| |
Beast
Standing to the side he watched as River slowly walked around the Mustang they had brought back to the clubhouse on a car trailer. It was a wreck as far as he was concerned but Wolf had insisted that they had to buy it. And it hadn’t cost him the earth either. He actually had money in the bank once the deal had been done. The dealer had only been too eager to get rid of the Mustang and get his hands on the bitch mobile.
So here they were waiting on River’s opinion.
“It’s a total mess. I don’t understand how people can let a classic piece of machinery like this fall into such a state of neglect. This poor lady has gone through some serious abuse. She pisses out oil and sounds as if she’s about to explode when you start her. That means she needs a total rebuild of the engine. Her interior is a mess. We’ll have to rip it all out and start over. Her body has some serious rust and I’m hoping we don’t find any underneath once we have her up on a lift. She’s been in an accident and whoever did the repairs did an incredibly bad job.” She stepped back and stared at the car, then went back and peered at the oil covered engine again.
“This is going to be a very expensive rebuild, Beast. We might even have to buy a new engine for her. Are you sure you want to do it?” She watched him intently as he thought about it.
Beast shrugged. “The only things I spend my money on are my girls and my rides. I can afford to spend some bucks on a rebuild. And she’ll be a total badass once she’s done.”
River smiled bright and wide and gave a little hop of excitement. “My dad and Seb are going to shit themselves when we pull in with this little lady. They’ve been looking for one to rebuild for years. It’s not going to be a quick fix, this is going to take some time, but once it’s done she’s going to be a showpiece. I promise you, my dad and his team do seriously good work.”
“Blue, you’re not going to get involved with this rebuild.” Ice growled and Beast swallowed his grin when River threw her man the dirtiest look ever.
“Oh my God, Ice, don’t start with the ‘sit down, you need to rest’ bullshit again. I’m not going to sit on my ass at home while my dad struggles to keep my business and his own going. Wrench won’t be back for weeks yet and I’m so far behind that I’m losing customers. I will be going in to work but I promise I will find someone to help out until Wrench is able to come back to work and to take over for me while I’m having the babies. I’ve been looking for someone since before Wrench got hurt but no one has been the right fit so far.”
Ice was about to start arguing when one of the transferred patches, Buzz, stepped forward.
“I know of someone looking for a job. Qualified on cars and bikes with the relevant certification and traceable references and available immediately.” He said quietly.
River focused those blue eyes of hers on Buzz and was about to start with twenty questions when he stopped her with a lifted hand.
“I can vouch for her, she’s my sister. She needs a job to get out of the situation she’s caught up in. If you give her a break and take her on she’ll work fucking hard and she’ll be loyal to you and to the club. Her ex’s younger brother works at the same place she’s at and he’s making it very fucking unpleasant for her. I’m worried about her because the shit he and his buddies are subjecting her to is escalating. I want her out of there and somewhere near where I can keep an eye on her.”
“Will her shit endanger my old lady?” Ice growled.
“No, VP, I’m going to take care of the little bastard and the fucking ex. The fuckers are going to regret ever sliding out of their mother’s diseased fucking twat.” Buzz ground out with no emotion what so ever.
That sounded like an excellent plan to Beast, although it was more information about the mother than he wanted to hear. “Need some help, brother? Haven’t broken some heads in a while and I have some unspent aggression waiting to be unleashed. Where is your sister?”
The brother shook his head. “Appreciated, Beast, but I don’t want to pull the club into my personal shit. I’ll handle it.”
“Not happening, brother.” Hawk said as he walked up behind Buzz. “We’re a family and we take care of our family members. The club will have your back and your brothers will ride out with you. Where is your sister?”
Relief bloomed over Buzz’s face. Behind that poker face of his he had been worried.
“Thanks, Prez, I appreciate the support. She’s in Baberton. She followed her piece of shit ex out there.”
“Come see me and we’ll organise something. Beast, my office when you’re done here.”
Beast gave his prez a slight nod as he walked away. He knew what that summons meant.
Beast clapped Buzz on the back. “I’m going with you brother. This is going to be fun. We haven’t been on a short run for a while and I need to blow off some steam. This is perfect and the beauty of it is we bring your sister back with us and you can stop worrying.”
After arranging to have the Mustang taken to ARR the next morning Beast went inside to see Hawk. He knocked and grinned when Hawk’s voice came through the door.
