CHAPTER 15
Tank
We were sitting around our usual table at the Rusty Pelican. Gunner, Glock, Sniper, Hunter and I had just returned from overseeing another shipment of weapons that had come in, and we were downing a well-deserved round of drinks, or two.
Ever since the shootout two months ago, when I got shot, we were more careful about an ambush and always on high alert. We also had some of the men working towards gathering intel about the Dragon Knights and their progress.
“I heard from Blade, from The New Wolves, that they’ve started working with Four Skulls,” Glock told us, as he dangled his fourth bottle beer from his hand. The New Wolves were a newer motorcycle club in the area. We had formed somewhat of an understanding with one another, and we kept out of their business, as long as they kept out of ours.
“Four Skulls? That low life street gang?” Sniper asked, and Gunner and I exchanged looks. Glock always seemed to have new information, but it wasn’t always reliable. Too many times it had been just rumors rather than hard facts. Every time he told us something we didn’t know, Gunner or I had to go and confirm the intel through other sources first before taking action.
“What do you mean they’re working with Four Skulls now?” Gunner asked, and Glock shrugged his shoulders. He was pleased with himself for knowing something we didn’t know. In a lot of ways, Glock was still a kid.
“They’re trying to work with weapons. Now that their prostitution ring has gone to shit, they’re trying to build up a stockpile of weapons, just like us,” he explained, and Gunner exchanged looks with me again.
“So, there is no intel that they are trying to reorganize their prostitution ring again?” I asked, and he shrugged his shoulders again.
“Not that I’ve heard,” he replied, but Hunter spoke up.
“What I’ve been hearing is that they’re still trying to get prostitution back on the cards,” Hunter said, and I could sense Gunner shift uncomfortably in his seat. His old lady had been rescued from the DK’s in the nick of time, and it was still a sore topic of conversation with him, for a good reason.
“Where is this coming from?” I asked Hunter, and he took a big sip of his beer.
“My guys have noticed women, leaving and entering the warehouse. Beaten up chicks with bruises. The same sort of pattern we’d noticed the last time we busted them,” Hunter explained and I stared at Gunner who had started clenching his fists.
Several months ago, we had busted the prostitution ring that the Dragon Knights were running, we rescued the girls and tried rehabilitating them. A lot of the old lady’s of the older members had come in to help. The Bad Disciples, as an MC, had a firm belief in not harming women or children at the same time as running our business. That was the code that all MCs were supposed to run by, and yet, the Dragon Knights had broken the code in their attempt to make even more money. There was a lot of money in the flesh trade.
“How is that possible?” Glock asked, growing angry.
“What are you talking about, Glock? There are still women around who are vulnerable and can be used for the trade,” Gunner was growing even more enraged by the minute. This conversation was a reminder of what he had rescued Brooklyn from.
“We don’t know anything for certain yet. So it could just be a rumor,” I tried to intervene before Gunner’s rage was started to get out of control.
“My guys have seen these women themselves, hanging around the warehouses that the DKs run. It’s not just a rumor. They could be starting something new,” Hunter went on, not aware that Gunner was stewing in his own rage beside me.
“But we busted them. We destroyed them. They wouldn’t have the balls to start another one, knowing that we could get them again!” Glock was barking now, too proud to admit that we might not have successfully and completely obliterated the Dragon Knights and their flesh trade.
“They might have grown a pair since they started working with the Four Skulls. They have added support now!” Hunter was barking too, defensive of his intel and I banged a fist on the table.
“Shut the fuck up, the both of you. Until we can confirm what we know…about the Four Skulls and the prostitution, there is no need for us to assume anything,” I growled, and Glock and Hunter both seemed to slink back into their chairs.
Axel had assigned me to be the leader of this mission of taking care of our first strike back against the Dragon Knights. So, Glock and Hunter both knew that any ideas would have to first be run by me.
Gunner stood up from his chair, and I watched him walk to the bar counter for more beers. I threw warning looks at the other guys, hoping that they would understand they needed to be more sensitive about the subject around Gunner. Then I stood up and followed Gunner to the bar.
“You okay, brother?” I asked him, and he turned to me with bloodshot eyes.
“Yeah, I’m okay. I just happen to know, what getting involved in prostitution and working with the DKs can do to a woman,” he hissed and took large gulps of his beer.
“Brooklyn,” I said, and Gunner clenched his jaws.
“Some days I think that she’s still not fully recovered. She has nightmares of being holed up by them. She’s afraid that they’ll find her some day and make her pay for being with a member of the Bad Disciples, for causing them to be attacked by us,” Gunner continued. And even though he was staring blankly at the wall in front of us, I knew that he was thinking about Brooklyn and how much he wanted to protect her.
Before I’d met Noelle, I might not have understood what he was feeling, but now I knew. Those were the exact feelings I had for Noelle too. Whatever was going on with the Dragon Knights, I was just glad that she was nowhere near all this. I was keeping her safe.
I hadn’t seen or heard from her in over two months, and every night that I laid in bed, I thought about that morning I had woken up beside her. How she’d asked me to make love to her, and how amazing that had been.
It was only after I’d dumped her, that I realized how hard I’d fallen for that woman and forcing myself to stay away from her, was probably the hardest thing I’d done.
“She has our protection, brother. We’re all going to work together to make sure that the Dragon Knights never get near her again,” I reassured Gunner, who nodded his head, still in a daze.
“I know that, and I know I’d take a bullet for her, but she’s still afraid. She still wakes up at night in jitters, and I want to do everything I can to make sure that fear goes away. I’d give my right arm if I could kill each and every DK member who ever touched her,” Gunner was hissing in rage as he spoke, and I reached out and thumped his shoulder.
“We’re going to take care of it,” I said, and still nodding his head, Gunner walked away, leaving me standing alone at the bar with my thoughts. Thoughts of Noelle.
It would be very easy. All I’d have to do would be to go to the hospital and find her. It would take me less than an hour to see her again, and every day, I was overwhelmed by this irresistible urge to just get on my bike and ride to the emergency room. To pull her into my arms and apologize and beg for her forgiveness. I told myself that all I’d need would be one more night with her and then I could move on. But deep down, I knew that wasn’t the truth. She was like an addiction, a bad habit I wasn’t able to kick.
But the truth was, that the only reason the Dragon Knights had now stopped tailing me, was because they’d figured out that they had no leverage with me. Without Noelle or a woman or a family in my life, they would have nothing and nobody to use against me. So, my plan had been successful. By dumping Noelle, I had kept her safe, and that was the way I was going to keep it. No matter how difficult it got to stay away from her.
I looked over at the table, and Glock raised his bottle in the air, indicating for me to get back to the group.
When I returned, I was glad, for Gunner’s sake, to find that they had started talking about something else. I sat down and drank my beer quickly, hoping that I could get drunk tonight and just pass out so that I would stop thinking about Noelle.
Around me, my brothers laughed and joked and took jabs at each other, and I tried to follow the conversation. I had no other option but to try and lead my life as best I could, even though it felt like it was half of what it used to be, without Noelle in it.