Page 102 of The Loves We Lost

“What do you want to do?” Miles asks. “We can stay overnight and clean all this up. Or we can just take some more of what you need, and come back later with some more brothers and supplies to clean this up when you feel ready.”

“Let’s just take what we can. I don’t think I can face staying here tonight.”

Miles tugs me into his arms and kisses the top of my head.

“I thought you said the people who did this were dead,” I say quietly.

Miles sighs. “The ones who came for you last time are. But the ones who did this? We need to find them.”

“I’m scared for Avery.”

“Me too. But I promise you this, Vi. They won’t get to you. I’m going to do whatever it takes to make sure my girls are safe. It’s going to be dark soon, so if we aren’t staying the night, we should get underway.”

It makes sense, and I feel the flicker of calm. I believe Miles, that he’ll keep us safe. And as I see Niro, entertaining Avery with a silly game that allows him to check out the windows periodically, I know Miles will have help.

“In that case, we need to get packing. Can you, you know, keep Avery close while I pack our things?”

“Niro’s got her. We’ll do it together,” Miles says, and I feel like he’s talking about so much more than packing up what’s survived.

33

BATES

“Ithink we need some more tactical equipment,” I say to King as we sit outside the clubhouse the following Friday, a week after the draining for the accounts began.

“Like what?” he asks.

“We’ve already got weapons. Each individual member has their own. But I’m thinking something more organized and varied. Like night vision for every brother. And weaponry beyond guns and knives. I’m not talking rocket launcher shit. But the stun grenade we used in that raid the other week? We could definitely use more of that shit.”

King spins his coffee cup on the wooden table. “It’s tough, having all this money, isn’t it? There’s a real temptation to spend it right away.”

“People asking for stuff?”

“Yeah. There’s been requests for refitting the clubhouse, more vans, all the rooms that have shared bathrooms to be fitted into en suites, a group ride down to Mexico, but the main one has been for money. People curious about how much of the eleven million will end up in our pay packets.”

I think about a news article I saw recently. “You read about all these famous athletes in the NFL ending up broke because they trust their money management to the wrong people. Or they blow it on so many flashy watches, they have enough for a different one every day of the week. And five years after they’ve retired from the game, they’re bankrupt.”

“Halo was right,” King says as I sip my coffee. “Nothing will say we just came into a shit load of cash like giving everybody a quarter of a million bucks in one payout. There’ll be bike upgrades, and new houses, and shit. All at the same time. But I think we’re going to need a vote on it, because some, especially the old-timers, want their cut now so they can enjoy it.”

I think about that for a moment. “If I’d just come into the biggest possible payday of my life, but I also knew I was on the way out, I’d probably want my cash too. Here’s a thought. It’s a bit out there. What if we got some of the old guys off the books?”

“What do you mean?” King asks.

“That money gives us a fair cushion. We need to use it wisely. But what if we said to some of the old-timers who are still taking a share each month with no meaningful input into the club anymore that they could take a severance? What if we said they could take a one-time payment, then stop receiving a monthly share?”

King tilts his head, something he does when he’s thinking. “Could work. I’ll speak to Niro. I know Martin is treasurer now, but Niro knows the history better. I like that idea. Use some of this money to get them off the monthly-split books.”

“We don’t need to be dicks about it. They can still come to the clubhouse for family events. Except they’d need to lose their voting rights.”

“Track might take it when he gets out of prison, although we had him down for heading to Fort Worth. Not sure he and Tesswant to be around much anyway given Saint is a brother and he’s the reason Track’s inside.”

“Maybe you should offer it to Wrinkle first.”

“That’s not a bad—” King’s ringing phone interrupts us. He answers it. “King.”

His face goes from relaxed to furious in three seconds as he changes the phone to speaker.

“ ... and you’ve got some balls thinking you can steal that money from us.”