Chapter 10 Never a Waste #3
Unbidden, Beast’s words about Savannah not being an old lady hit him.
Punc hadn’t given any thought to taking an old lady.
After spending so much time with Savannah the week before she was attacked, then while she was in the hospital, and learning things about her from Catalina and Rita…
Punc didn’t care if she would wear a cut declaring her as his old lady, he knew she was the woman he wanted by his side, and to hell with the consequences.
He shook his head at himself. She had enough on her plate. He didn’t need to complicate her life, and he wouldn’t, because of his loyalty to the club.
Before he could dig the key to their house out of his pocket, Savannah unlocked and opened the door. “Hey! I heard you pull up. Do you need any help?”
Her hair was piled up on top of her head in a clip and she wore a dusky pink t-shirt adorned with a row of silver plates shiny enough that they looked like small mirrors, along with snug, black capris.
Savannah could make a burlap sack fashionable, but something about her casual look told him she’d put in some effort.
He grinned and held up the brown paper bag. “No need for help. Hope you’re hungry.”
She stepped out of the doorway, and he caught a whiff of her floral perfume as he moved inside.
Before she shut the door, her fingers skated along his bicep sending a zing of awareness through him. “You didn’t have to bring me lunch, you know?”
He leaned toward her and lowered his voice. “I don’t have to do a lot of things, but I wanted to do this.”
Her eyes flared at him and he imagined her looking at him like that in bed. He felt that in his cock. If he wasn’t careful he’d sit down with a hard-on. He straightened from her and sauntered to the kitchen.
Three days later, the brothers had church. The somber mood had a strange edge to it that Punc couldn’t quite identify. The women (dancers and old ladies alike) were safe, and Prime, the traitor, was behind bars.
Volt called the meeting to order. “The district attorney is focusing on bringing down the Devil Lancers. From what Bernstein - the club lawyer - can gather, Prime worked a plea deal for lesser charges.”
“Fuckin’ coward,” Turk muttered.
Punc nodded, and wished that Prime and the Devil Lancers hadn’t been rounded up by the police.
Volt’s lips tipped up. “Right, but that means his charges aren’t so severe that a judge would deny bail. Five minutes ago, Patch’s contact at the jail called. He’s gonna fill us in when he gets off the phone.”
Roll frowned. “Do we know if Prime’s posting bail? If he isn’t, he’ll end up being moved to the prison too, right?”
“He should, but that slippery fucker will probably work some deal on that shit too,” Blood said.
“I’ll post his bail,” Turk said in a vicious tone.
“Not if I post it first,” Yak said.
“No,” Volt said firmly to keep other brothers from chiming in. “I’m putting it to a vote. The club will post his bail.”
Razor cleared his throat. “I’m all for stripping this asshole’s patch and any other form of retribution Yak and Turk want, but we post the bail, there will be a paper trail.”
Blood nodded. “And that’s money down the drain, not to mention they typically want some form of collateral.”
Volt said, “One more thing Bernstein heard is that Prime’s mom has been arrested.”
“Why?” Liar asked.
Yak turned toward Liar. “That bitch works at the physical therapy firm Nora goes to - but a different location. She called the other office for Nora’s contact info, spouting bullshit about Nora thinking of changing offices.
That’s how Prime got to her, since she was convinced her appointment had changed. ”
Liar shook his head. “How do you know all that? Prime sure as hell didn’t admit to it.”
Yak took a deep breath, and Punc could only imagine how hard it was to keep calm about this shit.
“When Nora got her phone back from the cops late that night, she saw the confirmation text from the PT office for a Tuesday appointment, and we knew something was wrong. Nora mentioned it to the cops and first thing the next morning, we found out the truth.”
Beast whistled. “So, that fuckin’ coward sacrificed his mother.”
Volt nodded. “You bet he did. Let’s stay focused though. Blood makes a good point: we bail his ass out, we won’t get the cash back.”
