After saying hello to at least half the club, I took my place at the table in front of the room, surrounded by my officers. Havoc usually got everyone under control, but with him gone, Wasp stepped in and called the meeting to order. He then opened up his laptop and started the roll call. The Dead Presidents had fifty-seven patched members and three recruits. Of those, fifty-five were in attendance.
Eagle read the minutes from the previous meeting then talked about a possible prospect he’d received an email about. Sage volunteered to interview the prospect and we moved on to new business.
When it was my turn to speak, I stood and got right to it. “Brass was caught stealing from the Copper Penny.”
Shock, outrage, and curses went up around the club.
Holding up my hand to silence them, I continued, “Flint and I saw him on video, and then I got his confession. He’s been dealt with and is out of the club, but you all need to know what happened. If he shows his face around here, we need to remind him he’s not welcome.”
“How much did he make off with?” Pops asked.
“Fourteen hundred dollars. We caught him before he could do more damage. I took four hundred and twenty-two dollars from his wallet and made sure he knows he’ll be paying us back the rest.”
Pops nodded.
Transparency—especially about financial matters—was key to the success of our club. Several members contributed over and above their dues, and they deserved to know that their money was being protected and not lining the pockets of thieves.
Several of the brothers started talking amongst themselves, no doubt shocked and disgusted by Brass’s betrayal. I could only remember one other time we’d had to kick a member out, and that was because of a meth addiction. Most Dead Presidents stayed true to self, to our brothers, and to our cause. We knew what was at stake, and we willingly sacrificed ourselves. We may have come out of the service, but we never stopped serving.
Needing to reinstate order, I picked up the gavel and pounded it on the table a couple of times. The room fell silent.
“Last Friday night we talked about this mess Havoc’s in. Our brother has been in jail for a week now.”
“We should bail him out,” a beer-bellied brother named Buddha called out.
Words of agreement rose from many of the brothers. Glad they were so willing to help Havoc, but pissed that they clearly didn’t think I had the situation under control and needed their guidance, I closed my mouth and glared until they all shut up.
When all eyes were on me, I continued, “Any of you assholes ever known me to be greedy?”
There were multiple murmurs of “no.”
Nobody dared say otherwise. I would call them out for the unappreciative bastards they were. Like most of us, I’d given my time, my blood, and my money for this club and anyone stupid enough to dispute that fact would get their ass kicked.
“You ever known me to turn my back on one of our brothers when he needed me?” I asked.
More murmurs of “no.”
“You think I’m incompetent? That I don’t deserve to be standing up here right now?” Without giving them time to respond, I added, “Havoc’s the club’s right hand and my best friend, so why the fuck do you think I’d leave him locked up?”
Silence.
“Do you think I might have my reasons?” I asked.
More silence.
Glaring at Buddha, I said, “If you think you rank high enough to be privy to me and Havoc’s plans, you come see me after church. But until then, I suggest you sit down and shut the fuck up unless you have something positive to contribute.”
He zipped his big mouth real quick like. Good. I’d deal with him later.
“Now, unless anyone else feels the need to mouth off about shit they know nothing about, we gotta get down to business. I need your help.”
Ears perked up. Gazes followed me as I paced.
“Several of you met Emily, the attorney who was here today. She’s working on Havoc’s case. I’ve seen her in court and she’s damn good.”
“She’s damn fine, too,” Brick muttered from the front pew.
The second the words were out of his mouth, I leaped the short distance between us, coming face to face with the asshole. “You see her walk out of here wearing my shirt?” I asked. It took everything in me not to reach down and strangle the words from his throat.
