Page 27

Mondays Are For Church

G rizz

I didn’t bother falling back to sleep, preferring to snuggle with my wife, listening to her make plans for the future. She was excited, thinking that it would fix everything if we built a home out back.

“It’s perfect, Grizz. I’ll stay home, cutting down my interaction with the club substantially,” she said, rubbing her nose against my chest. “Holidays might be tricky, but everyone can play nice for one day. Promise me you’ll tell them.”

I wrapped my arms tighter around her until there was no room between us. I didn’t want to let her go, and I hated her plan. She might have thought it was perfect, but I wouldn’t break my promise to her. I refused to lose her in the silence.

Meredith was an independent extrovert, if there was such a thing.

She needed to fly, and forcing her to stay home all day would clip her wings.

The monotony would take its toll on her, and she’d fought so hard to see the light.

I wouldn’t agree with anything that jeopardized her mental health.

I’d still stand next to her, but we were in a good place, and I didn’t see any reason to regress.

When I’d taken one last look at my sleeping wife, I knew I’d made the right decision. If we had to leave, so be it. She was worth more than my patch.

***

I was a few minutes early for church, so I headed to the kitchen, grabbing my morning coffee before dropping off my phone in my cubicle and walking into the room.

“We got a new prospect?” I asked Sabre, taking my seat to his right.

“Someone was fussy this morning, and since I was up, I made his breakfast.” Sabre laughed, holding JR in the crook of his arm. The baby’s fingers were around the bottle, but Sabre had a hold of the bottom.

“JR’s getting big,” I said, taking it all in.

“He’s growing too fast. I swear, I stare at him in his sleep, trying to memorize his features as they are, and then the next night, I look for any differences. I don’t want to forget any of this time with him.” Sabre brushed JR’s hair across his forehead.

“You going to let him stay for the meeting?” Church was only supposed to be for patched-in members, and I wasn’t sure if this was a tradition we would amend.

“No, when it’s time, I’ll get the prospect to take him to Pebbles. She was in the kitchen earlier, so I asked if she’d watch him until Grace comes downstairs.”

I nodded, not really having anything to say either way. We didn’t fill the silence as we waited for the rest of the brothers to show, and when the clock turned nine on the dot, Sabre stood. True to his word, he handed JR to Prospect D and promptly shut the door.

“Alright, we have a fuckton to get through,” Sabre said, taking his seat at the head of the table.

“I thought we were indoctrinating JR early,” Pretty chuckled.

“He’s too little to tell our secrets, but church has always been for patched brothers.

We’re finding our own way, and that’s one tradition I’m not ready to break just yet.

” Sabre took a swig of his coffee. “Plus, he was fussy, and we’re not playing ‘pass the baby’.

Let’s quickly go through the club businesses. Who wants to go first?”

“The tit show is fine. I still have a few bottles of excess premium liquor, but our numbers are back to normal. The girls are happy-ish, but if someone wants to take over, I’d be a-okay with that,” Count started, placing his report on the table.

No one volunteered, pretending to look anywhere but at Count.

“I was only supposed to take over until we figured out what was going on. It’s back to being just a tit show, and I’d like to get back to my regularly scheduled duties.”

“Noted,” Sabre said. “Moving on. Grease?”

“I’ve got a problem, and it ain’t good. I have a waitlist of over twenty cars and fifteen bikes for restorations. There’s no way we’re ever going to get to them when we can only handle four a month. We just don’t have the room or the manpower.”

“What happened to what we talked about when the three of you went to the new garage?” Sabre asked.

“I know you said it would work, Count, but I don’t see the vision. It’s just a garage, not an auto body shop. I know Buster said she can fix it, but even if she does, we don’t have enough people.” Grease slid down in his chair, not wanting to be the center of attention.

“The plan was to take the shop you’re in now, strip it, and turn it into something else.

The regular maintenance is our bread and butter because the restorations are time consuming.

They bring in a shit ton per month, but the parts and labor rack up before you ever see payment.

” Count cracked open a soda and slammed it like a beer.

“Are you going to add new buildings when the owner sells us the rest in two years?” Grease asked.

