by Jayna King
We didn't talk a whole lot over the rest of dinner. The food was fantastic, and I filled Spike in on my new MC life, but my heart wasn't in it. I couldn't believe that the men I'd pledged my life to were entirely bad, but I knew that if I let Joker lead us back into prostitution, that his sickness would spread and infect the whole MC again, turning it back into an evil fucking cesspool that would eventually kill everyone in it. I wanted better for the Savage Sons, and Krystal had promised to stand by me while I went after it.
After dinner we went back home, and I realized that I'd left my cell phone at home. When I picked it up, there were nine missed calls and more text messages than I could count.
"Holy shit," I said, looking at the phone.
"What's the matter?"
"My phone blew up," I said, as I skimmed over the text messages — much faster than listening to all the voice mails. "Holy shit," I repeated. "Looks like someone broke into Savage Bud and smashed all the display cases." I read further. "Jesus, they found a gas can at the shop, too. Looks like the cops showed up just in time to keep whoever it was from burning the shop down." I started to read more messages, but my phone rang. "Yeah?" I answered, seeing that it was Sable's number "Jesus, Luke, where have you been? Are you and Krystal still in Mexico?" She sounded tired and frantic, all at the same time.
"We're in Arizona. Krystal and I went out for dinner, and I left my phone here. We just got back and I was reading the messages. Do you know who did it?"
"Apparently, Zeno heard that a couple of the shops on the east side aren't too happy about the Sons opening a store. They think we'll pull some of their customers, and they're probably right. Zeno's pretty sure he knows the guys who are behind it. Chuck and I were there when the guys came in, and they just looked like kids."
"What?" I practically yelled, louder than I'd meant to be. "You were inside? None of the messages said that."
"Well, Joker probably didn't want you to worry."
"I'm fucking worried. Are you okay? Chuck?"
She sighed. "Yeah, we're fine, both of us. I pulled my gun, and they were too scared to do us any real harm. Like I said, they looked like kids. They smashed things up with baseball bats on their way out."
"And they were gonna set the place on fire?" I asked.
"Sounds that way. The cops found a full gas can outside. Luke, the place is a mess."
"I'm not worried about that," I told her. "We have enough time to get everything cleaned up and ready for the opening. I'm more worried about the assholes who pulled this. What are the rest of the guys saying?"
"Oh, I'm pretty sure they're ready to go kick the guys' asses."
"I think that's appropriate, given the circumstances. I want to be there for it. We can leave in the morning, and I'll be home by the evening. Is Zeno sure he's got the right guys?"
"Pretty sure, but Luke, you just got out of jail, honey. You shouldn't have anything to do with this mess."
"Sable, I'm a grown ass man, and I will make my own decisions. I'll see you tomorrow."
I hung up the phone and turned to look at Krystal who, I realized, didn't look very happy with me.
"Whatever that was about, I suspect that I agree with your mother on this one," she said, sitting down in the living room.
"Why doesn't that surprise me?" I asked, rolling my eyes. "Girl, let's get you out of those clothes and into my bed. We have another long ride ahead of us, and I have business to take care of tomorrow evening."
Chapter 23 -- Krystal
Saturday, September 28, 2013
When I woke up, I didn't remember exactly where I was. I guess it was having slept in several different beds over the past few nights that did it, but I also suspect that it might have been the terrible dreams that had haunted my sleep. The only bright spot of the morning was waking up and seeing Luke asleep next to me. Whatever else might be wrong with the world, at least that much was right. I slipped out of bed and left him sleeping and went into the kitchen to make coffee.
I wasn't going to argue with him about it — mostly because I didn't think it would do any good — but I didn't want Luke going anywhere near the guys who might or might not have smashed up Savage Bud. Don't get me wrong … I was pissed, but there was no way I wanted to see Luke picked up because of some stupid revenge bullshit. I knew that it was a battle I couldn't win, though. I just hoped that the guys would be smart about the whole thing. I even understood the fact that they didn't want to appear weak to the other store owners. I'd figured that the legal weed business would be a little more professional, but apparently I'd been wrong.
