Chapter 10 #2
Pride surged in my chest because Tracey was one of the smartest women I’d ever met. “We own private businesses and shit. Let’s see, there’s the garage attached to our clubhouse, a security firm, a gym and we’re part owners in a completely legal strip club.” I watched her process my words.
“A strip club?”
Before she could get herself worked up, I shot her an amused look. “I never said we were boy scouts, just that we weren’t involved in illegal shit.”
Her lips pressed into a thin line. “Do you go to the strip club?”
I smothered back a smile, “I only go to Chubbies when I want to see thick girls shake their booty, which is almost never.” Before she could respond, I quickly tried to wrap up the conversation, ‘cause we were still in the parking lot. “Most of the brothers are ex-military, including me. That’s how our club got its start. Storm and Breaker came back from the war pissed off at the world and half broken by what they saw go down there. They needed the support of like-minded men, and somewhere to belong. Since there wasn’t anything like that around, they created it. ”
Her expression softened, but her voice stayed sharp. “So, this is some sort of therapy?”
I huffed out an exasperated breath. “Anything can be therapeutic if you try hard enough.”
She chuckled. “That’s the spirit.”
This is what I liked about Tracey. She was easy to talk to. “Some of us ended up with scars you can see, and others have the kind of scars you don’t see but we all follow the same rules.” I gestured towards the front door and we both started walking towards it.
“There are rules?” she asked, clearly surprised.
“Of course. There ain’t no place on earth you can go and not expect to follow rules.
In our club, every man has to earn his patch, follow the rules laid down in the charter, attend meetings regularly, pay dues and respect each other.
” I looked at her. “Messing with another brother’s old lady or kids will get you banned real quick.
Storm and the other club officers don’t tolerate fighting, backstabbing each other or any of that kind of bullshit. ”
She searched my face, like she was trying to understand what she was up against by walking into our clubhouse. “And what am I, to them? How will they see me?”
Opening the door, I held it open for her. “You’re my guest. They’ll respect that. If you ever feel unsafe here, all you have to do is speak up.”
I gave her a minute to process my words. She finally nodded, and said, “Okay. This sounds like something positive in your life.”
“It is.” I jerked my chin to the open door. “Let’s go meet my club brothers. Trust me, they don’t bite much.”
Tracey hesitated just inside the doorway, as her eyes darted around the main room, taking in the bar, pool tables and the brothers mixing and mingling.
Storm noticed us almost immediately, because absolutely nothing escaped his roving eye. He stood up from his bar stool and gestured to me. “Is this her?”
“Yeah,” I said, walking us over to where he was sitting. “Tracey, this is Storm, our club president.”
Storm gave her a respectful nod. “Good to meet you. Welcome to the Dark Slayers clubhouse.”
“Thank you,” she said politely. “It’s nice to meet you too.”
Storm told her, “Axel has told us about you.”
Tracey smiled, polite but a little guarded. “He’s told you good things, I hope.”
Storm cracked a small smile. “Absolutely. Sorry to hear about that asshole ex of yours. If you want, we can stop by and give him a beat down.”
Tracey let out a strangled laugh. “No. I don’t think that will be necessary. But thanks for offering.”
Storm gave her a lopsided smile as he turned to walk away, calling out over his shoulder, “Let us know if you change your mind.”
Grit crossed the room to greet us. He always liked to joke around, so I knew he was going to try to tickle her funny bone. “Well damn, Axel. You bringing all the sunshine right into the clubhouse this morning?”
“Grit, behave,” I warned. Tracey surprised me by smiling at his teasing.
He held out a hand, “You must be the woman Axel’s been telling us about. It’s mighty nice to meet you, ma’am.”
She shook it. “It’s a pleasure.”
Celt walked up. “So this’s the lassie who’s stayin’ with yer?”
Tracey blinked. “You’re Celt?”
I’d told her about a few of the guys, as only one of the brothers is Irish, Celt is always easy to identify.
“Guilty as charged, lassie,” he bowed slightly, winked, then moved on.
Hacker rolled in last, pushing his wheelchair with calloused palms. “You must be Tracey. Just wanted to let you know that the club has your back. If you need anything at all, let us know.”
When she looked him over, her face lit up with genuine warmth. “I know that face. You’re Hacker. Thanks for letting the girls stay last night. They’re having such a fun time.”
Hacker’s face lit up. “They’re good kids.”
