Chapter Fourteen
Gorgon would have torn off Harry’s fucking head if not for the fact he didn’t want to have to hide a fucking body. “Were you not in church that day?” he shouted. “The day where I fucking said anything addressed to my old lady comes to me first?”
“Yeah. I heard you, Gorgon. I fucked up.”
“She and Meghan said all you did was dump the mail on the counter.”
“I said I fucked up.”
Gorgon was inches from the man’s face. “You fucked up big time. You’re fucking out of here.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? Over fucking mail?”
To hell with this shit. Gorgon wrapped his hands around the man’s throat. Not enough to cut off his air, but so he fucking paid attention. “She’s my old lady. And when I give a fucking order in this MC, it gets carried out.”
He released the man’s throat and cut his gaze toward Tannin and Vassago, who both leaned casually against the wall. “Get this piece of shit out of here.”
“Our pleasure,” said Tannin.
Once Harry was gone, Gorgon went in search of Chloe. She was in his bed, curled up on her side, and it was obvious from her red, puffy eyes that she’d been crying hard. As soon as he entered the room, she rolled off the bed and wrapped her arms around him. “I didn’t know. I’m so sorry.”
“I never told you. And he should have done his fucking job or it wouldn’t have happened.”
“Is he gone?”
“Yeah.”
“What are we going to do? Do Donny’s men know about this note, too?”
“Yes, but they’re here to make sure the Outlaw Dogs don’t fuck with us. Chloe, there are fifty people living in this building, and we have a security system. The fence and gates will be done in a few weeks. He’s not getting on the property, and he’s definitely not getting inside this place.”
“Why the hell is he still wandering around? How the hell can that happen?”
“I don’t know, baby. It’s possible someone else is slipping the notes in our mailbox for him, you know.”
“I suppose so. But why can’t you go and find him?” She might as well have slapped him, but the sudden guilt on her face was worse than the words. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
He pulled her close. “You have nothing to apologize for. If I was out there hunting him down, you’d be here without me. That’s what he wants.” Gorgon released the embrace to cup her face. “Don’t you see that? He wants you scared shitless like this. He’s fucking with you.”
“It’s working, Billy,” she whispered. “The memories … they were gone, and now they’re back. How do I get rid of them? How?”
This was killing him. Gorgon wasn’t used to feeling helpless. “Chloe, I promise you that someone will find this asshole and take him out for good. I love you, Chloe. I will keep you safe. I promise.”
“I love you, too.”
****
As the week wore on, Chloe really missed dancing. She was tired of being on a break and wanted to return to performing, but Gorgon talked her into waiting one more week to give her tat more time to heal. That was the only reason she didn’t push the issue. She was no longer in pain, but knew that getting the ink all sweaty right now wasn’t good for it. One more week would make a huge difference.
On Friday, she and Honey watched Kayla Romanowski rehearse for her debut that evening. Her performing style was kind of disjointed for Chloe’s taste, but Honey thought she was wonderful.
“I wish I could do faster numbers like you two do.”
“Have you tried?” asked Chloe.
“Yeah. I’m not that coordinated.”
“Kayla is a bit out of step at times, but I doubt the customers will notice. Not with her body.”
Honey laughed. “Chloe, no one is in step as much as you are. You elevate this to a fucking art form. We don’t even try to imitate you.”
None of the other dancers had ever told her that. Chloe couldn’t help but be flattered. “You dancing tonight?”
“Yep. Got the jar of honey ready!”
She had her nickname from the first time she’d smeared the goo all over herself and gone on stage, rolling around in it by the end of her set because it dripped off her as she danced. The guys weren’t thrilled with having to clean the stage afterward, but the crowd had loved it. Now, they let her do it, but she had to be the last act of the night.
There was also the story of when she gave five Brothers a blowjob at the same time, using honey as a lubricant. They had all enjoyed that immensely, from what Chloe had heard.
Mastema walked toward the stage, his gaze fixed on Kayla. Honey nudged Chloe with an elbow. “Talk about the thunderbolt,” she said under her breath. “He hasn’t been the same since she came here.”
“Which is really unfortunate for him, because from what I hear, she’s indifferent toward him.”
