The Upward Ripple

He was conflicted as he rode out of Colorado. He was not so sure where he was headed at first, but he found himself heading to Nevada. Las Vegas was a great place to forget your problems after all. However, he only stayed there for a couple of weeks before someone took interest in him. Well, his bike really but Nate considered his bike an extension of himself. Everything that happened after meeting his new friend seemed to be on fast forward. First, he met Alexander Kaiser, commonly known as AK. They bonded over their love of bikes and gambling. And then AK introduced him to more of his friends… Nate got his first tattoo. AK introduced him to more of his friends, women who would do anything. They may have looked like they were a little strung up, but who could blame them? Those girls would down shots of vodka as if they did not feel it burning on its way down. After a few weeks, AK brought him out to what he called his clubhouse. Nate should have suspected something when he noticed the forearms openly displayed tucked in the waist bands of the club members. But he was way past caring. He was surviving on a steady diet of pizza, beer and rum. He was not even sure he remembered what being sober meant anymore and he did not really care. Between getting blackout drunk and trying to wrap his mind around what was happening, he got a few flashes or were they memories of his father calling him about his spending habits. His family accountant too but Nate could not give a damn. He wanted to but the booze and the wh*res kept him plenty occupied.

Days passed and they turned into weeks and then months and in a year, Nate became a member of the club and he could have sworn that it was great for him except for the little fact that it was so much more different than how it was when he watched it on Sons Of Anarchy. It was so much worse. On the TV show, there were a lot of grey areas with the law but with The Outlaws, there was just blatant disrespect for the law. AK liked to say that they were legal adjacent but once Nate suspected him of murder, he just couldn’t stay anymore. Just thinking about it sent chills down his spine. It all happened on a Thursday evening. The club members were having a party, one of the wilder club parties with the club members’ women in attendance. The one thing Nate remembered most about that party was that it was happening at the height of a three-day bender. The club was still on a high note after a business deal from the weekend before came through and the whole place had been in a party mode since Monday. Nate was surprised he could still feel his legs on that particular Thursday. The clubhouse was a little crazy for his taste which could have been seen as ironic since he spent most of his time there but, Nate felt like he’d finally found his breaking point as far as alcohol was concerned. So, for most of Wednesday and Thursday, he just kept his hydration up and pledged to be the party captain, that was the person in charge of making sure the booze and food kept on flowing. He was also supposed to work together with the security outside to warn everyone inside in case of trouble in the horizon.

It was around ten in the evening when Nate decided the vulgarity in the clubhouse was a little too much and decided to step out for some fresh air.

“No wonder people drink so much in these things,” he thought as he made his way to the rooftop. That was the only way people could survive the madness that was the clubhouse. Going up on the roof might have seemed like a good idea at first but once he was up there, he realized what a terrible idea that had been. He had a great view of the compound from there and it was also that vantage point that enabled him to see an argument between AK and another man before AK stabbed the man. It was like the world stood completely still at that moment for Nate. He wondered what he was supposed to do but owing to the fact that AK had to hide the body before going back to the party, Nate knew that climbing down from the roof was only going to call attention to himself. The wrong kind of attention. So, he just stayed up there and watched AK and another club member shove the body into a barrel before they walked back into the party like nothing had happened.

Nate stayed on the roof for a long time before he finally climbed down. Everyone was either too drunk or already passed out except for a few people who were still sober enough to take full advantage of the performance enhancing pills they had taken. Nate made his way to his bunk and sighed loudly. He tried going to sleep but it seemed impossible. He was exhausted but he could not find the much-needed sleep that would give him the rest he needed so much. The next day, he noticed the prospects bringing back a whole lot of industrial chemicals. The clubhouse compound was a little too busy and considering that Nate knew what it was about, he tried to stay in the main room watching TV… or at least, pretending to watch TV. He pretended not to care when he saw the club pick-up truck driving off with a barrel secured at the back with an escort of about six-armed club members.

Nate thought he had done a great job of playing the ignorant fool, but AK noticed something was off and that was the beginning of the end. It only took a few weeks before AK broke Nate making him admit to the fact that he had been a witness to a murder. And that admission led to a series of blackmail making Nate spend a lot of money on The Outlaws just for the privilege of being kept alive. He thought the worst was over, but it was not until he asked out of the club that AK showed him just why the club was known as The Outlaws.

“Being an Outlaw is being part of a brotherhood and no one ever leaves the brotherhood,” AK said in a warning tone.

“Well, I am beginning to think this is not my life. I will gladly hand in my patch,” Nate said, and AK shook his head.

“Leaving is going to cost you,” AK said, and Nate shrugged.

“How much? Ten grand? Fifty grand?” he asked.

That was nothing considering Nate Duncan was the heir to a multi-billion-dollar estate.

“One hundred thousand dollars,” AK said.

Nate took a long, deep breath. He had already spent so much on the clubhouse. What was an extra one hundred, he wondered.

“Fine,” Nate said.

“And we need to get rid of the mark of the brotherhood,” AK continued.

Nate shrugged.

“I could just go to the tattoo shop and get it covered up. I don’t mind it,” he suggested but the grin on AK’s face made him realize that it was not going to be that easy.

Present Day…

Thinking back to everything that has happened, everything Nate had to give up, everything he lived through… he could wait a few more hours for Cynthia to tell him what she had decided. With any hope, she was going to agree to go to New York. Even if it was only going to be for a few weeks, that was all he needed for the two of them to figure out just what they had between them.

“She is going to love New York,” he thought. “It would be a perfect getaway from Colorado.”

He almost rolled his eyes. Colorado in itself was a getaway but there was a small voice inside his head that told him everything was going to be okay. Everything was going to work out just fine. Everything had to.

“God, just make this one thing work out for me. I need you to make this work,” he prayed silently and something inside him suddenly calmed down. It was like God was answering his prayer.