Fianna takes a deep breath, then tells how Vince scared and threatened her, and hurt Abigail. "I told Abigail not to tell anyone what happened, and we both tried to keep it secret. We had to protect Chalk. We knew how angry it would make Chalk, and we didn't want him hurt."
Tank taps the gavel on the table to quiet the angry grumbles. "Vince, how do you plead to the charges brought against you?"
Vince's face contorts with rage and he pulls against the handcuffs holding him to the chair. "When I agreed to protect that kid, I hoped doing something good might keep us from going to hell. But then she came here, and I saw. That little bitch twists everything. She's turned you all into pussies."
"How do you answer the charges of treason? You set your brothers up and planned to run with the money from the sale." Tank remains stone-faced throughout Vince's tirade.
"I did no such fucking thing."
Messer stands. "I move we pass judgement and sentence."
"Seconded." Astro speaks from where leans back in his chair.
The vote passes quickly, and the whole club unanimously finds Vince guilty. There's a little debate about the sentence, but finally, it's decided, to be carried out immediately.
I take Fianna and Abigail back to my room. "Stay in here, no matter what you hear. I'll come get you when everything is settled." I hug them both to me, grateful to have them. Abigail looks tired and, surprisingly, doesn't object to the prospect of a nap.
At the back of the clubhouse, the rest of the Death Jokers gather, including the prospects. The hang-arounds have been sent away, since they don't really owe us any loyalty in case questions are asked about what happens here today.
Vince is already set to face his punishment, tied to the post that forms one side of the engine hoist support we rigged up last year. Someone covered his eyes with a bandana, and a line has been scratched in the dirt about twenty feet in front of him.
We all take our places on the line, and pull out our handguns. In the firing squad, we all have the choice to either shoot Vince, or let our bullet fly harmlessly into the side of the barn behind him. I know for certain where mine will go.
Tank counts down, and we all fire. When the smoke clears, Vince's body sags against the post and blood soaks the ground. My bullet might have taken half his head off, but it looks to me like every other member made sure their bullet got a piece of him, too.
Disposing of the body is quick and quiet. The back side of our property holds the carcasses of old cars and bikes, and all the other stuff a house full of men accumulate over the years. And there are more than a few human carcasses out there, as well. Now, Vince joins them.
"Church, now." Tank calls us all back into the meeting room. "I want the prospects here for this, too." As soon as everyone has taken their usual places, and the three prospects have squeezed in, he taps the gavel on the table. "We find ourselves without a President, all of a sudden. Time to make some decisions."
Brax doesn't wait. "I move Tank take the Presidency."
Messer seconds him.
Tank shakes his head. "No, I'm a good VP, but I don't have the vision to be President. We need somebody who can lead with strength and honor, and still have the brains to keep us moving forward as the world around us changes. I nominate Chalk to the seat."
I feel like I've just been punched in the gut. No fucking way.
"Seconded." I don't even see who spoke.
Before I know it, the vote is finished and I'm suddenly the goddamn President. "Boys, I don't have a fucking clue what to do with this." If I'm honest, everything in me says RUN.
Astro stands. "That's why you have good men around you. Listen to them, and listen to your gut." He walks out and the rest follow, leaving me sitting at the table, still stunned as fuck.
Chapter Eleven
Abigail:
Mrs. Jordan, my Social Studies teacher, drones on and on about some big wall that was taken down forever ago, and I doodle on my notebook. It's my thirteenth birthday, and Chalk hasn't said a word about it. Fianna didn't even wish me happy birthday when I left for school. I can't decide whether to be pissed or cry that everyone forgot.
Another student comes in with a note for Mrs. Jordan, and she pauses to read it, then nods. "Abigail, you're wanted in the office. Bring your stuff."
My stomach flutters with excitement as I gather my things and stuff them into my backpack. If I'm leaving early, maybe that means someone finally remembered.
Tank is waiting outside the office when I finally get there, and my heart sinks. I'd hoped Fianna would pick me up for a girls day. "Hi Tank, what's up?"
