CHAPTER SIXTEEN
-:- MAV -:-
Axel calls his officers, Knuckles, Colton, Garth, and me into his office. It’s Monday morning and unusual for this to be the start of the day. Stepping inside, I take a stand behind Wings, who is seated to one side in front of Axel’s desk. Folding my arms across my chest, I wait for this meeting to unfold.
Axel walks into the office and quickly takes his seat behind the desk, wasting no time as he speaks. “I’ve spoken to Vincenzo Vitale early this morning. He’s been watching Mark Milanas closely and has seen men leaving the area where this asshole is hiding. Now, I’m not placing us in a position where any of us could get hurt, because let’s face it, Vitale has more men at hand than we have in the MC. This time I’m happy to follow Vitale’s lead, but I need you out and watching the town.”
“That’s unusual for us to take a back seat, Pres?” Drag asks, looking as puzzled as we all feel.
“Yeah, it is, but it turns out Milanas is inside Vitale’s territory, which makes him Vitale’s problem more than ours. Tomorrow, if we get Milanas’ men in our town, then it becomes an issue we can take in hand. I mean, grab the fuckers and get them to Nell's where Jaws can have a mighty snack.” Axel gives the feral grin we all know well, and although we’ve all been wondering if he lost his balls to Mia of late, it seems she only borrowed them for a while! Axel continues, “Vitale wants to know when he gets his man, and he will get his man, if we want in on the interrogation.”
“Not me, I don’t give a shit. As long as he’s dead I really don’t care who did the honors.” Buzz states from where he’s standing with his back to the window.
BS speaks next, gaining our attention, “Me either. Let’s be honest, if we are not involved, it can’t come back on us at any time in the future.”
Colton shuffles, and we all look at him as he shrugs his shoulders. “I suppose we can let him deal with the fucker. You know, keep our hands clean. But I have to admit I’d like to get my hands on the fucker just for a few minutes.”
Knuckles smacks Colton up the back of the head while rolling his eyes, which has me smirking. Wings chuckles and rubs his chin but speaks to Colton directly, “I know where you’re coming from because I’d like a piece of that fucker too. But, if we want to protect the club and the people in it, then we keep our distance. But if he gets away from Vitale, then all bets are off. I’ll even use Target’s sniper rifle if I have to.”
Axel rubs the back of his neck and I can see he wants to be in on any action, but he’s always been protective of the brothers of the club. Taking his responsibility more than a little seriously, and we all respect him for that. We’ve seen presidents of other clubs rush in, and then buried brothers because of ill thought-out plans. That is something Axel will never do. He weighs all the options open to him before he makes any type of decision.
Axel looks from one of us to another before he speaks. “Are you all in agreement that we leave this Milanas asshole to Vitale, unless he takes a step into our territory? If he does that or any of his men, we round them up and visit Nell?” Axel receives a resounding, ‘Aye.’
An hour later I’m looking at the app on my phone where I keep all my work hours, and anything else that I need to keep track of. I love this app. It stops me from making blunders as to where I should be and when.
I’m lounging in the kitchen with a coffee and look up when I hear Sybil speak. “Mav, have you got one of those rememberals in your phone?”
“Rememberal?” What the fuck is she talking about?
“You know, it reminds you of things you need to do. Or even where you are supposed to be.” Sybil has such a serious look on her face that I know she’s not playing the fool.
“Yeah, if that’s what you want to call it. If you go to Specs, he’ll sort your phone out for you, and show you how to do it.” Yeah, I’m an asshole. I just dumped Specs in the shit.
“Oh, that’s what Bitty said, too. Okay, thank you, Mav.” Sybil gives me such a sweet smile that I think I’m a double asshole for my last thought. But I watch her rush out of the kitchen and know Specs will be after my ass later.
Chuckling has me look up, and I give Meat a scowl. The fucker is laughing under his breath now, and I can imagine he’s gonna be stirring the shit when he can. I give him a scowl back and then smirk when I think I can get him in the shit with Star. I’m sure I can devise some way of getting payback for his amusement at my predicament.
Knuckles walks into the kitchen, gives Meat and me a questioning look, but I shrug my shoulders and look back at my phone. I’m going to be free on Friday night, but I have a feeling Kenzie said Blake works evenings and Saturdays. That’s on top of her stint at the coffee house. I’m thinking she’s needing to let one of those jobs go because that’s too much for anyone.
“Mav, what have you been up to?”
Shit, Kenzie… Now I’m going to get a ton of shit from her, I’m sure. “Not been up to anything, Kenz.” Kenzie takes a seat next to me, and I’m more than happy she hasn’t brought the fucking dog with her.
“Well, I heard you went on a date. Oh, and the date left you sitting at the table with a woman on your lap who was sucking your face by all accounts… hmmm…”
“I did not suck face with anyone, and if you heard the gossip you know said woman was arrested for sexual assault.”
“Well, she was arrested, but she’s out now and free to chase you again. You want to take BigDog with you when you go to work, you know, to ward off the evil witch?” Kenzie is smirking and doing nothing to hold it back.
