Mia is shopping with Target now, and I have to admit, I am sitting here at the clubhouse bar, seething with anger. Who the fuck would have the guts to go into her room and trash everything she owned?
Leaning both my elbows and back on the bar counter, I’m watching the few people in the clubhouse common room, particularly the club women. If it’s one of those that has done this, it will depend on why, as to whether they live or not.
I’m a pretty laid-back individual on the whole. I like to know all the facts before I decide, part of being President and not letting my brothers down. But I can be as nasty as the next man when I need to be. I’ve done my share of foul deeds in the past, and I’m sure I’ll do more in the future.
Turning around, I tap on the bar and ask Beer for a shot. He places it in front of me, and I turn the glass on the counter. Keeping my voice low, I murmur, ‘Beer, keep your ears open. Something’s not right with this shit, and I’m gonna do some damage when I find out who and why.’
Beer leans forward, wiping the counter next to me, murmuring, ‘Fucking sick this is, as if Mia has not suffered enough. She’s here to find peace and get a relationship with you and the club. She’s doing that Pres, we all like her. She’s a good woman, and this smacks of either jealousy or something from her past.’
I nod to Beer but cannot help thinking he’s right. I’m going to talk with Mia and find out more about what happened before and in prison.
Hearing loud laughter, I turn again and see Candy, Bubbles, and Brandy heads down and keeping their voices low. Turning, so I’m facing Beer again. He nods to let me know he’s watching.
I make my way outside to my bike, and just as I knew he would, Buzz appeared, and we head out to the club.
Entering the club, the first thing I note is it’s pretty quiet. Three waitresses are hovering around the end of the bar, one of those being Jewel.
Leaning over to Buzz, ‘Keep your eye on Jewel and watch for Steve. I want to know what the relationship looks like with Jewel before we drag them both in.’
I walk behind the bar and head for the office. Not bothering to knock, I open the door and see Silver is reading something and has a severe look on his face. When he looks up and sees it’s me, he rubs his forehead and picks up the paperwork, handing it to me.
Sitting in the easy chair next to the window, I read what he’s given me. As I read, I get angrier and angrier; this is total bullshit.
‘Have you double-checked this information, Silver?’ I ask, doing my best to stay calm when I feel like ripping the office apart.
‘Sure have, Pres, I just finishing the third time as you came in the office. I’ve also taken inventory four times and cannot get the figures to work. We are definitely down $8,000 on the stock that has not been sold.’
‘Has Fox done it independently too?’ I ask because cross-checking is always a damn good thing in cases like this.
‘He has, three times. He cannot make it add up either,’ Silver stands and walks over to the door, opens it slightly, and looks into the hallway, ‘We need to update Target, so he knows it’s a real issue and that he must get on this.’
I stand, hand him the papers and step out of the office, ‘When he gets back from shopping with Mia, I’ll speak to him.’
Walking into the club, I stop at the bar next to Buzz and quietly update him on what I have found. I see his fists clench, and the steel shutters close in his eyes. He gives me a nod, then turns to lean on the bar to make it look like we are just have a simple conversation. What we are doing is checking out everyone in the club at this moment in time.
Knuckles enters the club and lumbers over to us, ‘Hi Pres, Buzz. What ya both doin’ here?’
‘Nothing really, just chilling a while,’ Buzz says, but continues looking around.
‘Okay, whatever, if you need me, I’m going to the office.’
We both watch him disappear behind the bar, and then, to my surprise, Jewel shoots behind, shouting at Knuckles. Both of us lean forward to see down the hallway and note the surprise on Knuckles’ face as Jewel grabs his arm.
Not able to hear what is being said, I look over at Twig behind the bar, and even her eyes are wide open, looking shocked. Twig looks at us, shakes herself, and then carries on with what she was doing. I lean over to Buzz, ‘Find out later what the fuck that was about.’
Buzz nods but says nothing otherwise, then he nudges me with his elbow and stares at something behind me. When I turn slowly, I see Steve just walked in, well, well, well.
Twig passes us another beer. I plant myself on a barstool but turn to watch in the mirror behind the bar what is going on without my seeming to be aware. Buzz has sat too but facing me, so he is halfway to seeing either the room or the mirror.
I spend another hour watching what is going on, then make my way out of the club, heading back to the clubhouse, as I need to speak to Target. See if his buddy is coming over to help.
Walking into the clubhouse, Target is waiting at the bar, drinking a bottle of water. When he looks up, I nod for him to follow me. Looking around, I don’t see Mia, so I imagine she’s upstairs putting away all her purchases.
As Target enters the office, I nod for him to close the door. ‘Take a seat, Target.’
I sit behind my desk, ‘Okay, Target, did everything go fine with Mia at the mall?’
‘Yeah, no problems, Pres.’
‘Good. Have you spoken to your buddy yet?’
