Chapter Five
Van
Walking into church, I look at all the officers already seated in their spots, talking to each other. As I sit to the right of Tito, I lift my chin to him and wait for him to start talking. This meeting was called on the fly, something that is only done when shit is going down. Usually, I know what that shit is but not this time. Even when I asked what in the hell was going on, Tito kept quiet, just ordering me to come in.
“My lawyer called a few hours ago. I’ve got until eight in the morning to turn myself in at the jail. I’ve got to spend the next thirty days in county lock-up,” Tito states, bringing everyone’s attention to him.
“What the fuck?” I mumble, wondering what the hell happened. “What the hell happened? I didn’t even know your ass was in trouble.”
Tito jerks his eyes to me then looks back at the table. “I got pulled over for speeding a couple of weeks ago, was carrying a little weed. I thought I’d just have to pay a fine, but I got Judge Porter. That asshole has got a stick up his ass, so he had to make an example out of me. I got the fine, but I also got a little time inside to think about the error of my ways.”
A few of the brothers laugh, but I don’t think this is a laughing matter. Not that a month is much time; Tito can do it, no problem. The issue is the fact that the club will be without the President. As VP, it’s my job to step up and handle shit when the Pres can’t, and I can do it. Still, things run much smoother when the gavel is in Tito’s hand.
“If you have any problems, bring them to Van,” he states, reminding everyone of my authority. “He’ll make sure everything is running smoothly.”
“What about the Grim Bastards? Aren’t you supposed to be meeting with Boz in a couple of weeks?” Taz asks, cocking his brow.
Shit, I forgot all about that. Riot MC is joining forces with the Grim Bastards MC to bring a shipment of guns up from Texas, and we were supposed to head down to Tennessee to go over our plans. It’s gonna be profitable as fuck, more money than the club has seen in years, but it comes with a lot of danger. We’re gonna be moving blow by the truckload. One wrong move and we’ll be spending the rest of our lives behind bars.
Tito looks toward our road captain then points in my direction. “Van will handle it, but I want you and Brass riding out with him.”
Both Taz and Brass nod, letting him know they understand. We may be among the younger officers, but we are also the smartest. Not that the older brothers are dumb fucks, but they have a habit of getting into shit. If Tito sent one of them to Tennessee, we’d end up with a club war on our hands. Taz, Brass, and I don’t run from trouble, but we don’t cause it either.
“Got something else we need to talk about. It’s personal for now, but I wouldn’t mind a little help from my brothers,” Tito begins, scanning the room with his eyes then taking a drink from the bottle in front of him before continuing. “My girl has got some trouble. I want to know if the club is willing to help me get her out of it or if I’m going to have to play this one on my own.”
A few brothers shout out offers to help before he even explains the situation. I keep my mouth shut, wanting to know what is going on. There’s no question that I will be by his side; I just want to know what I’m going to be dealing with before voicing an opinion.
“If she’s right, her fucking stepbrother is trying to kill her,” he says, letting us all hear the anger in his voice.
He goes on to tell us all the shit that has been happening, explaining in detail how Ronni’s mom and stepdad died. When he starts telling us about the so-called accidents Ronni has been having, I feel my own anger grow. By the time he’s done explaining about her inheritance and the dickhead’s need for it, my anger has turned to fury.
“How did Veronica find out her brother owed loan sharks?” the club’s enforcer, Walker, asks. “I doubt the fucker aired all his dirty laundry on Facebook.”
“You’d be surprised what people put on Facebook. It would shock the shit out of you,” Ram, the club’s secretary, pipes in. “Half the time, when y’all ask me to track someone down, I do that by searching their social media profiles.”
“Her friend found the information. Erin’s some kind of computer savant,” Tito responds, cracking his first smile of the day. “I swear, that chick could tell us the last time the dick took a shit if she had a computer in her hand.”
Tito keeps talking for a few minutes, answering every question the brothers throw at him. I zone out after a bit, trying to focus on what he said before. I keep running it all through my head, coming to a conclusion that causes my stomach to clench.
