Chapter 9
In his room at the clubhouse, Demon lay flat on his back, staring up at the ceiling as he tried to decide what to do next.
He had to tell Tuck and Sadist what was going on, there was no debating that.
And he had to do it as soon as possible.
But with what Gizmo had told him about Krissi’s father and the Devil’s, he thought maybe he should include Ruger in that.
But if he was including the treasurer in the meeting, shouldn’t he include all the officers?
He wrestled with the decision for nearly an hour before he came to the conclusion that this decision was above his pay grade and he pulled out his phone.
Staring at the screen, he tried to decide if he should ask the president or the VP.
After a few seconds he hit the button and dialed Sadist. He was who he knew the best, partly because the president, Tuck, was only recently returned from Wyoming.
Most of Demon’s prospect time has been spent with Sadist at the head of the club.
“Yo,” Sadist said as he answered the phone.
“I’ve got a problem. I need to bring it to you and Tuck.”
“Ok, when?”
“As soon as we can manage it.”
“Ok, I’ll get with him and let you know when. Does it affect the club?”
“Yeah, I think it will, if only indirectly, but that’s not all.
It’s got more risk of directly affecting Ruger and his family.
I spent most of the last hour trying to decide if he should be in on the meeting too.
Then I thought if I’ve got three officers, shouldn’t we have all of them?
” He took a deep breath and let it out in a rush, hoping Sadist wouldn’t make him finish explaining all his back and forth thoughts.
“And what did you decide?”
“That the decision of who to include in the talk is above my pay grade, so I called you.”
Sadist’s chuckle made Demon glad he hadn’t made the call on his own. “Good call. I just want to make sure I have this straight, for when I relay information. You have something to talk about that might impact the club, but will impact Ruger and you want to have a sit down. Right?”
“Yeah. That’s a good summary. Let me know when and where and I’ll be there.”
“Will do. I’ll be in touch.”
The call disconnected and Demon stared at the screen for a moment, wondering what to do next. He was in a holding pattern, and he hated it.
The little bounty hunter who’d had the balls to follow and confront him popped into his mind.
Damn but that woman was fine. He’d found her crossing his mind at inconvenient times.
How did one stop thinking about someone?
He’d never had to worry about that before.
At least not in the same way. He’d had thoughts and images that had haunted him before.
It wasn’t that those were easy to forget but at least they were things he had no doubt he wanted to stop thinking about.
Ronnie was another story. Who named their daughter Ronnie anyway?
Not that it mattered. He couldn’t get involved with a bounty hunter.
That was just too close to dating someone involved with the law.
He and the rest of the Souls had too much to hide to risk it that way.
Besides, who would believe they were a criminal club if one of the brothers had a cop for an ol lady? Talk about blowing their cover.
He was still lying on the bed, watching the ceiling fan spin when the phone he’d dropped onto his chest vibrated. Picking it up, he found a message from Sadist.
Sadist: the clubhouse, in an hour.
Demon: 10-4
He dropped the phone back on his chest and continued to stare as he let his mind drift.
After a bit, he realized he was about to fall asleep.
He pushed himself up off the bed. He couldn’t sleep now.
He had too much shit to get done, and he’d probably sleep right through the meeting with Tuck and Sadist. He didn’t know how long that would last, but he hoped not too long, because he had a shift at Drifters tonight.
Deciding to get ready now so he wouldn’t have to later, he headed for the shower.
Unable to stop his every doubt from assaulting his brain, he did his best to counter each one.
They weren’t likely to kick him to the curb for having a cousin in the Devils if Krissi’s dad was Switchblade.
Not as long as he was open and up front.
He felt like he’d already proven his loyalty was to the Souls, but he would understand some doubt, especially with this new development.
Would they think his loyalty was to his blood over his club?
He knew for some, it would be. But after all the shit he’d been through growing up with Jim Bob, he’d long ago been ready to write him off.
Hell, he already had. He’d been in touch with those members of his family that mattered to him, Nan, his brother, and a few of the cousins.
