CHAPTER FIFTEEN

-:- AXEL -:-

Walking into church, I know we have a lot to cover. Fucking Meat blowing up that stove. I know he did it, but I can’t help but grin to myself because although he’s got Star, he’s not changed. Star has! Fuck, I just realized I have two crazy fuckers now instead of one!

Taking my seat, I look around, making sure everyone is here, and slam the gavel down. “Okay, meeting to order. Any officer having a report to be heard, speak out.”

Stitch, Beer, TwoCents, PT and BS all give me a ‘Nothing Pres’, so that is them covered, and I’m thankful all is running as it should. I don’t want to cover how financials are doing every week. There really is no need, and it’s just time wasted.

“Okay,” I turn and give Meat the stink-eye, but I chuckle to myself when the fucker has turned up in new jeans, a black t-shirt and his kutte is pristine. Yeah, the fucker’s trying to get out of trouble. “Let’s talk about the stove, shall we?”

Meat doesn’t move a muscle. No sign that I know he blew the fucker up to get the new one he asked for. The brothers have turned and are looking at Meat too, but again, he’s not bothered at all by the attention this subject has gained. Chaos is grinning like a fool at Meat, and as they were brothers-in-arms, I know he’ll be giving Meat some shit behind closed doors.

Pointing at Meat, I state firmly, “Let’s not pretend you didn’t blow the fuckin’ stove on purpose. PT, you, and TwoCents buy Meat a new stove and if the kitchen needs updating then do it. But the stove cost comes out of his pay. The rest the club will front.” I’m still eyeing Meat, but the fucker hasn’t even flinched. In fact, is that a damn twitch of his lip I’m seeing!

The brothers roar with laughter as Chaos gets nearly nose-to-nose with Meat. “You just cost us fuckin’ dollars to redo the kitchen, so you’d best make it worthwhile. We want smoked shit, and throw in some of those desserts that you and Mia have learned how to do. Then maybe we’ll not demolish your treehouse.”

Now that gets a reaction from Meat, he headbutts Chaos and although that had to hurt ‘cause his nose is bleeding, Chaos grins and laughs. Fuckin’ hell, he’s as damn crazy as Meat but in a quieter way. Stitch walks over to Chaos, grabs his nose, and we all hear the snap as he puts it back in place. Then calmly walks back to his seat and looks at me, waiting for what’s next. Fuckin’ crazy the lot of them!

The room is in chaos, with everyone laughing and throwing comments back and forth. “QUIET!” I yell, because it’s like organizing a kindergarten class.

“You got this PT?” I ask, and he gives me a grunt and nod, confirming he’ll deal with it.

“Next thing I want to cover is this second recovery truck. Have you found one yet? What about a new driver?” Giving my attention to Mensa.

“We have eyes on a recovery vehicle. It’s a business that’s closing down, but they are holding out for too much and we’re not paying over the fuckin’ value for a vehicle. I’m scanning the web for what we want, and I’ll find it. It’s just waiting for the right one. As for another driver, Web has found us one. He’s actually an old school friend of Web’s, so solid. He’ll start in two weeks and will give me and RoadRunner the time to be around the warehouse once Hammer moves out.” Mensa gives Hammer a look, and I grin when it’s noticeable Hammer isn’t moved by the glare.

“Yeah, I agree. Hammer, get your ass moving out of the warehouse and into the other one.”

Hammer gives me a grunt and nod, and I see his construction team grinning, before they realize they are going to have to work overtime to get it done. They can’t stop building the cabins or they’ll have brothers reaming their asses.

“Make sure you all keep your eye on Mia when I’m not around. She’s settling on the medication the doctor gave her for the sickness she’s suffering, but I want to be sure she’s okay. Oh, I think it’s because of what we are having this time, fuckin’ trouble, and I need some new weaponry,” I grumble, and it's more to myself if I'm honest.

“What do you mean, Pres?” Sting asks.

“We’re having a girl,” I state proudly, but know I need to weapon up. It’s becoming a bit of an obsession; I have to admit. But all I can think of is some stinking kid wanting to get his hands on my princess.

The foot stomping, whooping and congratulations settle, and the grins on all the brothers' faces tell me they totally understand what I’m thinking. But I get the confirmation they’ll watch Mia when I’m not around the clubhouse.

“Progress on the building for the cages, Rock.” Changing the subject as I want this meeting to move along.

“I have three new employees. Splash, who is a sprayer, he is living at the garage house and sharing a room with the other new man, Raw. Raw is a body guy and is going to be great for the place. The last one is Griff, after being discharged because he was injured while deployed, he’s moved around some. He came back because his grandmother, who brought him up, was dying. He’s fuckin’ massive, and you’ll see for yourselves. He was to start on Monday, but when I showed him around the place, he rolled his sleeves up and helped clean the place.” Rock flips the notebook he’s been looking at, then grins. “Oh, the new paint supplier, well, I’ve met her now, and she’s gorgeous. Doesn’t let me down at all with her product or service. She’ll be supplying us for years to come if she keeps her business.”

