Friction (Oath Keepers MC Book 5) (22 page)

“She ain’t doin’ better with the medicine?”

“Well they claim it’s working the course, but she’s dropped so much weight, and she was always a skinny thing anyhow. She’s lost all her color and hair, always hooked up to one machine or another, she constantly talks about wanting to give up. I swear if something happens to her, I won’t make it. I was so stupid and stubborn for all these years, and now the one person I’ve loved since I was a kid, is suffering, no matter what I do.”

“I’m sorry, brother.” I stare at the floor, because I don’t really know what to say to make it any better for him. Not only is it Mona, but he lost his closest friend a few weeks ago, I feel horrible for the guy.

“Listen to me, Twist, don’t ever let someone or something stand in your way when it comes to the woman you love. I remember when I first found you; I said to myself, this man is going to kill himself if I don’t do something. Now for the first time in years, it’s like you’ve finally woken up, whatever has given you that hope, hold onto it, and don’t fuck it up.”

“I got you, boss. I don’t plan on lettin’ anything take them away from me,” I reply, referring to Sadie and Cyle.

“You coming back for her was the first step, she’s a good woman, the way she looks after you and that new baby, she’ll love you with everything she has if you let her. I was so stupid and blind not to see it back in my time.”

“I’mma tell her my shit, just not yet, she needs to concentrate on Cyle. I’ve told her a little already.”

“No,” he shakes his head, peering at me, “no waiting. You get it out and let her help heal you, ‘cause a good woman will do that for you, they’ll take away the pain and replace it with love.”

“All right, I’ll talk things over with her.”

Prez is the one man in this place I respect enough to really listen and take his words seriously on shit. Even with him lying to the club awhile back and keeping Mona’s sickness from us, he still holds my admiration. The man’s shoulders are full, yet he always manages a way to figure it all out.

“Let’s get to Church; I want to hear all about what Ares has for us.”

“Bet.” I follow him, ready to find out as well.

Broken crayons still color.

-Unknown

Church…

The gavel slams and
it’s kind of strange seeing Prez in his spot. I’ve grown used to Ares running things around here lately. It’s weird how you start expecting and trusting someone else without even realizing it.

He takes a drink of his bottled water as everyone quiets.

“Well, let’s have it, Ares,” Prez orders, giving Ares the floor to fill us all in on what happened in California.

“Right. By the time we made it there, the Nomads had torched the entire fucking clubhouse,” Ares grumbles irritated.

The Nomad, Viking, stands. “You told us to take care of it!” he angrily grits out. “No blow back on the Texas chapter I believe were your words, weren’t they? Cough up and admit, you’re glad you didn’t have to hear those men screaming as they fuckin’ burned!” His voice gets angrier as he stares the Prez down. “You call this an MC, you shouldn’t have left a pussy in charge while you were gone!”

Ares thrashes his chair back suddenly, standing in a rush, ready to square off with the blond giant of a man, “The fuck you call me, boy?” he roars.

“P.U.S.S.Y.” He spells out slowly so everyone can hear each consonant, “Motherfucker, you were happy to sit back when we handed the little bitches over to you, now you want to act like we were out of turn! Grow some fucking nuts and man up!”

At that, Ares launches over the table in a rush toward the Nomad, everyone jumping out of the way quickly as he throws himself over the vast object, getting his hands around Viking’s throat. He grips tightly, applying pressure and attempting to strangle the big Viking to death.

The men struggle to take each other to the ground; both evenly matched in size—the only thing that’s saving Viking from Ares’ wrath.

Viking punches the back of Ares’ head and at the same time, his forehead flies forward, smashing into Ares’ nose, catching him off guard and sending blood down his face.

“Arggggg!” Ares lets loose a roar of anger and slams Viking into the wall, driving his fist into his stomach a few times, on a mission to do some damage.

Prez wolf whistles and yells, “Get them the fuck apart, now goddamn it! They’re going to fucking kill each other! Holy fuck!”

The Nomads sit still, not making a move to break it up; it’s not their style to stop a fight. Hell, it’s not ours either but we’re a part of the same club and Ares fights to murder as does this Nomad he’s squaring off with.

I know I’ll probably get hit, but jump into the middle like a dumbass regardless, Spin and 2 Piece doing their best to tear them apart as well. Prez hollers out the door and a few beats later, Shooter and Scratch run in to help us get Ares and Viking apart.

The guys are like fuckin’ pissed off horses or some shit, making us normal men feel small. I’m actually six foot one and they make me feel like a damn dwarf. Cain keeps his distance, not getting involved since he’s so close to Ares.

Prez slams his palms on the table, the noise echoing loudly in its wake. “You do not show your ass in church! Now both of you shut the fuck up and sit the fuck down, it’s not a time to be measuring cock size, for fuck’s sake!”

Everyone scoots their chairs back, Ares panting and glowering at Viking, while Viking reties his hair in a bun, taking his seat against the wall. The prospects stand next to the door looking unsure what to do next.

“We’ll come back to the Cali shit in a bit. Scratch, leave us.” Prez gestures to the door.

Scratch nods, closing the door after he leaves.

“Really quick, I wanna have a vote on Shooter. That way if he becomes a full member he can hear what we discuss. If not, I’ll send him out and we’ll continue.”

Shooter’s eyebrows shoot up and he stands a little straighter, awaiting the outcome of his immediate future.

“I’ve wanted nothing more since I started this club with my good friend Smiles, may he rest in peace, than for men to join in the ranks. I believe Shooter makes a good candidate to be a patched member based on what all Ares filled me in on. Shooter stood strong when the brothers needed him in this last run to fix shit in South Texas, I vote yay.”

