He took his hand off my shoulder and flipped me off. “Yeah, well, you ain’t never gonna hear ‘em again cause you gotta be damn sassy about it.” He turned to walk back into the kitchen. “You got two hours ‘til Brinks picks you up. Get these customers out of here, and we’ll head back to your place.”
“We don’t close for another three hours, Bos.”
He raised his hands in the air. “Don’t care. Clear it out and lock the door. I’m not interested in more danger walking through that door.” He disappeared through the swinging doors, and I looked at the two tables with customers in them.
They were all staring at me, and I realized they had heard every word Bos and I had said. “Uh, hey folks. As soon as you guys are done eating, I’m gonna ask you to leave.”
They all instantly looked down at their plates then back up at me. “Or, I could get you all to-go containers.”
A chorus of “to-go” went up. They weren’t dumb. Even they knew two mysterious men walking into the diner were trouble.
I grabbed a handful of containers and passed them out to everyone. As soon as I handed them their checks, they all threw cash on the table and dashed out the door.
“Uh, mission accomplished,” I hollered to Bos as I locked the door.
He walked out of the kitchen, and he turned out the back lights. “Figured they would get out of here fast. I called Mavis to let her know what was going on, and that I wouldn’t be over tonight.”
“What? Why?” I asked. “You just have to hang with me until Brinks gets here.”
He shook his head. “Nope, I’m going with you, darlin’.”
“Bos, that’s crazy. There’s no reason why you should.”
“You and this Brinks guy are heading back to Weston on a motorcycle. Who’s to say those goons in the Suburban aren’t waiting for you as soon as you get on the interstate. I follow behind, and I can give anyone who follows you guys a little knock with the Buick.”
“Bos, your car is like a tank. You give anyone a little knock with it, and they’ll be in the ditch.”
He shrugged and tossed me a damp rag. “If they’re trying to hurt you, darlin’, then that is where they belong.” He pointed to the deserted tables. “Grab those dishes, toss ‘em in the sink, and we’re out.” He left no room for argument.
After I cleared the tables, we argued about whether or not I should drive my car home.
“I hate you.”
Bos backed out of his parking spot and headed to my house. My phone buzzed with a text message from a number I didn’t know.
Be there in an hour. -Brinks
I quickly typed back where I was so he wouldn’t go to the diner to get me.
Got it.
Brinks was apparently another one who used his words sparingly. “Must be a trait of the Fallen Lords,” I mumbled. I tucked the phone in my purse and rested my head back against the headrest.
“All good?” Bos asked.
“Yeah. Brinks will be here in an hour.” I closed my eyes and sighed.
After I got with Brinks, I was headed back to the clubhouse, but Wrecker still wasn’t going to be with me. I wished there was something I could do to help him, but it seemed like I had just complicated things for him even more.
All I could do was comply with what he told me to do and wait.
I was never good at waiting.
*
Chapter 20
Wrecker
“Tell me, Wrecker. Just what is it you are doing here today?”
I sat back in my chair and crossed my arms over my chest. So, this was the game he was going to play. If he wanted to act like he didn’t know about me, then I was going to inform him about who I was.
“I’m here because you seem to have something that belongs to me.”
Oakley steepled his hands together and touched the tip of them to his lips. “Perhaps you’ll have to be more specific than that. I always seem to have something that everyone always wants.” He motioned around his office. “Fortune is high on the list of things that people covet from me.”
I shook my head. “Your fortune is not one that I’m interested in.” The Weston chapter of the Fallen Lords might not completely be on the up-and-up, but we were a hell of a lot cleaner than The Ultra. “I’m here about a girl that I think you might have acquired three days ago.” After Boink had headed back to Weston with Mayra, I got in contact with Oakley. He put me off for three days before he agreed to meet with me last minute today.
“There are many women here, Mr. Wrecker. Many who choose to be here.”
I leaned forward in my chair. “I’m interested in the ones who don’t choose to be here.”
A sly smile spread across his lips. “Then you are talking about only a handful. One being my sister, who I doubt you want. She’s a mischievous thing of only twelve years who I unfortunately am her guardian.” He leaned forward. “Unless you are in the market for something which I would be surprised you ask for.”
With those words, I knew Oakley Mykel was the kind of evil most would never meet, and those who did never left his presence the same. “I’m not interested in your sister, and I hope she escapes your grasp.”
He splayed he hands out in front of him. “My sister is of no concern to you from where I am sitting. From where I sit, I would say I have the upper hand, and you shouldn’t be talking to me in a tone that one might take as hostile.”
“I’m here for Raven.” I was done beating around the bush. I could tell he was amused by it, and I didn’t want to play into his pathetic game.
He leaned back in his chair. “Ah, yes. The feisty little one we brought in a few days ago.”
“She belongs to the Fallen Lords.”
“So she does.” He tapped a finger to his chin. “So, one has to wonder why she was working in one of my clubs, asking questions that were bound to get her into trouble.”