‘He’s coming over tomorrow. I’ve found him an apartment that we can rent, so he isn’t mixing with any of you from here. My question is, shall I stay with him, so I stay clean of the MC while we do our thing? The last thing we need is me being seen as part of the club.’ Target states. Then he takes out his cell and reels off the address of the apartment.
‘Hang on.’ I state, then ring TwoCents, ‘TwoCents, can you bring me a club card Target can use to pay for an apartment and anything else they need?
‘Okay, Target, TwoCents is bringing you a card. Pay for everything on it, not out of your pocket. This is club business, and the club pays.
‘You need to watch Jewel and a man called Steve in particular, but all the waitresses arebeing background checked again, just in case we missed anything the first time. Tell me something about your friend.’
‘ He’s a damn good man, and if I can bring him in, he’ll make you a good brother, but he’ll only prospect six months, same as me. You’ll know if we’re loyal before that time is up.’ Target states with a set face.
‘Did the shopping trip go okay with Mia? Did she get everything she needed?’ I ask, and Target hands me my card, grinning, ‘You’ll have a nice dent in that Pres.’
Chuckling, I put the card in my wallet and stand, giving Target a nod that we’re done, but just before we leave the office, I place my hand on Target’s shoulder, ‘Thanks for watching Mia, I know you’re getting a nice friendship going and I appreciate that, she needs people she can trust now. Now, fuck off and get settled in at the apartment. I’ll let you know what nights Mia is going to be pulling at the club, so you’ll be around to watch her back.’
‘Sure, no problem.’
In the common room, many of the brothers are about as it’s that time of the day that we all congregate. I look over and see Drag, Sting, and Brag talking at the table on one side of the room.
Sitting with them, Drag leans forward. ‘We’ve been watching the women. The only one who doesn’t get involved in anything or is a bitch is Abbie. The other three we need to watch for, it would not surprise me if Bubbles or Brandy didn’t trash Mia’s room.’
Sting sits up straighter, ‘I had a lock put on Mia’s room and gave her the keys. Two came with it, and she has them both, Pres. It just seemed the right thing to do after she lost all her stuff.’
‘Thanks, Sting. After all she’s gone through, it turns my stomach that this has happened. When I promised her, she would be safe living here with us. I’m trying not to rush her as my ol’ lady, and we are getting closer, but I don’t want her to think the relationship is about sex because it’s about much more than that.’ I run my hand over the back of my neck, ‘I’m going to sit down with her and see if she can tell me about before and in prison, see if anything stands out that we should worry about. She may not want to talk about it, but it cannot hurt for us to have as much information as we can get.’
Tapping the table, I stand, then make my way upstairs to talk to Mia.
Standing outside Mia’s bedroom door, I tap and say ‘Knock, knock, just me, Mia.’ and I hear her shout, ‘Come in.’
Entering the room, I have to grin as Mia looks frazzled, with empty bags strewn all over the bed. She grabs as many as she can and stuff them into a garbage can she has on one side.
‘Looks like you had a good day shopping?’ grinning at her blush that creeps from her chest up to her forehead. ‘Did you get everything you needed?’
‘Yes, thank you, Axel. I’m still angry that they cut all my new stuff up, but as you said, I’m trying not to let it get to me. I got everything that I need for now and can get anything else as and when I need it.’
‘Have you decided what three nights you want to work at the club?’ I ask as I sit in the single armchair in the room.
‘I was thinking Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. That way, I cover two quiet nights and a busier one. I’ll make sure I watch the register, and I can serve the bar as I did it at the old MC I was with when they were short-handed. I can help in the office if needed, too. With having the banking background, I’m good at books, organizing, and even filing.’
‘Good, that works out great. Target and Chaos will be in and out of the club. They will be around the nights you work. Don’t let on you know them, or you’ll blow their cover, but if you look like you are getting to know them over some time, that will work.’ I take Mia’s hand and draw her to me, pulling her into my lap. I wrap my arms around her waist and let her lean on me, ‘I’m not sure who is stealing, but it looks like the extra stock orders have never been sold according to the books, yet they are not in the stockroom, as Jewel was helping manage then she is the obvious one to watch.
‘Steve, her buddy, I don’t know yet who or what the connection is. Just be careful, make sure you keep your cell on you. I’m going to get you a tracker bracelet that we’ve used before, and that way, if we need to know where you are, we’ll have something to go on.’
‘Okay, I can live with that Axel.’
‘Can you tell me about what happened before, during, and after you were in prison? Maybe a connection with that? I don’t know, but it is worth us looking into if you don’t mind talking about it.’ I hope she won’t mind because it may give us something.
‘I can do that, Axel, but can we do it tomorrow as I’m hungry and tired?’
‘Yeah, we can do it tomorrow. Come on, let’s go find something to eat and have an early night.’ Taking her hand in mine, I lead her out of the bedroom and into the hallway, locking up the bedroom. Mia hands me a key with a small smile. ‘Thanks, babe,’ I tell her, place my arm around her shoulders, and we head downstairs.
