The Outlaw Stakes His Claim (10 page)

“No lost revenue?” Drevin asked.

Jagger shook his head. “Nothing lost. If the
assholes don’t want to bet, then they don’t watch the fight.
Simple
as that.”
He looked down, and for a second he stayed silent. The
electricity and pressure in the room filled, and it was clear there was some
serious shit about to be brought up. “But I have another matter to bring up
where it concerns the Brothers.”

“More road space for their little
pimping business?”
Brick questioned in his deep,
gruff voice. The sun came through the window, and when he turned his head the
light moved across the scar that lined the side of his face. Brick wasn’t
against the idea of the Grizzlies letting The Brothers of Menace have the road.
Brick was this way toward everyone: harsh, gritty, and didn’t take shit from
anyone. The only female that he let break down that hard fucking wall he had
erected around himself was his woman, Darra.

“No, he wants us to go on a run with him to Denver
and bring some females back to Steel Corner.”

“Why does he need us to help him haul some fresh
pussy up here?” Stinger said around his joint. He had this “I don’t give two
fucks about anything right now” attitude. He was leaning back against his
chair, his eyes half-lidded as though he hadn’t gotten any sleep, and a five
o’clock shadow covering his jaw.

Jagger ran a hand over his face and leaned back in
his seat. “I initially said no, that we don’t deal in selling women, and
allowing them to use the roads in Steel Corner was as far as we were willing to
go.” The leather seat Jagger was in creaked as he shifted on it.

“But?”
Court asked, because it was clear there was more that Jagger hadn’t said yet.

“This isn’t about him picking up more merchandise in
the form of willing, easy females. This is concerning women that have been
abused,” Jagger said and looked at each of them right in the eye.

There was a moment of silence and then a collective
curse.

“Shit, man. How bad are we talking?” Diesel asked
and leaned forward until he rested his arms on the table.

“Lucien has some connections with a small gang in
Denver. He got a call late last night saying the pimp fucker and some of his
crew had gone on a bender, were tweaking the fuck out, and hurt them pretty
badly. Some just have a few bruises and cuts, while others,” Jagger shook his
head, “let’s just say they are pretty bad.”

“Damn, Jagger. Where is the fucker now?” Diesel
asked.

“The pimp’s
crew have
been
taken care of, but Lucien and the Brothers went down to Denver late last night
to handle the asshole himself.” Jagger stared off for a second, clearly lost in
thought. “He asked if we could bring a few vans and come collect the females.
He wants to keep them in the whorehouse he has set up in the outskirts of city
limits.”

“If he keeps those females there how the fuck is he
planning to sell his own stock pussy?” Drevin asked.

“I don’t think he gives two fucks about that right
now, but I’d assume him keeping them there is only temporary. The only real-estate
he has is the whorehouse and his club property. He’s either going to have to
keep them at The Brothers of Menace compound—which I think we can all agree is
the least therapeutic place they need to be—or he’s going to have to find
another place to put them. Their whorehouse is their cash flow, and having them
there on a permanent basis is probably not a permanent thing.” Although Jagger
looked laidback, from the way his hands were curled into tight fists it was
clear he was anything but. “I think we can all agree that hurting a female is
some pretty fucked up shit.” Jagger closed his eyes for a minute. “Besides, I’m
not about to not help him. But Lucien told me there are some females that got
hurt that are barely over the age of eighteen.”

“Motherfucker,” Brick ground out, and the blast of
rage and heat that came from the scarred grizzly bear filled the entire room.

“What does he plan on doing with them?” Everyone
looked over at Stinger. “I’m not an expert on selling pussy, but abused females
probably aren’t the best candidates for merchandise.” Although Court said the
words evenly and smoothly, there was anger in his voice.

