Friday nights are my favourite.
Unless we’re out on a job, we have a party at my bar, Valhalla.
We drink too much, smoke too much, fuck around, whatever it is that makes us happy.
This week was like any other in Redville Beach. It was scorching hot, so we’d broken one of the grills out and we’d have one of our chefs cooking up a fuck tonne of burgers and hot dogs all night.
All of the patched members of the Valkyrie would attend as long as they weren’t on a job, and they all brought partners, relatives, people they were fucking, whatever it might be.
Our parties were always popular, and more so when it was hot. As soon as the grill came out, half the town would turn up for a night of drink, drugs and sex. It was common knowledge what went down in my bar, but I had local law enforcement eating out of my hand, they wouldn’t touch us.
It helped, of course, that a good few of the local cops were very good customers of mine. Our weed was very popular, even with the law.
Life was good.
My name is Alexandra Madden.
I’m the Duchess.
I run this town.
Everyone would be wise to remember that.
“Duchess!” a voice shouted across the car park to me, barely audible over the sound of my bike.
“Hey there, Karma,” I replied once I shut the engine off. Erica ‘Karma’ Hart is my oldest friend, confidant and second in command. If there’s a problem, she’s my solution. If someone ends up on the wrong side of the Valkyrie, they’ll come face-to-face with Karma.
I pulled my helmet off, letting my black curly hair down my back.
Karma skipped towards me, smiling like a schoolgirl, and flung her arms around my neck. Sometimes she really did come across like a child in a ruthless killer’s body… but she was my closest friend for a reason, and she was great at what she does.
“What have I missed, Karma?”
“You’ve only been out of town for two days, boss.”
“I know, but a lot can happen.”
She rolled her eyes at me as we walked into the bar. “Your updates are probably more interesting than ours, boss, trust me.”
I smirked, that was probably true.
I followed Karma towards the ‘function room’ at the back of the bar. To any normies that stop by for a beer, it’s a function room with an amusing themed name above the door. For us, it’s the centre of business.
“Ragnarök!” I shouted as I walked through the door, calling all patched members to meet.
Compared to most stereotypical MCs, we were small, with only six fully patched members (including me!). We had quite a lot of newbies, but they were a long way off from being patched.
But also compared to most stereotypical clubs, we had better profits, success rates, fewer calamities, and, a true bragging point, none of our members were behind bars.
Sometimes it helps being a little less obvious with what you do. Breaking the law is one thing, but that doesn’t mean you need to brag about it.
I sat at my end of the table; a small smile on my face as everyone else filed in. It had only been a couple days, but I missed these ladies. The Valkyrie are family.
Karma sat in her usual spot to my right, the rest of the team spreading out in front of us.
If you ignored the guns, helmets and patched leather jackets, we’d look like any other group of 20-somethings. That worked to our benefit quite often. The MC world was still incredibly sexist and old fashioned, so no one expects to have their asses handed to them by a group of young ladies.
I did enjoy teaching those people a lesson.
As soon as everyone was seated, I called the meeting to order.
“Around the table with updates then, ladies. Tequila, you first?”
Tequila looked after cleaning dirty money. Considering some of the pies we had fingers in… we had a lot of dirty money to clean.
“All good on my end, boss. Everything’s running smooth as a whistle.”
“Thanks, Tequila. Hornet, you’re up.” Hornet looked after some of our more legitimate enterprises, but you could also say she was in client relations. If a client caused a problem or was going to shoot us in the back, she’d find out about it.
“Positive news too, boss. The tattoo shop is going really well, the manager wants to take another artist on.”
“Make it happen, Hornet. Shorty, your turn.”
Shorty was our youngest patched member. She thrived on intelligence, research, that kind of thing. If we got bored, she’d find a target for our sticky fingers so we didn’t get out of practice.
“Nothing to report, boss.”
“Fishnet?” Her name came from her past as a stripper. She was great at what she did right up until someone got too handsy and she strangled them… with her fishnet stockings. I took her in, looked after her, and gave her a job. Now, she was up to her eyeballs in illegal gun sales.
“Got a buyer lined up, boss. We’ll be running about two hundred miles north for this one.”
“How many?”
“Well… We’re gonna want a lorry.”
