by Erin Osborne
None of us are drinking; we’re just sitting in small groups and talking amongst ourselves. We aren’t talking about our family, women, or kids. This shit won’t ever taint them so we leave them out of our minds when we’re doing club business like this. Finally, Slim comes out and motions us to follow him. We all file down to the dungeon so we can find out what we want from this twatwaffle before we kill him.
“Wake up, motherfucker!” Slim yells, slamming the door open and charging the chair to punch the bitch awake.
“W-w-what do you want?” he stutters as he wakes up.
“We want to know why the fuck your pussy club is attackin’ us,” he says, getting in the guy’s face.
Our enemy starts laughing his ass off. It’s loud and crazed, making me wonder if he didn’t manage to get his hands on something since we picked him up. We all look at one another as he just sits there, chained to a chair, and laughs his ass off. This man is fucked up.
“I’m not playin’ games with your dumb ass! I want answers and I’m gonna fuckin’ get them,” Slim yells at him, grabbing him by the hair as he pulls a knife of the table beside him.
Slim takes one of his fingers and begins to saw it off with the dull, rusty blade. He screams like the bitch he is, but still refuses to give any information up. My President continues sawing his fingers off, one by one, until they’re all missing from one hand.
Kinda hard to ride a bike when you’re missing your fingers. Not that we’re letting him out of here alive. Since he doesn’t want to talk yet, Slim motions for me to step up and take my turn with him.
“Still not gonna talk? Why are you gonna be loyal to a bunch of pussies that don’t know to ride in two’s or larger when you’re startin’ a war?” I ask, picking up the rusted out razor blade that’s sitting on the table, along with the pliers.
Ripping his shirt off him, I begin to make slashes along his chest and stomach. They’re not deep enough for him to bleed out, but I’m sure they’re stinging like a bitch. I rip his fingernails out one at a time until he’s got nothing but blood pouring from his fingertips. Still nothing. Hmm.
“Since you still don’t want to talk, let’s see how much you like fire play?” I ask, taunting him as I pick up the torch and light it before picking up a bottle of cheap whiskey that we keep down here.
“You can’t do that to me! They’ll come for you if I don’t show back up,” he says.
“Then tell us what we wanna fuckin’ know,” I yell, stepping back to see if he’s gonna break.
“They want your territory. Poncho, the Pres, isn’t gonna stop until he has it. He’s got guys watching you and waiting to see when you’re on a run or the most vulnerable. It’s a shame that you value your women and kids,” he says, thinking that he’s giving up enough information to save his pathetic excuse of a life.
“Why do they want our territory? And what about our kids and women?” Wood asks, stepping up next to me.
“Because he’s making a pipeline to get to our buyers easier. You value the women and kids, showing that their your weakness instead of the pussy that they are. Women ain’t nothing but a warm hole to fuck and toss aside. You bitches worship them and act like they’re the best thing in the world. Same with the kids. Snot-nosed assholes aren’t anything but a drain,” he informs us, spitting on the ground at our feet.
“Guns, drugs, or women?” I ask him, wanting him to know what they’re trying to transport through Benton Falls.
“All of it,” he answers on another laugh.
“Where are they now?” Slim asks, wanting to know where we gotta go to find them.
“Closer than you think,” he says, sobering up and looking around the room at us. “Kill me, and you’ll be starting a war you can’t win. You have no clue who I am. Try looking in your backyard to find out what you need to know.”
We all look at one another trying to figure out what he means by looking in our backyard to find them. The clubhouse sits on almost fifty acres surrounded by trees in the back until you reach the old abandoned train station. I think about that for a few minutes before I realize where they are.
“Know where they are,” I announce, setting the tools in my hand down before turning to my brothers.
“They’ll be gone by the time you find them. You don’t think they know you’re every fucking move? You’re fucked and don’t even know it,” the bitch behind me says, turning his attention to Wood and me. “Your bitch is hot as fuck. I’m gonna enjoy sinking my cock into that skank. Her son will watch before I take care of them both.”
