Hell Froze Over, page 4
Bic put her hands on her hips and she grimaced. “Damn it.”
“Why, what’s up?” Rain said, standing up. “Shay told me and I just figured that she was entering in her last year to become certified, she told us she would have to cut back, Bic.”
“Yeah,” Bic agreed. “She did, but she also sounded a bit off when I spoke to her as well. Someone approached her this morning to deliver a message to Free and the other guys. She called and you know she wasn’t freaked out and worried about the guy approaching her like I would have thought, she was more irritated when I kept trying to talk to her about coming here for safety. She said she needed space.”
“Space?” Shady frowned. “I didn’t get that vibe from her.”
“What vibe?” Treat asked with a frown. “Boo is Boo and that is just it. She is one of us you know. Has been since we showed up, why are we even letting her think she needs space, because her space is here with us. If she needs anything, support, all that shit, it is us who gives it to her. Why are we even talking about this, call her right now and tell her to get her little ass here pronto.”
“Yeah,” Harmony said. “I mean, we haven’t had time to bond or anything, but Boo is one of us, she shouldn’t have even questioned coming here. This is her home, is it not?”
Bic shook her head. “She has an apartment on the outside.”
“Why?” Freedom asked and they were all silent.
“I told her a few times she should tell Freebyrd to assign her a bungalow.” Bic shrugged. “She always said that they were for the members.”
“Well yeah, and she is a member,” Bob said, walking into the room with a container of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, with Jas, Shady’s daughter, following with a spoon.
“Shay!” Jas yelled loudly. “Bob totally ripped off the last of the ice cream.”
Jas and Shady had developed a tenuous relationship. Although Shady was her mother, she hadn’t raised her. No, Jas had been hidden by her father, but Shay and Jas had finally been reunited. The young girl was a chip off the old block though. She fit right into the Lady Riders.
“Shut up,” Bob said and pushed the younger girl playfully.
“Nope,” Jas said and pushed out her jean clad hip the same way her mother did when she was being ‘sassy’ (this was the new word Slider and Cajun were calling Jas, they all thought it was gonna be her road name soon).
Shady looked up and winked at Jas and then said, “Bob, how many times have I told you to stop eating my kid’s ice cream?”
“The same amount of times you told me I had a big ass, but it doesn’t matter, my little Baby Bear needs nourishment,” Bob said and took a big bite of ice cream and moaned.
Jas laughed, then flicked her long hair and left the room. “That little girl is like a mini Shady,” Bob growled. They had all commented on the similarities between Shady and Jas these days. The girl wore only Harley like her mom, and also had begun asking Kink for a tat. Totally not going to happen though.
“Okay, back to Boo. Call her,” Nike said frowning. “We are just sitting here speculating, call her, no wait, I will call her and tell her to get her ass over here.”
Nike pulled her phone from her back pocket and leaned against the door jam and hit one of her speed dials. Of course Boo was on there just like the rest of the Lady Riders, she thought, why the fuck wouldn’t she be? Rolling her eyes, she put the phone up to her ear and listened to it ring…and ring…and ring… Nike began tapping her foot and then held her phone out and glared at the screen checking to see if she dialed right.
“No answer,” Nike snapped. “That is not cool. She always picks up the phone, I don’t think she has ever ignored me.”
Bic nodded and said, “I tried calling her several times, and she sent me to voicemail.
Shady stood and walked to her saddlebag and pulled out her phone. She dialed and waited for a second and then frowned. “Hey,” she said into the phone. “Trace Boo’s phone and tell me where she is.”
The girls were all silent as they waited. All of the Lady Rider’s phones were low-jacked with a tracker. It was necessary because of some of the clients they had coming into the safe house, anything could happen, which was why the guys insisted on this.
“Great,” Shady said into the phone and then hung up and turned around. “I have the address, let’s go.”
The girls all got up and before Bob followed, she scooped out a huge spoonful of ice cream and shoved it into her mouth before leaving. Rain shook her head and said, “You are gonna get an ice headache.”
