Page 14

“Well what?” I am at a loss as to what I’m supposed to be seeing. A sudden pain flashes across the back of my head. “You did not just ‘Gibbs slap’ me? What the fuck?”

“I sure did, Tim! The fucking sign, dumbfuck. Read the fucking sign.” Cannon’s voice is rising, and when I finally see the sign, the one that I couldn’t see for looking, I think I see what he’s mad about. Home and Hearth have supposedly sold the land.

“I thought you said this land came with the pet crem purchase? Isn’t this where Jamie is having her second building? Hasn’t Pens already applied for all the paperwork and permits and shit?”

“Yes, yes, and yes. Well done, Sherlock. Now, as you’re the one that brought up all this real estate crap, you can go see your friend Chris and tell him to get his fucking sign off our fence and stop whatever sale he thinks he’s going to make of our land.” With this off his chest, he turns and marches back to the crem, without waiting for me to follow. Snapping a quick photo on my phone, I head back to my girl and ride straight for a showdown with Chris.

It doesn’t take long to be sitting in the realtor’s office, at Chris’s empty desk. His receptionist, or whatever she is, Candi, told me when I arrived that Chris had a meeting with a high-profile client, and she didn’t know what time he would be in the office. I may not be high-profile, but I am going to show him just how high-maintenance I can be. He’s going to be paying a lot of attention to both the club’s and my needs going forward.

I wait for thirty minutes, and just as I’m getting ready to blow a fuse, the door opens and Chris walks in. He does not look in too good a shape, although at first glance there doesn’t seem to be any visible signs. Seeing how he tries to walk normally and the pain that is evident in his eyes, I’d say his meeting didn’t go to plan. Well, any of Chris’s plans, anyway.

Finally noticing me sitting in front of his desk, and then my cut, he stops, and I see him consider his options. Realizing he can’t run, and I mean physically he can’t run, he reaches his desk and sits carefully into his chair. Candi looks worried, and when she moves to help him, he just shakes his head.

“I guess your meeting with your high-profile client didn’t go as expected, Chris? Let me guess. Their lawyers discovered that the parcel of land you just sold them wasn’t yours to sell? It belongs to us, and now they expect you to get them the deeds and title to their land?” I see the confirmation in his eyes. “Well, that’s going to be a major problem for you, as we are intending to build on that land.”

“No. You can’t. You have to sell it. You don’t understand these people. They don’t take no for an answer.” His voice is croaky, and he’s in a lot of pain. They have done a good job of keeping it away from prying eyes, but I bet his body is black and blue from the beating they have given him.

“That’s your problem, Chris, not ours. We’re not involved in your dirty deal. You have to go back to them and say no, not us. That is not going to end well for you. Look on the bright side. They won’t kill you, they need you and your company to appear legit.”

“If you don’t sell to me, they will come after you directly. They have special men for that type of work. Men that only have one purpose and know only one way of working. Please, just sell me the land. Name your own price.”

“The sign needs to come down today. The sale needs to be voided or whatever term you guys use, but the land stays under the ownership of the Bitter Slayers MC. We are not selling to you or the Cottonwood Glades Land Development Company.” I see his eyes widen in surprise that I know who they are.

As I get up to leave, Candi rushes over to him and asks what happened. I see the fear in his eyes before he tells her a single word. If he can’t find a way out of this, which I doubt there is one, he could be a casualty with someone else taking over Home and Hearth very soon. Candi should get out quickly, too. They won’t want her around if Chris has to go missing. It’s more believable that they would run away together rather than individually.

On the street, I call Cannon and tell him to make his way to the clubhouse. I don’t want to be repeating all this time after time, but as it happens, I don’t have to worry about it. Before I get back to the clubhouse, Chris has been on the phone to Pres, begging him to sell. Cannon, Bank, Pens, and Bull are all in the office by the time I arrive.

“This will teach you to come to the clubhouse for breakfast on your day off.” Pres delights in being a bastard whenever he gets the chance. “Found me a cleaner for the clubhouse yet? Time is ticking away.”

The others look at me quizzically. “My deputy managers have promoted our club cook to bar cook and our club cleaner to club cook. Hence, we now have no club cleaner, so if you know of anyone who needs some extra dollars, feel free to send them my way. As long as they are suitable, of course.”

“I may know someone for the short term, but Pres, you’d have to warn the brothers to stay clear of her. She’s like my sister, and I wouldn’t accept anyone messing with her.” Cannon has me smirking at him. If she’s who I think he means, she is going to have the brothers’ blood up in no time, and probably not just their blood. She was at the clubhouse when they had their after-wedding party, and she was at the bar on opening night. She shot some fucker that night for talking disrespectfully to her. Well, he pulled his weapon, called her a wop or something, she just took his gun off him and shot the fucker with it.

“If she’s interested, I’ll talk to her, show her around, and we can go from there. Give her my number, Cannon.”

“Back to why we’re here,” says Pens, “We have all the legal stuff to prove we are the rightful owners but don’t think for one minute that will stop Cottonwood from trying everything in their power to make this dodgy sale stick. I’ll go back through the history of the pet crem and how it became the legal owner of that land and do a family tree, if you will, of who’s owned it, sold it, etc. In the meantime, just be aware of any unfamiliar faces around that area or even the crem itself.”

The meeting ends with no conclusion, and we all go back to our day jobs, except me. I still have an afternoon to enjoy, and my girl is calling.

Chapter 9

*~* Vortex *~*

Spending time at the ranch has brought back many happy memories of my time sharing my life with Marisela. She was kind and considerate when we first met, and I can’t put my finger on when the change in her attitude became noticeable. We were both young and had little life experience, but we were happy.

I think she began to change when she saw her friends with so many bright, shiny things. That’s the only way I know to describe it. She seemed envious of them all for having things she didn’t. She slowly became besotted with having money, but as soon as she had some she wanted to spend it on something and then got upset that she had no money. It was a vicious circle, and I got caught in the middle of it.

Why had I come to visit without a gift? When was I going to buy her the new phone she wanted? When was I going to buy a nice car for her to be seen in? Why couldn’t she have a bigger allowance from her parents? Why did they expect her to work for her allowance? Her friends didn’t have to, why should she? It became never-ending and quite frankly, tiresome. She quickly lost her girl-next-door good looks, too. Her constant whining made her, as the old folk would say, shrewish.

I didn’t think about her much after we broke up, and I think that’s a shame. We could have had a good life together if…A damn big word that, if. Well, it wasn’t to be, and I think it shaped how I looked at people from then on. I wouldn’t say I was ever shallow, but I looked at people in a far deeper way than before Marisela.

On my way home from the ranch, home being the clubhouse I think to myself. I’m not dissatisfied with the clubhouse being home, that would be ungrateful and to be honest, a lie. It has been a good home for me and for many, if not all, of the brothers. I think I’m like so many of the guys now and want that something extra in my life. A woman, wife, partner, lover, soulmate. So, not too much to ask for then?

Seeing I’m near the bar, I swing that way and stop for a drink. The clubhouse bar is cheaper, but I’m getting to be a bit grumpy when I keep seeing couples and I’m not part of one. Miserable bastard, I think to myself.

Walking into the bar, I see it is busier than I expected. There are groups of men by the bar and groups of women around several tables. Standing at the bar, I order a beer, but just as I’m about to walk away Pattie grabs my arm.

“Hey, Vortex. Just the kind of man I need.” She beams at me.