Chapter Twenty-Seven
Gobsmacked and not quite sure how to respond, Hawkeye followed Delilah into the clubhouse.
It was still too early for most of his brothers to be awake.
At least the ones that had been passed out all over the common room this morning.
Not that it would keep him from waking them.
She didn’t need to deal with that shit. They could get up and go to their rooms. Well, the patched brothers could.
He was going to set the prospects, all but Hunter who was on the gate, to cleaning.
Inside, he found Dax still lying on his back on top of the bar, hands clasped on top of his stomach, as if he’d been laid out for a viewing.
Hawkeye shook his head as he stepped around Delilah where she stood a few feet inside the door, looking around as if trying to decide where to start.
There was no way he would let her clean this place.
Not only was it gross, but that was the prospects’ job. He made his way behind the bar where he grabbed the water sprayer and doused Dax. The younger man sputtered, then sat up looking around as if he was going to knock someone out for waking him.
“Get up. Find David and unload all the stuff out of the blue pickup. Take it up to my room then clean this place up. It’s a shit hole and I don’t want Delilah to think she needs to do it.” Hawkeye dropped the keys to the truck on the bar beside where Dax still sat, blinking.
“Yes, sir. Any idea where David is?”
Hawkeye shook his head. “He was on the gate a couple hours ago, so maybe he crashed? I have no clue. Find him and get busy.” He turned to where Delilah stood next to the door. “I don’t know if there’s anywhere in here safe to sit or if you would be more comfortable going back to my room?”
“Can I offer another option?” Taylynn said from the opening of the hallway that led to the kitchen as well as Raven’s office.
“Sure? What you got?”
“How about you both join Raven and me in his office, at least until they get this place cleaned up some.” She scanned the room, her nose crinkling in distaste as she took in the several bodies still sprawled on furniture and the floor, as well as the mess.
“You know the way if you want to join us.” She turned and disappeared back down the hall.
Hawkeye turned back to Delilah and lifted one brow. “What do you think?”
She watched him a moment, as if she was trying to figure out what he wanted her to say.
Finally, she lifted one shoulder and dropped it.
“I don’t see anywhere out here I’d be comfortable sitting, at least not until it’s been scrubbed and dipped in bleach, but I feel like we can’t spend all our time in your room.
We’ll drive each other crazy inside of a week. ”
“Sounds good. Want something to drink?”
“Water would be nice.” She stepped carefully across the room to meet him when he stepped from behind the bar. He gave her the water then dropped his hand to the small of her back so he could steer her to the office.
“What’s up this morning?” Hawkeye said as he stood in the office doorway and found Taylynn and Raven in his chair behind the desk.
“Not much. Just hanging out somewhere that’s not a biohazard. I just got an email from the contractor. They’ll start construction on the first of the houses tomorrow,” the president said.
Hawkeye followed Delilah into the room. He sat in one of the two chairs in front of the big desk, and had to fight the urge to pull Delilah down on to his lap, much the way Taylynn and Raven sat.
But she wasn’t his and she might not be comfortable with it, not yet.
If she stayed, she would get used to it.
He’d just have to be content with that for now.
“Good. Speaking of. Add me to the list.”
“What list?”
“The waiting list for houses.”
Raven’s brows shot up. His mouth opened and closed a couple of times, before he shut it and snorted. “All right. I don’t know how long it will be. The more of us who get their asses out there and help, the faster the houses will go up.”
“Not sure the contractor will like that. Doesn’t it cut into his profits?”
Raven lifted one shoulder and let it fall.
“Not as far as I’m concerned. If they’re making sure we’re getting shit done right, just managing to get it done faster, I’ll pay full rates.
I want Taylynn and me out of here before snow flies.
Not sure we’ll manage it, but I do not want her spending the winter in the clubhouse. ”
“That gives us two months, if we’re lucky. If not, maybe one, maybe one and a half. What did the contractor say?”
“He says typically six to ten months, but he’s got a team of five men. Things will go far faster when there’s two or three times that many working. And they should get faster after the first one when we have a better idea what to do.”
Hawkeye had doubts about that, especially as winter got closer, but he had to admit, he liked the idea of having his own house, his own space more than the ten by twelve room he had here in the clubhouse, before winter.
Hell, for that, he might get out there and help build the houses too, if it meant they could move in sooner.
But there was something more important. Something that had to be done before he could focus on the house or anything else.
“I guess that tells me how much time I have to get shit done.” Hawkeye glanced at Delilah, checking on her reaction and if she even had any clue what he was talking about, then he turned back to his president.
“How’s that going?” Raven’s gaze slid to Delilah, then back to him. “I’m betting you didn’t get much sleep last night.” He lifted one brow.
“Fuck you. I got some sleep, but I got a lot of research done, too. This is a huge undertaking. I’d like to enlist some of my contacts, men I know I can trust, to help with different elements.
If we contact some of our allied clubs, I think we can get everyone housed and cared for, at least until they can move on, whether to start lives of their own or whatever. ”
“How many are we talking about?”
Hawkeye hadn’t been able to get a good estimate from online research, and he’d refused to wake Delilah to ask. But that was then.
“How many men would you guess are in Jericho, little dove?”
She looked at him a moment then tilted her head back and seemed to focus on the ceiling. “There are twenty-seven elders. Elders are men of marriageable age. Of course, all of this is as of the last time I was there, almost eight months ago now. No telling how accurate it might be now.”
Hawkeye glanced at Raven before asking the question he was afraid to know the answer to. “What’s marriageable age for the men? Fifteen?” He knew that wouldn’t be right. There was no way those men would tolerate young men competing for the girls they wanted for themselves.
