Chapter Nineteen
Twister
The roar of my engine cut through the quiet morning like a damn war drum. The streets of Madison were waking up slowly, but I was already fired up. That note shoved under Tempi’s door was a warning and a threat. I didn’t take kindly to either.
I pulled into the clubhouse lot and parked. Dust kicked up as my boots hit the pavement. Nugget was leaning against the wall outside, smoking a cigarette like he hadn’t slept.
“Everything good with Tempi?”
he asked and flicked ash to the side.
“She’s fine,”
I replied, my voice low.
“Got her watched. Now it’s time to handle the ones behind the bullshit.”
Nugget nodded.
“Hodge and Podge are already inside waiting for you.”
I pushed open the heavy clubhouse door and found them seated at the table, chewing on breakfast sandwiches like it was just another day. Hodge wiped his mouth with the back of his hand when he saw me.
“You look like you’re ready to set something on fire,”
he muttered.
“Not yet,”
I said.
“But I plan to get close.”
Podge leaned back in his chair.
“We doing this?”
“We’re doing this,”
I confirmed.
“Grab your cuts. We ride in five.”
They didn’t ask questions. Just got up and followed.
We fired up the bikes and took off. The ride to the bike shop was quick. I was too damn keyed up. Brick through our window. Threat under Tempi’s door. Same fucking message from different messengers.
We parked in front of the bicycle shop with a rumble that shook the sidewalk. The place looked just like last time. Glass front, cheap decal on the door, and a wide-eyed kid behind the counter who looked like he’d just pissed himself when he saw us.
I stepped inside first. Podge followed, and the moment the door clicked shut behind us, he reached up and locked it.
Click.
The kid’s eyes went wide as dinner plates.
“Get your bosses,”
I said and leaned across the counter.
“Then take the rest of the day off.”
He didn’t argue. Didn’t breathe. Just nodded and scurried into the back room like a rat escaping fire.
Footsteps. Voices. Then Nick and Frank appeared.
This time, they didn’t have that cocky edge. No puffed chests or smug smiles.
Just sweat and dread.
“Morning, boys,”
I drawled and straightened up.
“We need to talk.”
Nick glanced at the locked door, then at Podge and Hodge, then back to me.
“Listen… if this is about the—”
“It is,”
I cut in.
“Exactly about the fucking brick that came through our window. That note Tempi got shoved under her door. Same chicken shit tactics. Same vibe.”
Frank swallowed hard.
“We didn’t…”
Hodge moved around the counter without a word. Frank and Nick backed up so fast they almost tripped over themselves.
Nick made a break for it, bolting left, aiming for the back room like he was gonna teleport out of this situation.
Hodge was faster.
He grabbed Nick by the back of the shirt and slammed him up against the wall hard enough to rattle the damn drywall.
“Where the fuck you think you’re going?”
Hodge growled with one arm pressed across Nick’s throat.
Podge moved to Frank, who made the smart move of not running. Though it did look like he was about to piss his pants. Neither of these assholes was as tough as they thought they were.
“I, I, I didn’t—”
Nick stammered.
“Start talking,”
I said and stepped in closer.
“You throw the brick?”
“No!”
Nick cried, and his eyes were wild.
“We didn’t! I swear, we didn’t want to do any of this!”
Frank was standing frozen near the counter, pale as a ghost.
“Then who the fuck did?” I asked.
Silence.
I stepped forward, placed both hands on the counter, and slammed one flat against the surface. The crack echoed like a gunshot.
“Tell me who the fuck they are!”
I shouted.
Frank flinched.
“We-we-we can’t tell you,”
he stammered.
“Wrong answer,”
I barked.
“You’re playing games with the wrong club.”
Nick was trembling.
“Please… please, man. We didn’t want to be part of this. We were told to send messages. We didn’t know it would escalate like this.”
“Who. Are. You. Working. For?”
I demanded.
Nick squeezed his eyes shut, then blurted, “The Ledger!”
Hodge froze. Podge straightened behind me.
“Please don’t kill me!”
Nick whimpered.
“We’re not doing this to you. We’re just, just relaying messages. Orders.”
I turned to Podge.
“The Ledger?”
He raised a brow.
“Whatever the fuck that is.”
I looked back at Nick.
“Who is The Ledger?”
“We don’t know!”
Nick shouted, still pinned.
“No one knows who they are. They’re just… there.”
“Not good enough,”
I snapped.
“Then how do you know to fuck with us? You just wake up and decide to play messenger boy for the bogeyman?”
“No!”
Nick shouted.
“We get messages. Emails. Letters. Weird shit. Always anonymous. Started ten years ago. At first we thought it was some prank, you know? But when we ignored them… things happened.”
Frank stepped forward.
“Bad things,”
he added.
“Our store got trashed one night. We lost all our suppliers. Got shut down for fake zoning issues.”
“Yeah,”
Nick said quickly.
“Health violations that didn’t exist. Fire inspections we didn’t know about. All fines. All pressure. They make it so hard to breathe, man.”
I looked at Hodge. That last part hit a little too close to home.
“So what?”
Podge said.
“You just get these messages and roll over like puppies?”
“What would you do?”
Nick shouted, wild.
“We tried fighting back. We stopped responding for a while. Next thing we know, one of our suppliers’ trucks gets hijacked. Full shipment gone. Next week? IRS audit. Just shows up. Fucking scary.”
I stared at him.
“You seriously don’t know who’s behind it?”
“No,”
Frank said.
“They don’t show their faces. Ever. They don’t ask for money. They just… push. Control.”
“And now they want us out of Madison,”
I murmured.
Nick nodded frantically.
“They told us to scare you off. Said you were stepping into something bigger than you realized.”
“You should just leave,”
Frank said quietly.
“Find another city. It’s not worth it.”
“Not worth it,”
I repeated, eyes narrowing.
They didn’t know a damn thing about me.
“The only city I give a shit about right now is the one where she is,”
I said coldly.
Frank frowned.
“You mean Tempi from the bar?”
I smiled then, slow and deadly.
“If I were you, I’d be real careful about what words you use when talking about her.”
Nick whimpered.
I stepped forward.
“Let me make something crystal clear. You throw another brick, send another note, or even look at Tempi the wrong way… you’re gonna have a hell of a lot more to worry about than this Ledger bullshit. You’ll have me. And you don’t want that.”
They both nodded, eyes wide, and their heads bobbed like fucking bobbleheads.
“We good?” I asked.
“Y-yeah,”
Nick said.
Frank mumbled something that sounded like agreement.
I glanced at Hodge and Podge.
“Let’s roll.”
Podge unlocked the door. Hodge gave Nick one last glare before letting him go.
We stepped out into the sunlight.
The moment the door shut behind us, I felt like I could breathe again.
“That was fucked,”
Podge muttered.
Hodge grunted.
“That Ledger shit sounds like a cult.”
“Or worse,”
I added.
“But we’re not running.”
“No,”
Hodge said.
“We’re not.”
We straddled our bikes and fired up the engines.
And as we rode back to the clubhouse, one thing became clear:
Whoever this Ledger was, they thought they could scare us.
They were wrong.
They hadn’t met the Saint’s Outlaws yet. Not really.
And I wasn’t going anywhere. Not while Tempi was in this city. Not while someone was threatening her.