Chapter BOONE
BOONE
The walk from the Reed houses to the community center felt long despite spanning only a few blocks. Riding to our destination made sense. Walking, though, gave everyone a chance to calm themselves before facing Tricky.
Clint and Rock led the group. Zodiac and Exile were at the back. I sensed the Black Rainbow’s leadership was plotting.
Old Baton Rouge grudges had found their way to Little Memphis. Clint had warned Tricky about patching in the outsiders. But our childhood friend was desperate to inflate his club’s numbers, even if he got himself tied up with unpredictable assholes.
I slowed down my pace until I was walking next to Exile and Zodiac. I gestured toward where Nova and I enjoyed our backseat fun.
“I’m planning to build a house down that way for Nova and the girls.”
Exile’s expression remained hard. He was psyching himself up for the confrontation about to happen. Yet, his eyes revealed a hint of softness at the thought of his sister living so close.
“That would be good,” Exile said. “Our kids can grow up together.”
Zodiac rolled his eyes at the bonding moment between Exile and me. I still lingered back with them as we approached the community center at the center of Sleepy Eye.
Inside the common area, we found Tricky and Jagger standing with their fathers, Joker and Madden, and several members of the former Little Memphis club.
Joker looked stronger than usual. His reddish hair was tied back in a ponytail.
His white beard was tidy. He wore his old club vest and smiled easily.
Joker was a guy prone to saying something funny before attacking.
That made him a difficult man to read. I had no clue what his mood might have been right then.
However, his presence meant he knew today’s brawl could turn into a bigger problem.
While Joker hid his thoughts behind a fun exterior, Tricky did nothing to disguise his anger. He glared at Clint before unleashing a snarl at the sight of Zodiac and Exile.
“Look at these old men,” Ford taunted and gestured at his friend Lucky standing next to Joker. “Breaks my heart to see how far you badasses have fallen.”
A grinning Lucky ran his tongue across his teeth before asking, “Didn’t I catch you out back gardening like an old lady?”
“Naw, that was Pax,” Ford said, throwing his little brother under the bus.
“You’re both whiny, old fuckers,” Pax grumbled and frowned at Tricky. “Now, let’s hurry this along since I have tomatoes that need pruning.”
Joker grinned at the men before the amusement drained from his face. The mood shifted around me. Joker felt like the man still calling the shots.
“Today shouldn’t have happened,” Joker said and nodded at Tricky. “My boy warned those assholes about engaging with the foxes.”
“That’s great to hear, but you understand that’s not enough,” Clint said in a gentle tone.
Everyone treated Joker with kid gloves. He’d been a powerful man, literally choosing who lived and died in Little Memphis. Yet, the motorcycle accident messed him up. These men mourned who he once was, and their grief clouded their ability to deal with him.
Joker rubbed his jaw and asked, “What would be enough?”
“Them in the ground,” Zodiac said immediately. “Nothing less will do.”
Wearing his reddish-blond hair tied back like his father’s, Tricky revealed none of his normal jovial demeanor. Something about Zodiac always set off our old friend.
“Why is he even here?” Tricky snarled.
“Your club bros attacked my daughter!” Ford barked before Zodiac could speak. “My pregnant fucking daughter, Tricky! Zodiac’s unborn son was in danger! Don’t play stupid like you don’t know why he’s here.”
Tricky stepped closer. “I’m not allies with him, so I don’t want him around.”
“But you are allies with the Crimson Guard,” Clint said calmly.
“Those guys today wore your club’s patch.
Your members attacked my members. Even if you erase the family connections, your club started a war with mine.
And since I’m allied with the Black Rainbow, they’d be part of that war.
But because our families are tight, we aren’t treating this situation like the LM Jokers attacked the Crimson Guard.
We’re treating this like a personal problem to be dealt with quietly. ”
Tricky couldn’t think straight. His hatred for Zodiac blinded him to everything else.
“Back when Joker ran things,” Jagger said, startling me since I’d nearly forgotten he was in the room, “he never would have handed over a member of his club to be executed.”
Joker nodded slightly at this comment while Tricky frowned at his VP.
“If a guy went rogue,” Jagger continued, “and that’s what those assholes did today, Joker would have handled the problem in-house. If you want those men dead, you’ll need to allow us to be the ones to put them in the ground.”
Joker glanced at Madden, who gave his son an approving nod.
“Not to shit on your kumbaya moment,” Zodiac sneered. “But you’re forgetting something about these rogue bikers.”
“And what’s that?” Tricky snapped.
