Heading inside, the bar is swarming with brothers and it’s like old times again. This is more like it. The bar is my first stop and I order a beer. I’m jolted forward and Mason and Myles appear either side of me.
“What’s up, Jay? Where’s your old lady?” they both ask together.
“She’s at home.”
“Waiting for you in bed…nice,” they both say, nodding their heads in agreement.
“You want to keep those tongues of yours I suggest you don’t talk about my wife and a bed in the same sentence again, yeah?”
They both step back and hold their hands up in surrender. “Hey, we’re only messing with you,” Mason says while Myles pushes his luck. “You have the hottest old lady, of course we’re going to picture her in bed.”
I lunge forward, ready to punch the fucker when Cas calls for the brothers in the back room.
“You’re a lucky son of a bitch,” I spit at him and he only finds it amusing, back stepping toward the back room.
“Give Harper my love when you go home.”
He blows me a kiss and I mock lunge at him and he flinches. I follow him into the back room and take my seat as brothers take theirs. The two empty chairs speak more volumes than the brothers rambling on with their small talk. Cas walks in and closes the door behind him. The brothers quieten as he takes his seat and bangs the gavel down on the table.
“It feels good to do that,” he murmurs and leans back in his chair. “Before I start, is there anything anyone would like to bring to the table?”
“I want to know about Slade, has anyone gone to talk to him?” Pope asks.
Brothers shake their heads and Cas says, “He wanted space and we’re going to give it to him. As much as we want to be there for him, he doesn’t want us and we have to respect his decision.”
“He laid his cut down, Cas. What are we going to do about that?” Ricky asks next.
“I think we can all agree our brother isn’t thinking straight and who can blame him. I doubt anyone of us sat here could wrap our heads around losing a child and still make rational long-term decisions. We’ll give him time and when he’s ready, he’ll be welcomed back without a word.”
Heads nod and no one disagrees with the statement. “Slade will be in our thoughts, of course he will, but we need to figure out where we go from here.”
“We need to get back to earning,” Dad adds, and I agree.
If Harper is serious talking about having a baby, and I already want to buy her a house just on the edge of town I’ve been looking at, I’m going to need every buck I can earn.
“You’re right, but there’s something we need to deal with first. Our Mercy Chapter. While I was there I acquired a number of concerns, one being the fact Lost Souls had to ask permission to enter the town. I met with the top man myself and he’s a suit with a fucking cocksure attitude to boot. I asked about him with Gabe and I got fuck all out of him. Something’s going on up there and I want to get to the bottom of it. Our cut has been drying up from their end and like I said, I want to know why? We leave this weekend, no one is to tell them we’re coming. I want to surprise them.”
“Do you think they’re doing deals behind our backs?” Dad asks and frowns. “You spent time there, son, did you see anything dodgy?”
“I was mainly with Harper, I wasn’t included in their meetings and no one ever said a word about anything that would raise suspicions around me. I didn’t pick up on anything being purposefully kept from me but then most of the time, Harper and I were out.”
“Pack your shit, brothers, we’re going on vacation,” Pope says, chuckling.
Fists bang the table, the brothers are happy to get out of town and I must admit, Harper will be happy we’re going back.
“Moving on, I want to bring up Tal. He’s been prospecting for us for a while. As far as I’ve seen, he fits in with us. He takes orders and he came through when the club was down and on the outs. It’s time we bring in some fresh blood and I think we should vote him in before we leave for Mercy.”
“I agree, he’ll be an asset to us. He’s loyal, for sure,” Dad says. “I vote in favour.”
Aye’s float around the room and a fresh sense of familiar freedom hangs over us once again.
“Call him in and get this done.”
Zachery, being closest to the door, gets up and calls him in. I like this prospect, fuck me, I’ve spent enough time with him lately picking off Crows and he’ll make a good Lost Soul. He’s not much of a talker but it’s not a bad thing. It certainly made our jobs easier not having to entertain small talk.
The prospect walks in and stands by the door, eyeing every one of us slowly. He’s never set foot inside this room; he must know what’s coming.
“Prospect, we’ve made a decision regarding your place here at the club. Personally, I’d vote you in, but my brothers here don’t feel they can trust you…”
Brothers fight to hide their laughter but Tal, a darkness is sweeping over him and I’m sure, violence.