He shakes his head. "No big deal, baby girl. Chalk just wants everybody at the club."
"Oh." I'm used to this. Anytime there's a hint of trouble, Chalk pulls everyone in for lockdown. The guys go on about business as usual, but all the women and children get locked up until he decides it's safe again.
Tank helps me into the truck. The way my back is twisting, I can't manage climbing in myself anymore. "Need anything before we head home?"
"No, I don't guess so. Do you know how long we'll be locked down this time?" There's a dance at school Friday, and I'd really hoped to be allowed to go.
Tank climbs behind the wheel. "Guessing maybe a week, at least."
"Oh." Disappointment makes my heart sink, and I don't even fuss with Tank about the radio station. The drive back to the clubhouse goes by way too fast. When we get there, the lot is full of bikes and cars, and three prospects are on the gate. Chalk must expect serious trouble.
I go to my room right away, ignoring the people bustling around the living room and kitchen areas. There are times I love living in the Death Jokers clubhouse, but other times, like now, I wish Chalk, Fianna, and I had our own place.
There's a soft knock at my door, and I’m tempted to tell her to go away, but I can't hurt Fianna like that. "Come in."
"Hey, Abby, can you come give me a hand? I have a little project in the yard."
"Sure, it's not like I have anything else to do." I follow her through the house and out the back door.
"SURPRISE!"
Tears spring to my eyes. The whole club is there, all the guys, the ol' ladies, the sweetcakes, and the kids. The yard is decorated with streamers and balloons, and a huge table covered with wrapped gifts sets to one side.
Chalk wraps his arms around me. "We could never forget your birthday, baby girl."
From there, the afternoon is incredible. Roadkill takes me a little ride on his bike, and there's more food than I would have thought possible. A huge cake takes up the center of the buffet table, with thirteen candles on it.
The party goes into the evening, with music, dancing, more food, and lots of hugs. It's the best birthday ever. After I'm so tired I can hardly move, Chalk comes over and announces it's my bedtime.
"But Chalkkkk, I'm thirteen now. I don't need a bedtime." I might be worn out, but I can't help arguing a little.
He grins. "Move it, baby girl. Got dark circles under your eyes, so you ain't fooling me. I'll be in soon to tell you goodnight." He brushes my hair back, and gives me a look I can't quite understand.
Grumbling and dragging my feet, I go inside. A shower sounds like way too much work, so I just get changed into my PJs, brush my teeth, and climb between the sheets. My eyes close, but open wide at a soft tap on my door.
I sit up, refusing to admit to being tired. "Come in."
Chalk comes in, with Fianna's hand clasped in his. She gives me a broad smile and winks. "You have a good birthday, baby girl?"
I smile and nod. "Best ever. Thank you."
"I'm glad." He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small box. "There's one more gift. I wanted to give it to you privately."
Excitement pushes back some of the tiredness as I take the velvet covered box. My breath catches, and I lift the lid. A heavy gold chain nestles in more velvet, and an antique looking heart-shaped pendant practically glows. Tears blur my vision.
"Let me help you a little." Fian
na lifts the chain and slips it around my neck.
The pendant lies heavy on my chest. I raise it, looking more closely at the beautiful engraving. It says 'Family Forever'. The damn tears roll over.
"Look inside." Chalk sounds funny, his voice all thick.
"Inside?"
"Yeah, it's a locket."
I follow orders and find the catch, opening it. One side has a picture of Chalk and me sitting on his bike. The other side is all three of us cuddled on the couch.
"Baby girl, don't you ever doubt those words." His voice cracks a little as he says it. I know he means he loves me, even if he can't say those exact words.
Chapter Twelve
Abigail: 15 Years Old
The bell rings, signaling the end of lunch period. I should be heading back to class, but I’d rather stay sitting here in the grass just a few more minutes. I can get by with being a couple minutes late. I absolutely love the weather here in southern Tennessee during spring. I lean back against a tree, letting the calm breeze hit my face.