Just like Raven to not be patient and wait for things to happen. So, Boink hadn’t done anything wrong, it was just Raven more than likely poking her nose into things that didn’t have anything to do with her. “I had no idea she was here until one of her friends notified me that she had gone missing.”
“But you knew what the club was about, didn’t you?”
I nodded. I wasn’t going to give him anything more than I needed to.
“You, of course, would know about the club and The Ultra since your fearless leader Jenkins has become an associate of mine.”
I again nodded my head. I knew he wasn’t a stupid man, just like he knew I wasn’t either. His questions were a test, and I hoped my answers to would appease him.
“But why would you not share this information with your sister who somehow came to work for me?”
“My sister and I are not close.”
“Then why do you care if she is under my roof?”
This is where I was going to have to tread lightly. “Though we may be distant, I wish no harm to come to her.”
“So, you decided to come in here as the loyal older brother to save the day?”
“If she is here under her own accord, then you and I have nothing more to talk about when it comes to her.”
He tilted his head to the side. “That sounds as if you have something else that we should talk about.”
“We do have other business to discuss, but I would like to resolve the matter of my sister first.”
Oakley snapped his fingers. “I have your sister, but first, I need you to stop lying to me, Mr. Wrecker.” One of his men handed him a phone, then sank back into the corner where he was keeping watch. “I might have something on my phone that is of interest to you if you don’t start talking to me straight.”
I had been right. Oakley had sent his men to Alice. Though I didn’t understand why they had only taken a picture and not her. They had already taken Raven, so what was one more woman to them?
“May I be frank with you, Mr. Mykel?”
He looked up from the phone and nodded. “To me, that is th
e only way to do business. Otherwise, misunderstandings start happening when someone does something they shouldn’t.”
I had no choice but to lay it out on the table for him to see. “I love my club, but the direction it is going as a whole is not one the Weston chapter wants to be a part of.”
He nodded.
“Jenkins is working for you.”
“I wouldn’t go that far. He is an acquaintance that is providing me with a temporary service until I decide to terminate said service.”
“Fair enough. The problem comes in where you being acquaintances with him puts me in a position to also be a part of that.”
“Something you don’t want to be a part of?” he asked.
“No, we don’t see the need for us to go in the direction that Jenkins is headed.”
He rested his hands on his desk. “You see, Mr. Wrecker, to me, this sounds like something you should be taking up with Jenkins, and not with me. Sending your sister into a place of business that I own did nothing more than poke a bear that did not need poking.”
“I have tried numerous times to speak to Jenkins, but it falls on deaf ears. He has no wish to hear anything besides the sound of dollar signs.”
“So, what would you like me to do about it? I’m a reasonable man when I’m not pushed into a corner and forced to take a woman to get someone's attention.”
I held my hands up. “That is something I need to apologize for. Your reputation precedes you in the fact that you were not someone to negotiate with.”
“But isn’t that what we are doing right now? I repeat, I am a reasonable man when not fucked with.”
“I would like to work out our own deal with you. One that only involves the Weston chapter of the Lords and will get me away from Jenkins.”
He leaned back in his chair. “I’m listening.”
I was going to give him the only thing I could. “You’ll have the protection of the Lords, the Weston chapter. We’ve heard you are looking to branch out. Come further east.”
“My production I have going right now is fine where it is. Though, you are correct in your knowledge of wanting to expand, but the expansion will be in the direction of guns.”
I knew this. The intel Brinks had given me had been dead-on. “Guns fits much better in our wheelhouse than your other enterprises do.” He had not yet said that they were heavy into running and cooking drugs, so I wasn’t about to put that out there.
“What kind of protection can you offer me that I don’t already have in my own men?”
I leaned forward. “My men are part of Weston.” I tapped a finger onto his desk. “If you do this right, and come in quietly, you will get no resistance from the people of Weston. We can lay the groundwork allowing you to slide in without hassle.”
“And in return, I give you back your sister and get Jenkins off your back.”
I nodded.
“It seems as though you get two things, when I only get one. Not very fair, Mr. Wrecker.”
I didn’t have anything else to give him. Raven was of no use to him, so I didn’t understand why he would want to keep her. “You only have to let Raven go and make one phone call to Jenkins to let him know the Weston chapter now works for you, under your command. For me to ease The Ultra into Weston, that is going to take months. You maybe have half an hour of work compared to me basically giving you my whole club until you get settled seems very fair in my book.”
He tapped his finger on his chin. “I’m hearing what you are saying, but I don’t like how you just come in here and get your way.”
“I’m hardly getting my way. I’m giving you something to get back what you took from me.”
He slammed his hand down on the table. “I took it from you because you stuck it under my nose. You were trying to get that woman into my inner sanctum, and that is something I do not appreciate at all. I like you more than that sniveling Jenkins, but the fact you thought you could pull one over on me infuriates me beyond reason.”
I knew when I had sent Raven in that if she got caught, it was going to complicate things even more than they already were. “It was an error in judgement on my part. If I knew there had been another way at the time, I would have taken it instead.”
