Trainer froze halfway to his seat, his eyes going wide as he scanned our faces. I didn’t know about everyone else, but I was grinning from ear to ear. Slowly, Trainer reached up and pulled a sparkly pink barrette out of his long mane of black hair.
“So pretty,” Blade said.
“Are you late because you were getting a makeover?” Hawk asked.
“You know, pink really is your color,” I chimed in.
Trainer glared. “Fuck off, all of you. I’ve got a two-year-old daughter that likes my hair.”
There was a chorus of “aww,” making Trainer flip us all the bird as he resumed walking to his seat, tucking the barrette into his jacket pocket.
“Okay, settle down,” Ryder said with laughter in his voice. It took almost a full minute before we were all quiet again. “Back to business. I called this meeting to share some pretty big news.”
The expression on Ryder’s face became grave. The room was silent and I could feel tension in the air.
“Last night, the police raided the Pit. I’m not sure what they found, but I do know that they arrested twenty Las Balas members.”
“God damn, that’s more than half the club,” Hawk commented.
“Yeah,” Ryder nodded. “Charges include everything from parole violations to holding with intent to sell to possession of illegal firearms. I don’t think they got them on anything too serious, but if it sticks, we could see key members going away for a while.”
“Shit, man, you scared me there for a second,” Pin said.
“Yeah, why so serious when you’re sharing good news?” I asked.
“Because I’m not so sure it is,” Ryder replied. “The cops have always left them alone, so why did they raid the bar last night?”
No one responded. We didn’t have any answers.
“There’s an unspoken agreement between the police and Outlaw Souls. They stay out of our way as much as possible and we don’t give them a reason to come sniffing around. I assume they had the same sort of understanding with Las Balas. So what changed?”
“You think they’re getting pressure from somewhere?” Swole asked.
“I’m not sure what’s going on, but I think that it would be foolish to take anything for granted. I want everyone to be careful for the next couple of weeks. Nothing illegal at the bar. No drugs here or on your person. No packing heat unless you have a permit for it.”
Shit, I doubted that any of us bothered with that paperwork.
“I have a bad feeling about this. With what’s going on with the strip club, and now Las Balas, I don’t want us to be caught with our pants down.”
“Yeah, that’d be an ugly situation with some of you,” Swole remarked, bringing laughter out of everyone. It broke the tension in the room, and even Ryder relaxed a little.
“All right,” he said, “just be aware and don’t so much as jaywalk until we can figure out if we’ve got a target on our backs.”
The meeting broke up after that, but we didn’t all leave right away. The club just moved out into the bar, where we spent the evening drinking and hanging out. It was times like this that I appreciated the club the most. It felt like a family, a brotherhood.
I might have had a strained relationship with my mom and been out of contact with my brother since he went behind bars, but at least I had Outlaw Souls.
Sabrina
I bent low over the notebook that was open on the kitchen counter, jotting down the ingredients that I’d put together in the bowl. I was trying to perfect my brownie recipe.
Pouring the batter into the pan, I couldn’t help licking the chocolatey goodness that was lingering on the rubber spatula. I closed my eyes and moaned at the taste. I didn’t even care that there was raw egg in it. It was worth the risk.
I put the pan of brownies into the oven, setting the timer. After making another note on the recipe, I closed the notebook. Running my hand over the cover, which was a simple brown leather, I smiled. I loved to cook. It was my only great passion in life, and I’d always daydreamed about opening my own little café.
Of course, I’d abandoned those dreams when I studied political science in college instead of going to culinary school. But that didn’t stop me from filling this notebook with all the recipes that I’d come up with over the years. I experimented until I got it right and the dish was exactly what I wanted. Then it went in the notebook.
If I ever did open a restaurant, I’d have a great base to start with.
