2. Chapter Two
Chapter Two
Griffin’s Beach Colt
“ B rock’s working on figuring out who this asshole is that’s obsessed with Shannon,” Colt says as he sits in the Chapel with the other two charter Presidents.
Psycho leans back in his chair, and Colt can’t help but chuckle. This man was his wife’s first stray. The first of many, and if Colt didn’t know him the way he does, he’d be one of the most intimidating men in the club.
“I really hoped Shannon would’ve turned shit around after she almost fucking died that night,” he says, his hollow eyes and sunken cheeks making him look like death warmed over.
“What happened?” Dax Hartman asks. “Who is she?”
The Summerville President looks happier these days now that he’s gotten his wife back after believing her dead for years. She’s more comfortable around him now, but there’s still trauma she has to work through until she’s back to normal. Assuming she ever will be.
“Well, she and Beckett knew each other from when they were kids or something. There’s a small age gap there, I think, but it’s obvious they have a hard-on for each other. He’s an idiot for letting her run away,” Psycho says.
Rolling his eyes, Colt shakes his head. “Because that’s clearly the important part of this whole situation, huh?”
“Hey, I just call it like I see it. I saved her from the guy I had to chop the head off of and ship across the border to my friend. She should’ve taken it as an opportunity to finally jump his bones. Or vice versa.”
“I feel like I’m so out of the loop here,” Dax says. “This guy you killed just grabbed her from the street?”
Colt and Psycho share a look before Colt clears his throat. “Not exactly.”
“Not exactly?”
“She kind of went willingly. She’s… She uses a different form of currency than we do to pay for things…”
“Promised her a meal,” Psycho says. “She’s what you’d call without a home. The rest of it was implied, but instead of just sex, he was going to kill her, too,” Psycho adds.
Nodding, Colt just shrugs. “She says she’s not proud, but who are we to judge how she chose to get by after her parents died?
I just hope Beckett can help her. He’s been a miserable fuck and put Brock through it trying to catch any glimpse of her since she left.
Not sure what happened, but she bolted.”
“Damn,” Dax says and laughs. “There really is a lot of drama here.”
He joins in but lifts his hands in the air. “They seem to believe it has something to do with Lex and me, but we had nothing to do with this one.”
“We’re looking at a fight with someone, though? Once we figure out who this Kiefer asshole is?”
“All we know is that he’s rich and powerful. Brock’s looking into it. Depending on how much money he has, we might have a difficult time being able to touch him. Assuming we figure out who the fuck he is.”
Psycho beams as he clasps his hands behind his head and leans back. “I find a bullet stops motherfuckers who think they’re untouchable pretty fucking easy.”
“He’s most likely protected by people who are also connected. No one makes a move until we know more. And Beckett’s been made aware of this, too.”
“If he’s got the girl in his apartment again, I doubt he’s leaving unless forced to for the foreseeable future,” Psycho says and wiggles his eyebrows up and down.
“Fuck, I miss sex,” Dax mutters and rubs his face with his hands.
Dani has been through it, and Colt’s not surprised it’s taken a bit for her to jump into bed with her husband again. He doesn’t know what all she went through, but he knows enough to make educated guesses that make him glad they killed the Kingsmen.
The implication of Dani causes Psycho to look away in guilt.
Colt knows the crazy man will never fully forgive himself for what happened to Dax’s wife.
The history from his family’s club, the Havoc Outlaws, that spun in the Kingsmen is a hard enough hit, but knowing he couldn’t save her like he had back then cuts him deep.
“Still having issues?” Psycho asks, his hands falling to the table as he gives a remorseful look.
If anyone understands trauma with women, Psycho’s the guy. He saved his wife from the abuse of her father only to expose her to abuse at the hands of his now-dead family.
“We sleep in the same bed now, at least, and she lets me hold her. That’s as far as it goes, though. She won’t even let me watch her undress, and I’m chafing from using my fucking hand every damn day.”
“Lube, man. Look into,” he jokes, trying to lighten the mood. “Helps with the chafing.”
Rather than laugh, he just shakes his head and looks unamused. “I know she’s been through a lot, and I’m here no matter what. I just really fucking miss my wife, you know?”
“She hasn’t told you what they did to her?” Colt asks.
Even as he asks, his stomach knots. The last thing he wants is any type of visual on top of the sight he’d already seen. Hearing her ask if they were there to kill her as she cowered in metal shackles on her wrists still wakes him in the middle of the night sometimes. And she’s not even his wife.
“No, she hasn’t. I can’t help but think that’s part of the issue. It’s hard for me to understand when I don’t know, but I’m not certain if I want to fucking know. Or maybe I do. I have no goddamn clue.”
“You don’t,” Psycho says, his voice deadpan as he locks eyes with the Summerville President. “Let her work through it how she needs to. We can put up with a lot more than the women can, and she went through a worse hell than any of us ever have, even when we got locked up.”
“But—”
“No. Trust me on this. Knowing only makes you want to murder everyone who had any connection to the assholes who hurt her. It drives you insane.”
“Knowing what Lex went through in that fucking basement, not to mention the threats O’Malley sent her, was more than enough to make me crazy.
And she didn’t have it even half as bad as I suspect Dani and Lacey had it,” Colt says.
“Which kind of brings us back to the main reason we’re here.
What the fuck do we do with our supply source dilemma? ”
Lex being kidnapped by the Savage Slashers along with three other old ladies proved to be a calculated attack.
Their gun supplier, the Russian International Organization, lost control of their organization.
One of the higher ups, Ivan, pulled the strings behind the scenes, and wanted to take down the Drifters to hurt the RIO so he could take over.
Ivan had ties not only to the Slashers but also the Kingsmen.
The men run by a former Havoc Outlaw who put a club together from behind bars.
