CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
– FATAL –
“This is a bad fucking idea, Prez.” Swade blocks my path when we’re about to walk into the brewery.
Sevrin is right beside him. “I agree, this issue we’re about to resolve isn’t something you should involve an old lady in. Club business is between brothers.”
They haven’t been able to stop Norie from getting on the back of my bike to get here, let alone talk her out of coming. Figures they try now to prevent her from entering the brewery. Not going to happen. I cross my arms in front of my chest and have to take a second to swallow down my anger.
Not only is this my damn choice, it’s also a statement I’m making for Norie. If she’s tied to me for the rest of her life, she needs to see with her own eyes how I’m capable of ripping the bones from a fucker’s body if he fucks with The Kings of Anarchy.
Shielding her from this part of my life will always involve me holding back. It’s all or nothing in life’s death trap, meaning we’re in this together and I know she can deal ’cause she’s my woman. Something she’s more than proven over the past few days; she was born to be at my side.
“Norie, am I forcing you to step into my world and have my back, as well as the club’s, in all ways possible?” I keep my eyes on both Swade and Sevrin.
My woman slides her palm against mine and laces our fingers.
“My eyes are wide open and my mouth stays shut when it comes to club business. I’m not one to shy away, but I do respect the boundaries.
I would never come between you, the members, or club business for that matter.
Though, in this case I’d like to be here when you guys resolve this issue.
Norris was involved in the shit that almost killed me.
Just like you guys, I consider the man a last page in a book we need to close, and I’m here for the ending. ”
Silence blankets us as those two in front of us keep staring, until Swade grumbles, “I’m going to kick your ass if she has nightmares tonight.”
“It was one freaking time I had a nightmare, and it was because I saw the gardener use a chainsaw and cut into his own left leg. I was eight, dammit. This is way different,” Norie grumbles.
Swade grins. “What a fucking idiot, I still can’t believe he cut into his own leg.”
“You fired him the next day,” Norie states.
“Can you blame me? He traumatized my little girl,” Swade grunts.
“Enough babbling. Let’s get down to business. Heart and Remus helped your men to get everything set. Shall we? Or do you have any other doubts about my decisions, or my old lady’s capabilities?” My voice has a sharp edge to it near the ending.
Norie squeezes our joined hands, and I’m taking it as a silent thanks while I stare down Sevrin and Swade. Both men take a step back so Norie and I can enter the brewery first. I lift my chin in greeting when we run into employees.
It’s still early morning and there are about eight employees in the building.
Three of those are club members, the others all have a contract and are only here a few hours a day to do the work they’re hired for.
When we took over most members started to learn about the manufacturing production and process.
Two members, one of them being Swade of course, have the knowledge of chemistry for brewing, fermenting, and distilling, and we’re hoping to add to it in the long run.
This brewery has potential, and it gives us great cover for our gunrunning business.
It’s also why Sevrin’s Lexmore Beach chapter wanted to work together to found a new brewery in their town.
It's a smart way to create a pipeline for our gunrunning, and for Norie who now has her name linked through a contract as a contact person.
Sevrin ensured we would have to visit once a month when we have things running.
Of course we will have to spend lots of time these upcoming months to get started.
“Fatal.” One of our employees steps forward and holds out a bottle. “New batch. Too sweet?”
Coming to a stop, I accept the bottle and take a swig.
I hand the thing to Swade. “Yeah, this batch is a little sweeter. Swade?”
“Too sweet,” Swade rumbles and gives the bottle back to the employee while he adds some instructions.
We keep moving until we’re at the back of the brewery. There’s a door leading to the basement and I hold it open until Sevrin takes over. We all go down the stairs and come to a stop in the middle of the space where a few of Sevrin’s men are standing, along with Heart and Remus.
The panic in Norris’s eyes is satisfying when I notice the fucker sitting in the middle of the room, bound to a chair with tarp underneath it. Nice, everything is set to inflict some pain before sending this fucker straight to hell.
“We brought some tools,” Remus says and points at a bag near his feet. “If you want something specific I didn’t...hey, Norie...is it bring your old lady to work day? Will she be joining in on the torture session? If so, let me know if you have any specific requests.”
Norie grins. “I guess you mean if you don’t have candles you’d get them for me if I want to drip some candle wax into his eyes?”
“Fuck, Prez, your woman has great suggestions. I’m gonna get some candles.” Remus moves past us to leave the basement.
Heart is laughing, like I am, but Swade and Sevrin are both shaking their heads. I do notice their smiles, though. They might not have approved of her joining in this part of our business, but they now realize and see how well she fits in.
I walk to the bag and snag a piece of steel wire.
Circling his wrist, I tighten the wire to make it sink into the fucker’s skin.
It’s always a nice way to inflict pain without blood leaking out.
His hand will eventually go numb due to cutting off the blood supply, but I’ll remove the wire before that happens.
Ripping off the duct tape covering his mouth, I ask, “Any famous last words? ’Cause I’m going to cut off your tongue, so you won’t be able to scream. Well, you would be able to make some noise, just no words.”
“You think you’ve won, Fatal? Think again. There are others still in your MC who will take you down, motherfucker. Killing me won’t take the threat away.” Norris tries to spit but I place the duct tape back.
I know it’s the fear of a dead man rambling, but his words still sting and bring doubt.
Heart rotates a knife in his hand. “Want me to cut out his lying tongue?”
“Got some,” Remus cheerfully states as he comes back with a candle in each hand. “Who wants to go first?”
“Me. Can you hold his eye open for me? Do you have a lighter?” Norie rattles.
“Is it me or does my kid sound too damn cheerful?” Swade grumbles.
The sting of Norris’s words fades when I feel myself smiling again. This is what we all needed, and who knew the bonding time would come during a torture session? Yet, it makes sense with Norris being the final part of the mess Melon pulled us in.
“I have a staple gun in my bag, it might work better than manually keeping his eyes open,” Heart remarks.
Norie and Remus nod in approval. Heart grabs the staple gun and pinches Norris’s eyelid between his fingers and places it against the fucker’s eyebrow before ramming a few staples in there.
Sidestepping to make sure Norris sees me, I remark, “See how well everyone works together? It doesn’t matter if a brotherhood has a rotten apple, because the good ones will eliminate them before they can infect others.
Exactly the way we handled it when you thought to sneak your way into our territory by trying a backdoor to our guns.
Obviously, you fucked with the wrong people. ”
Norris’s muffled screams are satisfying. I take a few steps back and enjoy watching Norie light a candle while Heart and Remus are grinning as she waits for the wax to heat up enough to drip some into the fucker’s eyes.
Everything is out in the open, no more lies, no more threats, and if new ones form?
We’ll handle it together. Through the link with Sevrin’s chapter our brotherhood has doubled, along with our income.
The contracts drawn up by our lawyers give us a nice share of the Lexmore Beach chapter brewery. Good things await in our future.
Sevrin stalks past me and digs through Remus’s bag until he pulls out a blow torch. “A day isn’t perfect until you smell the burning flesh of your enemies early in the morning.”
Yeah, a family link or not? That fucker stays weird as shit for sure.