WOLFE MCREEDY

My head is killing me. And the couple arguing at the top of their lungs next door isn't helping. The walls of the apartment complex where I live are practically transparent with as much sound as they let through. I really need to buy a house, but they're so expensive. Being a patched member of the Bondi Boys and Babes Motor Club, or BBMC as we call ourselves, keeps me pretty broke. Everything goes toward the club right now. I mean I get paid and all for the jobs I do, but not as much of a cut as the club gets. Once I'm able to hack some of the bigger banks, I'm hoping my payment gets a little bigger.

What happened last night? All I remember is helping Barry and Dundee do a job, but after that it's fuzzy. I think they plied me with several bottles of vodka. Not that cheap shit either, but the top shelf stuff. I don't recall much after that. I'm not even sure how I got back to my apartment. I hope one of them brought me because driving drunk is never an option.

And just where the hell is my phone? Please don't tell me I lost it last night. After a good ten minute search I'm about to put a trip to Digital Den on my to do list for the day when a shrill ring interrupts my hunt. The damn thing is in the bottom of the hamper. I'm not sure how it got there since I'm still dressed in yesterday's clothes.

Still, I'm glad I don't have to buy a new phone. I wasn't relishing losing all my contact numbers.Six missed voice mails and fifteen text messages glare at me. Whatever Barry has going on must be important for him to blow up my phone.

"Where the hell have you been?" Barry growls when I ring him.

"Passed out cold. What do you need, man?"

"Get to the Billy."

I pull the phone away and shake my head. Didn't even say goodbye, just hung up on me. He must be good and truly pissed.

Normally, I'd run straight there, but I stink. I mean I really, really stink. So instead of hurrying, I take a shower, and put on some clean clothes. Barry's waited this long, he can wait a few more minutes.

Vincent, one of my hang-arounds for the club, is lounging in front of the apartments. She is actually a he on the inside and we treat him as such. The eye patch he's sporting is a reminder that he lost his eye in a fight. Its something I feel a little guilty about to be honest. He called me for help, but I couldn't get there. I was doing something for the club. If I had gone to help him, maybe he would still have the use of both eyes.

"What's up, Vincent?"

He jumps and turns around, startled. Vincent's always been a little nervous and tends to be down bad a lot. One day I hope to help him improve his self-confidence and sense of self-worth. Until he starts to be more confident, I'm not sure I'll ever get him moved up to prospect.

"Oh, hey Wolfe." He turns more fully toward me and I can't help the jaw drop.

"What are you wearing?"

He looks down and grimaces. "I lost a bet to Grandpops. I have to wear this skirt for the rest of the day."

Cruel, Colin, cruel. But he doesn't mean it in a bad way. He's a prankster and he doesn't understand some of his jokes can be considered cruel. Barry promised to talk to him about it.

"Well, since you're my hang-around, I say you can go get changed into your normal jeans."

Relief flashes over his face, but then he gets this look of determination. "Nah, I'm good. Can't let the old man get the best of me."

"You sure?"

He nods.

Maybe he's coming along better with the self-confidence than I thought.

"Barry's been looking for you. He told me to park myself here and call him the minute I see you."

"What's up with that, do you know? He left me a ton of messages."

"No, he didn't tell me. Sorry, Wolfy."

Everyone sees the e at the end of my name and calls me "Wolfy" instead of Wolf. It bugged me a little at first, but I've gotten used to it now that the entire club uses it.

"Hey do you have a car I can have by any chance? Barry said to get to the Billy asap."

"No, but I know Liv and Stevie are still in the city. Maybe check with them? Liv might be able to give you a ride."

"Will do, thanks, Vincent."

He nodded and went back to lounging against the wall, his leather jacket a stark contrast to the bright pink fluffy skirt he was wearing. Colin was going to get an earful from me. Now that I'm a fully patched member, I can give him the same shit he's giving my hang-arounds.

I shoot Liv a text to please come pick me up at the back of the apartments. I probably should have phrased it as a question, but when I was a prospect, I never got asked. Its just how it is. I also know if someone asked, sometimes I might have said no. Like with the Vincent fight, I wasn't asked, I was told do something for the club so that's what I did and as a result Vincent lost an eye because I couldn't get there.

I'm really proud of Olivia. She was my hang around and she's now moved up to prospect, tasked with finding her own hang arounds. She worked hard and despite that little blimp of her working at Harmony (Fuck-A-Harmony), she's been extremely loyal to the club. And she did set Harmony on fire so that erased her little hiccup of working there. The BBMC are strictly a Hayes Auto group. Pez, the manager at Hayes, is a founding member of the BBMC, and its the worst kept secret in the city.

