BRUF

by Jessie Cooke

  Bruf had been barely eighteen back then, a new recruit, scared and lost after his girlfriend’s miscarriage. Maggie was thirty-five, and despite the stripes on her shoulder and chest, she exuded sex in a way like no woman Bruf had ever met. She’d come to his dorm room that first night he was in boot camp and she’d sent his roommate on an errand. Then without saying a word, while Bruf was still standing at attention, Maggie had unbuttoned and unzipped his pants, dropped to her knees, and given him the best blowjob he’d ever had in his life. His head was spinning by the time he finished coming that night, and after using a tissue to wipe the corners of her mouth Maggie had said,

  “I knew you’d taste like candy, Private. Just remember that if you breathe a word of this to anyone, I’ll cut that dick off.” She’d strolled out of the room then, and that was the beginning of a short but hot and intense affair between them. During the day she’d ride his ass in the field, calling him names and degrading him...and at night she’d call him to her quarters and she’d let him be in charge. She liked to be tied up, she liked to be spanked, she liked to be degraded...and after putting up with her shit all day, Bruf liked doing it. Their affair ended abruptly one night when her husband showed up for a surprise visit. Maggie had been tied up and Bruf was fucking her wildly when the old man walked in. Bruf thought he was going to die that night, but the old man hadn’t seemed surprised or particularly upset at the time. He had simply told Bruf to get lost...and Bruf did, leaving Maggie helpless, bound, gagged, and blindfolded. The next day was the last time he saw her, until now. She showed up for drill to introduce them to their new sergeant, and told them she was transferring to Tennessee to one of their teaching facilities. Bruf found out later that the old man was a retired corporal and then it all made sense. Her punishment had been relegating the physically fit, sexually charged woman to a classroom. Day in and day out...for Maggie it had to be like being in prison. He doubted that she stayed locked up for long. Maggie was a pain in the ass, but the most full-of-life pain in the ass he’d ever known.

  “These gentlemen will escort you to the substation in Oakhurst so we can talk. When we’re finished, you can walk out of there a free man.”

  “What about Sabrina?” he said.

  “You’ve got it bad for her,” she said. “You know she’s pregnant, right?”

  He wasn’t going to talk to his woman...this FBI agent...about Sabrina. “Tell me what you want from me, Maggie, and what Sabrina has to do with anything and then we can just be on our way right now. No sense in wasting everyone’s time. Even if I had anything to give you, Maggie...and I don’t...I’m not giving you shit.”

  She smiled again, this time almost seductively, and then she said, “I remember a time when you would have been willing to give me whatever I wanted.” He rolled his eyes and turned toward his bike. Ignoring the guns that were pointed at his head he strolled toward it.

  “I want Ediger,” she said. Bruf kept walking as he said:

  “Then go get him.”

  “He killed an FBI agent.” Bruf was already at the bike, putting on his helmet.

  “Then arrest him.”

  “I need you to get him to confess.”

  Bruf laughed. “You’re crazy.”

  “You’ll get immunity and anonymity. The White Owls will never know who rolled.”

  “Neither will I,” he said, “because I mind my own fucking business, so keep looking.”

  “You won’t do this even to save that girl you’re so crazy about? What about that baby she’s carrying?” Bruf swallowed hard and suddenly felt sick. The Feds were so fucking holier than thou. They ran around pretending to be on the “right” side of the law, but they weren’t afraid to bend it in half when it suited them.

  He put the helmet down and said, “Tell me what Sabrina has to do with any of this.”

  “You know, Bruf...being a law enforcement agent is full of challenges. One of those challenges is getting people to testify. One of the first things I learned in the academy was that sometimes we have to operate on almost the same level as the criminals. It doesn’t feel good. I’d much rather ask you to just do me a favor for old time’s sake...but I was sure you’d say no. So, I did my homework and I gathered information about those closest to you. I found out that Sabrina is Wolf’s half-sister. I found out that she was assaulted about a year ago, and her mother killed the man who assaulted her. I found out that the fraternity the guy belonged to was blown up not long after, with three young men inside...and you want to know what’s funny, Bruf?”

