by L. Ann Marie
With slaps on the back and welcomes from everyone he tells Chris to bring in the Brothers. I sit needing the space away from everyone’s hands. Closing my eyes I gather the ancestors thanking them for my new place in this tribe. I take a deep breath from their air. When I open my eyes Jessie is watching me. The members come in and I look at Little Ben hoping they are not putting hands on me too. He tells me ‘no’ in my head and I relax. When everyone is settled he stands.
“Welcome to our first Church Brothers. We have our Officers in place and our bylaws approved. Today you get introduced to your Officers and will get a little bio about each one so you understand why they are here and what position they hold. Since you all know me you don’t have to listen to that one.” People laugh. “Brantley.”
Brantley stands. “Raise your hand when I call your name. Lee heads Prospects. Chris manages the Clubhouse. You know me, I’m HS IT. Bull is Security IT. Nick is all things medical. Sheila is jack of all trades and an HS lead. Jax heads Nomads and he will be opening the garage just off the highway. Jared is a pilot and running the New Technology Lab. Joey is our Treasurer and Financial wiz. Eagle Eye is our Secretary that means in charge of keeping the peace and he is a pilot. His company just merged with LB Security. He also owns the brewery, and the souvenir manufacturer and other shit.” Little Ben laughs. “Jessie is SAA and heads HS Ops and is handling all training right now. He owns the detail shop and the Dunkin’ off the highway. Darren is VP, he has his hands in everything membership related, technology and IT surveillance. He owns the Dunkin’ and detail shop with Jessie. Taylor is not here, but he is anxious to get back and head training for us.” He sits down.
“These are the men you seek when you have a problem. You take it to the Brother that deals with it. We have a little over a hundred Brothers; with support staff that number is well over three hundred. Bring your problems to the places and people that can help you. Do not call Jessie because your sink broke. He may just show up at your house.” Everyone grunts and I smile. “HR and the Building Super are listed in your Club directory. They are most likely the people you will be dealing with right up front. Eagle Eye will have the information for school enrollment before your families get here.” He looks at me. “Do you have a contact right up front for the information to pass through?”
“No, I was going to set up one time for everyone to meet the day after moving day. I can group text all the war—members with the time and place. We have a dinner that night so it will take the stress of registering and rushing dinner off the parents.”
He smiles and throws chin. “Good thinking. Brantley get the list filtered for families and have it ready to go so Eagle Eye can just call you with the information.”
“On it Prez,” Brantley says typing on his phone.
“Joey do you have the times for the Brothers holding Prince jobs?”
“I’m working out of this room on Wednesday and Thursday.”
He looks at the group. “If you are holding a Club job meet with Joey on those days. Nick, you had something?”
“You need to fill out the medical forms when you meet Joey. Have the information with you.” Nick looks back at Little Ben while the Brothers mumble shit. I am just smiling.
“We are not moving anyone in until after training and assessments are done. This is your home for the week. Overflow will take up residence in the annex behind us. It is set up as a bunkhouse and can hold forty members comfortably. If you have a room here you will need to double down. Cots are already in your rooms. That covers everyone that is staying for the week. The rest of the Brothers will be here with the tractor trailers moving your families. Are there any questions?”
“What about food Prez?” I look back at an older man covered in ink.
“Our meals are catered during the day, we will have someone grilling at night. Your Officer, Chris, is in charge and has a board explaining all things Clubhouse related. This Clubhouse will run the same as the MC, Prospects are your hospitality. If you have a problem it will be addressed by Chris for the Clubhouse or Lee for Prospects.”
“Where are the Club whores?” I look for who asked, but do not catch him.
“The rooms are needed for the week.” Half the men start mumbling again. “Women will be scheduled to move here the day after the families are moved. Again, that is Chris.”
No one asks anything else. “You are expected to stay on property. We do not want problems in town and we don’t want the town to gauge our numbers before we are ready for them to see us.” Little Ben says to louder grumbling. “Anyone that has a problem with this is welcome to leave now. You all knew what was expected before you got here. If it’s a problem now, leave before we start training and assessments. I am not in the habit of listening to grown men whine. I’ll have to side with Jessie here and start shooting your fuckin’ feet,” he says pissed.
Jessie stands. “If you have one fuckin’ problem with staying at the Club for the week see me at the bar.” Everyone is quiet.
“Is there anything else that needs to be addressed?”
“Our cuts Prez.”
“Fuck. Yes. Your cuts will come with patches on them for your job. Once assessments are done you’ll be placed on the leaderboards and patches sewn on for rank as well. This is only for the first time. You are responsible for everything after. Cuts will be issued at Church next week.”
No one has anything else so Little Ben closes the meeting, but asks me to stay back.
Jessie closes the door and looks at me. “You’re like Jeremy.”
