I hear him swearing profusely before a loud bang comes over the phone.
“Cobalt, I am willing to increase the offer to five million dollars but can’t go even a penny higher. Will that change your minds?”
Holy mother of God, did this dude just offer us five million dollars to whack two innocents who needed help with their ailing mother and happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time? Why is my question. Well, first off, today I plan on getting answers from Stash and Julie ’cause nothing is making sense. Knowing I have to answer this neurotic asswipe, I think for a minute.
“Well, Sally, that just might change our interaction with this situation. I’m going to have to talk to my brothers, so let me get back to you. How will that be paid? I’m thinking half now and the remaining balance when the job is done. Agreed?”
As we go back and forth, my head is filling with so many questions it ain’t funny. Once I’m able to calm his crazy-as-fuck ass down and tell him to give me a few days to talk to the club, we both hang up at the same time. I lean back in my chair, hands to my neck, trying to massage the tension away. When someone knocks, I yell, “Come in.” Incubus and Psycho casually walk in, both plopping down on the oversized love seat. I pray it can hold their weight as together they are a powerhouse of muscle. They wait and I’m always surprised how they know I need to go over shit ’cause they seem to manage to be in the right place at theright time, every single time. I explain the situation. By the looks on their faces, they probably have similar questions for both Stash and Julie. We go over ways to get them to talk without doing any damage to Stash or overwhelming Julie. The last I doubt would happen ’cause she’s made of steel. I’ve seen it over and over in the time she’s been staying in the clubhouse. She’s also managed to soften up some of the hardest badasses in this club. What I like about her is she’s real. Like everyone always says, what ya see is what ya get. With Julie that statement is totally true. She’s shared with a bunch of us about her short time working for that mob caporegime.
Slowly she’s been letting out what happened and why her brother was so scared on her behalf. Turns out Julie is highly intelligent, and I mean highly. She looks at numbers like a master mechanic looks at a car or a doctor looks at a patient. She was the valedictorian at her college graduation and, from what Stash told us, in high school she would have also been the valedictorian but the principal somehow managed to have his stupid-ass kid up there. Both Stash and Julie laugh together talking about the kid’s speech, which left everyone shocked and his father so embarrassed. Stash said right before school started up again in the fall, the notice came out that the principal was let go and a new one hired. Guess the school board wasn’t into nepotism. Didn’t bother Julie, as she was accepted into every school she applied for. She told us she picked the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana because she received a free ride. Well, all four years were paid but she finished in under three and a half. After she finished, she continued her education with a one-year program at Notre Dame to get her master’s degree. Then she attended Indiana University-Bloomington—Kelly School of Business. At the moment she has a MS in Accounting with Data and Analytics (MSADA). All of this has prepared her to take the boards for a CPA, which was her planuntil their mom got the horrific diagnosis of stage four cervical cancer. Julie moved back home to take care of her mom.
Stash, who is no dummy, graduating from Purdue University with a master’s in computer science. He did his best to help out, but when all their mother’s bills started coming in and with the little bit of money they were able to earn, they were upside down. Stash started doing computer shit on the side and somehow ended up hacking. He’s good at it, so when the Mob came knocking with offers of tons of cash, he couldn’t say no. At first, they didn’t ask him to do anything really big, but it didn’t take those assholes long. He knew he was in trouble, especially when their family home was put into foreclosure. Salvatore knew all about this as he was the one pulling the strings at the bank, so he could take advantage by giving the poor kid, Stash, a loan, which he knew Stash would never be able to pay back. With Julie working as a bookkeeper or accountant and Stash hacking for the Mob, somehow, they fell into a hole and found shit out they shouldn’t have. That’s when the hits were put on them both, and how my club fell into this fuckin’ mess. Both of my brothers listened to what I told them, and leave it to Incubus to get right to the point.
“Ya know, Cobalt, the old sayin’ ‘book smart but common sense stupid.’ Maybe not Julie, but Stash is too smart for his own good and has no sense or vision of the world as it truly is. She’s a bit more streetwise, which is weird; the female being more in touch than the male.”
