Hulk Chapter 20
It was New Year’s Eve—another party at the clubhouse.
Most of us knew it was a double celebration, just not the guests of honor.
I was thankful to see the year come to an end.
I was looking forward to what lay ahead in the new year.
Celeste and I’s wedding. We’d shown the ring to Capri the morning after Christmas.
She squealed and told us how delighted she was.
Of course, Celeste asked her to be her maid of honor, which Capri tearfully said yes to.
They were already checking into things online and making lists. The other old ladies were more than happy to assist in any way they could. It was looking like we’d get married sometime in June. As long as I had her in my life, home, and bed, I’d be able to wait.
At Monday’s church, the call went out to bring forward the names of prospects to replace the twins. We all agreed we’d have at least someone in the next two weeks.
Earlier today, we spoke with Capri about her college classes. Pride filled me whenever I remembered that conversation.
“Celeste, Hulk, do you have a minute? I’d like to talk to you about something,” Capri asked as she came out of her bedroom. Her aunt and I were seated on the couch, watching a movie. Immediately, I paused it.
“We sure do. What’s up?” I asked. She sat in the chair across from us.
“Next week, classes restart at the college. You know, I went ahead and signed up for them. I don’t want anything to derail my education. All the professors agreed that it would be fine for me to take their classes online, even though two aren’t usually offered that way.
“It was very nice of them to do that,” Celeste chimed in.
“It was. But I’ve done a lot of thinking over this past week, and I’ve changed my mind.”
“Do you want to take the semester off?” I asked.
“No, not that. I plan to take those two classes on campus rather than remotely. I can’t hide from what happened to me.
And the longer I do, the harder it will be to face others.
People will stare and whisper, no matter how long it has been.
I’m stronger than I knew. It doesn’t matter what they say, think, or do.
I won’t allow them or anyone else to make me a hermit.
With Erickson gone, I don’t have to worry about him lurking out there.
And I have someone who’ll have my back. Courtni goes there.
We found we’re in two classes together this semester.
I know I can trust her, or she wouldn’t be allowed on the compound. It’s a relief.”
“Sweetness, if you believe you can do it, then we’ll support you. Just promise that if it becomes too much, you’ll tell us. If necessary, we’ll find another way. However, I don’t believe it will,” I reassured her.
The nightmares that had plagued her before the capture and killing of Erickson hadn’t returned like Celeste and I had feared. She woke each morning appearing well-rested. She smiled more, too. We’d talked about it a few more minutes before she returned to her room to call Courtni.
Thinking of Erickson, I had finally breathed a full sigh of relief.
No matter how careful we try to be, there was always a chance that when we sent someone to meet their maker, the remains would be found.
Or something would lead to us. Despite our best efforts, shit could happen.
However, in his case, Wire had come to let us know what he found out about him.
That was yesterday. We had gathered in his office at the clubhouse.
He’d called to ask if we had time to see him.
That he had information on Erickson. Celeste and I had gone over right away.
We didn’t tell Capri about it until afterward.
“Alright, tell us before she bursts,” I tease.
As Wire chuckled, my old lady jabbed me in the gut with her elbow, then scowled.
“Do you have to have a gut made of steel? I can’t even poke you for acting like I’m the only one anxious to hear what he found out. Ignore him, Wire. You go ahead when you feel like it.” She sniffed at me.
“You two are a riot. Alright, I’ll get to it before Hulk gets hurt.
It seems that we couldn’t have chosen a better candidate to wipe off the face of the planet.
Erickson was essentially a hermit. His job was online, dealing in cryptocurrency trading and investing.
His communication was rarely on the phone.
As far as I can tell, he didn’t meet his employers in person either.
He sent messages and emails from his computer all day. ”
“What about friends and family?” Celeste asked when he paused.
“Again, totally in our favor. He’s estranged from his parents.
They haven’t spoken in five years. And they live in another state.
He has no siblings, and other family members are in the same category as his parents.
And you asked what about friends. He was a gamer who interacted with people under an assumed name.
They have no idea what his real name is.
And like countless introverts and personalities like that, his disappearance won’t be seen as anything unusual.
It’s common in the online gaming community for some people to come and go, take on new identities, and never tell anyone.
I found no evidence when I went through his computer and phone that he had any real friends. And we know that he had no girlfriend.”
“That’s great to hear, brother. Later, after you’ve had a chance to run down those three women he hurt, we’ll be able to close this chapter for good.
And where you got rid of his remains, I don’t see it ever being discovered.
And since he had no connection to us that anyone knew of, there’s no reason for the police to come around asking questions or being suspicious of us,” I stated.
“That’s right. However, I’ve already made progress on the three women. I’m still digging into their current lives to figure out the best way to ensure they’re doing alright. As for what he did to them, I hate it, but I know those details.”
This time, when Wire paused, his face wore a mask of disgust.
“How?” Celeste asked huskily.
“God, I’m so glad you didn’t bring Capri with you.
I know exactly what he did to her, too. And no, I won’t tell you.
He’s dead. Know that she’ll be fine. We’ll make sure of it.
Anyway, I know because that sick bastard had a password-protected file on his laptop.
I broke it, and inside was a subfolder with the vital stats on each woman, his rambling thoughts about them, and things he did as he stalked and targeted them.
