Authors: C. C. Davenport
Nat told me Callie and Elijah met outside the hardware store and had it out. He told her to stay away from Nat, his home and the club if she knew what was good for her. Of course it did little to scare Callie. She wanted to make them as miserable as she was. She couldn’t stand to see other people happy. I almost felt pity for the girl. A heart as black as hers had to originate from some awful pain. But then I thought of my own pain. The suffering of losing my only child. That was a monumental pain, and although my marriage took a hit, it never made me want to destroy other people’s happiness. So any pity I felt for Callie crumbled into a pile of ashes. No, she was a pathetic mess. But this was way out of Callie’s league. Shooting up the hardware store and accidentally killing Frito?
“How did you guys come up with Callie?” I asked.
“Dry Heave mentioned it. Said she’d been hanging around another club, the Hellion Brotherhood. Could be she lit a fire under their tale. Said shit about the club and they decided to make a statement. They’ve got the fire power,” Bruce said as he poured a shot of whiskey. Normally he didn’t drink this early in the day, but this wasn’t an ordinary day.
“Do you know what guns they used?” I asked, wanting a drink myself.
“Semi-automatics. The store is a mess…some stuff is salvageable but most is shot to hell. There was no way Frito could live through that barrage of bullets,” Bruce said as he downed his shot.
“But why would a club risk taking on another one for some bullshit story told by a skank? I don’t get it?” And I didn’t. What the fuck had she told them?
“I don’t know, but the Hellions go off half cocked all the time. We’ve heard them being involved in many shootouts. Whether it’s true or not who knows. But they seem to fit a pattern.”
“So what’s the next move?” I asked not really wanting to know the answer.
“Eli’s scheduling a meet with their club.”
“Bruce, do you think that’s wise? They just shot up the store and killed Frito.”
“It’s either we have a talk with them and see what they know. Hell, maybe one of their guys went rogue. If so we’ll let them take care of it. But we can’t do anything until we know more and we’ve got to reach out to them.”
I stood up from the bar stool and gave that bear of a man a hug. At first he froze, but then he relaxed and hugged me back. It had been a long time since we’d allowed ourselves this kind of closeness and it felt odd and familiar at the same time. I just hoped I wasn’t too late.
*****
A lockdown was ordered that day, which meant Nat, Merci and I went for supplies. It had been years since our last lockdown but it all came back to me on what we needed. I always hated lockdowns, never knowing if our club would come out unscathed. Sometimes they would but other times they didn’t. I was so glad when the club turned somewhat legit. It was safer without the stress and worry. Of course my child died by his own reckless hand. So I guess it doesn’t matter. If your time is up, it’s up. But I also knew that a person can push fate, whether it’s running dope or guns in a motorcycle club or racing trains on a crotch rocket.
I tried not to let the girls know how nervous I was. They were stressed enough for all three of us, and I was trying to keep Nat calm. Neither one had been through a lockdown and only a few of the old ladies still remained who remembered them from the old days. We made our way through the big box store with three carts, grabbing food, toilet paper, and drinks. Some women had babies or small children so we needed diapers and coloring books for the kiddoes. Kids can feel the stress from adults. I remember Gabe sitting on my lap during a lockdown and playing with my hair. He could sense the tenseness in the room, most of the children could, so they’d cling to their mothers instead of playing. I hated to think we were going back to that time. Hopefully it was only a minor bump in the road and everything would sort out soon. Then I thought of Frito. How could I call him a minor bump? Damn it! I didn’t want anyone else hurt in our club, but the bastard who did this, I had no mercy for.
As soon as we got back the boys took off on their bikes. Before they left Bruce and I had a few quiet moments.
“Please don’t make me a widow,” I said cursing myself as it left my mouth.
“I’m too ornery to die, don’t you know that by now,” Bruce said as he took me in his arms. We hadn’t held each other like this for years. Why did I wait until something major happened that could possibly take him away from me? For now I was happy he wasn’t spurning my affection.
“We’ve been through this before,” Bruce said as he pulled away from me but still holding onto my arms.
“I know, but we were younger then,” I answered. He bent over and kissed my forehead. Nope, that wasn’t going to do it. I reached up and pulled his head down and gave him a soft kiss on the lips. He didn’t resist.
I walked him to the parking lot where the rest of the women gathered to say goodbye to their men. As he rode off Bruce blew me a kiss, something he always use to do when we were younger. You better come back to me you big bear I thought.
After they rode out of sight, we walked back into the clubhouse. After a few hours some of the women wanted to go over and clean the hardware store. I didn’t know if it was a good idea, but figured some of us needed a break from the kids. Three of the old ladies, plus me, Nat and Merci headed over. I wasn’t about to let Nat do anything, but she wanted to help so I gave her a broom. I knew there would be blood so I got the mop and bucket out of the storage area and told Nat to stay in the back until I got it cleaned up.
“I’m not staying in the back Lila. I might be pregnant, but I can handle it,” she remarked. Nat was sweet but she had sass as well.