I flick her nose as I used to when we were kids, and grin with her ‘Ouch, Mav.’ Yeah, just like when we were kids. “If she comes near me again, I’ll contact Forest right away. She’s been told to stay away from me, and she better or I’ll take her to a visit at Nell’s. Maybe I don’t hurt women, but Nell has no issue with that if they are evil bitches.”
“I know you wouldn’t be disrespectful like that, and if I can do anything to get Blake back on side, I’ll do it. You deserve to find your woman and settle down, maybe have a parcel of kids.” Kenzie is grinning, but I know she means every word. She would help if she could, but I think it’s wise to just let things take their own course now.
“I’ll ask if I need help, but I think it’s best to just let it be for now. I have a second date, thanks to Bitty. So, I’ll do my best for that date to go as it should. I’ll take her out of town this time.” I give a small grin because I think getting away from town may be a good move for the second date.
Patting my hand, Kenzie gives me a huge smile. “I hope it works out for you. Bitty said Blake is an amazing person and she’s had such a lot of bad luck, right from her cheating husband to what’s happening now.”
Colton walks into the kitchen, gives Kenzie a smile as he takes a seat across from me at the table. He’s giving Kenzie the ‘off you go’ look, which has me chuckling, because Kenz will only go when she’s ready and not before. But when her name is called and Jig gives her a come-on gesture, she quickly rushes over to him, where he wraps an arm around her shoulders and walks out of the kitchen's back door. Off to their little love nest, I would think, but I’m not going to let my mind go down that road.
Colton leans forward in his seat. “The fights are set for the Sunday after next. So, you have nearly two weeks to get into shape.”
“What do you mean by get into shape asshole… I am in shape!”
“You know what I mean, you need to be a lean, mean, fighting machine.” Colton jumps from his seat, giving me a nervous look as I slowly stand from my seat. “Okay, see you later, Mav.” The little shit runs out of the kitchen, and I again look up when Meat chuckles, before nodding his head at me and grunting. “Shut your mouth. I don’t need your opinion,” I snap at Meat as I storm out of the kitchen. Now, I need to speak to Knuckles and get the info on this fight. I’m sure he’ll know more than Colton, and he has so many underground contacts that we will know everything before the night happens.
The day runs smoothly from this point. I noticed Sybil playing with her phone, and has a huge smile on her face as she’s doing it. Amelia is trying to see what’s going on, but Sybil is talking about rememberals and tells her to get her nose out of her phone. It’s fucking hilarious when you see those three competing against each other. But any minute one of the two is going to realize that they are not with Summer.
This morning first thing I had taken Mia to kindergarten with the boys. I waited with the SUV because nope, I wasn’t getting involved with those two little shits. They were not nervous about starting somewhere new at all. They looked at it like a fresh challenge, but I pity their teacher because they have no idea, yet, what is going to come from those two. Mia cried all the way back to the clubhouse, and I wasn’t sure what the fuck I was supposed to do about that, because come on, it’s only school!
I check the plan of the compound and choose a position I’d like my house to be built, and put a mark on it with my name. I’m going to have to get my head together on what type of house I want. Something open plan, plenty of windows giving daylight, and modern. Maybe!
I walk the compound and I’m happy with the position I’ve chosen, so make my way back to the clubhouse where I inform Axel of my plot on the compound map, and my name on the list to be built. He agrees I need to know what I want before I speak to Hammer. That is how I find myself sitting in a corner of Specs’ office with a laptop in front of me looking at house designs. Yeah, this is difficult and going to take some time.
Tuesday afternoon and I’m helping Knuckles build a section of bookshelves. They look good and are going to be a feature in the room where Jo likes to write. My phone vibrates at the same time as Knuckles’, and we both look at each other for a second as that tells us it easily could be a mass call out from Pres for some reason. We know we’re on alert for Milanas’ men coming into town, so we quickly check our messages and yeah, we’ve been called to the clubhouse.
I hear Knuckles telling Jo we have to leave and I don’t hang about for what she has to say. I run back to the clubhouse and Axel’s office. Entering as the door is open and all officers are present. Specs is tapping on a laptop, but I can see he’s keeping one ear on Pres.
“We have men in town. I’m sure they are Milanas’ men. I need you to pair up and get into town, watch them closely and if you get a chance grab them. Nell is at the ready with Tank and Richie in their van heading to town. Graham is getting the cells ready and chomping at the bit to get these fuckers off the street. Make sure you are not seen. We don’t want to give Forest any trouble. He’s keeping the sheriff’s department clean, and we need it to stay that way.” Axel inspects all of us standing in his office. “Off you go, and make sure if you get injured, you get to Stitch. He’s ready and fed up with slapping bandages on boo-boos, as he calls them.” Axel grins and we all nod and head out. But I don’t miss the fact Buzz and Drag walk out of the office behind me, with Axel rubbing his hands with a huge smile on his face.