Both Psycho and I agree. When I tell them about Salvatore’s offer, Incubus is the first to say he can shove it up is fat ass. Psycho is a bit more mellow but agrees and says no fuckin’ way. I then explain the problem with going against the Mob, which draws the three of us into a long-ass conversation about how to say no and continue to live. There are many ways to work this, we just need to find the best one. My thought is to go overSalvatore’s head, which both of my brothers agree with, though they say we need to do it quietly and carefully. Psycho said maybe with what Julie and Stash found it could help, letting the powers that be know Salvatore is a total fuckup and stealing from them behind their backs. Making them look like total fools within their circles. That should hit deep, as from what I’ve seen over the years the big shots worry more about appearances and what others think than more important things. This might work to our advantage and finally get us out from under Salvatore’s thumb, which would finally set us free. The three of us sit in my office for quite a while, trying to plan what is going to be the best direction to take our club. Incubus suddenly looks me in the eye all serious as shit.
“Prez, we need to get both Julie and Stash in here because they need to come clean, and we all know it. Salvatore isn’t willing to put a five million dollar hit out because an accountant or bookkeeper found out he was skimming off the top. What she found has him shitting himself, which we’ve never seen, even when we had that bloodbath with them a few years back. I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but I can actually respect the brother-sister team. They’ve held it together, and after the initial fight for power between me and Girlie, things have been pretty quiet. Watching them, I can see the love they share, which for all of us is a fuckin’ new thing. Don’t get me wrong, brothers, I do love each of you but their love is much purer than what we share. Ours is built first from our time in the military, which led to this club and our fighting together to not only build what we have now, but also surviving whatever was thrown our way, and finally for our brotherhood within the Kings of Anarchy. I’ve never seen that kind of love, so it intrigues me for some fuckin’ reason.”
Both Psycho’s and my jaws fall open and are looking at Incubus like he suddenly grew another head. Where the fuck isthis emotion coming from, and especially from him? Something is happening with all of us with the arrival of the Drake siblings, that’s for sure. I know the shit I’m feeling when I’m around Julie is exciting and pissing me off all at once. Never once have I ever let a woman tie me up in knots, but this purple-haired little brat is driving me fuckin’ insane. She’s got enough attitude to keep up with all my brothers while having a heart of gold. That you can see with how she’s stayed close to her brother, protecting him at all costs. You don’t see that very often anymore. We all agree we need to have this conversation sooner rather than later, so Psycho gets to go grab Stash and Julie. Incubus is giving me a weird eye look that I can’t read at all.
“What the fuck is your problem now, brother? Did I do something wrong or what? I’ve stayed off your ass lately, letting you run wild ’cause I know sometimes you need it. Could have ripped ya a new one when you fuckin’ gunned down those two fuckers at our Airbnb, right in front of Julie, but I never said a goddamn word. So what’s crawled up your ass?”
He just keeps eyeing me without saying a word. Right when I feel like my head is going to explode, he gives me one of his evil-as-fuck smirks before fucking with me, which he likes to do sometimes when everything is quiet and on the down low.
“Damn, Cobalt, you’re so fuckin’ easy to rile up. So, when are ya gonna admit you want that little pain in the ass? Don’t deny it, we can all see it. Might as well take advantage of her being locked down with us. No, it doesn’t have to be a long-term thing but don’t fight it either.”
“Incubus, ya know I don’t like the bullshit that goes with all that relationship shit. We both know it can bite us in the ass. Yeah, she’s under my skin with her snarky mouth and, damn, her hot fuckin’ body, but honestly, it’s her damn big heart that is tearing me in two.”
Incubus is looking at me strangely until I hear a voice that haunts my dreams.
“Come on, Blue Eyes, why is it tearing you in two? And to clarify something you said about biting that fine ass of yours, if I did, you would come back begging me to keep doing it.”
