~ 10 ~
“You believe him?” Vin asked, his tone implying that Skull would be stupid enough to lie to me or the club.
“No reason for him to lie to me.” I shrugged, leaning back in my chair. “Besides, it’s Skull.” I shrugged again, because that was a good enough explanation as any. Skull was a good friend of the club, and as far as I could tell, he had no reason to turn against us.
I was sitting in church, JP and Buddy had finally gotten back from Georgia, and Vin had called a meeting to bring everyone up to speed. Apparently shit down in Georgia was worse than expected, but that was on the back burner for now as we tried to figure out our own club problems.
I’d followed a couple of leads through the day, but they’d all turned up as dead ends. The only thing we had to go on was what Skull had told us. And that wasn’t much.
“Should I put the word out for him?” Semi asked.
“Definitely. I don’t like this silence from him. He’s the fuckin’ VP and it don’t look good if we can’t even keep track of our own men, but ain’t got no choice anymore.” Vin had gone from being worried to pissed off and back to worried with a side order of pissed off. It was a hearty meal. “At least we’re radio silent now.”
Crank nodded. “Yeah, took ATF all of an hour to realize something weren’t right and shut it down. Still need to find how they tapped into us though, and to find the actual bug.” Crank drummed his fingers on the table, clearly pissed off. “I’m fucking working on it though,” he added, before Vin could tell him to keep fucking working on it.
“Hardy have anything to say for himself?” I asked, looking to JP and Buddy.
Buddy leaned forward on the table, his tattooed arms flexing as he did. He looked across at Vin, who nodded. “Something’s not sitting right with me about him. Can’t put my finger on it, but I’m not buying what he’s selling.”
“And what’s he selling?” Crank asked with a scowl.
Crank had never really liked Hardy, though a few years back he’d helped him into the club and into his first club fight. He owed him a lot, but just like Buddy, something had never felt right about the man. Can’t say I blamed him. For me it had been one of my first run-ins with the national president that had left a bad taste in my mouth, a simple misunderstanding that had blown up and landed a man in the ground and Hardy gloating over the body while his young sons and old lady stood and watched. That wouldn’t have been as bad, but it was the lesson he told his sons and wife he was teaching them afterwards that really made me dislike the man. He killed a man and used it as a backhanded threat to his own family.
I’d never felt right about the guy after that.
Not that I’d never killed a man. Because I had, many times. But there was always justification. Hardy was more of a “shoot first, ask questions later” type. And that didn’t stick with me. When it was life and death on the line—especially your brothers’ lives—you made sure your facts were right before you started spilling blood.
Plus, something never seemed right about the way he was with his family. How a man treated his wife and kids was his business, but since Hardy’s kids were my age and had grown up in the club, it was hard not to run into them from time to time.
They were good men, definitely good for the club, but Hardy clearly didn’t see it that way and knocked them both down at every step he could. I’d done a couple of jobs over the past year with Jesse, the youngest son, and I liked the guy. He was a cocky daredevil motherfucker, and his loyalty to the club was as solid as they came. Hardy, though, fuck, it was obvious that he hated him and I had no idea why. It seemed neither did anyone else either.
Buddy turned to me and Crank, looking uneasy. I didn’t like the feeling in my gut at what he was going to say next, because something told me things were about to get a whole lot trickier from there on out.
“They lost a couple of shipments—no big deal though, right?” Buddy said with a shrug. “I mean, it fucking sucks, but in the grand scheme of things it’s a drop in the ocean of everything.”
“Right,” I agreed.
“Wrong,” he said, his eyes flaring. “Those lost shipments ended up in ATF hands and then they fuckin’ up and vanished all by themselves.” He scratched a hand across his stubbly chin and shook his head. “How does ATF lose shit like that? They fuckin’ don’t,” he gritted out, implying everything he needed to.
I leaned back in my chair and looked over at Crank. His jaw was twitching over and over as he ground his back teeth together angrily.
“Well fuck,” I finally said. “So what’s Hardy doing about it?”
Buddy let out a bitter laugh. “That’s the other thing. Our brothers got locked up for one of those missing shipments and are serving hard time for it. Cops came down hard on them to set an example, and what’s Hardy doing, you ask? He’s throwing a motherfuckin’ party and planning the next run.”
