Tarot

 

 

When I jumped into the truck, Peyton seemed unusually quiet.

“Is everything okay?” I asked, putting on my sunglasses.

She cleared her throat. “We need to talk.”

I started the engine. I could tell that she was nervous. “What’s on your mind?”

“We haven’t really discussed your gang in depth.”

I sighed. There she went again calling it a gang. “Babe, I’m not in a ‘gang’. I told you that. Gangs ride subways, jack cars, and rob little old ladies.”

 “Sorry. Blame yourself. You fucked my brains out last night,” she replied wryly and smiled.

I laughed. “I did, didn’t I? And this morning, too.”

“Exactly.”

“Okay, on a serious note—what did you want to talk about in relation to my club?”

“Are you… are you going to kill the guy who’s fucking with you?”

And there it was. The big question. One I couldn’t give her a straight answer for.

“All I can tell you is that… he’s going to get his ass kicked. Very badly,” I replied.

“I figured. But, you won’t kill him?”

I stared ahead at the road. In my world, guys were killed for less and this guy had targeted me. He’d also fucked with Devon. He was trying to cause a shit storm and would definitely be paying, once we found him.

“If you can’t tell me the truth, at least… don’t lie.”

All I could do was nod.

Silence.

“Well, then. I guess I know the answer,” she said, looking out the window.

“The truth is, I don’t even know the answer.”

Apparently, she didn’t.

Peyton turned back to me. “You should just call the police and let them handle things, so you don’t end up in jail.”

I groaned inwardly. Part of me was flattered that she was worried about my well-being. The other was reminding me that this was just another reason why I’d been single for so long—women were always worried about shit.

“And do what? Tell them that someone snuck into my apartment and gave me a safe full of money?” I said, turning the corner.

“You think there’s money inside?” she asked, shocked.

There’d been something sliding around inside. My intuition told me it was Devon’s cash, among other things. “Yeah.”

“I don’t get it. Why would they leave you cash?”

“To make it look like I stole it.”

“But, why?”

I hesitated to tell her, but then reminded myself—it was public knowledge that our clubs hated each other. And, she wasn’t letting up. “Another rival club. Have you heard of the Blood Angels?”

“Yes. Of course. They’re the ones framing you?”

“I’m pretty sure they’re behind it.”

She stared at me. “What are you going to do?”

“Whatever it takes.”

 

***

 

We drove in silence for a while and then Peyton changed the subject, fortunately.

“So, what do you guys do at the clubhouse?”

I shrugged. “Hold meetings. Shoot pool. Hang out.”

“Party like rock stars?’ she asked.

I smiled. “We don’t throw too many bashes. Our clubhouse isn’t equipped to hold many people and Devon would have a fit if anything were to get damaged. She’s one woman you don’t want to piss off.”

“That’s right. The tattoo parlor owner. I picture her to be kind of a bad-ass, from the way you’ve described her.”

“She can definitely hold her own,” I said with a slight grin.

“Did you two ever go out?”

“No. She’s Brass’s woman.”

“Brass?”

I told her who he was. “You’ll meet him at the barbecue, tonight.”

“Okay. What about club whores?”

I glanced over at her. “What about them?”

“Are they for real?”

“Yeah,” I replied. There were a few chicks who hung around infrequently, but always eager to please.

“Do they hang out at your clubhouse?”

“Once in a while,” I replied, knowing she wouldn’t like the answer. “To be honest, I don’t mix with them,” I added. “The chicks I’ve come across have had too much baggage, emotionally and spiritually. It drains me just to be near them.”

“Because you’re psychic?”

“Yeah. Don’t get me wrong, I love to party as much as the next guy, but… when it comes to sex, I have to be careful. One night with the wrong woman can give me a two-week mental hangover.”

She chuckled. “What about the other Old Ladies? Do they know about the club whores?”

“I don’t know. Probably. I can’t believe they’d be that naïve.” I sighed. “I try to stay out of my brothers’ personal lives. Some definitely sleep around. Is it any of my business? No. It’s the way life is in the MC world. And, I’ll be honest with you, a lot of the guys don’t look at women as equals, so they do whatever they want without feeling guilty about it. Coming from a household of females, I think it’s pretty horse-shit. But, I keep my mouth shut.”

