Tyrant Chapter 11
Rage was a living, breathing entity inside of me.
I hadn’t felt it this badly since that night all those years ago.
I thought I’d conquered it, or at least I controlled it.
I was wrong. In fact, this was worse than when I was a teenager.
The thought of the Jacquots being the cause of Lakelyn and River being homeless and their dad’s death, even though he did bring that on himself, infuriated me.
However, it was the thought that Jean-Baptiste thought he could take her and force her to be with him that was the greatest cause of my rage.
I’d heard things about how Jean-Baptiste liked to change his women often.
He never stayed with one for long. And he wasn’t above sharing them with his brother or cousins.
Hell, maybe even Hugo. I didn’t care what he did because I hadn’t heard that any of the women were unwilling.
But it was clear Lakelyn was, and Jean-Baptiste didn’t care.
He would force her to be with him in whatever capacity he wished.
It would be rape, and I didn’t abide by rape. Neither did my club brothers.
As my wrath bubbled over, I had to do something to defuse it. I barely recalled standing and placing Lakelyn in the chair before driving my fist into the tabletop. It hurt, but not enough to make me stop. Then, she was there, hugging me close and telling me to stop hurting myself.
I made my vow to the whole room. “Those cocksuckers are dead. I don’t care how we do it or how many we have to bring in from the other chapters. Crypto, I’m asking for extra help on the research you’re already doing on them. We need a solid case if we have to take it to Big Daddy for help.”
Lakelyn was staring at me, speechless. The shock was evident on her face. I lifted my hand and ran my thumb from her temple down her face to her mouth—the mouth that I had such fantasies about, and I wanted to kiss desperately.
“I swear on everything I hold sacred, he’ll never get his hands on either of you. The Jacquots were already on shaky ground with us. Your situation seals it. Even if they’re not guilty of the other thing, this is more than enough to go on,” I told her.
“Tyrant, I don’t understand. What shaky ground? Why would you go against your friend and ally for two people you don’t know?” Lakelyn asked.
“Let me be clear. The Jacquots aren’t our friends and never have been.
Yes, we’ve done limited business with them in one area.
However, that’s not enough to look the other way if they’re kidnapping and forcing someone to be with them, like you say Jean-Baptiste intends with you.
That’s rape, Lakelyn. Rape isn’t ever fucking alright in our book. This entire club has killed for that.”
She nibbled on her bottom lip before saying more. “Can I ask what the other thing is that you’re investigating them for? What Crypto is researching?”
I looked around the room at my brothers.
It was a club decision. If it were only up to me, I’d tell her, which wasn’t like me.
One by one, they each gave me a nod or chin lift.
By the time I was through, she was moving away.
I latched onto her arm. I guided her back to the chair.
River was standing anxiously nearby, watching us.
“River, take a seat. We have to tell our side of the story and clear up your misunderstanding about thinking we knew who you were and were giving you to the Jacquot family. That wouldn’t ever happen.
Not for the reason you stated. If you were a family like theirs, maybe.
Since you’ve been here, you know we’re not a clean-handed club.
We’re one-percenters, and I know that was explained to you.
However, there are things we don’t do. We never force people into prostitution or sell them.
We don’t rape. Our particular chapter doesn’t sell hard drugs, though some in our charter do.
It was a personal choice I made, and as long as we can produce enough revenue to meet our needs and the amount we pay to the mother chapter in SoCal, then I can run it however I wish. ”
I paused. “What I’m about to tell you, if said to the wrong people, would get all of us in trouble.
I’m trusting you with this, which isn’t something I do much.
These guys can attest to that. However, here goes.
We have a strip club, provide security for hire in the form of bodyguards, and run a garage.
Those are all legal businesses. Those that aren’t are the chop shop we have, where we use stolen parts, though we don’t steal them, to soup up cars or fix others.
We make moonshine, sell guns, sell weed, and have prostitution, but only for those who want to do it.
