Chapter 24
Richard
A gnarly-looking older biker swung a bottle at my face. I dodged back and shoved him with so much force he left the ground and crashed against two of his friends.
I’ll admit when I agreed to help Lucas, I hadn’t considered I’d be literally fighting his battles for him.
This was crazy.
We were outnumbered ten to one. Lucas and I were both big guys, but there was no way we were going to win this. Molly was yelling, trying to stop this madness, but her voice was lost in the drunk adrenaline-fueled shouting.
Unfortunately for us, Jason sure knew how to get a crowd going.
Lucas and Jason were landing and blocking blow after heavy blow. I did what I could to keep people from blindsiding Lucas with a few kicks and punches, but I had my own small army to deal with.
I ducked a wooden chair as it broke apart against the wall behind me; the balding man who threw it looked familiar. Stepping back, I took a moment to survey the mob. I found that the balding man wasn’t the only one that looked familiar.
Not everyone was lining up to fight us either. A few bikers near the bar were trying to ignore the whole thing. This group didn’t strike me as having pacifists in their ranks so why not jump in and overwhelm us?
Then I figured it out.
“Pete Tully; iron worker!” I shouted, pointing at one of the men at the bar, then I pointed at another. “Joey Mills; dayshift manager at King Hotel.”
I recognized some of these people from around town. They weren’t fighting because they knew us, some even worked for my family’s businesses. Joey had been the one to call and ask me to check on Lucas. They knew my family.
I stopped throwing punches, focusing instead on dodging and blocking. I called out the name and position of as many people I could recognize. Nothing slows a man down in a brawl faster than losing his anonymity.
For the people I couldn’t remember the names to, or didn’t know in the first place, I just called out the name of where they worked and that seemed to be enough. Eventually the fighting died down.
“Jonathan Banks,” I said finally, catching the fist that was meant for my face. The man looked shocked that I knew his name, caught his fist and didn’t immediately counter with a punch of my own. “How’s your daughter doing in college—was it Jennifer? Jessica?”
I heard the girl’s name only once in passing, while I was touring one of the King manufacturing plants with my father. My father made it a point to go to every place he owned and meet as many people as possible. The People’s King they all called him.
When I asked him why bother? Why not just focus all your energy on expanding instead he told me, “The real secret to success is to take care of your employees. If you treat them fair and help them prosper, they’ll work their asses off for you. A strong foundation in a skyscraper is far more important than the highest story.”
“Justine…” The buzzed man looked confused. I let his hand go and he stumbled back a step. Once he got his bearings he said, “Uh good, she’s doing good. Just started her sophomore year.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” I told Jonathan Banks, then turned to loudly address the rest room. “We’re Richard and Lucas King, if you don’t know us then you know our father—William King. Some of you have met him; most of you have worked in one of his companies at some point.”
“The fuck is all this?” Jason grumbled, getting back up from the floor. I didn’t see what happened to him, but both he and my brother were bleeding from the fighting. Jason was holding a knife.
How long had he had he been using that?
Worried, I glanced at Lucas—who was still unarmed—to see if he was alright. Lucas had some cuts on his arms and good slice running down his chest, but otherwise seemed OK.
One thing was for sure, this was getting too serious. I had to stop it before someone was killed.
“This whole thing is just a misunderstanding,” I said, rubbing my battered cufflinks. “Caldwell Hope is our home too, our community as well! We’re your neighbors, our father helped build this town. Is this how you would repay him, by killing his sons? This is crazy. My brother and I came here to talk, not to start trouble.”
“Bullshit!” a scarred, bearded man called out. “You fuck with one of us you fuck with all of us.”
“Damn right,” Jason agreed. “You think you can come in here and steal my wife? Community?” Jason laughed spitefully. “You’re not one of us. Go back to your glass mansions, rich boys.”
“I’m not your wife,” Molly said defiantly. Everyone quieted to let her talk. She walked up to her ex husband and punched him square in the face. “You disgust me.”
Jason growled and went to hit her back, not realizing the knife was still in his hand. My heart leapt into my throat as I watched Lucas step between them, shielding Molly. He was ready to take the full brunt of the stab.
Oh no… I reached for Lucas, but was too far away. I’d just lost my father, I couldn’t lose my brother too.
At the last second a beefy hand caught Jason’s wrist, crushed it and turned it out painfully enough that Jason dropped the knife. It clattered uselessly, then was kicked away.
“That’s not how we do things here, Cannonball,” said the gruff voice of a strong-fat man with long gray hair and a neatly kept mustache and goatee. The name patch on his vest read, Hooksy. President.
“I never worked for the man, but I knew Will King,” the MC president began. When he spoke everyone listened. “Caldwell Hope didn’t want a chapter of the Black Chains to set up shop, even out here on the outskirts. They thought we’d be dangerous; bad for the community. Bring in drugs and all that.
