Page 26 of Next Level (Royal Bastards MC: Oakland Chapter #1)
GIRL FIGHT
“W ho do you want in here for the call with Officer Wilkerson?” Dawg asks me from across the desk.
Last night in our meeting, talking with the guys about Garrett’s call and his parents’ call, Dawg mentioned if only we could speak with Jared.
He’s the only one we haven’t heard from.
Sammie thinks he really did like her. Cherry’s parents feel bad for him because he was pulled into all this drama.
Where does he fit in all of this? So, Zoom came up with a plan to call Officer Wilkerson to see if he could arrange a call with Jared.
“Just Zoom, Chewy, and us,” I say, pulling out my file. “I don’t want a lot of people involved. We’ll update them after. I want Zip and Lip watching the girls.
Dawg tilts his head before exiting my office.
Cherry and Sam are up at the house getting ready for the day. This morning, Brooke and Mike came to drop off Sam, and I introduced them to Cherry. Sam beamed with excitement when she saw Cherry and rushed to her for a hug. I could see the jealousy all over Brooke’s face, but I ignored it.
I left them up there to get ready for today’s party. We’re having a family and friends gathering today for Sammie. Nothing too big, just a few of Sammie’s friends and club members.
I told Cherry that I needed to attend to some club business, and I’ve been in the office working.
The landline rings in my office, and I answer, “Hello.”
Dawg, Chewy, Zoom, and Nut, our Enforcer, enter. Nut’s been gone on a run. I motion to him, wondering why he’s back early. I wasn’t expecting him until Monday.
“Hello, Mr. Amato,” Officer Wilkerson responds.
The phone is on speaker, and I give them all the look to shut the fuck up.
“Call me Ray,” I say, friendly.
He chuckles. “Okay, how can I help you?”
“I just wanted to see if you had any new information for me, and I wanted to talk to you about something.”
“Okay, what do you want to talk about?”
Noticing that he hadn’t given me any new information, which I knew he had gone to the cabin to check out, I let it go because I needed something from him.
“Do you know Garrett called his sister Jane?”
The officer replies, “Yes, I’ve seen his call log.”
“Do you know he threatened her?” I fire back.
The officer’s voice changes instantly. “No. I did not.”
“Has Jared had any visitors or calls?”
“No. Not one.”
Zoom snaps his fingers, and I peek over to see him holding up a paper with ‘George or his parents’ written on it.
“Not even his adoptive parents or George?”
“No. Where are you going with this?”
“Look, I’m not going to beat around the bush with you since you’ve been straightforward with me, and I feel you actually care about this case. I want to speak with Jared. I feel he’s been manipulated by Garrett and George.”
The phone’s silent.
I wait.
“So, what you’re saying is you want me to go visit Jared and get you a call with him.”
“Yes.”
Silence.
“Why do you want to speak with him? What is your objective?” Wilkerson questions.
“I think George and Garrett have a plan to hurt me and what’s mine. I think Jared knows what the plan is,” I tell him honestly.
“Why do they want to hurt you? Because of your club?”
I drop the gusher and say, “No, they want to hurt me because my father is Garrett’s biological father.”
Silence. Nut’s eyes bulge out. Obviously, whatever he knows, he clearly didn’t know this.
“Christ. Didn’t see that one coming,” the officer confesses.
I try to lighten the mood. “Tell me about it. I just found out myself.”
Silence.
“Okay, give me an hour. I’ll get you that call, but I’ll be on it with you both.”
At this point, I don’t care. I just want to speak with the boy.
“That’s fine. One hour. Thank you for doing this,” I say genuinely.
The officer says, “Yeah,” and hangs up.
Nut is the first one to speak. “What the fuck.”
“It’s been a crazy couple of days, brother. Welcome back.”
He shakes his head. “Sounds like just in time.”
We all laugh.
Zoom chimes in, “This Officer Wilkerson seems like a legit dude. I’ve done my research, and he’s busted some pretty big deals up there.”
“As long as he’s on our side, I don’t give a fuck,” I explain. “We’ve got an hour and then everyone back in here.”