No one is forced. Lastly, there’s illegal gambling, which is a touchy subject due to your dad, I bet. ”
I was wondering why the hell I was telling them all this. They could find a way to bail on us again and run straight to the cops. If they did, we’d have a lot of heat on us, especially if they figured out how we did the last few.
“What business do you have with the Jacquots?” River asked gruffly.
I sighed. “When I established this chapter of the Kings, which was about two years ago, I was given their name as someone who could help us get our hands on guns that our customers needed. And before you ask, no, we don’t knowingly sell shit to kids, nut jobs, or terrorists.
Fuck no. Some of us served and fought against that last one.
I had a contact here from my time in the Navy.
It was a place to start, and I got Hugo Jacquot’s name through him.
It went from there. Soon, we were in a partnership, for lack of a better word. ”
“So what made you start researching them?” Lakelyn asked.
I went back to the chair we’d been in. She didn’t sit on my lap, which made me feel bereft, but she sat next to me and held my hand. I liked that.
“We had a run a week before I found River in the dumpster at the garage. The Jacquots usually sell us their guns, and then we resell them. In this case, they called asking if we’d help them.
They claimed they’d run into supply issues.
They knew we had reserves. There was a new customer who needed guns.
We were asked to supply them with our surplus, and then the Jacquots would resupply us as soon as their short-term shortage was resolved.
I agreed. We met with the leader of that bunch and arranged the exchange.
“Everything was fine until it came time to give them the guns and us the money. They tried to kill us and take both. However, I’m a paranoid fucker, and I had more men than they knew we had with us.
They were the ones who died, not our club.
Right before the leader died, he indicated that the Jacquots had set us up.
They wanted us dead. To either validate the claim or prove it false, Crypto has been working his magic on the internet to discover evidence of the truth. We don’t just go in to kill someone.”
“But you’re willing to do it based on what we told you. What if we’re lying?” she asked.
“You’re not.”
“How can you know?” she pushed.
“Because I can hear lies, and I know what you told us about your dad and the Jacquots is true. We had them here the other night to talk about that shitshow of a shipment. They want us to take the next order soon. I noted that they phrased their answers in a way that makes it difficult to tell whether they’re lying.
They’re ambiguous. We set up another one in a month to give us time to prepare and to determine the truth. Now, we’ll be able to do it sooner.”
“No, you won’t. Don’t change your routine due to us. Check it all out, and then make your move. Whether you trust our word or not, you do things the way you do for a reason. Don’t deviate,” Lakelyn argued.
“I can help Crypto,” River said.
“Help him how?” Cobra asked.
“I have particular abilities with computers. It’s what I planned to take in college. I’ve been writing code and other stuff since I was eight. I’m positive I can help him find what you need on the Jacquots.”
“What other stuff?” Crypto asked.
“The kind that can land my ass in jail for a long time, depending on where I hack into.”
“Is he serious?” Crypto asked Lakelyn.
“I wish he weren’t, but yes. River is a very gifted computer hacker. I told him he’d better watch it, or one day, he’d be sentenced to years in prison. It seems the desire to walk on the gray or even black side doesn’t just affect your club.” She said it ruefully.
“Should we ask what you do? Oh, and what’s your last name?” Crypto asked.
“It’s Barbeau, and before you ask, yes, Lakelyn and River are our real names.
I guess we should’ve used assumed ones. As for what I do, it’s very dull compared to all of you.
I don’t do anything illegal. I’m a substance abuse counselor, and I work mainly with the homeless.
That’s how I knew how to disappear on the streets.
Most people don’t even see them as human.
You can become faceless. Many of my clients talked about it, telling me how it was done and what they did to survive out there.
It’s all about food, shelter, and survival.
You have other homeless people to worry about, as well as the cops, predators, and more.
I debated if it was worth the risk, and I determined it was.
I’d heard the stories about Jean-Baptiste and his women.
He was terrible to them. Fidelity wasn’t in his vocabulary.
And my ongoing refusal to accept his date offers or anything else set him off.
I knew he wasn’t happy about it,” Lakelyn added.