Chapter 31 Rock
ROCK
“‘Bout damn time you called church,” Knox said as he came through the door.
“How’s Monroe doing?” I asked.
“She hates her life right now. Three fuckin’ weeks out and she can hardly do shit. You know, except lay there while I cherish her body,” he said with a grin.
“You’re one of those guys that has a thing for pregnant women now, aren’t you?” Brewer asked.
“A thing for my pregnant woman, yes. Let’s just say you can expect us to have at least one more. Though Monroe’s talking about two or three more,” Knox said.
“Even though she’s hating her pregnancy?” I asked.
“Trust me, I make it bearable,” Knox said with a wink.
“Sorry I’m late,” Grave said as he barreled through the lodge door. “Everly’s fucking miserable.”
“Sounds like a trend,” Brewer said with a grin.
“You guys need anything?” Diesel asked.
We all sat down in the lounge living room and prepared ourselves for phase two of this entire process.
“Do we have any fucking hot sauce in this lodge?” Grave asked. “Everly’s drinking the damn stuff and I can’t keep it stocked long enough before my ass has to run back into town for more.”
“Fucking hell, Monroe’s was hot sauce, too. Hot sauce on everything. Pizza. Red peppers. Steak. Ice cream, man,” Knox said.
“Ice cream?” Brewer asked.
“That’s disgusting,” I said.
“Don’t ever turn down what a pregnant woman wants,” Diesel said.
“Trust and believe. I learned that shit the hard way. Apparently, not getting up at three in the damn morning to make a full steak dinner isn’t a good thing,” Grave said. “She practically made me sleep outside.”
“Well, your backyard isn’t the worst,” Knox said.
“Don’t tell Everly that,” Grave said. “Damn.”
All of us shared a chuckle before Diesel took over church.
“So, we’ve all taken a week to breathe,” he said. “But now, we have to take another vote. Rex is still out there, and he’s running free with those bastards. He hasn’t come after us yet because he’s too chicken shit, but it’s only a matter of time before he does.”
“Saw his dumbass in town the other day,” Brewer said. “I was ready to put a bullet between his eyes then and there.”
“I say we take a vote on taking Rex out,” Diesel said. “All in favor?”
I looked around the room as all the guys raised their hands. But even after killing Mick and sitting on that shit for a damn week, I still wasn’t convinced killing Rex was the way to go.
“Rock?” Brewer asked. “You good?”
“Look, maybe the new family’s softening me or whatever, but this rat shit got serious real quick. It took us no time to vote to kill one of our own,” I said.
I watched all of the guys look around the room before they put their hands back down.
“Got any suggestions?” Diesel asked.
“Right now, the foundation of the trust we all stand on has been rattled. And we don’t fucking know who to trust,” I said.
“The Black Saddles are compromised beyond belief, and who fucking knows what else is going on. I think we’ve dug this hole as deep as we can safely dig it.
But now, we have to start taking into account all of the outsiders that stand to lose if we take the risk of taking someone else out. ”
I eyed each of the guys, making sure they were paying attention.
“We’ve got babies on the way and school-age kids running around in Redding.
Women we love. Easy fucking targets. Taking out one of our own doesn’t piss The Black Saddles off too much, but taking out one of theirs?
After Grave and Everly hooked up and stayed that way?
We’re practically asking for them to take out our fucking family.
Especially after all the shit Mick fed them,” I said.
“He’s got a point,” Grave said.
“Fuck,” Knox said.
“I made a promise to Piper and Gavin, as I’m sure all the rest of these guys have,” I said. “I promised them I’d do whatever it took to keep them safe.”
“So, what is your suggestion, Rock?” Diesel asked.
“I think we should reach out to the only other club we can trust,” I said.
“Oh, shit. You think they would help us?” Brewer asked. All eyes turned toward Diesel.
“I could reach out to The Black Hornets. See what they’re up to,” Diesel said.
“It’s a good idea. If we’re going to end this shit once and for all, we need muscle and the brotherhood of people we trust with our shit,” Grave said.
“Okay,” Diesel said. “All in favor of reaching out to The Black Hornets, raise your hands.”
And every single hand slipped quickly into the air.