Chapter 2
Maverick
“Did the rogue give you any intel on the threat?” I turned toward my enforcer, Bear.
He shook his head, scratching his dark beard. “Not much. Just the same ol’ shit, ‘he’s gonna get you,’ blah, blah, blah.”
I shrugged. It wasn’t a surprise. Another MC recently moved into our territory.
At first, it seemed as though they were attempting a takeover.
Once we stopped that fantasy, their ‘president’ made out like there was more to the story.
Like someone else was calling the shots and the Diablos MC were pawns.
But who this silent leader was, we hadn’t been able to find out.
Nor had we figured out what the plan was.
Other than selling drugs that killed their clientele.
Which seemed like a pretty shitty business plan.
Unless that first wave was proof of concept—dipping their toe in the water to see if the customer base was there.
And if it was, maybe they’d come in with a bigger operation.
But we were just guessing. Until this mystery man played his next card, there wasn’t much we could do.
“Has he been evicted from his room?” I asked.
We were in church, our meeting space within the Exiled Reapers MC clubhouse.
We should be able to talk freely, but you could never be too certain.
Especially when we had an open video feed to Central Prison.
Baller assured me they could only hear us when we actually logged in and set up the feed to talk to Sinner, our incarcerated club president, but who’s to say they didn’t install some virus thing into our camera so they could always listen in?
I should probably lay off the spy novels.
“Yeah, he moved out.” The corner of Bear’s mouth twitched beneath his dark beard. “And we’ve got some scraps for Old Larry’s pigs.”
Now it was my turn to grin. “I’ll take them. Any other business? Blade, how’s the bar this month?”
Our treasurer flipped open his notebook.
“We’re finally turning a profit on the bar.
Pixie’s done an amazing job as manager. She streamlined the menu and cut back on a lot of the waste.
So far, her ideas for bringing in paying customers have been spot on.
If she keeps this up, she may get the bar revenue to exceed some of our other businesses. ”
Bear beamed at the praise for his old lady. “Damn right she will.”
“But for the moment,” Blade continued, “it’s enough to clean the laundry.”
I took a deep breath, a weight lifting from my shoulders.
We had a couple of very lucrative, but very illegal, side ventures.
A few months ago, no one in their right mind would have believed the bar generated the revenue that we claimed it did.
“I gotta admit, I was a little skeptical of her Senior Thursdays idea. I mean, why the hell would a bunch of senior citizens want to come to a biker bar? But it’s honestly become a highlight of my week.
Although, someone needs to keep a closer eye on Baller around all those cougars. ”
The men snickered and Baller groaned.
“Come on, man, my gran’s in that group.”
I raised an eyebrow. “And you’ve never banged one of your granny’s friends?”
A blush filled the man’s face. “I mean…”
The room erupted in peals of laughter.
Baller closed his laptop and shook his head, accepting the good-natured ribbing. “It was a while ago. And it was with one of her interns, not a member of the bridge brigade.”
“Speaking of cards, how are we doing with the casino idea?” Several months ago, Stitch, our medic, was passing through a town and found an underground casino attached to a popular bar.
He brought the idea back here and, while we liked it, at the time the bar wasn’t popular enough to hide the action the casino would get.
But now, we were in a position to revisit the idea.
Blade flipped to another page in his notebook.
“The numbers look promising,” he began. “There’s nothing else like it here or in the neighboring counties.
Demand would be high. I think we’d benefit from visiting a couple operations to see how they run.
I’ve put a few feelers out to ally clubs.
The Lost Saints have one in Virginia Beach that is doing well, so that could be a fun one. ”
I nodded. “Set it up.”
Selling guns through my shop had been my dad’s game, and then it was passed to me.
I didn’t hate it, but the world was a different place than it was twenty years ago.
Cops didn’t take bribes as easily as they used to, and the penalties for getting caught were a lot stricter.
I’d been considering getting out of business, but the money was too good.
But with the gambling den, I might be able to.
I looked down at the napkin I’d scrawled my agenda on. “We’ve got a couple protection runs this month. Since Tracker’s still out, have the brothers get with me about the schedule.”
Our primary money maker was our protection business.
We provided neutral security to other organizations for handoffs and exchanges as well as shipment protection.
We kept our clients safe from traitors and rivals and kicked ass as needed.
Our road captain Tracker was some kind of navigation savant and always found the best routes and locations to stay clear of law enforcement.
Unfortunately, he was still recovering after getting stabbed a few months back.
I scanned the table of officers. “Any other business?” No one spoke, so I banged the gavel.
We filed out of church and headed to the bar. The hardwood floors gleamed and the tables shined, a sharp contrast to the sticky, dirty mess we had before. At mid-afternoon, we were between the lunch rush and dinner crowd. The bar was fairly empty. Just Pixie and a brown and white Brittany Spaniel.
“Noodle?” The dog ran over to me, wagging her stub of a tail. I looked around, not seeing her human. I rubbed her back and scratched her ears. “Where’s your pa, sweet girl? Where’s Larry?”
Pixie walked over holding a leash. “She showed up around half an hour ago on her own. I figured Mr. Larry would be close behind. I went ahead and gave her some water and treats, but he still hasn’t shown up. I’m getting worried. It’s not like her to run off without him.”
I took the leash and clipped it to Noodle’s harness. “I’ll take her back. I was headed that way anyway.”
Bear walked into the bar, handing me a five-gallon bucket. Pixie turned a light shade of green.
“I told you not to bring that inside my bar! It’s not sanitary!”
I looked down at the bucket and shrugged. It had a lid. We weren’t total psychopaths, but she was still new to our world.
Bear wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her close. “And I told you not to worry about it.”
“Did you at least wash your hands?” she hissed. “I swear, if you touched that, then touched me, I will—”
“Prospect!” Bear shouted while hoisting Pixie over his shoulder. “Take over for a bit. I’ve got to have a little chat with my old lady!”
Pixie squealed, pounding Bear’s back as he took her upstairs. “You are such a caveman! Stop being so ridiculous!” But her laughter gave away her true feelings.
I sighed, turning away from the lovebirds. Sometimes I envied what Bear found. A woman just for me. A ride or die on the back of my bike. The idea had a lot of appeal. We had several guys who had old ladies. Hell, some even had kids. Seeing the change in those guys had gotten me thinking.
But then I remembered I was VP of the most feared MC in the state, if not the entire Southeast. And until Sinner got out of prison, I was also acting president, taking on the two biggest roles by myself.
My brothers were great and stepped in where they could, but it wasn’t the same as having a president and vice president who were both present in person.
Assuming there was some amazing woman out there waiting for me, where would I find the time to treat her properly?
No, I was better off scratching that itch with the club bunnies, but I hardly had time for even that these days.
I opened the door for Noodle and started toward the path through the woods. This was my life. Returning a lost dog and feeding frozen body parts to pigs. It was no wonder I was single.