Bob shook her head and ignored her and then shoved one last spoonful in her mouth and then instantly crossed her eyes. The women all laughed as they made their way to their bikes. Jilly was the only one who got into her car since she hadn’t taken her Basic Rider’s Course for her M1 license, but she was signed up.
Chapter Four
Kink and Magnum made it back to the club and parked their bikes, both men were frustrated, right now they wanted to drink and talk with their brothers. This woman shit did not make sense to them at all. Neither of them could remember a time they had this much trouble with a female.
They entered the main room and smiled, the place was brimming with their brothers. Since the two clubs combined, and they were on lockdown, the main clubhouse had been a hopping place, mostly for the guys to hang out and away from their old ladies. All of them had approved of this move to San Diego, it hadn’t even been debated. When Creed and Fork said they wanted to move here, everyone had asked how soon, not why. They all knew why, the Warriors had the mine which gave them a huge income. With that, they were able to do several things, like open Bitches and Slinging Ink. However, they also had a side job, one that wasn’t so legitimate, and since everyone was all up in arms about the gun laws and shit, their business had been thriving.
Since pot had become legal in a few states they had also dipped their toes in that industry, and so far it was paying off. They were suppliers for lack of a better word. When someone needed a shipment of guns, the Warriors got it for them, when they needed pot, they got it for them. Now, with the property Creed and Fork had invested in in San Diego, they were in a prime spot. No one could run a shipment across the border into Mexico or vice versa without the Ops knowing about it. They had their connections that they had groomed very well. No one made a deal without them hearing about it. If they wanted to move anything over this border, they had to pay the Ops for the privilege to do so.
Of course, this made them not only unpopular, but also extremely vulnerable. While Free and his men in the chapter had been able to watch and catch some of the major shipments, they hadn’t been able to catch all of them, mostly because of their manpower. Well, things had changed since the Ops had combined chapters here in San Diego. They had the manpower now and the word was out. If you wanted to even bring a dime bag over the border, you had better have permission. The Ops wouldn’t fuck around with people who tried to slide through.
They had been here two weeks and since then, they had made examples out of three groups who tested them. This was a new era for the Ops Warriors, and it was one Creed and Fork were determined to succeed. They had multiple businesses and the Lady Riders had their business, of getting battered women away from their abusers in a way they would never be found again. All of this required slow and deliberate planning to keep some of their businesses buried deep. They had the money and resources to do all of this; however, they were going to be reorganizing the leadership in the club to handle all of these areas.
Kink and Magnum were going to be named the head of the legitimate businesses, they had already known Creed and Fork were planning this. They would strictly be dealing with Slinging Ink and Bitches. They owned a mile section in the dicey part of San Diego right at the start of the inlet to the bay. It was the perfect place to have their club, because they had three blocks of store fronts concealing their compound. Their compound was a large fenced in area most people couldn’t see, unless they got lost that is. They had five blocks of houses, all of them occupied now since the clubs had merged, and still, they had room to grow. They were also safe, and now almost impossible to penetrate. They had learned their lesson the day Boo had gotten shot. It was a completely new era for the Ops and one they were all determined to make successful.
Maxi was sitting at the bar, yelling at someone on the phone. “No,” the man said. “I am not coming to New York anytime soon.”
Kink grinned and slapped his friend on the shoulder. “Is that Mrs. O’Malley?”
“No,” Maxi sighed as he hung up the phone and pounded his head against the bar a few times before saying, “Mrs. Roark, she has someone she wants me to meet.”
Kink chuckled, they had gone back to his home town to help out a few guys he had grown up with. Maxi had gone with him and swear to God, Maxi had gotten dropped by one of his friends’ moms with a Taser. It had been hilarious for sure, and now, the moms had taken to trying to set him up with a ‘nice’ girl.
“You gotta make them stop, man,” Maxi said with a growl. “They are driving me nuts.”
Kink laughed loudly and said, “At least my parents retired to Florida, if ma was still there it would have been another story. Those women all together? They are nuts.”
