Chapter Forty
Stocks
I sat in the corner of the main room watching the men. Many I had come to trust with my life.
My brothers.
When Blade had approached me about joining the club, I’d brushed him off. I knew who he was. Well, part of me did. The other part wasn’t very accepting of the deceit he’d been a part of. But Blade was persistent.
We’d grown up together right here in Diamond Creek until word spread that he and his parents died in a car accident when we were fifteen. I hadn’t believed it then. It was too neat, too convenient.
I knew who his father was. Well, not who he actually was. They’d kept that pretty well hidden. But I knew his father was fucking shady as hell. I knew because my father was too.
I was a quiet kid growing up. My classmates thought I was weird, and they treated me that way. All except Becca. Beck now. When Micah died, she wouldn’t let anyone call her that anymore. Said if she couldn’t hear him say it anymore, she didn’t want to hear it at all.
I’d always liked her. She wasn’t different from the other kids; she thought I was weird, too. But she never pretended I wasn’t. And she never let it stop her from being my friend.
I’d found a place here I didn’t think I’d ever find. A place I belonged. A place where I wasn’t judged. Well, okay, I was judged all the fucking time. But like Beck, my brothers didn’t let my quirks, as my mother called them, stop them from including me in their lives.
I had a family.
One I would die for.
One I would kill for.
Which was why I was sitting in the corner watching the men wander around the main room. The Gods of Mayhem had been here for a week or so. The Brotherhood had shown up yesterday.
I didn’t trust a single fucking one of them.
Neither do I!
You’ve made yourself abundantly clear. You don’t fucking trust anyone.
With good fucking reason! People aren’t trustworthy.
I’m trustworthy.
You don’t fucking count; I know everything you’re thinking. It’s the fuckers in this room I don’t trust. Thoughts shouldn’t be able to be hidden. How the fuck can you trust someone if you don’t know what their thinking?
Oh, I don’t know, faith?
Faith? That’s your reasoning? Faith is a fantasy. It’s for people who don’t want to blow shit up.
You love to blow shit up.
I sure as fuck do!
I shook my head. I couldn’t deal with him right now. My brothers had proven more than a few times they could be trusted. Well, except fucking Freeway. He couldn’t keep his thoughts hidden if his fucking life depended on it.
Not sure why King’s keeping him around. Steele is dead, and King is the president now. He can do whatever the fuck he wants.
King isn’t the type of guy to kill someone for no reason.
No reason? He’s been spying on the club and running back to Steele.
But King knows that. That’s why you aren’t the president.
Yeah, I like to blow shit up, but you like to kill first and ask questions later.
It works. I shrugged.
The doors opened, and King walked in with Grace. I liked Grace. She accepted me. All the women did. Except Aspen. I didn’t think she had a problem with me per se.
It’s me she has a fucking problem with.
She doesn’t even know you exist. None of them do. It’s Diesel that has a problem with you.
Maybe it’s you he has a problem with. I’m the fucking nice one. You’re the one who doesn’t fucking talk to anyone.
I talk when I need to.
“Officers, in church. Zeus, need you and Eros as well. Payne, you too, please.” King looked around the room and zeroed in on me. “Get your ass inside.”
Asshole.
Knock it off, he’s under a lot of stress.
He’s a fucking grump. That’s why you like him. You’re two peas in a fucking grumpy ass pod.
I cleared my throat, ignoring his ranting, and walked into church. I sat in my chair and waited to see what was going on. I had a feeling I knew what he wanted. I didn’t often get called into church other than the regular once a month meeting. Last time it wasn’t even me they wanted.
Nope, they wanted me!
Shut up and listen.
“I’ve asked the three of you to be here because you all know explosives. With Skinner and Vulture both dead, I’m not taking a chance that one of those motherfuckers will get a hair to take over. I want them wiped out.”
Fuck yeah!
Quiet!
“Banshee and Jingles have both been to the clubhouse. There is a large barn and several trailers spread out around it.” Nav put an aerial shot of the Death Dogs’ compound on the screen at the front of the room. “Blow up every fucking building.”
Now this is a King I can get behind!
I shook my head in frustration.
“Stocks, you got a problem with the assignment?”
“No, Prez. What about any women who might be there?” I asked.
“When I was there yesterday,” Jingles began, “there were only a handful. They were all half-dead already. I think a couple of them might actually have been dead. I didn’t stop to check.”
“You want us to blow shit up with the club whores inside?” Payne asked.
King stared him down. “You have a problem with it; you can sit this out.”
Payne held his hands up. “Nope, just clarifying.”
“Get it done!” King slammed the gavel on the table and walked out. No doubt going back upstairs to Grace. I stood up, not waiting for the others. I had supplies to grab.
Do you know what I need?
How fucking long have we been doing this shit? Yes, I know what you need. You stay put until we get there, then it’s all you.
Yippee ki-yay, motherfucker!
