Chapter 11 #2
I tugged off my helmet and got off my bike as King and War did the same and came towards me. I wouldn’t question his orders, but part of me wanted to go after the assholes. As King approached, his phone rang. He listened for a minute and nodded.
“Fucking assholes,” he hung up. “We need to get back to the compound. They’ve hit it.”
I glanced at War, and we ran to kick start our bikes and spun off before King was even back on his. We’d get our asses reamed for that move, but at this point, I didn’t care. My heart was pounding out of my chest.
All I could think about was her.
When we got back, the gate was hanging off its hinges and four brothers were stationed there with their bikes blocking the way in. They rolled them out of the way to let us pass. I looked at the damage as we did. It looked like it had been blasted with some kind of explosive.
Casper was striding down the drive as I pulled up and climbed off my bike. The rest of the guys pulled in behind us and parked up. Some of them headed inside to check on everyone.
I glanced up and could see some of the Old Lady’s out on the front porch of their house.
The club girls were watching too. My eyes moved over everyone, and I took a huge breath of relief when I spotted Connor with Waverley.
They were at the garage, and it looked like Waverley was trying to come over, but Connor was holding her back.
They got into some kind of argument about it when I turned to Casper, knowing they were both okay.
It was time to find out what the fuck just happened.
That’s when I noticed Itchy lying on the floor with Medic kneeling by him.
“Shit,” I muttered, as War and I approached them together. I crouched down on the balls of my toes and looked at Medic. “How bad?”
But it was pretty obvious. Itchy had to have been right behind where they hit the gate. I closed my eyes when I saw his face. Half of it was gone and his whole left side was burnt to fuck. The smell almost choked me.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” I huffed out as I got to my feet and turned away from the mess of our prospect. He was due to be patched in tomorrow and now we’d be burying him.
“Church,” King said as he got off his bike and walked past us. “Now.”
I looked up as Waverley moved away from Connor and headed straight for her father. She was running her mouth as she got to him, jogging alongside him. She was tall but no match for King’s long stride. He didn’t shout or tell her to back off. In fact, he watched her as she waved her hands around.
“Well, that can’t be good,” War watched his sister as she and King disappeared inside.
Then he went into full on VP mode. “Medic, get someone to help you with him. Casper, find out what that was they hit us with and Omen, contact Tate Brenner about fixing the gate.” He turned to see who else was here.
“Whoever saw what happened, come inside to give us a play-by-play. Did anyone get into the compound?”
“No,” Handlebar spoke up. “Itchy sounded the alarm, and we were on our way out to him when the blast went off. We got some shots at them. They just peeled out after that.” He glanced over to where our fallen brother lay, his head dropping.
War nodded. “You come in too,” he told Handlebar. “King’ll want to know everything.”
Once he’d given his orders War headed to the clubhouse, I fell in step beside him.
“Why were you out?” he asked me. It didn’t sound like he was blaming me, but I bristled anyway.
“Wanted to go for a ride, didn’t think it was gonna be a problem.”
“Yeah, well, we all need to be careful from now on. We’re lucky we left people here and sent the others back.”
We hurried up the stairs into the clubhouse. Tanya came over to me straight away, a look of concern on her face. She opened her mouth to speak, raising a hand like she was going to comfort me, but I glared at her.
“Not now.”
She stepped back. There was no sign of King or Waverley.
“Lily,” War looked over as Omen’s wife came hurrying into the room, carrying blankets. “You and Rosa should go speak to Itchy’s mom. Medic is clearing things up. Let him know you’re gonna head over there. She’ll need someone who can care for her.”
“He’s passed?” she asked, scrunching the blankets in her hands.
I realized she was taking them down to tend to Itchy. Her face fell and her eyes filled. I’d never understood how she fell for a biker and married into the MC.
She was a good girl, not the kind we were used to around here. I hadn’t spoken to her much, but I’d seen her in action with the girls. She didn’t take any shit from them. She was a complete contradiction, but she’d be the best person to go to Itchy’s mom.