Beast sat back in his seat. “There’s another option. Heard this morning that two of the Southside Slayers are in jail for selling meth. We could get them to—”
“Then we’d owe them a marker,” Cal said.
“I don’t want to owe them, and they’d probably do us wrong,” Volt said.
Punc stepped forward from his spot against the wall. “I’ll get arrested and handle it.”
A mixture of confusion and annoyance crossed Volt’s face. “Even if you could arrange that, why the hell would you?”
While Punc had been staying with Ava he’d paid attention to her healing.
Her face had cleared for the most part, but the attack had left an unseen mark.
He had wracked his mind for different ways to make Prime pay for what he’d done to Ava.
His need to beat the shit out of Prime practically consumed him.
He clenched his jaw. “That asshole didn’t just turn against us. He fuckin’ arranged for sweet Ava to be beaten. Turning off monitors and shit.”
Turk’s brows rose. “‘Sweet Ava’? What is that?”
Punc glanced away. He hadn’t meant to say it like that, and he hated that Turk sounded so angry.
“Is there a single dancer you don’t flirt with?” Turk demanded.
Yak stared at Punc for a beat before catching Turk’s gaze. “Let it go, Turk. Not the focus of this meeting.”
Turk glared at Yak. “Right. But we will discuss it.”
After a lengthy silence, Volt said, “That’s a great idea in theory, but Prime gets so much as a fuckin’ paper cut, and they’re gonna be looking at you.”
Punc shrugged, then ran his hand through his hair. “So?”
“So… sweet Ava will get snatched up by some other asshole. Probably one who doesn’t work at Platinum’s,” Yak said. “It’s great you want revenge, but you’ll do more time if you even get near Prime.”
Tundra shook his head. “How are we at an impasse with this? We aren’t bailing the asshole out, though that would be cool as fuck. Punc’s crazy ass wants to get arrested, but you put the kibosh on that. There has to be a solution.”
Patch came into the room and took his seat across from Blood, next to Volt. “Randy, my buddy at the jail tells me Prime’s plea deal kept him away from Ghost before they moved Ghost to the Duval County prison.”
“Is Prime posting bail?” Turk asked.
Patch stroked his beard. “His momma got fired for being an accomplice in Nora’s abduction. She’s facing her own problems with the law.”
“Probably why he struck a plea - thinking it would help him save his mom,” Tundra said.
Patch shrugged. “Hard to say, but Randy heard two Devil Lancers who weren’t at the raid are bailing Prime out. He should be released later this afternoon, once they get a judge.”
Something about the look on Volt’s face didn’t sit well with Punc.
Yak leaned forward, his eyes narrowed on Volt. “We aren’t going to let the Devil Lancers deal with Prime, are we?”
Volt stared at him. “It would be easier, and less dangerous.” He paused. “But it also sends the wrong message. Nobody earns a patch with us and helps another club attack us.”
“Then what’s the plan?” Turk asked.
“Vamp, you and Razor stake out the jail. Follow Prime - don’t get spotted,” Volt said.
“We won’t,” Razor muttered.
Volt continued. “The rest of you, be ready to ride late tonight. Prime’s gonna learn a lesson before he disappears.”
“What about Platinum’s tonight?” Patch asked.
Volt dipped his chin. “You and Blood will manage it tonight. Four Biloxi brothers are on the way to act as security.”
“Why? Won’t we pick Prime up in the wee hours - after Platinum’s closes?” Punc asked.
Volt shook his head. “We’re nabbing him and taking him to a meet with brothers from the Memphis chapter. They had a brother turn eight years ago. Hearing about this shit, they want to help us with Prime.”
“How does that ‘send a message’?” Punc asked.
Blood sighed. “If we leave him to be found, local cops are looking at the Devil Lancers and us.”
“They’ll do that when he fails to appear, too,” Tundra said.
Volt nodded. “Yeah, but we won’t have seen him since the day he took Nora.”
