Chapter Nine

To make things look more legitimate, Clive abandoned his bike for his truck to get to the club, Roy squashed in the back in his bear form. It wasn’t easy getting him in there, and the back springs groaned every time he went over a pothole. Keeping to the back roads, Clive barely saw a soul on the drive over, although being the day after a national holiday, that wasn’t surprising. Most people would be slouched at home on their couches watching sports or picking up bargains at the post-holiday sales.

Pulling into the compound, Clive saw Trent was right. The parking area was full of bikes, and clumps of men stood around chatting, most with beers in their hands. Ignoring them all, Clive went to the back door of his truck, and let a disgruntled Roy out, snagging the huge chain they’d found as he lumbered onto the ground. The few men closest to the truck, scuttled away as Roy pushed himself up on two legs and stretched before dropping down on four paws again. In his bear form, Roy was the epitome of beauty in strength. His golden fur was burnished with black flecks, his hump added bulk to his shoulders and he had the cutest little indent between his eyes that Clive wanted to scratch. But not with the eyes of his members burning a hole in his back.

“Yes, you’re very handsome, now come on. I’ve got work to do.” Clive tugged on the chain gently, more for show than anything. He knew his mate had no plans on leaving his side. Heading for the porch he could see Saul’s eyes just about pop out.

“You can’t bring a freaking bear in here. He’s ginormous.”

“Bear’s perfectly fine and he’ll fit through the doors with a bit of a push. Out of my way, Saul.”

“Boss,” Saul looked like he wanted to shit himself. “You know I’ve got your back, right, but fuck me, a bear? He’s going to freak everyone out including me.”

Roy arched his neck and bared his teeth and Saul edged backwards.

“You’ve got nothing to worry about,” Clive said, petting the top of Roy’s head. “He’s a big softy really. Protective of me, but a real cuddle bear underneath.”

Roy growled, the deep rumble stemming from his chest causing more than one man in the compound to back away. “He’s been with me a long time,” Clive continued as if he were talking about a harmless puppy rather than an oversized grizzly. “The fireworks last night made him jumpy and I didn’t want to leave him alone. But apparently my presence was required here, so here we are.”

“Yeah, sure boss, understood.” Saul kept backing up. Clive had never seen the man scared of anything before and wanted to laugh, but that probably wouldn’t go down well with the audience he had. “I’ll just…I’ll just…Sarge is in your office.”

“I’ll go and see him then. Round the others up. Meeting starts in fifteen minutes.”

“Yeah, I’ll do that.” Still watching the bear, Saul tripped on the steps leading off the porch, and barely managed to right himself. Totally unconcerned, Clive stalked inside, Roy nudging at his shoulder with every second step. There were another half a dozen men in the living room and they all suddenly found somewhere else to be when he and Roy wandered through. Clive was humming under his breath by the time he got to his office.

Opening the door, Clive let Roy go first. His huge shoulders could barely fit through the door.

“Holy shit,” Trent gripped the arms of his chair, before he got a hold of himself. “I take it bear didn’t want you coming to the meeting alone.”

“He didn’t give me any choice. It was this or the uniform,” Clive said, closing the door behind him.

“Understandable.” Trent sighed and rubbed his hand over his face. “Marly wasn’t pleased with me when I dropped him off at work this morning.”

“Does he know what’s going on?”

“Yep. But maybe you’d better fill me in on the things I missed. You know what rumors are like around here. Half the club think Bobby’s your secret lover and you bashed him because he’d had an affair with Jeff.”

By the time Clive finished explaining, Trent was fuming and barely able to contain his shift. He could understand why his friend was so angry – both of them had worked for the club the past ten years and their deals had been lucrative for everyone. Now, the whole thing, everything they’d worked for, was on the line, all because of Bobby’s loose mouth.

“We could launch an attack on the Skulls, get them before they get us,” Trent suggested, but Clive shook his head.

“We’d be arrested for assault. That club doesn’t play with any honor. You know that. They attacked us in broad daylight and didn’t care if the cops were called. But I bet you anything you like, Jeff would have those same cops on speed dial before we got anywhere near his compound. He’s a cowardly ass. Besides, there’s no guarantee we’d have any support among the members here.”

