Chapter 2 #2
Storm’s cool pragmatic look when he looked at me. We’d been riding together for years. I was that brother in the background, minding my own business and doing as I was told. Although he looked furious, he chose to back me up.
“We will cover it,” he said. His voice was hard enough to cut concrete. “Dark Slayers stand by what we say.”
“Then I accept Fuse’s bid,” Viper said with a self-satisfied smile.
This man wasn’t a complete idiot. One hundred thousand was more than he had expected tonight, that much was clear.
“One hundred thousand from Dark Slayers MC for the property known as Betty. Going once. Going once. Going twice. Sold.”
The silence that had hung in the air during the bidding process exploded with shocked conversation. Someone slapped me on the back, and I shoved them away roughly. I could hear how shocked and confused the brothers who witnessed the bidding were.
“What the hell just happened?” I heard someone say.
“The Slayers just dropped a hundred large to buy a virgin.”
Dog, and the other members of Vulture’s Pride stormed off, and I had a feeling this wasn’t going to be the last I heard of them on this subject. He was mumbling something about the Slayers stealing her right out from under him.
Viper and his crew led Winter away with instructions to get the money and meet him in his tent for the trade by midnight. We watched her walk away looking more dejected and afraid than ever.
Storm held his peace until they were out of sight.
Then he said, quietly, “Fuse, walk with me, brother.”
Storm didn’t look me in the eye. He just walked off towards a secluded corner of the lot. Celt gave my shoulder a squeeze and whispered, “I’ve got your feckin’ back on this one, brother.”
Thunder and Renegade fell into step on either side of me, making me feel more like they were escorting me. We walked out of the terminal into the cooling air. Darkness had fallen and a full moon peeked out from behind heavy drifting clouds. Bikes sat in tight rows.
As we passed other bikes, I realized that everyone else was returning to the revelry. Several trucks had tailgates down and coolers were open. Brothers busied themselves with drinking, talking casually about the auction like it was no big deal.
Storm kept walking until we were in the corner of a chain link fence with a picnic table and completely filled trash can stinking up the area.
He reacted exactly how I thought he would, by lighting into me. “What the hell were you thinking?” His voice stayed low, but the cold authority in his voice was chilling.
I met his eyes and I did my best to get him to understand that I needed to do this. “I wasn’t about to let Vulture’s Pride drag her out of here. Dog’s an asshole. Their prez is okay, but I couldn’t let her go with them.”
“That’s your explanation?” Storm stepped closer. “You stood in the middle of PATCH, with every club in the state watching, and you threw a number like that out with absolutely no plan?”
Celt spoke up for me, just like he said he would. “Fuse made a ballsy move when his back was against the wall. He did what we should have done. If we’d acted instead of standing there pissing our pants like little feckin’ lasses, maybe we could have kept the bid more reasonable.”
Storm punched his finger in the air towards his cousin as if to punctuate every word. “Shut it, cousin. It all happened so fast. We couldn’t bid and put the responsibility of paying this on the backs of every brother in the club.”
Thunder spoke up. “You put your ass on the line for a woman you’d never seen before today. What I wanna know is why?”
I just shook my head. “Out of all the people I thought I’d have to convince, I never thought it would be my own club brothers.
You know what they were gonna do to her and that she’d become a hollowed-out shell of her fuckin’ former self inside of a month or two.
What Viper’s doin’ ain’t right and you know it. ”
I paused, Storm didn’t say anything, so I continued. “I ain’t sorry for bidding. I am sorry for how big the bid was. It was a fuckin’ shitshow and I just wanted it all to stop.” I could hear the desperate edge to my own voice, so I snapped my mouth shut.
Storm asked the question I knew was coming. “Do you happen to have a hundred grand lying around? I only ask because you work as a bricklayer and just bought a new house. So, I don’t think you do.”
“Maybe I can ask Viper for more time. I’ll find the money even if I have to borrow it against my house. Maybe I can talk to the bank on Monday and take out a second mortgage.”
Thunder said harshly. “You remember who handled your mortgage, Fuse?”
I glanced at him, unsure why he was bringing this up. “You did. And I appreciate your hard work.”
“Thank you. But remember when I explained you would be upside down in your mortgage for the first five years.” He made a dismissive gesture with one hand.
“Your place is worth less than what you owe right now. That means there is no equity to borrow against. If you try to apply for another loan, they’ll laugh you out of the damn building.
Based on your income, you barely qualified for the mortgage you got. ”
“Now that you mention it, I remember you explaining that to me.”
Celt chimed in, “So we hit club savings. Gather what we can from the brothers, pay Viper and let Fuse work the rest of it off. He can take on extra security shifts and make extra runs. I’ll pitch in and help him.”
Thunder shook his head. “We don’t have a hundred grand even if we drained every club account and the safe.
And most of the brothers aren’t in a position to pull large sums of money out of their asses and it’s not fair to keep coming to the ones that can.
It doesn’t take much of that kind of shit to make a brother feel like an ATM. ”
I thought about the numbers I’d heard presented at club meetings.
There had been a lot of expenses this year.
There were repairs on the clubhouse, help for widows and orphans of downed brothers, and we’d spent club money on lawyers and doctors for our brothers in need.
The bottom line was that no one had that kind of money to blow simply because I let my mouth write checks my ass couldn’t cover.
“There’s no magic pile of cash,” he said. “The number you bid was more than we can scratch together right now. There is no way to raise that kind of money by midnight.”
I dragged a hand over my face. “Maybe I can trade myself for her,” I said in one last desperate attempt to right what I’d wronged and save the pretty blonde in the process.
Storm stared at me like he couldn’t believe those words had come out of my mouth.
“No. We’re not gonna be leaving you with that vicious bastard either.
I compounded your stupid mistake by making one of my own.
I said we’d honor the number. There’s no fuckin’ backing out now.
I honestly don’t know what the fuck we’re gonna do.
Standing in front of them and saying Dark Slayers talks big and can’t back it up, isn’t really an option either. ”
Celt spoke, his voice flat and emotionless. “We could just kill ‘em all.”
Storm frowned. “You mean Viper and every single member of his club? I don’t think so, cousin. And I gotta admit this is one of your crazier plans.”
Renegade finally spoke for the first time since this all went down.
“I know that you don’t wanna humble the club by going in there and admitting that we don’t have the money but that’s the only play that really makes sense right now.
Viper’s an egomaniac. He’d probably love the feeling of us owing him money. ”
Celt sighed, “Yeah, maybe we can make some kind of deal? Less money and doing their shit jobs for a while. I’d rather take a hit to our reputation, than let the Vultures get their hands on that poor lassie.”
Shaking my head, I realized just how much trouble I had caused for my club. “I knew this wasn’t a great decision when I made it,” I admitted quietly. “I thought I could figure it out on my own and make it work somehow. I didn’t know Viper was gonna ask the club to guarantee the bid.”
Storm stepped closer until I could see his ice blue eyes and the lines beginning to trace along his face.
“This is your mess,” he said. “Because you did it at a rally, you made it our mess too.” His gaze did not soften. “Learn from this. Don’t ever do anything like this again. Do you understand?”
Full understanding clicked into place in my mind. Whatever came next, the club would stand with me. We’d either get through this, or they would get dragged down right alongside me.
“Yes, Prez,” I promised. “Sorry, I was running on pure emotion, and I panicked at the last second. I won’t make that mistake again.”
Storm glanced around at the others before relaxing his shoulders. “Good. Let’s go and talk with Viper. See if we can find some kind of compromise.”