“Every-fucking-one knows my old lady is busy outside. Come the fuck in.”
Beast strolled in and sat down in front of the desk. Hawk was leaning back in his big ass chair rubbing a hand over his beard. His yellow eyes narrowed on Beast.
“You sure you want to take this on? You just got your girls back and we don’t know if this run is going to require you to stay in Baberton for a day or two.”
“I know, Boss.” Beast nodded. “My girls will be taken care of and I’ll make sure they know they are safe and that I won’t be gone long. I’ll videochat with them before their bedtime if we need more than one day to get this done. I’ll ask Genna to stay with them, the girls like her.”
“As long as you’re sure, brother. Choose a crew to ride out with you and I want you to take Dizzy with you. He’s not been the same since the shit went down with those bitches. And I think you’re the only one with some understanding of how he’s feeling. So keep an eye on him.”
Beast didn’t like it but he knew it was the truth. “Okay, Prez, I’ll take care of him. I think it might help if I assign him to watch over Buzz’s sister. Buzz and I will be busy taking care of those bastards and she’s going to need someone with her. We need to show him that we trust him with our women. Those bitches almost broke him with the shit they pulled.”
“I agree. We’ve been showing him in small ways that he has our trust.” Hawk nodded. “Now, who are you going to take with on this little adventure?”
They had a short list of potential brothers by the time Buzz came into the office.
“Prez, Beast, I can’t tell you how grateful I am that you’re willing to help me out with my family problems. My start with the mother chapter wasn’t good but you still gave me a chance. I regret my fucking stupidity more than you know and I’ll never let the club down again.” He promised.
“Good to know, Buzz.” Hawk pointed at a chair and Buzz sat down. “There’s something very important you can do for me and for one of your brothers.”
“Anything, Prez, you name it and I’ll do it.”
“Appoint Dizzy to watch over your sister.”
Buzz immediately nodded. “Consider it done, Prez. He’s a good man and I regret not taking his back during that fucked up situation. Slim is a handful but he’ll be able to handle her.”
“Slim?”
Buzz laughed. “My dad used to call her slimjannie (clever/little know it all) and over the years it became Slim. She nearly drove my dad insane with her questions and opinions. She always had to know everything. Now she’s just known as Slim.”
Hawk nodded then looked over at Beast. “Who will it be?” He asked.
Beast knew exactly which of the brothers on the list he wanted on this run.
“Spook, Dizzy, Buzz, Ratel (Cape Honey Badger), Bullet, Army, Dollar and one of the prospects to drive the truck. I think I want to take Terror and see how he copes with the situation.”
Hawk nodded. “Good choices. When do you leave?”
“I want tonight with my girls so I can explain about not being home tomorrow. We leave at 4.30am tomorrow. I want to avoid the traffic around Pretoria. It’s about a 4 hour run so we’ll hit Baberton early and go straight to Slim’s place. With all of us helping we’ll pack her shit and be back on the road in a couple of hours.”
Buzz interrupted. “She’s been packing so it shouldn’t take us long to pack the rest and load her up. The problem will be her rides.”
Beast frowned. “How many?”
“She has a Sportster, a Ford F150 and some muscle car she’s been rebuilding.”
Beast nodded as he went through his options and made a decision. “We’re going to need a bike and car trailer. Does she have a tow hitch on her bakkie?”
“I’m sure she does and if I remember correctly she has a bike trailer. I’ll call her and find out if we have to bring a car trailer.”
“Call her now.” Hawk’s eyes were narrowed as he sat back in his chair and Beast knew his prez was going over the plan in his head.
Buzz pulled his phone from his pocket, swiped and tapped. “Hey you, sounds like you’re at work so just say yes or no. Do you have a car trailer?”
Buzz was silent for maybe a second.
“Cool. We’ll bring one. Be ready tomorrow.” Buzz listened then frowned. “Nee, fokkit Slim, (No, fuck it, Slim) jy resign nie! (you don’t resign). Carry on as if it’s a normal day, go home and lock your place down. Belowe my, Slim (Promise me, Slim).” He was quiet for a beat before he continued. “I promise we’ll be there early tomorrow morning to load your shit. Okay. Love you back.”
Buzz took his phone and hit it against his forehead when he ended the call. “So fucking stubborn.” He muttered.
