Page 24 of The Prez’s Daughter

She thought he meant to have sex, but she was very much mistaken.

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Savage checked the perimeter of Rivermont Ridge. A few months ago, they had dealt with the Bratva drug problem, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t attempt to come into town to serve some of their fucked-up shit.

They kept drugs out of town. There were a couple of older men and a few younger guys who liked to brew their own alcohol, and from time to time, they would serve it up, pretending it was lemonade. They did have to put a stop to that. The moonshine had been so strong, it ended up putting a couple of guys in the hospital. Savage hadn’t been one of them. He’d been one of the guys escorting others to the hospital to have their stomachs pumped. That had been an interesting twenty-four hours. No one liked how close kids had nearly come to drinking the damn toxic stuff, and it was fucking toxic.

Savage had no problem patrolling the perimeter of the town, to keep an eye out for any suspicious activity. There were a couple of old abandoned ranch houses that had been left to ruin. A few of them had a good bit of land attached, and he’d been tempted to see the going price for them.

It was also cold as fuck right now, and Savage pulled out his binoculars from his stance within the tree line. He was hidden by the trees, as he looked over toward one of the farms. The rain wouldn’t let up, and he noticed a car heading down the long, overgrown dirt path. He recognized it but couldn’t quite place it.

Focusing on the driver, he noticed Andy Bernadette. The bruised nose gave it away. He had punched him in the nose—not enough to break, but enough to leave a mark. The little fucker had put his hands on Charlotte, and not in a good way. The man had threatened her, and he didn’t understand why. Why ask a woman out on a date and then treat her like shit? That didn’t add up.

He watched as Andy parked his car and stepped out. Another man he recognized as “Jimmy the Real Estate Guy”—that was his advertisement on nearly all the ranches.

Savage didn’t like this. Something pissed him off about Andy Bernadette, and he didn’t think it was just because he’d asked Charlotte out on a date.

Pulling out his cell phone, he contacted his guy, Paulie Valentine, who was able to get shit on everybody. Paulie Valentine was in his late forties, still lived with his mother, and had an entire basement filled with multiple computers. He loved computers even before they became popular.

“Yo, yo, yo, it’s my guy, what can I do for you?” Paulie asked.

He was also happy all the freaking time. Savage liked him, and they had a history. Kind of. Paulie had gone into the system once, over some fucked-up reason. The guy loved his mom, but it was his dad that had been the problem at the time. Thankfully, Daddy left, and things got resolved for Paulie to get out of the system before bad shit happened. They had known one another for the briefest of times, when Savage was only five years old. Clearly, he left a lasting impression, as Paulie had never forgotten him, and the few times he needed help over the years, he’d been there. Outside of the club, he was the one person Savage would call a friend.

“I’ve got a name for you, but I don’t want you to do no personal digging. This is what you can find through your screens, man.”

“This sounds dangerous,” Paulie said.

His friend also liked to do more than was needed, and Savage didn’t want to get the man killed.

“Just what I tell you, you got it?”

“I’ve got it. Wow, you sound grouchy lately. Are you coming for Thanksgiving this year, or is it Christmas?”

“When’s Thanksgiving?”

“About a week’s time.”

“Shit, fuck, I had forgotten about that,” Savage said, and it explained why Doc wanted a word. Usually, he went to see Paulie at least once, either Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year. It was one of them.

He ran a hand down his face, as he thought about Charlotte. It was going to be hard to get her out of town. Her parents would ask questions.

“I’ll make Thanksgiving this year.”

“Excellent. I better go. I’ve got my spying to do. I’ll call you back with all the details.” Paulie hung up.

His friend didn’t exactly do well with manners and tended to just say what was on his mind. The man didn’t have a filter, and Paulie would often say, “Not that I have a problem or anything. I just say it like it is, and I don’t fucking mince words.” Even when they were kids.

He knew Paulie had to learn self-defense as well, seeing as his ability to just say what was on his mind got him in trouble a few times. Their friendship was an unusual one, but he wanted to introduce him to Charlotte.

Pocketing his cell phone, he watched as Andy talked to Jimmy. He couldn’t make out what was being said, but Jimmy’s hands were in front of him, as he shoved them in either direction, clearly not happy with the conversation. Andy looked ready to explode, and he didn’t like that short fuse on him. None of this was good, but he knew Paulie would come through for him with details. His guard was on when it came to Andy.

After another ten minutes of the two men arguing, Andy climbed into the car, shoved two fingers up at Jimmy, and then got in his car and drove off. He waited, and Jimmy wasn’t long behind him.

After that, Savage decided to go and check out the ranch house. He made his way down the long hill, being careful not to fall, and he came to the building with half the roof missing. The ranch house was a mess. There were boards on the doors and several of the windows, but one or two of them were actually missing, and it made no sense why anyone would want it. Although, there was a lot of land that came with the building.

He didn’t like it. Something didn’t sit right with him. He also didn’t like Andy Bernadette, and his gut was telling him that little shit was up to something.

He made his way back toward his bike, straddled the machine, and headed back to the clubhouse to talk with Doc while he waited to gather information from Paulie.