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“Everyone in?” I glance around the table, noting that Hardy, AKA X, isn’t present. Brother did it and left for the Anchorage, Alaska Chapter. Good for him. Prodigy is back after spending some time out west looking after his mother. Crawl slips in at the last second.
East gives me a nod.
“Right. Where are we with this Cloud Nine business?”
“More reports of bodies turning up. Shit is hitting our streets hard. Lost another dancer from the Kitty Kat. She had two kids.” Hound shakes his head.
“Banks, see to it them kids are good.”
“Will do.”
“Anyone know where them Dry Ridge punks have set up shop?”
Crawl shrugs. There’s no point in asking Prodigy being he hasn’t been around.
“Not yet.” Viking sniffs. “Got my feelers out to the guys at the gym.”
“Need this shit settled.” I jerk my chin up when I realize I’m down another man. “Where’s Holy?”
Sandman grins and rubs his jaw. “Got a hit on his phantom. Went after her.”
“Right,” I mutter. Few months back I sent Viking and Holy after my niece and she gave them the slip. Holy takes it personal or some shit. “Call him back.”
“Last I spoke with him he said he’d be back in time for the wedding. Also told me to make sure I had a design ready for his brand,” Roane informs me.
“Shit. Bastard went and fell in love.” I massage my temples. Not even laid eyes on my blood and that little prick has already laid claim. Fuckin’ hell. “Best see to it you do then. Back to business. Anyone sees them sorry fucks pushing that shit in my town don’t take them out. Get eyes on’em, eventually it’ll lead us to the source. Those shit for brains has gotten smarter. They gotta have someone else bringing it in for them. I want to know who.”
I slam my gavel and excuse all my men except my VP.
East leans in. “You ready for this weekend?”
“Been waiting twenty years for it. I’m past ready.”
“Got the prospect getting the spare rooms ready for our guests. Should start arriving Friday.”
“Good. Good. Make sure the bar is stocked and Pam has extra food on reserve.” I pull out the blunt I’ve been saving and give it a sniff. “Wylla Mae say anything about this girl’s night?”
“What about it?”
I shrug. “What kind of entertainment they got lined up?” I fire up that blunt, suck in a heavy pull, smoke moves through my lungs, and I hold it in then exhale slowly, before passing it off to my son-in-law.
“Usual. Strippers and shit.”
“You good with that?”
“Fuck no. My woman doesn’t need to stare at no dick but mine. All due respect.”
“She’s grown. And hell, I like knowing she’s with you. Know you treat her right.”
“You know the men expect you to throw one hell of a party. I got Link and Viking putting it together. Tomorrow night. You gotta make an appearance. Show’em you ain’t growing soft and pussy whipped.”
Fucking hell. Who knows what them dickholes got planned? As for being pussy whipped, I know what the fuck I got, and I’m not going to mess it up. Got my woman. My dream girl in my bed every night. Finally have a relationship with my daughter after all this time. Got a granddaughter who means the world to me.
Got a VP worth a damn at my side. Everything is coming together. The club. My life. “You keeping the baby while this shit goes down?”
“Yeah, Link, Roane, and me are on baby duty. Meeting up at Link’s. You’re more than welcome to hang but I don’t think milk and cookies is your thing.”
“No, but it could be if Lex gives me what I want.”
“She still hardballing you about this baby business?”
“Fuck if I know. Woman says one thing and does another.”
“You think a baby is a good idea, especially right now with this Cloud Nine and Dry Ridge Sinner business?”
“Not putting my life on hold again. I know what I want. Grab Hound. Let’s pay our buddy Ollie a visit.”
East shakes his head and puts the blunt out. He goes to hand it to me, but I shake my head.
“Leave it for next time.”
I go on out to climb on my Road King with East and Hound behind me. Ollie is no friend, but we have an understanding. He can sell his pills long as he doesn’t deal to my men or kids. If anyone has a line on this Cloud Nine, it’s him.
I ride up to the gate and Ollie’s man gives me a chin lift.
“Boss expecting you?”
“Nope.”
The dumbfuck speaks into his walkie talkie, “Got some bastards here to see you.”
“Put’em through,” Ollie’s gruff voice rings out.
He knows we’re an enemy he doesn’t need. We ride through the maze of crushed cars and piles of scrap metal, weaving through the wreckage and debris until we reach his trailer in the back.
Ollie sits in his broken-down recliner weighing a good three fifty. Bet he’s not seen his dick since he hit puberty. A shotgun propped up next to him and a pistol in his lap. You don’t sell drugs unless you’re willing to pay the costs. Spitting a wad of tobacco onto the cement porch, he shifts to sit straighter and taller. “What brings you boys by? You come to scrap them scooters?”
Hound growls.
“We still good on our agreement?”
“Not sold to your men or any school kids if that’s what you’re asking.”
“What about Cloud Nine? You been running that?”
“Nope.”
“You know who’s bringing it in? Gotta be bad for your bottom line having that competition.”
His beady eyes narrow. “I don’t like your tone.”
“Yeah, and I just plain ol’ don’t like you, but I tolerate your presence.”
“We got a problem between us?”
“Not as long as you remember our arrangement. You start pushing Cloud Nine then I’ll burn this shit hole you call home to the ground with you in it. Got me?”
“Don’t know shit all about no Cloud Nine. I hear something I’ll give you a ring.”
“You do that.”
“Now if that concludes are business get the fuck off my property. Don’t bode well for business you sniffing around my lot.”
“Let’s go,” I tell Hound and East. We ride out. East veers off to go home. Hound stays with me till we get to the Devil’s Playground. “Prospect,” I boom as I walk through the door.
“Yeah, Prez?”
“Time to prove your worth. Head to the Kitty Kat and talk to the girls. Find out what they know about the dead girl and where she was scoring. I want names. Get with Viking. I want a pop-up drug test done on every single one of them. Any of them try to get out of it tell them to pack their shit and get gone. And, Rio?”
“What?”
“You aren’t there to stare at no tits and ass. You fuck this up and you’re good as dead.”
“You can count on me.”
“Good that’s what I like to hear, son. Now get the lead out.”