CHAPTER

EIGHT

CONAN

Now that the burning down of the clubhouse crisis has been averted and the kitchen is airing out, we all take our seats around the table and can officially begin church. The very moment Kodiak bangs that gavel on the sound block, the room goes silent as we sit in anticipation.

Mainly me.

“Demi’s antagonist and rapists from her old employment, Joey, David, Liam, and Niles, are taking part in a work retreat taking place in Tyler, not too far from here, in a little over a week’s time.

From Auto’s extensive research, the company rented them a car for traveling.

Not sure why they aren’t flying in on a plane, but we need to either catch them on their way in, or get them as they leave,” Kodiak announces.

“They’ll be missed if they don’t make it and check in,” Regulator speculates. “My suggestion would be to grab them as they head out, we’ll have more time with them if they aren’t missed right away.”

As much as I don’t want to, I agree with him. So I utter my words out loud, “Regulator’s right. How long does this retreat last for?”

“Six days. It runs from Saturday to Thursday so they won’t be expected back in their office until Monday. Tuesday at the latest,” Kodiak amends. “That’ll give us three to four days with them.”

“Are we going to have eyes on them while they’re in our area?” Triton inquires. I’m actually surprised to see him interact, he’s usually the one who sits back, observes, and takes orders without adding his two cents or asking questions.

“From the moment they cross the state lines,” Risk answers. “Once they’re in their rental, Auto will tap into their GPS and follow them all the way in. Stixx and Rev will be in one of our vans at the border of Texas and Arkansas as they cross, waiting to give them a silent escort.”

“And they’ll stick with them the entire time they’re in town?” I ask.

“No, we’ll already have men booked and at the hotel waiting and ready. They’re also taking part in this retreat under the guise of our business,” Kodiak enlightens.

“Who’s on the roster for us?” I keep going, wanting to know what he’s thinking.

Kodiak gives me a speculative look before asking me, “Can you keep your eye on the prize and not let your anger override you, Conan?”

“For Demi, I could eat a shovel full of shit with a smile on my face and deal,” I ascertain. “All with a smile on my face.”

“That’s not a visual I needed in my head,” Risk snarks, his nose scrunched up, wrinkled with disgust.

“It gets the point across,” I contend.

“That it does,” Midas says, his hand lowered to his belly where he’s rubbing it in circles in attempts to soothe it.

He’s always been more sensitive when it comes to the gross stuff than the rest of us.

Which is why he has the job he does as our treasurer—it keeps him out of the thick of the more gruesome activities that the Deviant Knights get into.

“Can we get back to the point and stop getting sidetracked?” Kodiak questions, getting us back on our agenda.

“Absolutely,” I say, leaning my arms on the table, and fisting my hands, giving him my eyes. “Please tell us who’s going undercover.”

“I’m splitting us up, if you’re not included on this outing don’t be offended, I need men, good men, men I trust, here watching over the women, business, and club.

” When he receives nods from all around the table he continues, “I’ll be going, so will Conan, Risk, Rev, and Midas.

Regulator, Hemi, and Auto, along with the prospects will stick around here and man the club. Everyone good with that?”

It makes sense for him to take our enforcer and leave our sergeant-at-arms behind. They both have essential roles in keeping the club safe and in line. We’ll need one of them with us while the other keeps things running here, the way they should be ran, while we’re away.

Now that we have who’s going and who’s not hashed out, we come up with a game plan.

We’ll befriend the four assholes during ‘bonding’ exercises and other group activities.

It’s no skin off my teeth to catch them as they freefall and let them slip through my arms. I am a clumsy fucker, or at least I can portray one and win an Academy Award while at it for my performance.

“We’re booked and are officially on the team build roster,” Auto announces at church a week later.

“I had to jump through some hoops to get us a last minute entry, and I had to grease a few hands to get us there, but we’re in and I bribed the front desk clerk to assign us a room directly beside the four dead men walking. ”

The brothers and I snickered when we found out the reasons for this retreat.

After Demi resigned without notice, the company bigwigs decided her field teammates, excluding the women, needed to learn how to be team players.

They assumed it was something the four pricks had done during the last trip, which was so close to the truth it wasn’t funny, that it caused one of their top employees to flee.

Even though I feel like she should’ve reported it to HR because it’s probable they’ve done it to others, at the end of the day, she was scared because of their threats.

Still, we’re going to get her justice, Deviant Knights style, and those fuckers will never assault another woman again by the time we’re done.

Mainly because they won’t be within the earthly realms any longer, but those are just details.

The corporation, Periwinkle and Dyke, which caused another round of laughter to reverberate around the room when it was publicly announced because fuck me, if that’s not the funniest name to give an organization, couldn’t imagine how deplorable these four men can be and the things they did to my woman.

Human resources would have a field day dishing out money if they even had the smallest hint or a clue to what she’d been put through by men they’d employed.

I briefly wonder if Auto can work his computer magic to get her the money she’s rightfully owed and make a mental note to ask. Maybe he can wipe out their funds and funnel them to Demi.

It won’t make up for what they did, of course, but I’m all about an eye for an eye and if those pricks don’t have them any longer, well, then their families deserve to pay.

Because that kind of evil doesn’t just start up. It’s one of those pervasive things and there’s no fucking way those close to them aren’t aware that they’re sick bastards. Yep, Demi deserves their money. I’ve decided that and am gonna make sure it happens.

“How much did it cost us in the long run?” Kodiak inquires.

“It didn’t deplete the club’s rainy day funds,” Auto states. “Altogether, it was less than seven grand. That sum includes bribery, hotel and entrance fees, plus meals, as well as activity tickets for any and all events.”