Cas snorts and bursts into laughter, followed by the rest of the brothers.
“Look at his face, I’m fucking with you. The vote was unanimous, welcome…brother.”
He doesn’t jump for fucking joy, but he loses the wave of violence radiating from him. Cas rises from his chair and digs out a patch from the drawer under the tabletop.
“We’re going to need to that prospecting patch back,” he says passing over his new patch.
“Tonight we celebrate our brother joining us and tomorrow we’ll plan our trip to Mercy, and by god, we’re going to straighten our club out through the chapters.”
The back room empties and Kyle, our other prospect heads straight for Cas.
“There’s a guy at the gate, he wants to talk to you.”
“What guy?”
“A suit, but I don’t think he’s authority.”
“Is he alone?” I ask, intrigued as to who could be at our gate.
“He has a driver, some old guy.”
“That doesn’t mean shit.”
Cas dismisses the prospect and begins to walk outside, my dad follows and because I’m feeling particularly nosey, I follow too.
Approaching the gate, the car is too flashy to be the feds and the guy is too clean cut with the meanest eyes.
Cas stops front and centre and we stand just behind him.
The driver is old like the prospect told us and the guy is alone, straightening his suit jacket and fiddling with his cuffs.
“How can I help you?” Cas asks, sceptically.
“My name is Jamie Boy Hayward and I’m here to talk business.”
The guy’s accent is straight out of a gangster movie from London and he’s more than spiked my interest.
“And what kind of business would that be?” Cas asks next.
“The kind that can make us both a vast amount of money.”
“I haven’t heard of no Haywards.” Cas looks over each shoulder and we all shakes our heads.
“That’s good then,” the guys says with a shit eating grin on his face. “It means my business here over the years hasn’t been on anyone’s radar. I came here today because my family and I run London, we have for many years. Me and my three brothers, we run a quarter of London each but our dealings with the US, we run as one.”
“I don’t see no brothers,” Dad points out.
“No, we thought it would be best for me to come alone so you would see no threat. My brother, Ritchie, well, he can be a little testy and I didn’t want to make a bad impression during our first meet.”
He pulls an envelope from the inside pocket of his jacket and steps forward slowly and passes it through the gate to Cas.
“Inside are our names, some of our dealings. I know everything about you, it’s only respectful you know about us. You can have young Zachery check us out.”
Cas’s eyes narrow as my brows pinch together. How would he find out about Zach’s skills on the computer?
“Like I
said, I know everything about you. I’ve done my homework.”
Cas silently hands the envelope back without turning around and Zach steps forward taking it from him.
He heads inside and Cas asks his next question.
“How did you hear about us?”
“From an old contact of yours, I hired a seeker to find me the best and he brought your information back to us.”
He nods to his driver and the old guy walks around the car to the trunk. He pops it open and pulls out a case. The old guy walks it over to the gate and Cas nods to me to collect it.
It’s weighty and I step back from the gate when it’s in my hold.
“Open it,” he tells me.
I flick the catches and lift the top half of the case. I turn it so Cas can see the cash inside and he lets out a slow whistle of appreciation.
“There is a hundred thousand dollars there, and it’s a sign of good faith from the Haywards to your club.”
“You’re giving us a hundred grand, why?”
“As a good sign of faith, once you trust us, we’re going to be working closely and making vast amounts of money. Now I’m here for another two days and I’d like to be able to go home with a relationship formed and a future to work out between us.”
“You seem sure we’ll deal with you,” Cas mutters.
“When you learn who myself and my family are, I’m positive we’ll move forward together.”
“What do you want in return for this cash?” Dad asks again.
“This is to get your attention, it’s in my opinion cash will do that and it has.”
He looks over our heads and Zach quickly joins us and whispers in Cas’s ear.
He steps back and I raise my eyebrows, asking if this guy is legit. He nods once and I return my attention to the clean cut guy.
“Seems you check out, but you’ve come at a bad time. We have business we need to attend and it won’t wait.”
“Forgive me, I haven’t explained, our business won’t start for another two months. Does that give you enough time to tie up your business that won’t wait?”
“It would.”
“In that case, if you agree to a meeting before I leave, we can talk more. I’m sure you want to speak to your man and hear what he found on my family.”
