Free The Rising Sons Motorcycle Club by Davida Lynn

opened.

    Raven may have passed the first step, but all prospects had to do as they were told. Even though it was her night off from serving at the bar, Bear decided she should tend regardless. Something about building character and humility—she didn't really hear the bullshit line he gave her.

    It should have pissed her off, but she was in a good mood. Trask sat at the bar and kept her company while she served. He seemed to be opening up to her. He told more stories about his past and about the club. Raven got the impression that he was warming up to the idea of a woman becoming a Rising Son. She could only listen to him for half an hour, because after that the band got started. From then on, all she heard was Lynyrd Skynyrd, Molly Hatchett, and people yelling for beers.

    Some of the other Sons began to filter in along with a regular crowd. Word must have spread, because many of them came up to the bar to congratulate Raven.

    After pouring some whiskey, she turned around to see Gunner standing at the bar. He had a cocky smile on his face as he watched her.

    She met his stare with a newfound confidence. She was one step closer to being his equal. "What are you staring at?"

    "Just taking it all in. Good job, kid. Climbing the ladder. But you're still lower on the ladder than me, so why don't you rustle me up a Jack and Coke?"

    Raven leaned in close to Gunner, maybe even too close for comfort. "If I had balls as big as you, Gunner, I’d dip them in your drink." For a tense second he didn't react, and Raven thought she had gone too far. Just as she was about to apologize, she saw the corners of his mouth turn up. He cracked up, slamming his hands on the bar and roaring with laughter.

    “Fuckin’ hilarious,” he said, wiping tears from his eyes. “But seriously, the drink.”

    It was infectious. The bikers that had heard the two of them shooting insults back and forth. The tension Raven had felt disappeared, and she let loose a little bit. She made Gunner his drink, making sure it was much heavier on the Jack than usual. She winked and handed it to him.   He had earned it.

    It was one of the best nights of her life. She had worked hard, and after six months of being beaten down, a faint light began to shine. Raven was one step closer to becoming a true part of the Rising Sons Motorcycle Club.

    Bear sat at a table with the old-timers. They reminisced about their time in jail, drinking to the fact that they would never go back again. As Cecil and Clyde told stories of their time behind bars, Bear watched Raven from across the bar.

    She had proved him wrong. She had proved everybody wrong. She was tough, and he liked that. He knew things were going to get rough, and people like Raven would be worth more than their weight in gold.

With the loyalty test out of the way, Raven felt relieved. A weight had been lifted off her shoulders. It wasn't just because she had completed one of the tests, but because she considered the first test to be the hardest. The second challenge to becoming a Rising Son was the test of courage. Unlike loyalty, the test of courage wasn't something that the prospect did to prove themselves. Courage was something that a full-fledged member of the club witnessed the prospect doing.

    She knew it wouldn't be something as simple as saving a little old lady from getting run over. Her mind jumped more to something like taking a bullet for a fellow biker. She also understood that it wasn't something she could manufacture. It would come in its own time, and worrying about it wouldn't make it happen any faster.

    Though her anxiety gnawed at her, Raven had less than two weeks to wait before her final tests.

    After another Saturday night of serving beer and whiskey, Raven was back doing her favorite chore: wiping down the bar at the end of the night. At least she had good company. Her brother was the one closing the bar down that weekend. She relished the opportunity to spend some quality time with