Chapter 16
Starr knocked on the door jamb of Professor Tiggs’s office, and didn’t know if it was a good thing or not when she saw Brad Tiggs present also. When they both looked up, she drew in a deep breath and let it out in a rush. “Professor, may I speak with you?”
“Come on in,” he said, and the brothers exchanged looks when she entered, but closed the door behind her. She turned and walked over to stand before his desk.
“I’m not going to pussyfoot around here, Professor.
I want Brenda Smith off my team, and not to be able to associate with anything I’m doing for our Halloween project.
” When it looked like the other men might interrupt, she shook her head, held up her hand, and withdrew her laptop.
She set it in the middle of his desk and told him to press play.
Fifteen minutes later, both Gary and Brad Tiggs looked at Starr in shock.
She wouldn’t let them say anything at first.
“I don’t want to hear it if this will harm her in the class.
If you recall, she only volunteered to come work on my team because she had nothing to show for herself in the weeks leading up to me coming to you for help.
That’s on her. I have nothing to do with her laziness.
If you also recall, the day I introduced her, Kelsey, Matt, and Brad to Luc and his club members, when he said he had to leave, she questioned him why.
He left that meeting to go out on a date.
As of right now, he and his date are out of state on a vacation together.
I believe they are exclusive with one another.
” She saw the implications of her words hit the other two men, and continued, “So, I believe that we don’t need Brenda on the team if she’s causing trouble now, behind Luc’s back. ”
“What do you mean by behind his back?” Gary asked.
“Everything I showed you?” She pointed to the laptop.
“That was information sent to me from members of the club, both male and female, plus the bartender Misty. Everything Brenda is doing is when she knows Luc’s not there.
I don’t know if she’s being coy, or what, but in my eyes, on a scale of one to ten, she’s about an eight on the stalker scale.
Luc was the one that called me into one of his church meetings so the guys could tell me what she’s doing.
I told him I would deal with it.” She paused to look at them as she shook her head.
“I’m not being a bitch here, Professor. You both were there when I told Brenda to back off of Luc, that if she continued to harass him, or be inappropriate toward him, then there would be consequences.
” She paused for effect again. “What people don’t know is that my brother has been known to get revenge on people that have done him wrong.
” She quickly held up her hand to hold off any questions or concerns.
“Nothing illegal. He bids his time, gathers his information, and then he serves his revenge cold. Ice cold in some instances.” At their confused looks, she sighed heavily and took one of the seats before the desk.
“Years ago, about six months after Lucius inherited everything from our grandparents, he was busy. I know you don’t need to know this, but in order to explain myself better, maybe you should.” She looked at them and when they nodded and settled into their own seats, she explained.
“As I said, Lucius inherited the family farm from our grandparents. There was the bar, where it sits now, but back then, it was a working cow barn. That is deemed commercial property, along with the surrounding acres. Out in the woods, where the commercial aspect of the property ends, and the private begins, is a fence line. It is heavily laden with signs about no trespassing. Also on the property, Lucius moved into the main house, there were two other homes on the property that the foreman and most valued employee lived over the years. Since the farm hadn’t been worked in over thirty years before he inherited, Lucius asked Mom and Dad if they wanted to live in one home, and me in the other.
The only thing was that we had do take charge of our own renovations.
Once that was done, we only had to pay our utilities, and an extremely small amount in rent.
Just enough to cover the taxes for the year. ”
“Wow, that sounds like a sweet deal.” Brad looked at her with raised brows.
“It is, and our houses aren’t on top of each other.
The entire property, including the area with the bar, is one hundred acres.
Anyway, as Mom and Dad, and I were renovating our homes, Lucius was doing his, turning the barn into a bar, and he had started Hell’s Coffin motorcycle club six months prior to that.
He had a lot of irons in the fire at that time.
” She saw they still showed interest in her tale, so she drew in a deep breath and let it out in a rush.
“During this time, he started seeing a woman, I forget her name. It took about three weeks before she started telling the other women of the club that when they went out, because she was dating the president of the club, that meant she was the first lady, and they had to pay for everything she wanted, if not, she threatened to have their men kicked out.”
“Can she do that?”
“No, women have no status in the club, other than being associated with their respective patch holder man. I know it sounds confusing, but the women are in the background, but kept safe. Anyway, when Lucius found out what she was saying and doing, he broke up with her.” She frowned, cocked her head to the side, then stared at them with wide eyes.
“I guess what that chick did five years ago, Brenda is doing now. However, while the other one was actually dating Luc, Brenda is only stalking him.”
“What type of revenge did your brother get on the woman from back then?”
“While he was cleaning out something, I forget what it was now. I mean it was either a room in his house, or something stacked in the old office of the barn, he went through every piece of paper, wondering if it was important or not. Anyway, buried in one of the boxes were several traffic tickets, and court summonses in her name. He gathered them all up, and talked to one of the club members.”
“Why?”
“The guys aren’t just bikers, they all have day jobs.
Luc owns and operates the bar slash restaurant.
Vampire owns and operates a security firm.
He’s the one that wired the bar, and there are cameras up in the woods where the commercial property turns into private property.
Bandit is actually a cop, Hawk is a doctor at the local hospital.
He works in the emergency department. Wolf, owns and operates a garage, one that, at last count, had at least five tow trucks.
Gator owns and operates a motorcycle shop that not only repairs bikes, but he sells new ones, and all the accessories. ”
“Ah, so the guys are everyday people, they just happened to be members of a motorcycle gang.”
“Club, not a gang. Anyway, once Luc found all the stuff she tried to hide, he went to Bandit and showed him the papers. He was shocked, but after Luc asked what would happen if she was arrested again, Bandit admitted that because all of the tickets were unpaid, and the court summonses had gone unanswered, there were three different bench warrants out for her arrest.”
“Why three?” Brad asked.
“Three different towns.”
“Ah, what happened?”
“During a church meeting, that’s a meeting that only fully patched members can attend, Lucius laid it all on the line and said that if anyone was out and about and saw her, or her car, to call Bandit.
” Starr sat back with a grin. “It took three months, but Wolf would see her car, hook it up to a tow truck, and move it a few miles away. They messed with her. All legally, because there was something that Wolf did that said if that vehicle was found, then it was supposed to be immediately towed. After three months, she made a stupid move, and found out the consequences of her actions.”
“Which were?”
“She stormed into the local police station, the one Bandit worked at, and laid out everything that had been done to her car. Like she parked it in such and such a place on this day, but came out and it was gone. Then it would be moved back where it was originally. Bandit allowed her to spew her crap, then when he asked her for her license, she immediately handed it over. They ran it, and she was immediately arrested. One, her license had been revoked almost two years prior, two, the three bench warrants, three, the unpaid tickets, and four, the unanswered court appearances. By the time she was done with all the court fees, tickets, and jail time, it took four years to get her life back on track. Oh, and because of all the tickets, she lost her job.”
“Why?”
“She worked for someone where she had to take disabled clients to doctor appointments. While driving with a revoked license, she was putting those clients in jeopardy.” She waited for any questions, and when none came, she nodded.
“As far as I know, she never found out Lucius was behind her downfall. One thing people don’t know, and it’s their downfall, every single time, is that they underestimate Lucius. ”
“How so?” both Gary and Brad asked.