“Brothers, those of you who weren’t with us, Let me fill you in. The house was empty. Only one thing left behind. A paper.”
Prez announces in the meeting, basically for Jester, Tech, Coin and Jack. It was fucking hell to get Jack away from Melissa’s side. I don’t blame him the slightest. But this mission calls for every brother. Even from our northern, eastern and southern chapters. Exe being the national president helps the situation too. Caleb was with Scamp here, for our little drive. Now, he is with him at the hospital visiting Harley. She is awake and I’m grateful as fuck for that. I’ll see her later. Little man fought so hard to take Bronx with him. Hell, Bronx even whined to go. They are close—closer than I realized. Hell, the mutt was locked in the bathroom with him. But, he is always by little man’s side. Caleb said he slept on the floor while he got his bath. Giving my head a little shake, bringing myself back to church. I need to focus
“What was on the paper?” Jack asks, anxious to know what could be more important than being at Melissa’s side.
“Juan Hernandez.” Eli says. They look to Prez for certain. Prez nods in agreement.
“Fuck, Prez. I’m in. Whatever you need me for, I’m here, shit! I’m sorry Chevy.” Jester says. I sit there with a scowl, not for my brothers but for the entire situation. I nod my acknowledgment to his apology.
“In.” Coin speaks up.
“Fuck, man.” Jack says, rubbing his hand down his face to his chin. He sighs loudly.
“I’m in.” He whispers loudly.
“Okay, next on the fucking agenda, we head to Mexico. We get there, we camp. Stay under the radar. Eli, make calls to our extended family. Tell them reunion in Mexico. Give them the details. And relay the message from Lennywill. I want their cut and blood if they walk away.” Eli grunts and walks out of the meeting room, phone in hand.
“Now, we all understand this isn’t a little rival club. This is serious, there will be bloodshed, on both sides. We will have numbers and man power. First, we’ll set a meeting. Try and get Avery before we even result to a war. Besides, it wasn’t him who double crossed us Brothers. It was Jose, the cartel’s gun leader.”
Nods, grunts and growls go off in understanding to try to make this less messy if possible. We just want Avery back. Eli returns to church, smiling. How the fuck can he smile at a time like this? Makes me want to throat punch him and smile at him when he is gasping for fucking air. I tighten my grip on my chair, anger growing inside me.
“Eli.” Prez says.
“Prez, we got the Cherrywood Chapter, Blue Waters Chapter, Little Hill Chapter, Red River Chapter and the whole state of fucking Texas. That’s five more chapters—averaging, ten to fifteen members from each Charter.” Eli says, smile still on his face.
“That’s... well... let’s see.” Prez says. He was never really good at math, but no one would ever say that to his face. That’s why Coin is our treasurer.
“One hundred and fifty men, roughly, Boss.” Coin cuts in with a smirk. Prez just stares him down, while a smirk slowly creeps to his lips.
“That is why you’re our treasurer, Coin.” Prez answers.
“Okay men, we leave in two hours. If you need to pack, drink or fuck before we leave, get the hell to it.”
With that, he slams the gavel and we all scurry the hell out.
Jack and I head straight to the hospital. Harley isn’t going to take this well. Should I lie to her? I know she deserves the truth, but to see the pain in her eyes. I don’t know if I’ll be able to leave her after she has a breakdown like she did when she found out the fate of our daughter. My mind is fucked. I don’t know what the fuck to do.
*******************************************
Harley
Having Caleb here for most of the afternoon has been amazing. The best hospital visit I’ve ever had.
“Grandma, can we get you anything?”
“No baby. I’m alright.”
“I tried to bring Bronx with me, but Grandpa told me he would scare the doctor, and you would never get better then. Then he said, on second thought take the dog.” I giggled. Ford picking on Caleb is adorable, because he stands up for himself against a bunch of scary bikers. I’m so shocked he has no PTSD or fear of bikers. Not my little man, he has been facing everything head on. I’m proud of him.
“I yelled at him that I would tell Grandma that he said that, he said he would give me chocolate milk if I didn’t tell you.” He says with a pout.