“Ah, unrequited lust. So fucking sad.”
They both laughed, until Mastema narrowed his eyes in their direction.
“Do you think he heard us?” whispered Honey.
“Doubtful, over the music.” Just the same, Chloe turned to face Honey so Mastema couldn’t read her lips. She had no clue if he possessed that skill, but there was no sense in taking a chance. “But I’m sure he knows Gorgon tells me everything. Where do you think I heard that he wants to fuck Kayla, but she’s not interested?”
“God. He’ll be insufferable until he gets over it.”
“You could take that honey jar and help him do that.”
“I’ve had him. He still wants Kayla.” The two laughed again, and when Chloe glanced over her shoulder, Mastema was once again watching Kayla on stage, with a lovesick puppy expression on his face.
She felt sorry for him. He was a nice guy, and really good-looking, but his prematurely gray hair turned off a lot of the younger sweetbutts and dancers. That made no sense to Chloe. The guy was the same age as Gorgon—thirty-six. They had gone to school together, and had been friends all their lives. Just because a dude’s hair was turning gray didn’t make him unattractive.
Guilt washed over her as she eyed Mastema. She shouldn’t make fun of him. The look on his face was the same one she’d spotted on Gorgon’s when she first came here, and the same one that Tannin still wore around Rai. But the difference there was that she had wanted Gorgon from the start, and Rai had wanted Tannin.
What the fuck was this new chick’s problem? Chloe would talk to Gorgon, and see if there wasn’t something the two of them could do for Mastema. It wasn’t right the poor guy was pining away like this, when Kayla barely gave him a second glance.
****
Sunday afternoon, Gorgon was going over the books for the month of August with Vassago, when Phenex came into the office. “You’re never gonna fucking guess who’s here and wants to meet with you.”
“It better not fucking be Brad.”
“No. Worse. Howler.”
“I thought he was in the joint?”
“He’s out on bail. Says he needs to talk to you.”
“Is anyone with him?”
“No.”
What the fuck did he want? It must be very important, or the guy was ready to quit the MC. Nothing else would send an Outlaw Dog here alone, asking for a meeting. “Tell him I’ll talk to him, but the other officers need to be present.” That ought to ferret out whether this was bullshit or serious business.
“And if agrees?”
“Then call the other officers down and send Howler in. Christ, Phenex. Want me to draw you a fucking map?”
Phenex mumbled something that Gorgon didn’t catch. Gorgon turned his attention back to Vassago. “Guess we’ll need to finish this later.”
As they put the books away and closed Vassago’s laptop, he asked Gorgon what he thought Howler wanted.
“Don’t know. You think it’s a mistake to let him in here to talk? I don’t want Donny pissed at us.”
“No, but I think it’s smart to insist on the other officers here. That way you have witnesses if he tries to pull bullshit behind your back with my cousin.”
Phenex returned with Howler in tow. Gorgon rose and shook the man’s hand. “Have a seat. Just waiting for my other officers. You know Vassago, right?”
“Yeah.” Howler shook Vassago’s hand and sat down. The man looked like hell. Gorgon had met Howler as a kid when he was known only as Malachi Gaughan. He and Scotty had been in the same grade, but the two hadn’t been friends.
Howler’s dad and two uncles were former Outlaw Dogs MC members. All three men were now dead. They had died young because they’d lived rough lives and had been into a lot of shit the Demons on Wheels MC wouldn’t go near. And right now, Howler looked like he’d been run over recently by a fucking truck, several times.
“Prison must have sucked,” said Gorgon.
He shrugged. “Been there before. Public defender is pretty sure the charges will be dropped. I shot him in self defense, Gorgon.”
“Wait until the others get here,” said Vassago.
“Yeah. Sorry. Forgot who your cousin was.”
“Don’t get sideways with my Treasurer, Howler. We didn’t have to let you inside.”
The others came in and eyed the scene suspiciously. This had to be huge news for the Road Captain of the Outlaw Dogs to come here and face down their rival club’s officers.
After Gorgon’s men had taken their seats, Gorgon nodded toward Howler. “You all know who this is. The floor is yours, Howler.”