I swing my head around to Little Ben. I do not know what to say here. “Too many people touching you with different emotions affects you,” Jessie keeps talking. Fuck.
I do not say a word. Little Ben stops Jessie putting his hand up before he says anything else. “Eagle Eye is similar to Jeremy, but, no not the same.” Jessie takes a breath. “Jess give me a minute to get this right.” He looks at me. ‘He’s too fuckin’ smart to have missed that. What do you want him to know?’
I look at Jessie. “Yes, touch affects me. I can handle some, but get overwhelmed with too much all at once.” He waits. “My whole life I have been shielded. I do not tell anyone about my abilities. My people do not ask, but have an idea of what I am capable of because of the way we lived. As far back as I can remember I was told to shield, or what you call block from everyone. I do not think about it anymore unless something like today happens. I was not prepared for it.”
“You go to the wind to get rid of the energy.” He is not asking.
I look at Little Ben. “Yes.”
“Brother, I’m not asking to hurt you, but by knowing we can help.” He looks at Little Ben. “Like with the holograms.”
I know about the holograms because I saw. I wait for Little Ben to say something. He sits down. “Sit.” He holds his head in his hands and I wait. “I didn’t expect this, I didn’t see it and see no choice. If Jessie picked it up, someone else will.” I nod because I do not know what to do. He turns to Jessie and Darren. “He will need your help. I didn’t think he spent all this time alone with this. He doesn’t have experience with so many people so close and will need a buffer to shield him while this is new and he is learning how the Brothers react. Brantley almost did him in, keep him away from Brantley.”
“I can stop most people if I know. I was not prepared to do that today.”
They all look at me. “You can stop them, like Aubrey throwing flashes?” Darren asks.
Fuck. “Similar, but not flashes, just a thought. Like a slap on the back instead of a hug. It does not work with Jeremy and Aponi, but they do not affect me either.”
“All the years we’ve known you and we never picked it up. Did you keep us relegated to backslapping?” Jessie asks. I look at Little Ben. “You look at LB to answer when you’re not sure how much to say. It’s a tell that you’ve always had, but right now it is giving me my answers.”
“I do not talk about my abilities to anyone. I have no ide
a how much is too much.” I look at Little Ben and ask for help in his head.
“I was told of his abilities and he of mine. This is closely guarded and has been kept our entire lives. It isn’t easily explained or given. I think what you know is enough to keep him safe. He has learned how to shield himself in business and on the reservation. We just need to keep the Brothers off him until he can get their reactions.”
“We can do that. If you need something else, time to regroup or go to the wind, we can make it happen. We do it for Jeremy all the time. Just tell us you need a minute and we’ll know,” Jessie says and I can see he means it, but I have never done something like this.
“Really?” I look from him to Little Ben. “No one has ever helped, but my dad.”
Darren puts his fist out. “Brotherhood. We take care of our own. This is what it means. If you need the shield we will be your shield Brother.”
My throat closes, but I nod. I have never shared this with anyone, I cannot believe it was this easy. They are thinking Brotherhood and positive. I swallow and nod afraid of saying anything right now.
“I have been known to break. It is with my Brothers right here. I trust them with my life Dakota. You are one of mine and I take it seriously. If you have a need I will do everything I can to fill it.”
“Like with Aubrey?”
“Exactly. I didn’t know you were alone. I would have helped. I know now and we will walk with you through this. Yeah?”
“Yeah. Thank you.” I thank the ancestors for my new Brothers.
“I could use a beer now. I’m so fuckin’ glad to know there’s an explanation for your standing. I was this close to getting a complex.” He holds his fingers a small distance apart. “You being a freaky high plain kid explains your focus and rank and I’m off the hook as a seemingly normal overachiever with good aim.” Little Ben and Darren bust out laughing.
“It does not explain your ability to train so effectively and your stealth,” I tell him. It feels good to smile.
“Fuck off Einstein. I’m the only normal one in the room. Bionic Darren and old man LB can’t ever claim normal and I’m happy to say you can’t either.”
“Normal is overrated. When you can win at the casino and walk out with a year’s pay, come talk to me.” I follow a laughing Darren and Little Ben out to the bar.
“Wait. You can do that? We could make up the difference for the video feeds in the next town. What casino do we need to hit?” I laugh and order a beer from the Prospect.
Jeremy comes running and asks if I am good in my head. I nod just before he jumps on me. He is no longer so little and I wonder how he gets away with this from the other men. I was stopped from going to my father when I was ten. “They don’t understand,” he says making me smile. With what I am learning here, he is right. He laughs. “Always.”
I get a slap on the back and Jeremy lets me go. I set him down and look behind me.
“Chevy, I didn’t know you would be here.” I am shocked to see him.
