“We have reached out to the club’s VP, LeCharles ‘Axle’ Williamson, for comment.”
LeCharles was the one who spoke for the club to the media?
My curiosity was getting the best of me. I really should have let it be and told myself never to go to Brewskis again, but every twenty minutes, I kept refreshing the story to see if LeCharles would have something to say.For someone I said never to see me again, I sure do seem to keep up with him an awful lot.
Finally, about an hour after the story first broke, LeCharles was shown emerging to some cameras with that same, grim look he always wore on his face. Someone who didn’t know him might have thought he was just calm and cool, but I knew he was incredibly pissed off.
“I am going to read my one comment, and that will be it for our media comments,” he said. “We did not launch the strike on Brewskis. We appreciate and support the public of Springsville and would never put them in harm’s way. In time, you will all learn that this was a manipulative act by the Fallen Saints to turn the tide against us. The truth will come out.”
With that, he turned around, ignoring the cascade of questions coming from the media.
“Shiloh,” I said, hugging my dog close. “I think things might get pretty ugly in this town pretty soon.”
I just wish I could help somehow.
Can’t believe I’m admitting that, but it’s completely true.
Axle
The TV, newspaper, and radio journalists all yelled at me for further comment, ignoring my statement that I would not add anything further. Unlike Patriot, who was chummy with everyone he interacted with in public, I didn’t expect much from them and didn’t give much to them. My few encounters as one of the faces of the club, a decision deliberately made to make the more open-minded types feel comfortable about our presence, had taught me that the media was not my friend. I treated them with enough respect, but I never expected the same back.
But what I did expect was that the Fallen Saints would be smart enough not to attack Brewskis. That was the one place we had both silently agreed we would never attack, never bring into the fray. If ever there was peace and resolution between the two groups, it would take place at Brewskis. It acted as a sort of ground zero.
So, naturally, the Fallen Saints had to go and fuck it up.
Just like Rose...
No, not like Rose. Just like Rose and I had fucked things up for ourselves last night.
I didn’t even have time to dwell on that misery as I had all morning. I hadn’t been so curt and silent like that in a long, long time. I think even fucking Butch was wondering if I had lost my voice the night before. Instead, I had to focus on this goddamn shit in an emergency church hall meeting, all while accounting for the fact there was a fucking rat in our club, and he would be in that room, and I had a goddamn good feeling who it was, and I couldn’t do a goddamn thing about it.
Fuck!
I shut the clubhouse door behind me so loudly that I heard some bottles rattling inside. I stormed past a prospect who wisely got the hell out of the way and stepped into the church meeting. The other five officers, Lane, Butch, Father Marcellus, Red Raven, and Patriot, were all waiting for me. They didn’t need long to pick up on my mood.
“It goes without saying how pissed off we are,” Lane said. “I think we all need to plan—”
“No, fuck that.”
I tried to not speak out of turn. I certainly never, ever overruled Lane.
But I had never found myself in a spot so frustrating and so infuriating as the one I had found myself in now. It was out of character, sure. I didn’t give a fuck.
“We need to retaliate fucking now, Lane,” I growled. “There can’t be any planning on this. There can’t be any thinking on this. We just need to go.”
“Hey, man, let’s slow down,” Patriot said.
“They just attacked Brewskis and blamed it on us to the local media. What more do you need proof of, Patriot? You want them to just take over this town like so?”
“First, man, just breathe.”
God, I hated Patriot right now. But he understood me.
“Second of all, this town loves us. They hate the Fallen Saints. They’re going to look at that interview that the Saints had and laugh. No one’s going to believe them.”
You underestimate their capabilities. They can make life really shitty for us really fast if they want to.
“I would agree with him,” Father Marcellus said. “The town derives its strength from our presence.”
