Chapter 27
Snake
“You what?” Mac asked.
“Snake? In love? That can’t be real,” Fox said.
“Not my fault you don’t have any creativity,” I said.
“Okay, okay, okay. Just… settle down. If Snake says he’s in love with someone, then let’s hear him out. I’m more interested in knowing how this ties in with whatever information he’s got,” Talon said.
“Thank you,” I said.
“I never thought I’d see the day where he thanked the dude banging his sister,” Hawk said with a laugh.
“I’m gonna kill you if you don’t shut up,” I said, and Hawk quickly threw up his hands in apology.
“Do we need more breaths? Or do we need chloroform?” Mac asked. “Snake. Start your damn story.”
“When I was being patched as a prospect and all that shit a few years back, I started dating someone. A woman named Laiken.”
“We never heard of her,” Fox said.
“Because I didn’t bring her around,” I said.
“Why not?” Talon asked.
“Because I wanted to keep her safe. Away from this life. Unlike you with my sister,” I said.
“Get off it, Snake. Talon and your sister are in love. Find a way to deal with that,” Hawk said.
“Yes, Hawk. And hold onto that point as well as your budding family for when I progress with this story. Now, she was just a hookup. At least in the beginning. But… she grew on me. Substantially.”
“She made him grow, too,” Fox said with a laugh.
“Fox? Shut the fuck up,” Mac said.
The entire room fell silent before all of their eyes turned back to me.
“I fell in love with Laiken, and she was perfect you guys. Thick curves and a sassy attitude. Could drink my ass underneath a table. Loved her beer and chicken wings and never once fucking asked me about my bullshit family. She knew what to stay away from, and she knew what I enjoyed.”
“Sounds like your perfect woman,” Hawk said.
“She was. She still is. That’s why I’m here,” I said.
“Keep with the story. Feed us the whole picture,” Mac said.
“When I was patched, I started sneaking out. Those early morning things and the biker rallies on the weekends. I wasn’t telling her where I was going because I knew she would want to come. Be a part of it. Until I figured out she wanted to become a cop one day.”
“Fucking. Hell,” Fox said.
“Just listen to me, okay?” I asked. “Then, it turned into a hiding game to keep her safe and to keep my nose out of the fucking grinder.”
“We would’ve never let you in. Snake, are you fucking serious? Is this woman back?” Mac asked.
“She is. I saw her this afternoon.”
“And by saw her… you mean…?”
“Yes, Mac. I fucked her,” I said.
“Is she a cop?” Hawk asked.
“With the Henderson Police Department, yes,” I said.
“Are you… is he kidding us with this shit?” Fox asked.
“You said you had information,” Mac said. “Did you… exploit her for that or something?”
“No,” I said. “She wanted answers as to why I was always sneaking around and hiding shit from her, and I wanted to know what the police knew about us.”
“So you traded,” Talon said.
“In a way, yes.”
“So, what do you know?” Mac asked. “What did she tell you?”
“She found out I was part of The Road Rebels because the police have identified us. This core group. From what I could tell, no one else is exposed. But we are. And they know our titles, too. Our positions in the club,” I said.
“Shit,” Fox said. “Seriously?”
“Yep. But, they don’t have any proof. All they’re working with is circumstantial with us. And the only reason we’re on their radar is because of our history with The Devil Saints,” I said.
“So they’re still heavy on them,” Mac said.
“Yes. They aren’t patrolling us at all.”
“How do we know she’s telling the truth?” Talon asked. “She could just be planting seeds to throw us off.”
I turned my angry gaze to him and balled up my fists.
“What did you just accuse her of?” I asked.
“It’s a logical assumption. Was she wired or anything?” Mac asked.
“Nope. I patted her down and disarmed her of all the guns and knives she had on her,” I said.
“I bet you did,” Fox said with a murmur.
“Can I kill him now, Mac? Please?” I asked.
“Fox, I’m about to excuse you from this entire meeting if you don’t stop it,” Mac said. “Now, the mere fact that they have our faces tacked up in the police department means we’re in trouble. Big trouble. More trouble than I thought.”
“Can someone tell me why the fuck The Devil Saints weren’t arrested when the drugs in the truck were found?” Talon asked.
“Ah, I think I can,” I said. “I guess that they wanted to kill two birds with one stone. Because the drugs were cut similarly to the cartel drugs coming over the border, they thought they could watch and exploit The Devil Saints and track down their suppliers. You know how these fuckers like to take out these big groups to ‘make the public feel safer.’”
“But when they dig deep enough, they’re gonna figure out that’s not what’s going on. That those drugs never came from the cartel,” Hawk said.
“Exactly. Which brings me to my solution for how we can get this group right and keep our women safe,” I said.
“And what is this brilliant idea?” Mac asked.
“We get out of drugs.”
The room fell silent, and I could tell they were all blindsided. I was asking them to take away two-thirds of our fucking income based on some soppy love story. I wasn’t explaining myself clear enough, and I knew the protests were coming even before Fox opened his swollen fucking face.
“Not a fucking chance,” he said. “That’s two-thirds of our yearly income for this club.”
“He’s right,” Mac said. “You’re gonna have to give us a lot better than a love story.”
“Wait, you’re considering this?” Fox asked.
“Depends. Snake, you done?” Mac asked.
“No. Look, it’s obvious we’re branching out in our lives. Hawk has Syd and Emery, and Talon has… my sister. Laiken’s back, and in a precarious position because she knows someone in one of the clubs her department is investigating, and it’s only a matter of time before some woman takes pity on Fox.”
“You are so dead,” Fox said.
