by Ryan Michele
“Thanks,” I say just as I feel a presence beside me.
I look up to see GT standing next to me, and I jolt. He looks down at me then at Breaker and back at me. He lifts his chin then turns his head as Angel comes up and wraps her arms around me tight. Breaker has to let go of me for me to embrace Angel back. Then I’m pulled back to him the moment she releases me.
“This will be fine,” she reassures me.
I wish my quivering nerves would listen to her.
Pops stands on what looks like a makeshift stage back by the wall. It’s elevated enough that it appears he can see the vast number of people.
“Hi, Pops,” a little boy calls out, and Pops smiles.
“Hey, Coop.” He then turns to address everyone. “I know most of you here don’t really know why. After our home was attacked, I feel it’s in our best interest to get this shit out there in the open. First, Diamond’s daughter Shaina is here.”
My breathing stops as all eyes come to me, and Breaker pulls me closer to him. I wish I could burrow inside of him and disappear from everyone.
Instead of looking at the crowd, I look at Pops.
“She’s a Ravage. Blood of a Ravage. Don’t give a shit how you feel about the past. It’s done. She’s clear. Got me?”
Heat rises to my face as I clutch on to Breaker’s shirt. This time, I turn to him and look up.
“It’s okay,” he tells me, but he doesn’t have this fear clawing at him, trying to get out, to run away.
I can feel the eyes on me. I feel like I can almost read everyone’s mind here. I hate it.
That damn boulder comes back and begins to press me to the ground. The only thing keeping me above water is Breaker.
“Good,” Pops states, and I finally feel the eyes shift off of me.
“We’ve been attacked. I’m not proud to say this, but it’s my fault.”
I look up at him as he holds his hand out, and Ma comes and grasps it.
“Many years ago, this woman caught my eye. I took her from a man who, for years, seemed to work well with Ravage. He’s now showed his true feelings by coming at us, and we’re dead-set on finding him. I’ll be pulling in everyone on this to keep us steady. Ma will need help keeping us fed and makin’ sure the kids are secure.”
There are many nods of acceptance from the crowd.
“While we do this, we will have guards beefed up and even set out from the walls of this club. That way, if some dickhead decides to try and throw shitty-ass bombs at us again, we’ll nail them before it happens.”
He pulls Ma in more securely to him. “I admit, I thought this shit was over with. Didn’t mean to bring it to the doorstep here. But it’s here, and we need to stop it, so I need all hands on deck. We are Ravage. We protect our own. We defend our own. We are family, and as that family grows, we defend each new member.”
I can’t help feeling a twinge inside from those words. Family. The one thing I’ve longed for. What I wanted my father to give me, but he never did. This is where the jealousy I felt with the Ravage MC and my father came from. He had this, and I wish he would have given it to me all those years.
“Ma started breakfast and needs a few more hands with that. I need all the guys to meet with me in church. We go from there. Stay vigilant and stay focused,” he demands, and the entire room breaks out in chatter.
“Need you to stay with Angel and help her out.” I look up at Breaker at his words.
That boulder starts to get really heavy. I can only nod and try to fight it back.
Angel grabs my arm, but Breaker stops her.
“Take care of her.”
She smiles. “Always.”
I feel a small bit of relief, but it’s so small it doesn’t last very long as I’m thrown into the chaos that is cooking food for over a hundred people. Ma barks orders and so does Princess. Luckily, they keep me by Angel, and I go with the flow, thankful I took those two little pills.
The burner phone buzzes just as the door to church closes. I hold my hand palm out, fingers wide toward the men. They all hush as I open the flip phone.
“Yeah?”
“Fucker’s slippery.”
“Tell me somethin’ I don’t know.”
“Watch it,” Richard warns, and I look at the men. All my men.
They stare back at me, waiting for direction, waiting for this massive problem to be taken care of so we can get back to our lives and live free. That is what my father intended for this club: for us to ride free. It’s been a while since we’ve done that.
