Chapter 18 #2
Rooster was already waiting on his Harley and strapped his helmet on when he saw me coming.
It was always good to have a brother ride with me, but the president was not supposed to ride alone.
Pops got lax and was gone. Problem was, when that all went down, Eagle was with us on the run, so the next in line to ride with Pops would have been Butch.
He probably encouraged him to go out alone.
I should have questioned it then, but Pops enjoyed a long ride alone sometimes, and there wasn’t much arguing with him.
Especially if he wanted a ride with Ma. He wasn’t on any club business, just picking up his Old Lady from work.
But, sometimes I wonder if things would have been different if someone had been with them on that ride home.
After hopping on the bike, donning my helmet, and peeling out faster than usual, I soaked up the sun on my face as the crisp air danced over my skin.
Rooster caught up to me and I slowed to a cruise, not far over the speed limit.
This time of year bounced between sunny and dreary and the temps could be hot or mild.
Today was a gorgeous day for a ride with only a few clouds in the sky but a slight coolness to the air.
Having to babysit the strip club was a pain in my ass, but it was Ma’s baby and generated good money.
When dancers started going missing from other clubs, I was on high alert, beefing up security, adding cameras, and sending patrols regularly.
But when we discovered we had a rat on the inside, I yanked her out of there, kicking and screaming.
Well, she was at the clubhouse when I told her she couldn’t go back. There wasn’t kicking, but there were a few swings, and a lot of screaming. She’d had a rough time lately so I let her have it. We were in private, and I hoped that taking it out on me would get it out of her system.
Instead, she’s been cold, snippy. She still acted like Ma, and took care of the clubhouse. She just made it a point to be just bitchy enough to piss me off, but not enough that we’d have it out in public.
All of this was hard to navigate. She was my mother, and for years, the First Lady. She’s respected and loved by my brothers, and feared and revered by the bunnies. I didn’t expect to step into this role so soon, and not the way I did.
Pride didn’t touch the tip of what I felt to be not only the president of the Atlanta chapter, but now officially the national president. And Pops had been prepping me for a long time for it, but we always planned a smooth transition.
Not only was I reeling from losing my father, but trying to fill the shoes of my fallen president. I was doing this while keeping our businesses running smoothly, the women out of danger, and trying to exact revenge. The last thing I needed was Ma with her fucking panties in a bunch.
Trying to enjoy the ride, I cleared my mind, or attempted to, anyway. Even though rubber and oil from the highway was abundant, all I could smell was that floral shit from my Kitty Kat.
It was still fucking me up that I kept thinking of her as mine already– and that I couldn’t stop thinking of her.
Technically, she was mine, just on paper, though.
But it felt like more. Still, that was just some fucked up autonomic response.
We definitely had chemistry, but I wasn’t sure a mafia princess who cried instead confronting me about another woman would ever be First Lady material.
Hopefully she’d at least learn to get along with the other women and be a good companion. I meant what I told her: I wouldn’t disrespect her by having another woman. I didn’t need one anyway. I had her now.
Giving up the fight and enjoying thoughts of her and what I’d do to her later now that we broke the ice, I enjoyed the rest of the ride.
After about forty minutes, we finally pulled into the parking lot of the club. It was a nice one. The building was kept up well, it had a great location not far off the highway, and was near plenty of businesses to attract businessmen.
Ma did all the hiring, even for the kitchen, and took pride in it.
Destiny’s Desires usually attracted a mid to higher clientele, which helped weed out a lot of issues.
Although, we had to keep bouncers because white collar men with more money than they knew what to do with had entitlement issues sometimes.
We passed the member watching the door and walked inside. The afternoons were slower, but there were still men hanging around, and dancers on stage. The place was dim except for the lights on stage and the party lights for ambience. Big hair band rock played as we headed for the office.
“Hawk,” someone called.
Turning, I clenched my jaw. “What’s up, Rayne?”
The flamboyant, but well-dressed and coiffed DJ grinned, his eyes raking over me. “I know you are so happy to see me. And I sure am happy to see you,” he said with a wink. “But I need you to handle Jodeci.”
“What seems to be the problem?” I asked with a sigh. Jodeci was the other DJ.
“He keeps fucking up the schedule and showing up late for shift change. I have other things to do,” he said with a flourish of his hand.
“I’ll deal with it.”
I was walking away and heard Rayne making a “mmm” sound before he said, “I bet you will.”
Rooster whipped around, but I grabbed his arm. “Let him be. I can’t help even the men want me.”
After finally making it to Ma’s office, I unlocked the door and went to sit at the computer. I had to check the schedule and find Jodeci’s number and address.
Handing the info to Rooster, I told him, “Deal with that. These pricks act like they’re selling out EDM concerts.”
Rooster tucked the paper into his pocket and nodded as he left the office. After a few clicks and making sure the schedule for the following week was up to date, a knock was on the door.
“What?” I called out.
Rooster cracked the door, then opened it. Another member, Lance, stepped inside. “Prez, sorry, but I heard you were here. Our chicken supplier shorted us. I made the delivery guy update the ticket but Mama Hen—well, you,I guess—has to reach out to the vendor.”
My brow pinched and I looked up at him. “Are you fucking serious? How much?”
He nodded. “Yeah, with a wing special for lunch, kinda fucking sucks. It was half.”
I motioned for him to give me the paper he had in his hand and he promptly left.
After a twenty minute phone call, I had the missing chicken coming in two days.
“Let’s go. I gotta tell Lance to change the specials for now, then we can take off.”
After locking the office and heading toward the kitchen, I was stopped again. This time, it was Jules, one of the bartenders. “Prez, one of the taps is fucked up, but they need a manager to put in the service request.”
Jesus fucking Christ. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I asked, “Do you by chance have that number and our customer info handy?”
Jules handed me a slip of yellow paper. “From the last time.”
“Last time? How often does that happen?”
“It happens, Prez.”
I glanced over at Rooster, who helps run our bar closer to the clubhouse, and he nodded with a shrug.
“I’ll call them soon. I gotta go talk to Lance real quick.”
After telling Lance the new shipment should be coming in two days, I stepped out the back door and lit a smoke while I called about the tap repair. That was quicker than the chicken issue.
All of this shit was making my head hurt.
I wrapped up the call, went to tell Jules when the repairman was coming, and motioned for Rooster so we could get out of there before anyone else stopped me.
“What a shit show,” I mumbled before climbing on my Harley.
Rooster grunted as he strapped on his helmet.
“What?” I barked.
He looked over smirked. “If Mama Hen was here, you wouldn’t have to deal with it.”
“I liked it better when you didn’t talk,” I said before I started the engine, the pipes loud enough to drown out any shit he wanted to add. “Let’s go.”