Chapter Fourteen #2
By ten o’clock the place was packed. Wall to wall patches from the pool tables to the bar, including the new, ex-Spiders prospects.
After Hatch took out Warlock and burned the Spiders to the ground, he made a peace offering to Hendo, an ex-Spider who’d saved Hatch’s life.
He offered him the chance to patch over to the Dogs and bring along five suitable prospects with him.
True to his word, Hendo did just that. He recruited five ex-Spiders whom he trusted, along with his fifteen-year-old son, Kieran, to prospect for the club.
Of course, Kieran was too young to patch in, but he’d already been adopted by the club and dubbed ‘Jester.’ As for the other five, they seemed okay, but I don’t think anyone in the club fully trusted them yet.
This was the first club social event they’d been invited to at the new clubhouse which meant Hatch felt good about their futures with the club.
Otherwise, they would have been relegated to Big Ernie’s and never been allowed to know this place existed.
Harker, Forge, Big Danny, Sevens, and Hardcase made up Hendo’s squad of maybes.
Harker and Forge I knew by reputation only.
They were ‘brothers’ who came up in the foster system together in Gresham.
They weren’t blood, but they were just as thick.
Good riders who didn’t take shit but didn’t start it either.
Everybody in the Pacific Northwest knew Big Danny.
He’d ridden as a Nomad for fifteen years, up and down the west coast, before patching in with the Spiders.
He was respected and he was feared and for good reason.
Big Danny was the one who put a guy in a coma for touching his niece.
The cops could never prove it, but everyone on the street knew it was him.
It was street justice as far as everyone was concerned.
I knew nothing about Sevens, but he was sitting at the bar, which is exactly where I was headed.
Unfortunately the only open was next to Hardcase.
Also at the bar were Ruin, Cash, and Razor .
“Hey, Archer,” Buzz said from behind the bar as I bellied up.
“This is starting to become a full-time gig for you,” I said.
“No, shit. Hatch says everyone likes my drinks the best, but ninety percent of the time I’m just pulling beers and pouring shots, so I think he’s just trying to butter me up.”
“Well, put me down for one of those beers, will ya? Pbr if you’ve got it.”
Razor raised his hand. “This round’s on me.”
My bar mates and I thanked Razor, and Buzz went down the line, refilling drinks, stopping when he got to me.
“Oh, wait just a moment please,” he said, ducking behind the bar quickly before coming back up with my blue, ceramic teapot. “I think you’ll find a spot of tea is what you need.”
Buzz then produced a teacup and saucer. Placing them down carefully, in front of me before pouring an actual cup of tea. “Don’t worry, Lady Chatterley. It’s decaf. I know how sensitive your constitution is.”
The bar, and everyone around us, erupted into laughter.
I shook my head. “You evil sonofabitch. You planned this. You motherfucking set me up.”
Buzz howled. “Bro, you made a teapot and then you told me to hide it under the bar. What the fuck did you think was going to happen?”
“Pinkies up, gentlemen,” Razor instructed and my bar mates followed his instruction, thrusting out their pinkies before slamming down their shots and beers.
There was nothing I could do. Buzz burned me and he burned me good. I just had to stand there and take the ridicule and abuse of my brothers like a man.
“Shit, Archer. Didn’t you learn to color inside the lines in kindergarten?” Cash called out, examining my work. “Oh, wait, I was there. For anyone wondering, he did not. How he ended up inking people, I have no idea.”
“You think anyone ought to drink out of that thing? It looks like Archer painted it with his dick,” Mack said.
“It’s called glazing,” I said.
“Okay, I stand corrected,” Mack said. “Archer glazed this teapot with his dick.”
The laughs and the ribbing continued in the manner in which you’d expect, until Hardcase, who was sitting next to me said, “Jesus, I don’t care how much I wanted to nail a bitch, she’d never get me to play with paints and Play-Doh.”
“Careful,” I warned Hardcase.
Ribbing from my brothers I could take, but I was in no mood for shit talk from this asshole. Especially on the subject of Echo.
“No, seriously, I’d be like, ‘Fuck you, bitch. Suck my d—’”
Hardcase didn’t have time to finish the sentence before I was on him. I punched him square on the jaw, knocking him off his barstool and onto the floor. Then I pounced. Landing on top of him, raining down as many blows as I could before my brothers pulled me off him.
“Motherfucker, what the hell is your problem?” Hardcase yelled as he got back to his feet, bleeding from his mouth.
“Call my woman a bitch one more time and I’ll fucking cut your tongue out,” I growled back as I struggled to get back to him.
“Get your shit under control,” Razor said, as he tightened his hold on me. “This guy could be a patched member soon.”
“Not if I have any fucking thing to say about it,” I spat out.
“Whatever this is, knock it the fuck off, right the fuck now! ” Hatch’s voice boomed over the ruckus. “Or I’ll bounce both your asses out of here.”
As much as my president’s reprimand may have caused me to calm my shit down, it wasn’t actually he who did it. It was the sight of Echo, standing in the front entrance, bathed in the soft light shining over the doorway.
“Fuck,” I hissed out.
Her eyes found mine and she jabbed a finger toward me. “Red flag!”
“Goddammit,” I hissed, and hauled ass after her.