CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

-:- AXEL -:-

Having listened to the officers' reports, I give Beer a chin lift. He’s organizing the road trip, which I’ll not be attending due to Mia getting nearer her time at that point. No way will I leave for a week and not be around when she has our daughter.

“What’s the news on another recovery truck?” I ask, looking at the three brothers that run that business.

RoadRunner speaks before the other two get a chance by the look on their faces. “Nothing. Each time we find one, it’s sold before we can get it. But we will keep looking.”

“What about just buying a new one and be done with it?” I state because we have enough money to do that without all this fucking around.

Mensa sits up straighter in his seat, and grins from ear-to-ear. “Yeah, let’s do that and Scott can have the old one.”

RoadRunner laughs, and Web shakes his head at them both, but responds. “Okay, we’ll look at new ones, then I’ll report back to you, Pres. The old one is in good repair, we keep it maintained and Grease looks over it every six months, regardless of it showing any signs of trouble, or not. As Mensa says, Scott, our new driver, can take over that one, and he’s proving to be a good man. He’s fitting in well, and out on a recovery at the moment.”

“How’s the merchandise doing, Mensa?” Rock asks.

“It’s doing well. Jo asked me about doing her some, but I’m not sure we have the time, so she’s going to check with Tilly to see if Drew can help and get a discount.”

Rock sighs. “I was going to see if you could do some for the shop. We’ve had a few ask us for merch.”

“What if I teach the Three Stooges to do it once I have set up the images that you want printed on things? Amelia would easily be able to do it. She’s worked a high-end job, and she gets involved in everything around here. It would give her responsibility and she’d love doing it, I’m sure.” Mensa looks at me for my take on it.

“How about Specs takes up the merchandise side of things, and he, with TwoCents and PT, set up a room here to store and have the equipment Amelia will need? That way, she’s on hand if Mia or the club needs her for anything. You know all the Ol’ Ladies would jump in to help too when they are around.” Now, I’m thinking that’s a good idea and will get Amelia out of Meat’s way. My eyes flick to Meat and he’s giving me a look that says ‘Good move’ , and I can’t help the tick in the corner of my mouth, but control the grin that wants to appear.

“I can do that, Pres. I’ll organize it with TwoCents and PT, we’ll speak with Amelia and get things rolling.” Specs has his laptop open and typing as he speaks.

TwoCents and PT have small pencils in their hands and notepads. I turn my head slowly, looking at BS, who is grinning like a fuckin’ fool, knowing full-well he has everyone doing this small pencil shit.

“When are you moving into the warehouse, Hammer?” I ask, because this was discussed last week.

“We’ve moved everything, finished it late yesterday. I gave the keys and the security information to Web, so the recovery business can move in when they want,” Hammer replies.

“Okay then, that’s another thing done. Make sure you get everything moved from here. The compound needs clearing and make sure you leave it clean.”

“Yes, Pres, we’ll not leave a mess anywhere,” Web replies, and I turn to Rock to ask my next question.

“Rock, how did Destiny get on at the range yesterday?” I can see Chaos and Target looking over with amusement on their faces.

“Well, let’s say she’s not got a good eye for direction,” Rock responds carefully. Chaos and Target bust out laughing, and Chaos regales us with the fact she can’t shoot for shit.

“I’ve never seen Winter run so fast. She took cover while shouting at the top of her voice for Destiny to stop firing. But, with the earmuffs on, she couldn’t hear and just kept going until she’d emptied the weapon. Honest, there were fuckin’ bullets flying everywhere, and it’s a good thing we had no one else working the lanes at that time.” Chaos wipes his eyes of the tears of laughter he has streaming down his face.

Target is holding his stomach while giving Rock pitying looks. “Rock, if I were you, I’d give her a shotgun and show her how to use it as a club.” Now that sets everyone off laughing, and I’ve got to admit I have to chuckle along with them.

Rock has a smile on his face, although he’s trying to hide it. “I’ll teach her myself. She’ll be okay. I’ll bring her to the compound to use our targets.”

“Well, let me know when she’s coming, and I’ll make sure I’m inside the clubhouse,” Mav laughs, along with most of the brothers.

“Moving along. Grease wants to purchase the Chevrolet Apache that’s covered in the cages building. Does anyone have a problem with that?” I ask, and I know they won’t give a fuck about it, but it has to be asked. With all the nods that they don’t care, I ask the question. “Sell the vehicle to Grease. I need to see a show of hands.” Every hand apart from that of Grease is held up and I give a nod. “Sold. Grease sort it with TwoCents.”

“Thanks brothers. Raven’s gonna love that pickup, we’ll give it a service and take it in to Hot Hogs for the respray. Splash already knows what I’m thinking,” Grease smiles.

Rock speaks up at this point. “Grease, Splash wants to use a before and after of the pickup as an advertisement on the new doors. You okay with that?”

“Yeah, no problem, but he can’t do it until I’ve handed it over to Raven.”

I know how much he loves Raven, but you can see how much she loves him, too. They are one of the couples that has the brothers wanting their own woman. Well, I say one of them because when you see the jackrabbits, and I mean Jo and Knuckles, anyone would want that in their relationship. Those two can’t keep their hands off each other.