“And then it included how he drugged and raped them. The date, place, and so on. He talked a bunch of gibberish about how they wanted it and how much he loved what he did to them. The standard crap one of those sick fuckers says. It seems that with the other three, after he assaulted them, he quickly lost interest in the women. There would be a chunk of time between forgetting about them and him finding his next victim. It was a year after he hurt the one before Capri before he saw our girl.”
“So you’re saying he would’ve forgotten all about Capri and not been a threat to her,” Celeste stated.
“No, I don't believe in her case, he would’ve. His obsession with her seemed worse. And he was certain that she was meant for him. She struck him in a way different from the others. Erickson wrote about her being innocent. He planned a life for them together. I found the title to a new property he bought after he attacked Capri. His rambling about setting up a home for her and him was true.”
We sat there, asking Wire what was next.
He was to find out what he could about how those three victims were coping, and then he’d bring it to church so the club could decide what they could do for them, if that were even possible.
After we left his office, we wandered around the compound.
We didn’t want to go back home and have Capri ask what was wrong.
Luckily, when we got home, both women got caught up in primping for tonight’s party.
When they came out to reveal themselves later, I’d begged Celeste to stay home.
She said no way and playfully shoved me out the door ahead of them.
As Capri giggled, I winked and told her how beautiful she looked. It wasn’t a lie.
The ringing of the bell at the bar got everyone’s attention and forced me to get out of my head.
Celeste hadn’t noticed, probably because she was chatting with Joli, Natalya, and Jessamy.
Everyone’s attention went to the bar. Standing there was Agony and Dare.
Both wore grave expressions. I fought not to chuckle.
“As we get ready in a couple of hours to transition into a new year, there’s something that we have to do to clean up a problem here. We don’t want it dragging behind us in the next year,” Agony started.
“Too right, we don’t. It is something we should’ve taken care of a long time ago.
We let life and our hectic schedules shove it into a corner where we forgot about it.
But we’re not willing to do that any longer.
We’ve got to live by our bylaws. Thoryn, Soren, we need you to bring your asses up here,” Dare barked out the last part gruffly. A scowl spread over his face.
I saw the twins jerk as if they’d been slapped. Then, they exchanged worried glances. They reluctantly made their way to them. They stood at attention facing the room. All expression was wiped from their faces.
“Take off those cuts and put them on that table,” Dare ordered.
The way he spoke and looked at them, they had to believe they were being kicked out of the club. Was it a shit thing to do? Sure. But it was all part of the hazing we did. After this, they would be able to do the same to future prospects. We’d all had things like this done to us.
With a grimace, they did as instructed. As soon as they did, Agony spoke.
“You’ve been here for over two years. That’s longer than anyone we’ve had as a prospect. Do you know why?”
“No, sir,” Soren said.
“No, Pres,” Thoryn added.
“Do you have anything to say for yourselves?” Dare asked gruffly.
“We’re sorry that we let you and the rest of the club down. We tried our hardest to be what you expect a Pagan to be,” Thoryn said.
“Yeah, we never wanted to let anyone down or to do less than what you needed us to do,” Soren stated.
“Well, then I guess it’s a good goddamn thing that you tried your hardest and didn’t let us down. Otherwise, we’d have to find two other assholes to give these to,” Agony told them, pulling out from behind him a cut at the same time Dare did the same.
The astonishment on their faces when they saw them made us all laugh and start to cheer. As they hesitantly took the cuts as if afraid they weren’t real, I told Celeste what they said on the front.
“Those two are rough around the edges, and they always like to be in the middle of things. They’ll be the first to stand up and fight. So, in honor of that and the fact that they’re twins, we wanted their road names to reflect that. Thoryn will now be called Rough. And Soren will be Tumble.”
She laughed. After Rough and Tumble put on their cuts, shook hands, and got slapped on the back by the President and VP, we began moving toward them to offer our congratulations.
However, one of the first to get to them was Capri.
She gave both of them a hug and chatted excitedly with them.
It was wonderful to see her so carefree.
I winked at Celeste when she saw me staring.
It took us a bit to get our turn with them. By the time we were done, we set out to find Agony and Eliana. We found them talking to Dare and Joli. When they saw us coming, the VP and his old lady excused themselves.
“We didn’t mean to scare them off. We just needed a minute of your time,” I told them.
“Nah, we were done. What’s up?” Agony asked.
“I promised you that I’d have an answer for you about your offer to work at Pagan Promises.
I’ve thought about it. Hulk, Capri, and I talked about it, and I’ve made my decision.
If you’re sure you still want and need me, I’d love to work there and help however I can.
And if someone isn’t looking for legal help, you can use me in other ways,” Celeste told them.
“Thank God. I don’t have to listen to my old lady bitch about not having you and that she has to settle for someone who’s a moron,” Agony muttered, pretending to pray.
Eliana pinched his arm, making him laugh.
“Thank you. I can’t wait to get started. We’ll develop the whole program together. I’ll rely on you to tell me what we can and can’t do and how to set up the program. However, we can wait and do that starting next week. Right now, give me a hug,” Eliana demanded of my old lady.
As they hugged, Agony and I shook hands and watched them. We stood there, allowing them to excitedly chatter for a good thirty minutes before we had to drag them apart. They were already talking about plans. They giggled.
It wasn’t long after that when we all counted down the seconds until it became a new year.
When time was up, toasts were made. Hugs and kisses were exchanged.
I wasn’t starting another year alone and feeling left out and envious of some of my brothers.
I wondered if any of my single club brothers would find someone special in this new year. I sure hoped so. I highly recommend it.