Page 10

MADMAN

I don’t know what it is I’m expecting exactly when we all make it into Church, but it isn’t a few of my brothers sporting black eyes.

“The fuck happened?” I grumble. The first two aren’t saying shit, but I have a feeling it’s over a nurse and someone not getting to escort her to Chicago.

One thing around here, no matter who you are, if you talk shit to another brother and they don’t like it, you may take a fist to the face over it. And you?” I direct at War.

He sighs, “Found a chick down the street. When I asked her to come with me, she got spicy.”

Havoc mutters beside him, “Crazy bitch threw hands damn near the minute we approached her.”

My brow raises. “Yet you seem fine.”

He shrugs, “I’ve dated crazy chicks before, I know to stay the fuck out of their swinging range.”

The brothers around the table, including me, all chuckle. “War? Who the fuck was this woman?”

“Got her tied up in the barn on the northwestern corner.”

“Jesus fucking Christ. Why am I just now hearing about it?”

Havoc interrupts, “She got loose the first time, so this fucker was building her a cage to sit in. Then you called Church, so we figured we’d bring it up with everyone around.”

My fingers move to massage my temples. This is the last shit I need going on right now, on top of everything else. “Audrey and her kids are here. We can’t have caged women on the property now, let alone at any time. Do you know how bad for business this is if anyone finds out?”

“Or if the Sheriff gets a random warrant?” Brass huffs, shaking his head.

I meet his gaze with a nod. Glad one of us here besides me gets the severity of this.

“Did you happen to get any information out of this newly acquired prisoner since you had plenty of time to build her a cage, rather than bringing her to the clubhouse for questioning like any sane person might do?”

War drinks deeply from his bottled water, and I notice it isn’t only his eye that’s been hit, but he’s got scratches on the side of his neck. The brother looks like he was attacked by a feral cat, not a female.

“Was the woman big or at least muscular?” I continue speaking, glancing between him and Havoc, since he was the obvious sidekick in this cluster fuck.

War mumbles, “Probably about four-eleven if I had to profile her.”

I can’t hold back, a burst of laughter flies free.

“Four-fucking-eleven? How in the hell did she reach so high to get your ass in the face and neck?” The brothers are quietly rumbling with laughter while War and Havoc stare on, stoically.

They don’t find this situation funny, and frankly, neither do I, but it’s so goddamn ridiculous I have to laugh over it.

He coughs, which is fake as fuck, but he’s trying to cover what he’s saying. “She, uh, got me when I tried to lift her over my shoulder.”

Havoc supplies, “He took an elbow to the face, then she got him with her nails. Damn near took our brother to the ground. Thought I was gonna have to go in for a minute and tap him out so we could collect her to bring her in for information.”

Slasher slaps the top of the table, gravely commenting, “Fucking hellcats. You don’t know until you know. Those women are like trying to tame two full-size men.”

“Christ,” I mutter under my breath. These fuckers, I swear.

Big dumb asses some days, that’s who I’ve got watching my back.

This is exactly what I mean when I say it’s the same as being a manager, never knowing what you’re going to get.

Give them a full-grown man wielding a machete and they’ll take him down no problem, even snap a neck or two if needed.

Put a tiny sprite in front of them and you’d swear they were wearing oven mitts when they try to even touch her.

“Reign, head back with these two and see what info you can dig up once these fuckers manage to get some information out of her.”

“These hands are for love, Prez,” War tries, and the brothers chuckle. I just shake my head.

“Bullshit, War, I’ve seen you lay out a man for looking at you wrong.”

“I meant for chicks. I can’t force information out of that female.”

I glance at the ceiling before pinning my gaze on Spade. People open up to him about everything, and he has a calming presence. “Spade, get what you can out of her.”

“Consider it done. Reign and I will handle it.”

“War, Havoc, you two go with them for backup in case this woman escapes again, and for the love of God, let her out of the cage and off the property as soon as you get any information out of her. If Audrey or the kids see this shitshow, all hell will break loose.”

“You making her an ol’ lady? Sounding more and more like a wife at home, brother.” Silver questions.

My brow shoots up, “No, it sounds like club business about to touch our civilian business, which is a no-fucking-go. You feel me?”

He nods, with a grunt of agreement. He’s an idiot for questioning me. Having Audrey as an ol’ lady is a dream. One I’m not dumb enough to think could ever be true. I would love it, she’d hate it.

“The woman from the jail, Maria, we know she has a sister. Let’s find out if the woman in the barn has any relation and make sure she’s not a worried sister looking for her missing family before we automatically assume she’s conspiring against us.

We also have that dead woman they found on the Wilson’s property.

Again, she could be related to or a friend of the dead girl. ”

Shadow suddenly interrupts, “Fuck, what if she’s a reporter? War, did you lock up a fucking journalist?”

“ Fuuuck ,” Havoc draws the word out, his eyes bugging at Shadow’s question.

War shakes his head. “I’ve seen plenty of those types; she’s not one of ‘em.”

“How can you be so sure?” Brass asks.

“Because this little Latina was all tatted up, she’s fine as fuck, just wait until you see her.”

I comment, “So that’s why she got the drop on you, you were too busy being pussy-ma-tized to have your guard up.”

War bristles, but keeps his thoughts to himself. The brother knows I’m right, as I usually am. “Alright, we have no update on anything at this point. Kilo, have you heard why these women have shown up around here? Anyone purposefully sending them our way?”

He shakes his head, “Our relationships are still strong. We haven’t pissed anyone off that I know of. If another club or the mafia is stirring up shit, nobody’s saying shit about it.”

“Death? Smoke?” I question, my gaze landing on them, hoping they have something to give me.

Smoke shakes his head, “I followed the other woman I found, but she got into a car and drove off as fast as she could.”

“Did you get a license number?”

He shakes his head. I was too busy trying to find out what kind of car it was.

Something old, a copper color with no vehicle badges.

I’ve been online when I’m not doing other shit, trying to find the make and model.

Haven’t seen her since. It was obvious she’d parked her car down the road, though.

She was too far away from it to make it a coincidence. ”

Death cracks his knuckles before saying, “The dead chick’s name is Lindsey Brooker. She was twenty-four years old. No kids, but was married. Came from a good family, but it seems she may’ve been estranged from them.”

“Anything to tie her to the club?” She ended up at the funeral home, and Death’s cousin is the funeral home director. It’s good to have contacts in certain places when you’re in an MC.

He shakes his head. “I only found out that much about her because I know a guy from the same town as her.” The brother seems to know someone from everywhere.

He’s a true nomad in the sense that he’s been all over the place before settling here.

He continues, “I’ve been meaning to get with Reign, I’m sure he can dig up more. ”

“Brother,” Reign acknowledges, nodding in agreement.

“As far as Breeders' business, anyone have shit to add? How did this week go?”

“Pretty sure I knocked up Rachel Cunningham,” King supplies.

“Yeah, I’d say Leslie Johnson is good as well,” Tinman smirks.

I roll my eyes at both of their cocky asses. “Spade, did Doc think the same?”

He shrugs, “You know how it is, she always says to wait three weeks and she’ll let us know the bloodwork results, once our nurse collects them.”

“Alright, business as usual. Keep me updated, every one of you. I want answers. I don’t like having too much shit all up in the air, and right now, that’s exactly what it is.

We have problems coming at us from every direction, and it’s bad for business, not to mention the heat it brings on KOAMC.

” At my parting words, I slam the gavel down.

The echo in the room, signifying the end of Church.