“What a sad end to a tragic chain of events. At least now we can have the funeral. This is so awful. I hope they find out who did this and punish him.”
Rock nodded.Don’t worry, Isa. I’ll find out, and I’ll fuckin’ make sure they’re punished.
***
Rock’s phone vibratedagainst his thigh and he grinned when he saw Bones’s name. “Hey, dude, what’s up?”
“Not much except a group of us is here. We’re staying at the Devil’s Legions’ clubhouse. Fuck, it was a long ride.”
“What the hell? What’re you doing in Lafayette?”
“We got a lot of shit to tell you. Get your ass over to the clubhouse ‘cause Hawk’s called an emergency church. We’ll see you in fifteen minutes. One more thing. I’m sorry about your old man, bro. That fuckin’ blows. I know you hated him and all, but fuck, it still sucks.”
Rock hesitated, then said, “Yeah, it fuckin’ sucks ass. See you soon.”
He quickly pulled his jeans on and smacked Clotille’s bare ass as she watched him dress, her elbow propped on the mattress and her head in her hand. “What’s up?”
“Some Insurgents came into town, and Hawk’s calling an emergency church.” He yanked on his boots and strode over to her, kissing her shoulder. “I’m just glad they didn’t call while we were fucking.” He winked at her.
“When will you be back?”
“I don’t know. I’ll call you. Why don’t you go swimming with Isa and the kids?”
She shrugged. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll find something to do. I just worry about you, that’s all.”
He walked back over to her, fisted her hair, and pulled her head back, kissing her deeply. “That’s sweet,chérie. Gotta go,” he said against her lips. He picked up his keys and left the room.
It seemed surreal to be in church with only a handful of brothers in a clubhouse that wasn’t the Insurgents’. After expressing the brotherhood’s condolences for the death of his father, Hawk and the others caught Rock up to speed about the dealings of the Gypsy Riders and Frederick Blair. When he heard the asshole’s name, his blood boiled. He then told the brothers about learning his father hadn’t killed his mother, the murder of his father, and the fuckface’s company owning a lot of the land in the bayou, most notably his mother’s.
“I got this gnawing feeling in my gut that the rich fuck’s the one who killed my mother. I bet the other guy was a Gypsy Fiend.” He pounded on the table.
“Could be. I admit something’s not right here. The first thing we gotta do is meet with the Gypsy Fiends’ prez. Dogface, the president of the Devil’s Legions, said he could arrange it.” Hawk tipped his chair back. “The important thing is we gotta stop the sale of the arms to the Demon Riders. The rich fuck isn’t going to give the Fiends a percentage of the profits in the sale of the weapons. We’ve since learned that they are buying the weapons through providing services to him like security at the casinos, extortion, roughing up some enemies, and a bunch of other shit. I’m pretty sure the Gypsy asses would like to have a lot of cash, and we can make this deal worth their time. We gotta play it cool, like this is strictly about business and not anything personal with the Demon Riders.”
For the next two hours, the Insurgents talked about the execution of their plan and what they’d do if it backfired. After church was done they went into the main room of the Devil’s Legions’ clubhouse and met up with Dogface and some of the other members. The Devil’s Legions didn’t have as many members as the Insurgents, but they had a good relationship with the Gypsy Fiends, which the Insurgents were counting on to change the direction of the arms deal with their rival club.
Rock and Bones meandered to the pool tables to play a game with two Devil’s Legions brothers. In that moment of camaraderie, Rock forgot about all the family drama and lost himself in the brotherhood.
***
Clotille sat onthe big cushy chair in the screened-in back porch, the ceiling fans cooling her off. She was engrossed in a romance novel when her phone rang. Her heart leapt; she’d been waiting to hear from Rock for the past few hours, and she’d been so worried. She grabbed her phone and said breathlessly, “Rock, I’ve been waiting for your call.”
“It’s a pity I’m not the Neanderthal,” Frederick’s crisp voice said. “I don’t think I ever heard such excitement in your voice for me.”
“What do you want, Frederick?”
“You.”
She exhaled loudly. “It’s over. I don’t get why you don’t understand that.”
“Because I never lose.”
“This isn’t a game.”
“You’re wrong about that, pet. This is very much a game, and I’ve just raised the stakes.”
“What does that mean?” she said, her heart thumping.
“You’ll find out soon enough. Of course, the game can stop if you just come home like a nice pet.”
