Chapter 28
Shooter
“Iwant to make it official,” I announced. With all eyes staring back at me, I may have jumped the gun a little too early.
A stern look was shot back at me; Hound Dog warned me without words.
Only a few minutes into the officer meeting and I was on the verge of being kicked out.
My leg couldn’t stop bouncing from the anticipation, waiting to make it official, knowing that she would be fully protected from any danger and officially mine.
He had called for a meeting before going into a church meeting a couple of days after the shootout at Ms. Raven’s.
“About time,” B.B. chimed in. Somehow his goofy ass was the V.P., I never understood it. He seemed too much like Fender, more on the charming and cheery side of things whereas Hound Dog and I were more heavy handed and bloodthirsty, a bit more stern.
"We have more pressing matters right now,” Hound Dog said, putting his foot down on the matter. When he saw the fire in my eyes, he narrowed his and said, “We’ll come back to that.”
I sat back in the chair, everyone was here.
Hound Dog, our president at the head of the table, B.B, our V.P, right beside him.
Fender, our Road Captain, and Twitty, our sergeant at arms, and myself in line with each other.
Hank, our treasurer, and Otis, our secretary on the opposite side of the table.
Reverend, our chaplain, was outside the door, never far from us ever needing a counselor, but helped step in when we needed someone to not interrupt us.
I tried to remain quiet, keyword was tried. There was much going on in the background that it was hard to ignore.
Hound Dog leaned back in his chair and took a deep breath, trying to find the words that no one wanted to hear, at least again. “Apparently we have another problem. It seems like when we got rid of one annoyance, another popped up.”
Hank chimed in, “It was bound to happen. It happens to other chapters and lord knows we never came into this city with open arms.” Hank had been here for a while, between him and Twitty, they’d been here the longest on board.
“Doesn’t matter. Apparently the lesson of burning down one club wouldn’t signal to others to never step foot in our city,” Hound protested. “The amount of peace has long been gone.”
It had been months since we burnt the Razor Hogs MC and said goodbye to the problems they created.
Like many others, they had seen our chapter, our club as an infestation and tried to take back the city, thinking that we wouldn’t fit.
But the thing was, their sins racked up between pinning us for overdoses, taking our “side business”, and then kidnapping Melody, it was game over and the end of the rivalry that spanned for years.
A simple strike of a match did that, and we had reached our end.
“The rumors don’t help the case either,” B.B. said.
“Rumors could have easily died,” Otis acknowledged.
“How when we don’t know who or what was starting these rumors,” Fender commented.
We would go round and round with who started it and what we were going to do; honestly, it felt like a fucking vent session not strategic planning or who’s blood was going to shed. My legs started to bounce harder, attempting to bite my tongue before I said anything that would get my ass kicked.
The brothers kept commenting that they were frustrated, B.B.
tried to charm his way and offer to take a deeper dive, more boots on the ground.
Hound Dog shook his head, arguing that we didn’t have all the information, or a lead.
No one wanted to speak up. Otis attempted to offer a plan of talking to Greene about what they were saying on the streets.
Fender reminded him that Greene was being useless.
“How about we just address what’s been seen or heard?” I muttered.
After a moment, Otis snickered. “I’m sorry, couldn’t hear you through the beard.”
“Got something else to share there, Shooter?” Hound Dog quipped; a serious tone filled the air.
I felt the heat of all the eyes on me. For once, I probably should have stayed quiet.
They waited for me to spill whatever was brewing in my head.
Maybe I was antsy and just wanted to get back to Amelia or maybe I just had other things that needed to get done like burying a soon to be ex-husband and have my girl forever.
With a sigh, I leaned back in my chair and rubbed my forehead, “How about we just go over what's been told, or what’s been seen.”
“Someone is a bit impatient,” B.B. chirped.
“Maybe I’m just the one with common sense, knowing that there’s a problem, how about we just track what we do know,” I said, choosing to remain quiet.
“Go for it then” Hound Dog commanded.
I debated on just staying there and allowing everyone else to say what they needed to say. But I took matters into my own hands. “As long as I don’t get bitch slapped for shooting off at the mouth.”
“Then don’t,” Hound Dog warned.
I leaned on the table, crossing my arms, all brothers watching intently.
“Listen, from the last fight night, things were off. I wasn’t the only one that felt it.
