Chapter 6
Impressed by Junie would’ve been an understatement. Junie handled the bike so well. I’d seen many drivers. Beginners, intermediate, and expert. Junie was well beyond expert as she rode down the highway. Even though I couldn’t see her face, I could tell she was in her zone. We rode for an hour, and I didn’t think she even noticed.
The sun was setting, and the traffic had calmed down. Even though she mentioned only taking a short ride, I wouldn’t dare interrupt her from being in her zone. Instead of smelling fresh air, her perfume filled my nose. Her body was warm against mine as we swerved all over the road. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t avoid our bodies pressing against each other. Junie’s body felt great against mine. It was as if it belonged.
Thirty minutes later, we arrived at a small house that sat on a lake. She shut the engine off and removed her helmet. She fixed her helmet hair while I got off the bike, placing my hand on my gun before I helped her off.
Junie hadn’t realized it, but she had turned me on. If I wasn’t turned on by her before, seeing her handle the bike intensified that feeling.
“Sorry,” she said.
“For?”
“When I ride, I get lost in the moment. I didn’t expect to drive out here.”
“You cool.”
I looked around at the wooded area. The house was white with a black door. It had two windows that had black shutters. My curiosity piqued, my guard was up, and Junie finally noticed.
She sucked her teeth. “Relax, ain’t nobody out here, killer.”
“How you know?”
“’Cause I know.”
She placed the helmet on the bike and walked past me, onto the wooden dock, before she sat on the edge. She faced the white house, staring off in space. She did that for a couple of minutes before I made my way over to check on her.
“You good?”
She nodded. “Yeah, just thinking.”
I wasn’t going to ask, because if she wanted me to know, she would tell me. Instead, I stood behind her, checking our surroundings to make sure we were still the only two people out there.
The ride was peaceful. I wouldn’t lie. There wasn’t a time I felt that my life was in danger while I rode on the bike with Junie. I could tell she was in a trance. It was as if she was in another world. My curiosity got the best of me, and no matter how hard I tried to keep it down, it kept coming to the surface.
“We ain’t on private property, are we?” I asked.
She nodded. “Sure are.”
“Junie.” I swiped my hand down my face. “You keep putting yourself in crazy ass situations. Do you know that allows people to come out shooting at us and there is nothing we can do because we’re trespassing?”
She had pissed me off. This was the second time she had put herself in a situation that could cause her to be killed. Nepotism was real. There was no way Prez felt Junie could carry the title of VP of a motorcycle club.
“Man, get your ass up and let’s go. I’ll drive so we can get out of here.”
“Huh?”
I inhaled to control my tone. “Junie, what part you not understanding? Again, get your ass up before we be out here having a recap of last night.”
She finally looked back at me. “Relax, Kairo. Have a seat beside me. This property belongs to my family. My father bought this for my mama for her birthday one year.”
“Oh, damn my fault.”
She waved her hand. “No need to apologize. You wouldn’t have known.”
We said nothing to each other. Nature filled the silence. I kind of felt like a dick for jumping to conclusions. I sat down beside her, going against everything I stood for by letting my guard down. I placed my gun to the left of me. Even if she said this property belonged to her family, ain’t no telling who was around. From the side, I could tell she was lost in thought. Junie must have given off a pheromone to make people do strange shit because I found myself wanting to know more.
“Y’all rent the house to people?”
She shook her head. “Nah, this was my mama’s escape from reality. When shit in her world got to be too much, her and I would ride out here. We never brought my dad or my brother. It was just us. Our quiet escape from hell.”
While I listened to Junie, I couldn’t help but think about how my father, my mother, and I would never go to family reunions or family cookouts. During those times, my father would fly us halfway across the world, just to avoid those people. When I was younger, I’d be pissed at my father for not letting me get to know his side of the family. I missed the opportunity of growing up with my cousins. At first, I didn’t understand, but now I did. I should’ve listened and kept my distance, but I went against everything he preached.
My phone rang and it was Prez calling. I wanted to ignore but I answered instead.
“Yo?”
“Where are you? Where is Junie?”
I looked over at her. She was still looking out at the water. I didn’t think she realized I was on the phone.
“Out getting groceries and shit for the house.”
“Wrap all that shit up. We need y’all at headquarters. The VP of the Iron Knights wants to meet now. I don’t know what the fuck this is about, so I need you alert and paying attention to their every move.”