“Fuck you!” Wood roars out, grabbing the knife and using it to slice his tongue out before slitting his throat from ear to ear.
We all stand around the dead man in shock. Wood is usually the calmest one of us when we torture anyone. I know that when anyone mentions J or Wade, we both tend to flip the fuck out. Especially when they’re threatened the way this fuck just did. I was a second behind Wood from gutting this bitch so I’m glad that he’s got to get his hands on him before me.
“Church. Now!” Slim hollers out, startling the rest of us because we were still in shock over what Wood just did.
As soon as the last man is in his seat, Slim bangs the gavel on the table and looks at me. “He said they’re in our backyard. The only thing out back is the old train station. That shit has tunnels and everything else underneath the building. I’m not sure where they lead, but I know for a fact that they’re there.
“Hell, they could’ve all crumbled in by now. That’s the only place that I could think of them to be. It’s definitely got enough room in there to store their bikes so no one sees them too,” I say, letting my family know my idea of where these cocksuckers could be hiding out.
“Can’t believe we didn’t think of that before now. We’ll figure out a game plan, but first I want this entire clubhouse checked for bugs. If that bitch is sayin’ that they know all our plans, I want to make sure that nothin’ is in here. And I want shit checked outside the clubhouse too. Fox, check everythin’ you can think of and make sure that they can’t hear us or know another fuckin’ move we make. I’ll have Alex and Zach take care of the body. Thinkin’ we need to talk about patchin’ Alex in after yesterday,” Slim says, looking at every single one of us to show how serious he is right now.
“I don’t like how he just left an ol’ lady on her own when he knew shit was goin’ down. But, I get why he did it,” Hitter says to us all.
“Listen, that’s our ol’ lady, and I’m glad that he left her to find this fuck and make sure that we finally got one. Our girl knew she wasn’t right and made sure to protect herself, and called me as soon as she could. I’ll vote right now to patch his ass in. Especially considerin’ he talked about her and our son!” I say, slamming my hand on the table to show how pissed I am right now.
A few men nod their heads in agreement. We all know that Alex had no clue what he should do in that situation. He decided to follow the asshole and find a member of a club that has already tried to take us out once.
Did I get pissed that he took off and left J alone? Fuck yes, I did. But, I also know that I would’ve done the same thing considering that we had no clue where any of them were. Hitter might be a brother, but he can go fuck himself right now if he’s not gonna trust Alex.
“I want you to put yourself in my son’s shoes,” Grizzly says to Hitter and the rest of the guys around the table. “He’s been watchin’ that girl and her son for over a year now. She trusts him and knows that he’ll always have her fuckin’ back. The same that he would for every single one of you fuckers. Alex made a split-second decision that helped this club out and you want to bitch about it? Jennifer isn’t bitchin’ about it. No, she was concerned that somethin’ happened to him, and relieved when she found out he was good. Blood or not, son or not, I’d rather have someone like him at my back because I know he’s goin’ to do what he has to for the club and take the punishment comin’ his way for the decision he made.”
“Grizzly’s right. Alex came to me and told me that he understood if he needed to be punished and would do anythin’ I told him to. Said he deserved no less than an ass-whoopin’ from Boy Scout and Wood because he left Jennifer alone. He’ll gladly take that if I choose to punish him. I’m not and neither is Jennifer’s men. Move the fuck on and accept that every single one of you should know that those times come when we have to decide on our feet, and it’s not always an easy decision to make. That’s the last I’m gonna say about it. We’ll vote after everythin’ else is taken care of,” Slim says, banging the gavel on the table before we all begin to file out.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Jennifer
TODAY IS MY long day. I’ve been in class all day and now I’m on my way to Phantom for the night. Things have been running a lot better without having people stealing and dealing in the club. Sally and Kim have been amazing additions to the staff. Along with Cory, Ryan, and Cooley. They’re the new waiters on the floor downstairs. They do what I ask, help Sally when she needs it and Trinity isn’t here, and are always among the last to leave at night.
