Chapter 29 – Christopher #2
“What about Bash? Since we signing peace agreements and you’ve accepted him as your brother, you fillin’ him in?”
“Not yet, so maybe it’s good Johnnie’s not here. He’d open his fuckin’ mouth.”
“Is there a reason you don’t want Bash to know?”
“I got to see if he trustworthy enough and I know he’d want in for a bigger cut.
” That wasn’t the only reason. It was originally a deal for the American Scorpions that Christopher heard about through the grapevine when he was still planning to kill Bash.
He set up a meeting with the head motherfucker just to put out feelers and a week later, the guy called him.
It was a back-and-forth thing until this morning, when he confirmed he wanted the Death Dwellers to do the job.
To Christopher’s way of thinking, it was better for his club to handle all the merchandise involved, especially the drugs.
Bash would’ve fucked up whereas Christopher could make money and share it, benefiting everyone.
“If he fuck with the merchandise, that put a target on our fuckin’ backs.
I ain’t cuttin’ him out. I’m just assessin’ what the fuck’s best.”
“I thought hitting them was better and taking them out. Once Johnnie know and he let Bash in on the secret, that motherfucker might think you intentionally trying to fuck over him. Then what? Money make motherfuckers stupid.”
Especially that amount. “I got to finalize all the details. I have another meetin’ next week.” Christopher sighed. “Let me work out the rest of the details, Val. I’ll let you know.”
Val nodded. “I don’t know if I like the sound of that, but you never steered us wrong before.”
Christopher hoped his luck continued. Or, maybe, he was unduly risking the club as a goodbye. He wasn’t sure. Fuck, he’d think on that later, too. He stood. “Come to the conference room with me. I want to show you something.”
“You want me to hold onto this?” Val fluttered the paper.
“Leave it on my desk. We never leave paper trails like that.” Or emails and texts. “As soon as everything worked out, I’m burning that sheet.”
In the conference room, Christopher pressed a few buttons to allow a monitor to rise from a console at the center of the cluster of tables.
He pulled up Google Earth and a large available area.
It was an abandoned municipality not far from Hortensia, but empty, safer from prying eyes of civilians.
Or it was a place to move his family to and have it as an unincorporated area of Hortensia.
“McKay,” he said, pressing the remote control to show different images, switching from topography to live feeds. “What do you think about moving the club there?”
Val gaped at him.
“Hortensia got too many motherfuckers, Val. Sooner or later, we going to do something in front of a motherfucker Kendall can’t pay off.”
“There’s nothing there. No infrastructure. Very few buildings. We’d have to build everything from the ground up. Even the fucking clubhouse.”
Yeah, they would. “A new beginning. Those motherfuckers wanted peace. They got their fuckin’ way.”
“What about the houses? Ridge Moore? Hortensia General? Mutt, Jeff, and the young cops in our pockets? The city councilmen? Kendall’s law office? The medical lab? Bailey’s practice? We moving that shit, too?”
“I ain’t told nobody else but you, Val. With Megan gone, I ain’t got nothin’ to do but fuckin’ think.”
“And you think abandoning everything we’ve built, she’s funded, a good fucking idea?” Val didn’t have to sound so fucking appalled. “You know Johnnie’ll vote against it just because he’s become a fucking fuckhead.”
“That motherfucker been that and Rory turning just like him.”
Val grunted.
Christopher shoved his hand through his hair and massaged his neck. “I might just buy a tract of land for us. Build a house for us, one for Diesel, and have a couple waitin’ in the wings.”
“But…fuck, why? We a family, Outlaw, and we got a nice little private enclave for us. Why you want to fuck that up?”
“Megan want fuckin’ windows. I have an appointment tomorrow with a contractor to talk about a fourth floor. Or…”
“How adding windows turning into you buying a fucking tract of land in the fucking wilderness?”
“A bunch of reasons, Val.”
“Meggie know?”
“Didn’t I just fuckin’ say only you?”
“Puff’ll never fuck me up if I give you my fucking blessings before you talk to your wife. Don’t you know your fucking wife at all? What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“I can build a private facility there just for Rule. Bring him home.”
“You can do that now. Here. In Hortensia.”
“Every time Megan walk in this motherfucker, which ain’t a fuckin’ lot recently, she get flashbacks of what the fuck they did.”
“She told you that?”
“In so many words. She ain’t fuckin’ happy.”
