Chapter 8 #3
Levi’s nostrils flared as he rubbed his head, clearly not a big fan of being smacked. “Okay. He was wearing a cut. I’m short on rent this month, and the way the guy talked, it sounded like an easy way to make some money. He even said I could keep the money I made selling this stuff.”
Tom pulled something out of his pocket and tossed it to Jed. “This is what we found on him.”
“Just the one bag?”
“Yes.”
Tulsa joined Jed as he checked out the five little white pills with the “E” imprint on them. The baggie itself was plain, with no stamp or sticker to identify who it came from.
“Who would be stupid,” Jed was going to add, “enough to impersonate a Son,” but like a light flipping on, it hit him. “What did this man look like?”
“He was around six feet tall, good shape for an older dude. His hair was graying, and he looked like he might be in his 50s. And he had one of those,” he pointed to Jed’s name patch. “It said Tinker on it.”
“Motherfuck,” Tulsa growled.
“I knew he was up to something.” Turning his attention back to Levi, he asked, “You know the man who paid you to sell that shit here was sending you into a situation that he didn’t care if you walked away from it or not.”
“What?” Levi choked.
“He wanted you to get caught, and he didn’t care if you got hurt in the process. That simple enough for ya?” Tulsa spelled it out.
Levi swallowed hard, and his face went pale.
Now he was getting it.
“What’s going to happen to me?”
“We could call the cops and turn you over to them.” Jed offered one suggestion.
“Or we could beat the shit out of ya and send ya on your way.” Tulsa’s suggestion made the kid look a little green.
“Do you have people who live out of town?” Jed asked.
“I have a grandma who lives in Boulder.”
“You need to go stay with her for a while,” Jed told him.
“For how long?” Levi’s knee started bobbing up and down.
“Until this is sorted. If you don’t leave town, Tinker’s going to find you, and you’ll be lucky to live.” No reason to sugarcoat it. The kid needed to be scared straight so he didn’t do something this stupid ever again.
“Oh my God,” Levi cried. “All I wanted was to make enough money to pay my rent.” He gripped his hair in both hands and started rocking in his chair.
“Snap out of it, kid!” Tulsa smacked him on the back of the head. “If you swear to never pull this shit again and that you’ll leave town, as in now, we’ll let you go with a warnin’.”
“I swear I will never do anything like this again! I swear it! Maybe I’ll see if my grandma will let me move in with her for a while.” He added the rest under his breath like he was thinking out loud.
“Then get out of here, kid.” Jed nodded for Tom to follow him up the stairs. “Send him out the back.”
Levi shot out of his chair so fast, they were surprised they didn’t see flames trailing behind him.
Tulsa laughed and shook his head. “Stupid fuckin’ kid. What was he thinkin’?”
“I don’t know. It pisses me the fuck off that Tinker would use a kid to pull something like this.
And it worries me that he’s wearing our cut while getting into the drug trade again.
We’ve got to find that fucker.” He started up the stairs, Tulsa right behind him.
They climbed back into his truck, and he started it up and kicked the heat on.
While he waited for it to warm up, he pulled his phone out, saw the time, and winced.
He wasn’t going to have time to take Tulsa back to the clubhouse before he needed to be at Big Dick’s for Sadie.
She’d be closing up soon, and he didn’t want her heading to her car without someone at her back.
He shot off a quick text saying he was on his way.
“Hope you’re not in a hurry to get back because I need to head to Big Dick’s.
Sadie’s closing soon, and I don’t want her leaving alone. ”
“No. No hurry.” Tulsa waited until Jed was pulling out of the parking lot before he started in with the questions. “So, you and Sadie, huh?”
One side of Jed’s mouth kicked up. “Yeah. Looks that way.”
“Cool. I like her. She’s hot.”
Jed glanced over to see Tulsa sporting the biggest shit-eating grin on his face. “You idiot.”
As he made the turn into the bar's parking lot, he was thrown off by how dark it was. The lights were off inside the bar, and the only light shining on the parking lot was at the entrance. The light in the far right corner, the one Sadie usually parked under, was out. When did that happen?
He swung his truck in that direction and just about lost it. Sadie was on her knees on the ground next to her running car. “Oh fuck!” He sped toward her, coming to a jarring stop. He barely had it in park when he jumped out.
“Sadie!” He sprinted the remaining distance, dropping to his knees in front of her.
