Page 24 of Next Level (Royal Bastards MC: Oakland Chapter #1)

COLLECT CALL

“A re all your parties like this?” Cherry asks next to me.

We’re sitting at a table next to the pool table where Chewy and Tink are playing each other.

Siren, Lazy, Cracker, and Dawg are hanging with us.

The women have been chatting it up with Cherry, which makes me feel good that they’re welcoming her into the fold so easily.

It makes it easier for me as I try to get to know her.

When your club brothers don’t like someone, inevitably, it won’t last. The club comes first, and if she’s good for me, she’s good for the club.

Tamara has always given off a bitch vibe and has consistently sized up women around her, making them either hate her or scared of her. Cherry has held her own today and fired back when the men have haggled with her.

“It depends. We don’t usually have so many different clubs here at the same time. But we wanted them to come celebrate Sammie being found. Everyone here helped in the efforts to find her.”

Tink hits the ball, making a difficult shot, and Cherry cheers for her. That makes me happy. I like that they get along. I knew Tink was loyal to the Royal Bastards, but how she handled this shows she truly is loyal to a fault—born and raised a Bastard—always a Bastard.

A deep voice comes from behind me. “Level, a word, brother?”

I turn my head and see Joe Gianno, the head teamster at the ports. I acknowledge him, then swat Cherry’s ass so I can get up.

I kiss Cherry on the lips and let her know I’ll be right back and to stay with the girls and Chewy. Chewy gives me a nod, knowing what I’m thinking.

Dawg and I walk toward my office, closing the door behind Joe.

Once I’m seated behind my desk, I ask, “What’s up, Joe?”

“Big Betty came to me last night and told me she thinks the guys who tried to jack us were the same guys who took Sammie.”

This has my attention. “What?”

“Big Betty should probably be in here with us. She can explain it better than me, but she said they definitely were the same guys,” Joe explains.

I snap my fingers at Dawg, who is standing at the door. “Go get Big Betty and bring her here.”

Joe’s a big Italian guy who scares just about anyone who crosses his path. I’ve known him all my life. He’s a good man, but if you cross him, it’ll be the last thing you do.

I rack my brain trying to remember what Lip said about her beating them up. “Wait, I thought Lip said there were three men,” I announce to the room.

Joe bobs his head. “Yah, there were.”

The door swings open and in walks Dawg, Big Betty, and Lip.

“Is everything all right, pres?” Lip asks with concern, stopping at the door.

My theory that he has a thing for Big Betty was correct.

“Yeah, you want to come in too since you’re the one who told me about—” Lip rushes in before I even finish.

Big Betty’s blonde, short, and stocky. If you like that bodybuilding fitness fanatic, then Betty’s your gal. I like mine curvy and with some cushion for the pushing.

Big Betty lifts her chin at me. “Hi, Level. I guess Joe told you about those guys?”

Lip interjects, “I told him after the last meeting when you told all of us. Why?”

Lip obviously doesn’t know about the new intel.

“Betty thinks the guys who jacked her were the ones who took Sammie,” I say.

Lip’s face turns to shock. “What the fuck?”

“Yeah, at the meeting we were talking about how Sammie was found and they showed me the pictures of the guys who took her. It was the same guys for sure,” Betty tells us.

I fire back, “But I thought you said three guys tried to jack your stuff?”

“Yeah, it was. If you got pictures of them, I’ll explain it better.”

I pull the photos of Garrett and Jared from my file, and everyone gathers around the desk. Betty leans over and points to Jared. “He ran before anything happened.” She places her finger on Garrett. “This motherfucker is the one I fought with, and I’m pretty sure he was jacked up on something.”

I then show her a photo of George. “Nah, it wasn’t him.

The third guy was closer to this guy’s age.

” She points to Garrett again. “The third guy wanted to fight me. I hit him once, he put up his hands, grabbed that guy,” again she indicates Garrett, “and ran off. I didn’t know if they were trying to lure me away from the load, but if that was their plan, it didn’t work.

I stayed with the load and called for backup. ”

Lip rubs his chin. “Fuck so there’s another person we need to be looking for?”

