Twenty-Five
Desiree sat in on the meeting that she was designated to attend. They were currently looking over two cases that were sent their way to see which one needed to be handled first and which could be handled second.
To them, both were equally important, unfortunately they could only do one at a time. One of the reasons they were looking to bring in more prospects for the club so that they could expand their operation.
They didn’t require the person to have military or law enforcement background, but it helped when it came to their cases since they used their previous experience with getting shit done. Once they chose their case to do first, they were then looking at the several prospects that Nightshade had brought in for them to look at.
“Since we’ve never done this before, we need to come up with some rules for the prospects that we will be bringing in. How long do we want to keep them as prospects?” Andrea asked as she leaned back looking over a file for the cases they still had to choose from.
“I say eighteen months. I know most clubs do it a few months to a few years. But I think we need to find that middle groundand go with eighteen months. That usually gives them time to show their loyalty and if they are going to be worthy of this club. They have to be held to high standards considering what we do. I don’t think we should let them in on what we do just yet, in case someone is joining as a spy.” Nightshade spoke up as she leaned forward and placed her forearms onto the table.
“I’m in agreeance with Nightshade. Eighteen months should be perfect.” Desiree agreed as she nodded toward the other woman.
“Anyone disagree?” Andrea asked, giving the rest of the club a chance to voice their opinion.
When no one disagreed, they then got back to the cases at hand. They looked at both cases one at a time looking at the timelines and escalation of the violence each woman faced.
They knew both cases were on dangerous grounds, but it sucked they could only do one case at a time. They had been talking about expanding for a while but just never pushed them to do it until after the case in Charlotte.
“I think this one is the one that we should do first. The husband is a cop who’s been under investigation multiple times for job related shit. He takes it out on his wife and the department believes whatever bullshit he says. I think we need to deal with this one first.” Desiree pointed to the file in Andrea’s hand that she’d already looked at.
“I agree with Olly.” Bella nodded at Desiree. “This one is dangerous too, but I think we can buy time with this one. Maybe have the guys keep an eye on it for us. Olly. Can you talk to Jose and Tiny to see what they know about the one with the cop? They may be able to help us with this one.”
“I second that thought.” Andrea nodded as she looked over the file. “I think we need to handle this one first. See if Jose and Tiny can’t put a bug in his supervisor’s ear to put this fucker under investigation once we help her disappear.”
“I can do that. I’ll reach out to them tonight to see if they can come by the house and talk to them about the case. I’m sure they will be more than happy to help us.” Desiree looked around the room at the women she considered sisters from another misters.
“Now, on to the prospects. Nightshade has vetted fifteen. For now, we’re going to accept ten as prospects. Let’s go through the files one at a time and find the pros and cons of each. Then after that we’ll look and see who all agrees on the first ten to be joining our club. I also want to talk to you guys about possibly branching out to other areas of the state or the US. I have been asked about that a few times. I think with what we do, I believe that we should, but they are vetted by us. Either they come here as prospects for the eighteen months, or we go out there and start it and they be prospects there for those eighteen months.”
“Can you really see all of us leaving Fayetteville for that long?” Bella laughed at the thought.
“Well, we need to figure out something. There are more cases than we can handle and I hate having to choose who is more worthy to save than the other. If we expand, then we can help more women and children.” Andrea stared Bella down, not laughing or smiling.
“If we expand, then they should come here for the eighteen months. That will be the only way they can truly see how we work. If we send only one or two out to Lord knows where, they wouldn’t get the full experience of knowing how we truly expect them to function.” Desiree spoke up, breaking Andrea’s stare down with Bella.
The meeting continued for several more minutes before they had decided on the ten they would accept as prospects. The group was separating when Desiree approached Andrea.
“What was that about, between you and Bella? Everything okay?” Desiree propped her hip on the table as she crossed her arms and stared Andrea down.
“She overstepped her bounds with Jose. Told him to shit or get off the pot and not accept my no as a formative answer. Then she sent some guy to my house while Jose was there helping me with the pipe under my sink. Haven’t been able to get fucking maintenance there to fix it, so he said he would come over to look at it. Fucker knocked on the door with his shirt completely unbuttoned and his pants button undone like he was ready for business as soon as he walked into the door.”
Desiree looked at Andrea in shock at what she’d just heard. Holy shit, that would have sent Jose off really quick.
Andrea was dealing with enough personal shit and didn’t need that added on top of it. She would have to have a talk with both Bella and Jose on this.
Chapter
Twenty-Six
Max sat back on the sofa that was in the main area of the clubhouse where everyone hung out when they weren’t in meetings or dealing with cases. He took a swig of his beer as Jose, Tiny, Teddy, and Wick all sat down on the other couches and chairs around the room.
“What’s up, little brother?” Tiny asked him, tapping his beer to his.
“Not much. Waiting for Desiree to finish her meeting so we can go grab a bite to eat. Figured with everything going on, and the fact the nightmares are back after she admitted to Jose and Teddy about what had happened on her last mission before she got out of the Army, that she needed a night without any stress or doing anything other than riding and relaxing.”
“Good man.” Jose tapped his beer to Max’s as well. “Now, I know that’s not what you wanted me and Teddy here for. What’s up?”
“Well…” Max sighed deeply as he sat forward and put his beer on the table before him. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the box he got from the safe.
