CHAPTER THIRTY

-:- DESTINY -:-

“Come on, Jessica. Sit still while Cookie comes to eat with us.” For the third time, I’m trying to settle Jessica. She is so excited to be at Club Whisky again and eat with Cookie.

“I’m trying Aunt D. I’m just excited,” Jessica trills.

Cookie walks over to us a few minutes later with a large tray, which is laden with basket meals. I quickly stand and help her empty the tray onto the table and smile at the excited comments Jessica is making.

We sit and eat talking about everyday things when Jessica mentions Acton, the bully from school. Cookie stops eating and gives a look I’m not sure of.

“He has been in the room on his own a lot,” Jessica smiles.

“You shouldn’t enjoy other people being punished, Jessica. It’s not a nice thing to do.” I know how she feels, mind you, but I don’t want to encourage her to think it’s alright to get satisfaction from other kids being punished.

“His mother came in here a few times and she was a nightmare. She complained about everything. She was trying to get her meals for free, but it didn’t work. After the fourth time she did it, the bartenders got their heads together and told Silver they were not willing to serve her anymore, so she got banned from coming in.”

Cookie grins from ear-to-ear, and when a giggle escapes, Jessica busts out laughing, eyes sparkling, which of course has Cookie laughing along with her.

One by one, the Ol’ Ladies from the MC walk into the club, and give me and Cookie a huge smile. Dragging tables and chairs to create one large table, they then take a seat.

Helen, one of the servers, walks over, greets everyone and takes meal orders. It seems everyone knows what they want without looking at the menu.

Jo has taken a seat next to me and gives me a huge smile. “It’s a night that we all are feeling a little nervous. How are you feeling?”

“I’m not sure why I should be nervous?” Frowning as I reply.

“Well, the men are over in Bensonville. They are aiming to find out what the heck is happening with that gang and stop all the women from being taken,” Jo says, as she gives me a serious look.

“Oh. I didn’t know that was tonight. I remember Rock saying something, but I’m positive he didn’t give me details.” I’m trying to think where he said he would be tonight. “If I remember rightly, he told me he was out with the brothers. Nothing about going to do what you are telling me.”

Raven, who is next to Jo, says she is annoyed that Winter and Star are not here. “I bet those two are up to no good.”

Carrie laughs. “Oh, you can guarantee those two are up to something. We should have got involved. We have all been trained in hand-to-hand combat, got our carry permits, too.”

“No chance of sneaking away now. You see, Forest has put three deputies in this place. That’s your fault Heather, you should have got your man pegged down.” Kya looks around and gives a finger wave to the deputies with a small smile.

“You’ll make them suspicious if you start that shit, Kya,” Heather says. “I tried to find out more about what’s happening, but of course, they all closed ranks. Didn’t you hear anything, Gemmy? You work at the Sheriff’s Office?”

“Not a thing. They were all closing doors and remaining tight-lipped when I was around. I even asked Zack if he heard anything and he said no.” Gemmy places her chin on her hand while her elbow is resting on the table. “I bet Mia is pulling her hair out. She’s at the clubhouse, don’t forget. Baby Mommas weren’t allowed to come to the club. Mia, Eden and Tilly are all under ‘house arrest’ until the men are done with their fun stuff.”

“I’m not sure ‘fun stuff’ is how I’d describe women being taken off the street.” Giving Gemmy a serious look, I then frown as I look around the table at all the other women.

“I meant the fun stuff as being getting into fights with Stone’s gang. The men will be serious about the cause, but they will be more than a match for the assholes.” Gemmy snips.

Sherman appears at our table with a tray of drinks. “Stay at the table and stay alert. If you need the bathroom, you get a deputy to go with you. Do nothing alone. We have some visitors to the club who may not be welcome. See those six guys over my shoulder by the door? They’ve been searched but we’re thinking they could be with Stone’s gang.” Leaving the tray, he heads back for the bar.

Cookie looks from me to Jessica and suggests they bake their cookies. Nodding at Cookie, I silently thank her for getting Jessica to safety.

As I’m in the best position to see the guys, Raven asks what they look like. Not being used to observing people discreetly, one of them catches me looking. He gives me a crude wink and an even uglier leer. Nudging his friends, he nods in our direction.

Explaining this to the other women, Raven wants to swap places with me so she can see more of what’s happening. Once she’s got a good look at the men, she lets all the women know what she suspects. “Sherman is probably right. They look like lowlifes that would live off prostitutes. We need to be one step ahead of them.”