“If you ice these three fuckers, what are their buddies going to think? Before they were Jokers, half of your club is Baton Rouge kids. Their fathers are former bikers. How the fuck do you think they’ll react to you killing their sons?”
A suffocating silence filled the room for an overly long minute. Everyone adjusted to the idea of war. The only ones with any real idea about what that might look like were Zodiac and Exile since they knew the players.
“I have a plan,” Clint said, breaking the awkward silence.
“Of course, you do,” Tricky muttered.
“My plan should give everyone what they want, but there is also a possibility of trouble in the future.”
“Don’t be a tease,” Zodiac sneered. “What’s your plan?”
“These guys can’t die yet,” Clint said. Though I felt Zodiac ready to complain, he kept his mouth shut. “And they can’t die publicly. Tricky will need to insist his men brawl one-on-one with three of us. It’ll be brutal, but no one dies.”
“Just a fight?” Joker asked and glanced at Tricky.
Clint nodded. “A one-on-one brawl with a guy pissed about their wronged woman. It’s something these assholes will understand since they don’t respect the foxes.”
“But they do die, right?” Joker asked. “Leaving rogue members in a club leads to shit like Zombie shooting up the mall back in my day.”
Clint nodded and said, “Back when you were undermining your former president, you quietly killed his allies. That’s how we’ll handle these three.
A car accident here. A random act of violence there.
Maybe have one of them overdose. Make it possible for their families to believe the deaths are unrelated. ”
“And if they don’t believe it’s unrelated?” Zodiac asked.
“Then, we make a list of people to kill and start checking them off. But that will be after Trent is born.”
Zodiac’s hostile demeanor shifted once Clint used his son’s name. He was thinking about the future rather than his current bloodlust.
“What if these fuckers beat you in the fights?” Joker asked, sharing a smirk with Lucky. “It could happen.”
“Doesn’t matter if we win or lose,” Clint replied casually. “The brawls are a way to keep our tempers in check and get the fuckers to lower their guards.”
Jagger asked, “What if they start trouble before we get around to killing them?”
“Tricky needs to raise holy hell about this shit. These guys think it’s all fun and games like the brawl at the Fire Hooch.
But what happened today can’t happen again.
They could have killed one of the foxes,” Clint said, losing his cool.
“Elle might have lost her baby. Do you have any fucking idea what I would do to your club, Tricky, if my nephew died? Those men would have destroyed your entire world over their egos. So, you best remind them how you’re their fucking president, not their fucking pal. ”
Clint rarely lost his cool. When he did, even hardened men paid attention. Joker’s gaze flashed from Clint to Ford and Pax. These were men who filled the local quarry with their enemies. Time had passed. They’d retired. Yet, here they were, once again, talking about where to hide bodies.
“Letting them live might come off as weak,” Madden said when the silence lingered for too long.
Joker nodded. “It’ll be a good way to test more of those Baton Rouge boys. See if they learn their lesson and obey their president or keep pushing the boundaries.”
Joker looked at his son, who was glaring at Zodiac. “It’s better to have a small, loyal crew than a large club full of backstabbers.”
Tricky ignored his father’s wise words and snarled, “This shit didn’t happen until Zodiac started wagging his dick around town.”
Clint signaled for Zodiac not to take the bait. Tricky couldn’t be happy for his daddy to be the one calling the shots. His ego demanded someone suffer for his shame.
Despite his silence, Zodiac couldn’t hide his rage. Exile cracked his knuckles next to me. On my other side, Nine remained quiet, yet I felt him bitching in his head.
“They’re going to know,” Tricky said when no one reacted to his earlier words. “The same three guys ending up dead in random ways won’t fool anyone.”
“It’s about plausible deniability,” Clint said while Rock glared at Tricky. “If their friends in your club or their families back in Baton Rouge want to go to war, nothing we do will change that. But if they’re reluctant to spill blood, we’ll give them an out by making the deaths look random.”
Tricky didn’t respond, so Jagger pointed out, “The guys today took beatings. Boone and Nine broke bones. No way will Bob, Vinny, and Aaron be able to fight anyone in a real way for months.”
“But they’ll know it’s coming,” Clint explained. “And their people will think that’ll be the end of it. While they keep their eyes on the upcoming brawl, we’ll focus on how to kill them quietly.”
An understanding filled the room. Tricky might not approve of the solution, but he had no other option but to go along. A war would leave his club outmanned, and his father wouldn’t back him.
As for me, I was already imagining beating the shit out of the dickheads. I didn’t know which one attacked Goldie versus which one put his hands on Nova. Any of those assholes would suffice for the time being, as long as the three of them ended up buried.