My neck prickles with a sudden weird feeling that someone is watching me. I know Chalk is out on business today, but I really thought he was over having me followed without telling me. He used to have guys sneaking around everywhere I went, although somehow, I always knew. It seemed to make him feel better if I didn’t know, so I would pretend I didn’t notice. I'll do anything for Chalk.
I look over at the gate of the school’s entrance, and I don’t see anything, but I know better than to ignore any weird feeling. So, I hurry and gather my books and put them back in my backpack, and head back inside to class.
My cell phone goes off with Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, by AC/DC, playing. I can’t believe Chalk put that crap on my phone, even as his ringtone. Remembering our conversation about it makes me smile.
“Abigail. Baby girl, gimme your phone. Whenever you hear Dirty Deeds, you’ll know it’s me calling. You pick it up quick, or this phone will disappear. You understand?”
“Chalk, come on. Really? Dirty Deeds? Can’t it be something like, I don’t know, Ed Sheeran?”
“Who the fuck is Ed? Wait don’t tell me. He better be dead, I’m not having any dickhead hanging around you.”
I can’t take it. I burst out in a fit of giggles. He’ll never change, always overprotective of me.
My laughter makes him fume, and irritated as hell. “Abigail. I fucking mean it.”
Chalk sat in his favorite chair, so I go to him and climb in his lap to give him a hug and kiss him on his cheek. He tenses, but then immediately relaxes. Affection has always been hard for him, but I’m not going to not show him how much he means to me. He can just be uncomfy and deal.
“Chalk, there’s no guy. You know you’d be the first to know that. Ed is just a musician. You’d probably like his music too.”
Sighing, he lets me just hug him for a minute. “Just answer the fucking phone, Abigail. This isn’t up for discussion. AC/DC is the shit anyways. Now, get going, Tank will drive you.”
“Fine. Love you too, Chalk.”
Ha. Get the phone out of my pocket just in time, swiping it open. I look at it, taking a deep breath before speaking. I don’t need him reading me, and knowing I’m a little freaked out about being watched. He'll just feel bad for scaring me.
“Hey Chalk. You almost missed our phone time. I’m heading back inside from lunch.”
His soft laugh comes over the phone, comforting me. “Hey, baby girl. You eat everything?”
“Thanks for the pack of Skittles. You know I always get hungry in science. It’s so boring. I mean really, why do I need to take biology anyways? It’s not like I’m wanting to become a doctor.”
Chalk chuckles. I can imagine him shaking his head at me. “Baby girl, Fianna is going to come pick you up early from school today, okay? She said some shit about her needing a girls day with you.”
My smile spreads even wider. I love spending time with Fianna. She's like the best parts of best friend, big sister, and mom, all rolled into one. “Okay, can’t wait. Can I buy whatever I want?”
“Okay, baby girl. I gotta go. Be good, ‘k? I’ll see you later tonight.”
“’K. Love you.”
“Later, Abigail.”
***
The bell rings for fourth period to end, and my phone sounds off with a text. It’s Fianna.
Fianna: Ready Abby? I’m walking inside to sign you out. Meet me.
I text back I’d be there in a minute. I need to stop by the bathroom first.
A whole crowd of girls fills the bathroom, chattering, and fixing hair and makeup. I avoid them, and mostly they ignore me. Sometimes, a couple of them will say mean things, and I always dread that. It's mostly the rich bitches. Everyone else has sense enough to be scared shitless of my adopted family.
As I come out of the stall, someone bumps into me, nearly knocking me down. I'm tiny, far smaller than my classmates, so I've become pretty good at dodging people, but this time, I didn't even see her coming.
"Oh, look, it's the little biker trash bitch." She goes on to say some mean things about my disability. "You let those nasty bikers fuck you?"
My jaw drops, and I have no clue how to react to that. Only a few girls are still in the bathroom, everyone else running at the first sign of trouble.
The girl gives me a nasty smile. "What, nothing to say? So it's true?"
