29. 29
29
“W e’re gathering in the bunk house in fifteen minutes. Be there,” Lurch said to Corey as he walked through the barn where Malice worked on hooking a trailer to the back of a four-wheeler and loaded it with several bags of feed.
Malice looked up in time to see the man who was both the ranch foreman and the club president leave the building, moving as if he had somewhere to be and not long to get there. He wondered what was up and if it was ranch business or club business. No point in thinking too hard on it, he’d know soon enough. Might as well finish this before he headed that way to see what was up.
Not quite fifteen minutes later he walked into the bunk house. There he found all the hands, plus Lurch and Tuck standing around the common room. He glanced around, trying to get a feel for if things had already started, but while there was a little tension it seemed to be a nervous anticipation of why they were there.
Ghost came in a moment later and took a place near Malice to lean against the wall.
Lurch’s gaze scanned the room, then he cleared his throat. “All right now that everyone’s here we’ll get started. We’re going to hold this as an informal club meeting.” He paused and let his gaze scan the room again. “First order of business, is you all know about Malice’s girl’s ex. He followed her onto the ranch from town yesterday. Several of us went out and Malice confronted him. He never got past the first Y, but I need you all to be vigilant.”
He gave them a description of the car as well as reminding them that they’d all seen the man’s picture. Then he outlined what he wanted done, should he be spotted on, or even near the ranch. Once finished with that he moved on.
“Second order of business. You all know that Tuck’s mandatory year here is almost over.” There was a little murmur of chatter spread through the room, Malice wasn’t part of it. He’d known there was something about a year but hadn’t been around when it had started and didn’t know when it was up.
“Quiet down!” Lurch’s voice rang across the room, silencing the voices. “It’s not for a few weeks yet, but we’ve got something in the works. He’s been away from Tucson and the original chapter for a year, and would like to go back, at least part time. In the spirit of keeping him safe, as well as his old lady, some of the Tucson chapter is going to come up, spend a little time here in Gillette, then escort him back to Arizona.”
He fell quiet for a couple of minutes while the men talked and speculated about what that would mean.
“They won’t be here for a weeks, so we’ve got some time, but we also have a lot to get done.” He paused a moment then continued. “Once they’re here, we will still have work to get done, but we’ll have fun too.” Lurch turned and pinned Jake with his gaze. “I don’t have exact dates yet, but we’ll need a run. Something not too far since they’ll have just come off the ride up, but fun all the same.”
Jake nodded and pulled out his phone. Malice knew enough about the kid to know he was pulling up his note app and taking notes. The question was, were they about everything the pres was saying or just the parts that pertained to him?
Lurch turned to Ghost. “I don’t want the women to have to feed everyone the whole time the mother chapter is here. You’re in charge of setting up an outdoor kitchen so we can feed everyone. Check with Tuck about the location and budget.” He once more scanned the room. “I’ll have some smaller jobs for some of the rest of you. I’ll let you know as they come up.” He turned to Tuck, and it seemed to Malice as if he was asking if there was anything else, but he was too far away to hear for sure. Tuck gave a barely perceptible shake of his head then Lurch turned back to the room.
“You’re all dismissed. Malice, can I speak with you a moment?”
Malice didn’t say anything, just stayed where he was, leaning against the wall while he waited for the rest of his brothers to go back to what they’d been doing, then he approached Lurch.
“You wanted to speak with me?” he asked once it was just the two of them.
“I need to know how long this thing with your girl’s ex is going to last?”
“I wish I could say. I think yesterday only set things to escalate, as much as I hate to contribute to a problem. I think he’ll be back, but he’ll bring backup, whether someone else or a weapon.” Malice glanced around the room. “We won’t have a warning next time because now he knows where she is.”
Lurch nodded slowly. “I’ll make sure we’re keeping a diligent eye out. Maybe we should have a camera or a sensor at the gate off the highway to alert us when someone comes onto the property. I’ll talk to Tuck about it. It’s a good idea even if we didn’t have to worry about this guy.”
Malice didn’t know what to say, but he didn’t disagree.
“I’d like to get this settled before the group from Arizona comes. I don’t want to look like we can’t handle our shit. On the other hand, if it’s not, we’ll have enough men to put the fear of the Souls into him.”
“There is that,” Malice admitted, not sure it was the best idea, but not able to keep from wondering if the stupid fucker would shit his pants if confronted with a wall of men in full Demented Souls regalia. “I want to get it done too. I hate what his showing up does to Bonnie. She didn’t talk to him, nor he to her last time and she’s been having nightmares. I’m about ready to take him to the train station myself.” Malice didn’t know if the other man would get the reference, but in the moment, he didn’t care.
Lurch’s eyes went wide, he took a long blink as if he wasn’t sure what he’d just heard, then he grinned. “I wouldn’t have guessed you were a Yellowstone fan.”
Malice lifted one shoulder and let it fall in a dismissive gesture. “My buddy got me hooked a couple of years ago.” He shook his head. “I don’t know why I keep watching, as it’s not at all realistic, but I can’t seem to help it.”
“I’ve watched it for a while,” Lurch said with a laugh. “But we need to find a better solution, cause we haven’t found our train station, at least not yet.”
“I know of a couple of places, but they’re not local and I wouldn’t want to get stopped between here and there.”
“Not local is actually good. How far?”
“Eight to ten hours, depending on weather and traffic.”
Lurch scowled and watched him a moment, but didn’t say anything before shaking his head and dismissing the discussion, leaving Malice a little disappointed. He’d thought the pres might have more to say on the subject.
“Anyway, that was all, you can go back to what you were doing before I called you over here.”
Malice headed back to the barn, checking his watch as he went. Only another hour or so until Bonnie was due home. He reminded himself to check and make sure she made it home safe, then went back to work.