“He killed his dad and Ronni’s mom,” I mumble to no one in particular. “He tried to kill Ronni, too. Wanted them all dead at once.”
At twenty-nine, I have seen a lot of shit in my life. As a biker, I have seen more than my fair share of bad shit. Even so, I have never seen anyone taking out their whole family in one day. That is beyond fucked up.
“Yeah, that’s what she thinks. The bastard wanted everyone out of the way, so all the money would be his.” Tito looks at me, his brown eyes turning nearly black. “As soon as I get out of jail, that fucker’s gonna pay for it. I’m gonna have his blood on my hands before I bury him six feet under.”
“How much money are we talking about?” Brass asks, placing his hands on the top of the table. “Not that it matters, but we need to know what we are dealing with so we can figure out how to stop him.”
“More than six million, and it all goes to that stupid fucker if something happens to her,” Tito responds, causing a few brothers to let out a low whistle. “I’m figuring he’s let the loan sharks know where he’s going to be getting the money to pay them back, so we may not be dealing with just the stepbrother. The big boys may be in the game now, wanting to ensure they get their money, even if it means killing an innocent girl.”
“With money like that on the line, people do crazy shit,” Walker states, folding his arms over his chest.
Fuck, he’s right. With that kind of money on the line, people will be coming out of the woodwork to take Ronni down. Hell, if you know the right people, you can have someone taken out for less than a grand. When you’re talking about millions, anyone and everyone will be doing their part to get a piece of the pie.
“Brother, I hate to break it to you, but Veronica is far from a little girl now. From what I saw, she’s all woman,” Taz says with a smile, breaking the tension. “If I didn’t think you’d cut off my balls, I’d make her my woman and enjoy every minute of it.”
“If you want to keep your balls, you better stay away from my girl,” Tito growls, throwing a sneer at our brother.
I look at Taz, surprised as fuck at his words. As far as I know, none of the brothers have seen Ronni since she was a little girl. Thinking back to the snot-nosed little kid that I knew, I can’t imagine her as anything but a child.
“I’m just telling you like it is,” Taz replies, still smiling.
Tito’s lips tip up just before he starts to shake his head. “I knew I shouldn’t have let you come to Chicago with me.”
Ah, that explains it. About a year ago, Taz and Tito went to Chicago to talk to the Sicilians about an upcoming gun shipment. Neither one ever mentioned seeing Ronni, but they really had no reason to. The club comes first, and right then, we were focused on how to get the guns together and nothing else.
“I’ve heard of people getting into debt from gambling, but we’re talking some major money here. Are you sure gambling is all this is about?” Brass asks, bringing up a valid question.
Tito shakes his head, leaning back in his seat. “I don’t know. That’s all my girl told me, but I’m thinking he may be fighting a few more vices. When I saw him back in December, there was no doubt in my mind he was flying high. I wasn’t around him long enough to know what he was on, but I’d guess he’s filling his nose with blow every chance he gets.”
Fuck, that just adds another layer to this shit. Depending on who he is buying his powder from, he could be dealing with men who would rather cut your throat than shake your hand. You never know when it comes to drug dealers. I should know. Our club may not be pushing dope on the corner, but we supply half the drugs that come into Indy. If someone owed us millions of dollars, there’s no telling how far we would go to get it back.
“If this guy is gambling, I’m betting he spends most of his time in Vegas. I’ve got friends in one of the clubs out there. If someone owed them that kind of money, and that person had a connection to this club, they’d let me know,” Walker states with a shake of his head. “I don’t think we need to worry about what he’s paying for nose candy. We need to be focused on the assholes that loan him money to play games they know he’s never gonna win.”
“If we can just make it through the next few months, this shit should blow over. Veronica doesn’t have control of the money until she turns twenty-five, which is in three months,” Tito explains, his voice serious again. “After that, she plans on giving every penny to some charity. When that happens, no one will gain shit from killing her.”
“You’ve gotta be shitting me. She’s really giving away over six million dollars?” Brass asks, sounding nearly as surprised as I feel.
