5. Chapter Five
Chapter Five
I genuinely fucking hated these early morning meetings. I was a fucking night owl and usually only operated on a few hours of sleep when Church was called.
I slammed my hand down on top of my alarm, then rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling with one of my arms draped over my eyes. A warm body snuggled up against my side. My eyes popped open, and I blinked a few times to clear them and my head, trying to remember where I was and what happened the night before.
“Fuck,” I muttered as I pushed whoever was next to me and tried to sit up. I was at the clubhouse with a pounding headache.
“Come back to bed, baby,” she crooned, and I knew that voice.
Ebony.
She’d plastered herself next to me as soon as I walked into the clubhouse last night. My intention was to talk with Loki about the meeting, but she was too enticing, and I had one too many beers.
“Get the fuck out, Ebony. Church is this morning. I need my head clear,” I grumbled, rubbing a hand down my face.
I didn’t have to look at her to see she was pouting. The suck of her teeth was enough. Soon, the bed dipped as she rose from it. She knew not to have me ask again.
Out of my peripheral, I could see her luscious brown ass as she bent over to retrieve her clothes. Her braids swayed down her back. No doubt she was fucking gorgeous. Fuckable and exactly what I needed last night to take the edge off.
“Let me know if you need anything,” she purred, running one of those claws down my chest that made me fucking shiver. I smacked her on the ass and watched her leave my room.
One thing I loved about being VP was the perks. I had my own room at the clubhouse with a bathroom attached, even though I rarely stayed here. I had my own place with a lake for a backyard, and I enjoyed sitting and watching the water lap on the shore. It was peaceful, quaint, and serene. The opposite of this place.
I glanced at the clock. I had only thirty minutes before Loki would have my ass. Remy and I were the reason this thing was even called today, and he was allowing me to run it.
I pushed myself up from the bed and half stumbled into the bathroom. I didn’t even wait for the water in the shower to warm up before I dipped under it. The shock of the cold water would surely clear out the cobwebs and wake my ass up.
I was right. Soon, my brain was unclouded, and I could think about what I wanted to say to the guys.
Quickly dressing, I sauntered to the stairs into the main area of the club. The place was pretty quiet, with only a few prospects lying around with a few of the club whores.
“You ready for this?” my brother’s voice echoed across the place from the pool table area.
I didn’t even see him there. He’d always been stealthily, even more so now that he’d been with Special Forces.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I told him, shrugging as we walked down the hall that led to the meeting room.
I pushed the door open to a few brothers sitting around talking with one another. “Fellas,” I said, nodding in greeting.
Remy settled down to my left, his back to the wall so he could see the whole room. That too, was a direct correlation to his stint in the military and he’d done it ever since he’d been home.
I leaned against the table in the front of the room as the brothers began to filter in. At first, a straggler here and there and then all at once. They all knew how Loki hated it when people strolled in late. Eight on the dot, Loki walked into the room and gave me the nod to get started; he sat at the table I was leaning on.
“Alright, everyone shut the fuck up. Church is in session,” I announced as the light din in the room became silent. “This meeting was called today to give you an update on our missing guns and the Russians as well.”
“Russians. I hate a fucking flesh peddler,” Nick ‘Stone’ Colton blurted.
Voices of agreement rang out amongst them as I raised my hand to quiet my brothers again.
“I know. I know, but we’ll get to those fuckers in a minute,” I promised, then forged on. “Wolf and I,” I tilted my head to my brother, “had a little chat with two of our workers as to what happened to our missing crates of guns. So far, we’ve found out that our mama’s boyfriend is the mastermind behind the shit.”
“Fuck! Your mama’s taste in men is shit!” Jason ‘Brick’ Duncan yelled.
Laughter rose among the men. I snickered myself, but this was definitely not a laughing matter. “I would have to agree with that one. Wolf and I don’t know this guy, but because it’s a family matter, Loki is letting us handle it. I need two volunteers to help keep watch at the farm, though. Since he’s gotten away with it once, I’m almost positive he’ll try it again.” I looked to my brother for agreement.
He nodded.
