7. Making a Statement
Seven
Making a Statement
Bullet
My arm is numb from Amelia lying on it for the better part of the evening, but I couldn’t bear the thought of her moving away from me. The scent of her perfume, the way she burrowed into my side, just feels too good to shift her off me.
It’s getting late. I force myself to put her in her bed and leave her, but not before I pull the blanket over her sleeping form, allow myself one last look, and lock up.
As I make my way to my bike, I see that Thunder is sitting in his Range Rover across the street.
This is one of the things that were the hardest to get used to when I joined the Pride: understanding that when a Pride brother says he’s going to do something or be somewhere, he actually intends to follow through.
I back out of the driveway and stop at his window.
“Thanks, man. Sucks that you get the night shift,” I tell him.
Thunder is an older brother and a no-nonsense kind of guy.
His rule for life is simple: Treat me right, and I treat you right.
Fuck me over, and you’ll pay dearly. Thunder likes to keep moving.
Where most of the guys in the club have a set job, whether it be the bounty business, the mechanic shop, the parts distribution business, construction, or any of the other areas we dabble in, Thunder wants to float between them all.
It makes him valuable because, of all the guys, he knows a little bit about everything.
Besides the club, his only other devotion is to his woman, Rose.
It’s a trait among Satan’s Pride guys that the women they fall in love with become their queens.
The women have even formed their own group called the Lady Pride, with Ava, Guard’s wife, at the helm.
I’m guessing it won’t be long before I get a call from Vi, Orion’s wife, asking when they can meet Amelia.
I’m going to try to hold her off for a week or two, but it’s a coin toss on whether Vi will listen or not.
Vi can be tough as nails, or soft and gooey like caramel.
You never know which one you’re going to get, and that’s the way Orion likes it.
“It’s cool. Rose is staying with Izzy overnight. Saint has a patient at the hospital who isn’t doing well, and he can’t leave until the patient is more stable. He didn’t want Izzy and the baby left alone. For a doctor, he’s being ridiculous about being away from his family.” He laughs.
“Did he give you the ‘just wait until it’s Rose’ speech?”
“Yup.”
“I never thought I’d want a kid, but with all the cute little dudes running around, it’s making me think it might be time.”
“What does Rose think?”
“She wants a baby Thunder.”
I laugh out loud, trying to picture what Thunder looked like as a baby.
“Whatever.” Thunder gives a shrug. “Get some sleep, bud.”
I’m all for that. It’s been a long day.
Where most of the men have homes outside the club, Crush and I still live at the compound.
There’s plenty of room, and we save a ton of money because we’re not paying rent.
After becoming full members, we could have moved out, but we decided to stay and sink our money into Fix-It Guys.
Because of that decision, we’re not in debt, and we’re showing a small profit.
In a couple of years, Crush and I will be making good money.
I get into bed and fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.
“Bullet! Bullet! Wake the fuck up, man. We’ve got trouble,” I hear Crush yelling as he pounds on my door.
I jump out of bed and yank my door open. “Amelia?” My heart is in my throat. “Thunder?”
“They’re fine,” he says, raking a hand through his hair. “Sal’s dead. Cops are asking questions, and Guard’s on his way.”
Did I hear him right? Sal’s dead? “What the fuck happened?”
“Get dressed and come down. If the cops arrive, we sit tight until Guard gets here. He’s called Sofia.
She’s on her way.” He doesn’t give me a chance to say another word and books it down the stairs.
I throw on a pair of jeans and splash water on my face to wash the sleep out of my eyes.
I glance at the clock on the bedside table and see that it’s coming up on four in the morning.
I pull on my boots and head downstairs. Before I even hit the main common area, I can hear Guard and War talking.
“He was very much alive. Pissed off, but breathing,” War tells him.
“Someone’s trying to pin this on a Pride brother. His crew is saying that Pride men showed up, demanded money, roughed up a couple of their guys, then came back and finished the job later,” Guard states.
“That’s bullshit!” I interject as I approach the two men.