“Yeah,” I say in response.
“Your boy has access to surveillance satellites?”
I look at Buzz. “Access to surveillance satellites?”
“Some, but not all.”
“Did you hear that?” I ask Richard.
“Write this shit down,” is his response.
I snap my fingers and make a writing motion. GT shifts what I need over quickly, and I write everything down Richard says.
“Then what?” I ask.
“You have your location,” he says and then gives me two more things to write down.
“And those are …?”
“Three meatheads. Ransom and his two guys. Bring my grandkids.” With that, he hangs up the phone.
I flip mine shut and put it in my cut. “Buzz, come here.” He does so, and I hand him the paper. “Do you know what any of this shit means?”
His eyes roam the paper quickly. “Fuck yeah, I do. Need to go downstairs, though. My laptop can’t handle this shit.”
“Go,” I tell him, and he darts from the room.
He’s a good man. Too bad most of the guys are still pissed off he called his woman before telling the club. It’s lessening, though, as time goes on and I keep pushing it to the side. He’s worked his ass off for us, and beating the shit out of him won’t solve a damn thing, especially when we need his brain.
“Who was that?” GT asks.
“Informant,” I answer, not ready to tell the entire club. I won’t if I don’t have to. I’ll sit Princess and GT down later and tell them about their grandparents later. That way, the anger can be contained.
“Alright. That call could be a lock on Ransom and two of his assholes. While Buzz does his thing, we need a plan to take out the four buildings he has outside the city limits. Then we need a plan to protect these walls and our families.”
We discuss this for what feels like ages, putting together a solid game plan. Taking out the buildings is the easy part. There will be causalities, some that have nothing to do with Ransom’s bidding, but we can’t allow any of his men to survive. The plan also requires us to take more shifts and be more vigilant, but we will do it. We protect our own.
GT hands me the list of guys who are the most important in Ransom’s crew. Four have large red Xs through them, while three guys do not. Soon, we’ll have two of them and Ransom.
The doors to the office fly open, and Buzz walks in with papers in his hand. “Got it.” He slaps the papers down in front of me, and the top one showing an aerial shot of a building with an open space then trees surrounding it.
“Where?” I snap.
“Tennessee, about thirty miles outside Dyersburg.”
“You’re fucking shitting me.” Dyersburg has an MC of their own, the Vipers Creed. We met them at a rally and had no issues with them.
“Nope.” Buzz flips the papers over, giving me the two other locations of the three men. “These are directly in Dyersburg: one on the north and one on the south.”
“You trust this informant?” GT questions, and my eyes cut to him. “Seems we’re putting a lot of trust in someone we don’t know.”
I level my gaze on him. “I trust him. Therefore, you trust him. Is that clear enough, son?”
GT, God love him, straightens his back at my tone. So fucking proud I raised him right, even if he’s being a shit and questioning me.
“Got it,” Cruz says before GT can start. “We’re behind you.” Cruz look
s at GT. “Right?”
GT lets the steam blow out of his thick head then answers, “Yeah.”
“Good. Now can I get back to looking at this shit?” I don’t wait for a response before I study the pictures closely.
There appears to be lots of room to move, but we have a problem.
“We need to know if Ransom has cameras on his locations because, if we take out his buildings here then drive to Tennessee, that will give whoever hears of the takeover time to contact him. You know that he’ll pay serious bucks for that information, so every dickhead around will be itching to get a piece of it.” I look over at Buzz.
“Let me get my laptop.” He darts from the room, coming back seconds later. He sits and does whatever it is he does.
“Pops, he’s got shit wired everywhere. There are hard lines and wireless. He has so much rigged up he can probably see the hairs on his guys’ asses.”
I suck in deep, cross my arm over my chest, and put my chin in my hand. “Alright. So we have to do this all at one time, which will take a shit load of planning.”
“There’s no way we can do it all at the same time. Even with remote detonators, there is always the chance that something could go wrong and alert them,” Buzz says.