I scowled and thought of everything Vin had done since our own run had gone so wrong. What would he have done if we’d gotten caught? Sure as shit wouldn’t have been partying and planning the next job. The bad feeling in my gut twisted itself round and round. This was worse than I thought.
“So you see, something stinks,” JP said. “And I’m goin’ to tear that shit right the fuck down.” He looked tired, real damn tired. The kind of tired that had more to do with the mind than with lack of sleep, though there was that too. Dark circles hung heavy under his eyes and he dragged a hand down his face like he was trying to wipe away the tiredness.
Vin noticed it too and sighed. “All right, you two go get some rest. We need to keep looking for Skate and find out how the tap got into my damn clubhouse. I’ll put out some delicate feelers about Hardy. Gonna have to be careful with that shit though. If he gets wind of it he’ll be the one tearing us down.” He picked up the gavel, ready to slam it down, and JP glared at him.
“Prez, there’s too much shit going on for me to go sleep. I need to get out there looking for Skate. Figure out this shit with Hardy, clean this place of any wires—”
“No, you need to sleep because you’ve been riding for almost twenty-four hours straight, and I can’t have you out on the road like that. This club can’t lose any more men right now or we’ll all end up having to patch over to a new club because there won’t be enough of us left. That what you want?” he shouted.
“No, Prez, but—”
“But nothin’, JP! I’m not your father, or your goddamned mama, so don’t make me act like a fuckin’ parent. If I wanted to be one I woulda got Lex knocked up a long time ago, but I didn’t. So stop answering me back and go get some goddamned sleep, and when you wake up you can help till your little heart’s content.” Vin slammed the gavel down and stood up. “Now get the fuck out of here because I’m sick of staring at your ugly faces.”
We all sat there in shocked silence for a moment as he looked over us all.
“Is my cock hanging out? Because I can’t help but wonder why no one is listening to me and not getting the fuck out of my church!” Vin bellowed, drawing the attention of Mason and Jase.
Crank stood up first. Think he was just about done with the drama for the day; couldn’t really blame him. He was as clean as you could get in this world and had so far refused pain meds for his gunshot wound, but it couldn’t have been easy to do so. And by the way he winced when Vin raised his voice, I was willing to bet his head was hurting just as much as his shoulder. Lucky for him the doc had said it was a clean through-and-through and would heal in no time. No muscle or bone damage. Brother had been lucky. It didn’t always work out that way.
We all began to stand up and file out of the room and back into the clubhouse.
Vin caught my eye as I was leaving, and I stopped and waited for Crank and the others to leave.
“’Sup?” I asked.
“This bitch you’ve been hankering after,” he started.
I felt myself tense at the way Vin called her bitch. I might have called her that myself, but I did not want anyone else saying it. In fact, the though of any man even looking at her the way I did made me see red.
“Reel it the fuck in, Sketch,” Vin snapped with a shake of his head. “I’m just seeing what you know about her. I put out the feelers on her too, and I hear she ain’t after cock.” He frowned, and now it was my turn to shake my head. “You wanna chase ass that you can’t have, be my guest, but keep your priorities straight. Heard she’s trouble and I don’t need that shit right now, especially when all it seems like you’ll be getting out of it is a black eye and a bloody nose.” He barked out a laugh and I cracked a grin, realizing that, despite the shit that was going down around us at the moment, Vin was yanking my chain.
“Trust me, she’s worth the trouble,” I replied.
I surprised myself as I let the words out, and my smile fell.
Damn, what the hell was happening to me?
No woman was worth the trouble; that was exactly why I didn’t keep ’em once I’d gotten what I needed. Life was too short to be dealing with a woman’s drama, and there was far too much pussy in the world for just one to ever satisfy a man.
“You sure about that?” he asked as we left church. “I heard she used to get about a fair bit, though she had just been a scrawny trailer bitch, and then one day she just up and left. Turned back up six months ago with a woman on her arm and looking smokin’ hot, but no man has gotten close enough to even smell her pheromones.”
