Chapter 7
CHAPTER
SEVEN
BamBam
One of the things about my position within the club is I’ve learned to sleep light, for lack of a better word, while still waking up rested.
Since Livy is still sound asleep, when I feel my phone buzz, I check on Theo then head out of the room to see what Rio needs.
I hate that she might wake up and panic, but when my president calls for church, I go.
Walking into the room we use for church, I drop my phone in the box that Monkey’s holding, while Mutt has the other one for our weapons. Seeing Mongrel, I yell, “Grab me a coffee, then go up and guard the room Livy’s in.”
“Got it, BamBam,” he replies, running to complete the first of the two tasks I just gave him.
“Getting your coffee delivered now, fancy,” Abyss jeers. As our VP, he’s another big fucker, but I don’t take offense at his words. Instead, I flip him off as I settle in my seat.
“Yuck it up, Abyss,” I say. “Some of us were up once already this morning.”
Rio looks at me and asks, “Is she okay? Her son?”
“He woke up, so I took care of him because she was still out like a light from the sedative Doc gave her,” I admit.
“She woke up and freaked out because I had to come downstairs to get another bottle. Took her a little bit before she was calm enough to take something for her pain and fall back to sleep.”
Mongrel approaches the doors that are still wide open as Rio waits for the last of the brothers to trickle in and I wave him inside.
I can see his trepidation since prospects generally do not come into church until they’re patched in, but he doesn’t miss a step when he sees me motioning him in.
As he sets the steaming cup of coffee in front of me, he says, “Constance wanted me to pass on that she’s brewing a fresh pot in case anyone else needed one. ”
“Noted,” I reply. He nods and turns, presumably to take care of guarding Livy until she’s awake and alert.
Once the last brother comes in and closes the door, Rio bangs the gavel.
“Church is in session,” he states. “Now, some of you were coming back from a run to the border of Louisiana to check on whether or not another chapter would be viable, but I think we may want to see if the Louisiana chapter is willing to start one there, so we’re not spread too thin.
BamBam and Mongrel brought back a woman and her son who were running from an abusive fucker.
So, Abyss, tell me what y’all’s impressions were. ”
“Cue and I scouted out the area down around Beaumont, Pres, and it could work for the Kings,” Abyss says. “It’s not too far from I-10, and of course, there are plenty of waterways as well. Found a few possibilities and gave them to Pokey to investigate further.”
“Pokey?” Rio asks.
“Running the variables now, Rio,” Pokey replies. “Once I have them you can get with the Louisiana chapter to see if it’s something that’s viable for them.”
“Were you able to get anything on the search you did on Olivia’s ex?” Rio questions.
A look crosses Pokey’s face that I can’t describe but immediately has me on alert. He lowers the screen and then clicks a few buttons on his laptop which immediately populates with the asshole’s DMV picture, along with what looks like a rap sheet. At a nod from Rio, he starts talking.
“Jasper Price, age twenty-two, is a high school dropout whose work history is sporadic at best. I honestly lost count at fifteen jobs, it seems he enjoys imbibing a bit too much after work, causing him to lay out more often than not. He’s been arrested multiple times, mostly petty shit, although there are several calls involving complaints from the neighbors.
Twice he’s been charged for domestic issues, but the charges end up being dismissed by the court for insufficient evidence. ”
“The system that’s supposed to protect her has let her down,” I jeer.
“It usually does,” Pokey replies. “I went ahead and did a background check on Olivia as well. Olivia Benson, age twenty, is a high school graduate whose parents died when she turned eighteen due to a car accident. Up until she had to stop working because of concerns with her pregnancy, she was employed at the diner in her hometown, having worked there since she was fifteen. No write ups in her employment docket and she’s never had a no call no show reported.
From what I found out, she’s reliable and even took on additional shifts when her co-workers couldn’t come in for theirs for one reason or another.
She has had over thirty visits to the emergency room over the past two years.
Not including the two overnight stays she had during her pregnancy, she’s been admitted ten of those times, with injuries that range from concussions to broken bones, as well as lacerations that required stitches. ”
I wonder how many of those made it to the proper authorities?
If she was as scared of him as she’s led me to believe she is, she probably had some bullshit story like she fell down the stairs or some other outrageous lie to cover his ass.
