“How the hell?”
Raider bangs the gavel to get everyone's attention before he speaks.“Well, it appears we’re all full of shit and liars to boot.Going forward, we follow the laws of Kings and be the men we’re supposed to be.The laws of the Kings are the only ones that matter.Blitz, that is my word given not only to you but to all our brothers,” Raider’s words ring with a truth I have not heard in so very long.
“Exactly,” Terro states.
“Agreed,” Pope throws in.
After that, each brother follows suit, once again vowing to all that is the Kings of Anarchy.Slowly, with a respect for my brothers that I’ve not felt in far too long, I unfold my cut and slide it back on—where it should be.
Eight
Charlie
I have no idea how long I slept, but when I wake up, my eyes are swollen from crying.Sitting up, I finally take the room in, and just like when I got here, it’s white and sterile.The door to my prison opens, and I’m only marginally shocked to see Pope standing there.Rising to my feet, I wait for his instructions.
“Come on, Charlie girl, we just want to talk to you,” Pope finally says.
Sighing, I drop my shoulders a little.“Where are we going?”
“The conference room,” he answers me.
“Oh, okay,” I relax just a bit.
“Can I ask you a question?”Pope wonders as he steps back so I can walk through the door.
“Do I have a choice not to answer?”I ask him back.
“You just did, Charlie girl.You just did.”He sighs, shaking his head.
Confused by this exchange, I just shake it off and make my way to the conference room.Pausing in the doorway, I take in who all is in the room and instantly know that this will not go well at all.Pope applies pressure to my lower back, forcing me to step into the room.Raider, Anvil, Terro, Blitz, Mercy, and Hermes are all there.Looking around the room, I take the seat at the head of the table, putting space between me and everyone else.I place my hands flat on the table, waiting for someone to say something.
“Charlie, I need you to start at the beginning,” Raider watches me closely.
“How far in the beginning?”I ask so that I know where to even start.
“Where ever you think you should start to tell us what we need to know,” Raider shrugs, relaxing back into his chair.
Taking a deep breath, I decide starting at when shit exploded is what’s best.“Six and I were together for nearly five years, and everything was great.The club was starting to do well, and we were finally building alliances and actually making some money.Then Six and NOS came down to visit Relic to discuss new business opportunities.If only Six had known beforehand that the opportunity was helping in a sex trade, he never would have gone.Six said absolutely not.NOS and his closest brothers, on the other hand, thought it was the best plan.Six fought them off for months, but the brothers loyal to NOS were spiraling as they were now using more of the drugs we transported than actually transporting them.”
I stop talking, trying to collect my thoughts as memories try to fight through the walls I’ve built around them.
“Six didn’t want to be a part of the sex trafficking?”Terro asks.“It comes with a lot of money, and the way you make it sound, you all really needed the money.”
“Would the Kings take part in sex trafficking for any reason?”I growl with anger at their perceived opinion of a great man.
“Very well,” Terro concedes.
The fire he just lit gives me the strength to relive the night that broke my soul.“Six and I were talking in our room once again.Discussing the fact that he would never support the Knights becoming part of any kind of human trafficking, not only because of his morals but because of my history.It was as if he knew all the stalling and putting off was coming to an end.He gave me a white card that night with only a number and told me that if I ever needed a safe way to get away from the club, one phone call was all it would take and told me what to say—I was calling in Boston’s marker.I hid the number away just as a knock on the door caught our attention,” I swallow hard around the knot in my throat.“Six answered it, and Wart was standing there, letting us know NOS was calling church.”
“What the fuck?VP doesn’t call church without being told to,” Anvil murmurs, disgusted.
“That was the conversation they were having when NOS showed up and shot Six without fanfare.A single shot to the chest and the man who was nothing but honest, good, and doing everything he could to make things just a little better for the weak and broken was dead.I recall little about anything else for a long time after that.It wasn’t until NOS was gone on some trip that I was able to get clear-headed enough to find the card and make the call.Nova, the woman who was dropped in the parking lot here, was still young.Because of her age and that she is a brother's daughter, she was allowed more freedom than any of the others.She gave me her phone and was able to sneak me out of the clubhouse.”
Terro glares at me.“You’re telling me that the scared woman in there helped you as a teen?”
A small smile spreads across my lips.“I watched that woman grow from a child to a teenager with so much promise and spunk that I always knew she would do something great.I begged her to come with me.She refused because her older sister was a club girl and she wouldn’t leave her.I hoped every day that if they both didn’t get out, that she would.Anyway, I made the call.Nova got me to a shit motel far enough away that they wouldn’t be able to find me.She sent my location to Blitz.I truly have no idea how long it took for him to show up, but he did.I fought him hard for days about coming back with him.He eventually convinced me because I had nothing to my name and if I was at the club in some capacity, I wouldn’t need anything and would have real protection.”
“Fuck, that’s … I just … fuck.”Anvil shakes his head.