  “Not really,” he said, as calmly as he could. The bitch was prepared for this conversation. Bruf wasn’t. In over a year none of the MC had heard a word about the shit that happened to Sabrina, or what Wolf had ordered done to the three men that had hurt his sister along with the one that Sabrina had actually killed herself. But things like that never died...and even if they tried, people like Maggie would revive them.

  “Well, I’ll tell you anyway. About six months ago, the sister of one of those dead frat boys walked into the Fresno Police Department with a video. It was a video she found on her brother’s phone...of Wolf’s little sister having some pretty wild sex with him and three other men.” Bruf’s blood was boiling. Maggie might wish she had cuffed him if she kept this shit up. “See, the funny thing about this little sex tape was that one of those men was the one that attacked Sabrina in her home that night...the one her mother killed. The other three were all in the frat house the night it exploded. Coincidence? I don’t think so.” Bruf still didn’t say anything. He didn’t trust himself...but Maggie went on. “I think that Sabrina went to her brother and told him that these boys took advantage of her and I think her brother ordered a hit. That case is still open; wouldn’t be hard to regenerate interest in it.”

  “Fine, regenerate it,” he said. “If you could prove any of that, I wouldn’t be here stuck on the side of the fucking road having this pointless conversation with you.”

  Maggie smiled. “True story. I can’t prove it. It’s all a theory...at this point. I could work on trying to prove it...or, I could run it by that rich, successful fiancé of Sabrina’s out in Florida, as is. I’m not sure he would care that it was just a ‘theory’; are you?”

  “I don’t give a fuck who you run it by, or what he thinks,” Bruf said. “It’s all hearsay.”

  “Hmm, true again. Sometimes hearsay can be pretty damaging, though. I heard Sabrina broke up with her fiancé...” Damn, does this bitch have the clubhouse bugged, or what? “But I know she’s pregnant with his sister’s baby, so I’m still pretty sure that as a family they might be interested in her behavior and her history. The family has deep roots in the south...and a lot of money. She might end up having to raise that kid on her own or put it up for adoption if they get it in their heads that it’s got killer DNA running through its veins.”

  “You’re assuming I care,” he said. He hoped like hell that he didn’t look as emotional on the outside as he felt. That was okay though...he could help her raise the baby if it came to that...

  “You’re right, and I think I’m right no matter how much you deny it. You know me, though, right? I’ve always got a backup plan.” Maggie took three photographs out of her pocket and held them out toward Bruf. They were people he didn’t know, two males and a female. They all looked nicely dressed and the photos were professional photographs, not mug shots, so he was curious...but he wasn’t going to let Maggie see that. He didn’t doubt she was about to tell him who they were and what they had to do with this any minute anyway. “Do you know these people?”

  “Nope.”

  “Sabrina does,” she said with a smile. “Intimately. See, this one is her friend Melanie.” She held the photo of the female a little closer to him, and then took it away before holding out the one of a nice-looking guy with a million-dollar smile and a three-thousand-dollar suit and saying, “This is Melanie’s twin and Sabrina’s former fiancé, Devin. He’s a nice-looking guy, huh? Are you thinking about
her fucking him?”

  “Fuck you, Maggie.” Her smile got broader as she held out the last one and said, “And...here’s Scott, the father of the baby Sabrina is carrying in her belly.” Suddenly the pictures in front of him were worth a thousand words.

  17

  The party at the gym was raging and Sabrina was on the phone with the fifth hospital in the area when Bruf walked in through the front doors. She was near the back of the gym, as far away from the metal rock band as she could get so that she could hear on the phone. When she saw Bruf, she scanned the crowd for Wolf and saw him making his way toward the door. He’d already spotted Bruf. She started to go after him but decided that probably wouldn’t do her any good...they weren’t going to talk in front of her. So instead, she slipped out one of the side doors and made her way toward the front. She stopped when she heard their voices. She didn’t feel good about eavesdropping, but she was tired of hearing everything secondhand.