Betty shrugs. “I don’t know. Weird they were trying to fuck with us right before taking her.”

My first thought is to call Sammie and make sure she’s okay, but I spoke with her earlier, and she was with Mike and Brooke, watching movies at home. She’s safe.

Joe speaks up. “That’s kind of what I wanted to talk to you about. See what you think. I’ve put extra men on the dock since this happened, but if these guys are in jail, do I need the extra security?”

I’m lost in thought.

“Level?” Dawg’s voice snaps me out of it. I glimpse at the four of them, looking at me.

“Yeah?”

“What do you think?” Lip asks

So many thoughts are running through my head, and I begin to ramble off what I’m thinking.

“I don’t know. They could have been trying to get the drugs because Garrett is using again, but who’s the third guy?

I don’t think you need extra security. Just be vigilant.

I don’t know how the two are related just yet. I need to think about it a bit.”

Betty speaks up. “Well, if you need me to look at any other photos, just let me know. I’m here to help. I’m just glad you got Sammie back, and she’s safe.”

I acknowledge her words with a quick bob of my head.

Joe chimes in next. “Yeah, let us know if you need us for anything. We’ll keep searching ourselves and let you know what we find.”

I stand up, extending my hand to shake Joe’s. “Thank you for coming to me with this.” Joe accepts my hand.

I turn to Betty. “Thank you for helping search for her and noticing this. It’s a piece to this already fucked up situation. So, thank you. Now, both of you go enjoy yourselves.”

Betty shakes my hand, and they both exit the office.

I sit back down in my seat. Once Lip shuts the door, I say, “We need someone watching Sammie at all times until we figure this out.”

The door flies open, and I’m about to yell at whoever’s rushing into my office without knocking, but I see Cherry’s face and know it’s bad. Chewy escorts Cherry inside.

I jump out of my chair. “What happened?’

Chewy puts his finger to his mouth, shushing me. “It’s a collect call from Garrett.”

I motion for Lip to leave. Dawg moves to the corner of the room, giving Cherry space to move around.

Cherry has the phone to her ear and her finger in her other ear, trying to hear.

“Yes, I accept the call.”

I move out of Cherry’s way, guiding her to sit in my seat.

She places the phone on the desk, putting it on speaker.

When the phone connects, we hear a scruffy voice. “JJ, you there?”

I see red. It takes everything in my whole body not to grab the phone and lay into him, but we need answers.

“Yeah, it’s me,” Cherry answers calmly. She’s holding it together better than I am. I take a couple of deep breaths.

I grab a pen and paper.

“Talked to Mom and Dad today.” Garrett’s voice is low and menacing.

“Why are you calling me? You wouldn’t even see me when I came to Washington. Why now?”

An evil laugh echoes through the speaker.

“Is my good big brother with you right now? I hear you two are a thing now.” He practically spits into the phone.

I’m about ready to speak, but Cherry puts up her hand, stopping me. “Why does it matter? You don’t care.”

He hisses. “You’re right, I don’t care.”

Cherry’s face contorts in anger. “Then why are you fucking calling me?”

Garrett scoffs. “I had to speak with you one more time. I wish I could be there to see your face.”

“See my face?” Cherry asks, confused, not understanding.

“Yeah, finally your spoiled ass is going to get what’s coming to you.”

“Fuck you, Garrett. Don’t play the ‘oh poor me’ shit.” Cherry stands up with her fist on my desk.

“Tell my brother his daughter sure is sweet, and we’ll be seeing him soon.”

“You motherfucker!” I roar.

Garrett lets out a menacing chuckle. “Aw, there he is…hey, big bro. I’ll be seeing you soon.” He hangs up, the line goes dead.

“Motherfucker!” I scream and punch the wall next to me.

Cherry doesn’t move or flinch at my outburst, even with her standing right next to me. She must be shell-shocked or something because she doesn’t care about my rage like she did last night. She’s just staring at the phone on the desk like she’s expecting him to call back or something.

Dawg starts pacing the room, rubbing his chin in deep thought.

“He’s dead,” I announce to the room.