“Look, the DEA is everywhere right now, and even though we don’t want to admit it, it is because of Syd,” I said as I looked over at Hawk. His fists clenched. “I love Syd. We all love Syd. But just like so many other historical wars… this started because of a woman. And we helped her get out of it. Then shit went down with my sister, and we helped her and Talon. And now shit’s going down with Laiken and me. And I’m not just proposing this to keep her safe. I’m proposing this to keep all of our women safe.”
“I’m listening,” Talon said.
“Say we agree on this,” Hawk said. “Do you think Laiken would help us?”
“Yeah, it would be nice to have a connection in the police department,” Mac said.
“I don’t really know, but she might. When she left my place this afternoon, she was explicit in the fact that she wasn’t arresting me. Even after the truth came out. It’s a start,” I said.
“What do you think would make her help us?” Hawk asked.
“Are we really considering this?” Fox asked as he looked around confused.
“I’m considering taking a vote to get you out of this fucking group, Fox. Shut your swollen pie hole,” Mac said.
“If we cleaned up our act a bit, I think she would, yes,” I said.
“Another reason to get out of the drugs,” Talon said.
“It puts distance between our women and Emery, and any other women and children that come along in the future. We can find other avenues to make money. Ones that lean a bit more onto the legal side of things just so we are able to keep those we care about safe, and keep all of us out a jail,” I said.
“How would we made up the income?” Mac asked.
“The bar. We legalize that up a bit, stop selling to the minors, then offload all the drugs we have. Take what we made and invest it and open a bar in town, and that’ll easily replace our income stream. And legally, too.”
“You’ve really thought about this,” Hawk said.
“I’m still not sold,” Fox said.
“Because you get fun little kickbacks because you’re good with running drugs. Get over it, Fox. This isn’t just about you. It’s about our women and children now,” I said as Fox crossed his arms over his chest. He was pissed, but at this point, I didn’t fucking care.
“Look. The drugs are good money, but it’s cost us a lot of fucking hardship. Lost purchases, undercutting of our stash, underselling of the drugs in the first place. The bars are straightforward. And while we are building that up, we can look into other avenues to make cash.”
“It’ll take time for us to build a revenue stream through the bars,” Mac said. “Everyone’s gonna feel it in their pockets for a while.”
“That’s the risk we need to take. But if we clean up our act and I can get Laiken on board, then we can shake the DEA for good this time,” I said.
“What makes you think the police department doesn’t know about our drug-running, too?” Fox asked.
“Even if they did, they don’t have proof of it. I’m trying to get us a little more legal before the DEA can sink their claws into us. They’re looking at The Devil Saints for drugs, so that’s the lens they’ll look at us through. Offload the drugs and get rid of our distributions channels, and they’ll have nothing to stick to us,” I said.
The guys fell silent, and I understood why. I was asking them for a massive risk, and all because Laiken descended back into my life. None of this shit would even be happening right now if I hadn’t left that night. If I hadn’t gone to that exact bar at that exact moment. None of this would’ve taken place if Laiken had chosen any other bar, or came in at any other time, or transferred to any other police department around here that was close and gave her access to her mother.
“I’m not gonna lie,” Hawk said, “with Sydney and Emery in the picture, I’d love for things to be safer around here. Emery’s scared. Legitimately scared. And it breaks my heart to feel her shake against me at night.”
“I guess this is as good of a time as any, then,” Talon said.
“What?” I asked.
All of the guys turned their attention towards Talon as he cleared his throat.
“Gemma is pregnant.”
Talon’s eyes connected with mine as the guys clapped their hands. Gemma was pregnant? How far along as she? I stood to my feet and stalked towards Talon as the other guys shot up from their chairs. Talon stood from his chair and met me toe-to-toe, but the anger I was feeling towards him slowly slid from my body.
“How far along is she?” I asked.
“Not quite two months,” Talon said.
“You guys going to the doctor?” I asked.
“We have another appointment tomorrow,” he said.
“The baby healthy?” I asked.
“So far, so good.”
I eyed Talon up and down before I drew in a deep breath. My fists uncurled as I met Talon’s eyes again, and I felt my body soften. Gemma was pregnant.
I was going to be an uncle.
“We need to get out of this shit, my niece or nephew will not be born into this,” I said.
“I’m on your side. We do. I have to keep my family safe, and this isn’t safe anymore. It isn’t,” Talon said as he looked around at the rest of the guys.
I took a step back as a small flicker of pride sparked in my chest. Maybe Talon wasn’t gonna be so bad after all. But now, I was more determined than ever to sway Fox. It wasn’t just Gemma and Laiken that were in the line of fire now. It was my future niece or nephew.
And they weren’t going to grow up without their mother and father in the fucking picture.
“I’m going with the majority on this one,” Mac said. “But we need a unanimous vote. Fox?”
We all turned towards him as I drew in a deep breath.
“It’s the majority of our profits,” Fox said.
“I know,” I said.
“And it’s going to take time to build up the reputations of the bars,” he said.
“I know.”
“And there’s a good chance our bar might not succeed. Then we’re back to square one with families still struggling,” he said.
“But our families will be alive and kept out of jail, and that’s the point,” I said.
I watched as Fox let out a deep breath before he nodded his head curtly. As much as I knew he loved the money, I’ve seen him play with Emery. I knew how much he cared for Syd and Gemma.
“Time for a vote,” Mac said. “All in favor of offloading the drugs, cleaning up the bar, and opening another one in town, raise your hands.”
And my chest filled with hope as every single man in that room raised their hands high and proud.