Drinking coffee while I folded the load of laundry we'd done the night before, I realized that Luke had done the right thing by agreeing to work with Kate and Mark. Even though I'd been the one to push him, I'd had serious misgivings. I'd worried that my pressure would put him in danger, like Moses, or that I'd leaned on him too hard and he'd end up resenting me if he had to compromise his principles. I'd done it just because I wanted him to come home so badly, but I saw now that he really did have the chance to right some serious wrongs. I was going to support him through the tough days I knew he had ahead of him.
"Mornin', baby," Luke said as he came out for coffee.
I gathered up the clothes and decided to head back to the bedroom and get ready to leave. "I wish we could stay here a little longer, especially knowing what we're going back to."
Luke ran his hands through his messy hair. "Me, too, but I have to get back. Jesus, there's just so much stuff that I don't want to deal with. I can't believe I'm gonna have to go deal with a bunch of punk ass kids who thought they could scare us off by breaking a few things and scaring my mother. I can't believe that I'm gonna have to find a way to keep the Sons from getting back into prostitution, and I really can't fucking believe that Joker has been involved with the shit he has. He's fucking evil. At least part of him is, anyway. I can't let that stand, Krystal. I can't. I completely see why Moses went to the feds. He knew, and he couldn't live with himself if he didn't do something about it. Now I'm in that position, and it fucking sucks."
I hadn't expected the torrent of words. He'd clearly been thinking about the mess he was in, and he'd made up his mind. "Whatever you have to do, I'm behind you, for what it's worth," I said.
"That's worth more than you'll ever know. I love you, Krystal."
"Love you, too," I said. "I'll go get ready for what I hope is our last ride for quite a while."
We made good time getting to Denver, and the only bad weather we hit we were able to ride out over lunch. Luke's phone had rung a bunch of times, but he'd decided to wait to deal with everything until we got back into town. Though I really wanted to stop at our house and get cleaned up, Luke felt like we needed to press on and get to the clubhouse right away.
As it turned out, he was right.
The parking lot was full of bikes, some of them even from the Fort Collins crew. There was a little bigger security presence visible, and I waved to Johnson, who sat on a barstool, keeping an eye on the parking lot. It looked like everyone was there, and I was dreading what I knew I'd walk into — a room full of booze and bravado. The lot of the old lady was to mop up the mess afterwards.
Nate held the door open for us. "Joker wants to talk to you, Luke," he said.
I looked at Luke, glad I wasn't going to have to be a part of that conversation. As we walked inside and I watched Luke greeting his brothers, I noticed that every one of them was carrying a gun, and most had heavy steel chains hanging from their belts. They looked like a gang hell-bent on stirring up trouble. Sable walked out of the back room, and Luke hurried over to her, dragging me with him.
He hugged her. "Mom, I'm so glad you're okay."
Sable hugged him back and kissed him on the cheek. "I don't scare that easy." I was sure that she — as had I — noticed that Luke had just called her Mom for the first time. She turned to me. "You carrying?" she asked.
"Yeah," I answered. "Luke hooked me up," I said, holding m
y jacket open so that she could see my Beretta.
"Good man," she said. "Luke, I talked to Joker, and he'll understand if you don't go with the rest of the guys tonight. With you just having gotten out of jail, he knows that you might have a harder time if something goes wrong. Why don't you stay here and keep an eye on the clubhouse while the guys are gone?"
"Sable, I don't need my mother trying to protect me. I'm going, and that's final."
He walked away, and I was left alone with Sable. I wondered, for the first time, how she'd react if she knew Maria's story. I wasn't sure if everything would ever come out and be public knowledge, but I knew that if it did, it would be hard on Sable. I felt a little sorry for her, but I realized that I saw a glimpse of my future — what life would be like if I turned into an old lady who just turned a blind eye to whatever my man wanted to do. I didn't want to control Luke, but I did want him to make better choices than Joker and Moses had made. I didn't think that was too much to ask, and I vowed that I would never be in the position Sable was.
