Page 21 of Cannon

“Come and get your man and talk some sense into him. I’ll expect him back in Church in ten minutes, and he’d better have a better attitude.”

Leaving them to it, I go back into Church and take my seat. Everyone is silent and has probably heard what was said.

“Whatever you heard, forget it. That’s between me and the VP. Bank, anything to report on the businesses?”

“All established businesses are showing good profits. The barber shop is still increasing month-on-month. The pet crem hasn’t started to show a return yet, but it’s early days. Everything is as we predicted, so I’m not worried. The bar purchase is complete. Pens is working on all the legals and permits, etc. We need to get started on any renovations, construction work or whatever so we can plan an opening night.”

“Fuckin’ A!” Fury cries out. I see him look around and then realize that Mateo, still a prospect, isn’t present. “I propose Mateo as a brother.”

Giving him a scowl, I shake my head. “We do all the prospects together. I know he’s ready for it, but so are the others. We need to decide what happens when they all become fully fledged brothers. Do we look for more, or do we run without? It’s not as simple as a quick ‘Aye’ and it’s done.”

There’s a knock on the door, and I take a breath before calling ”Enter.”

Cannon steps in, and I see immediately he’s in a better place. “Call Mateo in here, will you?” He steps back out and shouts for Mateo. He steps back inside and is quickly followed by a very worried-looking Mateo. I see Mateo search out Fury, and see a look pass between them.

“Mateo, I hear you and Fury have been busy making plans for when the bar is purchased.”

“Yes, Pres. It’s going to be an exciting project,” Mateo gushes, and I see a few of the brother's grin at his enthusiasm.

“Well, I’m glad you’re so excited. The purchase is done. The club is now the proud owner of a rundown bar. It’s up to you and Fury to make it something special, and profitable, for the club. Think you can pull it off?” I watch as it sinks in.

“Fuckin’ A! Hell, yes, we can do that. Fury, do we get Hellion, Bear and Rage?” Obviously, this hasn’t been discussed with me but those three aren’t currently tied to any other business. I give Fury a chin lift, and he nods to Mateo.

“Hellion, Bear and Rage, you are now affiliated with the bar business. Fury is the overall manager, and Mateo is his assistant manager. Any of you have a problem with that?” They all shake their heads no, and I would have been disappointed with any other response.

“Last but not least. As you heard earlier, Cannon’s pickup truck has been stolen. It was taken from the pet crem parking lot in broad daylight by a team that knew exactly what they were doing. Bull, pass the video footage to everyone so they can familiarize themselves with the assholes and their vehicle. I’m going to let Cannon supervise the mission to find his truck, but I don’t want anyone going off half-cocked. When the whereabouts of either the truck or the assholes is confirmed, there will be no action taken until I’m fully briefed. Is that clear to everyone here? No one goes rogue. You find the truck, and I, and only I, will authorize how we deal with taking it back or dealing with the dumbasses.”

A chorus of grunts and ‘Ayes’ echoes around the room, and I offer the room to Cannon. It only takes fifteen minutes, and everyone knows what is expected of them, and no one is in any doubt what that truck means to Cannon.

Someone mentions that things keep going missing from the crem, a voice suspiciously like Bandit’s. He’s been keeping a low profile since the Jamie problem got him in hot water, but it seems he’s getting back to normal.

Winger jumps into defensive mode and immediately shoots himself, and the rest of his team, in the foot. “Whisky doesn’t count. He just vanished. The truck wasn’t strictly crem property, so technically it doesn’t count. You can all shut the fuck up!”

“You’ve lost a dog? A dead one at that? At least the last animal you lost just got up and slithered away. Percy wasn’t really dead, was he?” Breaker grins at Winger, and we all see the look cross his face that he wished he’d kept his mouth shut. Prophet and Zion both have their chins on their chests and eyes down. They are trying to stay invisible.

Cannon tells everyone to shut up, that the missing dog is connected to Barbara, and that everything said in Church stays in Church. He will personally deal with anyone who lets the cat out of the bag relating to Whisky the dog.

Bandit pipes up again. “Did you ever find Percy the Python?”

Cannon saves Winger any further blushes when he answers. “There’s been nothing, neither hide nor hair seen of Percy since the first day he went missing.”

“I bet he was getting hungry then, don’t you think?” Bandit throws it out there and everyone sees where he’s going with this. Did Percy chow down on Whisky?

Bull starts tapping away on his laptop, and it takes only a few minutes before he says that there is no evidence of a snake on the day Whisky went missing.

Before this can degenerate further, I call for a vote on Cannon taking Barbara as his old lady. As usual when we call for this vote, there is loud cheering, jeering and ‘Ayes’ coming in from everyone. Another single brother bites the dust, but I have to say, I envy the lucky assholes.

Reminding everyone that Church is confidential, I close the meeting. I note that, unusually, Cannon is one of the first out of the door.

*~* Cannon *~*

Getting dragged out of Church was embarrassing, but I only had myself to blame. What a damn fool, shooting my mouth off like that. I thought Barbara was going to rip me a new one when she saw me in the hallway getting reamed by Pres. Far from it, she was very supportive and understanding. I wonder how she’ll take the news that she is now officially my old lady?

It doesn’t take long to find out, as the brothers who got out before me make a beeline for her and start offering their congratulations. She smiles and graciously accepts their well-meaning gestures, and then finally turns to me. Dragging me to my room, our room now, she slams the door shut and locks it. Oh, hell, this doesn’t bode well.

She stands there, hands on hips, staring like a bull in the ring. I stammer that it was Pres that called for the vote and that I had no idea he was going to put it to a vote today. In fairness, I had said at the officers' meeting I was going to bring that very thing to the next Church but now is not the time to admit that.

Watching as she takes the lower part of her top in her hands, she raises it over her head. Revealed in all their glory are two magnificent breasts. No bra, just pure naked breasts. I am too shocked to do anything other than drool. Mouth hanging open, salivating. She begins to undo her jeans, popping the top button when there is an almighty banging on the door.