Page 153 of Ruptured

“Cuz Dez and the Devils ain’t done fuck all to us. They want us to absorb them.”

“What’s the hold up with that?”

The question came from one of the screens. Judging by the British accent, it sounded like Trav.

“The holdup is they don’t have a viable income stream,” he explained, though that was only half the reason. They were also a bunch of yellow-bellied, unreliable fuckheads. “They’d be deadweight. We absorb a club with fifty or sixty motherfuckersthat don’t bringsomethingbut fucking enemies, and we dilute our resources. Especially our fuckin’ income. If you want that, I’ll patch those motherfuckers over tomorrowifwe agree to take down the Scorps.”

“Outlaw, as much as I agree that the Scorps need to be dealt with, this isn’t the way,” Cash insisted. “I have a kid to think of. Ason.”

Later, he’d tell him the deal:motherfuck your fucking son.Christopher had sons, too.

“We go on fuckin’ lockdown until they dealt with,” Christopher announced for now.

“I didn’t agree to this when you approached me about a chapter in Butte,” Rip said, that chapter’s president said. “I wouldn’t have left the Great Falls chapter.”

“We was…wereat peace,” Christopher reminded them. “This not a fuckin’ club full of bitches. Eventually, we rubbin’ some motherfucker the wrong way.”

“This isn’t about the club. It’s about Meggie,” Cash said. “You think Bash wants her, so you want to risk the entire organization.”

“You motherfucker,” Stretch spat, ignoring the raised voices.

Cash knew the chaos those words would cause, because,Johnnie was right. Somewhere along the way, the brothers had stopped respecting Megan.

Maybe they’d lost respect for him. He distributed club money amongst his members. Made sure viable deals and opportunities were created for all his chapters. He quashed internal beefs, paid legal fees, sent money to the wives and kids of incarcerated members, and did everything required of him as the club’s leader.

Buthischapter no longer got their hands quite as dirty. They sourced shit out to support clubs. He issued orders from the safety of his office or the comfort of his mansion.

His wealth, more than many of them, grew because of Megan. He’d extinguished the threats, stopped attending many of the parties, and only went on a couple yearly runs, because of his wife.

Just as they’d begun to resent CJ forChristopher’smisjudgment, they’d also turned against Megan for the same reason.

“Megan might be the fuckin’ target, but what the fuck difference does it make?”

A fucking lot. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d put his fucking ass on the line for the club. Fires cropped up that hehadto involve himself in. And the last three months, he’d been worth shit.

“I’m with you, Outlaw,” Val said, “and any motherfucker too chickenshit to stand with our president, then fuck you. So what if it is about Meggie? He’d go to war for one of our bitches. Why wouldn’t we go to war for his?”

“Bash is a bad motherfucker,”someonesaid.

Christopher couldn’t bother to identify him.

“But we’re badder,” Diesel said viciously. “I challenge any motherfucker to fuck with me.”

“You think because you Outlaw’s son, that’ll protect you?” Prince’s heavy voice blared from one of the monitors. The president of the Idaho Falls chapter had long had a problem with Diesel because of his bitch. “Johnnie said no one’s a match for Bash. If John Boy’s afraid of him, you don’t have a fucking chance, Diesel.”

Diesel bared his teeth, but Christopher held up his hand, warning him to silence.

Bishop got to his feet. “What’s wrong with you motherfuckers? This is Outlaw’swoman.Meggie. She’s not only dedicated herself to her man and their children, but to us. She’s no longer good enough to go to war for?”

Christopher glanced around. Some thought she was. But not enough.

“We love Meggie,” another voice called from the monitor. “It’s not that.”

“Carson’s right,” Skip agreed. “We know Bash infiltrated the club with those girls, Outlaw. Tried to kill your boy. Johnnie saidShinewas a fucking Scorp. I laughed and drank with that motherfucker when I was there in December. Ifyoucan’t detect a plant, how can we?”

CJ’s overdose wasn’t a secret. Bash infiltrating the club wasn’t as widely known, though it had been discussed at church not long after it happened.

Whatever spin Johnnie put to it hadn’t helped.