Her husband had been in the MC until he died from liver failure a few years ago. Itchy was her only son. It was going to break her heart. Lily went outside, still clutching the blanket. If anything, it could cover his body.
“You think this is retaliation?” War asked as we made our way towards the basement where we held church. It was big enough to fit all the brothers when required, but it was just the officers unless others were invited in.
“Hammer got rid of the body. There was no evidence he’d been here.”
“What if someone saw Ballistic picking him up?”
I gave him a look. Ballistic didn’t make mistakes like that. War nodded as he hurried to the stairs. But he paused when he heard his sister’s voice behind us. He rolled his eyes.
“I need to go deal with that before King kills her.”
“You go down, get things started, I’ll rescue King.”
War let out a shocked laugh at that imagery. “You sure?”
I nodded and slapped his back, then turned as he continued downstairs. I followed the sound of voices to King’s office, the door was ajar, and I could see him sat on the edge of his desk, one hand gripping onto the edge the other held up to his daughter, who I could only see from the back.
“Did this happen because of what you told us about mom? Was it the Kingsmen?”
“I know no more than you do right now,” King said to her.
For a few moments, Waverley was silent and had gone still. “Is that kid dead? It was the prospect, Itchy?”
King nodded. I’m not surprised by how drawn he looks. Losing a brother is never easy. I’d expected him to be raging at Waverley, or for her to be in his face, but it looked like they’re having a moment.
“I was just talking to him this morning,” she said, dropping into the chair. “How old was he?”
“Eighteen,” King replied, and Waverley’s shoulders dropped. King reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. “Look, I need to get downstairs and figure this shit out.”
“What are you gonna do?”
King’s lip tilted up. “Nice try, kid.”
“I have a right to know if this happened because of me.”
“This isn’t because of you,” King said, his brow furrowing. “But do you at least now understand why I want you here, protected?”
“I get why you think it’s safer for me here. But they just bombed the gates. Wouldn’t I be better off in North Carolina, away from where they can reach me?”
I should make myself known before King spotted me, but I wanted to know what he was going to say. Was Waverley right? Why did King think she needed to be up here?
He knew more than he was letting on to War right now. And I was beginning to wonder if this was a genuine attempt at the compound or if it was a test to see what we would do.
“Trust me, you’re right where you need to be.”
I took that moment to rap my knuckles on the door frame, acting as if I’ve just arrived. “Everyone is downstairs,” I told him.
King nodded. “I need you to do me a favour,” he said, helping Waverley out of her seat. “I don’t want to hear any complaints.”
“Sounds like you’re about to piss me off,” she folded her arms over her chest and glanced at me.
King looked at her in silence, and she arched a brow at him. I held in a breath, waiting for the inevitable blow up, but they both surprised me again. “I reckon Rosa will be busy taking control out there. We’re gonna need food.”
“You want me to cook for you?” she half laughed.
“We need to pull together right now. It’s what we do.”
“You know I can’t cook, right?”
King smirked. “Connor can help. That boy should have been a chef.”
“No,” she said, her arms dropping, causing both King and I to look at her in confusion at her harsh tone.
“He might have a brain injury, but he is part of the MC. This thing with the Kingsmen affected him. He’s the one who suffered from their attack.
He’s already lost enough because of that, you can’t shut him out. ”
“Don’t think because I’m giving you some leeway, you can tell me what to do, Waverley.”
There was the King I knew and respected. His face had hardened.
“He’s a brother, isn’t he?” Waverley pushed.
“Connor’s here because I allow it. He has no say in anything that happens here anymore. He can’t ride. This is a motorcycle club, one of the biggest rules of this, and any other motorcycle club is being able to ride. I should have pulled his patch.”
“Are you serious?” Waverley was shocked. But those were the laws of the club.