“So, what do you say, brothers? Ready to roll with the gators?” I asked, smirking because a lot of the men sitting in this room weren’t from New Orleans. Didn’t know the first thing about the bayou or alligators, known as the ‘Dragons’ of the swamp. My brothers came from all walks of life and from all over the United States. That was the beauty of a family like the Sinners. It didn’t matter where you were from; there was always someone there to have your back.
Brick and Stone raised their hands. I was surprised because they were the last two I would have expected to volunteer to do anything, let alone help us out at our place. They liked to hang out at Voodoo, a bar run by Bryce ‘Riot’ Loman, another brother.
“You two wanna hang out with the Gator Boys,” I joked, and Wolf snickered. I cut my eye at him.
“Yeah, better than hanging out here. Ain’t nothing goin’ on right now,” Brick said, stretching his long legs in front of him and crossing them at the ankle.
“Yeah, ain’t shit happening right now. Might as well,” Stone chimed in, nodding.
I shrugged. “Alright, then. Y’all come by after this.”
“Next thing on the docket is the Russians have agreed to a hundred kilos of coke a month to operate in our city. The guy is the heir to the Volkov Bratva or some shit. Anyway, he wants to put up a few strip joints fuck it all. I don’t know.”
“I hate fucking Russians,” someone else grumbled.
“Okay, okay. I think we’ve established that,” I waved off the sentiment. “We’re getting a good deal out of it because I also bargained for a club lawyer. She’s the Russian’s girlfriend. Fine as hell too. Her name’s Haven Richardson,” I informed. “Well, not yet. She hasn’t agreed to it. Volkov said he’d let it be her decision, but I think she’ll agree.”
I turned over my shoulder to Loki. He nodded.
“Alright. If there’s nothing else, then y’all are dismissed. Sinners all,” I finished.
“Never fall,” they said in unison and began filing out of the room.
The only ones left in the room were me, Remy, and Loki. I know what he really wanted to know was what we planned to do about our mama’s boyfriend. I headed off the question before Loki asked.
“I know what you’re gonna ask, and we can’t say just yet. Hell, we haven’t started to look for him yet. We’ll let you know,” I told him.
“As soon as you do,” Loki said, then walked out the room.
I turned to my brother. “What do you think? Is he going to stick around or what?”
“I think he will. He’s too greedy. And he doesn’t know we know what he did. Plus, he thinks he’s gotten away with it,” Remy explained.
Motherfucker. Literally.
“Do you think anyone told him we know?”
He shook his head. “Nah, they know what’s at stake.”
“Agreed.” I hated what came next for us, a conversation with our mama. I sighed. “Let’s go talk to Mama.”
Remy groaned, but he followed me out of the room.
***
It had been at least four years since I’d actually laid my eyes on my childhood home. Oh, I’d seen Mama, but to actually sit down and have a conversation with her…
Never.
Well, not since I’d became a prospect for Sin City MC. We didn’t have much to talk about after he left. Hell, not even when he was there. She was the reason we had such a shitty childhood. She was a real piece of work. She came around the Tours occasionally to ask for money. Of course, we didn’t feed into her bullshit. Never actually had, not even as kids. I thought that might have been why she was so damned bitter.
I slowed my bike as we approached the dirt road turn off of the trailer park we grew up in. I could hear Remy slowing behind me. Just like I remembered, the grass was high, maybe up to my calves if I stood in it.
The sign that read Highland Trailer Park was cracked and faded. I could barely make out the words painted in black. The sign was leaning to one side.
I navigated the holes in the dirt that someone at least tried to fill in with gravel. It didn’t work.
Many of the lots were empty. People had moved out of this place since the last time I’d been here. The lots were overgrown. You couldn’t even see the phoneline hook-ups because the weeds and grass were so tall.
Small shrubs and bushes planted long ago for lawn decoration grew unchecked, wild, and free now. Even the homes people did live in, looked like dumps. Rusted metal at every turn. Wooden porches and steps had long rotted away and been replaced by stacked cinderblocks. Towels or sheets hung where blinds and curtains should. No children were laughing and playing outside. The place was a danger zone.
Around the bend at the very end of the dirt road, backed up to a cluster of dense forest, was the white and tan tin can we used to live in. The tan color was now faded. On one side of the house, the end where Mama’s room was, green algae that had been there forever lined the side. The porch that once stood upright and strong, sagged in the center. The third step was broken in the middle, making you take a bigger step up to the porch than normal.