“Pennies on the dollar,” Tritan announces. “We’re still sitting pretty, money-wise.”

“Funds well spent,” I conclude.

“That it was. We can easily make that up in no time,” Kodiak claims.

“I can put it back into our petty cash box, Kodiak,” I offer. “It’s my woman we’re seeking retribution for.”

“It was a club decision, Conan. Demi is important to my old lady and me, too. I came to the club, asked for help, we voted and agreed… unanimously . I appreciate the gesture, but keep your wallet in your pocket, brother. We’ve got this.”

I accept that because I don’t want to offend my brothers. The beast inside of me roars that Demi is our responsibility, but she’ll soon be a sister of the club once I put my patch on her so I don’t want to do anything that deters that blooming relationship between her and the guys.

Nodding my head, I say, “I can’t thank y’all enough for doing this for her. For me.”

“She’s family, Conan,” Rev states. “We’d walk through fire for our family.”

“Blisters heal,” Midas tacks on. “But what those scumbags did to Demi, it needs more than a bandaid, it deserves retribution.”

“Speaking of, what do you say to Auto doing a little bit of rerouting of their finances to Demi? If she had reported it, she would’ve gotten a settlement from the company,” I ask.

“Already on it, brother,” Auto replies, smirking at me.

“Seems the four of them had some off-shore accounts, the key word being ‘had’ of course, so I’ve been working my magic to get it for Demi, and since there’s so much of it, I’m making a healthy donation to our local sexual assault program so they can help women who don’t have people like us at their backs. ”

“Here, here,” my brother lifts his hand as if he’s been given a toast. “Is everyone packed? We hit the road tomorrow for check-in and to wait for the bozos to cross the border.”

When everyone acknowledges that we are all packed up, he ends church.

“Meet me at the bar,” he tells me right before banging the gavel and ending our session. Something’s on his mind, I just hope I’m not in for a lecture or reprimand for something I can’t remember doing.

As I head behind the bar, I grab one of our pitchers and fill it up then grab two glasses and head to his and my normal table. I’m not sure what’s on Kodiak’s mind, but this’ll be easier to refill our glasses than to have whoever’s manning the alcohol keep having to bring us fresh bottles.

As my brother slides in beside me, he sighs. “You’re mad at me, aren’t you?”

“What brought that on?” I ask, filling our glasses.

“I know when you’re pissed at me, Xavier. You always revert to calling me Kodiak and that seems to be happening a lot lately.”

“You’ve been calling me Conan as well, Marcum,” I reiterate.

“In reaction to you,” he informs me. “What did I do that made you put distance between us? Things haven’t been like this for a long time, only this go around, I’m not sure what I did to get under your skin.”

“To be honest with you, I’m not sure why I’ve been doing that,” I earnestly tell him. “I’m not pissed at you, brother. I have some payback in store for you for some of the bullshit you’ve pulled, but I’m not angry with you.”

“I know I fucked up making decisions without your input, Xavier. I not only disrespected your position in the club but as Demi’s man too.

I swear it wasn’t with the forethought to act that way, I wasn’t trying to belittle you in any way, shape, or form.

I’m always going to be your big brother and try to take care of stuff for you.

I can’t seem to, even after all of these years, switch that part of my brain off. ”

Anger rises inside of me at the reminder of how he’s been treating me. I guess I am a little pissy with him after all. But I sit back, take a minute to reflect by putting myself in his shoes and remind myself I’ve done things like that on his behalf as well.

“I forgive you, Marcum. But seriously, man, I’m not only your blood and club brother, but I’m also your VP.

If you undermine me at every pass, the men aren’t going to respect me and I have an issue with that.

Stop pulling the rug out from underneath me and start showing me that I wasn’t given the role I was simply because we share the same blood. ”

“Duly noted,” he supplies. “Anything else I’ve done you’d like to get off your chest? I’d like us to go into this united, strong, and without anything standing between us.”

“No,” I deny. “Just don’t be surprised if I drop you during a trust exercise.”

“My backside thanks you for the warning,” he laughs.

“If you rattle your teeth I’ll take you to the dentist. I’m kind like that,” I tease.

He snorts before saying, “You’ll tell them I’m allergic to heavy-duty painkillers and have them drill me with nothing less than an over the counter script.”

“One time! I only did that once, Marcum, and it was after you strapped a chain of dildoes to my bike! While I was riding it, for fuck’s sake,” I grumble.

I have to admit it was a good prank, it would’ve been a better one if it was against someone else, like Butcher since at the time we were part of the Midnight Riders with him, Dragon, Wrecker, and the rest of the motley crew.

Damn, I miss those fuckers since they moved on and settled long before we did.

Now that they’re residing in Roanoke with Brick and his club we don’t see them as often. I need to take Demi on a road trip and introduce her to my other brothers.

“Thinking about Butcher?” he asks, reading my mind.

“Yeah,” I admit. “Even that old man RiffRaff has been on my mind here and there.”

“Helping him when he came to town to get Butcher’s sister out of the disastrous marriage was a fun time. Let’s reach out to them, and after Luna has the baby, let’s go for a visit,” Marcum suggests. “It’s been a long time coming.”

“Towns are safer without us all together,” I chuckle.

“That they are, Xavier,” he agrees. For the remainder of the night, we reminisce about our time with them and drink the pitcher until there’s nothing left.

Those were simpler times. We caused chaos while living free and wild off the land. But again, if I hadn’t felt the need to settle, I wouldn’t have Demi and Marcum wouldn’t have Luna as well as the baby she’s carrying.

I guess what they say is true, things happen for a reason.