Chapter 5—Bass
Chapter 5— Bass
C asper meets us as we get halfway to the bar. I feel her stiffen beneath my touch—I haven’t taken my hand off her back yet. Her words got her under my skin, but I have zero trust in her. I might have protected her by taking that shot at the guy firing at her, but there’s zero loyalty. My hand on her is just to guide her around, to keep her tethered to me rather than bolting like I know she wants to. That’s easy to read on her.
About the only thing easy to read.
I hate that I was right. That we missed something. Sure, background checks don’t turn up everything, but no way is she just some random chick with three dead bodies in her apartment. The fact that she got two on her own and reacted to the third the way she did proves that someone has trained her.
Not professionally, but at least enough to react and not freeze up. She’s quick on her feet, and no doubt she’s taught her kid the same thing. It’s the only explanation I’ve got for how he snuck into Mama Bear’s house without the alarms going off. That or she messed with our system when she was over this morning for the party.
I frown at the thought, as it makes me trust her even less than I did before.
“You the one in charge?” Not sure if her accent is normally this thick at night or if she’s just putting a bit more twang in her voice to make a point, but I don’t hate it. Never been against, or even for, an accent before. Honestly, the voice didn’t matter on the girl. Okay, if she was the shrill type, I usually cut that shit off at the pass. Even walked out mid-dicking a girl once because her screams were annoying the shit out of me. But the Brooklyn burr is growing on me the more I hear it.
“Maybe. What’s it to you?” Casper’s never one to give information without making someone work for it. Even then, he doesn’t always play by the rules.
She shrugs as her hands move around, indicating everything and everyone, as she looks over the place. “Just trying to figure out who I need to talk to about getting my kid back.”
Casper raises an eyebrow at her and then me. She almost made it sound like we were holding him hostage, which we don’t do. Not when it involves a kid, anyway. Everyone else is fair game.
“Why not talk to the one who brought you in?”
Another shrug, this time with a head tilt in my direction. “He might be the brawns, but he ain’t the brains.”
“What the fuck?” Okay, I get my role. I really do. But no one has ever accused me of not having brains before. I’m like the fucking scarecrow in that one movie in her eyes, and it pisses me off. I might not talk about it, but unlike many of the brothers here, I went to college. Not saying you have to go if you’ve got smarts, or even if you don’t have any. But I was the goddamn valedictorian. I’ve got smarts, I just choose to focus on my other skills more.
I’m not the only one who’s thrown by her words. Casper’s even a bit flabbergasted. “And you think I’ve got the brains to run this place? ”
She squints her eyes as she gives him an all-over look, then me. I refuse to believe I puffed out my chest a bit when she looked my way.
She nods at her thoughts before she voices them. “You’ve got something. Maybe a little wet behind the ears, but you’ve got potential. A bit of training and you could run the place.”
“Ah, thanks. I think?” He looks at me with confusion on his face, and I just shrug. I don’t get this girl any more than he does, so I’ve got no clue why both he and I care what she has to say. But we do. At least I do, and from the look on Casper’s face, I think the guy is feeling both honored and horrified at the thought of being in charge.
Girl isn’t wrong, though. Casper has something only a few have. Usually only see it when a guy comes here to get approval from the big man to start a sister chapter of the Hounds someplace else. He’s got heart.
Might seem like a stupid way to describe it, but it’s there. He loves the club, what it stands for. He knows when he has to get his hands dirty, and he looks for ways to deal with things from other angles more than most of us. We’re all usually rushing in and acting at a moment’s notice, but Casper—and to that extent, Law—always takes a beat to weigh the options first.
“Sent King and Walker over to your place. Know Law’s on his way there now, but I figured you wouldn’t mind a few extra hands helping,” Casper says to Chains, who joins our little half circle.
“Thanks, man. Never should have stayed here this long,” he says with a shake of his head, one I mimic .
