He drove his hand into her hair, holding the back of her head and thrusting into her mouth. Leaning back against the wall, he looked at her, working his dick, and he fucking loved it. He'd gotten pretty close by himself so it didn't take him long to blow his load into that amazing fucking mouth. She stood up, rinsed her mouth and gave him a kiss.
“Ready for the day now?” She said with a smug smile.
“Yeah,” he said and gave her a kiss. He held her face. “You ready for this?”
“I don't know. I'm not sure what it means.”
“I've been to a couple when I was a kid. Just remember it as a bunch of kids running around. When I got older I wasn't much at the club since I was out.. fixing stuff.”
She circled his waist. “Promise you'll come back.”
“I'll come back, Nibbles.”
He understood that she was worried. The idea was that it would all be over quick. Really quick.
“Sisco and Bucket are here in fifteen. Get ready,” he mumbled and gave her another kiss.
-o0o-
I rarely felt lost in a situation anymore. I adapted, and I approached the entire lockdown thing in the same way I did any other new situation. I spent some time checking it out, and then I threw myself into it. I unpacked my bags in Dawg's room and then walked outside. There were people and kids all over the bar. A lot more kids than I'd calculated for, and I guessed they were hangarounds’ and sweetbutts' kids. I didn't see any of the members and assumed they were either in the chapel or already taking care of business.
Mel, Ella and Angela were in the kitchen, along with two other women I didn't recognize. I sat down on the couch next to Violet, and Eliza came running and threw herself into my lap.
“How are you?” I asked Violet.
“Good.” She turned and gave me a shy smile. She was talking so low I had some serious trouble with hearing anything she said. “Like having time off from school.”
I remembered her saying something about some tests the school wanted her to take, so I assumed she had difficulties and understood why it was nice to have some time off. I looked towards the bar and saw Lisa standing between Mitch and Mac. Stella, Mech's kid, was with Rick, and Dennis, Mech's oldest, came over to us. Smiling at Violet.
“Hey, Vi,” he said as he sat down. “Good with some time off from school?”
She nodded.
“What are you drawing?” Eliza asked. “Can you draw Belle from Beauty and the Beast?”
“Sure,” she answered and flipped to the next page in her pad.
I left Eliza on the couch and caught Mitch who was standing by himself.
“Heard you're the new Dawg,” I joked and gave a meaningful glare towards Lisa.
“Lisa?” He laughed. “Naw, she's like a sister. But someone needs to pick up the torch now that you have him all locked down.”
“You okay?” He was older; he got this a lot better than the younger kids. “With all this, the lockdown and... stuff?”
“Yeah,” he gave me a serious nod. “They'll fix it, whatever it is. This is just so they know we're safe so they can focus on the club stuff.”
“And him?” I nodded towards Mac.
“You know Mac, never stresses about anything.” Mitch stood silent for a second and then he started laughing. “Two years ago he had this job at a demolition firm for the summer. Basically knock down walls with a sledgehammer. After a week he started having nosebleeds, and we were talking, me and him when we were out fishing. He was a bit worried about the nosebleeds.”
I knew they went fishing on occasion. They had some place by the river. It used to be with Brick or Bear, but these days it was usually just the two brothers. I suspected that some part of the reason that Mel loved those two boys was that they had the kind of sibling relationship she wished we'd had when we were younger. They were great together.
“And?”
“We figured it could be stress. He was working long shifts, you know. Dad got all pissed; 'You haven't been stressed a single fucking day of your life, and now you think you have nosebleeds from stress,” Mitch bellowed the last part in a really impressive imitation of Brick. “He's right. Mac doesn't stress out often.”
“So what was the nosebleeds?”
“Oh, he'd gotten the face mask thing wrong. He was working on dry walls with glass fiber in them so he needed to change his mask like twice a day and he thought it was twice a weeks or something..”
I stared at Mitch, and then I started laughing.
“You're such idiots.”
“I know,” Mitch nodded. “We're gonna sneak out and smoke some pot later. Wanna come?”