If he wasn’t a sick, demented freak, Colt would be impressed with his commitment and reach.
But because of this betrayal, the Drifters haven’t committed to sticking with the RIO, even with Ivan dead.
“Well, considering how badly Boris wants us back, we’re going to have a hell of a profit margin with the RIO,” Dax says. “Money speaks to most people, but especially the guys in my clubhouse.”
“But… having their house in such disarray caused all this shit to implode like it did. We lost men, and we almost lost women. And because of that, Ivan was involved with the club who took your wife. Not to mention taking part in hurting her, which proves the Russians aren’t in full control,” Psycho points out.
He has a valid point. Colt can’t deny that he’d like to break free from the organization even though they have over thirty years’ worth of history with them. They had no idea what a major player was doing, and Colt can’t help but wonder if it was due to ignorance or just disinterest.
“But do we really trust the Irish? Not to mention the fact that we won’t be making nearly as much money. They’re the ones who actually killed Black Valley men,” Dax says. “It’s kind of hard to get in bed with a former enemy like that. At least, it is for me.”
He nods in response. “But is it really better to stick with the enemy we know after being cut off at the knees multiple times over? We can only regroup and come back so many times.”
Looking between them, Colt leans back and studies them as they continue their arguments. There are many buts in the conversation, and he wants a realistic solution. This will be the first decision Colt will make as the new President, and he can’t fuck this up.
What would Lex do?
It’s no secret that his wife was a large—if not the largest—reason he’d been selected to sit at the head of the table.
She’s smart, and she’s rational. As much as her emotions can get the better of her, she knows how to separate club and personal.
For the most part. As long as it doesn’t involve her brother or father.
“Is there anything we can get from one side and not the other?” Colt asks, an idea hitting him.
“Big artillery can only come from Russia. The Irish either don’t handle it, or they don’t have a way to get them to the States, depending on what it is,” Psycho says.
“How much of our business is big guns?”
Dax sighs and shakes his head. “Not much out our way. The largest we have are AR-15s.”
“We have about half and half on our side,” Psycho says.
“And we have a decent amount on our end. I don’t know that I’d say half, but enough that we’d feel it if we lost those customers,” Colt says.
“What if we focus solely on big guns from the RIO? They have the largest profit margins for us to begin with, not to mention Boris’s new deal to keep us as customers. ”
“And small guns from the Irish?” Psycho asks.
He nods his head. “Yeah, but we can also do a few shipments from the RIO, too, to make sure we’re staying supplied, but the bulk will come from the Irish. Let them both know we’re doing this on a trial basis to see where we’re making money and if the risk is worth it on our end.”
Both men lock eyes with each other before nodding slowly. Psycho actually looks impressed, which means a lot to Colt, but there’s a bit of annoyance that he seems genuinely surprised he would have the brains to pull this off.
“Not bad, Nichols.”
“It’s a good option. And as long as we stay transparent on both sides, they’ll continue to try and incentivize us to convince us to make long-term commitments,” Dax says.
“And it gives the Irish time to get access to the things we can only get from the RIO, letting us know if it’s even possible,” Psycho says. “Looks like new blood in here wasn’t a bad idea after all.”
Colt lifts his brows. “You thought this was a bad idea?”
Laughing, he shakes his head and gives the first genuine smile Colt’s seen. “Not in the least. I told Jennings it was a smart decision when he let us know it was a done deal. I’m just pissed you’re not coming back to Summerville.”
He laughs. “Got a kid that just graduated with another graduating in a couple of years. Couldn’t move now even if we wanted to. Not if we’re being good parents.”
The two teenagers found squatting in Colt and Lex’s old house have become their family.
After seeing the house they willingly avoided, preferring to stay in places without running water and electricity, he knew he couldn’t leave them there.
And now they’re his children, even if Lucas is the only one who wanted to be adopted.
“It’s so weird to think about,” Dax says. “But you and Lex are the poster children for taking in strays.”
“Tell me about it,” he says. “Noah still misses Bodie, but at least Lucas is a good distraction. How are Bodie and Jolie doing?”
“They’re our version of Jace and Melanie,” Dax says.
Jace Conway and his girlfriend, Melanie, are the very sexually active couple in Griffin’s Beach.
More than that, they have no shame in who knows it.
And considering Bodie left Black Valley to nurse a broken heart after getting a brand new one, it makes sense he’d take every opportunity to make up for lost time in the bedroom.
“Or are you just jealous?” Psycho asks, his eyebrow raised.
“It’s not just me,” he defends. “It’s me and the other men… who aren’t getting any. Fuck off, okay?”
Laughing, Colt snorts. “Who’s that? You and Snake?”
“Fuck you. Don’t you dare lump me in with that asshole who smacked your wife. He’s lucky we only stripped him of his Secretary patch instead of his leather altogether. I’m still considering it, but we don’t have any prospects. He gets all the shit work, though.”
“Hoping he quits on his own? I like your style,” Psycho says. “Sneaky.”
“Okay, so we’re all in agreement with this?” Colt asks.
“Works for me.”
Dax nods, and Colt stands. “Meeting adjourned.”
Walking the men to the door, he sees them off before heading back to the office where Jenning waits for him.
Even though Colt wears the President patch now, he knows he needs to lean on Jennings to pick his brain and get his opinion.
At least for the first year, and Colt plans to learn as much as he can.
“Hey, Pres,” Jennings says from the chair in front of the desk with a smirk on his face. “How’d it go?”
Colt takes the seat behind the desk, and it feels like a strange power shift. He looks at one of his dad’s best friends, his dark hair graying at the temples, and sighs. It doesn’t feel as though Jennings wants him to fail. The opposite, in fact. But it’s adding more pressure than Colt expected.
“Okay, so here’s what we decided…”