“Why are you telling me baby boy?” I ask, a bit confused as why he would tell me.
“He didn’t give me any chocolate milk.” He says crossing his arms, furthering his pouty face. It’s utterly adorable.
“I’ll get you some, okay? But you got to do me a favor.” I tell him.
“Okay, Grandma.” He shoots up, happy and smiling.
“When you see Grandpa, tell Bronx to smile.” I wink at him. He gets a devilish smile on his lips. He loves messing with people. Ever since we used Eli for a stand in for commanding Bronx, he’s been running around like crazy, messing with people.
Scamp told me how he had six cups of chocolate milk in a row using Bronx as his muscle. He’s like a tiny mob boss with Bronx as his enforcer. I can’t help but laugh. Scamp said he was basically held hostage by a kid and a dog at the refrigerator for an hour while they demanded milk and cookies. After ten minutes, Bronx would settle and eat a cookie that Caleb would slip under the table. When Scamp thought it was all clear to move, Bronx smiled. I laughed my ass off at that story.
“Okay, Grandma.” Caleb retreats back to his coloring. A few minutes later, Ford walks through the door. I can’t help but get happy. He’s here because he found my baby girl—that has to be the reason or he wouldn’t be here. Plus, the butterflies in my stomach doesn’t help; I feel like a love struck teenager. I love this man of mine.
“Hey, baby.” He says with a low icy hint to his voice. Oh, no. This can’t be good. What happened?
“Where is Avery?” I demand.
“Bab--”
“Ford, do not beat around the bush with me. Where is she?” I cut him off. I could see it in his eyes that he was going to lie. Not going to happen! I want to know what is going on with my daughter, and I want to know now.
“Baby, the house was empty. She wasn’t there.” He says in a growl, clearly pissed I cut through his bullshit.
“Well, go on...” I know he wouldn’t be here if he had another lead, he would be chasing that down instead of trying to lie to be about it.
He lets out a breath, running his hands through his short hair. I’m nervous—I’m not sure I want the answers he’s about to give me.
“We know where she is. We are leaving in an hour to get her.” He says, stopping in the middle of his sentence.
There is something he isn’t telling me. I can see it in his eyes that he’s having an inner battle on how much to tell me. No doubt because of my breakdown from last time I had a bad experience finding out the true fate of Avery. Breathe Harley, I tell myself. I can’t break now. He has to go get her. I can’t do this with Caleb here. Push through it. Breathe.
“Okay. That’s all I need to know, Ford. Just go get our daughter. You bring her back to me. Do you hear me?” I tell him. Forcing him to look me in the eye, he nods at my demand.
I don’t need details. I’ll hear those later, after all of this has blown over. After he nods, I can see his eyes soften. I know I just solved his inner battle for him. I don’t need his mind clouded with more worry for me or us. I need him focused. I need him and Avery home together. I need both of them.
His eyes go soft as he sits next to Caleb.
“Hey, little man. I need to go away for a few days. Can you make me a promise, man to man?” He says to Caleb, Caleb’s face washes with worry, before he quickly recovers with a stern nod. All of these guys nod at almost everything, now they got my little man doing it. Ugh.
“Watch over Grandma. Take care of her for me.”
“Yes
Grandpa. I can do that.” He answers matter of fact. My brave little mob boss. I giggle to myself remembering Bronx and Scamp. They look at me with arched eye brows. I just wave them off and motion for them to continue. They continue to talk and Caleb has Ford coloring a picture of a motorcycle. It’s a sight I will hold forever close to my heart. It’s funny, seeing a big, tattooed, sexy, scary, intimidating biker coloring. I smile to myself, watching them interact together. They have gotten so close. I wish Ford and Avery would have that kind of relationship. Maybe one day.
Ford is getting ready to leave; a part of me wants him to stay. Yet, I know he needs to go, I want him to go. I want Avery home. My heart is torn. I just plaster a smile on my face and fight the tears that are threatening to spill.
“I love you, little man. Remember our understanding.”
