CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
-:- RUGER -:-
The weekend has come around way too fast, but it has been a productive week I have to admit. Getting rid of the shooter was a bonus. Now we have to get Rosemarie released and taken care of.
Walking up the compound, I find Harris who is standing beside his truck surveying the house blueprints. “Everything okay, Harris?” Startling him somewhat.
“Shit, Ruger, I didn’t know anyone was behind me.
” Rolling the blueprints up and tucking them under his arm, he looks at the progress that has been made on the house already.
“We have no issues so far, Ruger. Everything is running according to plan. I’ve added four more men to the team to give the job a boost. It’ll be ready in another three or four weeks if we don’t hit any snags. ”
“Wow, you have worked hard. I didn’t expect it to be finished that fast.”
“Well, Hammer said it was an urgent one as you are staying at Lincoln’s place or here.
We have skimmed off quite some time on the build by taking on more men.
I’ve worked with them before, and they always work with my usual team well, so it’s working out well all around. Giving them work, and us extra hands.”
“That’s great to hear. I’ll leave you to it then. I just wanted to catch up.” Giving Harris a nod, I make my way back to the compound and through the kitchen, heading for TwoCents' office. But, I come to a halt when I hear Penny grunting…is she grunting?
Penny is standing with Nyx and Sybil. They are grunting, using different tones as they do. Now Penny’s sounds are very much the same, whereas Nyx and Sybil can easily be recognized as a questioning grunt, or a surprised grunt.
I fold my arms across my chest and lean on the bar while watching the three of them.
It’s fucking hilarious if I’m being honest. Wings walks over from where he’s just entered the common room from the front door, and grunts questioningly, which has Sybil return a nosy aren’t you?
Type of grunt, and I can’t stop my chuckle.
Axel walks into the common room with Drag behind him.
They both stop and watch this supposed conversation going on for a few minutes.
Axel looks at Drag with a smirk on his face before turning back to the grunting and adding his own, much to Sybil’s surprise.
She gives a high-pitched grunt, and Axel responds.
I cover my mouth with the palm of my hand to stop another chuckle from escaping.
Amelia walks over with Punkin in her arms and stops to watch this thing playing out.
But everyone stops and turns when Punkin holds her hands out and grunts loudly.
Penny looks at her with rounded eyes before looking at Axel and stating, “Arabella speaks grunt!” When Axel grunts in return and then walks away I can’t hold it back any longer.
The laugh bursts out of me, and everyone turns to watch while I place my hands on my knees, head down, guffawing for all I’m worth.
I didn’t know Bitty was around, but she pats my back and smirks.
“It’s a grunt lesson, Ruger, that’s all. ”
I watch Bitty and the others all saunter into the kitchen. It takes me a while to get myself under control because that has to have been the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time.
The door opens, and Buzz along with BS walk into the common room with Vitale and two of his men. All in the common room straighten up and pay attention to what is about to happen. “Good morning, President Axel,” Vitale smirks, showing no sign of worry at being here in the clubhouse.
“Come to my office.” Axel turns and walks out of the common room, along with Vitale, his men, Drag, Buzz, Wings and BS. It’s going to be a little crowded in there I’m thinking.
Meat appears like magic and disappears into the office, which has me looking at Knuckles who has just entered the common room. “Something’s going on,” I say to him, and he nods while taking a bar stool next to me.
“I bet it’s about this fucker and the warehouse.
Something more going on with him, but he’s keeping it out of town so we don’t see what it is.
From what we know so far, he’s distributing out of a few towns just outside our territory, but that still makes it interesting to Vitale.
” Knuckles leans back on the bar with his elbows and glances over at me.
I nod because I see where he’s going with this.
“Did you hear whether the guy gave more information about the warehouse client? Nell and her three usually find out whatever they need to know,” I ask while flicking my eyes to Knuckles to see his reaction.
Shrugging his shoulders, he gives me the look that says he’s not happy with everything that’s going on, and some we are not hearing about.
“Nothing…it’s just the fucker is distributing, and the other one wants him stopped.
I reckon Axel will step in, but we’ll see.
Nothing much has happened around here in the last few years.
You know Axel may just step up because he needs some action.
” The grin Knuckles gives has the dimples all the women rave about popping, much to my disgust I might add.
Knuckles and I chat about work, our women, the club and other things while watching women and brothers coming in and out of the common room.
We both watch closely as Axel walks past with Vitale and his men.
Now they all look fairly relaxed, so it can’t have been a difficult meeting.
I’m sure Axel will have things under control, whatever they discussed.
Specs walks into the common room and over to me, and by the way he’s looking at me I’m not sure its good news either. “What’s up?” I ask as he nears.
“I’ve just checked the facility’s system and yeah, we got the go-ahead for Rosemarie to be signed off and released. But the stupid fuckers just let her out.”
“No, no, no…” I push past and rush into the kitchen looking for Penny.
“Penny!” I nearly shout but see Penny standing next to Star who is holding Punkin.
“Penny, the bitch is out. The nutjob has left the asylum and is running free.” I suck in a huge breath because you have to believe me that when Specs told me Rosemarie was out, I stopped breathing for a while in pure panic.
Star looks at me and grins, “Oh, that’ll be fun. Penny, leave Arabella with me. I’ll take her to Meat’s man-cave and keep her safe. You all need to find this Pyscho and take her down.”