“Aight.”
We hung up the phone, and I immediately went to my text messages. Unc had sent me five messages, letting me know they were going to be meeting tonight instead of next week. He didn’t give me an explanation. This didn’t sit right with me. The plan was to let me know if there was anything I needed to be aware of. I wasn’t surprised though. Unc did shit like this. I glanced over at Junie. I hated to interrupt this moment. I could tell she needed this, especially after everything that happened. She needed a moment of escape, but I had a duty to fulfill.
“Junie—” I called.
“You know I haven’t been to the house since my mother died. I want to go over so bad. I know it’s filled with her energy. We would call it the girls’ clubhouse, no boys allowed.” She chuckled. “We would paint our nails, watch movies, eat junk food, and do facials.”
Whenever Junie spoke, she pulled me in. It bothered me knowing she hadn’t stepped foot into the house since the death of her mom. She was avoiding it, and I could tell it was taking its toll. I felt like a jackass as I thought about having to pull her away from this moment.
“Junie, we have to head back. The Iron Knights want to meet tonight.”
She didn’t fight it. She didn’t argue. She stood to her feet and passed me the keys before walking toward the bike. Junie looked defeated. No matter how hard we tried, no matter the distance we went, we couldn’t escape this shit… even for a few hours.
Junie’s heels clicked against the concrete floor as we walked inside the Savage Saints headquarters. There were bikes lined along the front of the warehouse. I knew Unc and Prez would send in their strongest and most dangerous club members for this meeting. The smell of smoke and leather filled my nose as I continued to walk behind Junie.
Junie had on her black Savage Saints leather jacket with her name on the back. Her hair was down and stopped at the top of her butt. Junie had on a black tank top and black leather tights. She wore thigh high red boots to match the stitching in her jacket. Junie looked beautiful but deadly. She did a whole one-eighty with her look. She looked like a boss as she walked through, passing both motorcycle club members with her head high. Confidence oozed from her. Junie impressed me more and more.
It felt weird being here around both members. Everyone from the Iron Knights knew about the mission I was on. I didn’t bother to make eye contact with any of them. I was dressed in all black. I didn’t bother putting on the jacket. That was one of my stipulations, to not wear either of the jackets. I didn’t care if it was disrespectful or not. If I was questioned on it, I thought of a reason I didn’t wear it.
We finally made it to where everyone who was important sat. There was a chair beside Prez at the head of the table. Junie walked up, hugged her father, and took her seat. Across from Junie sat Unc and Mario, the VP of the Iron Knights. Mario and I were the same age. He was Unc’s son. Mario and I had no relationship. Mario was a coward. He and I bumped heads on a lot of shit. He looked at the world differently than I did. He knew if my father was still alive and cared about the Iron Knights as much as Unc did, he would be president, and I would be VP. He hated that his father took up as much time with me as he did. It made little sense to me because Unc made him VP.
I stood behind Junie as I watched the formalities take place.
“Good evening, Maceo,” Prez said greeting Unc.
“Evening, Josiah,” Unc responded. “Long time no see.”
Prez nodded in agreement. “Iron Knights, I would like to introduce you to Junebug, the new VP of the Savage Saints.”
The members of the Saints clapped.
“And this is M-Knight, new VP of the Iron Knights,” Unc said in response.
The Iron Knights clapped for Mario. The tension in the room was thick. Everyone was on guard, including myself. My eyes bounced behind my shades at both crews. I was on both sides of the clubs. I knew exactly how each of them was. These niggas were trigger-happy. Any sudden sign of disrespect or weird behavior, and they were ready to have a shootout. All I wanted to do was make it out of here undiscovered and alive.
“Nice to meet you, Junebug,” Mario said while licking his lips.
I scrunched my nose up. The thing about Mario was he thought every woman he came across wanted him. They didn’t want him for him. They wanted him because of his status. Mario was a sorry excuse for a man. He had six kids, six different baby mamas, and he barely took care of them.
“Likewise,” Junie said in a dull voice.
Internally I chuckled. Junie was not impressed. She folded her right leg across the other. She leaned forward and looked at the folder in front of her.
“I am assuming this is the file of what you want to work on together as a club?” she asked, getting straight to the point.