Payne and Eros followed me downstairs to the armory. I typed in the code, and when we walked into the set of rooms, Payne whistled.
“Fuck me. I’ve died and gone to Heaven.”
I grunted a nonresponse and got to work grabbing what I needed. Eros worked silently beside me, but Payne wouldn’t shut up.
I like this guy. We’re gonna have a fucking blast! Get it? Blast? ’Cause we’re blowing shit up!
Yeah, I fucking get it. Shut the hell up and let me work.
It didn’t take long before we all had everything we needed loaded up into the SUV. Nav sent me a pin for the location, and the three of us...
Ahem!
Sorry, four of us were on our way to Hillsdale, Wyoming, to take out what was left of the Death Dogs. I was ready to hand over the reins and take a nap, but something was holding me back.
No, nope, nuh-uh! This is my fucking job.
Something doesn’t feel right.
What are you talking about? We’re gonna blow shit up and make everything right. Just sit back and let me do my thing.
I closed my eyes and laid my head back. I couldn’t stop the feeling that something was very fucking wrong. But Bonds was right. This was his job. I needed to trust him. Even if he wasn’t always paying attention.
Asshole!
Fucking finally! I sat forward from the back seat of the SUV. It was my club’s vehicle, ordered by my president, but I hated driving. So I let the old man do it.
“So, Payne, what the fuck is wrong with your president? Why’s he such an asshole?”
Payne looked up at me in the rearview mirror as he drove. He narrowed his eyes as though he were working out a puzzle. He’d never fucking figure it out though. No one had. Sure, they might think Stocks was crazy, but at least it wasn’t me.
“I’m curious about the answer to that question myself,” Eros said as he stared out the window. I couldn’t get a read on him. He was quiet, but not in a brooding, cranky kind of way. Not like Stocks. God, he was so fucking serious all the fucking time.
I can hear you, asshole.
I know. That’s the point. Maybe you’ll take the hint.
“So?” I pushed. “Any insights?”
“Nope.”
Eros turned to look at Payne. “Just nope?”
Payne glanced at Eros and nodded.
These two weren’t any more fun than Stocks. I twisted in my seat and started digging through the shit in the back. If they didn’t want to talk, I’d get started putting shit together.
By the time we pulled up close enough to the clubhouse without being seen, Payne had shut down the lights, and we got out and grabbed our packs. Everything I needed was in my rucksack.
“I get the barn. You two take care of the trailers.”
I took off at a run before either of them could stop me. I was at least a decade younger than both of them. I’d probably have the barn wired before they were even halfway through the trailers.
Slow down. Take your time.
Get in, get out. That was my motto in life. Yeah, that meant women too. Stocks and me, we weren’t built for a woman. Our mama told us that our whole life. She made sure we understood there wasn’t a woman crazy enough to handle us.
Of course, she always said him. She didn’t acknowledge me unless she was talking to the fucking shrinks. Then she tried to get rid of me, so we had to adapt. We learned to adjust and when she pissed me off, maybe I played with her a little.
You terrorized her!
She was a bitch.
She didn’t understand. She tried her best.
You always fucking defend her. Leave me alone, I have shit to do.
I made it to the barn without being seen. My whole childhood, I’d learned to make myself small. Then, when I met Jingles, he taught me some tricks. He said it would come in handy when I did my thing, and it sure fucking did.
Thirty minutes later, and I had the place rigged. I went looking for Felix and Oscar.
Who the fuck is Felix and Oscar?
Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, the odd couple? Seriously, bro, watch more TV.
I found Payne and Eros finishing up the last trailer, and together we walked back toward the SUV.
“What the fuck is that?” Payne asked, looking at my hand.
I looked down at the wheel of wire and said, “What? Were we trying to keep this low key? ’Cause King didn’t say anything about that.
” Looking around I pointed out, “The earth is as flat as Minnie Keller’s chest in middle school.
Everyone in this town is going to see the fucking explosion.
” I smiled at the two men. “Probably going to feel it too.”
Payne stared at me with his mouth hanging open, and Eros shook his head. Stocks was surprisingly quiet, and I bit my lip and looked back at the barn. Suddenly I was having second thoughts.
“Let’s get this shit done and get the hell out of here.” Payne sighed.
“Hang on, something doesn’t feel right.”
Son of a bitch. Stocks!
I need to be sure, asshole!
That was when I saw it. Or rather them. Three shadows running from one of the trailers. I took off at a run. I didn’t know if the other two were following me, but I didn’t need them.
One of the figures running through the dark was so small, it had to be a fucking kid. I heard shouts behind me, and when I looked over my shoulder, I saw men running after us.
“BLOW IT!” I screamed as I pulled my gun and aimed behind me.
I quickly fired five shots, hitting all five men.
They likely weren’t dead, but they were down.
I continued after the figures I’d seen running until I was lifted up into the air as the barn and trailers all went up in smoke with a loud boom.