I hear Stash giving his sister crap while my brothers crack up. It hasn’t happened in years, but I can feel the heat hitting my cheeks. Hating I have to turn around and face her, but being the man I am, I never back down from anything. When our eyes meet, I know as much as I fight it, that tight as fuck body is gonna be warming my bed and body. And seriously, I can’t wait. The chemistry between us is off the charts just being in the same room. But I need to control my hunger for her until we get the answers we need to try and clean up this mess we are all involved in with the fuckin’ Mob, and worse, Salvatore.
EIGHT
JULIE
Listening in on Incubus and Blue Eyes’s conversation gave me chills, and I totally mean in the best way. That man is driving me bat-ass crazy and I don’t know what to do about it. I’m not the type of woman to make the first move, and I really can’t figure out if he is interested or just a typical guy who has sex on their mind twenty-four seven. Listening to his deep cadence has my nipples getting hard, and I can feel the wetness starting between my thighs. I honestly think he could put me over the top with just that husky, deep, raspy voice of his. His eyes capture mine and I can’t seem to be able to look away from that lustful look in his eyes. Either this room is getting hot or my body is on fire. I’m not even catching my brother’s rant about not talking about that shit when he’s in the room. Incubus is actually laughing freely while Psycho chuckles, looking between Blue Eyes and me. When I catch the pain in Incubus’s eyes, he realizes I’m watching and he winks at me. Mark the damn calendar, Incubus can act human sometimes. When Blue Eyes suddenly shakes his head, like he’s trying to clear it, the room suddenly gets serious or the three members of the Kings of Anarchy club react differently. I can see their badass faces coming into play. Jimmy first gives me an elbow then he moves slowly to the cushioned chair in thecorner, sitting down gingerly. I follow him and take the edge of the love seat so we are sitting together. Something tells me we are gonna need each other because I get the feeling we are about to be ganged up on, no pun intended as I’ve been told they are a club not a gang. They all take their seats while Psycho and Incubus look to Cobalt, who looks up before taking a breath. I wait patiently for Blue Eyes to start because I know that’s what he’s going to do, talk and give us an ultimatum. I’ll listen but not making any promises, that’s for sure.
“All right, gonna be upfront and honest with you two. Time is up for both of you. We need you to fill us in on what the fuck you have on the Mob and Salvatore because he’s upped his game. Instead of a one million dollar hit he’s raised it up to five million. That tells us whatever cards you’re holding against him are not only huge but enormous. So, time to spill, I think we’ve proved that we will protect both of you. But let me explain the situation we are currently involved in. Fate has thrown us together for some crazy-as-fuck reason. Maybe to get Salvatore outta all of our hair for the very last time. I’ve been honest and upfront since, back in the day, our club did work with Salvatore and not even close on this level of partnership. Some of the things we did, none of us will ever speak about again and especially with anyone outside of our club. Yeah, it’s that dark and would mess with anyone who’s half human. We all have nightmares from of the shit but we can’t go back and change the past. Not gonna lie, we are a true one-percent club, which means we don’t follow government laws. We follow and honor our club rules. That means our mother club first then our chapter ones next. Our mother club resides in Anarchy, California. Big Daddy is currently the president since his brother, Ruckus, passed away. We all get together every July at their clubhouse, which is a foreclosed mansion Big Daddy got his hands on. Somehow, they fixed the dump up to fit their needs. It works for that chapter andeach chapter manages their club differently. The get-together isn’t mandatory so different chapters show up each year. I’ve been open and honest so you feel comfortable knowing some of our history. The only way this is gonna work between the club and you two siblings is if you share what you know. We can protect both of you, but only as long as you are here at the clubhouse. And I’m guessing, eventually, you’ll want to leave and get back to your lives. I don’t blame ya, living in limbo is no fuckin’ fun. Whatcha two gonna do? If this was a chess game it would be your move. And the timer is ticking.”