War had spoken with King privately about maintaining Connor’s patch. It was only by King’s agreement Connor was even still here. Not to mention he’d grown up in the club and was family.
However, what he could bring to the club now was little more than what a prospect brought.
King would never disrespect him by treating him like that.
Instead, they allowed him to stay. King had put it to a vote at the officers’ meeting and it had been agreed unanimously, without Connor knowing it had even been up for discussion, but Waverley didn’t know all that.
“You’re not just any motorcycle club, dad,” she mumbled, not realizing King didn’t need convincing, but he wasn’t about to give her any explanations about his decisions for the club. “He’s family. You can’t do that to him.”
“She’s got a point,” I decided, like an idiot, to put my head on the chopping block.
I have no authority here. Not unless I take over an officer’s role.
It isn’t my place to make comments like this, but out of loyalty’s sake, I find myself standing in front of the president, asking him to give Connor something we both know he is not entitled to.
I don’t know if I’m about to get shut down, my ass kicked or even fined for speaking out of turn.
Despite the bylaws, King has always been fair, and he is more than happy to meet with members and discuss anything troubling them. He doesn’t need to put everything to a vote, he’s the fucking president. I’m banking on that as I stare at him, waiting for him to decide.
Waverley has some knowledge of how things run, so I’m certain she knows how big a deal this is, yet she still asked for it, supporting Connor. She still has those balls of steel.
“Hustle, find Connor and bring him to the meeting. You stay out of trouble and for bringing this shit up, you can earn your keep around here and work in the kitchen full time. Now go round up the old ladies to make us some food,” he pointed at her. “We need to honor Itchy tonight.”
She’s weighing up whether to be irritated at the order to work for us, and tell King to go to hell, or accept it because Connor is getting what she feels he deserves. “Fine, if you don’t mind food poisoning,” she sneered.
“You’re a college grad, aren’t you?”
“In business, not cookery,” she fired back.
“Still got a big brain inside that noggin,” King’s lip curled in a smile. “Use it.”
A part of me was proud of her for standing up to him.
It wasn’t as if everyone had cut Connor out.
Ballistic wanted to get Connor to take out his revenge on that fucker the other night.
I wasn’t sure if War offered for him to come down or just told him what he was doing because, as VP, he still had to follow orders.
He couldn’t let his personal feelings take over in those circumstances, especially given their relationship was a secret that would never become exposed.
War had to be extra careful with what he said or did where Connor was concerned.
I wondered how much we could have helped Connor deal with his changed status in the club.
Sure, War fought for him to keep his patch.
He couldn’t ride so he wasn’t going on runs.
Helping with the businesses wouldn’t be easy for him because he didn’t have the capacity to maintain attention for too long, but that didn’t mean he was useless.
If anything, we’d been trying to convince him he wasn’t.
The doctors told us depression and suicidal thoughts were always going to be a concern for Connor.
Was losing so much a part of why his mood went so black so often?
War had done as much as he could under the MC's laws. It should have been enough, but it wasn’t.
I could not imagine being cast out, let alone cast out, but kept around.
I wasted no more time and headed outside the office to call Connor.
He answered almost immediately. King strode past me, giving me a look, but I pretended I didn’t understand what he was trying to say.
His expression was somewhere between pissed off and amused.
But it hardened as he headed for the basement, knowing what we were about to discuss.
“Everything okay?” Connor asked in my ear.
“We need you in church.”
“What?” he asked after a brief pause.
“You heard me. King wants you in church. Hurry your ass up.”
“Okay, yeah… Okay, I’m coming.”
I hung up and looked at Waverley as she left King’s office. “He’s on his way.”
“Good.” She lifted her chin, but she would not get any argument from me.
“Hurry along and make us dinner,” I told her.
“Fuck off, Hudson,” she grumbled, but there was no malice to it, so I laughed as I headed towards the basement. I was certain I heard her muttering about spitting in my food.