I looked around in the clubhouse, loads of people and kids running around, and I nodded. This would get to me.
“Oh yes. Just so I know, if we're caught, how much shit will I get from Brick, Mel and your mom?”
“Not too bad. Think you can still play the 'formerly runaway sister' card. Or possibly say it's my fault. I'm known to be a bad influence on women.” He wiggled his eyebrows.
“Jesus! How much time have you spent around Dawg?”
“Some, but you should've seen dad before he met Mel. And then it's the rest of them.”
I laughed. “True.”
He was a good kid. Crazy, but good. Not in the same way as Mac was. Mac was a genuinely nice guy, really thought things through before he did anything. Mitch was nice, but much too restless to think anything through. He was really smart, though, and wasn't shy to use it in his favor.
“Come and get me before you sneak out,” I said and bumped his arm.
I should probably have tried to stop them, but they'd do it no matter what I said, and somehow it felt better if I was with them. That could just be something I told myself, though.
-o0o-
Melanie was beat. It had been a looong day. Really long. She was in bed alone. Brick wasn't back yet, and Eliza wanted to sleep with Aunt Edie. Dawg would be away for the night, probably a stakeout, so it wasn't as if Brick could have a fit about having Dawg with a boner in his baby girl's bed.
She woke up when Brick tried to sneaked into the bathroom. He came into bed five minutes later and drew her close.
“Hey, honey,” she said and moved as close to him as possible. “How's it going?”
“Good. Need shuteye,” he mumbled. “All good here?”
“Yeah.”
Wasn't any point with nagging; he knew she was working hard to make sure it all ran smoothly, and he'd promised to make it up to her when they were done.
She listened to him falling asleep, followed him not long after, and when she woke up in the morning he was already gone.
-o0o-
Dawg came back in the morning and found both his girls in his bed. Eliza on her side with her thumb in her mouth, and Edie holding her against her chest. He got into the bed behind Edie and held them both.
When he woke up they were gone, and he found them at a table, next to Vi.
“Vi's drawing me pictures!” Eliza yelled when she saw him. “And you snore almost as loud as daddy.”
He gave Edie a kiss. “All good?”
“I'm banned from the kitchen. Apparently you can't have dill weed in chicken salad.”
“You put dill weed in chicken salad?”
“She told me to put it in the salad, not which salad.”
He loved his woman, but she was possibly the worse cook he'd ever met. And now she'd fucked up lunch. He'd never hear the end of it. That time when his Old Lady fucked up lunch during lockdown.
“What?!” She said and glared at him.
“Nothing. It could work. Dill weed in chicken salad.”
“You suck!” She muttered, and he leaned down and gave her cheek a kiss.
“Love you.”
His phone rang, and he'd never been as happy about his phone ringing. It was Bull, he needed him. He gave Edie a long, wet kiss and took off after grabbing a chicken salad sandwich. Dill weed did not work in chicken salad.
&
nbsp; First thing Bull said when he saw him was, “Heard your Old Lady fucked up the chicken salad.”
Definitely would never hear the end of it.
-o0o-
Thursday, May 9th
DAWG YAWNED AND RESTED his head on the handlebar, looking towards the direction he expected the rest to come from. When he heard them, he emptied the rest of the energy drink. They'd been in lockdown for five days, and he really hoped all those stakeouts paid off. It would suck if he'd spent hours on end in various trucks pissing in bottles, sleeping a few hours a night for nothing. If all things went according to plan, this would be the end of it. They'd stay in lockdown for another night, just to make sure, but he'd sleep through that. All of it, and with no kid in his bed. He'd made sure of that.
“All set?” Brick asked him and he nodded.
The big black SUVs following the bikes parked, and Roberto stepped out of one of them the second it stopped. Two guys, obviously bodyguards, followed closely behind him.
The cartel had arrived the day before and had the final planning meeting that morning, which was the main reason for Dawg's extreme sleep deprivation that day. It had gone on for hours. He'd had loads of coffee and two energy drinks, and he was still about to fall asleep where he was standing.