“I know that, but that doesn’t mean the cops aren’t going to ask questions,” Guard says. “Sofia is on her way. Not one word until she gets here.”
Sofia, Demon’s wife, is a pit bull lawyer.
Guard hired her years ago when we were expanding our businesses.
Primarily, she takes care of all our corporate contracts, but she now handles all legal needs as well.
She’s proven herself several times when the cops found it easier to blame the local MC than go hunt for the real criminal.
She’s smart, savvy, and takes no shit from anyone.
She protects the club like a mama bear protecting her cubs. For a tiny woman, she packs a wallop.
It’s not long before the police show up, and Sofia comes in with them.
She sits down on one side of the table with War, Roscoe, Blade, and me, with the officers sitting across from us.
Sergeant Wilson drops several photos on the table of Sal tied to a chair with a bullet in him.
The pictures are gruesome. As much as I didn’t like the way Sal ran his business, he didn’t deserve that.
“Is that your handiwork?” Wilson asks, his gaze drifting from War to me.
Sofia turns to War and nods. War replies with a clear but curt “No.”
She then turns to me, and I follow War’s example with a simple “No.”
“You went to see him yesterday, then a few hours later, Sal’s dead. That’s quite a coincidence,” Wilson states.
“That’s not a question, Officer,” Sofia says. Her eyes narrow on the man in front of her.
“All right. Can I ask the reason you went to see Sal?” asks Wilson.
I say, “I didn’t know Sal and was there to see a man called Freddie, who apparently was the previous owner, about the job he did on my girlfriend’s car.
Sal told me he bought the place from Freddie and kept everything exactly the same.
It just so happens that Sal and his guys were the guys who worked on my girl’s car.
I told him his work was shoddy, and I wanted her money back.
He gave it to me, then we left.” Yeah, I left out the part about Sal’s crew looking for a fight.
No need to divulge information until the police bring it up.
“One of his men says he was assaulted by one of Satan’s Pride. Is that true?” Wilson prods.
Sofia steps in. “Has this anonymous person lodged a complaint or made a formal grievance? Or is this some man who got in a bar fight, went to work the next day to find his boss dead, and decided to point fingers? Do you have any proof of a violent act involving one of these men?” She scans the room full of bikers.
“It seems to me, Officer Wilson, that there are too many what-ifs and not enough evidence to even cast suspicion on any one person. How many customers visited the shop that day? How many of their customers have complained about terrible workmanship?” she asks, then takes out a document.
“Let me give you a list of clients who have been through the shop more than twice in the last month who had complaints about the work done to their vehicles. Any one of these individuals could have had a bone to pick with the victim. Therefore, I suggest you start at the beginning.”
“Not many belong to a biker gang,” Wilson counters, furrowing his brows.
“I’d caution you to think twice before continuing along this path.
First off, this is a club. A club, just like the policemen’s baseball club.
A group of men who get together and enjoy riding their motorcycles, just like you might enjoy baseball with your friends and coworkers.
This club runs legitimate businesses, pays taxes, and contributes to the local economy.
They bring work to this small town and have invested wisely in assets all over the country.
If you continue to harass my clients without evidence to back up your claim, I will ensure that you are removed from this case so that the actual killer is found and brought to justice.
Sal may have been unethical in business, but no man deserves to die like that.
” Sofia rises to her feet. “This meeting is over. In the future, you will contact me before you speak with my clients.”
Wilson looks around the room at all the brothers of the Pride. “Which ones are your clients?”
“All of them,” Sofia replies sharply. She leans forward, getting closer to Officer Wilson. “We would like to assist you with your investigation; therefore, if anything pertinent comes to mind, we’ll contact you.”
Wilson rises and turns to walk out, but he looks back over his shoulder. “Could you let Violet Harper know we’re looking for her, if you see her?”
“Who is Violet Harper?” I ask.
“She’s the young woman who worked for Sal.
She’s missing. No sign of her at her apartment, and she hasn’t been seen around town,” he answers.