“Sort of. I thought we’d look at your numbers again and rearrange as needed.

If you need another building, we should be able to do that, but the location gives us options for growth.

If I keep buying new garages every year, we’ll lose our profits.

” Count drained the rest of the soda. “Right now, towing and wrecking are renting their office, and we don’t do repos or impounding.

There’s plenty of land out there to expand over time, and I don’t think I need to remind any of you that expansion means cha-ching.

” Count’s blue spikes shook at the mention of money.

“Chef, how are the employees at the diner?” Sabre asked, effectively cutting off the other two.

“Good, but most of them have been there for years. I don’t have a high turnover, and we only hire for the summer–college kids who want to make a little extra, so they don’t stay.”

“We’re going to impede our own growth because we’re stretched too thin. Between the runs and the businesses, we don’t have enough people.” Sabre came to the same conclusion I had a few days ago.

“If we recruit, we have to open the gates,” Pretty chimed in. “I’m not sure I’m ready to scrutinize prospects. You’re talking about vetting everyone who hangs around. What if we get another Pulse, or we’re on someone’s radar and they send an undercover?”

“You’re not going back to jail,” Wreck told him firmly. “If your ass winds up there, I’ll be right next to you.”

It was the closest any of us had heard Wreck ever address their situationship.

“No, but I think about it. What if Emily hadn’t connected with the lawyer? What if Buster hadn’t given her the idea? We could have still been sitting there. Totally fucked.”

“We don’t have outside employees except for the diner and the girls at the tit show.

” Sabre drummed his fingers against the redwood tabletop.

“I’m not opposed to hiring from the outside.

If they want the patch, then they can hang around like everyone else, but it won’t happen until Diego Lopez and crew are gone. ”

The room went quiet, each one of us lost in our thoughts. It wasn’t until Pretty called out the next business to report that things progressed.

Once they were done, Sabre stepped in again. “I cancelled the surveying appointment since the women are on lockdown. For now, the neighborhood is on hold.”

Now would have been the perfect opportunity to say something about Meredith’s offering, but I didn’t feel she needed to be the one to make the effort anymore. Instead, I picked up my coffee cup and brought it to my lips.

Sabre shot me a look, but when I said nothing, he moved on to our impromptu vacation.

“I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ve had enough of this fucking shit.

We have other concerns to be fucking worried about besides the cartel.

I don’t have the fucking patience for Diego’s games, and I’m fucking done being ignored by Alex.

We do things our way, and we fucking move on. ”

There was a roar that echoed in the room as the brothers rallied behind Sabre. He had only reiterated what the rest of us already knew. We could no longer sit by and wait for the truth to unveil itself. The Iron Shield was going to have to strike.

“They knew everything about us,” How started, tracing the rim of his coffee cup.

“The detective who paced in front of me kept trying to get me to confess. He’d say something like, ‘You hit the clerk,’ or ‘You grabbed the money,’ but when I said nothing, he’d follow it up with ‘What would your sister think? She’s a lawyer. ’”

“The detective with me was more concerned about my previous stint,” Slate chimed in.

“I had a regular officer, but he knew enough parts of my story that we either have a leak, or they went digging, knowing who they might catch with this sting.” Wreck stared at Pretty from across the table.

“How would they know the details when your lips are tighter than a virgin’s hole?” Pretty dropped his eyes, continuing to write in his notebook as our secretary.

“Jig’s been gone too long, otherwise, I wouldn’t have put it past him.” Sabre steepled his fingers. “Has anyone taken out a club girl lately?”

There was a chorus of nos, while a few brothers shook their heads.

“I think Diego’s been watching us since last summer.

After they took each of you, the leader of the street gang talked shit.

He mentioned Brandon by name. They watched Meredith and knew about the pregnancy, and he’d even put it together that I was the father.

Diego thought it was Brandon. They’ve had time.

” I laid my head on the back of my chair.

“Were they trying to kill you?” Sabre asked, his voice breaking on the last word. Death had been something we’d grown up with, so to hear him express emotion about mine was unsettling.

