Chapter 7—Kooper
Three months later
“This is such a bad idea,” Flint says, but I don’t see him walking away from the table we’ve set up to listen in on the girls talking a few feet away.
I grunt in agreement but say nothing. I already spoke up in Church and got shot down.
Law wants to know how much Cheyanne knows.
I get it. She’s an outsider who’s tied to a former spy whose own country turned on him.
She might be smarter than most of us combined, but we don’t know if she’s smart enough to be working for the right side.
So far we’ve caught her with our enemy, talking only, but about buying a person.
Mad Max has a thing for her, so that makes it harder to do a full interrogation.
That guy is stacked and bigger than a damn mammoth.
We’re not about to lock up his girl and expect him to be okay with it.
So they decided we would listen in on Cheyanne getting to know the old ladies, to see if they talk shop and shit and whether she tries to get some information from our people. Oh, and Ruby is the damn ringleader.
Girl’s barely old enough to drink legally, but somehow she’s capable of sniffing out a traitor? Can she do it? Probably. It’s Ruby, for fuck’s sake. But should she?
She’s been through a lot. I’ve looked deeper into her past lately.
She was close to her mom and dad all her life.
Made a few friends here and there, but mostly got in fights at school for defending her pops.
When her mom died a few years ago, it hit her hard.
She went with her to every chemo appointment.
Took a leave of absence from school to do it.
It put her a year behind, but she made up for it when she went back.
Before she left high school, she was the youngest in the class.
Then she became the oldest. She could have just gotten her GED and been done with it, but apparently she promised her mom she’d walk the stage.
So she stuck with it at her high school, got top grades, and no one knew a goddamn thing about her other than her mom died and her dad’s in a motorcycle club.
Every fight she had, she won. She got a reputation at school, not about sleeping around but that she wasn’t someone to fuck with.
Something she clings to still with the way she holds herself.
Well, to those who don’t look closer. But I’m beginning to look.
Maybe not as close as I should, but I’ve got a job to do.
I see the pressure she puts on herself. She might think it’s just her normal mantra, but she doubled her class load this last semester.
She’s not working at a job, but she’s working harder than any student.
And I know she signed up for summer classes again, for all three programs they’re offering.
Girl doesn’t have an off switch. Some might see that as good; I just see it as one hell of a burnout when it comes.
She lets off some steam, at least. She works out twice a day sometimes. Other times, it’s nothing at all. Just randomly when the thought pops into her head from what I can tell. But every night, like clockwork, she hops on her computer for some online gaming. And she’s good. Really good.
Again, it’s random what she plays each night.
But it’s all live action, and all with other players around the world.
Her gamer tag? Owner of Cerberus. She even has a profile picture of her holding the leash of a three-headed dog.
I was shocked when I found that out about her.
The irony of her claiming to be Hades and leading around his hounds isn’t lost on me.
“Quiet,” Bulldog hisses.
“Well, that’s easy. Just take your clothes off in front of him.
Never seems to be a problem for me when I do that.
Or hell, just get on your knees and give him a blow job.
Never known a man to turn one of those down,” Ruby chimes in, and I swallow my damn tongue as Law drops his head to the table with a groan.
“So didn’t need to hear that. This is a bad idea.”
Law might be grossed out by his daughter’s words, but I’m sickened by the mental image.
And why in the hell is my mind picturing her before me on her knees? I think I might puke.
I tune everyone else out, including whatever is being said by the girls.
I know Flint’s recording this so we can play it back later if needed.
I can get that play-by-play or just ask one of the many brothers pretending to have a poker game at our table instead of listening in on the girls’ table across the bar.
It’s just because you’re getting close to her. My mind is scrambling for a reason that makes this better. It’s still in shock from the image as well. Never, and I mean never, have I ever seen Ruby in any way but as a job that was annoying. Not a single thing about her turns me on.
Okay, fine, she has a snatch body, but I never noticed.