I looked across the room, and I watched Joker approach Luke. I could feel every muscle in my body tighten, as I thought about how difficult it was going to be for Luke to talk to Joker without revealing everything he knew. I didn't envy Luke. As I watched, though, he took his cell phone out of his pocket, looked at the screen, and searched the room until he found me. He made eye contact, and I wasn't sure who was calling or had texted, but I knew that there was a problem. I crossed the room toward Luke, and I saw him say something to Joker and meet me in the middle of the clubhouse.
"Outside," he said, taking me by the elbow to steer me through the crowd.
"Who was on the phone?" I asked as soon as we got outside.
"Kate Tanner. We've got a problem."
"What's wrong?"
"They have the border guard that Luis was going to pay off on their informant list. He's told them that there's weed coming through in the next day or so, and he told them it's bound for the Savage Sons."
"Oh no," I said, my mind racing with the awful possibilities. "How the hell would he know who it's going to?"
"I don't know. What the fuck am I going to tell her? She's going to think I've been holding out on her."
"Luke, we just got back into town this evening. Tell her you were going to contact her in the morning, or on Monday."
"Yeah, I guess that'll work. I think I'm also going to tell her that I had some bigger problems to deal with than just a pot delivery."
I felt bad for Luke, trying to deal with so many different problems at once, but there wasn't much I could do to solve them. "Are you going to call her back?" I asked.
"Nah. I'm gonna text her and call her in the morning. I don't have time to deal with this shit right now."
He typed in a message, sent it, and leaned over, putting his forehead on mine. "I'll be back as soon as I can, baby. I'm gonna do my best to handle this situation without having things escalate, but we can't let this challenge stand. We have to let these fuckers know that you can't mess with the Sons and get away with it."
I felt a chill go up my spine, as I heard Luke — just a few months ago, a college educated professional guy — sounding just like all the other bikers I'd spent so much time with. He could have been Joker, or Sally, or even Moses. I wrapped my arms around him, feeling like I could hardly catch my breath, terrified that Moses' fate would become his. "Luke, promise me that you'll come back to me. Don't let anything happen to you. I couldn't stand it."
"Don't you worry, Krystal. Nothing will keep me from you. Nothing. I'm gonna go kick these guys' asses, and I'm coming home." He looked around the lot and saw that several of the guys had emerged from the clubhouse and were getting ready to leave. "You wait here, and I'll be back before you know it."
Joker came up to us and we separated. "Son, I need to talk to you."
"Later," Luke said, that single word falling like a brick to the asphalt. He kissed me and went to his bike, put on his helmet, and fired up the Harley, the motor so loud I could hardly hear myself think.
Joker looked at me, like I would give him a reason for Luke's cold shoulder. I just looked at him, struggling with my urge to claw his eyes out and scream at him for all of the pain and suffering he had caused. I managed to keep my gaze steady, and I watched as the man walked to his own bike, a perplexed and wounded look on his face.
Fuck him.
Chapter 24 -- Luke
Part of me felt like we were being childish, going across town to rough up someone who'd bullied us on the playground at school. Part of me was furious that these shitheads had scared and threatened my mother and the business I was trying to build. I was pissed about the situation with Kate, and the fact that she knew about our weed shipment could cause major problems for me. I was so furious at Joker that I couldn't even see straight, and I knew I had to avoid him until I sorted some things out in my head.
Zeno had found out where the owner of the east-side shop lived, and we followed him across town. We stopped a few miles from his house.
"So you're sure this is the guy?" Joker asked.
"Yeah. My buddy found one of the kids that was in Savage Bud, and it didn't take a whole lot of pressure to get the information out of him. This guy, Jackie, owns this shitty weed shop and a couple of strip clubs, and he's been looking to expand. Didn't like the fact that we were opening up in the area he'd scoped out."
"Too fucking bad," Sally said, a smile on his face. "What's the plan?" he asked, looking at Joker.
"Well, we're gonna have a little visit with Jackie, and we're gonna make it perfectly clear that if he ever sets so much as a toe in our shop, that we'll cut it off." Joker turned to Zeno. "This guy have security or anything?"