The interest from the single brothers is exactly what I expected, but it’s Jig who has the most intense look. I’ve spoken with Jig a few times and I know he’s past being ready to settle and that’s why he hounded Lina so much. He’s the one I’ll have to keep my eye on.

In the past, he had his hair dyed, so it was a dirty blonde, and he wore contacts that gave him blue eyes. It was his surfer phase, as he called it. I, however, talked him out of that and to be himself. Now, we see him as he really should be, with short black hair and hazel eyes. I’ve no idea why he didn’t want to look himself. We all go through fads, but I’m pleased he’s past it.

Rock speaks again. “I estimate the new building will be ready in three weeks. Hammer has his second crew coming in late this next week to put in windows, plumbing, and to check out the roof. The hydraulic lift will be here and fitted just before we are ready to open shop.”

“Okay, that’s all good. We need it up and running and starting to pay back the bank for the purchase and everything else. Maybe put your prices up a little when you take new jobs on?” I suggest, and Rock gives me a nod of agreement.

“What information did you get from Garrett?” I ask and Rock again speaks out, which has me smirking because I know Fist was supposed to be taking Destiny, but Rock found him a tighter timeline to finish the cage he’s working to keep him at the shop. That way, Rock got to spend time with Destiny, the sneaky fucker.

“He only told us what we already knew. Nothing he said was in addition to that. But Red did shock him with the news that Jerica isn’t using the savings, but living off the money Red has been paying into their day-to-day bank account. He was fuckin’ angry and thought Jerica was taking the piss out of Red.

“I have the feeling the relationship between Red and Jerica hasn’t been a good one. But not because of anything Red has done. It may be jealousy or some shit, but I didn’t ask and nobody told, so I left it alone.”

Rock isn’t going to be having warm feelings toward Jerica and in his position, I’m sure I wouldn’t either. Rock continues and we all listen. “Garrett told Red to jack the job at the Fire Department and continue with her own business, which is working alongside authors, I’m not sure what you call it, but she earns a decent living as she’s apparently fuckin’ good at it.”

“Okay, so he’s a dead-end for what we need. Clay, Dice, one of you fill in what happened and what you found out before you pissed off the locals.” Smirking as I look at them both and their blackened eyes.

Dice stands and gives a dramatic cough. “Well, people. As you may be aware, Clay and myself were tasked by the Pres to reconnoiter Stone and his operation. While undertaking said task we discovered some interesting intel.”

“Dice! Take the plum out of your mouth and get on with it before the ‘Pres, here’ kicks your ass royally.” Where the fuck does this shit keep coming from? I can’t blame Meat and Star for everything, as much as I’d like to.

“Yes, Pres. There’s a ranch outside of town with a small private airstrip. We’ve seen some of Stone’s gang head there in a van. They arrive, and when a plane lands, we've seen them loading women onboard, the plane leaves and then the van leaves. I don’t think the ranch is involved as such. It appears that they ‘rent out’ the landing strip and that’s the sum total of their involvement. Whether they know that they’re aiding and abetting a criminal activity, I can’t say.

“The women that they are dealing, were originally skanks, prostitutes, or homeless. People with no families, that wouldn’t be missed. Now they appear to have run out of options and are taking women off the street, regardless. While we were there, we heard about a woman named Maggie Benson who has disappeared. She was a hospital worker who set off for work early one morning and hasn’t been seen, or heard from, since.” Dice takes his seat and I scan the room.

“Target, this sounds like a job for you and Chaos. Get some recon arranged and fill in the gaps in our intel. How often are these flights? Where do they keep the women and for how long? How many women are we talking about? Forest, see what you can dig up for us, too. There must be missing person reports for at least some of these women.

“Look at it this way, brothers. Some of you are ready to find your Ol’ Lady. Any one of these women could be that person. Let’s get this shut down and if in the process this Stone character gets killed, or falls into a gator pond, all the better for society.” Slamming my gavel down concludes church and I go in search of my woman. I need to have a heart-to-heart with her about this situation. She needs to be armed at all times and she can make sure the girl-gang are fully briefed too.

Walking into the twins' playroom, I give Mia a set look, one she knows will mean she has to listen. Amelia is sitting on the easy chair and holding Carter, who is fast asleep. “You two listen up. We have an issue a few towns over where a gang is snatching women off the street. You go nowhere on your own, and you carry your weapons. Amelia, I know you’ve been taught by Meat to fire a weapon, so you will carry from this point onwards. You sort out Bitty and Sybil. Mia, you sort out the girl-gang. I’m not having any of you snatched.”

Mia and Amelia are looking at me, each other, then back again. But they have both gotten a serious look on their faces. Giving me a nod before they were both on the move. Twins handed to me, one in each fuckin’ arm as they storm out to do what I’ve asked. Sighing, I kiss each of my boys and allow my mind to think about what is happening and how we are going to stop it.