“Is it all set up?” Roberto asked as he walked towards him.
“Yeah.”
They had six groups out, each led by a president. Of the rest, those who weren't guarding the compound were standing in front of him. There was a lot of them, around thirty bikes, pretty much filling the parking lot, and then there were the cartel people on top of that. They'd be fine even if he was off his game. He just didn't like to be.
“You've done a good job. All of you.”
This was Roberto's way of apologizing. The meeting the night before had been tense, at least at the beginning. Especially the Greenville Club had showed very clearly how they felt about what had gone down so far. Brick had very diplomatically pointed out that the cartel was there now, and he expected them to back them fully now. Which Roberto had ensured.
Dawg didn't respond, just gave him a nod. Roberto dug up a clear plastic sample bag from his pocket and held it up in front of Dawg. There were two pills in it.
“Amphetamine. Not strong, just to clear your head, if you're interested.”
Dawg stared at it for a few seconds, grabbed it and took one of the pills and swallowed it down. Bear gave him a nod.
If he was lucky the effects would wear off in a few hours, so he could sleep that night. It was more likely that he'd fuck Edie silly, though. Dawg wasn't much for amphetamine or drugs other that pot, normally. But he needed a clear head now. He also needed to make sure he didn't fall asleep on the bike and cause a crash.
-o0o-
Bull was so fucking ready for this. They stopped outside the old garage. During the meetings with the cartel, they'd gone through the blueprints. He went first, opened the door and saw Jesus and his crew inside. With a nod he pushed the door open wider for the rest of them. Roberto smoothed out his white business suit, put on a smile, and walked inside next to Brick, and his two goons followed just behind him. The rest of the club and cartel followed.
The Àguilas had placed a table with a chair opposite Jesus, and they started when Roberto took the chair and Brick stood next to him. He held up his hand and goon number one put a thick file of papers in his hand.
“Mr. Sanches, if I understand my associate Mr. Baxter correctly, he explained the terms of your little gang’s demise the last time the two of you met.” He placed a set of photos in front of him. “At this very moment, The Marauders are burning down your buildings, killing or just chasing away your associates in them. The chasing away after removing their tattoos, naturally. We all know that the tattoos show that you're in a gang, and with the tattoos still intact, you're still a gang.”
“What?” Jesus didn't seem to understand what Roberto was saying. “Who the fuck are you?”
“That is not the correct question, Mr. Sanches. The important question is who I represent. At this very moment, I'm representing Mr. Baxter and Marauder Riders, since he's a very important business partner of mine. But if I tell you that my normal residence lies in Mexico, would that help you?”
Bull leaned forward a little to see Roberto's profile, and yes, the man was still smiling. And he was impressed. It was the most unpleasant smile he'd seen in a long time. He hadn't been crazy about the idea of having Roberto do the talking. He didn't like the idea of anyone talking for them, making it look like they couldn't take care of their own business. But Brick liked the idea. These guys would understand that he was from a cartel, just not which one, and Roberto had guaranteed that he'd point out that the Marauders did the eradicating.
Jesus was still staring. The little fucktard seemed to finally get it. He looked down at the table.
“What the fuck is this?”
“This, Mr. Sanches,” Roberto said pointing at one of the pictures on the table. “Is your cousin, one of ten, if I'm correct. This is your grandmother, this is your uncle, another uncle, aunt, or... cousin.” He looked up, “it's hard to keep check of them, you have quite a few relatives.” He swept his eyes over the rest of the Àguilas members. “Naturally, I have one of these files on each and everyone of you.” He looked back at Jesus. “When we threaten someone, we make it our business to know everything about them. But I think that lesson comes a little to late for you. Wouldn't you say?”
The Àguilas seemed to break out of their trance, they started to move around and look at each other. Jesus was still dumbstruck, though. It took him a while before he opened his mouth.
“Whatever these rednecks are doing, we can do it for you,” he tried.