After the fire was ceased between the two clubs, to make the community see them in a different light, they came to an agreement. The agreement was to do at least one event together to show unity, even if the unity was fake as hell.
“Damn, no formalities? We jumping right into business?” Mario said cheekily.
“We are. I have other things to do.” Junie bit back.
“Let me guess, a man? Didn’t you almost die fucking around with these ain’t shit niggas?”
Commotion began. The Savage Saints slowly walked toward the table and the Iron Knights followed. I placed my hand on my gun.
“Control your boy,” Prez gritted toward Unc.
“He a grown ass man. I can’t control no grown ass man,” Unc replied in a snarky tone.
My uncle was being a dick. I’d seen him cuss Mario’s ass out many times. It was just that he was on go time. He always wanted conflict. Unc could never go somewhere and be cordial. Words were exchanged, and I heard the sound of guns cocking, including mine. Junie stood to her feet and hit the table.
“Hey, y’all motherfuckers compare dicks another time. We got business to handle. Put them fucking guns away right now!”
Everybody paused, glancing around until Prez spoke up.
“Y’all heard her. We got business to handle.”
Everyone put their guns away and went back to their respected places. Both clubs took Prez’s word as law when it came to these meetings. He was able to gain control and be civilized during most, unlike my uncle. Junie opened the file and scanned the documents. No one said anything. Everyone watched. For ten seconds we all stood around watching Junie but also watching our backs. She shut the folder and looked at Mario. He looked annoyed by Junie, but from the looks of it, she didn’t give a fuck.
“Not a bad plan. If you want to do the event to show,” she did air quotes, “solidarity, then we can do that. As far as the bill, I will need to review more of what’s laid out and see what we can donate. Since both clubs are donating money, both names should be on the event?—”
“Bullshit,” Mario shouted, interrupting her. “This biker’s club day was my idea.”
She smiled. “Congratulations, love that for you, but if this was your idea, why you come to us?”
Mario said nothing. He just stared at her with evil in his eyes. She was making him look bad and he didn’t like it. For me, this was entertainment.
“Cat got your tongue?” she asked. Mario remained silent. She shook her head. “Men. As I was saying, if we are donating money, the event needs to have both clubs on it. The profit we get from sponsors can go to something for the community to keep the heat off us for a while. Let them know we aren’t just out here committing crimes on a daily.”
“This is fucking nonsense! I ain’t agree to no shit like this. That money was going back to the club so we can have money in our pockets,” Mario confessed. “This was our year to come up with something. Y’all was slow about coming up with an idea. I feel that if it’s my idea I deserve a cut.”
“Well, it’s not. If you don’t agree with it, take your cheap ninety-cent folder and get the fuck out. That’s my stipulation and I ain’t changing shit. Plus, when did we ever start taking the money for ourselves? Don’t act broke. It doesn’t look good on you.”
Junie had a grin on her face. I knew Mario, and one thing he hated was being embarrassed, especially in a crowd. It also didn’t help that Junie was a woman. He looked at Unc. Unc had his eyes on me. There was nothing I could do or say. He put me in this position, and I had to stand behind Junie. Truth be told, I agreed with everything she said. Unc leaned over, whispering in Mario’s ear. A few seconds passed before he pulled back, sitting up straight.
Mario stood. “Deal. But it’ll be held at our site.”
“No, it won’t. It’ll be held at a neutral location.” Junie stood. “Draw up a contract and I’ll sign.” She fixed her jacket. “Anything else?”
Mario’s fists balled up by his side. He clenched his jaw as he stared at her. He wanted to jump stupid. I looked at Junie and she was unfazed. The way she handled this encounter impressed me. Mario, on the other hand, acted like a child who dropped his lollipop in the sand.
“You cool?” Junie asked Mario.
A few people snickered.
“Check yourself, son,” Unc warned Mario.
Mario cleared his throat and straightened his jacket. “I’ll have it to your inbox in twenty-four hours or less.”
Junie smiled. “Thank you. If there is nothing else, I’ll be heading out.” She looked at me. “I’m ready, let’s go.”
She kissed her dad on the cheek and marched out of the door, head high and a switch to her walk. I nodded at everyone at the table, then followed behind her. As she walked in front of me, I couldn’t help the feeling of pride that rushed over me seeing her strut. Junie had that flame, bite, and courage. Not only did she impress me, but she also had me looking at her in a different light.