Penny looks at me, then at Star. “Okay, but you keep her safe no matter what happens. If she dies, you die.”
Star salutes with the hand she can spare while holding Punkin.
“Yes, Momma,” while giving Penny a serious look.
Turning swiftly Star shouts “MEAT!” Who appears from fuckin’ nowhere, and he follows behind Star and Arabella like a damn puppy.
But if you look closely, his body is tense and fully alert.
Star shouting has that man against the world, and nothing, and I mean nothing will get to hurt her, or Arabella who is in her care.
Penny looks at me, raising an eyebrow. “Meat’s man-cave?”
“Yeah, it’s his loft area. He has it set out as an office, library, holds a huge gun cabinet, and it has a stunning display of antique weaponry.
All behind bulletproof glass and an iris recognition to even open it.
Punkin will be safe with Star and Meat. If an apocalypse happened, I’d know she’d survive with them.
” I mean every word I’ve just said regarding Punkin’s safety in their hands.
They may be crazy fuckers, but that craziness is what will keep Punkin safe, no matter what happens.
“Okay. So, we act as normal, apart from Arabella staying here with Star and Meat. I go to work, and you go about your daily things. I have one of the security team with me when out of here or work. We tell them the crazy bitch is on the loose and they’ll step up their stuff, you know, whatever it is they do when guarding someone. ”
Penny looks so serious I hold back a smirk when she says the team will step up their stuff.
I’m sure they will once I’ve spoken to everyone.
But Penny is so cute when she gets confused.
“Yeah, they’ll step up. I’ll speak to Lincoln and Delta.
Delta will up her monitoring of the building because she is anal about the business’s security. ”
“Okay, so Arabella is safe now. We plan how we are going to find Rosemarie and stop her once and for all.” Penny grabs my hand and pulls me into the common room and to Axel’s office, where she knocks loudly.
Nothing, no shout to come in or other. But it’s Sunday, and Axel likes to spend as much time with Mia and the kids as he can, so I’m not surprised he is not in his office.
The door opens however, and Drag gives us a questioning look.
Penny pushes past and drops into a seat. “Okay, what are we going to do about the psycho bitch? I know you will have plans, so let’s have them?” I take a seat next to Penny and wait to see what Drag has to say about this question.
“Buzz has gone to speak to all his contacts on the streets and businesses. He may not contact some until tomorrow. Target is reaching out to his contacts, as is, Wings, Chaos and BS. We’ll find her but be vigilant, Penny, because something tells me this bitch is sneaky, and more than a little dangerous.
” Drag is sitting on the edge of Axel’s desk looking right at Penny. “Where is Arabella?”
“She is with Meat and Star,” I give him the look that tells him I’m more than pissed that this bitch is in the wind.
“Okay, Arabella is safe with them. Let’s lure this bitch out, if you are up for it, Penny?” Drag leans forward slightly, but I tense up because I’m not liking where this is going.
“No.”
“Ruger, let’s hear him out first,” Penny looks at me while taking my hand in hers. I look at her, and she gives me a small smile, which has me calming myself somewhat. I nod at Drag as I turn back to face him, but my gut is clenched.
“We have three people who are not known to be around our women, or brothers if it comes to that. If Penny goes about her daily business, then takes a trip to the mall, all without her security team, it gives the impression we are no longer worried about a threat. But we’ll have Richie, Tank and Graham right behind Penny waiting to get the bitch.
Once we got her she’ll be dinner for the gators.
” Drag smiles broadly, then continues, “I’ve not seen Teeth, Jaws, Shark and Jingle lately, so it would be a treat to see. ”
“Who are Richie, Tank and Graham?” Penny asks, turning to look at me once more.
“One of our friends and associates runs a business, and Richie and Tank work for Nell who owns the business. They are ex-military and very extreme in their protection ideals. They are like brothers to Nell, but Graham is Nell’s blood brother, and he is a badass in his own right.
The three of them on detail would make sure nothing happened to you.
But I still don’t like you going around with nobody physically with you.
” I give Drag another filthy look before turning back to Penny.
“Okay, let’s do it. I want Arabella to live a life where she won’t have to worry about a psycho coming from somewhere. I don’t want to be looking over my shoulder forever either. Oh, gators?”
Drag chuckles, “Yeah, gators.”
Penny looks from Drag to me and back again. “I’ll do it. Let’s take this psycho bitch down and let her be dinner for the gators. But I don’t want to see them feed.”
Both Drag and I chuckle at that remark. “Does Axel know about this suggestion?” I ask, and I imagine he would, but you never know.
“We’ve mentioned it, but he wasn’t keen on the idea. He said it was Penny’s call, and if she wasn’t happy we’d try something else.” Drag stands from his perch on the desk and gives Penny a serious look. “It’s your decision, Penny.”
“I’ll do it. I’d like to meet the three men first because then I’ll recognize them as I’m going around.”
“Okay. Ruger take Penny over to Nell’s, that way she can meet them all. I’ll inform Nell you are on your way.” Drag opens the door and gives me a head nod to get moving.
“Come on, babe. Let’s go for a ride.” I’m looking forward to having Penny on the back of my bike. It’s something that doesn’t happen often due to Punkin. We’ll make the most of it while Punkin is safe with Star and Meat.