The grass was high here, too, almost up to the middle of the porch. The hedges were overgrown and now reached the height of the windows. The last car I’d seen Mama drive was parked under that huge tree with the hood popped and jacked up.
As soon as we pulled into the yard, the screen door swung open, and our mama walked out onto the sagging porch. I cut my engine, peering at her in her bathrobe and slippers that had seen better days, with her hair piled on top of her head and a cigarette between her lips.
“What the hell do you boys want?” Her eyes narrowed, and vexation showed on her face.
I snorted. “Hey to you too, Mama.”
“Where’s your boyfriend?” Remy asked, his mouth set in annoyance, not even bothering to speak.
Remy never really had any patience for our mama. I guess it was because he had to grow up fast. If it wasn’t for Remy doing whatever he could, we would’ve ended up in the system. Remy didn’t forgive stuff like that, and he sure as hell had a long memory. I never thought I’d see hate for a parent like I did in my brother’s hazel eyes, but it was there, and by the widening of our mama’s eyes, I think she saw it too.
“What do you want with John?” she recovered, schooling her features in that all too familiar scowl.
“We wanna talk to him,” I spoke up. She and Remy were about to take this to another level. It had always been like this with them before he left.
“About what?” She took a puff of her cigarette and blew it out of the side of her mouth.
“Sinners’ business,” I said, shutting her questions down before they even started.
Even though she was sorry as hell, she knew not to fuck with anything related to Sinners, which was why I was fucking surprised that she lied to our faces about his whereabouts.
Mama rolled her eyes and shrugged, then her gaze flitted up over mine and Remy’s head. My eyes narrowed on her.
“I don’t know where John is. He ain’t been here since early this morning.”
She puffed again, then blew out. And again, she looked out over mine and Remy’s head.
Remy climbed off his bike, and I did the same. He must’ve known Mama was lying, too. I turned to the trailer that was adjacent to Mama’s. Standing out on the porch was Old Man Johnson. He was about seventy now and had a sharp mind and quick wit.
“How you boys doin’?” he called out.
I glanced at Remy, who nodded, and then I walked across the road and stopped in front of the porch. I propped my boot up on the bottom step.
“How ya been, Mr. Johnson? It’s been a long time.” I smiled because I’d always liked the old man. He was a shit-talker, but he always treated Remy and me well.
“I can’t call it. You boys looking for the fuck up?”
I snickered.
“Yup. We wanna talk to him. You seen him around?” I asked, my eyes tightened on his face.
“Nope. Not today, but I can tell you where he hangs out, though.”
“You don’t say,” I smirked, then turned over my shoulder to nod at Remy. Mama stood a little straighter and took a step. I turned back to the old man.
“Yup. Hangs out over there at that bar called Voodoo, tryna pick up women. Your mama’s dumb for being with him. He’s just using her for a house,” he claimed, his voice getting louder and louder with each word.
“Shut your damn face!” Mama yelled. “You don’t know shit!”
One thing I could say about Madeline LeBlanc was that she didn’t mince words. She didn’t care who it was or how old you were. I guessed that was where Remy and I got it from. We didn’t back down from anyone.
“Appreciate you, Mr. Johnson. You take care of yourself.” I stuck my hand out; he grasped it and shook. Despite his age, the man still had a strong grip, and there was a twinkle in his eyes and a smirk on his lips.
He knew exactly what he was doing.
“You boys take care too. Come around and see me sometime. We’ll have a beer and talk about what else I’ve seen.”
The old man gave a pointed look at my mama.
“Mind your business, old man,” she snarled.
I nodded my thanks to Mr. Johnson again and headed back to my brother. “Looks like we’re going to Voodoo,” I said to Remy, swinging my leg over my bike.
“The man’s in the viper pit and doesn’t even know it,” Remy commented.
Or knows it and doesn’t care.
I started the engine while Remy gave a two-fingered salute to Mr. Johnson and got on his bike. Together, we pulled away from our childhood home with our mama screaming for us to come back and not to kill John because she loved him. I snorted at that one. Bitch didn’t know how to love.