He doesn’t strike me as the type of man who is willing to pay for his crimes.
I bet he used some sort of threat to keep her in line.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” I growl out. “He took out his insecurities and issues on a woman that he outweighs by at least seventy-five to one hundred pounds. Hell, she’s a good foot shorter than him as well.”
“Wonder how he’d do against a man the same size as him,” Gopher adds, which has my brothers pounding on the table in agreement.
“How the hell did she get away this time?” Pokey asks.
“He went after Theo,” I say, “and she distracted him by putting herself in his path instead. At some point, she was able to grab the cast iron skillet and she hit him with it, which knocked him out and gave her time to run.” Chuckling, I add, “She was smart about it too. She hid his vehicle keys, and she took the money he had.”
“She’s sure she didn’t kill him?” Rio questions.
“She said he was still breathing when she left,” I reply. “Speaking of which, do you have any medical records on him, Pokey?”
Pokey snickers as he once again taps away on his keyboard, his fingers flying so fast it’s as if he’s a virtuoso.
“As a matter of fact, Jasper Price was seen in the local emergency room yesterday afternoon. The reports show that he claims to have fallen and hit his head, knocking him out. However, they also indicate that he had scratches on his face, chest, and arms that he wasn’t able to explain.
He was treated and released. I also found a missing person report that he filed for Olivia Benson and her three-month-old son, Theodore Benson. ”
“That report needs to be buried,” Rio states. “Make it happen, Pokey.”
“Funny you should say that, Pres,” Pokey says, smirking.
“Seems that their system is easy to access, and from the notes I’ve already scanned, they’re not looking too hard.
The sheriff has known for quite some time that the fucker has been beating Olivia, and they’ve arrested him for it as well, but the judge always tosses out the charges.
From what I can see, the Prices are somewhat well off, although they’re not native to that town.
Olivia and her family have always lived there, so their history is deep and when her folks died, many of their friends tried to keep an eye out for Olivia since she was so young. ”
“If you think it’s possible to report that she’s alright without shining a light on us, do so,” Rio instructs Pokey who simply nods.
“Let me guess, he isolated her,” I interject.
I may watch a little too much Investigation Discovery, as well as listen to podcasts when I drive the truck and horse trailer, but it makes sense.
How else would abusers get away with the shit they do otherwise?
Isolate, break down, demean until their prey is left completely destroyed or worst-case scenario, dead.
“It appears that way, BamBam,” Pokey says. “The only way to confirm it for sure would be to go there and do a little bit of digging around. We’d have to put feet to the ground because it looks as if the Prices have had a few things buried themselves.”
“Nah, I think if the fucker’s stupid enough to try and search for her and he ends up finding her here, we deal with it then,” Rio declares. “I’d rather fight on our turf.”
I nod because it makes complete sense to me. We won’t back down from a fight, nor will we hesitate to start one, but we know the players in our neck of the woods and because we try to foster a good community presence, a lot of what we do behind the scenes gets overlooked for the most part.
“Well, if he does show up, we’ll make sure and send a delivery to Rip so he can fire one up for us,” Abyss drolly advises, causing all of us to burst out laughing.
While we have a mother chapter run by Big Daddy, every chapter is pretty much autonomous as far as businesses go.
Some of our brothers are into dicier things than we are, but with us being so close to the border, we do our fair share of transports to help things along the proverbial pipeline.
What works for one may not work for another and all that jazz.
“Okay, we’re going to have a visitor today,” Rio says, moving church along.
“Issy found someone, a therapist, who’s coming to meet with Olivia.
” As the brothers start to murmur, he raises his hand.
“BamBam is well aware of the rules, brothers, but she needed immediate help yesterday. This is temporary until we can get her healed enough so she can go to Hope House.”
Hope House is a local non-profit organization that helps women who are leaving domestic abuse situations.
They’ve got services that range from onsite accommodations, to group therapy for those who are able to live off the premises.
I think it would be good for Livy to stay with them so she can start getting the help she desperately needs to heal from the shit that fucker has buried her in for the past two years.
Personally, seeing the small sparks of life that Livy’s shown, I’d love to see how she is when she’s whole again. Because she’s definitely got me intrigued, although I refuse to examine that too closely right now.