Prez goes around the table, not including the Nomads since they aren’t full-time members of our chapter. The brothers each vote yay, knowing Shooter deserves the patch, that he’s earned it by having our backs and never folding.

“Good. Son, take a seat against the wall and sit in. I’ll have London get your patches, it may take a little while but eventually we’ll get them to ya. Smiles would be happy knowing we’ve gotten a new member.” Prez grins.

Shooter nods and Prez turns back to us, “Now, let’s try this shit again.” He focuses on our Enforcer. “Cain, tell us what happened?”

“Sure. We met with Ace and some of the other Death Chasers. They had already secured Blaze, the Fists VP, which we brought back with us. When we found the Nomads, everything was already gone. The clubhouse was burned down to the ground along with any men that were inside so we were unable to bring any others back with us.”

“Any sign of the club’s Enforcer, Ghost?”

“No. The Death Chasers hadn’t seen him and Blaze wouldn’t give up anything right away. We thought maybe with a little bit of time, he’d give in and share a location with us.”

“Was Ghost with the others?” Prez looks over at Exterminator.

“Nope, didn’t see that fucker anywhere.”

“Shit.”

At that my blood boils. I should have gone with them; maybe I could have gotten to him. Sadie’s no better off now than she was before, but now with a kid in tow. His kid. No, Cyle is mine, just as much as Sadie is.

“Where’s Blaze?” Prez inquires.

“He’s in the shed.” Cain nods toward the left, where the shed’s located out back.

“Good, maybe we can get some information out of him then, leave him be for now, but eventually we’ll open him up from his belly to his head if we have to and tie his intestines into knots. I’m not above torture if it’ll find us Ghost. I want this club dealt with and the threats over with from them.” He takes another drink, not faced with the gruesome image he just spoke of and then looks around, “Anything else?”

I rap my knuckles on the table, pushing my anxiety to the side. “Yeah. I have something to discuss with y’all,” I speak up.

Everyone’s gaze turns to me and Prez cocks his eyebrow, “You’re not torturing Blaze right now.” He grumbles and I huff, irritated that everyone’s always telling me no at this table. It’s not what I wanted to talk about so I charge forward and get out what I want to say.

“Sadie’s my bitch, I’m claimin’ her, I don’t give a fuck what any of you pricks gotta say ‘bout it, she’s mine, ain’t nothin’ to it.” I scowl down at the table as my fingertips tap away at a melody running through my head, ready for the brothers to start yelling and protesting.

I’m surprised my daughter isn’t talking to me like crazy right now. She’s been pretty quiet and it’s throwing me for a loop.

It’s silent for what feels like an eternity so I glance up, to find everyone looking at me intently.

“The fuck?” I frown.

Prez gets a grin on his face and looks around, “Everyone hear Twist?” The brothers nod and Prez fully smiles, “Guess Twist has himself an ol’ Lady and this club just got a little bigger, make sure you show her the respect she deserves being an ‘ol lady.”

2 Piece glares at me for a moment before turning away. He’ll have something to say later, I’m sure. I’m tossed off my rocker though by no one talkin’ shit or 2 Piece not trying to attack me for claiming his sister.

“We’ll discuss business about a new Road Captain down the road.”

My fingers tap quicker, losing my beat and Prez calls an end to church, slamming the gavel down.

“So I don’t forget,” he says before we all depart, “we’ll have a barbecue to celebrate as soon as this shit’s figured out with the remaining Iron Fists.”

Cain chortles, “Hell yeah, my ol’ lady will cook up some good shit. Thank God she’s knocked up, we can finally eat pasta again, I was sick of sneaking to Olive Garden for lunch. I’m hoping the new baby doesn’t come before Christmas so she’ll keep the cooking and baking, but I doubt it.”

I snicker a little, thinking of Cupcake making him eat nothing but whole grains and vegetables. She’s so gorgeous, she can eat whatever she wants, but women like that are stubborn.

“Good, she’ll keep bringing me cookies for awhile then,” I comment and Cain nods. He gets it, he’s over protective of London, just as we all are when it comes to our women, but to me Cupcake is like my own sister. I’d happily slit someone’s throat if they fucked with her.

“Brother.” 2 Piece catches up to me in the bar, just as I was already expecting him to do.

“Yep?”

“We need to discuss this announcement you made, layin’ claim to Sadie.”

“What about it?”

“You gonna stick around, even though she’s got a kid? I don’t want you taking off again like last time you got pissed.”

“Who do you think that baby’s named after?” I counter and his forehead crinkles, as he thinks.

“That’s you, brother?”

“Sure the fuck is.”

“Shit. I guess she’s made up her mind then. She know you’re making her an ol’ lady yet?”

“Nah, but she will later.”

“Don’t fuck with her, Twist, I will kill you, brother or not, I raised that girl.”

“She ain’t a girl 2, she’s a grown fuckin’ woman, and yeah, I get you. I won’t be hurtin’ her and that kid’s already mine.”

“Good deal, man.” He smirks and saunters off to the bar. I don’t know if that was his way of giving me his approval or not, but for the time being, I’ll take it.

Just thinking of Sadie brings a craving to me, begging to be fulfilled. It reminds me of how I get when I know I’m going to end someone’s life, the rush, the crazed want to snuff out a fucker’s life that ain’t worth two shits.

I catch her in the hall on her way somewhere. “Where you goin’, Sunshine?”

“Twist!” She utters breathily, “Hi. I was about to check on my laundry.”