“Yeah. Works at the mill too with one of the other guys – Ben. Or….Big Ben as he’s known.”
Eva could take that multiple ways as she inflated another balloon. “Are you married?” She then regretted asking that. “I’m sorry. Too personal. Didn’t mean to…..”
“It’s alright.” Kelly began tying string on. “No, we’re not. We’re…..committed. I’m not involved with the goings-on here. Tanner keeps the club separate from our home life. We even live outside Tippitt.”
Kelly’s situation seemed opposite from Elle’s who seemed a little more in-the-know. Eva guessed there was no gray area with how much a woman knew and was most likely at the discretion of her man. To Eva, it was opposite ends of the culture spectrum. “Did they go far?” She vaguely tried to extract whatever she could, if only to gauge if she’d see Ben or not.
“Out of state – Ohio. That’s all I know really.”
Kelly wasn’t kidding that Tanner kept her out of the loop. Ben even told her more than the father of this woman’s child told her – and Eva wasn’t officially part of this inner circle. Kelly worked her fingers in and out, tying the last string on then bunching all the balloons together. “Done.”
“Thanks. I appreciate the help. You didn’t have to.”
“It was this or…..” she motioned to the scantily clad ladies fussing with their hair, adjusting their boobs and trying hard not to break a nail, “that.”
Giving her an appreciative smile, Eva gathered her things to leave. “Well, thanks again. It was nice meeting you.”
Kelly sighed heavily. “Wish you could stay. Could use someone normal to talk to.”
Eva doubted this conservatively dressed young mother had anything in common with the human blow-up dolls who still haven’t figured out how to unfold a paper tablecloth. “I have to get back to my store. Not to mention I wasn’t on the guest list.”
With a loud push of a back door, Elle finally showed her face, cell phone to her ear, eyes sweeping about until they fell on Eva. “Shit.” She murmured, closing her phone down. “You’re still here.”
It was a statement not a question. Eva would’ve taken it as rude, except Elle had a look which worried her. “I was just about to leave.”
Elle shook her head. “Stay right where you are.” She then looked around and waved over the young prospect who carried in the tank. “Outside – now. Shut the gate and wait by it till they get back.” She then gave the young man a once over. “You carrying?” He opened his cut to expose a gun and holster. Elle approvingly nodded. “Go.”
Eva watched his unfold, not knowing what the hell was going on, however the look on Kelly’s face was pure terror. “Elle?” Kelly asked. “What’s happening.”
“Temporary lockdown.” She gave Eva a stern look. “No one’s going anywhere.”
~~~***~~~
Shit just got real.
The Skulls anticipated this happening and went down as if it were scripted. For the last hour, Ben was handcuffed and face down on the pavement no sooner than he, Vic, Aero, Doug and Tanner crossed their bikes into Ohio. And for the entire time, every member couldn’t even enjoy the smug feeling of being one step ahead because it only solidified what they feared – that the Santagio family was out to get them.
When not a stitch of drugs nor weapons were found on them, the Ohio state police had no choice but to let them go. Aero was able to get a quick call in to Taz as soon as they were pulled over - telling him to do the same and wait. Once the police were gone, it was only a matter of time before Emilio found out that the plan to bust the Skulls went south. Vic feared possible retaliation, via a phone call to Joey in town, and immediately phoned the clubhouse to lock it down until they returned.
The first thing Ben noticed pulling in after the prospect opened the gate was that the truck full of drugs made it back ahead of them. The second was a maroon jeep. Eva’s jeep.
What the fuck?
“Looks familiar.” Despite barely escaping a very long time in orange jumpsuits, Taz’s black eyes crinkled with mirth at the sight of the jeep as Ben backed in. “Could it be?”
Really, bro? Now?” He loved the guy, but had no concept of timing. He was off his bike and following the rest of the guys inside. The aroma of food hit him instantly, and so did a green dress wrapped around a five foot seven inch brunette. Eva was holding Tanner’s son, bobbing him up and down in her arms as he played with a big balloon tied to his wrist. She appeared calm as opposed to Kelly, who looked a nervous wreck until she saw Tanner.
As he stared, Vic came over – and so did Elle. “Who’s the chick with Tanner’s kid?”
Elle cut in before Ben could. “Decorations committee,” she quipped. “Made a house call from the card store.” She patted Ben on the shoulder then eyed her husband. “Big Ben can fill in the rest.”
She walked away, leaving the two men. “Card store?” Vic asked. “That her?”
Aero joined them, looking in their direction and clearly overheard. He had a stupid grin on his face. “Different color dress, but the rest looks the same.”
That grin was wiped off with one, hard look from Ben before the V.P. regarded his president. “You want to discuss this now?”
Vic shook his head. “What? And ruin my ‘surprise’ party?” His humor was laced with sarcasm. “Eat. Unwind a bit. Make sure both prospects are on gate duty. Then we go in and place the call. No one leaves till then.”
Nodding, Aero left, but Ben’s eyes never left Eva who finally noticed him. Vic crossed his arms. “She’s going to have questions.”
“And I’ll answer them best I can,” Ben assured.
“I trust you will.”
Ben never felt fully exonerated after putting a bullet in his sister’s head. He had slipped up and told her too much because she was family – family who’d been off his radar for almost twenty years. He had more of a read on Eva in only three weeks, but it was no reason not to exercise caution in telling her only what he felt she needed to know. Right now, he just wanted to go to her, suddenly feeling very protective. Taz and Aero understood his place with Eva. Tanner had an ol’ lady, Wes was too new to dare challenge him and Doug had two club girls already book-ending him. Still, a single, available woman standing alone in the middle of an MC clubhouse wasn’t a good thing. And considering he hadn’t been in touch since sneaking out early two days ago, he wondered if she was pissed at him. The thought of that bothered him as he went to her. “Hey.”