He hugs me telling me he is proud to see me in the Officers cut and the ancestors are smiling today. I step away and lean on the bar. He was asked to come with Sebastian for the first Church. Jessie stands by me and Chevy steps back. “I need to learn the language if everyone is going to start talking in Mohegan.” We laugh, but I am glad he is here. He gives me a look and I know he is keeping watch for me.
Men come to me about jobs and I send them to Sebastian who handles hiring. After an hour of talking Little Ben tells us to move gear to our rooms. I ask Darren who is in my room. “No one. Jessie moved to mine. You are alone.” I am surprised and tell him I can share like them. “No, Prez said you may need time to regroup and a safe place to do that.” I nod and thank him then Little Ben in his head. He finds my eyes from across the room. ‘Brotherhood,’ he says in my head. I nod.
The day turns to fun with the grills running and men playing games on the bikes. Chevy and Sebastian find me under my oak and we talk about the upcoming week. Chevy is worried about training, I tell him where I rank and he relaxes. It is a good day with my new Brothers and old friends.
***
Jessie
We’re at a picnic table watching the Brothers having fun. “Jeremy says to keep him close because we will need him there. The concern was that Brotherhood is new to him and we can see and help him with that. When I told him we thought it was his confidence, Jeremy laughed.”
“I don’t mind being wrong. I’m glad we know to shield for him. I like that word better than block too,” Darren says making me laugh.
“I’m glad you brought the Warriors up. We need to get Chevy as Officer right away. Do you think he’ll tell them now that we know?” Maybe Brotherhood will carry over for him.
“No. He was taught how to act, what to say, and how to shield to stay alive. He saw the kids burn when Christian did. It’s with him always. Knowing what could have happened shook his father and was reason enough for him to be shackled into secrecy.”
I look at him. “You are in the same boat LB, we don’t know half of what you can do, that’s not a reason to keep him isolated. You weren’t.”
“I didn’t see my mother burn either.”
Fuck! “I get it when you put it like that, fuck.”
“Brody kept his inner circle close, no one knew what Dakota was capable of. No one was told everything. I don’t know if Brody even knows all of it.”
“Did Jeremy say to do anything else for him? I feel like we should be doing more,” Darren says worrying over him like he does everyone.
Little Ben shakes his head. “He’s not saying much. Just to keep him close and his confidence isn’t a concern.”
I look over and see them coming toward us. “Does he know we’re talking about him?”
“No I’ve got us covered.” My eyes snap to his, fuckin’ Brother. “Brothers. Sit I was hoping to talk to you today,” he says to the three.
We have more Indians. When they sit I look at the table. “All of the sudden blond is a minority. I need some fuckin’ dye with my ancestors.” They all laugh.
“The ancestors have always been a friend to you Jessie. They do not care about your yellow hair,” Eagle Eye says with his eyes shining.
Little Ben talks to Chevy about becoming an Officer and the history of the Club. When he tells Sebastian he wants him on the second tier right away Sebastian questions him. I turn from the Brothers in the field and pay attention.
“We have known you for years. You have the qualities we look for, but more importantly you are a resource for Eagle Eye. You’ve been part of his inner circle his whole life. That shouldn’t change with a cut. He will seek your advice just as always. As an Officer he can’t do that unless you are an Officer too.”
“So this is just to keep Dakota happy?” he says it like he doesn’t believe. What the fuck?
“Sebastian. Even as a close advisor you have no right to disrespect. They are open and you see the intent. It is for me that they align us together. You will be a resource for them as well, but the intent is for me to work as I always have, with my closest advisors by my side.”
He looks away. “You are right. Seeing you here sparks some jealousy.” I relax with his smile. “No disrespect intended Prez.”
I watch Little Ben and think for the millionth time I’d like to know what goes on in his head.
“This is new for all of us. I will keep that in mind, but my motives or plans are not to be questioned. Before you question again think about who I am and what I have done. There is nothing in my past that gives you a reason to question my motives. Eagle Eye is your close friend, but my cousin. I appreciate you looking out for him, but understand that is a job that we stand beside you for. With his cut comes Brotherhood. We take care of our own. It will be the same for anyone that wears our name and pledges to our charter. It will take you some time to see that, we can give you the time you need, just don’t make him wait needlessly. We offer you the same Brotherhood as him. This is all
open to you too.” He isn’t pissed so I look at the field again. No one likes to be slapped back and have that be witnessed by other Brothers.
“You are right Prez. I will focus on what is right in front of me and serve alongside you for the greater good.”
These fuckin’ Indians and their speech. I need a thesaurus. Chevy laughs. I give him a smile. Fuckin’ freaky readers. He tips his head with a smile. We need to show them how to throw chin. Eagle Eye tells them what I said and they laugh. What the fuck ever. I leave them and get my bike to play.
Chapter Four
Three days