“Will she listen to you?” Beast didn’t want shit to go wrong before they even got there.
“She promised, and Slim never goes back on her word. Fuck, I don’t like this shit.”
“Brother, if you feel like we need to ride sooner, tell me. Go with your gut.” Beast advised.
“I have this shit feeling in my gut, Beast. I’ve had it since I woke up this morning. I just know I have to get to her as soon as possible.”
“Good enough for me, we ride after I’ve spoken to my girls. Give me about an hour and a half to get them settled with Aunt Suzy and Genna and get my shit.” Beast changed their arrangements immediately. He never ignored a gut feel. Too many times his gut feels had been proved right and going on them had saved his life and those of his brothers.
“Thanks, Beast. I know spending time with your girls is important to you, so you doing this for me, it means the world to me. Anything you need, ever, I’m your man, brother.”
Beast just shook his head. “I’m going to head out, Prez. I’ll send a text to the brothers to get ready to ride.”
Beast left Buzz sitting in the chair in front of their President’s desk. As he walked out he sent the text out to the brothers he had selected for the run. They immediately acknowledged the text and agreed to be ready to ride when he got back.
His girls were a tiny bit confused but he explained in a way they would understand. “Daddy has to go to work so I won’t be here to tuck you in tonight. When you open your eyes in the morning you’re going to play with Duncan and the girls and I will be back to tuck you into bed tomorrow. Okay?”
He kissed and hugged his girls, leaving them to bake cookies with Aunt Suzy and Genna then went home and packed his saddlebags. He put an extra gun and ammo in the bottom of the bags and covered it with his clothes. His knives were strapped to his thighs, his guns in their holsters under his arms. The weight was familiar and welcome. He slipped his back up into the special holster at the top of his boot, grabbed his saddlebags and left.
His crew was ready when he pulled into the clubhouse. Terror was waiting next to the closed 8ton truck they were going to use with a car trailer hooked to it. Beast didn’t want to have to go back for any of Slim’s shit. Everything would have to fit in the truck, on the back of her cage and on the trailers or get left behind.
The run went without any incidents and they pulled into Baberton four hours later. The sun had already set and it was going to be a moonless night and very dark which suited Beast. What they had not expected to find were the bastards trying to break down Slim’s front and back doors. How the fuckers never heard them riding up he didn’t know and didn’t ask either. They quickly overpowered the bastards and left them gagged and tied up in the back yard. There were six of the fuckers and going by the crap they had found in a bag next to the backdoor they had been planning to do some sick shit to a woman who was under the Iron Dogz MC’s protection. As soon as they had Slim packed up those little pussies were going to fucking regret their decision to fuck with a woman who had their protection.
It took two hours to finish packing and loading all her shit. She had a fuckload of tools in her garage that she was fucking anal about. At least all of it was already packed in toolboxes and trunks. Slim insisted that they load the tools first. Strange fucking woman. She couldn’t give a fuck about her furniture, and once those tools were safely loaded she was happy. She was not so happy when he told her it was time for her to leave. She tried to argue and Beast turned to Dizzy with a sigh and raised eyebrows.
Dizzy did a great job of keeping her calm and she seemed to listen to him when he calmly explained that he would be going with her to keep her safe.
Before sending her away Beast had asked her to identify the men in the back yard. As expected her ex and his brother were two of the bastards. The others were friends of theirs and one was another co-worker of Slim’s.
Beast instructed Slim to follow Terror to the nearest filling station and to fill up her bakkie as he wanted to get on the road as soon as they had taken care of the pieces of shit in the back yard. Dizzy, Dollar and Army would be going with them. She was about to disagree when Dizzy took her arm, spoke to her quietly and led her away to her cage. She left without saying another word. By the look on Buzz and Ratel’s faces they were stunned.
Buzz’s next words confirmed it. “She never fucking listens to anyone. I want to know how Dizzy did that.” He turned to Beast. “Do you think Dizzy might be interested in her? She needs a man like him in her life.”
“Fuck, brother, don’t ask me shit like that. I don’t know and I fucking don’t want to know. Let’s get our business done so we can get out of this shithole of a town.”
They had all worn their gloves while moving Slim’s belongings out of the house. Their finger prints wouldn’t be found anywhere. And bonus, the house was on a large stand on the outskirts of town and set away from the neighbours. It pissed Beast off that she had lived out here without even a dog as an early warning system. At least she had an alarm connected to a fast response security company. How effective they were he had no idea, but since she was leaving it no longer mattered.
