Ram
I’d had mixed feelings when I’d left Talia and Riley at Badger’s house. It wasn’t that I thought Adalia would be rude to them or anything. She was too sweet for something like that. What worried me was Riley’s breakdown this morning, although it armed me with the knowledge I needed to make sure Reba never had custody of our daughter again.
Badger leaned back in his chair, looking tired as hell. “I’m going to let Outlaw run point on this one because he and Wire did all the work.”
“Right, so…” Outlaw set the papers on the table and everyone took a set. He’d been so damn organized, he’d stapled a packet for each of us. “Ram and Riley had a paternity test done, just to verify she’s his kid. Spoiler alert, she is. The problem is that he’s not been part of her life, and not having known about her until now, he’s never paid child support.”
“I would have if I’d known I had a daughter,” I said, feeling a little defensive.
“From what I was able to track down online about Riley, and the conversation I had with Ram on the way in, I can say with absolute certainty we can get a judge to grant him custody. However, to make things as smooth as possible, there’s two things you need to do, Ram. First, we need to get Riley into school. We need to show she’s established here, has friends, and lives in a safe, nurturing environment. Which brings me to point two. She needs a mother.”
“Um.” Slash tipped his head and stared at Outlaw. “I thought the problem was the fact she has one.”
“A stepmother,” Outlaw said. “And we’d need to backdate the marriage. A judge will want to see a stable relationship before he grants you custody. I know things have been rocky with Talia. Making any progress?”
“Yeah. I think things are going well. But if I tell her we need to be married, and it needed to happen months ago, then she may take issue with it,” I said.
“Then tell her it’s for Riley,” Badger suggested. “If you make it about your daughter and not you getting into her pants, then Talia may give in. You get the woman you want, and you get to keep your daughter.”
“I can talk to her, feel her out.” She’d either agree or smack the shit out of me before packing up and moving into the apartments, if she didn’t go even further and leave the compound.
“Next, Ram mentioned an offshore account for Vega. We haven’t been able to find any other victims. None who are alive anyway. Which means that money will be divided however we decide. Wire already transferred it into an account and gave me access to it.” Outlaw cleared his throat. “I agree with what Ram said before. The victims living here do need a sizable portion to feel secure and be confident in starting their lives over. However, no one realized how much money was in there. We aren’t talking a few hundred thousand, or even a few million.”
“Then how much was in there?” Demon asked.
“A little over three billion,” Outlaw said. “I thought we could give each victim one million dollars. That includes Talia and Riley. They can do whatever they want with the money. In the case of the underage girls, I suggest we take another million and divide it equally, then invest it for them. We can let it mature and in twenty years, they could earn out dividends.”
“Is this Church or an investment meeting?” Dingo asked. “You’re making my fucking head hurt.”
“Mine too,” Blades said. “And I’m not agreeing with him just because he’s the father of my granddaughter.”
“Any objections to what Outlaw said about the money so far?” Badger asked.
“I’d like to know why, if there’s a few billion dollars, we’re only giving the victims one million each. Seems like a paltry sum in comparison to what they’ve been through. Why is the club keeping the rest?” I asked.
Wolf leaned forward. “Glory would be over the moon if she could even have half a million to help fund the clinic. I know we’ve had to shut it down here and there for various reasons. That money could go toward security upgrades, medical supplies, and anything else the women will need.”
“Unless some of you want to take in more pets, I could use about ten thousand. It would offset the cost of supplies for the rescues I take in,” Doolittle said.
“Could we donate some of it to various local programs?” Steel asked. “Food pantry and maybe the community center?”
I sighed and leaned back in my chair. “Before Badger gets any more pissed, because I see the steam coming out of his ears, I want to say one thing. I think the women and teens I brought here should get at least three million each. Although, I wouldn’t tell Riley about hers. I’d keep it safe, and when she’s ready to move out, she can have access to the funds.”
“I’m fine with that suggestion, as well as the requests from Wolf, Doolittle, and Steel. If anyone else has a charity in mind for a donation, let Outlaw know. We could also use some of the funds to start a clothing donation for the schools. I know the elementary school is always asking for gently used clothes in case someone has an accident.” Badger shifted his weight and looked around the table. “Now, no more talk about the money. Is there anything we need to discuss aside from Ram’s issue with Riley?”
“Wire said he hasn’t noticed any movement with Vega’s people. Either they haven’t found the body yet, or he’s not missed even by his own goons,” Outlaw said. “But I’m going to keep an eye on the situation. If his death somehow gets tied to Ram and this club, it could cause trouble later. For now, I don’t see anything happening so we should be fine.”
“All right. I do have one other issue to bring up. As you know the apartments aren’t very far from the clubhouse,” Badger said. “I know I said I was only banning the club whores for two days, with today being the final one, but I think we need to discuss this a bit more. We still have a lot of single men, and I don’t want to keep you from partying, or hooking up with anyone. However, I also don’t want our guests to feel scared. Between the loud music, the way you get rowdy when you party, and the barely clothed women going in and out, it could be damaging to them. They’ve suffered sexual abuse, and I don’t want to take that lightly.”
Smuggler cleared his throat. “Personally, I’m fine with not having any parties for a little while. Might be good for us. I mean, we aren’t exactly thirteen-year-old boys. I think we can handle not getting laid for a week or even a month.”