Cora was hired to help Kim in the VIP section because it’s not as busy as downstairs is. I had my reservations about her because she saw the guys in the club and started fawning all over them. Once I laid down the rules that she couldn’t fuck with them, she completely changed her attitude. Sure, she still flirts with them, but she’s over trying to fuck them all.
The new staff allows me to spend the time I need going over paperwork, doing the orders, and making sure everything is running smooth. Killer, Stryker, and Des take turns as bouncers while Clayton and Ian usually man the door and check I.Ds. I’m not in any hurry to hire a security firm to take over those duties when I know that I can trust the men of the club without fail.
Tonight, they’ll all be in so the VIP section is closed off while Kim and Cora are upstairs already getting everything ready. I’ll check it out in a little while. First, I need to start the paperwork so I can spend some time on the floor tonight.
“Boss lady,” Sally says from behind the bar. “Big envelope showed up for you so I put it on your desk.
“Thanks hun. If you need anything, let me know and I’ll come out to help,” I respond, continuing to walk through the club and directly to my office in the back hallway.
I walk into my office to find a pile of mail sitting on the top. Ignoring it all, I pick up the huge manila envelope to see what got delivered to me. There’s no postage on it, just my name. Instantly red flags and alerts sound while I drop my purse on the floor and open the flap. Reaching in, I pull out handfuls of pictures. As I look at them, I notice that all of them are of Wade. There’s a few of me, but nothing like the ones of my son. They’re of him at the park with me and the guys, him and Trinity outside the house, Kim and him at the clubhouse, and a whole bunch of other ones. What the fuck?
My entire body begins to tremble with fear as I pick up my purse and begin to dig through it for my phone. When I can’t find it because my hands are shaking so bad, I dump the entire thing out on the floor in front of me. Once it’s in my hand, I run out to the bar to find Sally.
“Spitfire, what’s goin’ on?” Wood asks when he answers.
“Get to Phantom. Now!” I yell into the phone. “Someone needs to get Wade and get him here or something Wood. Pictures. So many pictures of him.”
“Fuck! I got it. Stay with Killer and we’ll be right there,” he says, hanging up on me as I find Sally.
“Who delivered that envelope?” I ask her, my voice raised and filled with panic.
“I don’t know. It was on the ground in front of the door when I got here. What’s wrong, Jennifer?” she asks as Killer walks up to me.
“Let’s go to the office, Jennifer,” he says, the tone of his voice leaving me no room to argue.
“I’m so sorry,” Sally says, not sure about what’s going on.
Killer leads me to the office and flips through a handful of pictures. His body goes rigid and I know that he’s pissed off. Especially when he gets to the pictures of Gwen and my son. I didn’t even notice those ones at first. Though, I can’t say that I looked through them all. He swears and I now have hole in the wall of my office where his fist went through the drywall.
Before I know it, my office is filled with members of the club. Gwen and Wade are brought in too. I run to her and take my son from her arms so I can cuddle him close. Seeing him in the flesh makes me break. Tears start pouring down my face as I hold him and Wood and Boy Scout wrap us up in their arms.
“No one is gonna fuckin’ touch him,” Wood says, the anger and fear that he’s filling coming out in his voice.
I can feel their bodies shaking with rage as I look up at them. So many questions are flying through my mind as I realize that Wade is now a target because of whatever is going on. What about Caleb and Natalia? Or is it just my son that these people are coming after.
“Why Wade? What’s going on?” I ask, needing to know why us. We’ve been through enough shit and don’t need anymore.
“We don’t know, Jennifer. What we do know is that no one will touch a hair on your son’s head. He’ll have protection around the clock no matter where he is. Killer, I want you to arrange a detail to stay on Wade. At least three patches and a Prospect,” Slim says, walking over to us. “I’m on first detail.”
I nod my head at the President of the Phantom Bastards. Realistically, I know that he’ll be protected. My fear is because they got close enough to get pictures of my son at home and while we were at the clubhouse. For now, I have to trust my men and the men of the club. Tonight is another story though. I want my son in my sights even if that means I stay in the office to work before heading home. No one will change my mind about that.