Liv pulls up and honks the horn. Stevie, her "wife" and my hang-around, waves from the front seat. Liv tried to take Stevie with her and the two of them do tons of stuff together, but Stevie belongs to me. Liv needs to find her own hang around, which she's done. I just haven't had time to hang out with them to get to know them.

"You look like shit." Liv peels out of the parking lot at a speed no one should take through here. People standing around shout at her as they dive out of the way and she flips them off as he speeds past.

"I feel like shit. I haven't had a hangover this bad since my high school days."

"What did you do to get that drunk?" Stevie asks, her blonde hair flying in the wind with the open car window.

"I can't remember much after the bank job."

"Did you go drinking with Dundee?" Stevie starts to laugh. "He got me drunk once and I woke up at the top of the observatory dressed like we were playing Among Us."

"Oh, God," Olivia mutters. "I want to forget that."

I'd probably want to forget it too.

"Any idea what Barry wants?"

Stevie turns on the radio. My head groans. "Stevie, please."

She turns it up louder and Liv grins. "No, but he said if we found you, to bring you to him."

"I'm going to get you both so drunk you forget everything and then take you to the torture spot in Harmony only to play music so loud, they'll hear it all the way in the city when you wake up."

Liv cranks the radio up as high as it will go.

I hate pissing her off. She's vindictive.

Barry is pacing in front of the garage when we finally pull into the Billy. He looks stressed. His hat is missing and he's never without his hat. But he's got on his standard yellow work books, skinny jeans, and sleeveless BBMC cuts.

"Finally," he mutters when we get out of the car. "Dee would murder us all if you missed your flight."

"Flight?" Now I'm curious. What job did he have that involved an airplane?

"Dee got a call from the president of the Sons of Chaos MC. Xander is an old friend of his and he needed a favor."

"He need a hacker?" It would be cool to go rob banks with allies in other cities.

"No, he needs you to transport something from Seattle to Los Santos, something very precious apparently, and something more than a few people are trying to find."

"Do you know what it is?"

"Not a clue, but this guy is connected and if we do this for him, he'll give us a direct supply to class three weapons and a constant stream of coke."

"Where's Dee?" If this is his friend, why wasn't he here?

"He's in jail and he's not going to be waking up any time soon. You know he has PTSD when it comes to jail."

God's truth that. He went a little crazy in jail.

"So you want me to go and transport whatever it is back here?"

Barry nods. "Plane leaves in thirty minutes. You and Liv should have just enough time to get to the airport. I had Jordan go pick you up some regular clothes at the store. No cuts for this one."

He wants me to go with Liv?

"Wolfe, you're in charge." Barry hands me a burner phone. "They'll contact you on this once you get in. I reserved a room for you at the hotel by the airport. The plan is that the two of you are tourists so you need to look like normal people. Liv, no snarky attitude. This is important. If we pull this off, no one in the city will have the kind of cocaine we can bring in or the weapons we'll have access to. It'll put us up good, maybe even Clean Bois and Chain Gang financially good."

"Since I'm already married to Stevie, you and I are brother and sister." Liv takes the clothes Barry gives her. "I'm the sister you never knew you wanted."

"I always want you as my family, Olivia." I surprise her with a hug. "You're BBMC and that means you'll always be my family."

I mean it too. Liv and I might get on each other's nerves and tease each other mercilessly, but she's like my sister. I don't have family in the city or anywhere close by. I was a loner before I met Barry. I thought I was fine being alone, but since joining the BBMC, I realized that was a lonely life. I'm not sure what I'd do without Barry, Chain, Collin, Vincent, Stevie, Olivia, and yes, even Dundee. The man who is my polar opposite, but who I respect as my Prime Minister. I worked hard to become the main hacker for the BBMC to impress him and earn my patch without having to be violent.

Olivia hugs me back and she and Stevie go into Barry's house to change. Before I head inside, I have a question.

"Hey, Barry, why did you choose me and not Collin? Collin is a PI, he might be better suited."

"They specifically asked for someone who would protect the package and not get distracted and will act with a moment's notice. When Dee went missing, you were the one who acted, who didn't take fucking forever to come up with fifteen different plans and then all the what ifs for them. You and me, we decided on a plan of action and learned more in one day than the club had in three weeks. I trust you to do this, Wolfe, and do it with swiftness. We need this, so don't fuck it up."

He slaps me on the back and pushes me toward the house.

I'm honored. I had no idea he thought so highly of me or trusted me this much. It make me want to puff my chest out a little.

The club needs me.

It's up to me get us up good.

I'll make Barry proud.

What could go wrong really? We were simply transporting an item from point A to point B.

Right?

But when has anything the BBMC done gone right without something going wrong?

God help us all.