Frost cursed. “A month? I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not get blue balls.”
“Figure it out,” Badger said. “Or I’ll let you explain to those women and girls that getting your dick wet is more important than their well-being.”
Frost winced. “When you put it that way…”
“If there’s nothing else, then I think we’re done here.” Badger brought his fist down on the table like Grizzly used to do, and it reminded me of something.
“Wait, Pres…” I stood so I could see everyone clearly. “I know I was gone for a long time, and I wasn’t here when Grizzly died. I’ve heard what happened with Doolittle’s woman, and that Farrah and Mariah pissed off the Dixie Reapers over the situation as well. From what I’ve gathered, this club damn near imploded, and you still aren’t the cohesive brotherhood you were when I left.”
“What’s your point?” Badger asked.
“I think it would be good to have Farrah, Mariah, and Grizzly’s daughters all sit down with a mediator. Until those women heal the rift between them, things are going to be strained around here. Even I can feel the tension. And it’s not just them. Savage, you’re tense as fuck, and I’m sure what happened is a large part of it. Do you dislike Doolittle’s woman?”
“No,” he said. “Minnie is a nice woman, and she’s a good mom.”
“Then the problem you have is with the sister who married into the Savage Raptors?” I asked.
He shrugged.
“There’s a lot of people who still aren’t happy with Meredith,” Badger said. “And when Grizzly knew he was dying, he wanted to spend those last days with Meredith. I can’t blame him. She’d been gone for a while.”
“All I know is I can feel there’s something wrong in this club, and I’m sure Talia and Riley can tell as well. Find the root of the problem and fix it. Otherwise, it’s going to snowball until it’s so big it’s going to blow up in everyone’s face at the worst possible time.”
Badger smirked. “Did your woman talk to you? I think she mentioned something to Adalia about you talking to everyone.”
“No, she didn’t. But I’m glad she has that much faith in me.”
“All right. Now we’re done,” Badger said. “Everyone get the hell out of here. Go home to your families, or go down some beers. Whatever makes you happy.”
I left and waited for the Pres. Since I was going to his house anyway, might as well walk out with him. I pulled the truck keys from my pocket and stared at them. Talia and I had discussed looking at vehicles, but we hadn’t been able to get to it today.
“Something wrong?” Badger asked, slapping me on the back.
“I still have the club truck. I’ll need to buy something for Talia and Riley to ride in,” I said.
“Just take care of your family right now. You can keep the truck as long as you need it. Don’t rush into buying something because you feel like you need to. The three of you need to bond, and you need to convince Talia to be Riley’s stepmom.”
Right. This was going to be a fun day. So much for making Talia scream my name in pleasure. Now she’d be yelling at me in anger instead. Of course, she could surprise me.
“Thanks, Pres. I’m going to go pick them up from your house and go home.”
“If Riley is having fun, let her stay a little longer. She won’t be in the way.”
“I’ll see what she wants to do.” I got into the truck and pulled away from the clubhouse. Badger zipped past me on his motorcycle, pulling into his driveway as I neared his house. I stopped on the street and turned the engine off.
He left the front door open for me, so I let myself into his house. Riley sat on the floor with Gunner showing her something on a handheld game. Adalia, Talia, and Ivory were on the couch watching a movie. Everything seemed peaceful, and they were getting along nicely. Good.
“Is it time to go home?” Riley asked.
“Only if you want to. Badger said you could stay longer. Totally up to you,” I said.
“Can I really?” she asked, looking from me to the Pres and back again.
“You bet. Just let Badger or Adalia know when you’re ready to come home. They can text me, and I’ll come pick you up.”
Talia stood up and came over to me. I took her hand and led her outside, waving bye to everyone in the living room. It only took a few minutes to get home and let ourselves into our house. There was so much to tell her, and I didn’t even know where to start.
“So… is this so we can have some alone time?” she asked.
“Yeah, but not for the reason I’d hoped. There’s something I need to discuss with you, and I’m not sure how you’ll take it.”
She crossed her arms and looked away. “If it’s something that will piss me off, maybe you should make sure I’m really happy first.”
I tried damn hard not to laugh. And failed. It looked like that need hadn’t calmed any, and she still wanted to come multiple times. At least I had some toys to help us out this time.
“As much as I want to give in to that demand, we really do need to talk about Riley. Or rather, your role in her life. Outlaw brought up some good points today if I want to keep my daughter the legal way.”
“What’s the illegal way?” she asked.
“Kill Reba and her boyfriend, which sounds mighty fine to me. But I don’t want to tell Riley the reason her mom vanished is because I decided to remove her from this world.”
She sighed. “Fine. And the legal way requires what?”
“For us to be married.” Shit. I hadn’t meant to blurt that out. She stared at me a moment before turning and walking away. Damnit. I’d been worried this might happen. She didn’t leave the house, so I gave her some space. After fifteen minutes she came back, sat down, and let out a long sigh.
“Tell me everything. I can’t promise to make a decision right this second, but at least give me the information I need in order to make a proper decision.”
And that’s what I did for the next thirty minutes. By the time I’d finished, Riley was back home, and our playtime was on hold.