“I very much doubt that, Mr. Sanches. These rednecks, as you so rudely refer to them, are spread all over the US. And they are also, as I pointed out earlier, tearing your gang to pieces at these very moment. You'd be surprised how efficient they can be.” He put another paper on the table. “Here is a list of all your locations that Mr. Baxter had the graciousness to give me. He's also very thorough with doing his homework, and I think you will find them all cleaned out by the time you leave this meeting. The ones still standing that is. My guess is that the ones in the slightly remote areas are already going up in flames.”
Jesus took the list with shivering hands and stared at it. Roberto looked up with interest at the sound of a phone ringing.
“I'd say that's the first one of them calling in.” When Jesus didn't move he gave him a nod. “By all means, it's rude to not answer, and it will also confirm that what I'm telling you is the truth.”
“Speak,” Jesus said as he answered. He went pale and stared at Brick. It was at that moment he realized that the threats Brick had delivered at the previous meet hadn't been empty. He hung up without saying another word.
This was the moment Brick had talked about, the crucial part, because there were only two ways this could go down. Jesus could admit defeat and stand down, or go out fighting. Bull, and the rest of them, leaned towards him going down fighting. He didn't see a man so stuffed with pride going down any other way. They all knew it and were ready for it. And they'd been right.
Dawg was generally the sharpshooter of the club, but they'd all, himself included, ruled him out since he was so fucking tired he could hardly see straight. The second best was Mace, so it was Mace’s job to take out Jesus. The rest of them were to make sure that no one else got a chance.
The moment the gun left Jesus holster a shot was fired. Bull didn't bother to see if it was a hit, instead he swept with his gun over the rest of the little shits. About half of them were paralyzed in the position of reaching for their gun. The other half were just staring. Bull couldn't help the smile, Brick had been dead on with his calculations again. None of them had been able to pull out the gun.
“I do think there were some other matters to settle,” Roberto mused while looking at Jesus, clasping his upper arm with blood traili
ng though his fingers. Then he looked at Brick. “It was a matter of a dead member, if I'm correct?”
“That score has been settled,” Brick answered, not taking his eyes from Jesus. Roberto knew very well that it had. They'd told him every detail of the meeting.
“See,” Roberto held out a hand towards Brick. “So very efficient! Just working off tasks at the speed of light.” He looked at the other members of the soon to be gone Phoenix Águilas. “I suggest you boys very slowly, put your weapons down on the floor and slide them over to these gentlemen.”
After looking at the bikers already pointing guns at them, and then at their bleeding leader, they did. Bull hadn't been sure about this part, but Brick had said that most of them would still be in a state of shock and would obey. He'd been right again. Sometimes Bull felt like fucking kissing his president. None of the Marauders picked up the guns, just kicked them further back. They didn't lower their guns, either, but kept the aim, making sure they kept their eyes on everyone.
Roberto turned around and was on his way to walk out, then snapped his fingers, turned abruptly again and pointed at Brick.
“There was one more thing you wanted, wasn't there. Remind me.”
“His ink,” Brick growled, took three long steps, grabbed Jesus by the neck, lifted him up and slammed him down on the table, face first. “I'm going to carve it off you arm, puta. And then I'll kill you.”
“Yes, I have a white suit and... you know,” Roberto said as he smoothed out creases only he could see on the previously mentioned white suit. “But, keep in mind, we have your names, addresses, the addresses of your families in Mexico, and as I'm sure you will be even more aware of at the end of this day, these boys retaliate hard and fast. There is a reason we chose them as business partners. They're just the best there is. I'd suggest that you all move out of Phoenix as soon as possible. I'd say that even Mexico is a better option, because if you walk out of here alive, you'll be open season to anyone wearing a Marauder's patch.”
Bull lowered his gun and walked over to the table along with Mace. They took on arm each, pinned Jesus down and when he started to scream, Bull clearly heard someone throwing up.
Arrow of Time (Marauders) Page 30