Page 37 of Last Mile

Rev put a hand on Deacon’s shoulder to both calm and quiet him. He then turned his attention to Eddy. “I haven’t tried to hide the reasons behind why I made the deal with Rodriguez. Nor do I think anyone could in good faith try to say that I have.” Rev narrowed his eyes. “Perhaps if you spent less time trying to ingratiate yourself with the Diablos and more time on the business of your Raider brothers, you would know that.”

Eddy’s face turned purple as the veins in his neck bulged. He slammed his hand down on the table, the crack echoing through the room. “Don’t you dare fucking accuse me of being disloyal to the Raiders! I was a patch member before you were even born!”

With a calm, level stare, Rev said, “While that is true, I don’t believe there is a brother around this table who doesn’t know about your friendship with them.”

Eddy shot so fast out of his chair that it went slamming back against the wall. “This isn’t about me and the Diablos. This is about you running guns to wetbacks across my territory without giving me and my boys any compensation.”

Several growls went up around the table at Eddy’s use of the slur. Rambo smacked his gavel on the table. “Watch your racist fucking mouth.”

Eddy swept his hand to his chest. “My apologies.” He then narrowed his eyes on Rev. “Do you deny that you’re running guns?”

Before Rev could answer, Deacon said, “We’re not doing shit. The Rodriguez cartel is,” Deacon said with a smirk.

“But you let it happen.”

Rambo banged his gavel on the table. “Enough! Pipe the fuck down, Eddy.”

“But I⁠—”

Jabbing his finger in the air, Rambo growled, “I don’t give two shits about what else you have to say! Take a fucking seat and respect the members of this table, or you’ll be going home without a patch!”

Eddy’s beady eyes widened at the suggestion of his cut being taken. After heaving out several frustrated breaths and shooting a death glare at us, he finally retrieved his chair and had a seat.

Rambo reached into his patch for a pack of cigarettes. After lighting one up and taking a drag, he said, “I would caution all of you to remember that what is done in your territory is your business.

When it affects the territory of other brothers, then it becomes an issue. Right now I see nothing wrong with the Rodriguez cartel running guns across Louisiana. At the very least, other clubs will assume all of the Raiders chapters have an alliance with the cartel, which makes us look powerful.”

Rev and Deacon exchanged a glance. I was sure neither of them had thought that the Rodriguez deal would actually have some benefit for the other Raiders.

Mississippi’s president nodded. “I agree with Rambo. I also don’t see any reason for Rev to owe anything to Eddy. We’re along the same route, and he don’t owe me a damn thing.”

Rev grinned as the other states chimed in their agreement. “I appreciate that sentiment, boys.”

“Total bullshit,” Eddy muttered under his breath.

If Rambo heard him, he chose to ignore him. “Since we’re in agreement on that, I make a motion to vote recognize that the Raiders will no longer be in the gun business.”

When I found myself leaning forward on my feet, I couldn’t help holding my breath in anticipation. One by one, the men around the table began to vote. Once the “yays” started ringing out, the breath I’d been holding whooshed out of me.

Not too surprisingly, the only nay came from Eddy and his vice president. “Motion carried. Meeting adjourned until next year,” Rambo said. He brought his gavel down hard to make it official.

As the men rose to their feet, we started shaking hands and thumping backs. When we were the only ones left in the room, we did some hugging of our own. “After all that fucking worry, I can’t believe it all went down so easy,” Deacon remarked as he lit up a cigarette.

“Considering what happened with Eddy, I wouldn’t say it went down easy,” Rev argued.

Deacon rolled his eyes. “Screw Eddy. His days as a Raider are numbered after he pulled that stunt.”

Boone nodded. “Deacon’s right. You don’t go after your brothers or run your mouth like a fucking fool, especially not in a closed- door meeting with all the chapters present. You might as well be signing your fucking death warrant in the club.”

“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m hungry as hell. Let’s head down to the dining hall and get some grub,” Deacon suggested.

“Sounds like a plan,” I said.

After Rev nodded, we fell in line with him down the hallway.

Just as we rounded the corner to the dining room, Eddy stepped out in front of us. He gave Rev a menacing glare. “This ain’t over.”

Rev held up his hand. “Look, Eddy, I don’t want any trouble⁠—”