“Okay dear, but just so you know, it won’t be pretty.”
The other ladies worked up front sweeping up the glass shards while Nat and Merci hung close to me.
“They think its Callie don’t they?” Nat asked. Merci wiped sprayed blood from the back wall with a large sponge.
“Yes they do, but I’m not so sure,” I said as I pushed the mop through the dried blood on the floor.
“Why is that Lila?” Merci asked.
“This just doesn’t feel like something Callie would set up,” I answered.
“I agree,” Nat replied. “Callie has her own set of tricks and this just doesn’t jive with her. Plus we haven’t had any trouble with her since Eli spoke to her two months ago.”
“But Cig said she was seeing somebody in that Hellions club. That she had them do it,” Merci said as she rinsed her sponge in the bucket of water.
“I can’t see a club getting involved in an old lady’s vendetta. Even these Hellions. I know they go off half cocked sometimes; at least that’s their reputation. But this is crazy shit.”
At that moment all of our phones chirped. It was our men checking in.
“What’s going on?” I asked immediately. I heard the other girls asking the exact same question.
“It’s done. We’re heading back,” Bruce answered.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“We’re pretty sure they had nothing to do with it. In fact they seemed genuinely concerned that they might be the next target. So we’re back to square one. I’ll tell you more when I get there.”
We said our goodbyes and I continued with the cleanup. After the girls got off their phones they walked over to me.
“I’m glad that’s over with,” Nat said as she picked up the broom. “I would like to get through the rest of this pregnancy without any more of these meetings amongst clubs.”
“Yeah but we still don’t know who did this,” Merci replied.
“Do you think it’s possible the boys are too close to this? That they aren’t thinking clearly,” I said. “I mean we’re all affected by Frito’s death, but the guys more than us. You girls weren’t around when this club dealt in guns, but there were a lot of deaths and most came from rival clubs. But we’re not dealing in anything heavy anymore, nothing to warrant this type of retaliation.”
“So what do you think is going on?” Nat asked.
“Listen, back in the day when the SOD was running guns, this sort of thing happened all the time. Either there’d be a shoot out, running guys off the road, shooting up houses.”
“Good Lord, how did you stay sane?” Merci asked shaking her head.
“It was difficult, especially with a young child. But I knew the life I was getting into and as hard as it may be to imagine, you kind of get used to it.”
“I don’t think I could ever get use to that,” Merci replied.
“Here’s the thing--this whole shoot up of the store took me back to the way it use to be. When Bruce said something about Callie being behind it….well it just didn’t ring true. Sure it seemed like something another club might do, but Callie getting a club member worked up enough to do this. I’m not buying it. Someone wants it to look like club retaliation.”
“But why?” Asked Nat as she rubbed her hand over her blossoming tummy.
“To deflect attention,” I answered. There, I said it. It was out there now.
“From whom?” Merci asked slowly.
I looked at the floor and then straight at the girls.
“This has to remain right here with the three of us. Do I have your word?” I asked.
“Yes,” they both answered.
“I think it’s a member of the club.”
“What!” Merci gasped. “You can’t be serious.”
“Oh, I’m serious,” I said. “And if we want to protect our men, we’ll have to work together.”
*****
When the boys got back, Bruce explained that Callie wasn’t even in the picture and never was. While she tried to hook up with several of the Hellions club members, they gave her the brush off as well. Bruce also explained that the Hellions weren’t as bad as their reputation would have people believe, but they liked the status and weren’t about to change it. However, they had no beef with the SOD and would rather keep in good standing than to have the club as enemies for no reason. Made sense to me. The Hellions said they would keep their ears open and let Elijah know of any new info they run across. So what the hell was going on?
I had my suspicions, but I wasn’t ready to fill Bruce in yet. There was no way he’d even consider the thought of one of the members turning. That was blasphemy. I didn’t want to either, but I wasn’t going to turn a blind eye.
The next day I met with Nat and Merci while the boys worked on the hardware store and Elijah met with the insurance people. I wanted to meet away from the clubhouse so we met at the cupcake and coffee shop down the street. It was Nat’s choice and she was craving a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting. Merci and I drank our coffee as we watched Nat devour the cupcake.
“You two don’t know what you’re missing,” Nat said as she took a bite.
“Don’t worry. I’m ordering half a dozen to take home before we leave,” I said. Can’t bypass a good cupcake.
“Well I guess everyone was filled in last night on the meet with the Hellions,” Merci stated. “Sounds like that’s a dead end.”
“It doesn’t surprise me,” I said taking a sip of my coffee.
“Do you still think it’s somebody in the club?” Nat asked as she patted a napkin against her lips.
“Honey, I don’t know. I don’t want to think it was someone in the club, but it’s just a feeling I get.” I knew those feelings all too well, like the one I had when Gabe died. This was different however. The cold emotion that ran through my veins when Gabriel died was like a light extinguishing from within me. In this case a flame was growing. My instincts pointed to an inside job, but how would we figure it out?