Dragon

2 - Mocked

Dragon

“You’re a fuckin’ animal, do you know that?”

“Fuc.k off, Storm.” I snap.

My older brother gets on my nerves most of the time. He’s an irritating fuc.k. I’m not like him, and he points it out all the time.

He likes to fuc.k, and I like to fight.

Cage fighting is what keeps my mind clear. Shi.t, I haven’t been laid since I was fourteen. I kept my promise to Kyla. Why, I don’t know when it’s obvious she’s never coming back. But I can’t seem to make myself believe it just yet.

I have told myself that this is the last time I’ll go to that damned oak tree and wait for Kyla. I can’t put my life on hold any longer. But still, I do not know how to move on.

“Did you really need to break his damn arm?” My brother hisses.

“I could have broken his neck or his legs, but I thought he’d appreciate it more if I broke his arm. At least he can still walk.”

“Cunt.” My brother hisses before walking away from me.

I chuckle while pulling on my shirt. I have places to be, and not at the clubhouse, where, no doubt, someone will have a woman waiting for me. I don’t know how many times I have to say that I’m not interested. Still, my friends will try to get me laid. They mean well, but I can no longer do this with them. If I want a woman, I can get my own!

I know how it looks to them all, me not taking a woman to bed. Sure, I could lie and say that I’ve been with everything walking. I could even take a woman on a date, show her the time of her life, then come home and tell everyone I slept with her. The trouble is, no one holds my attention long enough to try. Plus, I am not a liar. I despise liars, so I will not become one myself.

They believe there’s something wrong with me or that I’m gay. I don’t care what anyone thinks of me; I won’t sleep with someone just to prove I’m a man like they are. They can all sleep with every woman who catches their eye for all I care. But that is not me.

I’m good at what I do, but I’m not going to be a biker cliché just to please everyone else. I work hard for my club. I’m good at cage fighting, thanks to my uncle’s tutelage. I can fix up an old motorcycle and even fix a car if I want to, not to mention I’m gifted when it comes to tattoo art.

What I’m not good at is flirting with women. It has a lot to do with the fact that my heart is never in it; all I ever think about is Kyla.

I wonder what Kyla looks like now that she’s a woman and if she’s even more beautiful than she once was. I like to imagine that she became the interior designer that she said she’d become. I also like to think she’s still out there somewhere, thinking about me.

I know by now that I’m kidding myself; Kyla isn’t coming back to me. She’s probably out there living the good life, a man on her arm as he shows her the world.

Though I think that, I still can’t seem to force myself to move on. Somewhere inside of me, there’s always a little hope that Kyla will turn up this year, waiting for me under the old oak tree.

I don’t know; maybe I should try dating. It’s been nine years since Kyla left; if she was going to come back, she would have by now.

After showering and changing, I make my way to my uncle’s office. I won the fight, so he’ll want to see me. Plus, the man needs to pay me for my work. Draven runs the underground cage fights I participate in, so he is the one who pays me, and that pay is always good.

At seventeen, I became a Prospect with Snakes Henchmen MC. I gained the name Dragon because I was fierce and not afraid to burn the world down if it was required. I started training with my Mafia Don uncle to become a cage fighter around the same time. Aunt Nova had been teaching us all self-defense from babyhood. I started working out with my dad and older brother at the age of fourteen, so I’m pretty solid in the body department. This is the reason Draven Vidal believed he could train me to be a cage fighter. That and I had to find a way to take my mind off the girl I lost.

They say younsters cannot possibly know what love is, but I say that is bullshit. I knew what love was, and it only grew stronger as I got older.

I park my motorcycle and then make my way into Draven’s restaurant. Draven’s office has always been at the back of his restaurant; I don’t remember it being anywhere else, at least.

“How’d it go?”

I tip my head at Antonio, the eldest son of Tony, Draven’s number one guy. “How do you think it went?”

“From the smirk on your face, I’d say it was a win.”

“That it was,”

I’m not going to lie and say that I win every fight I enter. I’m a man, not supernatural. Draven won every contest he entered, but I think that had more to do with who he was. Nobody wanted the Don to kill them should they beat him, though I have a feeling he would have had more respect for those who did. VJ won every fight because he was an animal, simple as that.

Sure, it bothers me some if I lose, but I don’t beat myself up about it. It just shows that my opponent was worthy. As long as the prick doesn’t cheat, and believe me, many will try.

“Is he in?” I tip my head toward Draven’s office door.

“Yeah. Go through; he’s expecting you.”

“Thanks.” I walk away from Antonio and enter Draven’s office. He instantly looks up from his paperwork and raises his eyebrow. “Busy?”