Dallas was feeling a whole lot of rage himself,
because the thought of those females hurt, regardless if they sold their bodies
or not, was a fucked up thing. It was hard not to put Hope in place of one of
those women, not because Dallas wanted to fucking think about that shit, but
because she consumed his thoughts. The thought of her hurt had his bear rising
to the surface and this murderous rage consuming him.
Get a grip, man. Fuck, get a grip.
He was ready to tear something
up, hurt someone, and exact vengeance for the ones that hadn’t been able to
defend themselves.

“Lucien doesn’t plan on selling them.” Jagger’s
voice hardened. “For as dark and cold as the bastard is, he wants to make sure they’re
safe. All the Brothers do for that matter. They actually want to get them on
their feet, and let them decide if they want to work for the MC, or move onto
greener pastures.” The room grew silent after Jagger spoke. “If this was my
woman…” Jagger clenched his jaw hard enough that the sound of his teeth
grinding came through like an anvil crushing asphalt. He slowly shook his head,
and his bear flashed across his face, just as lethal and deadly as the other
grizzlies sitting around the table. “I’m not going to even go there, but I know
a vote needs to be cast about going on this run.” Jagger looked around the
table. “We don’t deal in flesh, but I’ve given you the rundown. We’ll start
with Brick and move around.
Yea or nay on helping The Brothers
of Menace with the women.”

Brick was the first to answer with a yay, and every
member after that gave the same answer.

Once everyone had spoken and the vote was unanimous,
Jagger nodded. “Good. I’ll contact Lucien, and we’ll be heading out tomorrow
tonight since Lucien wants to make sure all the girls are stable enough for the
several hour
drive
it’s going to take. The Nomads that
came in the night before last will stay and keep shit together here, as will
Drevin.”

Drevin nodded. He was the youngest of the patched in
Grizzly MC Steel Corner members at thirty-two. “You got it,
Prez
.”

“Stinger, Diesel, and Court can bring the vans.”
Jagger addressed the three members in question.

“What about that property on that strip of land
right before River Run city limits?” Everyone turned their attention to Dallas
after he spoke.

“You mean that five acres with the debilitated barn
and cabin that looks like it has seen better days?” Jagger asked.

Dallas nodded.
“Yeah.”
He
looked at the members. “It’s been on the market for a few months now, and I can
only assume that it hasn’t been sold because of the shitty buildings on it. It’s
out in the middle of nowhere, but still
close
enough
to River Run and the Brothers.”

“You thinking maybe Lucien might want that as a
potential spot for those women?” Diesel asked.

Dallas shrugged, looked at the members around the
table again, and then finally nodded. “Yeah, I do.” It felt good to take part in
club business instead of just following orders and having a chip on his
shoulder. Dallas may have always been there for the club, and had kept his
self-rage and hatred deep inside as he got shit done, but he had also been
distant. Thinking of Hope in this situation, selling her body and beaten by
some low-life asshole, had this blood-boiling rage moving through him. She was
this light to his darkness, and that made Dallas realize that she was his in
every way, and he wouldn’t be able to stop until that was set in stone. Since
meeting her he had wanted nothing more than to have her as his in every way.
Whether she realized it or not, she inadvertently helped him deal with his own
inner shit. That was a pretty big fucking deal. This was the beginning of
something, and although the intelligent side of him said she was far too good
for his outlaw ass, he couldn’t walk away from her. He didn’t want to.

“That place needs a major overhaul to even be
livable.” Stinger’s deep voice came from beside him.

“I’ll bring that up to Lucien, but that seems like a
solid plan.” Jagger ran his hand over his face and leaned back in his chair.
“We can round up some prospects and help get the cabin and barn fixed up, if
Lucien wants to go that route.”

“I think the seller is Travis Brandon. Guy owns the
car dealership in
Hollowspoint
, and if I’m not
mistaken wants the place sold quickly because he and his wife want to buy a
cabin in the
Springs
,” Drevin said, and they all
glanced his way. “What?”

“How do you know so much personal shit regarding
that?” Stinger commented around his joint.

Drevin shrugged. “I was fucking his ex-mistress. She
was pissed he wouldn’t leave his wife, and was spouting shit off at the mouth.”