Her normally blonde hair was red in the headlights, freaking him out.
He gently brushed her hair out of her face and discovered a small gash on her forehead.
Was she hurt anywhere else? “Fuck! Sadie. What the hell happened?”
“I got jumped at my car.” She started to reach for her head, but he stopped her from putting her muddy glove on the wound.
While Jed had gone straight to Sadie, Tulsa had done a quick check around to see if whoever did this to her was still around. He came back shaking his head, his eyes hard and his mouth in a harsh, thin line.
“I think there’s a shirt in my backseat. Can you get it?” Tulsa jogged off to retrieve it.
Sadie reached for her head again. His hand shot out to stop her again, holding it at her side.
“Baby, hang on. Just close your eyes. You have a cut on your forehead that’s bleeding into your eye.
You’ve got dirt on your gloves. Just hold on.
Tulsa went to grab something we can use to hold pressure on it. ”
A gray flannel shirt was shoved between them.
“Here you go.” Tulsa dropped to his haunches for a better look. “How bad is it?”
“She’s going to need stitches or glue.” Jed tried to wipe as much of the blood away from her eye as he could, then wadded up the material and pressed it to her wound.
She hissed and reached for the shirt. “Help me get her up.” They both grabbed her under an arm and helped her to her feet.
Kneeling on the cold, wet ground had gotten her jeans wet, and she had to be freezing.
“Come on. Let’s help you into the truck so we can take you to the hospital.
” He bent and scooped her up, carrying her to his truck.
“No.”
“No, what?”
“I’m not going to the hospital,” Sadie informed him.
“Baby, you’ve got a gash on your head that needs stitches or glue. It’s not going to close on its own. Plus, you might need a scan or something.” He waited for Tulsa to open the passenger side door before settling her in the seat.
“I don’t have any insurance.” Her pointed stare couldn’t have been clearer. It was his fault she didn’t have it.
He knew his decision to take her off the schedule would come back to bite him in the ass. “I’ll pay for it. It’s my fault you don’t have insurance.”
“No.”
“Fuck. Fine. Is your key fob in your purse?” He ran a hand through his hair, aggravated that she wouldn’t see reason.
She pulled the fob from her coat pocket and dangled it in front of his face. He took the keys and handed them to Tulsa. “Follow us to my place?”
“Sure.” He handed Sadie’s purse to Jed and jogged off.
“Your house? Why are you taking my car to your house?” She leaned her head against the seat.
“Because that’s where I’m taking you. Remember Bacon?
He’s a part of our club. I’ll call him and have him come check you out.
If you refuse to go to the hospital, that’s the alternative.
I’m serious. You need to be checked out.
You can’t let Oliver see you like this, or he’ll freak the fuck out.
” He pulled his truck out of the lot and pulled his phone from his pocket.
He dialed Bacon’s number, and the phone rang over the truck speaker.
“Someone better be fucking dying.” Bacon’s voice was gravelly from being woken from his sleep.
“Sorry, man. This is Jed. I’ve got Sadie with me, and someone jumped her at her car tonight as she was leaving work. She needs stitches and refuses to go to the hospital. Can you meet us at my place?”
“Yep. I’m on my way.” The call was disconnected, and silence filled the cab of the truck once again.
“I hate that you got him out of bed.” Sadie rested her elbow on the center console to prop her arm up to better apply pressure on her injury.
“Have you looked at your forehead yet?” Sadie looked like hell with blood in her hair and on her face. It had dripped down on her coat as well.
She flipped the lighted mirror down on the visor and pulled the shirt away.
“Oh shit. That does look bad.” She flipped the visor closed, reapplied the shirt to her head, then leaned her head back and closed her eyes.
“I’m getting a gun, and I’m shooting the next asshole who thinks he can break into my apartment or jump me in the dark. ”
“Are you telling me Tinker did this?” Jed’s blood pressure skyrocketed. He knew Tinker was going to pull something again. He just didn’t think it would be so soon. He clenched his teeth and counted to five, praying he didn’t crack his steering wheel with his death grip.
“No. It wasn’t Tinker this time. It was someone else. I didn’t recognize his voice.”
“Walk me through what happened.” He checked his rearview and saw Tulsa right behind him. “Why were you out there by yourself?”
“Tony called out tonight because his son has the stomach bug that’s going around, and his wife is running a fever.”
“Where was Dick?”