Chapter 29—Kooper
Ileave Natalie and Ruby in the clubhouse common room, munching on breakfast tacos we stopped and got when we were closer to the club.
I wasn’t about to waste time waiting in a line close to a college town on a Saturday.
College kids might sleep in, but as soon as Saturday happens, I swear half of them are out looking for greasy food in the wee morning hours.
I’m the last to arrive in Church before the door closes. No one even bats an eye that I brought in food. What can I say? I’m hungry.
I sit by General, wanting to talk to him after this is done. Makes it easier if the guy’s close enough for me to get his attention without alerting everyone else.
Casper hits the gavel on the table, silencing everyone.
“Billy spoke to the Crazy Eights last night.”
Some mumbles go around, but I keep my thoughts to myself.
I’m pissed. I voted against letting C8 know about Law as a sign of good faith.
Even if I already think Casper spilled the beans to his girl before he brought it to the table.
Casper’s play on it was that it made sense if we wanted more eyes on Law, as well as to strengthen the new bond between our two groups.
It’s still rocky, like the mountains between us.
We’ve had OHH run a few missions with them. All have been successful. So I guess they’ve got that going for them.
My issue is that it’s only been a few months. We’re still in the freaking honeymoon stage with them. They don’t need to know everything just because they give us intel on the Devils Damned and Duke when we ask about them.
Sure, it could be seen as one-sided. And it is. But fuck, we’re the Hounds. They put plants in our home and expected us to roll with it. And we did, for the most part. But that doesn’t mean we can’t still hold shit back in my opinion. And some brothers too.
But it still got the majority vote to tell them. And from the way Ruby spoke this morning, I guess it’s all over their news bulletin already.
Really, all I see is another thing the club did that fucked Ruby over.
We should have told her first, let her know we were going to say something.
If anyone had a right to know, it was her.
Especially with the way we held her to a gag order on all of this.
Forced to deal with all this on her own and not talk to anyone.
Well, anyone but us. We wanted her to come to us. I did.
But she didn’t. If her dad was still in a coma, I suspect we’d still not be talking.
And despite the pain of his waking and forgetting her, I’d still do it all over again to get what we had last night. One perfect night, drugs and all. Because they led to it. And I can’t be mad when I got what I wanted in the end because of them.
Which reminds me, I need to check in with my guy and find out what went down after we left the house party. I make a mental note to do it after this, since I had to drop my phone at the entrance before I entered Church.
“Psy is adamant about talking with the club. C8 confirms it ain’t a trap, just talking. Seems a person went missing, and they’re looking for some details.”
“Interesting twist of events,” Gator snarls. “They think to look within first?”
For a while, we thought the Devils Damned as a whole were part of the people trafficking. Men, women, kids. If it was for sale, they were part of it. Or so we thought. But it was just one man. One man tied to them—Duke, their VP.
We found out a few weeks before Ruby learned about her dad that Duke’s still alive.
Alive and in Devils Damned custody. And staying that way under rules set by C8, who declared him to be untouchable.
Someone who fucked with more than one Hound’s old lady, and we’re just supposed to sit on our asses and do nothing.
Not a single brother was okay with it. We all hated it. We almost said “fuck you” to the entire C8 group over that one point. But they swore he would never be an issue again. That the Devils Damned had him contained.
Perhaps containment was the issue. Now he might be poaching from within his own walls to fill supply orders for the right price. Who the fuck knows? But I don’t want to do shit to help them in any way. They don’t deserve it.
“Show me Duke’s head, and then we can talk. Till then, I’m out,” I mutter, loud enough for everyone to hear and to take a moment to think on.
A few brothers nod in agreement while others look at Casper.
He’s the president and has the ultimate say.
His loyalty is to the club. But his old lady is part of C8.
She moved out of an operative role and into a consulting one, a link between the two groups.
They say they can be neutral enough to make things work for both, but can they?
So far, nothing has been called to question their loyalty. This will be the first real test.