“Next is Eden’s punishment. Yes, I know it was annulled but I feel as Mia fulfilled her punishment so should Eden.” I look at Silver who I see squirm a little, but he knows she can’t get away from it. “Harrison is two months old now, so Eden has recovered enough. Starting Monday Eden takes over Club Whisky as manager, and you Silver will stay home and be baby-daddy.”

Grinning, Silver responds, “That’s cool with me Pres, I love looking after Harrison. Until he shits that is, because that kid stinks.” We all chuckle because we’ve smelled that one’s ass when he’s been at the clubhouse, and we all thought the twins stank, but fuck me, Harrison is worse.

“Do you want me to inform Eden?” I ask Silver, but he gives me a shake of the head.

“No, I’ll tell her Pres.”

“Okay. She has a month to finish Silver, the same as Mia had to be president,” I add, making sure he knows how long.

“No problem, Pres,” Silver again acknowledges.

“Right, any news on the Stone gang front, or on this missing Maggie Benson?” I’m worried the gang is already in town and if they are, we need to clean up the cockroaches.

Buzz speaks out. “I’ve heard nothing. My contacts say they have heard small rumors about a new gang forming in the town, but nothing concrete as yet.”

“I heard Maggie Benson was snatched on her way to work, thrown in the back of a blacked-out van, and it was done so fast nobody could have stopped it. My homeless contacts are keeping eyes and ears open, and will report quickly with anything they find out.

“I’ve told all my contacts if they are scared or need to get away from anything bad, they contact Nell. She’s happy to take in anyone that needs safety as she has all the rooms empty. Let’s face it, she’s not a boarding house, it’s a front. But she’s good to have anyone that needs protection,” Target fills us in.

“Good. Are all the brothers good with us helping financially to support any of Target and Buzz’s contacts?” Getting raised hands from everyone gives me a good feeling. Not a brother questioned helping someone in need, proud of them, and I can feel that pride in my chest. “Any news Rock, from Jerica?”

Rock looks over at me, and I can see it’s not his happy face. “Yeah, she contacted Red, told her she needed her to pay up more as she needed cash. Red told her no and to get a job, then blocked her. That’s the bones of it, anyway.”

“Right. I spoke to Ryker of the Red Dogs MC and asked him to look for Jerica. Oh, they found her. She’s living in a nice motel, watching TV and getting meals delivered. No sign of her getting a fuckin’ job or moving out of the motel. I’ve told Ryker to grab the bitch and get her to their clubhouse. My question now is do we bring her here, or leave her with Ryker, pay him for having her or owe him?”

“If I’m honest, I don’t want her around here. But I know we have to consider Jessica. How about we speak with Garrett and ask him what he wants us to consider?” Rock suggests.

“Yeah, we can do that,” Fist agrees.

Heads nod, and it’s decided we’ll ask Garrett what he would like us to do, but only take it as something to consider. “What do you think Destiny will want us to do?”

“She’ll probably say bring her here, but only because of Jessica. I know she isn’t wanting more to do with her at this point. She’s not happy that Jerica didn’t ask how Jessica was when they last spoke. She was only concerned about getting her hands on more green. Told Red to get paying into that day-to-day account again. Fuckin’ bitch, she knows Red was paying her salary for the Fire Department into that account, and is paying for Jessica’s upkeep. I don’t want her here, so I vote no,” Rock rants, and is getting angrier the more he says.

“I vote no, too.” Clay shakes his head with some disgust showing.

‘No’ votes are given around the room, even though at this point I hadn’t asked for any, but the brothers are letting me know they don’t want her, so that is how it’ll be. “Okay, brothers. We’ll let Garrett know where Jerica is, and with who, but we are not willing to take her. Jessica stays with Destiny until such time we know she’ll be safe with Jerica, or Garrett is out of the slammer.”

“I’ve had words with someone I’ve known for years. He’s a lawyer, and he’s looking into Garrett’s case for me. Seeing if he can find a reason to get him off the charges since this Stone character is a gang leader. He has high hopes he can get him released, but I didn’t want to say anything until I knew more,” Brag informs us all, and I give him the look that tells him he’s in deep shit for keeping this quiet.

“If Garrett gets released early, he’ll move his family away from here. He’ll move states away, I’m sure. That’ll break Red’s heart because she loves Jessica like her own, rather than a niece,” Rock mumbles.

“It’s his right to do what is the best for his family, Rock. But I know what you mean. It would be something Gemmy would find hard to swallow,” Stitch adds, giving Rock a look of understanding.

“Okay. I want you all to get yourselves seen in town. Stick to two of you or more. Any sign of this gang I want to know. BS, Wings, Chaos and Target, be ready in case we need to do some cleaning up of vermin. We don’t need vermin in town. Buzz speak to Nell and tell her the gators need to go hungry for a while because she may have incoming.” I can see them all perking up, and I can’t help but sigh. They all miss the military and the rush they get from being deployed. Of course, they are going to go out and stir shit so they can take out some of these fuckers. I know it, and they know I know it.

I say nothing because what’s the point! I slam the gavel down and walk out of church.