He puts out his hand for me to shake. “Hurricane, I presume?” he states.
“Yeah, this is my Old Lady, Kaia. Thought we’d pop in seein’ as we’re here on vacation.”
He chuckles, turning to Kaia. “How long since you’ve been back home?”
She lets out a wistful sigh. “Areallylong time.”
“Glad you could pop by. I’m Mauka, the club’s VP, and you’ve already met my Old Lady, Malia. This here is Koa. He’s the Sergeant at Arms. Next, we have Wipeout, who’s our resident surfer and tech genius. Then we have our enforcer, Chopsticks. I’m assuming you metHaole, the prospect out front?”
I tilt my head. “Yeah, you could say that. It’s good to meet y’all.”
Kaia glances around the clubhouse. “So it’s just you guys, then?”
Maukachuckles. “We don’t need many brothers or the facilities to recruit more. We don’t get a lot of trouble. We do our thing, keep to ourselves, run our business, and it seems to work well for us.”
“And what is your business?” I ask.
The guys all look at Mauka,and he grins. “I’m not at liberty to say. If Pres wants to tell you, he will, but I won’t discuss club business without consent.”
Raising my hands, I smile. “I get you and understand completely.”
“I hear there are some out-of-towners in here?” a deep, bellowing voice calls out.
We turn to see a tall, well-built man who looks like The Rock, if I am honest, walking toward me.
What is it about these Hawaiians? They’re all so fucking big?Puts my muscles to shame!
“Pono?” I ask.
He steps up, towering over me. I’m easily six foot two, so I’d hate to guess how tall this guy is. Pono offers his hand for me to shake. “Hurricane?”
“Thanks for lettin’ us drop by, Pres. It’s always good to call on other chapters and see how they do things.”
Pono nods, dropping my hand from his tight grip. “You want to know what our business is? We have to know we can trust you first. Being Defiance doesn’t automatically gain trust. Trust is earned,” he states.
Makes sense.
I wouldn’t spill my guts to him about everything that happens at The Plantation back home if he were to rock up in the NOLA clubhouse, so it’s all good.
“Fair call. Your business is your business. I’m only here as a fellow president to extend my hand and see if there is anythin’ we can do to help each other out.”
Pono grips my shoulder tightly, squeezing it as his eyes shoot to Mauka.“Matter of fact, there might be something we need to discuss. Let’s head to the Chapel. Aunty, you okay to take care of things out here?”
Malia wraps her arm around Kaia and smiles wide. “Oh, you know us ladies will get up to no good while you boys are talking shop.”
“That’s my girl.” Mauka chuckles before leaning in and kissing Malia’s cheek lightly. She looks at him lovingly as the rest of the guys take off for what I assume is the Chapel. I glance at Kaia, and she smiles at me, letting me know she will be fine while I mingle with the brothers.
I’ve always felt in control.
I command the room.
But right now, I am out of my fucking depth.
I’m in a foreign territory, at another club where I hold no rank, and the weight of that lies heavily on my shoulders. I am a no one here, and that fact alone is incredibly humbling, and it puts everything into perspective. While I might be the head honcho in New Orleans, my rank means nothing outside Louisiana.
I need to remember that and keep my personality in check.
For the sake of my club, my Old Lady, and my children—both for the one back home and the one who isn’t born yet.