“Why not have the Clayton charter take care of the four buildings here? We can set up whatever we need and have them do the rest,” Breaker says, and I cut my stare to him.
Breaker doesn’t talk much, but fuck, he’s on it when he does.
“Good call.”
His face is an unreadable mask.
I look up at the men from Clayton who line the back wall. “Benny?”
“Yep. We’re on it. Tell us what needs to be done.”
“Perfect. Now I need to make a call.”
“To who?” Becs asks as I pull out my cell.
“Vipers Creed.”
“Oh, fuck,” Becs replies, and I nod.
“And they are …?” Tug asks.
Since he, Breaker, and Buzz just patched in, I need to give them a very quick history lesson.
“Met Vipers Creed at a rally in Kentucky. We met, shot the shit, and ended up at the same bar later that night.”
Rhys chuckles, and he would.
“Rhys got himself into some trouble chasin’ tail that wasn’t his to chase. Ended up in a brawl, and the Vipers had our backs. Their territory is Dyersburg, Tennessee, right where Ransom is.” With that, I clear my throat, grab the phone, and dial.
It rings once, and then I hear, “Yeah,” said impatiently in my ear.
“Pops from the Ravage MC. Spook?”
A moment passes. “Yeah, this is.”
“We have a situation there in Dyersburg.”
“And that is …?”
“Ransom,” I reply.
“I’m listening.” That must be his way of telling me to go on.
“Bottom line is, he’s fuckin’ with us, and I need to take him out.”
Spook clicks his tongue. “And, what? You think I’m gonna help you take out some asshole when you don’t tell me what the fuck is going on and what shit you’re bringing up here?”
“Fuck,” I groan. “Alright. Ransom has been planning to take down the Ravage MC for some time. First, he tried to kill my daughter and grandson. Then, he had Angel, my son’s ol’ lady, and Shaina, our former president’s daughter, kidnapped and hurt pretty fuckin’ badly. Then the cops raided the place and shit hit the fan. Not to mention, the planted cop he had here. Now he’s tryin’ to kill us all, and I refuse to let him hurt my family anymore.” I leave out some of the shit, not wanting to tell him my whole fucking life story. The only reason he’s getting this shit is so he’ll help set this in motion.
“At least that’s a better answer than before.” He coughs. “You comin’ in my backyard no matter what I say?”
“Yep, but giving you the respect of telling you what I’m doing.”
“And askin’ for me and my boys help?” he replies.
“Yeah, we need to take them all out at once, wipe the slate clean, and I can’t be here in Sumner and up there in Dyersburg at the same time.”
“What’s the blowback on us?”
“You, nothing. We’re wiping them out completely.”
The room is silent as everyone’s attention is on me except for Buzz and the clicking of his computer.
“Markers?” he asks, now in negotiation mode. “And just so we’re clear here, the only reason I’m even considering helping you is because this shithead is in my territory.”
“Understood. Yes, markers.”
“Two of them,” Spook returns. I’ve gotta admit the kid is good.
“Agreed.”
“What exactly do you need?”
“We have two locations and three men who need to be gone. Need the Vipers to hit up the worker bees at one location while we Ravage take out the other.”
The men in the room look around at each other. Sure, pawning off our shit on another club wasn’t my first choice, but I can only be in one place at a time, and I need to make sure the men are disposed of. Once I find out which place Ransom is at, Ravage will take that spot.
“I’ll talk to the guys. Later.” Spook hangs up.
“Fucker,” I mumble. “Alright. Let’s get the four buildings here ironed out. Spook’ll be callin’ back here soon.”
Boom, boom, boom … It all needs to blow.
Bombs. Yes, S, plural! And they struck when we were sleeping. Sure, they say they didn’t do any damage, but still, what if they did? Moreover, Buzz gave me a gun and told me to put it in the back of my jeans. I have only ever held a gun. I have never shot one.