“Don’t put that on you. If you want to bitch about not getting laid, that’s on you. But that’s it.” I give him a pointed look. Now ain’t the time to be beating ourselves up over the could-have-beens. While I’ve seen the news and know that kids Oliver’s age can harm someone, I don’t see him, or his mom, as the type. They might be capable, but they seem more the type to fight to live, not live to fight.
He nods, but his shoulders don’t drop. Doubt they will till he has eyes on his kids and his woman in his arms.
“Also called Gator in,” Casper says with a nod. “Figured it’s faster for both of us to check the feeds than doing it myself. He just left twenty minutes ago, so he’s a better bet at still being up than Flint.”
“Oh, man, Troublemaker isn’t going to like that,” Chains says with a chuckle, and I join in. I might have missed the last year, but it ain’t hard to know that an old lady ain’t going to be happy about her man going back to the club. Especially not after the way they were eye fucking each other the whole night.
“Who’s the idiot who got grazed?” General says by way of greeting as he walks into the club.
While most of the brothers went home hours ago, not a single one who’s still around is looking tired. Even me. Something about dealing with an issue is an adrenaline rush for most of the guys. Might be why we all mesh well together. If we were the bitching type about needing sleep, we wouldn’t be Hounds.
General looks over Milly with a smirk on his face. “Ah, I see.” From the way the club is, he probably knows everything already and is just saying that to piss her off. It’s a tactic we do a lot—push and push on outsiders to see how they react. Some break instantly; others take some time. A few even stick around and earn respect from us.
Not sure which way this one will go.
“Well, fuck you very much.” She jerks her hip out and puts one hand on it while using the other to gesture.
God, I love New Yorkers. They’re just so entertaining to watch. You almost can’t help but smile as they get all angry over the simplest things. Especially when it’s a chick. They overdramatize everything.
“If you got something to say, say it. Otherwise, keep your trap shut and step off.”
Her words have us all smiling, but I bet I’m the only one with half a boner. What can I say? It’s been a while, and the girl is hot. I might not trust her, but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy looking a bit.
Also doesn’t mean I’m going to start calling her my old lady or anything. Club comes first, and while she’s pretty, she ain’t enough for me to put her above the club. And that’s what an old lady is. At least for me. Ain’t going to get one till I know it’s a question of her or the club. If I’ve got to decide, then I know she’s it. And she’ll pick me only if she knows the club has to come before her, and she gets it. Two rare qualities that only a few lucky bastards can find.
“Oh, I’m going to like you.” General smirks as he takes a step forward and grasps her uninjured arm.
“Oh hell no. Take your hands off me.” She pulls away, but that just makes General laugh. And because we’re all assholes and don’t know the truth of anything yet, we join in. We would never hurt someone undeserving, but it doesn’t mean we won’t scare them a bit while we figure shit out .
I hear the slamming of the club door behind me but don’t turn to look. The unknown is in front of me, and I know my back is protected by every brother in here.
I hear a cry of alarm and only then turn to see Mama Bear’s eyes go wide as she reaches out for Oliver, who runs into our group. He grabs General’s other arm and starts yanking at it.
“Let Milly go!” he shouts.
If the guys are anything like me, they’re surprised as shit that a kid would run in to help when he’s outsized and outnumbered. That’s why I’m laughing in disbelief with a smile wide on my face, matching my brothers.
That is till I see him let go of General’s arm and pull a gun out of my brother’s waistband, cock it, and aim it right at our club’s doc. Everything goes quiet, everyone still. No one so much as breathes.
“Let Milly go.” The kid’s not moving; he’s as steady as they come, clueing us all in that he’s held a gun before. Even his stance is perfect, with his aim high to hit the biggest part on General to take him out.
“Ollie, baby, I’m okay. It’s okay.”
Milly’s words have me glancing at her. I can see even she’s worried about him holding the gun. It’s a small thing, but it helps me not hate her at this moment. No child should know how to hold a gun properly. It speaks to a shitty upbringing, something the boys and I try to fix on the regular with the club’s side focuses when we learn about things. We can’t save everyone, but we never walk away if we see an issue. And this right here is an issue .