Roy chuffed his agreement. Clive found stroking over his mate’s fur was a surprisingly soothing thing to do, and not something he’d even dreamed of doing before. “I think the best thing to do is go through with this meeting. I will lay out the facts, including why Bobby was stripped of his patch. The members will then be given a chance to have their say and then we’ll take two votes. One to decide on the merger with the Skulls and the other to determine if I remain President. Obviously, if the vote goes against me on the merger, the second vote won’t be necessary.” Clive ran his hand over his leather waistcoat that had held his patch for just over ten years. “I’ll take this off and leave it behind.”

“I went through all the accounts while you two were busy having breakfast,” Trent said quietly. “All the bonuses have been paid out, except to Bobby of course. There’s money in the coffers for the club to buy the compound land and buildings if that’s what happens, and you can bet your bottom dollar, I will make that transaction before I follow you out the door. If these bastards go against you now, after all we’ve done for them, they can fucking sink or swim on their own.”

Clive didn’t need the money. He’d always been careful, and the gun trade had been damn good to him over the years. But he appreciated the gesture for what it was. Trent was looking out for him. “Let’s get this over with then.” He brushed his hand over Roy’s fur for luck and then picked up the heavy chain meant to control him. “Come on, babe, try not to eat anyone unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

The large meeting room was on the other side of the kitchen and reserved for full club meetings. It was a plain, unvarnished room, decorated only with a large flag showing the Epitaph’s patch. The furniture was sparse - a giant wooden table, marked with gouges and scratches, and enough wooden chairs to hold all the members. A small stage stood at the back of the room that held another small table. This was where Clive sat, Roy bristling on one side of him and Trent joining him on the other after he’d locked the door. The large chain around the door handles were symbolic more than anything else, signifying no one would leave until the matters on hand had been worked out successfully. Levi and Saul, as the other two enforcers stood at the corners of the stage, facing the room, although Saul kept looking back at Roy as though he was going to get eaten. Roy didn’t help by stretching his lips back showing his teeth.

“It seems you’ve all heard about the situation, now here’s the facts.” Clive outlined all he’d learned from Bobby the night before. The sharing of information, the fact Bobby and his cronies felt his methods of financing the club were outdated and that because of Bobby’s betrayal, Clive had stripped him of his patch.

“Everyone knows how I feel about drugs. In all the history of the Epitaphs we’ve never dealt in the skin trade, drugs, or trafficking and for damn good reason. Those trades bring down unnecessary attention on our club and what we do, not to mention they’re morally repugnant, even for outlaws like ourselves. I have never wanted to make money from the pain of others and I won’t start now. You men have all fought hard to get your patch and I thought it was something you were proud of. If you want to sully our colors with shit that leads to lengthy stretches in jail, then speak up now. The floor’s open.”

Twenty six men all looked at each other. Clive thought he knew them all, but now he wasn’t so sure. He could see the indecision on some faces, greed on the others. Only a few nodded as if in agreement when he spoke.

Charlie, an older guy who’d been around almost as long as Clive had, stood up first. “I’m not denying we have it good here.” He looked around to see if he had any support. “You’re good paying out bonuses and lord knows, most of us need them. But some of the things Bobby said…. Look, I’m the first one to want to smash his head in for spreading club secrets, but is he totally wrong in approaching the skulls? Most of us are over thirty five. No new members are coming in. The Skulls are young guys in their twenties. Maybe it is time to bring in new blood.”

“You don’t have a problem with dealing drugs?” Clive reached out, stroking Roy’s soft fur as a means of quelling his anger. “You don’t care about the damage drugs do to young and old alike?”

“It’s not that I don’t care. Shit, I thumped the crap out of my young’un just the other day when I caught him smoking a spliff. But it wouldn’t be here, would it? I mean, the Skulls want to use our distribution network – that’s out of state. We’d just be the middle men.”

“And that makes it all right with you all, does it?” Clive looked around the table, his heart sinking at the number of men nodding. “You lot don’t care that there’d be extra drugs coming into town, and every one of our safe shipments, that at best will see us charged with a hefty fine if they were intercepted, are now going to be targeted because of drugs that will see us all doing jail time?”

“The cops have never caught us before.” Johnson, one of the newer patched members yelled out. “Why should they start looking at us now?”

“How long do you think that will last?” Clive stood and rested his fists on the table in front of him. Roy fidgeted by his side. “Do you all remember that cop that was here last night? Do you want to know why I invited him? Because I wanted to show we’ve got nothing to hide here, plus he had information he could give me on the Skulls.” Clive was lying through his eye teeth, but he had a duty to try and plant some sense into the thick skulls of the men all watching him.

