Chapter 22
FINGER
Iam loving having an old lady, and it’s something I thought I’d never have, but seeing Cilla for the first time telling off a ghost was so fucking awesome it left an everlasting memory.
Walking into Books' office, I throw myself into a chair. “You got Cilla’s cut, Books?”
“I have it, and it has a touch that Pres wanted to add. You don’t have a say in it Finger, I’m sorry, but Pres was adamant.”
Walking over to the full-length cabinet, Books opens it and takes out a box, handing the box to me. I open it slowly, then take out the cut, smiling when I look at the back. ‘Property of Finger,’ it looks good. Restless Demons MC logo clearly in the center. I fuckin’ love it.
“Our first official Old Lady. Congratulations, Finger. I would love to find mine, but with always being in the office there is not much chance of it happening.”
Looking at Books, I frown. “You need to shut up shop, as the saying goes, and head out of here to eat at the diner or the bar, or head to a club somewhere. There are brothers who will go with you, Books. Get out and be seen,” I say it with all sincerity because the happiness I’m feeling now, I would love to be able to share with my brothers.
“Yeah, you may be right. Maybe I should speak to the Seer and see if she can tell my future?”
“She sees the dead. She’s not a fuckin’ fortune teller,” I snap.
Books chuckles. “I was only pulling your wires, Finger. I’ll wait and see what fate has in store.”
Taking the box with me, I head to Pres’ office.
I seem to spend a lot of time there at the moment.
Knocking I enter before being told, and I see Tracker who is more than my President.
He is my friend who I would lay my life down for.
I hold the box up, and he gives me a huge smirk.
“Love the Seer, Pres,” I grin as it tells him I’m okay with him naming her cut in the way he has.
Before anymore is said, the door opens and Coin walks inside the office, taking a seat before being told.
“Okay, Pres, I’ve spoken with Bull, who in turn has spoken to Avery.
It appears that she is willing to sell us the clothing store building.
Now, I have not seen inside the building, but it is larger than the tattoo shop’s original building, so it would give us room for expansion.
I reckon we all need to take a look, including Scribe, of course, before we make any decisions. ”
Tracker smirks, “That would piss off the old bat, wouldn’t it?”
“Yeah, it would, Pres,” I reply with a huge grin on my face.
“We also won’t have to speak to Lulu because without us putting in any offers she has no reason to come at us.
All she knows is that we were interested, but we felt the asking price was too high.
By buying another building it just shows we were serious about the purchase but were not willing to pay the price she wanted.
She cannot badmouth us for that. The town wouldn’t like that at all.
” Coin is tapping his pen against the notepad he has resting in his lap.
“I was in the clothing store twice I think, and it is a decent size building. Set out well it would have room for probably three stations. I reckon if we do this, we make Scribe the manager and leave him to it. We don’t know enough about it to tell anyone what to do.
Keys and our man here, Coin, will be able to help if and when needed.
" I look at Coin and then Pres, both are nodding gently in agreement.
Tracker grunts, then rubs his chin. We know our Pres well enough to let him be for a moment while he mulls over whatever he is thinking.
“Okay, let’s go after the building. But, Finger take Scribe over first and make sure it’s suitable.
If he is okay with it let’s buy it, make it what we need, and then open it as a new business venture for the club.
I want Scribe patched in as a prospect before he opens the place. ”
“Okay, Pres.” I give him a two-finger salute, then leave the office and head to Scalpel’s office, who has sent me a message to go for my medical tests.
“Ah, here you are, Finger.” Scalpel picks up his phone and sends a message. “Sit here so I can draw some blood. Off with the cut and t-shirt, too.”
Well, Scalpel is on the ball. I’m wanting to get this medical test over with. I’m thinking all this as he jabs me with a needle to draw blood, and plenty of it. Cap walks into the office, takes his cut off and pulls his t-shirt over his head before taking a seat ready for his blood draw.
Eyes and hearing are tested, and he even checks our fucking teeth. I feel like this is more for Scalpel’s enjoyment than the testing. I’m about to tell him where to stick his tests when Cap side-eyes me and gives me a small shake of the head to not do it.
“Okay, on the floor, I want fifty push-ups with no complaining.” Scalpel gives us a smirk, and I know from that we are not going to enjoy this medical test he’s throwing at us.
Hours later, I knew my original thought was right. We’ve done a five-mile run carrying a laden-down pack, burpees, sit-ups, and more push-ups, followed by planks.
Apparently, we are all good as we haven’t had a heart attack yet!
“Okay, you are good to go. When I get the blood results, I’ll call you only if there is an issue. Otherwise, I’ll not waste my time,” Scalpel nearly pushes us both out of his medical office at that point.
I look at Cap who smirks. “Well, we are done, and it wasn’t so bad.”
I’m not sure if he’s taking the piss or I’m not as fit as I thought I was!
We are both wet through with sweat and must stink.
Yet here he is, grinning at me like a fool.
“Whatever. I’m going for a shower,” I snap as I head to my room and clean up before I head home and wait for Cilla.
I want to give her the cut and can’t wait to see her expression.
Once I’ve showered and changed out of my sweat-soaked clothing I head downstairs. I stop at Tracker’s office to check if he needs me for anything before I head home.
“Yeah, go check on Jethro and Spencer as they are both getting rid of bodies. They may need some help because there were a lot of bodies to throw in the acid pit." Tracker gives me a look which would be over his glasses if he wore any.
“Okay, I’ll do that now, then I’m heading out.”