I took a minute to process the question. “They miscalculated the beat down. If they had wanted to kill me, they would have had more men in the holding cell. However, if I had died from my injuries, they wouldn’t have been sad either.” I shrugged.

“I fucked up with Buster. Call this a peace offering.” Cyph opened the flap of his club cut and pulled out a folder.

He opened it on the table and stood. “For a sting operation, these were easy to find. Almost a little too easy, like Diego wanted us to.” He placed three printouts of driver’s licenses on the redwood. “Meet your street gang.”

Everyone at the ends of the table stood to get a better view, but when I got my first look, I took a deep breath. The three men who’d tried to beat me down were looking up from their state IDs.

“I wasn’t sure if he’s involved, but I pulled his ID, anyway.” Cyph laid the last page on the table.

“He’s the kid that was detoxing in the holding cell,” I said. “If he shows up at the gates, call me. I offered him a safe place to kick the habit.”

“Is he a part of this?” Sabre asked me, leaning against the edge of the table.

“No. He was curled up in the corner, trying not to lose his stomach. The kid clearly had a drug habit, and I offered to help him get through detox and go to rehab.”

Sabre shook his head. “Alright.”

In a perfect world, I would have asked Sabre for approval before offering the help, but I’d made a split-second decision I wouldn’t rescind. I didn’t know the kid’s story, but it had been clear he’d given up on the world. Something about that resonated with me.

I had been lucky. If it hadn’t worked out the way it had, I wouldn’t have had the Shield as my family. Meredith would have never crossed my path. I was fooling myself if I thought I could give up one for the other, but this was no longer about me. It was about giving that kid a chance at life.

“I need to explain,” Cyph said, opening an energy drink. “They’re not a street gang.”

“What the fuck? How are they not?” Wreck jumped up.

“You didn’t let me explain.” Cyph flicked Wreck off. “Diego specifically targeted them because they failed their military psych exams. Killers who actually want to kill for less than the price of an actual professional.”

“They didn’t want me dead.” I didn’t know if I should have been relieved or proud. I had only walked out with a slice to my stomach that would heal.

“Nope, but I’m not sure what their deal is.” Cyph gulped his drink. “Some of this I’ve been able to piece together, but most of it is speculation.”

We all took our seats, preparing to listen to Cyph.

“Manuel sends two shipments a month from his base, one drugs, the other guns. They’re trucked to a warehouse that Diego owns in the middle of nowhere.

Like, there’s literally nothing surrounding it.

Workers prep the shipments for sale, and once they’re ready, the soldiers handle the delivery.

They take their cut and send the rest to Diego. ”

“Anyone want to bet that’s who was supplying Matt? I still remember how red his eyes were,” Sabre said.

“This is the interesting part: the warehouse is on our southern border with the Guardian Knights. There’s no way they don’t know it’s there,” Cyph finished.

“What the fuck are the Knights doing?” Sabre let the question hang over the table.

“They playing both sides? Get a kickback from Diego to fuck us over and then turn around and do El Sombra Roja’s bidding?” I threw out there. None of this made sense in my mind.

“If El Sombra Roja found out they were playing both sides, he’d wipe them out,” Wreck supplied.

“You’ve said it on more than one occasion, Sabre. We can’t fight a two-front war. What if El Sombra Roja is in the middle of the battle, but he’s choosing to ignore Diego and the Knights?” I was talking out of my ass, but I felt we were so close to understanding if we only had the missing piece.

“Pulse was supposed to work the Lopez Cartel from the inside in El Sombra Roja’s name.

Once he dismantled them, he’d go back to his father as the conquering hero.

Alex might not have been aware that Pulse was planning on taking over everything, but now he has to avenge him to save face.

” Sabre stroked his chin, staring at the pictures on the table.

“Maybe he made a deal with the Knights to monitor Diego until he could eliminate the stronger half, Manuel.”

“If that’s the case, what the fuck are we going to do? We need to strike strategically.”

“You and I need to call Krait from my office. The Guardian Knights need to explain.” Sabre sat back in his chair, a frown clearly etched into his forehead. “Breakfast should be ready, so go eat, and afterwards, we’ll reconvene.”