Page 35

The Ties That Bind

G rizz

Another Monday, another church meeting, and when the clock struck nine, the prospect closed the door.

“We’ve got a lot of fucking shit to get through, so let’s make this as painless as possible.” Sabre sat up straight in his chair, no nonsense. “Who wants to go first with their club business reports?”

“Are we going to hire outside help when shit with the fucking cartel is over?” Count asked.

“Why? The tit show behind again?” Sabre’s gazed settled over him.

“You fucking kidding? The tit show has never been better, but if my decisions are being questioned, then I don’t want to be involved. I’ll step down and live a quiet life as a brother.” Someone must have told Count about Grease’s grumbles regarding the new garage. My guess was Cyph.

“When was the last time you saw Kelly?” I asked. I normally wouldn’t get involved like this, but we’d been on lockdown for over a month. It was getting to me, and my wife was here.

“That’s none of your business, Grizz.” Our seats were on the same side of the table, and I saw him lean forward, shooting daggers from his eyes.

“Hear me out.” I held up my hand, stopping any complaint he was getting ready to unleash. “You’re not upset Grease has questions. If we weren’t on lockdown, you’d have no problem talking this out. You’re pissed because we have cartel issues, and you’re stuck here.”

He pouted, saying nothing.

“You know I’m right. How many nights a week do you follow Kelly home?”

He still said nothing.

“How many?” Sabre stepped in. Count couldn’t ignore the question coming from his president.

“She went to a study group Friday night, with her male lab partner.” Count leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. He hadn’t answered the question, and the pout hadn’t disappeared.

“So? You afraid she’s going to decide she likes men again, and he’s going to swoop in because you’re too much of a chicken shit to talk to her?” Pretty batted his eyelashes at Count.

“You’re going to give up the treasury over a woman?

If you could fuck money, you would,” Sabre said.

“Nah, fuck that. Kelly deserves respect. You don’t get to dictate what she does because you’re the one paying for her classes.

If you can’t give her that, or I catch wind you’re not, it’ll be over.

I’m not dealing with your raging hormones. ”

Count still looked like he was ready to fight, but Grease held up his hand.

“Look at this,” he said, standing from his spot further down the table.

He smacked the bottom of a mailing tube until several rolled papers appeared at the end.

“Someone might have to hold these at the ends, but I wanted to show you something. I finally looked at these yesterday.” Grease held onto one end and let the other side roll out.

One of the other brothers must have grabbed it because I was staring at the design for the new garage.

Every clean line, every practical touch—it had her fingerprints all over it.

“Damn, Buster.” Someone whistled.

“What are we looking at, Grease?” Sabre asked, standing in front of his chair, leaning forward with his hands planted on the table.

“Count’s vision for the new garage. Buster made it work.

She added a new door on the side. There’s already one in the back, so we can bring in the whales, away from everyone else.

This second one allows us to drive in the maintenance vehicles, and there’s enough room to walk the bikes in.

I don’t know how she did it, but everything’s separate.

We’ll have four stations for each, and that should be good enough to cut the backlog with a little extra help.

I’m going to ask for a few changes, but this is better than what we currently have. ”

There was an indistinct murmur hanging around the room as the brothers talked amongst each other over the papers before we took our seats.

“I need to say something.” Slate wasn’t a quiet brother, but when he’d reached wise man status, he’d taken a back seat to the younger brothers in church.

The murmur died.

“I saw Bear yesterday, and before you fuckers even start, I took Snake with me. The Old Ladies in town are on their own until the cartel disappears, and I wanted to make sure she was alright.” He sat back down in his chair, running a hand over his face.

“Bear heard you were thinking about leaving, VP, and she reminded me of what happened to Stands.” Slate stared across the table at Scrub.

“You should have told your old man and Bookie to fuck off. It wasn’t about the money.

Bookie didn’t want Stands educated, and he threatened anyone who went against him. ”

“She only needed a couple thousand dollars to make up the difference, but I told her not to ask Titan for the money. She didn’t understand why the club wasn’t helping her when she’d been born into it.

You all know the rest, and I didn’t defend her.

It’s my fuck-up to bear, and she’ll never forgive me for it.

” Scrub’s lips twisted as he tapped his fingers against the grain of the table.

“Bear wouldn’t let me leave until I agreed to say something. She’s been harping on me that while most of you were in diapers, we actively recruited hardcore bitches. They didn’t give a fuck, but they supported the club when the time came. Fuck, Bookie loved to rub it in that Bear was his.”

I said nothing, not sure if this was going to be a fight or not.

“The club’s already lost Stands.” Slate looked at me. “If we turn our noses up at Buster, we’ll lose you. I’m old and stubborn, but I’m not ornery enough to risk it.” There was a light chuckle in the room.