  “I’m sorry,” Bruf was saying. “I just fell asleep. I didn’t hear the phone. As soon as I woke up, I drove straight here.”

  “What the hell were you doing up there in the first place?”

  “I just needed a break, Wolf. I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t have taken off without clearing it with you first and I’m damned sorry about not answering the phone. I guess I had a little too much to drink and the next thing I know I was waking up this morning, late as hell, with twenty missed calls on my phone. I don’t think the service works very well up there. I never heard it make a noise.”

  Sabrina couldn’t see Bruf’s face, but she could see her brother’s profile and he didn’t look like he was buying it. She wondered where “up there” was. “Have I got any reason to worry this is going to be a regular thing?” Wolf asked.

  Bruf hesitated and after a long pause he said, “Would it be a problem for you if I spent some time with my brother, as long as it was on my day off and being late like this doesn’t happen again?”

  “I’m not sure what to even make of that,” Wolf said. Again, Sabrina was confused. Why would Wolf object to Bruf spending time with his brother? “Nearly a decade goes by before you tell me you have a brother, and when you do, you tell me that you’ve avoided him nearly all that time...and suddenly you’ve got a craving for family.”

  “I used to race bikes for him. He has a race coming up and he asked me to be a part of it...I told him I’d run it by you and if you didn’t have a problem with it, I’d do it. I like to race. I’ve missed it. I think maybe I just need something...a hobby or something, to keep me out of trouble.”

  “So, you thought you’d take up with a Neo-Nazi organization to keep yourself out of trouble, huh?”

  Neo-Nazi? What the hell? “I’m not joining up with anybody or anything. I’m just going to spend some time hanging out with my brother who raised me and racing bikes for fun. You’ve always said we’re free to do what we want on our days off...are you telling me now that’s not true?”

  “You and I both know that crew don’t just let people spend time with them. You’re either an Owl, or you’re not.”

  An Owl? Where had Sabrina heard that before?

  “In most cases,” Bruf said. “But my case is different. Ediger is their leader and I’m his brother so things are different for me.”

  Ediger! White Owls! He was the one that the police wanted Wolf to roll on when they arrested him for killing the guy who tried to kill Blair. He’s Bruf’s brother? Sabrina realized in that instant just how little she knew about the man she thought she was in love with. It only confirmed the naivety that both her brother and Bruf had accused her of.

  She heard Wolf sigh and watched him shove his hands in his pockets. She could tell by the look on her brother’s face that he didn’t like this at all. She realized in the next minute that it wasn’t so much that he didn’t like Bruf asking, as it was that he was about to say no. “I can’t say it’s okay,” he said. “It would be like one of the guys coming and asking me if they could hang out with the Aztecs in Merced...or the Southerners, or Nortenos...”

  “We’ve never been at war with the Owls,” Bruf said. “They’ve got no beef with us, or us with them that I’ve ever heard of. The Aztecs tried to move in on our territory and those two street gangs don’t have one solid brain between the two of them. The Owls mind their own...”

  “No,” Wolf said. “You can keep talking, but the answer is no. You can’t be a Skull and spend time with the White Owls. You can’t be affiliated with more than one club.”

  “It’s not affiliation!” Bruf said, raising his voice and startling Sabrina. She could tell that it surprised Wolf too...and made him angry. “Sorry,” Bruf said, immediately. “I’m sorry. But this is my family we’re talking about.”

  “Family. I didn’t hear a thing about for a decade,” Wolf said. “If you can go that long...”

  “What about Sabrina?”

  Sabrina cringed. It was obvious that Wolf was getting more pissed off by the second. Bringing her name up only seemed to piss him off more. “You trying to say my getting to know a sister I never knew I had is the same as you spending time up on that compound? Are you stupid enough that I’m going to have to explain the difference to you...really? First off, that cult up there is a hair away from getting raided on a daily basis. They make no secret about their hate for the government and rumor has it they’ve got a stockpile of weapons up there that could blow up the mountain they sit on top of. Shit, I heard a rumor about six months ago that they’d snuffed a cop. You want to be any part of that, you do it without that patch, and without that vest. They get raided while you’re there, you’re going down with them...and you’re not taking my club with you. You want to do this, then you walk into Church and tell your brothers that you don’t want to be a Skull any longer. That’s my final word on the subject.”