She smiled. “Man, you really are a keeper.”

Smiling back, I grabbed her hand again and squeezed it. I hadn’t lied to her, but she was definitely the kind of girl who trusted too easily. Not that I’d ever set out to hurt her. I would never cheat, but, I would also never be able to be completely honest with her when it came to certain things. And that was pretty horseshit, too. But, an oath was an oath and the club always came first.

 

 

***

 

After I dropped Peyton off, I headed to the clubhouse. As I was carrying in the safe, I noticed Devon in the parlor. She was inking a wolf onto a young woman’s shoulder.

“Hey,” I called out to her.

Devon looked up. “You found it,” she said, putting down the needle.

“On the contrary.” I set the safe down onto one of the counters. “It found me. Where do you want it?”

“My office. I’ll be right back, Nina,” she told the woman, patting her arm and standing up. Devon followed me into her office. “What do you mean?”

Setting the safe down next to her desk, I explained everything.

Her eyes widened in surprise. “Wow. What a douchebag. I hope you boys catch him.”

“We’re working on it.”

She crossed her arms under her chest and nodded toward the safe. “So, is my money long gone?”

“Actually, I’m not really sure. You’d better check.” I stood back and turned around to give her privacy.

Devon opened up the safe and sighed in relief. “They left it. Un-fucking believable.”

I looked back and found her pulling out a stack of bills.

She laughed dryly. “Who steals a safe and doesn’t take the money? I guess I should be grateful these guys are such morons.”

I knew the person behind this was far from being a moron. If one of my brothers had been over to help me move into my house the following week, and saw the safe… it would have been bad.

Devon began counting the bills.

“I’d better check in with Phoenix,” I told her.

She nodded. “Yeah, he’s been waiting for you. Thanks, Dom.”

“No problem.”

I stepped into the clubhouse and found him talking to two of the prospects. When he saw me, he walked over.

“So, where is it?” he asked.

“I put it in Devon’s office. She’s counting to make sure all of her money is still there. From the stacks of bills, it doesn’t look like anything is missing.”

He grunted. “No shit? Unbelievable.”

“Fuckers are still trying to implicate me. I bet their next move would be to call you anonymously and send someone over to my place to look for it.”

He smirked. “Looks like we’re one step ahead of them, then. I wonder if we can use this, somehow?”

“Maybe. It’s obvious they’re trying to divide us. If they think it’s working…”

“Exactly,” he replied. “If they think it’s working, we could really fuck with them and possibly set up a trap.”

I nodded. “What’s happening with that Facebook thing?”

“We have something set up, but you heard Tank. We can’t just go in there with guns blazing. It’s not the way they want us to handle it.”

He was right. We’d definitely be implicated and that would piss off the mother chapter. Shit would be hitting the fan from all ends.

“No, it’s not,” I agreed.

Phoenix stared off and I could see the wheels turning in his head. “If they think they’ve succeeded in splitting us up, they’d be the ones more vulnerable.” He looked at me. “You know what I’m saying?”

“Yeah. We need to use that.”

He sighed. “I know, but how?”

An idea came to me. I told him about it.

Phoenix nodded slowly. “You think Tank would go for it?”

“He wants this problem gone, too. Besides,” I grinned. “If there’s one thing Tank enjoys, it’s shit like this.”

 

 

***

 

 

A short time later, our meeting came to order and Phoenix filled the rest of the club in as to what was happening. Everyone was pissed that the Blood Angels were trying to frame me.

“Don’t worry, brother, we’ve got your back,” said Digger. “Nobody is going to get away with this shit.”

“Exactly,” said Phoenix. “Which is why we’ve come up with a plan to draw them out of hiding.”

“Good,” said Smitty.

Phoenix told them what we’d come up with.

“And Tank has agreed to it?” asked Smitty.

“Not yet. We’re going to call him, but I’m pretty sure he and his club will be willing to play along with it. They want this shit to stop almost as much as we do,” I replied.

“Before we do, however, we need to make sure everyone is on board. So, let’s vote on it,” said Phoenix.

We did and it was unanimous. We’d go after the Blood Angels by giving them a taste of their own medicine.