Chapter 31
Pipe
“I need you back here.”
I rested my hands on the table and looked at my brothers that were gathered around the table. “I know. I need a couple of weeks to get Nikki on board. I can’t leave her in Kales Corners by herself.”
“I’m not asking you to leave your woman there. I’m telling you to pack your shit up, your woman included, and be fucking present. Playtime is over.” Wrecker leaned forward. “Brinks is finding out info about The Ultra and Oakley. I need you here to take the reins while I travel to where Oakley lives and get our decoy in place.”
“When are you leaving?” I asked.
“A week from Thursday.”
That gave me nine days to talk to Nikki and convince her we needed to move back to Weston. “I’ll be back Wednesday.” Make that eight days.
Wrecker nodded his head, satisfied. “Now onto Wren and the Hell Captains.”
“I say we just blow their fucking clubhouse up and be done with the fucking assholes,” Maniac growled.
“You would suggest blowing them up,” Nickel laughed. “Maybe you could throw a couple of fireworks in there to pretty it up.”
“Totally doable,” Maniac bragged.
After Maniac had taken off all day, he was back to the clubhouse right when Nickel and I had returned with the girls from the mall. Also known as Hell on Earth. Cora and Wren had stayed back with Brinks and Slayer keeping an eye on them while Nikki, Karmen, and Alice dragged Nickel and me into every damn store.
Maniac had seemed different after his ride. There was an edge to him that he never had before. Wren being abused by her ex was weighing heavily on him.
“Not happening,” Wrecker vetoed. “As much as I would like to see the maggots disappear, obliterating a whole club seems a bit drastic.”
Maniac shrugged. “Then what exactly do you have in mind?”
“We just get rid of the ones causing us problems.” Wrecker looked at Brinks. “Add finding out which one Wren was dating to your list of shit to look up.”
Brinks shook his head. “Not like I was doing anything else.”
“You got a problem?” Wrecker thundered.
Brinks held up his hands. “Nah, it’s just that don’t you think you could task someone else to dig up shit on them? The Ultra is taking up all of my time.”
Wrecker growled. “Pardon me for overloading you. Find out who the boyfriend was.”
It never was a good idea to question Wrecker. He normally gave one chance to listen, and if you didn’t hear him, he would make you listen.
Wrecker slammed the gavel on the table and stormed out of church.
“Am I the only noticing Wrecker is a bit on edge lately?” Boink asked. “Storming out of the room seems to be his M.O. lately.”
“Why don’t you point that out to him, Boink? I’m sure that will help the situation.” Nickel flicked him upside the head and turned to me. “You really think you’ll be back in Weston that soon?”
I shrugged and stood up. “I don’t have much of a choice. The club needs me, and the only thing that is keeping me in Kales Corners is Nikki, and she’s going to have to understand.”
“You really are new at this couple shit, aren’t you?” Nickel shook his head. “Telling Nikki she has to move is not an option.”
“Well, Nickel, I have eight fucking days. Explain to me how I’m going to get her to move with actually telling her we’re moving?”
He sat back and crossed his arms over his head. “Gotta make her think it was her idea, brother. That’s the only way you are going to make this happen smoothly.”
Yeah, that sounded as easy as getting an elephant in a tutu.
Fucking impossible.
“Just let me worry about it. I’ll be back Wednesday. Try not to make Wrecker’s head explode before then.” All the guys grumbled, but they knew not to bitch and moan. I made my way out of church and out to my truck.
Nikki and Alice were saying goodbye to Cora and Karmen, and then we were headed back to Kales Corners.
I heard the roar of a bike and knew that Wrecker had taken off, frustrated over all the shit going on. I couldn’t blame the guy for disappearing for a bit.
At least Slayer and Brinks had returned this morning and reported that they had a chat with Richard and were convinced that he wasn’t going to be a problem anymore.
Nikki was upset that I had been right that he was the one watching her, but she was glad that he was going to stop and he hadn’t been hurt.
At least that was what I had told her.
Two broken fingers wasn’t really hurting him anyway. The way I looked at it, the guy got off easy.
“Time to hit the road,” I called as I stepped outside.
“Call me when you get home,” Karmen told Nikki. ‘And don’t forget to think about what we talked about.”
Nikki ducked her head and mumbled something I couldn’t make out. What in the hell were these two up to again?
“Alice, make sure you drink a shit ton of water when you get home. I’m pretty sure you’re gonna have a two-day hangover which we all know is worse the second day.”
Alice gave her a two-finger salute and crawled into the truck. I didn’t know who she partied with last night, but she definitely tied one on.
Karmen pointed her finger at me. “Take care of my best friend.”
Jesus, this chick was crazy. “I plan on it, Captain.”
Karmen flipped me off and stepped back next to Cora. Apparently, Wren still wasn’t up to coming out of her room.
Maniac was going to have his hands full with that one.
“You guys got all your shit?” I asked as I backed up.
Alice groaned in the back and raised her thumb.
“I think I got everything. We’ll be back soon anyway, right?”
I looked over at Nikki and smiled. “Yeah, we will be, sugar.”
Maybe convincing Nikki to move back to Weston wasn’t going to be as hard as I thought.
*