  “I never said I didn’t want to be a Skull,” Bruf said, in a low...barely controlled...tone. “You’re the one telling me I can’t be, if I also want to have a relationship with my family.”

  “That’s because I’m the one wearing this patch, and it means I have to put the welfare of this club first,” Wolf said, pointing at the one that said “President” on his vest. “And don’t you forget it.” He left Bruf standing there, looking confused and slightly pissed off, and he stormed back inside. Sabrina waited until he was gone and stepped out of her hiding spot.

  “Fuck, Sabrina!” Bruf said, as soon as he saw her. “How long have you been there?”

  “I’m sorry. I was just worried about you and I wanted to make sure you’re okay...”

  “I’m fine,” he said, turning toward his bike.

  “You’re leaving again? You’re not going to leave the Skulls, are you?”

  “Well, since you heard that whole conversation, maybe you also heard your brother...my president...not giving me a choice. He can have his family,” Bruf said, looking at her almost with disgust. “We can...come to their rescue, but I can’t even hang out with mine. Fucking double standard, don’t you think?”

  “I’m sorry...”

  “Don’t be. None of this is about you anyways,” he said. “When are you going back to Florida?”

  She hoped her face didn’t give away how hurt that question made her feel as she said, “Soon, I’m leaving next Saturday.”

  “Good,” he said, turning his back and dismissing her. He grabbed his helmet off the handlebars of his bike and slid on. She opened her mouth to say something else when the sound of the Harley drowned out everything around them. She watched him leave with a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. She knew this wasn’t about her, but it was about two men she cared very much about. She knew that Wolf loved Bruf like a brother and even she could see how hard it was for him to tell Bruf no. But she could also understand Bruf’s wanting to have a relationship with his blood. Blood had become very important to Sabrina herself lately. With a sigh, she turned and went back inside. She intended to talk to Wolf, but the exhibition match was about to
start, and Wolf had taken his seat with Blair at his side surrounded by Westside Skulls. She wasn’t going to piss him off and bring Bruf up in front of everyone else. Instead, she found a seat in the crowd gathered around the fighting cage, and took out her phone and pulled up the White Owl Brotherhood. As the fight between one of the twins and a big ugly Russian guy began, she started reading one of the thousands of hits her search had produced.

  Sabrina could hear yelling, cheering, whistling, and bells ringing. She could hear the pounding of knuckles against flesh and she could hear the music playing in the background. But it wasn’t long before her focus shifted, and she was so engrossed in what she was reading that she blocked out everything else around her. Wikipedia listed the Brotherhood of the White Owl as a 1% gang. That meant, she’d discovered only recently, that it was a club or group that somehow took pride in the fact that they only stayed within the boundaries of the law 1% of the time. They only had the one chapter, and the leader of that chapter, or “General” as they called him, was a man named Ediger Cantrell...Bruf’s brother. There was a picture of him there. It looked like a mug shot. He was probably close to forty years old with long brown hair and dark blue eyes. The glare he was giving the camera was menacing and just looking into his eyes online caused Sabrina to shudder. She didn’t think he resembled Bruf at all.

  The article said that Ediger Cantrell was thirty-eight years old and that he had established the Brotherhood at the age of twenty-four. The land he initially bought just outside of the government-owned portion of the Sierra Nevada forest was fifteen acres. As of two years earlier, the Brotherhood had expanded their compound to over fifty acres and the article said it was still growing, rapidly. The “club” had over sixty members at the time the article was written and they all lived on the compound, along with their families if they had any. It was estimated that close to 150 men, women, and children lived on Ediger Cantrell’s land. The White Owls only had three requirements for membership, but they were very specific requirements. The first was that the member was not allowed to own or purchase anything that was not made in America. The second, the member must not use drugs, and the third and most specific, and sickening in Sabrina’s opinion, was that the member must be able to prove that they were one hundred percent white.