There were a few grunts.

“Okay, so it’s safe to say he wants to move on the
property. If Lucien is for it that will work to everyone’s advantage.”

Although The Brothers of Menace and The Grizzly MC
had started off on sketchy terms, over the last couple of months they had grown
into a stronger alliance, especially when Lucien and his crew had helped Court
and his woman when Lilly had been hurt.

“Okay, I’ll call Lucien and give you all a solid
time to be ready to go.” Jagger ended the meeting, and everyone stood.

Dallas stayed in his seat though, and when Jagger
stood and looked over at him, he stilled. The Grizzly President waited until
the last member had left the meeting room and then sat back down. For a moment
neither said anything, and although Dallas planned on all Grizzly members
hearing this eventually, Jagger should know before them—well, aside from Diesel.
That had been a different situation seeing has Dallas had been a real douche to
the other biker.

“I wanted to talk about why I’ve been acting distant
these past few months.”

Jagger nodded. “I wondered how long it would take
for you to come to me. But at least you spoke with Diesel.”

Maybe Dallas should have been surprised that Jagger
knew he had spoken about this with Diesel first, but he wasn’t.

“He didn’t tell me what you spoke about, just that you
were dealing with some heavy shit.” The VP and President were tight, needed to
be in order to make sure the club ran smoothly. Everyone as a whole were the ones
that kept an MC going, but the strength that came from the Vice President and
the President had to be tight. “You know you are family, Dallas. You are a
fucking Grizzly, and we are all here for you. Time is sometimes what is needed
to get through some pretty tough shit, but you also have to remember that if we
all don’t work as a team then the MC won’t function, and that isn’t
acceptable.”

Dallas nodded and ran his hand over the back of his
head. He looked over at his President, and for the next ten minutes explained
everything. He hadn’t minced his words, hadn’t denied that he hadn’t seen his
kid as much as he should have, and even talked about Hope and the light she
brought to his darkness. For several minutes Jagger didn’t say anything, and
Dallas wondered what the other biker was thinking.

“Shit, Dallas, I am so fucking sorry about your kid
and ex. I knew you weren’t close with Meghan, but fuck, I don’t even know what
you’re going through.”

The Grizzly President’s emotions slammed into Dallas
so forcibly that it sucked the air right out of his lungs. Dallas couldn’t
speak, so instead he looked down and nodded. The sound of the chair squeaking
had Dallas lifting his gaze and staring at Jagger.

Jagger was now looking out the window with his back
to Dallas. A few prospects could be seen working on a Harley, but other than
that there wasn’t any action outside. “And you just met this female a few days
ago?” Jagger asked, but there was still thick emotion that clogged the President’s
voice.

“Yeah.
I know it sounds crazy.” It did sound a bit insane that he felt this strongly
about Hope this soon. Dallas also knew that several of the members that had
claimed women for themselves had not known them for very long at first either.
But they all shared the same intense possessiveness and need to protect those
females. It was the same emotions Dallas felt for Hope.

“No, brother, it really doesn’t.” Jagger turned back
around and stared at Dallas. “When you find something that feels so fucking
right, and makes that darkness inside of you
ease
, you
grab onto that with both hands and never let go.” There was a lot of hard
emotion in Jagger’s voice. “We all have demons, and bury some ugly shit deep
inside of ourselves in hope that it never emerges.” Jagger exhaled loudly.
“Hell, I have done a lot of horrendous things in my life, and no amount of
praying or hoping that I’ll be a better person will be a reality. I am who I
am, and I am fucking lucky to have the woman I have in my life. I don’t know
who decided to grace me with that blessing, but I will never let go of that,
and neither should you.” Jagger walked over to Dallas. He clapped him on the
back, and although no Grizzly MC member was open with each other about the
brotherly love they felt, it was an unspoken understanding. “Don’t ever be afraid
to go after what you feel is a gift.”