“Outlaw, I’m talking to you as your brother-in-law and hers, too. You underestimate her. She forgave your motherfucking ass. Let the woman process everything. Give her a chance to see that she safe here. Let Jo come home. Unless you not happy and projecting that shit onto Meggie?”
“Megan not here. I’m jumpin’ for fuckin’ joy.”
“That would be better than you losin’ your fuckin’ mind. If you move away, that’ll crush Puff. She love livin’ close to you.”
Christopher gnashed his teeth together. “Ima talk to Megan, but, Val, if she say, yeah, I’m fuckin’ doin’ it.”
“Fuck, I know nobody more important than Meggie,” Val said heavily. “But…fuck!”
“How’s Molly?” Christopher asked, changing the subject because there was nothing more to say.
Val blinked, then scrubbed his face as if he was resetting his brain.
“Bad off, Outlaw. I talked to her doctor, and he said she need specialized care. Griffin gave me a list of options, but they so fucking expensive. What about logistics? Do we just institutionalize her and forget about her? I sure the fuck can’t ask Mort for more money. ”
“The place Rule at got a medical facility nearby. Across the parking lot and through the fucking trees. I can have her moved there and give Wilcunt power of attorney over her as long as he sign Rule back over to us.”
“What about the rectory?”
“The lil’ motherfucker can prioritize. I ain’t releasin’ no fuckin’ funds to him if that lil fuckhead don’t fuckin’ behave.”
“Suppose he don’t want to give up power of attorney over Rule?”
“Then the lil’ fuckhead need to pay one of the club girls to push out his kid.”
“Fuck, he do like them a lot.”
“When they want to move Molly?”
“As soon as possible. She stable and there’s not much more they can do for her.”
“Okay. I’ll tell CJ tonight. Megan comin’ home Wednesday. I’ll have Molly moved Thursday. If I tell her what’s happenin’, Megan might want to be there to make sure Molly got everything she need.”
“That makes sense. She’d probably stay an extra three or four day, so this low motherfucker move warranted.”
“I think so,” Christopher agreed.
“I got to get going, brother,” Val said. “My girl need her fence reinforced.”
Hogzilla, he meant. “Your fuckin’ girl would feed a lot of motherfuckers. She’d make good ass barbeque.”
“Her Uncle Outlaw don’t mean that. He knows how much her daddy love her.”
Christopher snickered. “Bye, Val.”
Val gave him a two-fingered salute. “Stay busy until Meggie get back.”
Once Val left, Christopher dialed Kendall’s number again. “I got some free time,” he started when voicemail picked up. “I wanted to stop in so we can talk about the DNA tests. Call me when you get this.”
Unlike the last time she went to LA, Megan called Christopher from the airport after the plane touched down, when she got to the house, and before she went to sleep.
Their phone sex reminded him of the times he’d been on the road, missing her and wishing he could’ve brought her.
She was good at phone fucking, taking him to a place where he could almost feel her mouth on him. This time was no different.
Except he was different.
He’d taken care of business yesterday, made sure to keep tabs on Gunner, sent the boys to school, and ate the meal Bishop prepared. Megan called him before his day started, while he was still in bed. He hadn’t heard from her again until late last night.
The depth in which he wanted to be with Megan told him that he’d outgrown the club. Or the club outgrew him. Everyone made a mountain out of a molehill over Bash. He’d become a non-issue. After the DNA tests, everything would be settled with concrete certainty.
Christopher wasn’t needed at the club. Diesel and his crew would better serve it. He no longer knew the club girls or the new hangarounds.
So fucking much had escaped him these last several months as he fought to save his marriage that he fucked up.
He didn’t know how to revive his inner circle, men who made the club tolerable and gave Christopher the support he needed among the general membership.
Yet knowing Megan didn’t enjoy the club any longer got to him more than anything else.
Through all his years of dividing his time, fuck his personality, between the club and his wife, she’d been at his side, supporting him, cheering him, and teaching him how to be a better man. She was a welcome, daily presence at the club. Now, she’d force herself to go because of him.
She’d ignore her own happiness and attend club functions or whatever else he asked of her after half the motherfuckers there turned their fucking backs on her and hadn’t cared if Bash killed her.
Waiting until CJ came of age to step down suddenly seemed a very long time.
His boy would be of age in sixteen months.
He could prospect, but even fast tracking him would take at least a year.
There was no getting around that, no matter what other plans Christopher and Diesel had to install CJ as president.