Cobalt watches as Stash lowers his head, putting his hand in front of his mouth to lean over and whisper to me. I sit here next to him, listening but have nothing to say at the moment. Over the years, and even recently like when Incubus told me my face shows everything, I lift both hands to my face and turn slightly towards Jimmy to hide any expressions that might show on my face. But when I lift my eyes and meet Cobalt’s, they are sparkling with something I can’t make out. All three of the Kings of Anarchy watch as I turn, looking at my brother. The room goes suddenly quiet, like it’s waiting for whatever I’m about to say. Then in the quietest voice, I tell Stash it’s time. My brother’s eyes get big but he doesn’t disagree. I grab his hand, squeezing it at first, but then I grasp on to it tightly. We both look toward Cobalt, Psycho, and Incubus, and I’m sure the pain in both of our eyes makes them think twice about how to move forward. What the fuck? How did Jimmy and I end up this way? Then my brother looks down, telling me to go ahead and share with the three men who so far have kept both of us alive.
“Okay, to be clear, this was all an accident, I swear to God. When Jimmy and I couldn’t make enough money to take care of our dying mom, both of us did things we’d never do under normal circumstances. Saying that, you already know Jimmy was kind of trapped into hacking for Salvatore. Our time withour dying mom was getting shorter by the days, because of the pain she was in was in contradiction to the medication that made her so tired, and the treatment was killing her right in front of our eyes. Jimmy found a, what did you call it, brother? Fuck, something like an open door and he walked through it to find an offshore account Salvatore was shifting money to under the table. Guys, we are talking about so much money neither Salvatore and his wife in their lifetime, in his kids’ and his grandchildren’s lifetimes would ever spend it all. I had started doing some of the books by this time, part time, because someone had to be at home to care for our mom. The insurance only covered part-time help. As Jimmy was skimming a tiny bit off the offshore account, I accidentally came across conflicting numbers in the ledgers. Yeah, I didn’t believe it either but they still keep paper files, along with some computer programs and Excel sheets. It was actually my job to transfer all the books into Excel spreadsheets so they would be more accessible to the bosses and also a little more understandable. Well, one afternoon as I was doing my job, I found a weird large amount of money entered under a general transaction. Something didn’t sit right with me because the amount was something like four hundred thousand, nine hundred, and fifty dollars or close to that. It made the hair on my neck stand up so I started to backtrack and started to look if there were other entries. They were all around that same amount, on or around that day of the month under the general transactions. Being me, I dug even deeper and in one ledger on the corner of the page was an email address, along with a password. So I went to try and get into it. It’s a very well-known, common cloud-based email provider service. Using the email and password I found enabled me to get into a secret email account. It revealed what those monthly entries were and seeing all the emails, it freaked me the hell out. Blue Eyes, my God, Salvatore is selling babies on the blackmarket all across the world. That amount stays similar each month because he must sell them for the same amount each month. After doing more digging and investigating I found, depending on the child’s age, that was what determined the prices. I told Stash and immediately on his end, he started looking for where these children were coming from. To both of our surprise and disgust Salvatore was getting the newborns from Child Protective Services. The older toddlers and young kids, they either got them from shelters or they would kidnap kids from parks, daycare centers, backyards, and anywhere else they could. That’s not even the worst, one day as I was searching, I came across one email where I found a special order from some prince in one of the countries overseas. They specifically asked for a brother-sister team. Wanted them under five and gave the details of their preferences. Like a dog with a bone, I tracked down what they paid. Blue Eyes, this sick son of a bitch paid Salvatore nine hundred thousand dollars. But it was the last email that tore my heart out. This prince put in a standing order for a brother-sister combo every third month. He went on to explain that by the third month one or both would be dead from his special games. He was buying kids to torture them and eventually murder them. The reason for a brother-sister duo is because when he was young, he watched his father torture his own brother and sister and, eventually, he killed the older brother but trafficked his own daughter. That’s when I knew I had to do something. So, between Jimmy and me, we emptied Salvatore’s offshore account. Well, we left a whole ten dollars in it. Didn’t want to take it all. Then when he was losing his damn mind, accusing everyone in his circle, Jimmy sent an encrypted email telling Salvatore that if he ever wanted to see his money again, he had to turn himself in. Yeah, can you say oxymoron because if he turned himself in, he wouldn’t be able to touch the money. Our plan was hoping he had a little bit of humanity leftin him and he would do the right thing. As you all know, he doesn’t have a decent human gene in his demonic body because he’s an insane psycho monster. Oh shit, no disrespect intended, Psycho. So, to be clear, he wants us because he’s missing all his money and wants it back. Then for fun he wants to either torture or sell us. I think he’s playing all of us, Blue Eyes. Did he tell you to kill us and bring a trophy or something, so he knows for sure it’s us.”