I shake my head. "Why? You want some of them? Roadkill has a huge dick. You might even feel it in that worn out cunt of yours." I snap my fingers like I forgot something. "Oh, wait. He doesn't like fucking whores. Sorry." I shrug and turn, ready to leave and get away from this bullshit. Tears sting at the back of my eyes, and I have to fight to keep them from falling. Chalk tried to prepare me for people to treat me this way, but I never thought it would come from another kid at school. I skip washing my hands and get out of there as fast as I can.
Trying to force that mean girl out of my head, I turn my thoughts back to the afternoon ahead. I'm looking forward to it. Fianna tends to drive like a mad woman when Chalk lets her drive the Chevy, so I hope she has it. I swear she looks for all the holes and bumps in the road on purpose. She denies it, of course. I can’t wait until Chalk lets me drive it; he says he’s never letting me drive, though. Something about there isn’t enough weed in the country that would help him deal with me driving. I just laugh at him.
I rush to the front office, smiling at the idea of Chalk teaching me to drive. Fianna is there waiting for me. She has on jeans and a pink tank top, looking ready for anything to happen.
“Hi Abby, need me to carry anything?” She gives me a hug and kisses my cheek. She always makes me feel special. Even though she saw me earlier this morning, she never fails to hug me as soon as she sees me.
I'll have to deal with the mean girl eventually, but for now, I hug Fianna back. “No, I think I got everything. Did we get to take the Chevy today?”
A big conspiratorial smile spread over her pretty face. “You know we did. Now, let’s get out of here. What do you say, first stop, Sonic? We both know you lied to Chalk about lunch.”
I giggle. She always seems to catch me. “You caught me. Yeah, let’s go through and pick something up. I could eat an order of tater tots and a corn dog. Ohhh and a large root beer.”
“Hungry much?” She cracks up, putting her arm around me, supporting my back. I know she likes to help even if I refuse the help.
“Yeah, a little bit.”
We get to the truck and Fianna helps me step up. I don’t understand the point to having the truck raised so high, but Chalk says it’s a must. She grabs my backpack and throws it in the back, then heads towards the driver’s side.
“Alright, what are we going to listen to? Girls day today, how about some Justin?”
“Heck yeah! Can we turn it up?”
“We sure can.”
With that Fianna turns up the music and we open the windows, letting the wind hit us as we speed down the road. The silence betwee
n us and the music playing has me remembering that weird feeling from earlier. Should I tell Fianna about it? I don’t know. She’d tell Chalk for sure. They don’t keep secrets, especially if she thinks it's something about my safety. It’s probably nothing anyways, me being paranoid or some crap. Chalk is rubbing off on me too much.
Chapter Thirteen
Abigail:
“How do you think I’d look in this dress?” Fianna turns holding up a strappy black dress, with slits all over it.
“I’d think you’d look hot in it, and Chalk wouldn’t be able to keep his hands off you. But then again when does he?” I joke, walking towards her to look closer. I sigh internally, Chalk and the guys would never let me wear anything like that.
“Hush it. Just you wait, one day you’ll have someone like Chalk too.” Fianna smiles. She has that faraway look on her face she always gets when she’s thinking about Chalk.
Fianna tends to talk like I’ll actually be around still to get a chance with a guy. Over the years, with everything that has happened, I’ve decided that things will just happen when and if it’s meant to happen.
I only remember my mom from what my dad told me about her. I was just a baby when she died shortly after I was born, from some kind of complications. But I remember the love my dad had for her from the way he spoke of her. Now, I see the love between Chalk and Fianna. Although Chalk never says he loves anyone, I know he does, even without the words.
I won’t get that type of love, and that’s okay, as long as I know Chalk will be okay once I’m gone. Now that Fianna is here with us, I hope he’ll be able to survive. He’s not like the other guys. He’s tough and rough on the outside, but he hurts and suffers on the inside. He used to talk to me, when he thought I was sleeping about stories that happened to him or what he did. I just pretended to sleep and let him talk, because it seemed to help him. I’m sure as time went on, he knew I was awake. We don’t have those nightly talks as much anymore, but I know he feels calmer just being around me and Fianna.
“Hey, what are you thinking about so hard over there? It’s just a dress, sweetheart.” Fianna comes and rubs little circles on my back.
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