"Joker, I don't know, man. He might."
"Okay. The plan's to get in, beat the shit out of him, tell him to stay the fuck out of our shop, and get out."
Really? I tried to keep from rolling my eyes. "So that's the plan? We're not going to try to talk to him first?" The words came out of my mouth before I realized that I'd just challenged the President in public. I wasn't quite an expert on MC politics, but I was afraid that I'd just made a mistake.
Every head turned to face me.
"I mean, I know the guy deserves it, but maybe there's a more effective way to get what we want," I explained.
No one said a word, and everyone looked at Joker.
"Well, perhaps we should find us a psychiatrist and get this fucker a couch to see if there's some childhood trauma that's caused him to threaten your mother and a member of the MC," Joker said, clearly pissed. "Maybe we should go give him a hug."
Sally laughed. "Luke, I get it that you may not like the way we do things, but we voted on this while you were in Arizona banging your piece of ass. I don't believe this is up for discussion, is it, Pres?"
"It certainly is not," Joker said. "Let's go, ladies," he said, throwing his leg back over his bike and taking off, keeping his eyes on me as he passed me by.
So I'd not only pissed off Joker, but I'd also failed to change anything.
We rolled up to the house. It was nothing special, in a neighborhood of houses that were fairly close together and a little run down. Anything we did was going to be overheard, and I knew that we wouldn't have long before the cops showed up. The thunder of a dozen Harley Davidsons was certain to attract attention, so I figured we had to act fast. We got off the bikes, leaving them at the curb so that we could make a quick getaway.
Joker made no attempt to figure out how many people were in the house. Clearly stealth wasn't part of this mission. He pulled his gun from the back of his jeans, and he kicked in the door in a single attempt.
"Jackie," he yelled. "The Savage Sons are here." Joker went inside the house, and we followed as quickly as we could. I was last in line.
I'd expected to walk into a den of iniquity — with hookers and scales laden with drugs, but the scene in the living room couldn't have been further from what I expected. The guy that
I assumed was Jackie sat on a stained plaid couch with two kids, one boy who looked to be around high school age, and the other boy a little younger.
"Oh, shit, man," Sally said. "We didn't know there would be kids here." He turned to Joker. "Let's get out of here."
Joker shook his head, not even sparing a glance for the children. "Fuck, no. You want these little assholes to grow up like their piece of shit father? Better they learn this lesson now." Joker bent over the man who cowered on the couch, both arms in front of his children. "Here's your lesson, Jackie. You do not ever." He paused, just long enough to swing the hand holding his gun at Jackie's head, nearly knocking the seated man out and spraying blood all over one of the children. "Ever." He hit the man again. "Fuck with the Savage Sons."
Joker's hand and gun were covered with Jackie's blood, and the man on the couch cradled his face, his nose clearly broken, and maybe some of the bones in his cheek. The children were in shock; one turned toward his father, trying to assess the damage, and the other, the younger, sitting still on the couch, a visible puddle of urine spreading on the couch cushion beneath him.
"Let's get outta this shithole," Joker said, leaving us, stunned, behind him. We followed him out of the house, got on our bikes without a word, and followed Joker back toward the clubhouse.
I was appalled. How on earth could this man — the man who'd welcomed me with open arms — literally — after learning he had a son he'd known nothing about … how could this man be so brutal, so violent in front of Jackie's children. Anyone with a conscience would have busted into the room, told Jackie to mind his own business, and left. But Joker had beaten the man senseless, sprayed his child with the man's blood.
I felt sick to my stomach, and I couldn't get Maria's story out of my mind. Joker had to go, and I was going to be the one to make it happen. Maybe the other Sons felt more loyalty to him because they'd been brothers for so long, but I didn't think any number of years could erase the horror I'd just seen. I didn't have long to calm myself down and figure out how to behave when we got back to the clubhouse. I figured that I would be better off in the long run if I didn't make a scene. I'd support a brother who wanted to call him out, but I wasn't going to be the one to do it.