“Hey yourself.” She put the little boy down who toddled over to his parents. “Sure I’m the last person you expected to see here.”
“Lot of shit happened today we didn’t expect.” Actually, they kind of did.
She lightly touched his arm. “Ben. What’s going on? I know you can’t tell me a….lot, but…..I need to know why I’m being held here against my will.”
He couldn’t blame her. Even though it was for her safety, her civilian status left her ignorant of it. But she wasn’t stupid. Not in the least. He couldn’t dance around this female. It was a trait which endeared her to him and admired her for. He wanted to put her mind at ease, but knew vague details wouldn’t fly. He had to go deeper, but not too much. No names, associations or pertinent details. He already suffered the consequences of what sharing too much information had wrought. Even though comparing his junkie, prodigal sister to Eva was unfair, he felt as if he were on thin ice with what the club suffered because of his slip-up. But he was falling in love with this woman and wanted, no….
needed
to be able to trust her if their lives were going to be entwined.
Ben had a big decision to make, silently praying he wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. “Follow me, darlin’. Let’s talk.”
~~~***~~~
The back area of the old Water Rock had been completely remodeled. Though this was the first time Eva was officially in there, she didn’t think bars sported bedrooms in the back. This was obviously where Ben lived after he patched in – another roof over his head which wasn’t a true home. The room he ushered her into was simple, clean and neat – pretty much what she’d expect from someone who hated clutter. There was a double bed, bureau, nightstand, lamp and a comfy, easy chair. Nothing much was on the walls save for a few Harley/girlie posters. “Sorry you had to be here when this happened.”
She sat in the chair while he took the edge of the bed. “I’m guessing whatever ‘this’ is it’s pretty bad to be locked down.” Eva knew what lock downs meant during a school shooting or prison riots – pretty much to keep everyone inside from getting out – or vice versa - except those authorized.
“You ain’t naïve, Eva. Which is why I can’t give you half-ass answers.” She braced herself, watching him collect his thoughts. “We anticipated trouble. And we got it. Don’t know the extent of it yet.” He got up and began to pace. Stopping in front of a window, he braced his hands on either side. “Club’s been in this town since the late eighties. No one understood why a bunch of bikers wanted to make a home in Tippitt. But it was a prime place to hide in plain sight.”
Eva knew she had to fashion her questions carefully. “Hide from what?”
“Not ‘hide’ literally, darlin’. Just a way to appear like a bunch of guys who worked regular jobs and rode.”
“But you did more than that.”
He nodded. “Original president made a deal with a…..family long ago to do some work for them. Started out with small jobs of a nature best not discussed. Was a way to build trust. But it was a stepping stone to the bigger picture. Which meant bigger money.”
“Doing…..what?” she cautiously asked.
“Transporting.”
Ben was right about one thing – she wasn’t naïve. Some code words were just too obvious. “By ‘family’ do you mean…..mafia?”
He didn’t answer – instead, swung his head over to look at her. “What do
you
think?”
Okay, way to agree without coming out and saying so. She went further. “And does this ‘transporting’ include drugs?”
This time he didn’t say anything, just simply stared at her. Which was pretty much a yes. She sat back in chair. “Jesus, Ben. You mean like cocaine and….?”
“No.” His voice was adamant and stern as he walked over to her. “Not coke. Not heroin. Not meth. None of that shit, Eva.” He sat on the corner of the bed, leaning over so that he was close to her knees. “Black market narcotics. Painkillers. Anti-depressants. Psychotropic stuff. Ain’t justifying it’s any better, but it’s the lesser of the evils. And the demand for this shit is high.” He leaned forward and placed his hands on her knees. “We don’t make, deal or sell. We move it out – that’s it. But if we get caught with it on us, it’s bad news darlin’.”
Two wrongs didn’t make a right, however Eva found some relief in the fact that the club’s drug involvement was to march it out of town. “Is that what happened today – you got caught?”
He shook his head and actually smiled. “Wouldn’t be sitting here if we did. But we anticipated it.” He sat back, looking unsure on what to say next. “Things changed recently. This…..family has a new boss who wants out, even though his predecessor and ours had an unspoken ‘grandfather’ agreement. So in order to find a legit reason, we believe they staged a hit on the warehouse we were storing the drugs until transport. Was to make us look incompetent and could no longer be trusted. Fortunately, we found out and intervened.” Elbows on knees, he cradled his head in his hands. “Was over a month ago. It was…..bad, Eva. They knew we were coming. Someone on the…..inside leaked it. They met us with sawed off shotguns. Killed two members.”
Eva clutched the arm of the chair as Ben divulged details of the dangerous and violent life he’d been living. She hadn’t heard about any shoot-out which meant the club wasn’t just pros at hiding in plain sight, but did it quietly. This man she let into her home, her bed, who fawned over her house, who opened up about his past just got more real to her. The first reaction should be to walk away as soon as this lockdown was over and never look back. But she couldn’t move even if she had permission. She was oddly attached to this man whom she admitted earlier she was falling for. “Ben. I’m so sorry.”
Again, Ben got up and walked to the window, his countenance a bit more serious. “We put some puzzle pieces together which led us to believe this family set us up. And it’s only a matter of time before they figure out we’re onto them.”
“What’ll happen?”
He shrugged. “Retaliation, perhaps. Question is when and where. Only thing we can do is wait it out. Got a call into them in a little while – we’ll take it from there.” He turned to look at her. “I said I’d tell you what you needed to know, Eva. Wound up telling you more than that.”