“Let’s sit down and relax, babe,” Boy Scout says, leading me over to the couch. “We have to protect more than just Wade now, yeah?”
“I know. Seeing those pictures just broke me. I’ve never been so scared in my life,” I answer, looking at everyone around us. “Maybe we should announce it so that everyone knows what’s going on?”
“Yeah. Everyone, Spitfire is pregnant. We’re addin’ to our fuckin’ family,” Wood says as everyone begins to clap and cheer.
Gwen gives me a hug and congratulates all of us. I hear Killer growl and mutter some shit under his voice when she hugs Wood and Boy Scout. It’s funny as hell to know that he wants her but won’t do anything about it. We can all see it. I send everyone out of my office except for my men and Gwen. She’ll be staying here with Wade so that I can get my work done. Killer, Slim, and Hound stay by the door and don’t let anyone past the bathrooms while we’re in here.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Jennifer
IT’S BEEN THREE months since I found the pictures of Wade at Phantom. True to their word, the men have stuck to him like glue. Most of the time Wood or Boy Scout is with him. If they can’t be with him, then Killer or Slim are one of the ones on his protection detail.
The other kids have been brought to wherever Wade is so they’re all protected and not left to fend for themselves. It’s a pain in the ass sometimes, but I’ll never let anything happen to any of the kids in our family.
Today is a day I’ve been dreaming about for so long. I graduate from school. Wood and Boy Scout took me out to dinner last night, and then we spent a quiet night at home. I’m still scared of leaving Wade alone for long periods of time even knowing that the guys are posted with him. It sucks, but today is a celebration, and I need to focus on accomplishing my goal. Something that I’ve dreamed about doing for so long.
Kim and I went this morning to get our hair and nails done. Sally, Sam, and Gwen met us back at the house when we were done. The three of them stayed with the kids at the clubhouse so I knew where Wade was. I have a dress hanging up in the closet so that I just have to slip that on before we head out. Wood, Boy Scout, Kim, Sally, Gwen, Sam, and the kids are going to be there this afternoon. I’m so exc
ited.
We don’t have much time to sit and talk, so I run in the house and get dressed. Well, waddle as fast as I can with the baby bump that I have going on now. Wood is getting dressed and I can hear the showering running to let me know that Boy Scout is in there now. He helps me pull the dress on before placing my rag over the dress. There’s no way in hell that I’m going to celebrate my day without wearing it; proudly proclaiming that I belong to Wood and Boy Scout.
“We’ll be ready in a few minutes. What else do you need to do before we head out?” Wood asks, sitting down on the bed to put his boots on.
“Nothing. I just need my purse that I’ll leave in the diaper bag, and then I’m ready. Oh, I guess it would help if I packed the diaper bag first,” I say, mentally checking to see if there’s anything else I need to do before we leave.
“Already done,” Wood says, standing up and pulling me into him. I instantly calm at his touch.
“Okay. Then I guess it’s just a matter of Boy Scout getting dressed before we head out,” I tell him, laying my head on his chest and just being for a few minutes.
“So proud of you, Spitfire. You have no idea how proud we are,” he tells me, lifting my head so that he can lean down for a kiss.
Boy Scout comes out of the bathroom in nothing but a pair of jeans. The button is still open and I watch a drop of water slide down his chest on its way to disappearing down his pants. Licking my lips, I try to tear my attention away from him but it’s no use. Fuck! Maybe we have time…
“Don’t even think about it. This isn’t work or shit you’ll be late for, baby. You’re not missin’ your graduation,” Boy Scout says, pulling a shirt over his chest. “There will be plenty of time for that later on.”
“I sure as hell hope so,” I murmur while the guys laugh at me.
As soon as Boy Scout is dressed and ready to go, we all pile outside and get in the SUV. Kim is driving today so that the guys can ride their bikes to the ceremony at school. Boy Scout rides in front while Wood follows behind us.