The women sit in Jackson’s truck underneath a lit lamplight. Charlotte winces in pain as she tries to move towards the door. Her pain is my pain, and all I want to do is just caress her, hold her until all the pain evaporates.
They wanted a meeting, after several messages were sent and heard.
Rawlings leads the club through the double doors, the women secured in the middle as we enter.
The atmosphere dropped in surroundings, people staring at us, people in the pool corner shooting off their balls and freezing ready to make the sticks their weapons if there was unwanted movement.
The Falcons have less taste and class, staying true to the gritty, one percenters they are. Their business matches the true ugliness that is under their skin, their own black hearts and evil, corrupted skin.
The difference between them and us, we aren’t as impulsive, or willing to risk everything on one thing. We are cautious, but deadly. We didn’t take the short cuts they have had. We didn’t have to plan excessively, tarnish everything we had.
And certainly, we don’t involve those that can’t defend themselves. We don’t dabble in trafficking through others, we don’t harm those within good enough reasoning.
One thing about the Grim Wolves, we protect our pack, our club, our own.
I reach for Charlotte’s hand behind me, as she grasps it, I tighten my grip.
I’m not going to let her go.
Peeking around the corner Jonathan Tavers claps his hands together and frails them out in a grand gesture. “Welcome little dogs.”
Rawlings stays poised, not giving into the childish games of his. “Brought the whole family I see,” He looks passed the shoulders to narrow in on the women, “Ah Ms. Bjorn, pleasure to see you again. You’ve recovered after the last little incident.”
“Mr. Tavers, unpleasant to see you again. Guess you didn’t listen when we took out your middle men last time.” she snarls out, but in the most passive aggressive I’ve ever heard.
Tavers starts tsking, “And yet, sweet girl, you didn’t damage anything of ours. Rawlings, I’m surprised you let such antics be involved.”
“Well, when you put our own in danger and it leaks into our territory, we come out swinging.” Rawlings warns him.
Tavers turns his back walking back towards an empty table, “Please for the moment, we have a standstill. A truce for this meeting. But we understand that once you leave this building, if anyone leaves this building from either club, it’s over.”
Rawlings heads over to the table as Tavers plops himself in a chair. The other two chairs beside him are soon filled with Benny and Richard, his enforcer.
No Xander in sight.
Rawlings joins him as Jackson and I sit beside him, the women behind our chairs but protected by the rest of the brothers.
The image is far more powerful than anyone will understand. Our queens behind us, ready at will to strike. They’re not silenced, but protected.
Tavers curls a smile, lighting a cigarette offering one to each of us, Rawlings politely declines, throwing his hand up to push it away. His eyes shoot straight behind me, as it’s not my eyes that he captures but Charlotte’s. “Now I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Ashers, rumors of a purple haired beauty isn’t justice for the woman in front of me. Shame you got caught up in this mess.” He blows a smoke in her direction, she’s not phased, her grip on my shoulder tells me enough.
“Now about the kid?” Tavers throws in his annoyance.
“What kid,” I ask.
“Now don’t play dumb, Johnson. It’s not cute,” he says. “The kid, the one that’s tangled in all of this. One of hers.”
“The kid has a name,” she snarls out.
“Yeah, but it would mean that I care,” he huffs another drag of nicotine, “Problem is, we can’t find him.”
“Shame, we haven’t either.” Jackson interrupts playing along with D.R and Memphis’s plan of ignorance.
“You must play as idiots if we believe that,” Richard chuckles from the end of the table.
“Anytime these saintly bitches from their foundation get involved, it seems y’all would do anything for them.” Benny remarks.
I look over my shoulder as Tessa, standing her own ground. If anything Benny is the cause of Tessa’s gravitation, searing the fact of why she fights harder than most.
