar is, the Prez’s office, the break room, the kitchen, and the sweet a*s rooms. The other four floors are rooms for the brothers, although not everyone lives here, most with families have their own homes nearby, but those of us who stay single prefer to be close by. There are a total of ten rooms on each floor, we also have a patio where we sometimes have barbecues, parking for our motorcycles, and several businesses in the surrounding area, nothing illegal don’t worry- He winked at me as he said the last thing, I imagine so as not to scare me away. I just kept silent while I saw the place- We also have a basement but it’s exclusively for club business-.

The clubhouse was tastefully decorated, the walls were gray and several pictures of members and motorcycles adorned the walls.

adorned the walls. The dark wood floor was surprisingly clean, and in the air there was sweat, alcohol, male cologne, cigarettes, and s*x.

Especially that last one.

-We thought it best to keep you as far away from the brothers as possible. Although we have orders from the Prez not to come near you and none of us would disobey him, sometimes we get a little too drunk and we don’t want any incidents to happen.

-What are the sweet asses?” I asked curiously as I climbed the stairs and tried not to puff under the weight of the suitcases.

-They are the women who are here just to f**k the brothers, some are looking for us to give them a patch of property while others just want a roof over their heads and a bed to sleep in. They also work as cleaners or something like that. Don’t give them much importance if they are bitches to you, they are jealous that you are already one of us just by stepping foot in this place while many of them have been here for years and still get nothing.

He told me and took another suitcase from me to carry it when he saw my battle, I smiled and thanked him.

-That’s disgusting, but well, I’m no one to judge their lifestyle. What kind of business does the club do? Red gave me a sidelong glance trying to guess if he meant it sincerely.

Well, he was, I really wasn’t a prejudiced person, especially not after living what I did.

-The bar here is exclusively for bikers, but we also have one for civilians downtown, several mechanic shops scattered here and there. And a couple of hotels on the coast.

I remained silent impressed by his words, I didn’t believe that those were the businesses they had, I really expected something more shady.

-And what does it mean to be a Sergeant at Arms? That question really got his attention, he answered it anyway but I didn’t miss the way his shoulders tensed up.

-I am responsible for the security of the club and its members. In the city there are several motorcycle clubs even though this is our territory, there are about eight or ten of us. We are not all friends and there has always been some kind of rivalry. My duty is that none of us gets hurt and that no one who wants to harm us can get close to us.

I felt like that last thing he said as a hint, but unlike my stepbrother’s words, I didn’t see it as a threat, but as a way of saying that he would do anything to take care of his family. Just like anyone else would do for theirs.

-That’s an important job, taking care of our loved ones is a big responsibility, because in the end there is no one more important than family.

My words seemed to reassure him and we continued walking in silence, at last we stopped at the last door of the fourth floor, it was white with a bronze knob, the red man opened the door and stepped aside to let me pass.

The room was of regular size, a double bed in the center, a door to what I assumed would lead to a bathroom was on the left. A closet on the right wall. A few feet from the bathroom door was a desk with a chair, and above the bed a long window overlooking the courtyard. The walls were in shades of cream and on the ceiling were many paintings of crows flying in all directions. The curtains were gray as were the sheets, and the pillows were white, there was no decoration to tell me whose room it had belonged to before, for even a scent of vanilla was in the air.

-The Prez sent to clean the whole room since morning, we almost didn’t make it in time for you, you can decorate it as you like, you have a private bathroom with shower included. We usually have dinner at nine o’clock and breakfast at eight o’clock all together, or as many as possible. We eat separately because we all have business to attend to and schedules do not coordinate. If you’re hungry all you have to do is go to the kitchen and get something to eat, it’s on the other side of the bar behind a black sliding door.

He left the suitcases at the foot of the bed and I left the one I was carrying next to them.

-I leave to let you rest, will you come down to dinner with us?

I denied softly.

-I’ll probably fall asleep, thanks for everything, I’ll see you later.

He put his hands in his pants pockets and gave me a half smile.

-Good night Tasha, welcome to the Black Ravens, if only temporarily.

-Good night Diablo.

-See you tomorrow princess.

And with that last comment he left the place closing the door behind him.

A huge sigh came out of me. Suddenly I felt completely tired. Not really feeling like anything in general, I opened one of my suitcases to look for clean underwear and headed to the shower.

I took a quick bath to get the tension out of my muscles and with my wet hair, panties and a sweater for pajamas, I plopped down on the bed without unpacking my suitcases.

The cell phone vibrated on a nightstand next to my headboard on the right side and I turned to pick it up.

It was a message from Reykon telling me where my bike would arrive tomorrow at six o’clock in the morning, and where I should go to pick it up, although I cursed him for the time, I thanked him for sending me my baby, he also told me to ask about the surprise he had sent me, and although I bombarded him with questions about it, he just didn’t give his arm to twist.

I looked for the charger and plugged in the device, set the alarm an hour before and then went back to bed, it didn’t take me long to fall asleep.

This time the nightmares didn’t overtake me, but my dreams were full of crows with their long beaks and sharp claws that watched me with their intelligent eyes. Eyes as black as coal that made me stir restlessly as I wondered when I would spend a quiet night without dreaming anything.