I rubbed a hand over my face. “If you vote Meredith in, it’s because she earned it. Don’t give her a damn pity vote. She’ll smell it, and then twist herself up trying to fix it. I won’t let that happen.” I stared at Dead across the table.

“Don’t know what you’re fucking talking about,” he said.

“Let’s just do this and get it over with.” Pretty held up his hand, voting yes. He started calling the brothers one-by-one. Each one raising their hand with no hesitation, until he reached Scrub.

“Slate’s right. I should have defended Stands, but I didn’t. This is a special hell, and no one should experience it voluntarily.” He looked down the table at me. “I vote yes, but I have one request. I’d like to run Pumpkin’s DNA against JR’s and mine discreetly.”

“You think Jigsaw was her father?” I asked him.

“It wouldn’t be the first time he fathered a child and ran.” Scrub’s mother had been a club girl when she’d gotten pregnant. Scrub had grown up in the clubhouse, but she hadn’t left her position as club girl until she walked out the gates one day.

There was a picture on the wall in the main room of the founding club members. Scrub was now the same age Jig had been in the picture. The resemblance was uncanny.

“I’m okay with it, but we’ll have to run it by Mer.”

“Same with Grace,” Sabre said.

Pretty kept going around the table until he reached Dead.

“You know I got no issues with girlie pop,” he said.

“She’s got issues with you claiming her friend.” I smirked.

“I’m as single as they come.” He linked his fingers together, putting them behind his head.

Sabre and I shared a knowing look. We weren’t stupid, and Dead was fooling himself.

“Brother, dearest?” Pretty called, reaching the end of the roll call.

“I won’t take Meredith away from Grace, and if that means I have to work on not strangling her, I’ll do it.” He held his hand up.

I held my hand up.

The Iron Shield had just voted my wife in as an official Old Lady.

The room went silent after the vote, and while no one directly looked at me, there were plenty of side-eyes.

I kept my cool, and if they thought I would bow down, thanking them repeatedly, they were sadly mistaken.

I was over their superiority complexes, but I needed to forgive if I had any chance of not harboring resentment.

However, with the vote, I expected a complete end to the comparisons and malicious gossip.

They’d accepted her, and if that shit didn’t end, I was prepared to beat a brother’s ass.

She was an Old Lady now, and I could protect her better without repercussions.

Pretty called for the other business, and it wasn’t much longer before Sabre took over, quickly detailing the events of the weekend.

“I want Diego Lopez gone.” All our heads turned to face Sabre. “You heard me,” he said to all of us.

“We can’t, Prez,” Cyph spoke up. “Not yet.”

“What’s up?” Sabre asked him.

“I already looked for Pumpkin’s birth certificate.

There isn’t one, and I searched everywhere I could think of.

There are no doctor’s visits, no hospital records, nothing.

” He slid a folder over to me. “I already figured out how to register one through the system for her. I just need her name and when you want her birthday. Also, Buster hasn’t changed her last name, so there are forms in there if she wants me to take care of it. ”

I thanked him, a little overwhelmed.

“Do you know, Prez?” Cyph asked Sabre.

Sabre nodded. “It’s okay. Tell them.”

“They found Fuckface floating in a lake, dickless. Flo’s a widow, and the bank is in a tizzy.

They can’t go after Flo, because she’s not involved, and they’re not sure they can even collect the dirty money.

They can’t find it. Chances are good, they’ll let her go and take the loss.

” Cyph rubbed his knuckles on his club cut. “I found the offshore accounts.”

“What about Meredith?” I chimed in. There was always more.

“That’s why we can’t kill Diego.”

“She’s not—“ I growled.

“I know,” Cyph said. “I’m just telling you. They can’t get Flo, so they want Buster. The bank is throwing out as many big words as they can. Fraud. Warrants. Criminal charges. It’s stupid.”

“After breakfast, we’ll have a meeting in my office with Emily.” Sabre reached over, gripping my forearm. His message was simple: we wouldn’t let Meredith suffer for Brandon’s fuckups. “What about Diego?”

“They’d rather make the example out of Buster. It could be years before they get anywhere near Diego, and that’s assuming he doesn’t head south of the border. Either way, it’s harder for them to collect.”

“I feel like there’s a way we can fix all of this with some planning, but fuck if I know how. We’ll pick this up after breakfast. If we need the club, I’ll call an emergency church this afternoon.”

Sabre stood in front of his chair while the brothers filed out. “You took that well,” he whispered to me.

“They won’t see Emily coming, with Cyph’s help.” It was the only thought that made me feel better.

“I think so, too.” He smacked me on the back as we followed the breakfast smells towards the main room.