Zip throws open the door. “We’ve got Trouble.”
Everyone is up on their feet. “What?”
Zip says over his shoulder, “Your ma and Trouble just came through the gate, and they’re driving up to your house.”
Fuck!
Everyone’s out the door. Some head for the front door, and I proceed to the back. I’ll sprint to my house.
Sammie is hugging my mom, and Tamara is moving toward Cherry, coming out of the house.
Christ . I move my legs faster.
I can see they’re having words. Ma has Sammie in her arms, holding her back.
That fucking bitch did this on purpose.
I scream, “Cherry.”
Cherry turns her attention to me, and I realize my mistake the instant Tamara moves to attack.
Tamara takes a step toward Cherry, but out of nowhere, Tink’s behind Tamara, pulling her hair and yanking her back from reaching Cherry.
“You fucking cunt,” Tink yells, and Tamara screams, grabbing Tink’s hands.
Cherry jumps back as Tink throws Tamara to the ground.
Tamara is screaming for help as Tink scrambles on top of her, hitting her. “You’re a fucktard.”
Zip and Lip are hopping off their bikes as I arrive, coming through the treeline. Cherry runs toward me.
I embrace her for a second before putting her behind me as I charge toward Tamara and Tink, but I stop when I see Zip and Lip have them apart.
Tink’s yelling, “You fucking twat. You fucked with the wrong bitch.”
Tamara is fighting back. “He ain’t yours or that fucking bitches. He’s mine.”
Rage. Pure. Rage runs through me.
I don’t even acknowledge either of them. Instead, I head straight for my ma, who started this bullshit. When she notices my rage is directed at her, she lets Sam go, who runs into Cherry’s arms behind me.
“Now, son,” she says, lifting her hands and smiling. “I didn’t know:
“Shut the fuck up,” I say through clenched teeth, getting everyone’s attention.
“Ma, this…” I point to Cherry, “is my woman. Like my property, if you fuck with her, you fuck with me. You. Will. Be. Gone.”
Ma’s face drops in shock. I’ve let her pull her shit with Tamara and other women, but I didn’t care about her or them. This is different.
“If you EVER fucking do this again. It won’t end well for you,” I seethe.
“Son.” I lift my hand to silence her.
“Get the fuck out of my face. Take this bitch home. Never, and I mean NEVER, bring her here again.” I can see Tamara is in complete shock as is everyone else.
I just claimed Cherry as mine. The only faces smiling are Sam, Cherry, and Tink. Everyone else is stunned.
There’s a crowd around us now. I turn to Tamara. “If I ever see you again, run the other way. You’re dead to me now. Do you hear me?” Tamara starts to cry.
Tink starts laughing. “Fuck yeah, about time.”
Lip walks Tamara and Ma back to Ma’s car.
Tink snorts. “Bye, Turkey tits!”
I spin around, grab my girls, and hug them both.
“Pops, I tried to stop it. Once I saw Gma’s face, I knew something was up,” Sam explains.
“Samantha, I can take care of myself. Thank you for warning me, though,” Cherry says to her, grabbing her face and looking her in the eyes.
Tink and Zip walk over.
“You good?” I ask Tink, who’s smiling ear to ear.
“Fuck yeah! I’ve been wanting to do that for a very, very long time.”
“Thank you, Tink, but I could have handled myself if she came at me.”
Tink winks at Cherry. “She was playing dirty, waiting for you to look at Ray. She was going to catch you off guard. Plus, she and I have been meaning to have that little fight for a while. I couldn’t let you have all the fun,” Tink teases.
Lazy walks up behind her, putting her into a bear hug and lifting her up. “Turkey tits! I fucking love it!”
She giggles. “You told me to get some new words.”
We all crack up.
We can always depend on Lazy to lighten the mood with a smart-ass remark.
“Um, Pops, did you just make Cherry your ol’ lady?” Sam asks happily.
I smile down at my girls. “Seems I did. That is, if she wants to be.”
Cherry beams up at me. “Always.”
I release my Sammie girl, then embrace my Blossom and kiss my ol’ lady. I never thought that would be the case, but damn, she got me.