I couldn’t hold back the grin. There was a lot of money in guns, but there was also a lot of risk. Leaving stacks of illegal guns laying around for a long time is just asking for trouble. It was definitely best to shift the stuff as quickly as possible, especially when the Russians deliver as quickly as they do.
“And last but not least, Karma?”
“Two new contracts appeared on my desk, boss. Big budgets, both of them.”
“Make it happen.”
“And you, D? How was your trip?”
“Well, K, it was productive,” I smirked. I’d been playing house with the boss of the MC that runs the next city over, Ashworth, a man with the road name Blaze. Blaze is an absolute twat of a man, I wouldn’t have been there if I didn’t have to be. The truth of the matter is that we had reason to believe someone in my club was working with Blaze, and I needed to find out who and why they were willing to betray me.
Up until Blaze took over, the Valkyrie had a great working relationship with the Henchmen. We looked out for each other, helped each other shift certain stocks, sold each other’s products, that sort of thing.
After Blaze came in… well. It became pretty clear very quickly that there was a new boss in town, and that wasn’t a good thing.
He’s a sexist, misogynistic piece of shit who I really look forward to shooting once this is all done with.
“Blaze is as much of a dick as he’s ever been,” I continued. “Still the same sexist son of a bitch. There’s definitely something going on somewhere, there’s definitely a leak... but I was there for two days, and nothing. We need to find out how he knows what he knows… but directly confronting him apparently isn't the answer.”
“I miss the old guy,” Karma laughed. “What was his name, Stuart?”
I snorted. It’s true, the old boss of the Henchmen’s road name was Stuart. It was Stuart I struck my deals with, he was a great guy. Shame he was shot last year… the same can’t be said for his brother. I'd love to be the one to shoot his brother.
We caught up on everything else that happened… before getting back to the principle issue at hand. It was Friday!
THE DUCHESSThe weather had turned out of the blue, so the party we’d planned to throw outside suddenly moved inside. Fortunately, the bar was big enough to pull it off.Between the Valkyrie, their special guests, locals and rival club members that liked to think they’re sneaky, Valhalla was absolutely heaving.Karma and I were leaning at the bar, sinking shot after shot. I grinned as I looked around my bar, taking in the sights of our ladies drinking, smoking, flirting, whatever they wanted to do. Everyone dressed up for our Friday night parties.Even I did. I didn’t dress up often, something about blood and grease means it’s quite tricky to wash out of clothes. I usually lived in jeans and a t-shirt, with my patched leather jacket over the top. Tonight, though… well. I’d found a little black dress in my wardrobe that I hadn’t worn for a while, and it looked awesome when paired with my heeled Timberlands. It was even a pair of boots that didn’t have blood and grease staining.The dr
THE DUCHESS“Duchess,” Blaze’s voice appeared behind me again.I turned on my bar stool, an unimpressed look on my face as I met Blaze’s eyes.“This is Speed, my second, and Blow, my third.”“Speed and Blow,” I chuckled. “Not sure I want to know where those names came from. Hopefully it’s nice to meet you both.” I motioned towards Karma. “This is Karma, my second.” She gave her best overly-cute smile. The one that if you knew her and what she’s capable of, made her seem even more psychotic than normal.“Now, as I said to your boss, none of you carry weapons on my premises if you don’t want to die, got it?”They all nodded quickly.“Good. Enjoy the party.” I watched them all turn and walk away, heading for an empty booth in the corner. Karma passed me a joint whilst I watched them intently. “I don’t like this, Karma. Something stinks.”“I agree, boss.”“I need them watched closely. We’ll get a handful of newbies on it. Pick whoever flirts well.”Karma nodded. “Once that’s done, Karma
THE DUCHESSI’d barely been back at the party long enough to light a joint when the roar of motorbikes pulling up outside disturbed my peace.I swore under my breath, rounding up Karma and Fishnet before heading out into the courtyard, gun in my right hand, joint in my left. The telltale sound of the safety being taken off a gun on either side of me told me that they were just as ready for a firefight as I was.“Wait a minute,” my voice was low. “I recognise that bike.”I stepped towards the leader of the group who had come a good ten metres closer than the rest of them; a tall gentleman, slim. Bright yellow stripes on his bike. Matching helmet. The London charter of the Henchmen.“Rogue, good to see you. I didn’t expect you to be in the area?”“Wasn’t planned, Duchess, I promise,” he replied, pulling his helmet off and giving me a smile that would have melted the pants off a lot of other women.“I hope you’re not here to try to get Blaze out of here, Rogue.”“Of course not. His shit
