Ethan (Devil's Flame MC #9) - Romi Hart

1

Ethan breathed in the dry cool air, looking up at the clear starry night as the noise of the clubhouse faded behind him. It was nights like this that made him love Texas. Of course the best barbeque in the world helped as well. His boots scraped over the gravel as he walked, making a rhythmic muffled sound, sending small billows of dust behind him as they absorbed the impact of his weight landing on them.

“Leaving already, Ethan?” someone called from behind him.

He looked back to see one of the new recruits, Jason, slouched on his bike with one of the club girls sprawled over him. “Yeah man, I need a ride before I get home. You’re free to join me if you want, but I think you’re a bit busy.” He said with half a smile.

Jason laughed out, “Yeah man, I’ll have to catch you another time big hoss.”

Ethan smiled as he started back towards his bike. He liked the kid. Still wet behind the ears, but who isn’t when they’re that young. As far as interruptions go, that was a pleasant one.

He threw his leg over his love, Athena, ready to romance an unusually cool summer night. She was his only prized possession, a 1990 Harley FXR with the new Milwaukee-Eight 114 engine with custom mounts, custom gearing for the transmission, built without cutting or changing the original frame or looks. She was the only stable relationship in his life, and the only one worth putting time into.

He turned the key and was about to hit the ignition when his phone vibrated violently in his pocket. He groaned as he dug it out his front pocket, and cursed after seeing who it was from. He hadn’t been expecting a call from his informant for at least another couple of days, and he got a feeling that his day was just about to get longer.

“Hey, what’s up?” he answered, still straddling his bike, hoping it was just a random drunk call to say goodnight, so he could be done with it and be on his way. Wasn’t the first time that happened.

“Word is, since you and your friends, the Kings, disbanded the new membership over there, Martin’s in the wind.”

Ethan frowned. Martin was the president of the Silver Suns, and while they’d made it clear that having picked up new membership off the straggling Ravens was unacceptable, he couldn’t imagine a reason why Martin would disappear.

He was safe, and in fact, both the Diamond Kings and the Devil’s Flames had agreed to give them another chance to do business together, even after Martin and his extremely small crew had tried to double cross Dylan and the Kings. It was a good offer; Dylan didn’t usually offer second chances.

“What do you mean, in the wind? Like, he ran? From what?” Ethan asked, scratching the growing stubble on his jaw, and putting the pieces together from what remembered.

“I’m not sure,” the informant said, sounding just as confused. “To be honest, it doesn’t smell like fear to me.”

“You think something else is going on.” He knew that Martin was safe from Dylan, they wouldn’t ruin a deal like that. And their territory was close enough to the Flames’ that rival clubs wouldn’t try to put pressure on them to takeover, or get between their deals.

“It’s hard to say. There’s a lot of turmoil over there right now, after dusting out all the hiding Ravens and now Martin missing. But the atmosphere is just off. I think it’s highly likely someone’s done something to him.”

Ethan didn’t like that. He didn’t like the idea of getting involved in whatever beef this was. But they were still trying to find out if any more Ravens had infiltrated the group. So far, that seemed cleaned up, but they couldn’t be too cautious. And with their leader, as weak as he was, out of the picture, there was no telling what would happen to the smaller club. “So, who’s running the show right now? Dennis?”

The informant scoffed. “That son of a bitch doesn’t know his head from his ass. He never should’ve gotten the VP patch. But you’re gonna love this. Martin’s sister is sitting at the helm.”

Ethan wasn’t sure he’d heard correctly. “You’re kidding me, right?”

“You heard me right. The chick’s hard as nails, grew up around MC’s. She spent more time around bikers than Martin did growing up, from what I hear. She’s not letting anyone else take over, doesn’t want Martin facing a battle when