Oakley closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I’m going to take you up on your offer of expanding into Weston. I know from starting here in Riverton that being accepted by the community is hard especially when one comes in swinging their dick like they own the place.” He shrugged. “We all learn as we go. Isn’t that right, Mr. Wrecker? You’ve discovered that I’m actually a reasonable man, and I discovered that I would rather work with you than Jenkins.”
“I feel like I need to repeat that we don’t want anything to do with your business you already have running.”
He held up his hands. “I hear you, I hear you. I won’t force things on you that you don’t want if I can take care of them in house, which is where that side of the business is going. I was soon going to alleviate Jenkins of his obligation to me, so it works in my favor that you are here ready to help me on my new venture.”
I wasn’t sure if I had done the right thing. If he was letting Jenkins out of his deal, that would have meant the Weston chapter would have been out of it too.
“I see where your thoughts are wandering, but I can assure that you making this deal with me works out much better for you. While I will be notifying Jenkins that I no longer need his service, that also means that chapter of the Lord's will no longer be in effect.”
“You mean?”
Oakley drew a line across his neck. “It was an agreement that Jenkins and I made that when I no longer needed him, his club would no longer see the light of day. With you coming to me, it has granted that you will not be included in the termination of that chapter of the Lords.”
“What about the two other chapters of the Lords?”
“Yours and Jenkins were the only ones we had spoken of when making our deal.”
I growled at the knowledge Jenkins had bargained with my club without my knowledge. He may be the head of the club as a whole, but that didn’t mean he could use us as he saw fit without input from all of us. “I’m not agreeing to those terms with our deal.”
“I knew you wouldn’t, seeing as you value human life much more than Jenkins did.”
I couldn’t say the same for him since he had been ready to offer his sister up to me ten minutes prior. Though with Oakley, that might have been a test to see just what kind of a person I was. “So, we are in agreement?”
“You help me set up shop in Weston, and I’ll get Jenkins off your back.”
“My sister,” I growled.
He shrugged. “I’m still irritated by her ignorant attitude. You really need to get better people to be informants for you.” He picked up his phone again and swiped to the right. “I’ll give you back your sister, but you need to remember what kind of man I am, Mr. Wrecker.” He held up his phone for me to see. Alice’s surprised face stared back at me. She looked gorgeous but also confused as hell.
“So that means if I mess up, you’ll mess with me.”
He tucked the phone back into his pocket. “It means if you fuck with me, I’ll rip your heart out by killing the woman you love.”
*
Chapter 21
Alice
“Are you sure about this?”
Nikki set the bottle on the sink and nodded. “Yeah. I did this back in high school. It turned out amazing.”
I closed my eyes and cringed. “Are you sure it’s supposed to be stinging like this?”
She nodded again. “Yep, that means it’s working.”
I didn’t know if it was working on burning all of my hair off or if the dye was working to make my hair dark purple. “Maybe I should have went to the salon.”
“Nonsense,” she muttered. “I got this from the store on Lofton. It was one of those beauty supply places. The chick behind the counter told me exactly how to do it. Two to one.”
I opened one eye and looked up at her. “You said one to two when you were doing it before.”
“That’s not what I said,” she insisted.
Oh, Jesus. All of this dye was either going to wash out, or it was going to give me third degree burns on my head. From the sting, I was leaning toward the third degree burns. “So how long does it sit on my head for?”
“Half an hour.” She glanced at the clock that was behind me. “So, at twelve thirty, you’ll be a purple bombshell.” Nikki opened the fridge and offered me a wine cooler.
“You got anything stronger?” My nerves were already on edge with Wrecker still not back from wherever the hell he had went, and now, I had some purple goo on my head that may very well killing all of my hair as I sat there.
Nikki skipped out of the kitchen humming under her breath.
Yesterday, Brinks had picked me up and we had headed back to the clubhouse with Bos tailing behind us, ready to knock any bad guys who tried to mess with us off the road. He was disappointed when we had made it to the clubhouse without him having to give someone a little bump.
When we had walked into the clubhouse Nikki, Karmen, Cora, and Wren were all there. Apparently, Brinks had mentioned to Nickel that he was headed to pick me up so he had activated the Girl Gang phone tree to assemble everyone. Thankfully, they had told the girls enough to stop them from asking questions, but they were basically still clueless because none of the other girls were ever told everything that was going on.
They were all weirded out by the fact those guys took my picture and agreed it was best Wrecker had decided I should come to the clubhouse ‘til shit got straightened out. So, last night, we had all got Girl Gang wasted and initiated Bos into the Girl Gang because I had told them how Bos had been there for me when I had drawn a dick on Mark Allen’s car.
Surprisingly, Bos had fit right in with all of the girls. They sort of treated him like he was their dad, though Bos had decided to play pool all night with Brinks, Pipe, and Nickel.
Maniac had picked Wren up this morning to go get breakfast while Cora and Karmen were still in bed sleeping off last night’s bender. Nikki had woken me up an hour ago to have coffee, and somehow, we had ended up in the kitchen with questionable purple dye on my head with Nikki running to go get some hair of the dog to combat the hangover we were both battling.
Fallen Lords MC: Books 4-6 Page 14