Well, I didn’t think I did.
But there’s that damn image again in my head.
Her on her knees, in one of those black corsets she loves to wear so much.
But instead of the leather pants, she has a thong on and no shoes.
Mouth open and waiting, hair free of braids and ponytails, just dangling down her back.
Her piercing eyes staring at me, and only me, waiting for me to take it a step further.
I shake myself out of it as I push my palm into my dick to prevent it from inflating any more. The roar from my brother and seeing Bulldog and Chains trying to restrain Flint gets me back on task.
“Let him go,” Law says a second too late, as Flint is already across the bar and laying into his woman, denying her fears. He ain’t quiet about it at all, so we can all hear him say how much he loves her.
I take a seat at the table beside Law. I was meant to just be a fly on the wall, watching over the game but not playing it. They figured if more people seemed interested in the game, it would be believable that we didn’t care what the old ladies were talking about.
Obviously that cat’s out of the bag since Flint heard something he didn’t like his old lady saying. But from the way they’re making out and heading to his room, I guess they made up.
“What’re your thoughts?” I ask the boss.
“That I need to douse my ears in bleach after hearing half of that shit. Especially the parts Ruby said.”
I grunt in agreement.
“But do I think Cheyanne is a bad seed? Nah. She could have asked questions left and right after the girls started complaining about their men. Or even put in a few snide comments about their fears. Girl’s clean from what I can tell.
She might be smart, but I’m not sure she knows what she’s doing.
We’ll keep on it, at least to keep her safe till Mad Max decides what he wants to do. ”
I nod. Law makes the rulings around here, but it’s clear that Mad Max isn’t playing with this one.
He’s looking at her like a brother looks at an old lady.
Hounds rarely interfere with that shit, unless we have to.
And Law is pro–old lady. He had the best and wants us all to have that too.
He never pushes anyone into it, but if he needs to, I think he’d push a brother out of it if the guy is too lovesick to see the cancer that she would bring to the club.
“Make sure Ruby gets home all right, will ya?” He stands and pats me on the shoulder, then leaves. Doesn’t even wait on me to nod. Guess he doesn’t have to. I gave him my consent a long time ago when I took this gig.
Standing, I stretch out my neck, feeling the pop over hearing it as I watch Chains smooth-talk his woman into going to his bunk room. Most of the brothers have cleared out with their old ladies already, leaving Ruby still seated with Cheyanne.
I see Ruby check her watch before she says, “Looks like luck is on my side. If I leave now, I can make it to the kegger being thrown in the dorm across the street from my building. Might even get real lucky, if you catch my drift. Later, new girl.”
“Ruby!” I yell after her as I take another step in her direction. “You still got babysitting duty tonight.”
That’s half the reason she’s here tonight.
Ruby comes in once a week and watches the brothers’ kids so they can get some time with their old ladies and she can get some side cash.
It was the only job her dad agreed to her doing.
And it’s usually only on the weekends so as not to interfere with her school schedule.
“Fuck off, Koop. I’m getting laid. You watch the brats.” She doesn’t look back as she flips me off and goes out the front door.
“Shit,” I say a second before I hurry after her.
I wouldn’t put it past her to go and do what she wants.
She knew this was just a ploy to get Cheyanne to talk.
Her cover was that she had to babysit starting after nine.
She was meant to be here in the club till then, then go on babysitting duty.
But it seems I’m the only one still following the plan.
Of course, the kids aren’t here tonight. Bulldog had his ma get Princess, and Chains has a few brothers at his house watching his kids because they’ve got some kind of sickness you get from school and needed to be in bed early.
“Ruby!” I call out again as I get outside and the clubhouse door closes behind me. A few brothers on the far side of the lot give me a nod. Domino points to my left, and I see Ruby trying to get into her car.
I run over and catch the door before it swings shut.
“Fuck,” she mutters when she notices I’m blocking her escape.
“Exactly what you aren’t going to do.”