“No problem. I hope Cilla likes her property patch,” Tracker says this with delight in his voice. I know it’s because he’s had the name patch added. “In the morning, we are having an officers meeting regarding the drug issue in town.”
“No problem, I’ll be here.” I head around the back of the clubhouse to check that cleanup is done because the last thing we need is blood spatter everywhere on the compound. I stop when I see Robert, a prospect with two spray bottles in hand. Yeah, my curiosity got the better of me.
“Hi, Finger.” Robert gives me a nod but continues spraying with one of the bottles.
“What are you spraying?” I ask with genuine interest.
Grinning, Robert answers. “Well, this spray is luminol so any blood the assholes left behind we can get rid of. This bottle is a mixture of things that will remove all traces of blood. Not just from being seen but will break it down and remove all evidence it was here.”
“Where the fuck did you get that?”
Robert grins. “It was my cousin. She works in the pharmaceutical industry. She sells to the right people. She knows everything about everything. I asked her what to use to remove blood. She gave me her recipe.”
“So, are you saying there will be no trace whatsoever? What about DNA?”
“Nothing, Finger. Every trace of anything will be gone. Nobody will detect a thing even if they go over it as carefully as possible.” Robert is smirking, but he’s continuing to spray and move forward.
“I’m working in a grid pattern over the compound so that not an inch is left with evidence on it. Even the dogs won’t find anything.”
“Genius…your cousin is a genius,” I mumble.
“Nah, she’s a nutjob. She loves all this sort of thing.
Watches too many TV shows, if you ask me.
But she is into fighting, too, so you have to be careful you don’t piss her off.
She’ll cut you down and make you disappear with one of her fuckin’ chemicals,” Robert laughs, but I can tell he’s nervous about his cousin too.
“Wonder if Pres would like her?” I mumble to myself after I'd slapped his back and walked away. He needs a feisty woman. Maybe this one would work?
Jethro and Spencer are standing at the side of the acid pit when I arrive. “What are you looking at?” I ask, making them jump a little in surprise.
Jethro grins, “Well, we were not sure if we should chop them up and add bits of them steadily or just chuck in a whole body. So we are testing it out.”
“Oh! What have you decided?”
Spencer answers with such a serious face that I struggle not to smirk.
“We cut up the first one and you know, Finger, it was messy. Blood and guts everywhere. Oh, you get shit too, and whatever they had in their stomach. It’s enough to make you heave.
But the body parts broke down quickly. Throwing in the entire body breaks down slower, but you don’t have the mess to clean, and you won’t have any DNA left anywhere. ”
“Oh, the DNA isn’t an issue. You need to speak to Robert ‘cause he has the answer to the blood and DNA issue.” I reckon we have some damn good brothers in these prospects.
Arriving home, I put the cut in the bedroom and look around the house.
Cilla has it well maintained and there is nothing I need to fix at a glance.
Opening the fridge, I notice steaks and the makings for salad.
That I can do. I’m maybe not the best cook, but I can chop salad and throw steaks on the grill outside.
Checking the time, I know I can get supper ready in time for Cilla to get home.
She messaged that she was doing an extended shift as Jayne’s mother was rushed into the hospital with suspected appendicitis.
Cilla is going to be bone-weary tonight.
I hope the ghosts leave her in peace while she’s working.
Checking out Cilla’s garage, I find the grill and clean her up as she’s been sitting in here quite some time by the look of it.
Once clean, I haul it outside and find a small patio area that I’ve not noticed previously.
I’ll extend that because it’s really not big enough if you have company come around.
I could build a grill, add room for a bottle fridge and a gazebo even.
I’ll have to discuss this with Cilla, but if I have Keys draw up plans, it will help her see what it would look like.
Even though we are together, it is early and I don’t want her to think I’m taking over her home. Making decisions without her input is not who I am, and it’s not how I want our relationship to be.
When I hear Cilla’s truck pull into the garage, I head inside and open a bottle of strawberry-flavored water. I know Cilla loves that stuff and she’ll be tired, I’m sure. It has to have been a long day.
“Hi, Mason. What are you doing?” Cilla asks as she walks right into me, and I mean that literally. She slams into my front, wraps her arms around my waist and rests her head on my chest.
“Are you tired, sweetness?” I ask as I kiss the top of her head. I wrap my arms around her while hanging onto the bottle of water.
“Yeah, it’s been a long day. I’m ready for a shower because I stink of the diner.”
“I’ve cleaned up the grill and am going to make us steak and salad. Go shower, and it’ll be ready by the time you come down." I lean away slightly to get a look at her.
“Oh, that’s great, thank you.” Stepping back Cilla sees the water in my hand, takes it, and then reaches up and kisses me softly.
I watch as she leaves the kitchen, and I can’t help but think how lucky I am to have found her. She is so sweet, yet carries the weight of the dead on her shoulders. It takes someone special to do that and remain unspoiled.
A notebook that Cilla keeps on the counter to jot down items we need from the grocery store shoots off the counter, and I feel the hair on my neck raise. “If that is one of you three assholes, you can fuck off and stop listening to my thoughts.”
The pen now follows the notebook, and it follows with force. “CILLA,” I shout, “I WILL HAVE A SHOWER WITH YOU.”
“Okay, come on then,” Cilla shouts back to me.
I childishly flick two fingers towards the kitchen as I rush out and up the stairs. I don’t wanna be on my own right now because I’ve seen what Pyro can do. Dead men are supposed to stay dead I’m thinking, brothers or not!