“My girl doesn’t want shit from her mom or stepdad, especially not their money,” Tito responds, pride shining in his eyes. “She says they didn’t want anything to do with her when they were alive, and she doesn’t want anything to do with them now that they’re dead.”
I let out a whistle, my respect for the kid growing by the second. “I think that girl got more from you than she did from her mom.”
He just nods as he goes on talking to the brothers. He answers a few more questions, letting everyone have their chance to voice their opinion, before calling for a vote. Does Riot MC go to bat for our President’s daughter or not? The answer is a no-brainer as far as I’m concerned. Ronni is blood, so we’ve got her back.
After the vote, a unanimous agreement to back our President, Tito looks to me. “I know you’ve got a lot of shit going down with Cline’s mom, but I need you to do me a favor.”
“How can I help?” I ask, willing to do whatever he needs.
Tito takes another drink from the bottle before answering. “I need you to go to the airport on Saturday to pick up Veronica. She’ll need to stay at your house until I get out of jail. I want her protected, and I know you’ll protect her.”
Fuck, anything but that. I liked her as a kid, but she was just a little girl then. I doubt I’m gonna care much for the woman she’s become. Hell, with the way she grew up, she’s probably some stuck-up bitch that will look down her nose at me. I could brush it off, ignore her ass, but I don’t want Cline around that. She already has a crazy as fuck bitch around her two weeks out of the month; she doesn’t need a snotty bitch the other two.
When I don’t answer quickly enough, he starts talking again. “If you’re not willing to take her in, I’m not going to jail. I’ll hit the road and hide out with her until this shit blows over.”
Fuck, I can’t let that happen. If he runs, he’ll go down hard. When they do get their hands on him, he’ll be back in front of Judge Porter again. That man not only has a stick up his ass, he also has a hard-on for Riot MC. If he had his way, we would all be rotting away in jail. With Tito being the President, the bastard would probably shoot his load if he got the chance to give Tito some real time.
I raise my hand in his direction and shake my head. “No reason for you to do that shit. Serve your time and get it over with. If you hit the road, that month could turn into years.”
“I realize that,” he says with a shrug. “But, this is my little girl we’re talking about. I’ll do the extra time if I have to.”
I take a deep breath, trying to see things his way. I understand why he’s asking me. My place is safe, safer than any of the other brothers’ houses. Not only am I there, but Brass has an Airstream parked in my backyard. She’ll have two eyes on her at all times. The only place safer would be the clubhouse, but I doubt he’d be willing to let her stay here.
“She can stay with me,” I agree, but I then attempt to make him see reason. “But, don’t you think she’d be safer at the clubhouse.”
He shakes his head before responding. “I don’t want her staying here. She’s not used to the club, and I don’t feel right just dropping her here on her own. She knows you, even if it has been a long time since she’s been around you. Plus, she’ll be safe there with you and Brass watching over her day and night.”
“The Pres is right,” Brass adds, bringing the point home. “No fucking way would you drop Cline off at the club, not if she wasn’t used to being here. You’d want a brother you trust watching over her.”
Taz leans forward, placing his forearms on the table top. “Who’s gonna be with her while we go to Tennessee?”
Walker pipes in, drawing my attention to him. “She could stay at the clubhouse for those few days. Me and the brothers will watch over her.”
“She’ll go with the boys to Tennessee. She and Boz’s old lady are friends,” Tito states, causing me to blink in surprise.
How the fuck Ronni knows Boz’s woman is beyond me. Hell, I haven’t even met the woman yet, and I’ve known Boz for years. I always thought Tito kept Ronni away from this life, but I guess I was wrong. Seems like he just kept her away from this club. It looks like I don’t know shit where that girl is concerned.
“If anything happens to her, heads will roll,” Tito says with finality, scanning the room. “She may be staying with Van, but every single brother will have her back. If she so much as gets a fucking bruise, I’ll lay you motherfuckers out.”
With that, he pounds the gavel and stands up. “Meeting’s over.”