“Any time you want a night alone with Angel, I’ll repay the favor,” she glanced at me. “That’s if Axel doesn’t mind a house full of kids?””
I laughed, “The more the merrier.”
“I’ll bear that in mind.” Hacker gestured towards the corner. “Zoe and Gracie are over there. I’ll bet they would love you to sit with them while we have church.”
I walked her over and made introductions. Zoe immediately invited her to sit.
I leaned down and whispered, “I’ll be in the meeting room, right in the back. Are you good here?”
She nodded politely. “Yeah. Of course. Go to your meeting. I’ll be fine.”
I gave her shoulder a quick squeeze before heading to church.
***
The doors closed once the last brother was inside. Storm waited until the bolt slid into place before he stepped forward. “Let’s get started, we’re burnin’ daylight.”
The room quieted at his stern words. We sat in chairs lined up into neat rows in front of a long table where our club officers sat.
Our meetings were for patched members only.
Prospects were responsible for guarding the gate and protecting the clubhouse while the brothers met to make important club decisions.
Hacker had wheeled in and positioned himself to my left. Storm stood up and called the meeting to order. “Let’s start with old business,” he said flatly.
Storm jerked his chin at our VP. “Grit, take us through what’s happening with Twisted Metal MC.”
Grit rose to his feet, calm and serious. “Twisted Metal’s going dark again. Their new leadership is taking them right back into all the bad shit their last club president steered them clear of. They’re pushing meth in Griffinsford again.”
Celt leaned forward, his fingers steepled. He grumbled under his breath, “We feckin’ saw this coming.”
Grit continued, “Yeah. It was their destiny to fuck up and ours to remind them why starting all that shit back up is a gigantic mistake. One of their meth labs popped up again on the outskirts of town. It’s at the old grain depot right past mile marker sixteen.”
Celt said, “I say we torch it. We need to make it clear that we’re not gonna tolerate Twisted Metal pushin’ drugs in Griffinsford.”
“I agree,” Breaker chimed in. “Do we have a timeline for ripping apart this meth lab of theirs?”
Storm responded, “Not yet. We’ll text when we’re ready to go. Could be days. Could be hours.”
Turning to Celt he said, “I want you to plan a route with clean entry and exit points.”
Celt gave his cousin a curt nod, “Will do, and I’ll be on the lookout for that message, cousin. The last thing we need is Twisted Metal pushin’ drugs on the same streets our kiddies play on.”
“Agreed,” Storm responded. Then he looked over at Breaker. “I hear you got an update on that environmental complaint.”
Breaker frowned as he came to his feet. “Yeah. I stepped in and took over from Axel when that shit went down with Axel’s lady friend.
As best I can tell, that environmental complaint turned out to be bogus.
We got the inspector out in time and the inspection went off without a hitch.
Nothing wound up getting flagged. The inspector’s report states our property has no sign of hazardous material contamination. ”
Storm asked, “Do we know who filed the complaint?”
“We’re still working on that. You assigned Hacker and Zoe to figure that shit out. They’re both doing the best they can. If you want to know my opinion, it smells like a nuisance complaint. Just some asshole with a grudge against the club.”
I kept my mouth closed. I’d bet money I knew who wanted to bury us in red tape. Only his grudge wasn’t against the club, it was against me. The minute that thought popped into my mind, I started second-guessing myself.
Storm turned to Thunder, and stated grimly, “Might as well give us an update on the club’s finances, Thunder.”
Thunder jumped to his feet and flipped through a thin ledger, “Specialists didn’t come cheap,” Thunder said, flipping to the next page. “We paid extra to fast-track the results. That saved our asses, but our account is a bit lighter. We’ll recover.”
“So, this shouldn’t be a problem moving forward, right?”
Thunder glanced at Hacker for a brief second. “This should be the end of it. If anything else pops up, you’ll be the first to know.”
Storm looked at me. “About the prospects at your place, Axel. Do you still need them?”
I stood up and addressed the officers. “I’ve still got two day-shift prospects guarding my place while I’m here. Tracey’s working on her divorce, Bryce hasn’t signed the papers like he said he would. I don’t know what his game is, but I don’t trust the fucker.”
Sitting beside me, Hacker muttered, “It’s always the rich fuckers who can’t accept not getting their way.”
“I’d like to keep eyes on the house until we see how this plays out.”
“You’re making the right decision,” Storm said. “The prospects will stay assigned. Until this is over, your home’s covered. We’ll make sure two prospects are there round the clock.”