KARMA“That was unexpected,” Rogue’s voice sounded genuinely confused.At least that meant he didn’t already know about their history and tried to force the pair of them together for treaty purposes. If he did… well. I’d kill them both, unless the Duchess got there first.“Meh,” I replied. “If you knew them ten years ago, it wouldn’t really be surprising. How long has Ghost been with the Henchmen?”“He’s been patched for just over five years now.”“So he joined up not long after we moved back down here, then. The Valkyrie has been here for seven years. The Duchess somehow lasted a couple years back home before she had to leave because the sexism and general bullshittery was driving her batshit crazy.”“She definitely runs a unique outfit here,” Rogue replied mid-beer gulp.“I hope you don’t mean that in a negative light, Rogue.” I raised one eyebrow, an unimpressed look on my face.“Of course not, Karma,” he replied quickly, almost too quickly.I leaned towards him, my mouth ending up
THE DUCHESSGhost rolled off me, scrambling to pull clothes on just like I was.Rather than fighting with my dress though, I just stole his t-shirt and slipped on the shoes I always left by the door. Fortunately, the t-shirt was long enough that I wouldn’t flash the world. I even had a gun there that was already ready to go. “What the fuck was that,” I growled as I pulled the door open, running down the stairs.I sprinted through the bar towards the garden, and was immediately confronted by the sight of one of the garages being on fire. The garage that had the entrance to the tunnels and rooms that formed part of our basement. The basement that had Blaze and co were locked up in it.By the time I got there, a group of newbies had already gotten the hoses out and were dousing the flames. I heard sirens approaching, and absolutely did not want to be dealing with police right now. “Karma!” I shouted. “Get rid of the cops. We’ve got this.”“On it, boss.”“For fucks sake,” I growled. “Wher
GHOSTI could just about hear enough through the closed door that I knew the Duchess’ dad ordered the hit. I didn’t envy her needing to work out what to do there, jeez.If Rogue had ordered that, he’d be dead already. So would any other club boss.But what do you do when the club boss is your dad?!I watched as the rest of the Valkyrie left to go do whatever the Duchess had ordered them to, and as soon as I knew she was alone, I peaked around the door, knocking lightly. I didn’t particularly want to risk ending up with a bullet in between my eyes if I made her jump whilst she was this on edge.“I would ask if you’re okay, but that’s a stupid question. So, is there anything I can do to help?”“I’m going to want backup for this run, Ghost. It was my dad that taught me the importance of allies, and I know he has just as many other clubs fiercely loyal to him as I have to me. It’s a four hour ride to get there, I don’t have time to scope it out first, which means we’re riding up blind.”“
THE DUCHESSKarma angrily banging on the wall that separated our rooms told me that yup, she indeed did hear that. I could apologise, but I’m not going to. I chuckled as I rolled off Ghost, groaning as he slipped out of me.“She heard then, huh,” Ghost laughed, pulling me against his side so my head ended up on his chest.“Apparently so,” I snorted. “Could be worse, she’s made a point of fucking someone against that wall before just because she knew I’d hear it.” I smirked. “At least we made it to the bed before you had me screaming your name.”He gave me that smirk I’d always loved when I was younger, and now we’d both grown up a bit… oh, it made me feel things.Ghost leaned over me, that smirk still pulling at the corners of his lips. Before I could say anything at all, his mouth crashed into mine, his hands pressing my hands into the mattress by my head. He licked my bottom lip, demanding I give in to him, and he groaned when I did, adjusting himself so his very hard length was pre