And between one half of his family being catholic and the other half being Mormon, he had a royal shit-ton of cousins.
Hell, he was almost thirty and still occasionally encountered a cousin he’d never met before.
He pushed all the negative thoughts from his mind and let it drift as he scrubbed shampoo through his hair and rinsed it out. As he worked the conditioner through his hair and beard, he wondered for a moment what Ronnie was up to.
It was foolish and he knew it was a waste of time, but he hoped she hadn’t gone looking for Jim Bob on her own.
Just the thought of what Jim Bob might do if he were desperate made his blood boil.
He’d never had the respect for women that Demon’s father had taught him, and Demon had always wondered at that.
How had two brothers raised kids so dramatically different?
Hell, to that end, how could two brothers be so polar opposites?
He didn’t know if they’d been treated differently growing up, or if it had been something else entirely.
He would never know. He hadn’t been there and no one he could talk to would be an impartial observer.
How the hell had he gotten back onto this train of thought?
He finished in the shower and shut off the water.
After drying, he dressed in his usual jeans, black t-shirt, and boots.
After he’d finished lacing up his boots, he grabbed his kutte and headed downstairs.
Tuck and Sadist would be here soon, and he wanted to make sure he didn’t make them wait on him.
“Let me make sure I have this straight,” Tuck said from his seat at the head of the table.
Sadist sat beside him, with Ruger on his other side.
He assumed these were their normal positions, but since he was still only a prospect, his visits to this room were usually few and far between, except for when he came in to make sure it stayed clean.
He wasn’t allowed to attend meetings, unless he was there for some portion that concerned him.
“Your cousin is either a prospect for the Devils or they’re keeping that he’s been a member for quite a while under wraps for some reason. How long have you known this?”
Demon checked his watch. “About four hours. I went to see my grandmother today to see if I could get any information from her about where he was. It’s in all of our best interest that he goes back to jail or at least gets bailed out again, so they bounty hunter will stop looking at me.”
“She told you he’s with the Devils? If it’s supposed to be secret, why would she know?”
Demon shook his head. “She didn’t tell me he’s part of the Devils. She asked how both of us could be mixed up with different gangs of hoodlums.” He lifted one corner of his mouth in a wry half smile. “At least our rep is intact.”
“Well, at least it is with old women,” Sadist said.
Tuck shot him a look that even Demon knew meant he’d better shut up or there would be consequences. Demon forced himself to take a deep breath and let it out slowly the whole time listening for the next question and reminding himself this was not the time to be a smart ass.
Tuck turned back to him. “So if she only told you that he’s part of a ‘gang’ then how do you know he’s with the Devils?”
Demon stared down at his hands for a moment, trying to put his thoughts in order to say what he needed to get out.
“The day the bounty hunter confronted me outside the gas station, and I found out that they were looking for Jim Bob instead of me, I asked Gizmo to look into him. I figured at the time that I’d find out where my idiot cousin is hiding and tell the bounty hunter where to look, if only to get him off the street and eyes off me. ”
Tuck nodded, but didn’t say anything.
“Anyway, when I came back from Nan’s this afternoon, I wanted to give him what I’d learned and see what he could come up with, if he could figure out which club.
But he had info for me.” Demon took a deep breath, glancing around the room before telling them about the half hour he’d spent in this room with Gizmo earlier in the day.
“I asked Giz to let me tell you before he did. Since we’d only put the full picture together then, I hope you don’t feel like he was keeping things from you. ”
Tuck shook his head. “Even knowing what we do now, I don’t know how urgent that makes things, at least not for the club.” He turned his attention to Ruger. “You heard anything from your in-laws?”
“No, but that’s not out of the norm. The longer we go without hearing from that piece of shit, the happier we are. And that goes for Krissi too.” Ruger sat leaned back and relaxed in his chair, as if they weren’t talking about things that had the potential to implode his life.
“Anything else?” Tuck asked turning back to Demon.