I gave a short nod, though the whole situation still weighed on my shoulders. “She’s not the one asking for protection,” I said, quietly.
“I didn’t say she was,” Storm replied, in a calm tone. “You brought her in. That makes her family.”
“I appreciate it.”
Storm looked around the room one last time. “We’ll hit that meth lab soon. Be ready when the message comes through. I want to move fast, raze their whole operation to the ground and get out before the police arrive.”
When Storm dismissed the meeting, the room began to empty of brothers. I stayed a few seconds longer, with my arms folded over my chest.
Storm didn’t move. He just looked at me and asked, “Are you good?”
“Yeah, I have something to say.”
“What is it?” Storm asked.
I glanced at Hacker before I continued. “I got to thinking about who might want to sabotage the club.”
Storm snorted a laugh, “With our track record of getting involved in shit, it could be any number of people.”
“I might be fucking paranoid, but it occurred to me that whoever called in that environmental complaint might not be harboring resentment towards the club. He might just be fucking with one of us through the club,” I explained.
Storm’s eyes narrowed, “Come again. Explain what you’re thinkin’, brother.”
Hacker leaned forward, “Axel might be right. I’ve been asking myself why now?”
I threw up both hands and reminded him, “There ain’t too many people we’ve pissed off that have the money and connections to leverage local government against us.”
“That’s true,” Storm replied. “Most of the ones with that kind of power ended up in prison or six feet under.”
“Bryce and his father are professionals and rub elbows with local government officials off and on all the time. They’re also old money. I can see Bryce bribing someone to shove that complaint of his through. He also used to live in LA and the attorney who filed the complaint is from guess where.”
Storm sighed. “LA, right?”
Hacker chimed in, “Damn right. Axel could be onto something here. I can see if there is a connection between Bryce Sterling and the attorneys who filed the complaint. That shouldn’t be hard to find, if I dig deep enough.”
Storm’s expression brightened. “I’d sure like to have ten minutes in a room alone with Bryce fucking Sterling.”
I came to my feet, “You’d have to stand in line for that privilege, brother. After seeing the bruises he left on Tracey and watching little Jenna get the arm he broke set, I’m gonna take a baseball bat to that fucker one day very soon.”
Storm walked me to the door. “Can’t say I blame you. This asshole thinks he’s outsmarting us.”
Hacker grumbled under his breath, “Rich fuckers are like that.”
Storm shot him a cold look. “You’re fucking right about that, brother. I came from old money and my whole family was assholes. It’s the reason I haven’t talked to them since I turned eighteen and joined the military.”
My eyebrows shot up because I did not know that about Storm.
“Remember,” Storm warned, “nothing good comes from telling old ladies about club business. Trust me on that. If they don’t know what’s going down, they can’t get angsty about it.”
“Jesus, Storm, Tracey doesn’t need to know we’re taking out fucking meth labs. Right now, she needs to focus on getting her divorce finalized and getting on with her fucking life. This shit with Twisted Metal MC is behind the scenes shit.”
Storm clapped me on the back. “Smart thinkin’, Axel. What they don’t know, can’t hurt them.”
I lowered my voice. “Do you keep Zoe out of the loop as well, Storm?” I fully expected him to say that he did.
He just shook his head. “Hell the fuck no. I don’t leave my Zoe out of the loop because I learned early on that club business can very easily end up on that fucking vlog of hers.
It’s all about police corruption, local crime, and events in Griffinsford.
It’s not fucking likely she would fail to notice a meth lab getting blown up in our sleepy little hometown. ”
I didn’t know how Storm’s voice managed to be pissed and proud both at the same time, but it was. “You got the kind of problems I hope to never have, Prez.”
He just laughed. His eyes were laser focused on his old lady as we stepped out into the main room. It’s like Zoe could sense his eyes on her. The second she caught sight of him, she excused herself and made her way to him.
Gracie had already left. That left my pretty Tracey sitting at the table all alone. She spotted me as I was crossing the room. When her eyes glanced up at my face, her expression was admiring.
“How did your meeting go?” she asked.
“Good. We took care of a lot of club business.” I slid into the chair across from her. “We get to keep the prospects at our place.”
She tilted her head slightly. “You mean your place, right?”
“Well, I consider it your home while you’re living there.”
Tracey took a sip of coffee and then set the cup aside. “So, what now?”
“We eat.” I tipped my head towards the front door. “Assuming of course that you’re hungry?”
“I’m starving,” she admitted.