Fifteen
Fuckin’ pissed didn’t cover it.
That slime had waved a red flag in front of my face, taunting me. I put my helmet on. Turning the key, my bike roared to life. I used the ride back to the club to cool off and gain some perspective; I couldn’t go off half-cocked on this one.
The girls were too important to make mistakes.
Parking in the lot, we dismounted, walking towards the porch and the front entrance.
Looked like Breech had some time to think as well. “Is Jiji always so mouthy?” he asked.
I stopped, facing him. “Sorry, man. She’s not trying to backtalk you, she just doesn’t know.”
“Hold on, Fighter, I didn’t say I didn’t like the fire. I’m having fun stoking the flames.”
Reaching into my cut for my smokes, I lit up and took a deep drag. “She’s my little sister, Breech.”
He lit his own cigarette, blowing out the smoke as he replied, “She’s not a kid, Fighter; she’s a beautiful woman. There’s something there, man. She knows it, I know it, and I want you to know that I’m rolling with it.”
“Thanks for being up front with me brother, but I will kick your fucking ass if you hurt that girl.”
Slapping me on the back he said, “I would expect no less, Fighter, no less.”
He dropped his cigarette to the ground, grinding it under his heel. I flicked mine away, watching the fiery arc as it landed a few feet away before following him into the clubhouse.
Dukes was just going into the meeting room, so we headed that way, following him inside. Sonny was already there, working on his laptop. I went to the coffee pot and poured a cup, holding it as a signal to see if Breech wanted one. He shook his head. I brought my cup back to my chair, dropping down into it.
Dukes grunted. “Time to fill me in, boys; let’s hear it.” Breech pulled out Tish’s phone, hit a few buttons to replay the message. Dukes lips tightened, but he didn’t say anything ‘til it was over. Dragging out his pack, he lit a smoke. Leaning back in his chair, he said, “Sonny, we gotta find out what this fucker knows, what his angle is. Fighter, my gut is telling me he was just blowing smoke to make your mom toe the line.”
“I was never home long enough to have more than a couple-word conversation with him. I didn’t like the fucker and he didn’t like me. We tolerated each other and basically stayed as far apart during those visits as we could. I have to agree, Dukes. I think he made the whole thing up to keep Mom from contacting me. I would never have told him anything about the brothers, even less about the club. He was bullshitting to get them to toe the line.
“I have made a decision, though: I’m going to take Tish and Jiji to the Firing Line and have Opry hook them up with some weapons. By the grace of God, they got out of a bad situation, and I would feel better if they both had a way to defend themselves, should the worst happen and they wind up alone.”
Breech cut in, “I can teach them some self-defense moves too.”
The club owned a gun range called the Firing Line and Dukes had plans to open another location next year. Last year Breech found a 10,000 square-foot building that had been empty for years. The place had good bones and, with his contacts and some hard work, ‘Crunch Time’ was born. The guys needed a place to work out and the town could use more local business. Breech planned on starting some self-defense classes, mainly for the club girls and the Ol’ Ladies. Some of the boys were lobbying for boxing and mixed martial arts training too.
Dukes nodded his head. “Too fuckin’ right! That’s the best idea I’ve heard since they got here. Opry said that the flyer we put up in the Firing Line for classes at ‘Crunch Time’ has been getting some good responses. Lani has been begging me to teach her to shoot. I told her she needed to work out, gain some strength first. I’ll ask her if she wants to be in the class with Tish, Jiji, and the other girls,” Dukes said.
My cell rang, and I answered the call wordlessly.
“Hey,” Murph said. “The delivery guy just left; all the beds have been delivered and set up. The girls want to go to the store for sheets or some shit.”
I chuckled. “Keep in touch, and keep them in sight at all times! Hear me?” I replied, then hung up without waiting for a reply.
My cell rang again almost immediately. “What?” I barked, thinking it was Murph again.
“Hey,” Tish said, “you don’t have to take my head off.”
“Sorry, babe, what’s up?”
“Murph is taking us to get linens for the beds, then we we’re going to stop for some grocery supplies. There’s a grill on the deck out back; we thought we’d cook for you all tonight. Steak with baked potato sound good?”
“Hang on a second, babe.” Turning, I spoke to the room, “Tish wants to know if you guys want to come to the 3rd street house tonight; she’s grilling steaks.”
All three men looked up.
“I’m in,” Breech said.
“Me too,” Sonny said.
Dukes held up his finger, pulled out his phone, then dialed and spoke quietly. I figured he was calling Lani. “Yeah, we can come,” he said.
I relayed the message to Tish and, after goodbyes, hung up. “Breech, let’s hit the Firing Line, I wanna check out some inventory for Tish.”
“Right behind you, brother,” he said.
Dukes gave us the thumbs-up; he was on the phone again.
“See you guys later,” I called as we left the office, heading to our bikes for the ride to the Firing Line.