“First of all, thanks for agreeing to hear what I have to say.” He ran a hand over his face in a gesture that reminded Gorgon so much of the same one Scotty used to do when he was nervous, that Gorgon’s chest hurt for a second or two.
“I’m out on bail, and the charges will likely be dropped. I shot Mad Dog in self defense.”
No one said anything. Gorgon glanced around. The men were interested, but they didn’t entirely trust why Howler was here.
“He betrayed his Brothers. The club. He betrayed Vito. He was talking to at least two other bosses we know about.”
“Do we need to worry about those bosses?” asked Vassago.
“No. Nothing was in writing. It was only talk.”
“But they still know what went down,” said Rahab.
“Look, I’ll give you their names, but you didn’t hear it from me.”
“Why the fuck would you trust us that much?” asked Gorgon.
Howler leaned forward and planted his palms on the table. “Mad Dog is dead. There is no President. The Brothers are divided. Half of them want to come here and fight you all because they think you masterminded the raw deal Vito got with Donny.”
Mastema opened his mouth but Gorgon shot him a look and he stayed silent.
“The other half want to break free of the MC and start over. But that means getting out from under Vito, too.”
“Which half are you with?” asked Tannin.
“I know you guys had nothing to do with the shit going down between Donny and Vito. I’m not a fucking idiot. Mob bosses don’t take orders from MC Brothers, no matter how tight they are with them.”
“So what are you looking to do?” asked Mastema.
“The members who want to start over want me as President.”
“Why did you come to us?” asked Gorgon. He didn’t give a rat’s ass about what Howler or any of the other Outlaw Dogs wanted to do within their own ranks. His main priority was to protect this MC and its members.
“To warn you. The sweetbutt you called Tarot came to the bar last week. She says she has information she can use to hurt all of you. The Brothers took her in, and she’s our sweetbutt now.”
Rahab laughed. “Fuck. The only information she has is the size of our dicks and how we like our blowjobs.”
The others laughed, including Howler.
“Look,” said Gorgon, “Tarot is gone because we told her to leave. She spread lies and stirred up shit among the members, the dancers, the sweetbutts, and the old ladies. End of story. She doesn’t know shit about anything.”
“Yeah, but the members who want to bring you down don’t know that. She’s not the only one who showed up. Two of your former prospects named Mike Wellington and Todd Grainger are now our prospects.”
“Well those two are gone because they tried to force Tannin’s old lady to give them both a blowjob,” said Vassago. “So, there ya go. Believe what you want, but keep those back stories in mind.”
“Like I said, it’s not me who’s swallowing their bullshit. And it’s not only the members you need to worry about believing the lies. It’s Vito.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” asked Tannin.
“It means if those three tell lies about you or Donny and it gets back to Vito, it will eventually get to Donny. It might eventually get to whatever Mob bosses Mad Dog was talking to. Whether it’s real or not, it can come back to hurt you.”
“We don’t need a fucking Mob turf war,” said Tannin, “and neither do you.”
“Exactly. That’s why I’m here. I need your help.” He cut his gaze toward Vassago. “Donny Messina is your cousin. If you lay all this out for him, he can do something about it.”
“The fuck you want him to do? Force Vito to play nice with the other boys?”
“I don’t fucking know what he can do, but he must be able to do something.”
“I’ll talk to him, but don’t hold your breath, Howler. Fuck. Don’t you get this? They don’t fucking work for us. We work for them. We take orders from them, not the other way around.”
Donny’s men walked all three hundred acres of the property every single day with Phenex, but the threat of the Outlaw Dogs wanting to raid this club hadn’t seemed real until now.
“Yeah. I fucking get it. I shot my Brother, okay? I had to. It was him or me. But you know what? No matter the reason … no matter how many fucking times I relive that moment of my life, the end result is still the same. I shot a Brother. I shot my MC President. That’s all half the members see. That’s what I gotta live with every fucking day for the rest of my fucking life.”
He slammed his hands down on the table. “You fucking think I’d be here otherwise? You think I’d come here, looking for help? After all the bad blood between our MCs? Fuck.” Howler stood. “I came to say what I wanted to say. The rest is up to you.”