He pulls out a business card and Cas takes it when they guy offers it through the gate.
“Call me with a time and place to meet.”
He nods to his driver and they both climb in their car. The guy doesn’t look our way as they drive off and I hand over the case to Cas. I dig out my smokes and light one up.
Everyone turns to Zach and he speaks up, “His family are notorious over in England. His uncle is a cop killer, done over thirty-five years in prison for it. The brother he mentioned, Ritchie, spent ten years in prison for the murder of their enemy. Legally, they’re worth millions, I’m guessing their network is worth much more.”
“If we agree, I’ll call and set up a meet. We’ll find out what he wants to deal in and then we’ll decide.”
“If that’s all for today, I’m going home.”
Cas nods and I head for my bike. During the ride home I think over Harper’s need for a talk on babies, it won’t leave me. By the time I ride onto our street, I can picture her stomach round with our child. I can’t picture me doing very well watching her give birth, hearing her cry out in pain but I’d be there, holding her hand and helping in any way I can.
Our house comes into view and she’s bent over faffing with the roses. I smile, this is it for me. This is my life now. I’m a brother with new avenues of earning vast amounts of money like the British guy offered and I get to come home to a beautiful wife who loves me as much as I love her.
Good luck to anyone who dares come for her, I’ll kill them all. Hearing my bike, she leans back on her feet and smiles at me. I’m undone and fuck if I love her beyond reason.
Mason
I light my joint and lean back on the bench outside the motel we’ve stopped at just outside of Mercy. It’s the coldest weather I’ve ever felt and I don’t fucking like it one bit. We’re here because Cas has suspicions about our northern chapter and I already miss home. I have no interest in leaving Willows Peak, not even temporarily. I don’t like the feeling this is giving me, like death and pain isn’t as far behind us as we believe.
I’ve never met the Mercy chapter, well, the last time they ventured to our part of the world I was four and I have no memory of it happening.
Hitting the joint hard, Myles sits his ass beside me and takes my packet of smokes from my pocket.
“What do you want to do tonight, brother?” he asks.
“Not much, I’m fucking tired and we’ve got tomorrow to be ready for.”
“You think Cas is being dramatic and there’s nothing to find out up here, cause brother, it’s fucking freezing and my balls ain’t liking this weather, not at all.”
Smirking, I have to agree. The bitter wind is setting into my bones and the only thing keeping me awake.
A woman walks by us and darts up the stairs and walks around to the room furthest from the main office. My eyes follow her, and I raise an eyebrow when she doesn’t unlock her door. Her body shuffles to hide her movements and seconds later she’s throwing open the door and slipping inside. The light doesn’t go on and then she’s coming back out, minus her backpack, and heads straight for the vending machine.
She shoves in a bunch of coins and orders an armful of chips, chocolate and a bottle of soda.
She turns to walk back to her room when she spots us. If we didn’t think she was up to no good before, she’s confirmed it now. She looks guilty over something and I find myself intrigued as to why.
“She’s stunning, brother,” Myles whispers.
“I agree.”
Loose strands of black hair have fallen out of her beanie hat and even though she’s a way away, her eyes are piercing blue, framed by dark eyebrows.
She’s quick to look away and head back to her room. Again, the light doesn’t go on.
“Who the hell breaks into a motel room?” Myles says but he’s not asking me.
“You’ll never know, your room is paid up, fucking use it. We’re leaving early, and I don’t need any trouble caused by you two before we leave.”
We both look over our shoulders and Cas is standing behind us.
“Aww, you giving us a bed time, Cas?” Myles laughs. “You want to tuck us in too?”
“I’ll tuck something in, but I guarantee you won’t fucking like it,” he grunts. “Get your heads down and stay the fuck out of trouble.”
He disappears into his room leaving us to finish our smokes. Done with his, Myles stands and looks over to the girl’s room. It’s still in darkness.
“What do you think the girls will be like in Mercy?”
“Hopefully ready for us.” I smirk and dash my smoke on the ground.
“New town, new opportunities,” he adds as we walk across the motel parking lot and my mood lifts.
I didn’t think of it in that way. While Cas does his digging around, Myles and I can do a little of our own adventuring and fuck just the girls being ready for us, the whole town should ready themselves.
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