DORIAN

 

I sat at one side of the meeting table inside of the chapel with the rest of the club members sitting all around me.

Ghost. Vice president. He was a few years older than me. His beard was long and his hair was longer. Just a quick look into his eyes was enough to tell you he’d seen some shit.

Needle. A blond-haired, blue-eyed pretty boy. Class clown. He always had to make some smart ass comment about everything. When the club played poker, taking his money was more satisfying than beating everybody else.

Brawn. Enforcer of the group. Nobody fucked with the Reapers and he was the man who made sure of it. The guy looked like he’d had a dozen growth spurts in his life. He was the size of a fucking mountain. It was nice to have him on my side.

Petey. Quiet. Never talked at all, really. Messy hair like he just woke up. The smallest member of the club. But he was damn sure smarter than everybody else in here. A real genius.

Then there was Garnet, the club president. He was older than everybody else in the club and he had the experience to show for it. He took care of his ride and his old lady. He was diplomatic but firm at the same time. He was smart. He was tough. Nobody fucked with him. Everybody respected him.

With the way shit was going down with the club recently, he was a lot more relaxed than normal along with everybody else. He leaned over the table and pressed his palms into it.

“All right, gentlemen,” he said. “Nothing new to report.”

“Nothing new to report?” Needle said. “Why the fuck did you call a meeting if there’s nothing new to report.”

“There is something new to report. The report is there’s nothing new.”

Needle rolled his eyes while everybody else laughed.

“Nobody knows what Agent Lieberman and her goons are up to,” Garnet continued. “She’s got a special task force setting something up in town but none of the details have leaked. She runs a tight fucking ship. No leads so we’ve gotta be on our toes.”

“What about the Chinese?” Ghost asked.

“The Chinese have every club on stand-by. They’re going around Ivory for now. We’re not getting any business from them but at least we know nobody else is profiting.”

Garnet had a deal set in place with the Chinese Triads. Ivory was in the middle of two big cities. The clubs in this town were used to transport weight between the two cities.

It was a good deal for both parties. The Chinese got their product moved without having to deal with local law enforcement. The clubs got paid a substantial amount for taking all of the risk.

But federal agents in town, led by one Jane Lieberman, meant that no deals were being made. Everybody was on their fucking toes. It made sense to be as cautious as we possibly could.

“Listen,” Needle said. “I got shit to do. If there’s nothing else to report, can we go?”

Needle looked around the table and everybody remained silent. Garnet eyeballed each and every one of us.

“Gentlemen?” he said.

I thought about what I saw just the other night. I figured it didn’t mean much but it was still bothering me.

“Sully,” Garnet said. “Something on your mind, brother?”

Everybody at the table turned toward me. I looked at all of them and sighed.

“It was about last night,” I said. “Some of that shit bothered me.”

“That should’ve bothered you,” Needle said. “That crazy motherfucker had enough C4 to level a block in the big city. If you hadn’t caught him, who knows what could have gone down.”

“He’s right,” Garnet said. “You deserve another article in the paper. How about another celebration tonight?”

The club all cheered but I wasn’t as enthusiastic.

“That’s not it though,” I said.

I shook my head as I vividly remembered what I saw.

“He had a map of Ivory,” I said. “He circled known locations that were associated with this club or the Winter Cobras.”

“And now he’s behind fucking bars,” Needle responded. “What’s the big deal?”

“The big deal is why the fuck would a guy like him have beef with us or any of the clubs in this town? I mean, do any of you know who the fuck Tommy Graham is?”

The table all looked around at one another but they were just as clueless as I was.

“I heard a little bit from the police report,” Ghost said, his voice as calm as it always was. “Graham was a bum. He was a homeless war veteran living on the streets.”

“That doesn’t explain why he had some kind of vendetta against us,” I said.

“No, it doesn’t. But what it does suggest is that he’s crazy.”

“Besides,” Needle said. “Some homeless bum was some beef with us and some of the other clubs. What can we do?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I’m just saying we should be careful. Maybe we should tell the Winter Cobras to be careful, too.”

The entire room burst into laughter.

There was no love lost between the Black Reapers and the Winter Cobras. The beef had been established long before I ever patched in for a reason I didn’t know. Things were on ice for now but there was no question that both sides were looking for an opportunity to start shit with the other.

“You know damn well we’re not looking out for the Cobras,” Garnet said.

“Really?” I said. “Even after Needle broke bread with them.”

I eyeballed the blond-haired biker next to me and he rolled his eyes.

“Let’s get it straight,” he said. “Just because I don’t have any beef with the Cobras now doesn’t mean I’m looking to make friends. Once a Snake, always a Snake.”