Delilah shook her head. “Thirty. A man has to prove that he can properly care for and provide for his wives and children before they’re allowed to marry.”
“Who decides they’ve proven that?”
“Father Monro and his bishops.” She met his gaze without looking away immediately or blushing. She might only have been with him a couple of days, but he liked the changes he saw in her.
“How many men between fifteen and thirty?”
“That’s harder.” She rolled her lips inward and bit them, making Hawkeye want to pull them loose then kiss the sting away. He kept his hands to himself, not wanting to embarrass her.
“Why?”
“Because the elders send the younger men out into he outside world to prove themselves. They go to make money to support the community.”
Raven watched her for a moment, then spoke. “Once they leave, do they ever come back?”
Delilah opened her mouth but didn’t say anything.
She turned and looked at him with wide eyes, as if some idea had only just occurred to her.
“Not that I can recall. I never had much interaction with any of them. It was considered inappropriate. But I would see them, I knew who they all were. Now that I think about it, I can’t name a single man who was sent out to prove themselves, that ever came back later and took a wife or more. What happened to them?”
“I’m not sure but if you’ll give me names, I’ll do some looking.”
She nodded. “Also, when I left I think there were somewhere between three and six men that age, at least I can remember seeing about that many.”
“Good. That gives us somewhere to start,” Raven said. “Any guesses on how many women and children?”
“Give me a few minutes and I can get you some numbers. I’ll have to go through each family in my head and count them up.” She turned to address the president.
Taylynn opened one of the desk drawers and pulled out a notebook and pen. “Let’s get started on that.” she turned to Raven. “You want us to move into church or you want to leave us here while you go in there?”
If his old lady running him out of his office bothered Raven, the closest he came to letting it show was to lift his brows at her.
He kept that expression for maybe five seconds before taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly.
“You know you’re not allowed in there. We’ll go.
” He tapped her leg and she stood, then he followed suit.
As soon as he’d moved, Taylynn sank back down into the chair.
Hawkeye watched Delilah for a moment, wanting to be sure she was okay with him leaving her here.
“They’ll be in the next room.” Taylynn waved one hand in the direction of the room where the club met to discuss business. “No one will bother us here. But I can ask one of the prospects to stand by the door if you’d feel safer?”
Delilah shook her head. “It’s fine. Plus, Hawkeye put them to work. They’re cleaning the other room. I’m fine here.” She turned to Hawkeye. “I’m good. You can go ahead.”
He nodded once then stood. At least he would only be in the next room, in case she needed him for some reason. He followed Raven out the door and into Church. Raven took his usual seat at the head of the table. Rather than sit in his spot, Hawkeye took the one closer to Raven’s.
“Taylynn didn’t want to upset your girl by talking the details of taking down Jericho in front of her,” Raven said, breaking the silence. “Tell me more about your plan. Who are these contacts and how do we know we can trust them?”
“Some of them are a part of other clubs, others are hackers I’ve worked with in the past.” He didn’t want to tell his president everything he did with them, but if he had to, he would.
“Sometimes, when one of us has a big job or something we’re in a rush for, some of my friends will divide it up into smaller pieces, each taking what they’re best at, and making short work of it.
I’ve done enough for them over the years to know they’ll be on board with this and they’ll do everything they can to help.
From hacking bank accounts and moving money, making sure trails and evidence can be found if we’re looking to convict or making any evidence we were involved disappear if we take a more permanent route. ”
Raven was quiet for a moment. “What’s our personal risk?”
“Minimal, unless we go for a permanent solution.”
“How do you feel about no permanent solution?”
Hawkeye was silent for a moment as he considered it. really thought about it.
“I’d like to put the fuckwad who told her they were married and started abusing her when she was a child into the ground.
I’d love nothing more than to put her father beside him for giving her to him.
But that would be too quick—they would go too easy and not suffer nearly long enough.
” He fell silent for a moment as he tried to figure out how best to say this.
“As much as I would love to kill both of them, I think putting them in prison would be a more appropriate punishment.”
“In prison there’s always a chance they’ll get released, and that’s if they’re convicted to begin with.”
Hawkeye didn’t know if his president was being serious or playing devil’s advocate. It didn’t matter.
“I can make sure they have the evidence to convict them. And there’s always the option that if they let them go, then we can go with the dirt nap option. As for the being let out eventually,” Hawkeye couldn’t help but smirk, “I have no intentions of that ever happening.”
Raven lifted one brow in question.
“If it ever looks like they’ll be released, I just reach out to some contacts and make sure they’re aware of it. Same way I’ll make sure those same contacts know what they’ve done.”
“So you’re planning to make sure they have a prison stay equally as pleasant as her stay in Jericho?”
“Oh, no. Delilah was raised to believe it was normal. That that fuckwad raping her every night was the way it was supposed to be. But even with that, she’s still mostly innocent.
Now, I haven’t asked too many questions—I don’t want to push her farther than she’s comfortable—but from what she’s said, that fuckwad never touched her in a way that couldn’t get her pregnant.
At least sexually. He did beat her. Him and her father both did.
They will have a far less pleasant stay than she did in Jericho.
” His grin held all the malice he felt toward the two men, or more accurately, all the men in Jericho who abused those weaker than them.
“So you think we might not have to go all the way back down to Jericho to take care of them?”
“I don’t think so. We might need to go back and do a little clean up on the Crows, but I’ll see what I can do from here. I don’t want to be back in their territory too soon. Someone might put two and two together and realize we’re responsible for their end.”
Raven nodded but didn’t reply. Hawkeye pulled out his phone and texted Pike. With what they were working on, his brother might be awake, or he might be passed out from working all night long. You could never tell.