It was pretty much the same thing I’d heard from Skull earlier. Still didn’t like the idea that she’d fucked around so much when she was younger, but I guess that was just a dick thing for me to say since I couldn’t even remember all the pussy I’d had in my life. I got to thinking on why she would just up and leave like that though. I suddenly stopped walking and turned back to Vin.
“Pheromones?” I laughed. “What the fuck do you know about pheromones?”
Vin slapped me on the back. “That’s just rude, brother. I’m all educated and shit, I’ll have you know.”
We reached the bar where Crank was tapping away furiously on a laptop, a tall glass of ice next to him.
“No shit?” I said in surprise. Never would have pegged Vin for having an education. Not that he wasn’t smart, because he was. He was one of the smartest men I’d probably ever come across. But a good education never seemed to be important when you were in this kind of life. I guess I was just a judgmental asshole all round today.
Lex came over and Vin pulled her onto his lap, one hand reaching around her waist and pulling her tighter against him. He pushed her hair to one side and planted kisses along her neck while she closed her eyes and hummed.
When she opened her eyes, she caught me in her stare. Lex was a damn fine woman. Beautiful to a fault. Vin was one lucky motherfucker to have her as his old lady.
“Yeah, my man here is college educated. It’s where we met,” she said, turning her face to the side so Vin could capture it with his hands.
He kissed her long and hard, one hand moving up from her waist to cup her breast and squeeze it until she groaned. I looked away from the scene in front of me and lit a cigarette. Eventually they came up for air, and he pushed her off his lap and slapped her ass.
“Bed. Now!” he ordered.
We both watched her walk away, her tight ass twitching as she moved.
He looked back at me, “That’s my old lady, Sketch, roll your tongue up.”
I laughed. “Sorry, Prez.”
He slapped me on the shoulder. “Hard not to stare, I get it. But as far as this Nancy bitch goes, all I’m saying is, if she’s worth the trouble to you, then she’s worth the trouble to all of us. If not, fuck her and cut her loose. She seems like trouble wrapped up in a sweet body, so I don’t blame you for trying, but there’s plenty of women around to keep you busy if all you’re looking for is ass.”
He walked away, following in Lex’s footsteps, and I sat down on the stool next to Crank as I let my thoughts wander to Nancy.
Was she worth the trouble?
She was hot, that went without saying. Smokin’ hot, even.
But that still didn’t answer my original question: was she worth the trouble?
I’d never been so fascinated with a woman before. She was untamed and wild, with a wicked tongue and a beautiful smile. She’d had her fair share of men, and none of them had managed to keep her and now she was with this Tammy bitch. What the fuck was that all about? And why did I care so damn much?
I knew she was something special that first time I saw her in the Motor Lounge, all tight black leather, blond curls, and ruby red lips. She’d awakened something in me that night, and whatever it was hadn’t gone to sleep since. She consumed my every thought and every action. She was the flames in my fire and I had no doubt that together we could fucking burn the world down if we wanted.
“Fuck,” I muttered.
I wanted to be inside of her so bad, no doubt. I wanted to feel her sweet body wrapped around mine as I buried my cock deep inside her and she screamed out my name like I was her god. But it was also more than that. I wanted to know more about her. And not just so I could get in her pants. I wanted to hear her talk. See her blush. Feel her chest rising and falling as she slept next to me, her body curled into my side. I wanted to hear about her childhood and all those other dickwads who’d tried to keep her and failed. I wanted to know her favorite food, her favorite song, and I wanted to look in her eyes as she came undone beneath me. I was fascinated and transfixed by her, for reasons I didn’t understand.
I swallowed at the realization of what all this meant.
“Double fuck,” I muttered to myself, dragging a hand down my face.
Crank laughed next to me. “Took you long enough, brother.”
I snapped my gaze to him and glared, but he only laughed like I was a fucking comedian and he was there to watch the show. I slid off my stool and made for the door before I knocked his teeth out. His laughter echoed out louder behind me.
“Keep on laughing, fuckface!” I shouted back angrily.
Outside I climbed on my bike and shoved my helmet on as I realized what had to be done and what it would do to me. Night was falling. The day had been wasted chasing our asses and coming up with nothing but dead ends. And yet all I cared about right then was seeing her.
I had fallen for untamed pussy, and it was too late to stop it now.