Once Slim left Spook took up the interrogation of the bastards. He was playing the good guy while Beast very obviously was the bad guy. The pussies gave them everything. According to the ex they were only going to frighten her, nothing more. That story did not tie in with the duct tape, rope, several dildos and other shit in the bag.
Beast didn’t ask any questions. He had them all strung up on the rafters in the garage, hanging in a line, toes just touching the floor.
Without a word he waved Buzz forward.
Buzz took his cue from Beast, he didn’t say a word. Just started beating the shit out of the ex. His best friend, Ratel, took on the brother. The other men hung there terrified because they knew they were next. Beast didn’t let them wait too long.
They beat the shit out of all of them, left their phones and the contents of the bag scattered on the cement floor at their feet, the sex toys displayed prominently. They were so fucking stupid the ex had text messages between him and his brother planning this shit on his phone. A phone that wasn’t fucking password protected either. Jesus.
Beast looked at the crying, gasping, moaning line of pussies. They were going to regret tangling with the Iron Dogz for a long time to come.
“You keep your mouths shut about what happened here because you don’t want me to come back. Remember one thing, the Iron Dogz has a very long reach, no matter where you go we can and will find you.”
They left the garage door open with the lights on and shining brightly.
The last to leave was Buzz and only after he had thrown a big rock through the front window and set off the silent alarm. It would bring the security company out to investigate and they would call in the pigs when they found the fuckers strung up in the garage.
They met up with the others at the filling station and it was very obvious they were all fucking tired. After a quick chat they decided to find somewhere to rest for a few hours. But Beast did not want to stay in the piece of shit town and they rode to Nelspruit as it was only about 45 k’s away. They booked double rooms in a hotel and doubled up in the rooms. Buzz obviously sharing with Slim. Beast knew it would be stupid to leave their shit unattended outside so he set Terror to watch for the first hour. Army, Dollar, Bullet and Ratel would each take a turn on watch, that way they all got some rest. He warned them that it was a short rest stop only before they tackled the ride home and they would not be hanging around longer than was necessary.
Beast hadn’t slept but had lain on his bed staring at the ceiling until it was time to ride. He was too wound up after taking care of those fuckers at Slim’s house to sleep. He was grateful when the alarm he had set on his phone beeped. By the red eyes and huge yawns it was obvious they all could have used some more sleep but they were back on the road a little over five hours after they had pulled into the hotel.
The ride home went without any incidents. They rolled through the gates of the compound at 11.00am. Tired and fucking glad to be home. It had sucked ass to stay with the cages but it had to be done, they couldn’t leave Slim and Terror vulnerable.
Beast left the others to take care of Slim and went inside to report to his prez.
“You take care of her problem?”
“We did. She was fucking lucky we got there when we did. Those bastards were trying to break into her house when we got there and they had some fucked up plans for her. We dealt out some justice, left them tied up with the evidence of their plans and set the local pigs on them. I gave them the usual warning, it they know what’s good for them we won’t be seeing them again.”
“Good. You look like shit, brother, go home, get some rest and we’ll talk more tomorrow.”
Beast walked out and through the common room, his eyes meeting Chris’s sad eyes before he looked away and tiredly walked out. He did not want to think about that shit right now, shaking it off he got on his bike and went home. A long hot shower and some sleep was what he needed before fetching his babies. As he took the stairs two at a time up to his room he called Aunt Suzy to let her know he was home.
“Hi Aunt Suzy, I just got home. I’m going to shower and sleep for an hour or so and then I’ll come and get my girls.”
“Don’t be silly, shower, get some sleep and be here by six for dinner. The kids are playing in the garden and they are having a great time. Leave them and get some rest. I don’t want to see you until six.”
Beast was about the answer when he realised she had ended the call. He grinned, so typical of Ice’s mum, she took no shit from any of them. And he was grateful for the chance to rest, he wasn’t in his twenties anymore and could no longer function on almost no sleep. These days he needed to sleep or he felt like shit. Like he did right now.
After his shower Beast crashed. He slept soundly for the first time in a damned long time.
When he woke he felt a hell of a lot better but he missed his girls. He had become used to having them close.
It was time to go have dinner then bring them home.