Shit! That girl was already on the edge and looking to get the hell out of that hole.
I wonder if she’s on the run. “We’d like to ask her a few questions as well.
It seems odd that she worked there, was never late, was never absent without letting someone know, and suddenly, she disappears.
What do you make of that?” Wilson asks me directly.
“I’d say you need to find this woman and ask her yourself,” I reply, keeping my expression stoic and cold.
Demon walks Wilson out. It’s not until he returns that Guard speaks up, but he looks right at Orion when he does, “I want everything you can find on Violet Harper.”
“It would be nice to have a little more to go on,” Orion says.
“Petite, with dark brown, shoulder-length hair. Hazel eyes. She hated working there and wanted out of there badly. She warned us that Sal and his buddies weren’t nice guys,” I say.
“This girl, Violet, she didn’t like Sal, but there’s no way she’d kill him. She had a plan to leave. She said so herself. I think she was working there to make enough money to get through school,” Blade adds.
“She didn’t fit,” War adds.
“How do you mean?” Guard asks, raising his brow.
“She’s smart. The book she was reading was all about business.
I think she’s taking courses somewhere. She was quiet, reserved.
Nerdy looking with glasses, but you can tell she knew Sal was a douche.
I asked her straight out if he was hurting her.
She said she’d be gone before he could do that.
She was already working on an exit plan,” War tells him.
“What do you think happened to her?” This comes from Ghost, the man Guard calls his brother.
He’s a very intense guy, but loyal as hell to the Pride and Guard.
There’s nothing more important to him than his wife and kid and the club.
Ghost was gone a long time before returning to the fold, and his main reason for staying gone was to protect the club.
I wasn’t around for that, but since getting to know Ghost, I’m glad he’s on our side.
Ghost also knows the power of Guard’s ability to sense situations and takes Guard’s warnings seriously.
“She’s running. The question is why, and where the hell is she now? If we can find her before the police do, I think we’ll get the answers,” Guard replies, then hesitates, clenching his fists at his sides. “She’s in trouble, and she doesn’t even know how bad this is going to get.”
“We’ve got to find out who’s causing the club problems,” Orion states. “We’re going to be under the watchful eyes of the police until we give them a reason to look elsewhere.”
“Whoever killed Sal either followed you men to his place and took the opportunity to set you up, or they were after Sal from the start and, with you at the wrong place at the wrong time, are trying to have this pinned on a Satan Pride member,” Demon states.
“They’re watching,” Guard agrees. “They’re making a statement.”
With that, the room goes silent, eerily so. The men have too much to lose. We’ve built our lives with our family around us. No one touches the Pride without retribution. My mind goes to Amelia and how this is going to affect her.
We’re new, but what I feel for her is so intense that if someone tried to take her from me, there would be bloodshed.
I lift my head and catch Crush’s expression.
His eyes are locked with mine. We’ve faced many battles together, and his expression says we’ll be facing whatever comes our way having each other’s backs.
Ghost clasps his hand on Crush’s shoulder.
“You’re not alone, brother. This is something we all work through together.
” Ghost reminds Crush of this frequently.
The men are patient with my friend. Even though most of our brothers don’t know the extent of the damage created by the life Crush was thrown into, they know down to their core that he would take a bullet for any one of them.
“I’ve got to go tell Amelia what’s happening.” I blow out a heavy breath. “She’s going to blame herself.” She’s going to think that since I went to the shop on her behalf, she’s to blame. Amelia is shy and sensitive. This is going to weigh on her.
“I’ll have Ava drop in,” Guard says. “She’ll have a word. If Amelia cares for you, she’ll get that this is who you are.”
Amelia needs to know what’s going on. Chances are the police are going to call on her, but before that happens, I want to tell her about Sal.
I head back up the stairs, then get ready as fast as I can to go over to see her.
A few minutes later, at the bottom of the steps, I find Crush waiting for me.
“I’m coming with you,” he announces. I wouldn’t have expected anything less from my friend and brother.