Chapter Seven. #2
I gazed at her blankly. “There’s the stoves, fridges, and shit.”
“I meant things like plates, cups, mugs, cutlery, coo—”
“No.” I cut Penny off. Why would I have thought of that?
Penny rolled her eyes and held her hand out. I stared down at it, confused. “Card, Prez, I need the club card to go shopping.”
I yanked out my wallet and handed it to her. Luckily, that was something I had set up! Today was going to be busy in more ways than one.
Penny
I looked at the four women I’d brought with me.
Demi, Grace, Aurora, and Carmelle appeared a bit more awake after three cups of coffee each.
We’d gotten a third when we arrived in town, and we’d each driven our own cars because I planned to fill them up.
We’d left all the kids with Ghost, Texas, Hunter, and Savage while everyone else helped Hunter and Falcon move into their houses.
“Hold up!” a voice called, and I glanced up and spotted Nova heading towards us.
The young woman looked as fresh as a daisy.
I guess she hadn’t drunk too much last night.
“Falcon had begun cursing, so I got out of his way. He hates shit like this. Wait till I go shopping on his card; his house will barely have any furniture in it if I don’t. ”
I chuckled. Nova probably wasn’t wrong.
“Okay, we’re buying at local shops, so I’ll pick things up, you girls push carts,” I said. The kitchen was my domain, and I was a control freak about it.
We headed down the street to a three-storey housewares shop. We got some sideways looks, but I ignored them. I was on a mission. I needed plates!
◆◆◆
Four hours later, the old ladies were all groaning as they sat down at a table in the diner.
“I thought you hated shopping!” Grace complained.
“Oh, I do, for clothes anyway. Not for kitchen appliances and so on!”
After checking the kitchen, which only had the main big appliances, I’d had to stock up on smaller ones too.
Blenders, slow cookers, and similar items had been purchased today.
I’d rammed the six cars full of purchases, had the brothers come pick them up, and take them back before returning them empty.
We were now having a meal before I hit the food stores.
I’d had to place some bulk orders with the locals, which was fine as long as we had the basics.
No doubt I’d have to do the same with the consumables, too. The brothers liked a lot of red meat. Even though we had families, Calamity wanted to offer meals every night for those who didn’t want to cook.
“I need a nap,” Amberlea groaned.
“Get over it.” I grinned at her. “You’re younger than me, and I’ve more energy than you right now.”
“You’ve got more years of experience drinking,” Amberlea retorted, and I laughed.
“Don’t bite the hand that feeds you,” Grace hissed, shaking her head.
Amberlea peered at her and shrugged. “Penny wouldn’t poison us; she might poison the guys, but not us.”
“Are you so sure?” I asked in a low, threatening tone. Amberlea’s eyes flew open, and she gaped at me as the waitress approached. We laughed at the horror on Amberlea’s face.
“Penny!” she exclaimed.
“You never know!” I warned before placing my food order.
◆◆◆
“Nice,” I said dryly as I stared at the words scrawled over my car.
“I called the cops,” Demi growled out.
‘Go away, biker whores. Leave or die. You’re not wanted.
Sluts. Cunts. Bitches get stitches,’ and various other slurs graced our six vehicles.
Somebody had vandalised all of them, which meant we’d been watched when the guys dropped the cars back off.
With our hands full of shopping bags, we stared in dismay at the mess someone had made.
“Oh my!” a woman exclaimed, and we turned around. “Who on earth would do such a thing?”
“Good question,” I snapped.
“Will it wash off?” she asked, coming closer.
“Yes. If not, our men will repaint them,” Aurora said, but there was sadness in her voice.
“I’m Mrs Maple, one of the book club members. I’ll get my group to put their ears to the ground. This is a disgraceful welcome,” Mrs Maple stated, folding her arms and glowering at the cars like they were a personal affront.
“Can’t say I disagree,” Grace replied.
“I’m going to call Pops, see if he can spare any of my uncles. Clearly, we need some help with this,” Demi decided.
“Wait to talk to Calamity first,” Nova said. “Those decisions need to be made by him.”
“Okay.” Demi put her phone down, but the scowl on her face meant if she caught the culprit, they’d get an ass-kicking.
“How could no one have seen this being committed?” I demanded and looked at Mrs Maple. “Do people usually turn a blind eye here?”
“No. Not at all.”
I saw a vehicle pull up, and Sheriff Cates climbed out.
“What happened?” she asked. We moved aside, and she saw our cars.
“Shit,” she muttered. “Did you just find them?”
“Yeah. We did some shopping this morning, and they were fine. Our husbands picked them up and dropped them back off. We went food shopping and came back to this. All six have been defaced,” Demi spat.
“I understand your anger. Let me take a statement, and then I’ll see if any cameras were pointing this way,” Cates said.
“You can make it known; we ain’t going anywhere,” I added, annoyed. “If somebody thinks they can bully us, they’re wrong.”
“I agree. And honestly, most of the town is happy or unbothered that you’re here. Some are wary that trouble might follow you, but on the whole, nobody seems to care much,” Cates replied.
“Well, someone does. Because that is vile,” Grace argued.
“I don’t disagree. Let me get a deputy down and see if we can wash this off so you don’t have to drive them through town. I imagine that would feel like you’ve been branded or something,” Cates offered.
“That would be great, thank you,” I murmured as I yanked my phone out and texted Texas.
Calamity
I watched the sun set and thanked God that today was over.
We’d ridden out on hearing what had happened to the old ladies’ cars.
A deputy had removed most of the insults.
Luckily, someone had used water-based paint, so it washed off.
If they’d applied oil-based paint, we’d have had problems. Whoever had done it had also crippled two cameras to protect their identity.
Four witnesses came forward, describing a man in a hoodie, but they hadn’t seen his face or him defacing the cars.
The women weren’t scared but angry. Someone had issues and was taking them out on us.
When I found out who it was, he’d experience Rage justice.
This was our new home; we weren’t going anywhere.
I didn’t give a shit if we’d stepped on someone’s toes; they should man up and talk to us.
Not run around making half-assed threats or damaging property.
Not having prospects or candidates was testing us, as was our small number.
If we’d had a full club, we’d be able to do a lot more than we could right now.
I wouldn’t contact Drake for help. It was our first day as a club, and we couldn’t stand on our own two feet?
No, I’d never live that down. I would make a rota for the brothers to take turns watching the gate and being on call for the businesses.
It would mean long days for us until we recruited, but our pride dictated no different. We were Rage MC. We might be a new chapter, but fuck if anyone would bully us. As brothers, we’d stand tall and proud because we knew who and what we were.
Our families and our businesses would be protected. If someone started a beef, they’d better be prepared to back it up because I’d not back down. A man whom I held in the greatest respect chose me to lead. And I’d not let him down.
My name is Calamity, and I’m the President of Rage MC, Ortonville, MN.