Gemmy looks around the table before giving an evil grin. “That’s a great idea, Raven. Let’s be one step ahead. Let’s get the jump on them before they know what’s hit them. Why should our men have all the fun? We out-number these goons and we sure as hell outsmart them.”

Heather and Kya soon join in with the planning, including Sherman and Fay. Kya asks each of us what we are carrying in the way of weapons. When she’s spoken to each of us around the table, she lists what we have, and I’m the only one without a weapon. I have pepper spray and a taser mind you. Raven and Kya both have tasers, too.

Ruling out weapons for use in the club, it's decided that we need to get a couple of them separated so we can taser their asses. As much as I want to be in on this, I’m ruled out as being too inexperienced, and Jo is definitely pissed when she also gets told to stay at the table with me because she’s better in closets with Knuckles than any kind of fighting.

Raven, Heather and Kya all take a taser and head for the bathroom. Kya stops off at the bar. Three of the goons follow Raven and Heather into the corridor, where Kya drops in behind them. Sherman and Fay, one of the servers, quickly stand across the entrance to the corridor and starts an argument, effectively blocking out anyone seeing what may be happening in there.

When the other three goons turn to see what's happening, Carrie says in a loud voice “diversion,” slaps Jo and then screams, “BITCH!”

Jo looks absolutely horrified and I scream at Carrie, “leave my friend out of this, you skank!” and launch myself over the tables at her. Trying desperately not to laugh at Jo’s shocked expression as Gemmy wrestles her to the ground, me and Carrie rough and tumble across the club, attempting to make our fight look as realistic as we can.

Suddenly, Kya and Raven are pulling us apart. Heather is trying to say something but is laughing so hard we can’t understand a damn word. Once we’re all back at the table and the club has returned to something like normality, we hear what happened.

Kya explains, “As soon as I saw Sherman block the corridor, I just said, ‘it’s time ladies.’ We all three zapped one of the idiots each. They flopped about on the ground like damn fishes taking their dying breath. I didn’t expect one to piss his pants, and I’m pleased he had clothes on because he would have sprayed around like an out-of-control geyser. When you guys started brawling, Dep, Sober and Hands grabbed the other three, and dragged them out the back, cuffing them and throwing them into the back of their cruisers.”

Heather looks at us and starts to laugh again. “We were going to leave you brawling and see how long you’d keep it up, but Sherman told us to get a grip and stop you. Jo was desperately slapping at Gemmy in such a girly way that Gemmy didn’t dare hit her back in case she knocked her out.”

Jo pipes up, “If I could have got one of my shoes off, I’d have shown her a few things, I can tell you!”

Everyone laughs at that, but it’s completely lost on me. Gemmy fills me in, briefly, on what happened to her and Knuckles and how she and her shoe became ‘a weapon of mass destruction.’

Nell appears at the table and we all scooch around to make room for her. “I’ve come to collect your trash, so I thought I’d have a drink with you before I get back. Seems you’ve been almost as busy as your men this evening.”

Happy that we’ve done our bit and Gemmy has had her ‘fun stuff’ , we chat about everything and nothing. When Kya mentions riding her hog and Gemmy compares it to riding her trike, my ears prick up. Learning that all the Ol’ Ladies have a hog or trike is intriguing. I’ve never thought of having a hog, and if truth be told, I don’t think of myself as that good a driver.

When both Kya and Gemma promise to give me a ride on each of their machines, I’m a little apprehensive. Hearing Raven has a hog and a pickup truck has me a bit jealous. Best of both worlds and the confidence to go with it. I think back to how I stood up to Jerica and wonder if maybe I should take ‘having a backbone’ to the next level. I need to have a conversation with Rock about this transport issue and get his thoughts on it.

Cookie and Jessica reappear from the kitchen, each carrying a tray of cookies. Placing their respective trays on the table, they look at us expectantly.

Jessica explains that there are four different flavor cookies. We have to blind taste them and rate them in order of favorite. Once everyone has given their opinion, Cookie and Jessica retrieve the trays and head back to the kitchen.

As they walk away I overhear Cookie say, “I can’t believe you got first and second. I might as well give up cooking altogether and be an editor for the damn cookbook you said you want to write!”

Jessica’s childish laughter echoes round the club as she says, “I don’t know what an editor does. You write your book and I’ll write mine. Maybe you could make yours a children's book to try to beat me.”

There’s a loud metallic clang as Cookie drops her tray and chases Jessica from the club floor and into the kitchen shouting, “Come here, you cheeky little monster.”