“Boss.” Chains pulls Casper’s gaze. He might no longer be an officer, but Chains’ voice is always one the club respects.
“Might want to draw a line on how involved we are with your girl’s group.
They’re good with the OHH shit, but this?
This is personal. Having them side with someone we always saw as an enemy might put a strain on things within the club.
You might want to consider keeping the pillow talk to a minimum till we figure this shit out. ”
The boys adjust at the table and look away. Calling a brother’s relationship into question is always… challenging? That doesn’t seem right. More like insulting.
“Chains… brother,” Casper growls and then takes a deep breath.
“Glad to have you at the table. I appreciate your thoughts and want to keep hearing them. But if you bring up me and my old lady’s relationship again, I swear to every Hound here, I’ll beat you with this gavel and then go fuck her after without an ounce of shame. ”
They level a stare at each other for more than a beat before Chains nods. “Fair.”
And just like that, the tension is gone and we’re moving on.
We’re guys. We move on quickly. Half the reason we don’t let chicks in the club is because we all know they can hold a grudge longer than it takes a star to die out.
That, and fucking a member of the club would just complicate things.
That’s what vamps are for—to fuck and toss out.
If a woman was in the club, you’d have to see them all the time.
See them getting with someone else, or just have to remember what life was like buried in their cunt while trying not to be biased if dishing out punishment. It complicates things.
That’s why women’s roles are reserved to vamps or old ladies. Anything else just isn’t needed.
That’s why what Ruby is makes things complicated on so many levels.
She’s neither of those things, but she’s more than a civilian.
She’s part club but not in the club. What I did should have me taking the gavel to the face from every brother here.
Most, if not all, see Ruby as their sister in some way.
If they were ever attracted to her, they got over it quickly with Law’s decree.
I was the one who fucked shit up. I saw her as annoying at first, not someone I could end up admiring.
She was a pain in the ass to me and not someone I wanted to get to know.
But slowly, over time, things changed. My allegiance changed.
I was no longer protecting her because it was my job; I was protecting her because she became more than a job.
She became what I wanted to come home to.
What I needed to feel at peace with. Acceptance in.
Before, I didn’t give two shits about anything and anyone.
Having the respect of my brothers was enough.
Till one day it wasn’t. I needed more. And that came with the need for Ruby to see me as something other than her shadow.
As more than just a club brother following her father’s rules.
To see that I was my own man. One who she could come to if she needed help.
Someone besides her father. Someone to lean on. To trust.
I’ve broken her more times than fixed her. But with each break, I’m building her stronger. Making her see beyond her bubble that was popped. That she’s more than just a president’s daughter. More than just someone attached to the club. That she can be anything.
And I’ll be right beside her the whole way, pushing her to what she wants. Even dragging her if I think she needs it.
“Maybe—” King coughs a bit, as if he’s surprised more than the rest of us that he spoke up.
He usually keeps quiet, listening and assessing.
He speaks when he needs to, but he’s never the idea man.
More the kind to follow up on if things could work with the details he’s provided for manpower on missions.
“Maybe we pass on the meeting and tell C8 to take it on. If they want to be buddies with them, that’s their thing.
They said we were partners. That they wouldn’t go with our enemy, and we wouldn’t go against theirs.
So let them have the ball. See what they do with it.
You got your girl. We got our liaison person telling us details.
Think she’d lie if C8 decided to switch sides? ”
Casper waits a beat, then shakes his head.
I would have to agree on that. Billy might be manipulative, but her love for Casper is stronger than I think C8 expected.
If they’d lasted undercover another month, I truly think Billy would have flipped sides and turned on C8 just to be with him.
She might not have said it, but I think her allegiance has already shifted.
“Let them fuss it out. If we’re really needed, then they both come to us. Together. None of this one-on-one, ‘he said, she said’ bullshit.”
“When did you grow a brain?” Bass smirks, and King takes it well with a shake of his head as the others chuckle at his expense.