Dawg stops to face both of us, shaking his pointer finger like he’s trying to pinpoint something. “Wait. Wait. Wait. He said your parents saw him today. Have you spoken with them? I wonder what happened for him to be this bold to call you and threaten not just you but Ray and Sammie too.”

“Yeah, something happened. Cherry, I think you need to call your parents. Now!”

Cherry looks from her phone to Dawg, then to me.

“Dawg’s right. Garrett’s acting really cocky. He said, ‘We’ll be seeing you soon.’ Something is about to go down. I can feel it.”

Cherry grabs her phone, dials a number, and puts it on speaker. On the second ring, a man answers, “Janey? Is everything okay?”

“Hey, Dad,” she answers softly.

Hearing her father call her by her real name makes me think of my Sammie. You can tell he cares for Cherry. Her face softens and water fills her eyes, but the tears don’t fall.

“What happened?” he asks, sounding more alert.

I like this guy already—protective of his baby girl. A grin tugs at my lips.

“Dad, Garrett just called me from jail,” Cherry rushes out.

“That son of a bitch, no good—”

Cherry interrupts him. “Dad, tell me what happened today when you saw him.”

“We’re done. Garrett Jones is not our son.

He wants to change his name to Casso and withdraw all his money from the trust. He says George is going to handle all his legal matters.

He wants nothing to do with any of us. So, we’re done.

Your mom is, of course, devastated, but fuck that, I’m over his shit.

He has run this family through the ringer for too long.

He took that sweet girl. He’s no son of mine. I’m washing my hands of him today.”

I hear a woman speaking in the background, telling him to calm down.

“Mom?” Cherry says into the phone.

“Hi, honey.” A sweet woman’s voice rings through the speaker. “You all right, sweetie?”

“Yeah, just shaken up,” Cherry replies in a soft voice.

“What did that bastard have to say?” her dad grunts.

“He threatened me, Samantha, and Ray.”

Her mother gasps, and her father curses.

I decide to speak up. “Don’t worry, Mr. and Mrs. Jones. She’s in good hands here. We won’t let anything happen to her or my daughter again.”

The phone goes silent.

Nervous that I said something wrong, I say, “I’m sor—” but was cut off.

“Son, we should be apologizing to you for what happened. Garrett is not right in the head, and to be honest, never has been. We were devastated when we heard what had happened. How is she?” her dad rambles

“Dad, it’s not your fault,” Cherry fires off, defending them.

“No, sir, it isn’t anyone’s fault but Garrett’s and Jared’s,” I admit.

“We feel sorry for the poor boy Jared. Garrett pulled him into his vendetta against your family. Now he’s lost more than ever,” Cherry’s mom says softly, then adds, “And please call us Theo and Marge.”

“Mom, Dad, what else did Garrett want from you guys while you were there?” Cherry asks, folding her arms across her chest.

“There was nothing else. Just what I already told you,” her dad answers.

Dawg has been on his phone texting. I’m sure he’s filling in Zoom on the new information we just found out.

“Okay, thank you. When are you headed back home?” Cherry continues.

“We’re headed to the cabin. We told the Port Angeles detectives we’d let them look around before we cleaned up. Then we’ll head back to Arizona unless you want us to come see you before,” Theo tells her.

“No, I have a conference coming up soon, but I’ll come see you after that. Thank you, I love you guys,” she says cheerfully.

They both say goodbye to me and tell Cherry they love her before ending the call.

The three of us stand there in silence for a few seconds.

Dawg speaks first. “George is either using Garrett to get his money, or they are using the money to plan something, but either way, that money is the key.”

Cherry and I both agree.

“Let’s not let this ruin our night,” I say, reaching for Cherry. “Are you all right?”

She nods.

“Are you going to be all right?” Dawg asks me from across the desk.

“My girls are safe.” I squeeze Cherry. “Sammie will be here tomorrow. I know Mike will protect her tonight, so yeah, I’m good for now.”

“Okay, let’s get a shot before we update the boys, though.”

Cherry lights up. “Yes, a shot sounds fabulous!”

I swat her ass. “Okay, Blossom. Let’s go.”