“Never for my favorite nephew.” I roll my eyes and chuckle; he says that to all his nephews. I’m not sure he has a favorite nephew, but it makes me laugh. “Sit down,”

I take a seat on the other side of his expansive desk. With this room’s size and all the fancy décor, anybody would think the man was a billionaire. Wait, he is. I inwardly roll my eyes.

“So, I heard from George that you won the fight. Well done,”

“Thanks.”

“Five in a row. Not bad, Dragon.”

I smirk.

Yes, I’ve won five fights in a row, which has Draven thinking I’ve suddenly gained superpowers. I’ve been working out harder and checking out my opponents before our fight. I like to make sure I know the man and what he’s capable of. Only a fool would go in blind.

“Remember our little bet?” I narrow my eyes because I don’t recall any bet. “If you win five fights consecutively, you’d go on a date with Vanessa.”

Not this shi.t again.

“I did not bet that; you did. I recall not answering you,”

Vanessa is a nice girl, the daughter of one of Draven’s men. But I’m not interested in anyone right now. I know that I’ll have to admit to myself that Kyla is never coming back and move on one day soon. But that day is not today.

“Listen, Dragon,” Draven shifts in his leather chair, resting his arms on the desk and entwining his fingers. “I don’t see any reason why you won’t give the girl a chance. Unless there’s something you’re not telling me?”

I roll my eyes and shake my head. He means, am I gay? I have nothing against people who are gay; in fact, a few of my friends outside the MC are, but I am not. I don’t see why I need to explain myself to anyone, let alone my uncle.

“I don’t need to tell you anything other than this,” I take a deep breath. “Stop trying to set me up with all these women.” It happens at least twice a month, and it got old three years ago. “I’m not interested, Draven, and before you say anything, no, I am not gay.”

“Then, what are you? Just not interested in women or men?”

This man is ridiculous, and I’m trying not to smirk.

I nod my head. “Yes, that’s it exactly; I’m not into men or women. Perhaps now you’ll stop trying to throw women at my feet.” I get out of my seat and tug on my cut. “I’ll see you later. Oh, and don’t forget to pay me,” I wink, and Draven shakes his head while chuckling.

* * *

“That’s hilarious!” Rabid laughs.

“Typical,” DJ starts laughing also.

Rabid is my cousin because his mother, Maria, is my father’s sister, and his father, Jett, club President, is my mother’s brother. Weird, I know.

DJ’s mother, Brooke, is Draven’s wife’s sister, and though the three of us share an uncle, DJ isn’t related to Rabid and me by blood.

When I got to the clubhouse, I sat down with Rabid and DJ for a drink. I told them about Draven trying once again to set me up and then how he all but asked if I was gay. Now, the two of them are falling about themselves laughing.

Pricks!

“It’s not that funny,” I grumble around a swig of beer. “Seriously, will you two shut the fuc.k up!?”

“Oh, come on, Dragon!” Rabid leans in a little. “At your age, you’ve never been with a woman. It ain’t normal.”

“Why are you holding onto your virginity?”

I narrow my eyes at DJ.

Again, I’m trying not to laugh.

What the fuc.k is wrong with people?

I get that the men of this club like to dip their dick.s in any willing woman. It doesn’t matter how those women are treated, nor that they want repeats; I’m not interested.

I don’t know, maybe there is something wrong with me, pining for a woman who’s never coming home.

Perhaps one date with Vanessa won’t hurt. One never knows; she could turn out to be just what I need in my life.

Look out the window, Dragon, there’s a flying pig.

“What does it have to do with you?” I challenge DJ, who doesn’t have a road name because he said he didn’t want one. It made everyone laugh because he sounded like VJ. So, now we have a VJ and a DJ.

Ridiculous, right?

“It’s nothing to do with me, Dragon. But you’re twenty-four years old, are you seriously not bothered that you’ve never felt a woman’s naked body against your own?”

I may not have felt a woman’s naked body, but that’s because my promise to Kyla meant everything. I can’t tell my friends about it because they’d make fun of me. I won’t be pressured into sleeping with anyone either. Maybe after this year, if Kyla isn’t under the old oak tree, I’ll put her to rest and move on. But right now, I’m not ready to let go.

“Why is it such a big deal to everyone? What the hell does it matter if I’ve been with a woman or not? It doesn’t alter what I do for this club, and I think it’s fuckin.g ridiculous that none of you can seem to get off my damn back!”

I’m not usually an angry person, but it’s beginning to piss me off that I seem to be the talk of the fuckin.g club.

I knock back my beer and get out of my seat. After the fight, I’m finally coming down from the adrenaline, and I need to sleep.

“I’m out of here.”

DJ and Rabid both yell for me to come back, but I’m no longer in the mood for anything. I just want to go home and forget that conversation, not to mention the one with Draven.

One of these days, these fucker.s will find something else to talk about and leave me the hell alone!