3

Leilani

Phoenix thought I didn't know what was going down with the club, but I wasn't blind.

I'd spent my whole life around the club. My daddy was a founding member, and my adopted dad was the president. I lived and breathed the Sandcastles MC.

So, when they were at war, it was pretty easy to notice. The boys were all amped up and there was a level of anxiety happening in the clubhouse. Then all that shit with Ford and Caralee happened, and that was a nice distraction for a bit. It was nice to see two people who loved each other finally come together.

You didn't see it that much, not in a violent place like the Sandcastles MC clubhouse.

I glanced across the room and caught Mason looking at me. He quickly looked away, and I smiled to myself. I had talked to him earlier that night for the first time in a while, and he'd seemed like he couldn't wait for me to get away from him.

I did not understand that man. One second, he was smiling and laughing, letting me sit in his lap, and the next he was acting like he barely knew me.

Which suited me just fine. We'd been like that for ten years, one second talking up a storm and the next pretending like we were practically strangers. Ten years and I felt like I both knew him and didn't know him at all.

"You hear about the shipment?" Sara asked me.

I shook my head. "What shipment?"

"Apparently some shipment of something from down south got stolen," she said. "Phoenix thinks it was the Mezcals."

"That would make sense," I said, nodding. "But it's not really our business, is it?"

Sara shrugged. "I don't know. It's all the boys are talking about."

Sara was new to the club, just another drifter girl looking to make sense of her life. The Sandcastles MC attracted that kind of girl, a girl that needed strength and danger to feel alive.

"Maybe, but if they hear you talking about it, they'll be pretty quick to toss you out."

"How come you can talk about whatever you want?" she asked me.

She didn't know who my father was, of course. She'd only been around for a few weeks. As far as I could tell, she had an eye for Noble, one of the regular boys.

"I'm just special," I said, grinning at her.

I looked up as something big and heavy leaned up against the bar next to us. "You ladies need a drink?" Dow asked, smiling at us.

"I'm okay," I said.

"Me too," Sara answered.

"Aw, come on," Dow said, looking at Sara. He was clearly into her big, round eyes and bigger, rounder tits. "You sure you don't need another? This is on me."

"She said no, Dow," I said. "How about you fuck off?"

He looked at me for a second and seemed like he was about to say something, but he thought better of it. "All right then, Leilani," he said, and walked off.

Sometimes, I hated having Phoenix as a dad. I wanted the guys to treat me normal, like everyone else. No other girl could get away with saying something like that to Dow or any of the guys, but I really was special.

Because they were all afraid of my father. It was so frustrating.

"Okay," Sara said, "you're not telling me something. How did you talk to him like that?"

I sighed and decided to tell her. Might as well. She'd figure it out eventually. "Phoenix is my father."

She cocked her head. "Seriously? The president?"

"Yeah, well, he's my adopted father."

"Holy crap," she said. "You're the president's daughter."

"Yeah," I said, sighing, "sure am." I sipped my drink, looking down at the bar.

"That's really cool," she said. "Guess that explains why you get away with everything."

"Sure does."

Sometimes I wished I wouldn't get away with it. Sometimes I wished someone would put me in my place. I glanced up at Mason again, caught him looking again, and watched as he quickly looked away.

Sometimes I wished Mason would get up off his ass, come over to me, and throw me to the floor. His strong arms could rip off my clothes with ease, and I'd moan as he slowly pressed his thick cock between my legs.

But that would never happen. For one, he was way off-limits, as was every guy in the Sandcastles MC. And for seconds, he was one of the biggest assholes in the whole club, a real playboy. He wouldn't risk getting his balls cut off over me since he had a new girl practically every other night.

"Must be nice," Sara said.

"Yeah, sure is."

I frowned down at my drink and thought about all the reasons that it really wasn't.

A few hours later, most of the place had cleared out. Sara was gone, and I didn't much expect to see her again. She just didn't seem like that kind of girl. I was sitting in Phoenix's office in the back of the clubhouse.

Phoenix was a hard man. He was cold and calculating, and he had one of the most intense and serious looks you could ever imagine. But underneath that exterior, Phoenix was a good man and had always done right by me. He did his best to raise me and to protect me, and he'd even tried to keep me away from the Sandcastles at one point.

That didn't last very long, of course. I was back in the clubhouse within a week.

"I hear you've been talking to that new girl," he said to me.

I shrugged. "She's nice."

"I hear she's been talking about the war."

"Hard not to, since everyone else is."

He gave me a look. "Leilani. Be careful. We don't know her yet."

I sighed, smiling. "Come on Dad, you know me. I'm a good judge of character. I told you Caralee would be worth keeping around, didn't I?"

He grunted. "Yeah. That worked out fine. Still, be careful what you tell her."

"I haven't told her anything," I said. "Actually, I told her not to talk about it."

"Good." He leaned back in his chair, and I could see the stress clear as day on his face. "You heard about the shipment?"

"Sara mentioned it, sure."

"That's a real pain in the ass," he said. "A real pain. This war is getting worse and worse every day."

"What happened?"

"Mezcals squeezing our drug supply from the south; that's all," he said. "Not something we didn't expect. Still inconvenient."

The Sandcastles were involved in all kinds of business transactions. They owned a few real businesses, the clubhouse bar included, but for the most part they dealt in drugs and guns. They bought the drugs from South America in bulk and distributed to dealers throughout the Austin area. It was a good business and was one of the big reasons the Sandcastles were able to grow as large and as strong as they had.

Part of that business was built on a good working relationship with the Mexican gangs, especially the Mezcals. But the past few weeks had shown that the Mezcals were done playing nice and had officially taken the side of the Snake Spit MC.

"What are you going to do?" I asked him.

He rubbed his temples. "Sorry. Don't worry about it. I shouldn't have mentioned it."

"You know you can tell me these things, Dad."

"I know, honey," he said, "but this isn't for you to worry about."

"Club business," I said, smiling.

"Yeah," he grunted, grinning. "Club business."

I stood up, stretching. "Tell me what the plan is for the war, at least," I said.

"We got some ideas," he said slowly. "Some stuff I'll talk to you about soon. Important stuff."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why not tell me now?"

"It's not finalized, and I don't want to lay it on you just yet."

"Okay," I said, nodding. "Sure. Whatever you want."

"Head home. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay. Night."

"Night."

I walked out of his office, curious. He usually told me what was going on with the club, if at least just to have someone to talk to about it. He knew where my loyalties were, and he knew I would never tell the other boys anything he said to me.

But that was the first time it felt like whatever he had to say had something to do with me directly. It was strange, and I couldn't shake it.

I left the clubhouse and found my car. I drove a little Mustang Shelby GT, a beautiful old car that Phoenix gave to me when I turned twenty. I fired up the engine and headed home.

I lived alone in a little apartment just outside downtown Austin. It was a fun area, full of young people, although I didn't feel like I belonged. They were all college kids, and I never went to college. I graduated high school, but mostly because Phoenix forced me to.

Otherwise, I took care of myself. I didn't need school and didn't much care about it. I had a job and I had the club. So far, that had been enough for me.

I was just like everyone else involved with the Sandcastles. The club was my life, and my life was the club.

I tossed my keys onto my kitchen table as I walked into my little apartment and smiled at its familiar smallness.

"Club before everything else," I whispered to myself and headed to bed.