There were too many suits in the audience, and their eyes were pinned to the matches, especially when it was Dillon’s fight.
” I paused for a moment. The flash of seeing Dillon in the ring, his stance slacked, his ambition draining during the first round.
He wasn’t the fighter that I had seen before.
He kept looking back, seeing if someone was watching.
I was watching, I saw him frightened, debating on whether to make a choice or not.
His words sparked an epiphany. “I’m just making sure I made the right choice”, that’s what he said, his eyes drifting away.
I replayed it, he was watching the suits, the ones that barely took their eyes off the ring.
Something was going on in the background, and it was being well hidden.
“Between a new bookie that later Hank said he didn’t remember and an audience with more suits than my liking, I mean the kid was thrown off,” I said.
“Still haven’t heard from him, have you?” Hank asked.
I shook my head. I tried to call him. “I’ll have Blaze or Waylan do a check in.” I was concerned about him too.
I tried to wrap my head. Rarely did we get everyday businessmen coming through the fights. The crowd we drew was a hodge-podge of people. The shootout with someone moving in on our businesses, it was too much of a coincidence.
“Don’t forget about the rumors of a mafia family moving in,” B.B. pointed out.
There were rumbles of agreement before Hound Dog raised an eyebrow, “Mafia? Really? Since when does the mafia decide to travel to the midst of the south and decide to camp out here?”
“It’s not one of Melody’s books.” B.B. snickered, wiggling his eyebrows.
“The fact that you know what type of books she reads is concerning,” Hound grumbles.
“Who do you think runs the book club?” B.B. winked.
Hound Dog groaned, “And I keep wondering why we made you V.P. Jesus, what else do we know then?”
Fender wiggled in his seat. “Ms. Raven’s shop and the letter that she had. There wasn’t a signature. It wasn’t an empty threat though.”
“And yet, we still got shot at and possibly threatened my livelihood,” I added.
“Oh please, you’re still pissed that you tried to hide it with sex and she threatened to withhold sex from you next time you don’t tell her.” Hound Dog smirked.
I would ask how he knew but I said, “I’m going to need your ol’ lady to stop gossiping with mine. Last thing we fucking need is them to wonder who has the bigger dick. By the way, it’s mine.”
“Not my fault you tried to hide shit from her. Y’all know I tried that with Melody and…” Hound said.
“And you folded like a pretzel,” B.B. finished. He was rewarded with a smack at the back of the head.
Hound Dog muttered, “The shit we do for our women.” He waved his hand to someone to continue before he regretted his life decisions.
“Yes, Ms. Raven’s shop. We owe her big time, not her fault,” Fender continued. “There wasn’t a recognizable signature, any indication of an identity.”
Hound Dog thought of something. “You shot them outside, which was completely stupid. I’ll let it slide cause you already got your ass handed to you.
Thanks to you, Greene had to be notified and Blaze had to hack into the street cams to erase anything that happened.
” I flipped him off. “But you said you shot the tires.” At least, I thought I did. “I’m pretty sure I did.”
“Pretty sure or you did?” Otis asked, his stern tone showed his slight annoyance.
“The SUV never swerved, they kept gunning it,” Fender recalled.
“Then you didn’t shoot it,” Hank said.
“I did. I know for a fact I did. I was on my last clip. And I heard a brief, but small puncture sound,” I kept defending.
“Then explain how they got away,” Otis questioned.
I thought about that after I left Amelia.
How did they keep going, like it never happened?
Like it was nothing at all. I knew one thing, I wasn’t going to be called out for lack of shooting.
“Fuck if I know. All I know was, it seemed like it was timed. Like they had been watching the entire time, maybe they had cameras in the shop or something. I remember the sound of the hit when it hit the tire. Like a wisp of air hissed and then stopped. I know I shot at it.”
“Hidden cameras? Talking from experience?” Hound Dog asked, raising an eyebrow.
“The less you know, Prez.”
“He’s not far off though,” Otis chimed in.
I turned my attention to him. “The cameras or the shooting? You think I’m telling the truth now?”
“The tires. And no, just a thought that would attest to your claims.” Otis sneered.
I rolled my eyes. “Ever the lawyer. I’m still waiting for answers on my other issue.”
“I still bail your asses out. No, you just reminded me of a case I tried, once upon a time,” Otis explained.