“It’s a shame we don’t have his phone,” Punc said.
“Why?” Yak asked.
“Tracking and shit. Could lead cops right to the Devil Lancers or wherever we drop him.”
“Well, we don’t have his phone, so let’s stay focused,” Blood said.
Volt turned to Blood. “Anybody go through his room yet?”
“No,” Punc and Tundra said.
“Been busy with other stuff,” Tundra added.
Volt nodded. “It’s a long shot, but we should check it. He may have used a burner to talk to the Devil Lancers.”
Yak scoffed. “Yeah, right. Only Punc goes out of his way to use a burner.”
Roll pulled his cell from his back pocket. “Texting Trixie. She can check for us. Since she needed something from the saddlebags just before church, she’s got my keys, which means she’s got the master to get in his room.”
Punc leaned toward the table to get Volt’s attention. “Not to question the plan, but how are Vamp and Razor gonna know when the two Devil Lancers come for Prime? None of us know what they look like.”
Beast grinned. “That’s where you’re wrong. When I covered for Yak and Turk, two Devil Lancers showed up at Platinum’s. I zoomed in the security camera on each of them. Got their ugly faces printed out just in case we needed them.”
“Why the hell would they come to Platinum’s?” Tundra asked.
Beast’s blue eyes widened. “To start shit, man. Hell, you’re the one who told them they’d get kicked out.”
Tundra shook his head. “Those two were hell-raisers and weren’t wearing cuts.”
Beast nodded. “Yeah, but they were when they were in the parking lot. They left ‘em in their saddlebags. The moment I saw you dealing with two rough-looking assholes, I thought it might be either Devil Lancers or some other club trying to fuck with us, since Prime’s face was all over the fuckin’ news. ”
Cal sighed. “And you’re just now telling us about it?”
“First time we’ve had church. I let Blood know, and he passed it on to Volt.”
Volt sat back in his chair. “He did pass that on. If you printed their pictures, give those to Vamp and Razor.”
A banging on the double doors prevented anyone else from weighing in. Muffled voices made their way into the room.
“They wanted me to come down here, prospect,” a female voice said.
Punc closed his eyes in a long blink since Trixie’s voice was so distinct.
“Let me handle this, Volt,” Roll said.
The door opened and a prospect stuck his head inside the room. “Sorry, President. I tried to keep her from getting down the hallway—”
Roll stepped in front of the prospect. “Don’t worry about it. Let me out, I’ll deal with my woman.”
A couple minutes later Roll set two cell phones on the table. “Seems we got lucky, since that asshole was such a moron.”
Punc’s eyes widened at the sight of a cell phone he thought had fallen out of his pocket weeks ago. He stepped toward the table to grab it. “Hey! That’s the phone I lost.”
Yak held a hand up to stop Punc. “Wait, wait, wait. Why would he have your cell phone?”
Punc shrugged. “Hell if I know, but come to think of it, he bumped into me the day I lost it.”
Yak nodded. “Remember you telling me that - and how you were happy your cell fit in your back pocket. Seems to me he could have lifted it then, when you were distracted by him dropping his phone.”
From across the table, Razor grabbed the other phone. “Motherfucking shit.”
“What?” Blood asked.
Razor glanced up at Blood and Volt. “If I’m reading these messages right, Prime and Ghost were going to set Puncture up for Ava’s murder. Had Yak not seen the feed being off, Ghost was set to beat her to death in the parking lot and make it look like Punc was behind it.”
For a moment, Punc stood at the wall breathing deep and hard. Turning against the club was bad enough, but the idea that asshole had planned to frame him. And not just frame him for any crime, but for murdering a woman he’d known for years… His vision filled with red. “I’m getting the first punch.”
Yak shared a look with Turk. “I don’t mind, as long as I get the first slice at his tat.”
Turk shrugged and his lips tipped up. “You should rethink that. The asshole opted for his forearm. It’ll be my blade that kills him, though.”