“I do Grandpa. Love you more.” He answers his Grandpa.
Ford comes to my bed side, and sits grabbing my hand. He leans down to whisper in my ear.
“I love you baby. If I don’t come home, you know I failed. So, I’ll be gone at most, a week. Nothing is stopping me from bringing our girl home.” I take in a ragged breath. With his breath on my ear and his promise to return with our baby girl, has my blood heating up and goose bumps breaking out all over my body. I just nod against his lips. He gives me a short, but passionate kiss. And out the door he walks. I turn my head up, once again and pray to God—to keep him and Avery safe on their entire journey back to my arms. A lonely tear fights it’s way to the surface and slides down my face. I quickly wipe it out of sight and hope for their safe return.
Chapter Eleven
Ford
Getting to Mexico took a lot longer than I thought—a two day ride. The Cherrywood and Texas chapters are already here. Blue Waters, Little Hill and Red River would be here tomorrow. We settle in a dust field with some large rocks about five miles out from Little Horse. We want to be undetectable. Seeing how a war is possibly coming, the brothers will want to party. Everyone is drinking and talking about blood. For being a bunch of violent, no rules men, we all are getting along kind of well. There have been two fights between Cherrywood and Red River. Prez deflected the fight, being the national president, everyone tends to listen to him.
“Hey.” I turn to find a drunk Jinx stumbling my way.
“Hey, Brother.”
“You ready to bring down an empire?” He asks.
“Fuck yea! For Avery, I’ll burn the world.” I say back. He smacks my back and stumbles away to Jester, who is in a heated discussion with a Texas chapter brother about women. Big titties over take a big ass any day, Jester says.
I wonder off looking for Prez. He’s in a circle, talking to the presidents of the other chapters who are here so far. I slide in between the Cherrywood president and mine. Standing in, listening.
“First, we’ll try and establish a meeting. Less bloodshed, the better.” Prez says.
“Okay, and if we can’t keep this all rainbows and flowers then what?” Fang, the Cherrywood president, asks.
“Then we prepare for war, Brothers.” Prez sighs. As much as he loves bloodshed, he doesn’t want his brother’s blood spilled. I can agree with him on that.
“You know, we all wouldn’t be here if we weren’t prepared to paint this fucking place red with their blood.” Fang reassures his loyalty to Prez.
They all nod in agreement. Ready to follow him into hell for one brother, one girl, one family member. Mine. My daughter. So I voice my appreciation.
“Brothers, I appreciate you coming here to help me get my daughter back.” I say.
“Brother, if it was one of us in this situation, we know you would not think twice about coming to ride into battle.” Wolf, a Texas president, says. I nod in agreement. I would ride for my brothers, any of them. No questions asked. No fear. Pure loyalty is not measured by how far he has come, but by how far he is still willing to go for another.
Prez speaks.
“Eli will call tomorrow, and try to set a meeting with Juan. For now Brothers, party like there is no tomorrow, because there might not be.” After that, he walks off, sipping his beer. I know he is thinking of a way to get all of us out alive, through this war and save Avery. I know the weight of our entire club is on his shoulders. He has overcome so much judgment for his being voted in so young, his methods of getting answers. If he fails now, there won’t be any coming back from that. It will prove to everyone who judged him based on his age would have been right. Too young to carry out orders for an entire club, let alone a chapter, too young to make rational decisions. I have faith in my president and I will follow him anywhere. Tonight we party, for tomorrow might not be here.
The next day, most of our men are hung-over and still sleeping. Our chapter woke up at sun rise, which sleeping on the ground isn’t as nice as our rooms back at the club. But also, there is business to handle. Eli places the call for a meet with Juan. We wait for the ring back to let us know if we are walking into a sit down or a war.