And we ain’t about to walk away from this once it’s over. At least I’m not.
“I said, let her go.” He doesn’t back down till General drops his hand. From the look on his face, I think our club doc forgot he was even still holding her.
“Drop the gun, kid. No one here is going to hurt you or your ma.” General’s hands are up, showing that he’s not about to start something. He glances at me and Chains, and we both know what he’s asking in that look.
Not to move. Not to take over. To let this play out. General might be our resident doctor, but he took an oath to do no harm. And he doesn’t. He fixes up people we fuck up, or he gives them something to make them more relaxed and talkative, but that’s about it. Guy’s a fucking teddy bear, not that you would get that from his looks. He’s one of the brothers with more tats than skin. He’s bulky but fit, and I’ve heard more than one club vamp say they get wet from the salt-and-pepper look in his beard. I guess if you’re into a daddy look, he fits that bill—whatever that means. It’s a common thing said around both him and Law.
“Ollie.” Her tone has changed. She’s not shocked anymore by the gun, or maybe she’s just trying a different tactic. Her attitude is back, even if it’s curbed a bit. “Put the gun down. They aren’t going to hurt you.”
“But they hurt you .” He gestures with the gun a bit, and she looks down at the blood dripping from her arm.
We really need to get her fixed up before Law sees the blood on the floor. That’ll piss him off. We don’t have many rules about things, but one we do have is that no one bleeds by the bar. It’s a mess to clean up and kills the mood.
“Not us,” I say and draw the kid’s attention.
His eyes widen, and I know he remembers me from before. Something about my knife set him off, and I hope to shit I didn’t just fuck things up more for us by making myself known.
“They sa—” She clears her throat as her jaw clenches a second more before she finishes. “They saved me. They took out the one who did this.” Her body deflates, as if saying the words put a drain on her more than anything. “We don’t have to worry about them. They just want answers.”
I glance at everyone I can see in this place without moving. I’ve still got my back to the door, but I bet Mama Bear and the cubs are there. Maybe even a few brothers who came in with them. I know Law ain’t around, as he’s not the type to be quiet when someone is threatening his family, kid or no kid. He would have drawn the attention and held it, using himself as the martyr if necessary. General still has his hands up. Casper and Chains don’t, but they do have their hands where anyone can see they aren’t making a grab for a weapon, just like me.
It takes another beat before the kid lowers the gun, and we all take a solid breath. “Okay. Here you go.” He hands it back to General without a second glance at him, his focus solely on Milly. “Who’s the one who helped?”
A small smile lights up her face, making her look beautiful, because it’s genuine, even if it’s only meant for her kid. She points to me before casting a quick look in my direction.
He turns and holds out his hand. I take it on instinct.
“Thanks. I owe you one.” He says it like he’s thirty, not ten or however old he is.
I look at the boys as I shake the kid’s hand. They’re all as shocked by everything as I am, so I just return my attention to Ollie and nod.
“No problem, kid.”
“Coast clear?” King asks, and I look back to see him holding Mama Bear in his arms. Atom’s at the door, but it’s mostly closed with him standing half in and out of the place, no doubt holding back those wanting in.
I look back at the kid and see he’s moved back to Milly, giving her a side hug, before I nod.
Casper calls it. “Yeah, all clear.”
Chains is the first to move, going straight to his old lady. “Get your fucking mitts off my woman.” His tone is all growl from the stress of the moment. No heat behind it, but it’s enough for King to back away quickly with his hands up to avoid a beatdown.
A second later, half the damn club comes in from outside. Not sure who called who, but I’m not about to complain. We’re family, after all, and nosy as shit. If one of us is dealing with something, everyone is.
“What the hell is going on?” Law’s bark has us all stilling once again, and I smirk as I watch Milly focus on the real one in charge.
I can’t help myself; I smile. And then I sing, “Somebody’s in trouble.”
I smile wide as she glares deep. And I just can’t help but think that it’s good to be home.