“Jeff’s headstrong and stupid. He attacked us in broad daylight for no fucking reason at all than because he was showing off, probably for something in a skirt. He wanted to be the big man in town and he thinks throwing his weight around is the way to go about it. He’s already being watched by the police. His men can’t keep their mouths shut to save themselves. Every petty crook and dealer in town knows the Skulls run drugs. Why do you think he wants to merge with us?”

“Because we’ve got a good network across half the country?” Charlie shrugged as he looked at his friends. “Because we don’t get caught?”

“You guys are all deluding yourselves.” Clive slumped back in his chair, reaching for Roy who pushed his nose under Clive’s hand. “The Skulls have always thought they were better than us, but their guys keep going to jail. He’s looking to use you lot to do his drug running for him. He’s running out of men. Someone reported this morning Troy and Donny were seen in town showing off their new Skull patches, yeah?”

“I was one of the ones that saw them,” Charlie agreed.

“They would have gotten those patches as a reward for trying to kill me. Something none of you have mentioned and something that should concern you all, because with loyalty like that among our so-called friends, who the hell needs enemies. Those guys are fools. I’ll bet any man twenty bucks says they’ll be in jail by the end of the week on drug possession charges.” Clive slapped the table. “Next week, it could be any one of you. But seeing as its greed driving the most of you, let’s talk about money. What’s the word on the streets about the bonuses Jeff pays. Does he pay any and if so how often and how much?”

Confusion covered most of the faces in front of him. Saul said quietly, “I saw Jeff in the pub the other night. I didn’t engage him, and I doubt he saw me. He was too busy cursing up a storm because his bike had been repossessed and he didn’t have the cash to get it back.”

“So, the leader of the Skulls can’t even afford to hang onto his precious bike. That tells you what exactly?” Clive hadn’t known that, but he knew better than to show any emotion on his face.

“We never said Jeff would be a good president,” Johnson protested. “Fuck, he couldn’t even beat Marly in a fight and he was the one holding the knife.”

“Neither could you,” Trent growled.

“Whatever.” Johnson’s face was bright red. “We thought, seeing as you and the Sarge know all the transport routes and make all the deals for the guns, we’d take the Skulls in and Jeff could be your number two or something until he can be challenged by someone else.”

“Like Marly, perhaps,” Clive snapped. His heart sank. “You all think merging with the Skulls and going into the drug trade is a good idea?”

“We don’t get caught, and it’d mean a lot more money for the club,” Charlie said, as the men around him nodded. “We’d still be in control of things, we’d just have more avenues for making money.”

“Yeah, because siding with a man who can’t even afford the payments on his bike is a good idea.” Clive let out a long breath. “Fair enough, you know my feelings on the matter. I absolutely refuse to have anything to do with the Skulls or drugs, but clearly, I’m outvoted. I’m sure you’ve already talked about this between yourselves. Who have you chosen to fight me for the right to be called president?”

Roy growled and his whole body vibrated with it. “Me, not my bear.” Clive laughed in an attempt to defuse the situation. Roy was pissed, and it showed. “Trent can hold him while I fight.”

“Trent is next in line to fight you,” Levi said, looking confused.

“I won’t deal in drugs either. My loyalty stays with Clive,” Trent’s growl was almost as impressive as Roy’s.

“Saul, Levi?” Clive looked at his enforcers. “Are you two prepared to take the risks associated with drug trafficking?”

“Nope.” Both men shook their heads. “My old lady would kill me if I ended up in jail,” Saul added. “Fuck that. I’ve only been married a month.”

“Then it’s open to anyone.” Clive met each member’s eyes as he looked around the table. “Just so you know, win or lose, I’m walking out of here. Trent’s coming with me. The title for the compound will go into the name of the new president. In accordance with our laws, my pay out fee will come from club coffers, which won’t leave much given how the market has improved in the ten years I’ve owned this place. You’re going to have to find a new distribution network for anything you sell and make contacts of your own. I will not have anything to do with men who think it’s okay to traffic drugs. So, choose your challenger and let’s get this sorry mess finished.”

That got the members talking among themselves. There was a lot of panic in the air. It seemed his men finally understood what they were throwing away. Tuning them out, Clive leaned back in his chair, his fingers running through his mate’s fur trying to soothe his ruffled bear. He probably should have mentioned the fighting aspect before they left home.