GHOSTI met the Duchess in my first year of university; freshers week, to be exact. We ran into each other at a welcome party at one of the student bars and just immediately hit it off. We were studying entirely different subjects and our timetables always clashed, but that didn’t stop us. Every spare minute, whether that’s during the day or after lectures finished, we were together. We were inseparable.I’d always loved her attitude to life. She was always confident and unapologetically herself. She’d stand up for the little guy if needed and she didn’t give two shits about the status quo. If someone wasn’t right, she’d call it out.She’s smart, she’s funny, she’s hot and has always been great fun to be around. Six months into our first year, we went on our first official date. Even our choice of first date activity was perfectly us… we went axe throwing, for steak, and then to a bar.Us being together was a no-brainer because we were just great together, both in and out of the bed
KARMAI dragged the Duchess to the clubhouse’s bar. A shooting range would have been better for venting anger, but the one here wasn’t on the club’s grounds and I knew she wouldn't want to go that far. This one also doesn’t have the stash of axes and throwing knives we have at home, and that was really what she needed at this moment in time.The one thing Thunderstruck did always have going for it though was a well stocked bar. “Not having a great time with relatives at the moment, are you, boss?” I couldn’t hold back the chuckle in my voice as I spoke, pouring us a hearty glass each from the bottle of whiskey I’d grabbed when I leaned over the bar.She scowled at me, downing her drink. It was a good thing I’d known her as long as I had and that we were as close as we are because otherwise she’d have killed me by now, second or not.An hour and lots of drinking later, I watched her pull out her phone, put it on speaker phone and dial someone, stalking back towards the chapel as she d
THE DUCHESS“You actually have a face?”She spun the laptop to face me, looking very proud of herself.“Smashed it, Shorty. Can you run facial and see if you can ID the guy?”She shrugged. “Hopefully, boss. The quality is not good. I might be able to get a shortlist, but if anyone can get any further information, that would be handy.”“Thanks, Shorty. Can you send me a copy of that photo? We’ll see if anyone knows our mystery crap arsonist. Tank, can you show a printout of that around the club and see if anyone recognises them?”They both nodded.Now, to call Fishnet and my Duke.The phone rang for what felt like forever. Fishnet can be pretty bad at picking up the phone when she wants to be.“Duchess!” she shouted when she eventually answered.“Hey, Fishnet. Can you grab Rogue and the Duke, drag them into Ragnarök, and stick me on loudspeaker?”A couple minutes of shuffling and they were all there.“Alright, boss. What's going on?” Fishnet's voice was all business.“I'm about to emai
THE DUCHESSI was finally ready twenty minutes late, but I'm the boss, so phooey.“Hey, boss?” Karma shouted when she saw Duke and I walking down the stairs.“What's up, K?” I raised one eyebrow.“Just wanted to let you know I've requested a quote for soundproofing for your bedroom, and, because that will take a while, I've ordered noise cancelling headphones for all patched members.”The Duke snorted, trying to hold back his laughter and failing.“I hope that includes Duke and I, K, you’re just as bad and you are right next door.”“Of course, boss,” she grinned. “No one would have heard me over you two just now though, trust me.”“Alright, alright,” I chuckled. “Everyone ready to roll?”I glanced around the room, meeting Shotgun and Shorty’s eyes, both of whom nodded.“Okay then, let’s get going. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can come home.” I turned to face Duke. “I’ll see you later.” I pressed a chaste kiss to his lips. “I love you.”“I love you too, my Duchess,” he ki
THE DUKEI knew my Duchess needed to do this and I even knew why she wasn’t taking me with her, but that didn’t mean I liked it. She’d been in the business long enough that knew what she was doing, so her decisions would always be perfect. I trusted her with my life, and in an MC world, it could quickly come to that, and there’s no bigger praise.I meant it when I said I’d do whatever she needed me to because this is her show, the Valkyrie is her baby, and if she needed me here, that is where I’d be.I was so lost in my own head that I didn’t really notice my Duchess had been pulling me along behind her until I heard a door lock and she pushed me up against it.Her arms wrapped around my neck, her hands in my hair, tugging me down and capturing my mouth in a passionate, deep kiss.She was fighting me for dominance, but I wasn’t going to let her win. THE DUCHESSHis left hand gripped my hair close to my scalp, and I gasped at the slight bite of pain that somehow left me even wetter. H