“I fought for months to incorporate, but got black balled at every turn. That was until I got a call from some billionaire wanting a meeting.” The president let Jason go, then shoved him away. “This ballsy, motherfucker drove down to this very bar, back before we took it over, and talked with me for five hours. He wanted to get a sense of what we’re all about.
“‘The winds were changing in Caldwell Hope,’ Will told me. ‘With all the out-of-towners coming in we’re going to need some help keeping order until we get more cops.’ In the end we made a deal, he’d go to bat for us as long as we made this town a better, safer place.
“We both kept our end of the bargain. Without Will King, our chapter of the Black Chains wouldn’t exist. As far as I’m concerned, the King family is as welcome here as our own.”
“Pres, this piece of shit is trying to steal away my ol’ lady.” Jason thrust a finger at Lucas.
“I’m not your ol’ lady, Jason. Not anymore. I came here to talk but you were more interested in playing pool and starting a fucking riot to listen to anything I had to say.” Molly turned to appeal to Hooksy. “I’ve served him with divorce papers, but he won’t sign them.”
“This true? You get served?” Hooksy glared at his Sgt-At-Arms, but Jason just looked away. The pres’ hard features softened as he spoke to Molly. “Don’t you worry about a thing; we’ll get him to sign.”
“As for the rest of you!” Hooksy addressed the room one last time. “In honor of the passing of Black Chains honorary member–Will King, for the rest of the night all your cheap shitty beer will be free.”
The crowd roared in celebration and the debris was mostly cleared. Jason brushed past a few of the drunker bikers, knocking one to the ground, then left muttering how he’d been betrayed by his own brothers.
The very same people that were just throwing fists and bottles at me came up to shake my hand, and offer their condolences or wax nostalgic about their experiences with my father. Maybe it was because I wasn’t all that familiar with the ins and outs of bar fights, but the whole thing was a surreal experience
Lucas wasn’t put off at all by any of it. He shook a few hands, but his determination was still clearly apparent. He was here for Molly and Molly only, through the bad times and the good.
He swept her up in a big hug and kissed her like it was the last day on earth.
It made me smile to see two people overcome all obstacles to be together. A stark, powerful melancholy washed over me as well as I thought about Gloria. Words couldn’t describe how much I missed her at that moment. I wanted nothing more than to stare into those storm cloud eyes and run my fingers through her fine black hair…
Watching Lucas swing Molly around as if they were the only two people in the room would’ve made it easy for me to be jealous of Lucas, after all, he got the girl and I didn’t. I was beyond that petty emotion now though. I could honestly be happy for the two of them; they deserved both happiness and each other.
If anything it doubled my resolve to make things right with Gloria. Love to me was a landmark picture on a postcard of a place I’d never been to. I knew it existed but I had yet to experience it in person yet.
That was until Gloria.
Whatever her and I had together it was too important to let it go without putting up a fight. I didn’t know how I’d win her back yet, but I knew I would.
“Sorry to hear about the old man dying,” Hooksy handed me a beer then extended a hand. “He was a bold, crafty sonofabitch. He will be missed.
“Thanks.” I shook the man’s rough, concrete slab for a hand.
It truly was amazing all the lives my father touched. It was funny, I felt more comfortable talking about my dad with this motorcycle club president than I did with some of my extended family. Hooksy had a genuine salt-of-the-earth quality about him that made me understand how these people could easily follow him as their leader.
I bet, despite their stations in life, he and my dad had a lot in common.
“I appreciate the save back there, Hooksy,” Lucas said, with his arm around Molly. They were both all smiles, and had a teenagers-in-love glow about them. “But if you were so buddy-buddy with our dad, then what the fuck took you so long, man? Your guys nearly took us apart back there.”
There was a long, deliberate pause while Hooksy glared at my brother. For a moment I thought the old biker was going to take Lucas’s head off, until he snorted and chuckled.
“I was in the can,” the president said, not losing any of his gruffness. “Next time call ahead first. Even your dad knew how to use a phone.”
I gave Lucas a knowing look.
“Shut up, Richard,” Lucas shook his head, smiling. He gave Hooksy a lazy salute to show his respect and appreciation, then cocked his head toward the door. “Molly and I are heading out, we’ve got some catching up to do.”
“Don’t catch up too fast,” The old biker smirked through his thick mustache, then shook Lucas's hand. Molly blushed several shades at the veiled innuendo and kissed Hooksy on the cheek.
“Did you know my father well?” I asked the old biker after the happy couple walked out the door.
“I did.” He nodded thoughtfully, patting me on the shoulder. “He had the worst goddamn jokes I’d ever heard.”