The club all shared another laugh but I wasn’t as comfortable laughing about the strange situation.

“Listen, Sully,” Garnet said to me. “I can’t imagine what it’s like finding what you found last night. Shit was serious. But right now, the best thing we can do is lay low. Cops have got their eyes open now that they’ve got Graham locked up. Lieberman and her goons are up to something but we don’t know what. And if I remember correctly, aren’t you suspended from the fire station?”

I nodded.

“Then the last thing you need to do is go looking for more trouble,” Garnet continued.

I couldn’t argue with his logic. If anything, I could have used a break from all the shit that went down. All of my concerns fell on deaf ears.

Nobody else said anything more and the meeting was adjourned. Everybody dispersed from the chapel and went on their way. I made my way to the bar counter and took a seat.

“Sully!”

I turned and saw Needle holding up a deck of cards.

“Let’s go, brother,” he said. “You still owe me.”

“Yeah,” I sighed. “I’ll be there. Just gimme a second.”

“Don’t be a pussy now.”

Needle cackled to himself as he headed to the poker table in the back of the clubhouse. I was too distracted to play cards with them at the moment.

“What’s up?”

I turned and saw Ghost leaning up against the bar next to me.

“Nothing,” I sighed.

“Don’t gimme that shit. Something is bothering you. Tell me.”

I shook my head and smiled at him.

“You always do this,” I said.

“Do what?”

“You always try to talk to the club members when there’s some shit on their mind.”

“That’s what I do. I’m club VP. I gotta look out for you boys. Especially the young ones. I’ve been through it all.”

“Have you? Then you know what it’s like when nobody is listening to you when something is wrong.”

Ghost was the calmest club member I knew. He was always laid-back about everything. It was like nothing ever bothered him.

But when he saw that this shit didn’t sit right with me, the smile disappeared from his face.

“This Graham shit is really getting to you,” he said.

“No shit it is. The guy was targeting buildings. I mean, he blew up Amy’s. Imagine if somebody was still in there. He’d have fucking blood on his hands.”

“Graham is a crazy motherfucker. There’s no doubt about that.”

“There’s more to it than him just being crazy.”

“What are you saying, Sully? Are you telling me someone put him up to it? That him blowing up Amy’s was just a small part of a larger scheme?”

I sighed again and shook my head.

“No, that’s not what I’m saying.”

“Then what are you saying?”

He raised his eyebrows at me.

“I’m saying that I don’t know what the fuck he was up to. And I can’t shake this fucking feeling I have.”

“You got a bad feeling… I get it.”

“You do?”

“Everybody gets feelings. Good ones. Bad ones. Hunches. Instinct. Whatever the fuck you wanna call it. That’s what makes us human. That doesn’t mean we have to act on it.”

Ghost was a philosopher. He wasn’t telling me what I wanted to hear but it made some sense at least.

“Look,” he said. “This Graham shit is bothering you. But what the fuck are you gonna do about it? The guy was a crazy, homeless bum. Do you have any other leads? Police swooped into his place and got all of the evidence. Now all you need to do is let them do their jobs.”

“I guess you’re right… I still think we should talk to the Cobras.”

“Why?”

“Because one of their biggest storage facilities was circled on the map. They put all kinds of shit in that place. It’s so big, it’s not even a secret that they own it.”

“If somebody’s crazy enough to fuck with the Cobras, let them handle it. If you ask me, I’ve had enough problems dealing with those motherfuckers.”

I nodded to Ghost and looked away.

“Hey.”

He put a hand on my shoulder and gave me a look like he was some kind of stern parent.

“Don’t do anything stupid now,” he said. “You saved that old man from the fire in that burning house. You caught the man who blew up Amy’s Bakery. You’re a fucking hero. The best thing for you to do right now is let the rest of this shit play out by itself. Don’t get involved, you hear me?”

“I hear you… Shit, man. You sound like my mother.”

“Somebody’s gotta make sure you wash behind your ears. What happened to that girl you were talking to anyway? Gina? Why don’t you go spend time with her?”

“Nah,” I said, shaking my head. “She needs space. She’s been spending too much time around me lately. Besides, she needs to help out Lydia. They’re trying to get Amy’s back in shape as soon as possible. It doesn’t help that Lydia’s pregnant and about to burst—”

“Yo, Sully!”

Needle interrupted my conversation with Ghost.

“Are you gonna play or are you gonna back out like a bitch?” Needle said, his arms out at his sides.

Ghost smirked at me, knowing I loved knocking Needle down a few pegs.

“Settle down, Blake,” I said as I got up out of my seat. “I’ve always got time to kick your ass.”