THE DUCHESSAfter his dance… we got dragged back down to the party, and then he immediately crashed afterwards, so he still owed me one. That, plus the fact I got woken up early by my phone ringing constantly with Tank freaking out meant I was in a horrifically bad mood when I sat down at the bar with a cup of coffee at 8am the next morning.I needed six cups of coffee before I could even think about dragging everyone into Ragnarök to talk about the upcoming hostile takeover.“Duchess,” Rogue nodded as he sat next to me with his own cup of coffee.“Morning. I noticed you had company last night, Rogue?” I smirked. I’d seen two newbies sneaking back out of the guest room he was staying in when I got up this morning.“I did indeed,” he grinned. “No Duke yet?”“Still in bed,” I grumbled.“Trouble in paradise, Duchess?”I rolled my eyes, but before I could talk, Duke’s hands appeared on my shoulders.“Morning, my Duchess,” he kissed my forehead.“Morning,” I grumbled.“Are you mad about la
THE DUCHESS“Come along, my Duke,” I held out my hand once we got back to Valhalla. “Let’s go enjoy your party.”“Do we have to?” he pouted. “Can’t we just go to bed?” His hands slid around my waist, tugging me against him. “I’d rather take all your clothes off.”“Sorry babe, parties are tradition. Not only are we celebrating a run well done, but three new members patched today, and being one of those members… you’ve got to be there.”“Fine,” he sighed sarcastically, pouting, but I could see the smile in his eyes.“You’ll love it,” I winked. “We can have a few drinks, a joint or two, then fall into bed and stay there for the rest of the night.” I wrapped my arms around his neck, tiptoeing so I could whisper in his ear. “I promise it’ll be worth the wait.”I ran my tongue up the shell of his ear, enjoying the shiver that ran through him in response.He smirked, before bringing his lips down to meet mine in a deep, passionate and tongue-filled kiss that promised dirty things.“Are you s
THE DUKEI’m not too proud to admit that I squealed like a schoolgirl when I saw the blue YZF-R1 parked out the front that matched the keys in my hand. Exactly the same as my Duchess’, just bright blue to her yellow.She'd even added a ‘Duke’ Valkyrie decal that matched the one on my cut. Stickler for the details, my girl.“Shall we go for a ride?” she asked, a smirk on her face. She knew she’d got this bike spot on.“Let’s do it, my Duchess,” I replied, pulling her into my arms for a kiss, spinning her around. Whilst I was distracted, Karma had brought the Duchess’ YZF around the front, parking it next to mine.“Come along then, Duke,” the Duchess grinned. “Are you going to stare in awe at me all day, or shall we go take your new bike for a spin?”I watched her swap her cut back for her full leather jacket, pull on her gloves and tuck her helmet under her arm. “Ready?” she asked with a grin when she noticed I'd not even moved.I nodded, turning to look for my helmet, before noticing
THE DUCHESSFortunately, the two of them left quickly, both with knowing smirks on their faces.I took Ghost’s hands, pulling him up to stand, and helping him slide his existing jacket down his arms. “Close your eyes,” I whispered, and when he did, I helped him pull the new jacket I’d ordered him on, before leading him towards a mirror.Once there, I faced him away from the mirror and stood at his side, before telling him to open his eyes. He looked over his shoulder to the mirror, and as soon as he did, the biggest smile appeared on his face at the sight of my wings, the Valkyrie wings, with ‘Duke’ across the middle on his jacket. A replica of mine.“It suits you,” I whispered. “My Duke,” I kissed his cheek. “What do you think?”He turned to face me, one of his hands tangling in my hair, tilting my head so he could crush his lips into mine. I leaned into the kiss, my eyes falling shut as tingles of pleasure ran through my body. His tongue teased my lips apart, before immediately delv
THE DUCHESSFortunately, the trip back was easy and smooth sailing. No one needed to stop for fuel because they fucked up, and everyone even stopped for a piss before we left. They were just as eager to get back as I was.Once we were back, I pulled just Karma into Ragnarök, leaving Rogue and Ghost at the bar, and the rest of Valkyrie and the Henchmen drinking hard.“What do you think, K?” I asked, my voice quiet. I was well aware that this place wasn’t actually soundproofed. I should probably fix that…“What about?” she smirked.“You know what I mean. Ghost.”“Boss, the benefit of being the boss is that you can do whatever the fuck you want.” My face must have been sceptical. “Patching him won’t change anything, D. He can stand beside you without having to take over.”She sighed when she saw my face. “What is bugging you, boss?”I pulled a face. “We operate in an incredibly misogynistic world, K. I’ve had to do a lot and fight a lot to get to where I am. I don’t want to fuck up ever