I watch him closely but he answers immediately.
“For the million dollars he told me to just kill both of you and bring some physical evidence. When he upped the amount to five million dollars, his instructions were to bring you both in, no questions asked. I never gave it a single thought. Now it is starting to make sense. As bad as this sounds, Psycho, Incubus, and I were talking about going above Salvatore to his bosses and filling them in on what Salvatore has been up to and doing behind their backs. So, let me get this straight, he’s skimming money from the fuckin’ Mob and selling children for a profit on the black market and dark web. I’m not saying his bosses will care about all the kids, but they definitely will want compensation for their cut of the profits I’m sure they never received. Not to mention, we all know Salvatore has a certain proclivity toward, well, toward teenage boys of a certain color. The chat has been going around on the dark web is that he’s been torturing and raping them before turning them over to his men below him to do whatever they want to before killing them. I know one of them who is not what they think he is. He’s an undercover deputy, who has saved at least seven kids over the last year or so, from what I’ve been told. I’m sure his bosses don’t know about this either. I think we are building enough information that at least Salvatore’s bosses might start asking questions about his extra activities. Yeah, it’s time to cut the fuckin’ cord. I’m sick of that fat ass breathing down my neck,ordering our club around like we work for him. Bastard should realize, like the other partnerships we work with, that we are our own bosses. Every brother in this club needs their privacy for their own reasons, without that jagoff’s eyes following our club’s and brothers’ every move to try and catch us doing something illegal, so he can use it against us or hold it over our head.”
Listening to Blue Eyes, it finally dawns on me they had no idea what that pedophile Salvatore was doing. That knowledge takes a huge boulder-like feeling off of my chest. I already know these men will do whatever it takes to get this nasty disgusting business to stop. They do not have the limitations Jimmy and I have to follow and live by. I couldn’t do what Incubus did that day, even though in my heart I know both of those pricks deserved to die because of what they were planning for me after they brutally raped me. That thought still makes me nauseated. So instead of being raped and murdered I was saved by two bikers who underneath it all are trying to do the right thing and help Jimmy and I not only continue to breathe but maybe have some sort of life. I continue to listen as Blue Eyes and his brothers plan the demise of Salvatore. Even though I’m against violence, that sick bastard deserves all this club can give him and more. Rotting in hell is too good for Salvatore, but if that’s a choice it would be my first pick. Second would be prison in general population, after a little birdie lets the other prisoners know that Salvatore likes young boys. With that information in general population, he probably wouldn’t last a few days, at most. I can only pray they give him a little taste of his own sick-ass actions, no pun intended. That thought scares me because I don’t want to lose my humanity, but dealing with these types of people makes it hard to be a good person. Guess I’m starting to see why Blue Eyes, Psycho, and Incubus for what they truly are. It’s starting to make sense how they live within their club. First, our government let them down after they not only servedour country but were taken as prisoners and left to die. Life was not kind to them, even though they are a different breed of men. Realizing the room is suddenly quiet, I look around to see all four men staring at me. Did they ask me a question? Shit, I was zoning?
“What did I miss? Quit staring at me, you all are giving me a damn complex. Someone spit it out.”
Jimmy leans over whispering in my ear. He did not just say that to me, did he? I look over to Blue Eyes to see his eyes on us. Well, fuck to the no.
“Sorry, Blue Eyes, no way are either of us going back to Salvatore. We wouldn’t last ten minutes. We will use our skills to work in the background, but find someone else to go in. I can’t and Jimmy is too weak and needs to heal. Don’t you have someone who could do it? I mean, they know us. It won’t work ’cause, duh, they are looking for us.”