The other presidents stir awake about an hour later, most circling around us asking to be filled in. Prez sent Jinx and Coin for coffee—a lot of coffee. They protested it with grunts and growls, but Prez says coffee, so off they go. No doubt they will bitch to each other on the caffeine run. But, we need these men awake and ready for battle. Today, the rest of the chapters should be here. Jack and Jester arrive with the fuel for today. We made sure to fill up our tanks before we hit Little Horse so we didn’t need to be in town more than need be. Don’t need the attention drawn to us. Our Hell Hound cuts don’t help either. Sticking out like a sore thumb in that little town. I’m surprised they have a Starbucks there. The town is only about two miles big, if that.
We send the presidents to wake up their members for coffee and get ready for battle if need be. We need every brother on their game today. Every chapter has a little fire with eggs and bacon cooking. Jack is cooking over a fire when I approach him. He still has a pained look in his face.
“Hey, Brother.” I say nervously. Not knowing if he’ll blow up on me or not. I know he wants blood for Melissa. I do too. I want blood for all the pain they have caused my club and family.
“Hey.”
“So, ah, how is Melissa doing?”
“She is gonna pull through, you hear me? She is going to be fucking fine. We are going to be just fucking fine.” He says through gritted teeth. The pain seeps through his words, he doesn’t need to act so hard. We are all human. I guess he shown enough of his humanity when he found Melissa that day. I can’t ask for anymore from him. I know this regret emotion is new to him as well. It’s all the same for us. One brother’s pain is another brother’s pain. We take on all of each other’s pain and happiness.
“I know, Brother, I know.” I say, placing my hand on his shoulder, squeezing firmly. Silently letting him know I have his back; that he has my love and support on whatever happens, all in one shoulder squeeze.
Looking back on Jack and Melissa’s relationship, it happened so fast—all in a couple months. He talked about her as a casual lay. Evidently, he didn’t even realize how deep his feelings ran with her until it was almost too late. But we were taught that family, old ladies or anything other than a brother was weakness that could be sought out and used to destroy us. But now, I don’t see how I could go on without my family, my brothers, or the club. All of it. It all plays a role in my life.
“Church!” Prez barks to the large group of men. Being such a large group of men, he barks to our chapter and the presidents of the others. They can relay the meeting back to their own members.
“Eli got a sit down, few hours from now. Ford, Eli, Coin, and Colt, you are riding out with me.” Prez says.
“What do you want the rest of us do? Sit around blowing each other? I’ll tell ya, Boss, I don’t swing that way.” Jester says sliding a hand through his shaggy hair.
Jack grunts in agreement. I know he wants to be there, but he is like a ticking time bomb right now. We need level-head
s. And I won’t front, I’m going crazy in my own fucking mind. But I’m playing it cool as shit, because there is no fucking way I won’t be at this meeting about my daughter. Not fucking happening. I can bottle emotions up better than anyone.
I’m impressed that Colt is allowed there, knowing his involvement with Avery. I know that little shit feels the same as I do. Boy has a good poker face, I’ll tell you that, but if he in any way jeopardizes me getting my daughter back, I’ll kill him.
“No, jackass, you will be ready to roll out if I make the call. You got a problem with that?” Prez growls at Jester.
“Nah, Prez, I’m good.” He says looking down. He knows he went too far. If this wasn’t such a delicate situation, he’d pay for mouthing off. Not having trust in our president’s plan is one thing, but voicing about it…what a dumb ass. I just shake my head.
“Where you do you want us set up?” Poker Face, a president from a Texas chapter, asks.
In the middle of our meeting, before Prez could even answer, motorcycles roar through the distance. We know it’s the rest of the brotherhood, well the ones we’ve recruited for our ‘rescue mission.’ Hoots and hollers and whistles.
“Jinx, get those presidents over here now, no time for a reunion.” Prez barks at Jinx.
Jinx jogs over to the chapters and relays the word to get their asses over here.
“Prez, are we sure a sit down is such a good idea, it could be a set up. José maybe, maybe not. It just doesn’t feel right.” Poker Face spouts off at the mouth.
Prez turns, taking his eyes off the arrivals to eye Poker Face.
“Tell me something. Are you afraid of a fucking beaner, Brother?” He asks Poker Face.
“Nah, just voicing what my gut is telling me, boss.” Poker spouts out, again.
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