Angel’s talks about this life are smacking me in the face hard. The realization that, at any moment, Buzz or someone else we care about could get hurt is unnerving. I don’t know if I’m cut out for this. The moment of life and death being on the edge of every thought is exhausting.
“We ride free,” Buzz said, and I need to hang on to that. He’s been in this life. Angel can hack it. Hell, Princess is practically one of the guys. I can do this. I will do this because the thought of not being with Buzz sends a knife to my heart, shredding me.
“Hey, you okay?” Tanner asks, bringing her mushrooms next to my cheese as we slice. Tanner’s pretty in her own right and young. So much younger than Rhys, who is scary as hell.
“Just processing everything.” Isn’t that the truth?
“It’s a lot to take in. When I showed up, I was completely overwhelmed at first. One, because I learned Dagger was my father. Two, my mother was beaten to shit. And three, Rhys wouldn’t leave me the hell alone.” A soft smile plays on her lips at the last one. “Anyway, what I’ve learned is, you have to roll with it. The guys will do what they have to in order to keep us safe. And you need to trust your man to do that.”
“I do trust Buzz, more than anyone. My biggest problem is I never learned to really protect myself. I think that, if I did, I would feel differently about the fact that I have a gun in the back of my jeans.”
Tanner turns around, lifting her shirt, and sure as shit, she has a small holster with hers.
“It becomes part of life. Call it your new normal. If you want to learn, we’ll show ya. Princess is kickass at hand to hand, and Angel, Blaze, and I can take you to practice shooting. It isn’t going to happen overnight, but it’ll help.”
“I’d like that.” A small bit of pressure lifts from my shoulders. I’m happy that I’ll learn.
“Holy shit!” I yell when I didn’t mean to, but the headphones on my ears make it so I can’t hear the volume.
“Has a kickback,” Blaze says, and it’s completely muffled.
I rip my headphones off, and she repeats herself.
“Sure does. Damn, my arms are still vibrating.”
Blaze laughs. “Yeah, it’ll take a bit to get used to it, but you’ll get it.”
The weight of the gun feels heavy in my hand, and the power just oozes from it. I respect it more than I fear
it now, and that is the main goal of me learning this. I won’t feel afraid if I need to pull it out.
For two days, Buzz has been extremely busy. I lie in bed at night, trying to stay awake for when he comes to bed, but I’m usually out like a light. All the prep for meals and keeping the place cleaned up takes a village of people, and I’m thankful for each and every one of them. Working has also kept my mind off not seeing Buzz, only feeling him for a brief time in the night. I got my grades and passed all my classes, so at least that’s off my plate.
I was lucky this morning and woke up with him next to me, but he couldn’t stay long. With a small kiss on my lips, he was gone. I don’t like that I can’t see him, but I’m also not going to whine and bitch about it, either. I know he’s doing what he has to do. And I hope that whatever this is will be done and over with soon.
Lying in bed, I inhale Buzz’s pillow, savoring his scent. Buzz is so different than any other man I’ve been with. Never once did I want to smell a pillow just to get a man’s scent. Never once did I yearn for a man. Never once have I felt so empty without a man nearby. I guess this is what love feels like. The strings of someone attached to another that bend and stretch until they see each other again so they can relax.
I hug the pillow, wishing it were my man. It still seems strange to say that, but I like it. I like that I can count on someone, depend on them, and they can do the same for me.
My eyes drift shut as calmness hits me, and I’m teetering between awake and asleep when I hear the door quietly open. They shoot open as Buzz comes into the room, his eyes coming directly to me.
“Hey,” I greet, sitting up in the bed and pulling the sheet around me.
“Hey, baby.” He sounds so damn tired.
I reach over and turn on the bedside light. In this light, he looks as bad as he sounds.
He strips his cut off and places it on the dresser. Then he removes his shirt. My body thrums at the sight, but I will it to slow down. Buzz is way too tired.
He sits on the edge of the bed, pulls off his boots and clothes, and then climbs into bed. I look at the clock to see it’s one thirty-seven in the morning. He woke and left at seven.