Maxi shook his head. “No, you don’t understand, brother. They are nuts even without your mom, they have Ms. Maddie now, trust me, it is more than enough.”
Kink and Magnum chuckled as they grabbed their beers and walked to the large table where Creed, Fork, Freebyrd, Stone, Easy, and Slider sat. They made room for the duo to sit down and continued talking.
“We need to make sure everyone is on board with this,” Creed said and looked at his top men. “Bear said he is gonna ride down to Mexico in a few days and check with some of his contacts, see if we can find exactly who is behind this shit. The Vipers aren’t smart enough to pull that shit off, no matter what the fuck they say.”
During the attack they had captured four Vipers, and made sure the rest had disappeared. They had interrogated the four and learned nothing more than someone else was involved with the attack. That news didn’t go over well, neither had the fact the Vipers had all but disappeared in Mexico. Someone was hiding them, and Creed was gonna find them.
“Kink and Magnum,” Creed said. “How are the businesses coming, are they gonna be open on time?”
Bitches and Slinging Ink were supposed to be open in three weeks, and they were right on schedule. “Yep,” Kink said, taking a sip of his beer and then continuing, “The contractors are finishing up in Slinging Ink and will be focusing on Bitches this week, they should be done with the renovation in two weeks and we will have one week to stock and shit before we open the doors. I am still looking for a piercer, but we have Animal and Spook who will be tat artists. Magnum has Maxi and Spyder already slotted to help run Bitches, Maxi will be the manager in the afternoon shift, and Spyder the night shift. Things are coming together pretty much the way we thought they would.”
“I have a meeting with the Furies and two other clubs, they all have been picking up on some of the chatter going around,” Easy said smoothly and then looking at Magnum. “You are gonna have to be careful about the chicks you are hiring, a few of the guys in the Furies have heard they are using women to get info.”
Magnum nodded. “We are, no worries about that.”
“How are they using women?” Stone growled. If it was one thing none of the Ops men allowed, that was any type of abuse of women. They didn’t like that at all. The women they hired at Bitches were dancers, entertainer, they weren’t whores, it wasn’t allowed.
They talked about how they were moving forward. And then Freebyrd leaned back and stared at Kink and Magnum. The two were prepared for this, they had been since they told the guys in the club they were claiming Boo. That had been the day after they arrived and were at the hospital with her, this was the first time they had seen Free.
“So,” Free said slowly. Kink leaned back as did Magnum waiting. “Boo?”
“Yep,” Kink said just as slowly and looked the man in the eye. “Been trying to get her to understand for a while that we wanted her. Figured we would take it slowly since we weren’t always here, but since we are now, we don’t want to wait anymore. We know what we want, and we know what we feel with her.”
Free was silent as he stared at both Magnum and Kink. He must had seen what he needed to because he nodded and then looked at Creed and Fork. “With Boo getting messages on the outside, I think the time has come to move her to the compound.”
Creed frowned and leaned forward. “Why does she have her own place? I have been meaning to ask that. Harmony said the girls are none to happy about it with everything going on.”
Free nodded. “I agree, in fact there were several times I asked Boo if she wanted to stay here. But she always only stayed one night and then went back to her apartment. Bic said it was because of school.”
“Well, right now, it’s too dangerous,” Creed said. “She is the only one of the club who lives on the outside, right?”
“Yeah, the rest of the chicks are hanger-ons, they only show up on weekends. I told them no go until we announce it again. And the Prospects are all moved into the rooms here at the main house. I figure until all this shit passes and we can make bunk houses, they could stay here.”
The guys continued to plan, Magnum and Kink finally relaxed because they knew after this impromptu meeting they were finally going to get their woman and bring her home where she belonged. They didn’t care how much of a fight she put up, the time had come to claim their woman.
Shady led the girls as they drove to the west side of the campus and a half mile down the road to where Boo’s apartment was. They had invaded the campus an hour ago asking anyone they could find in the nursing building if they knew Boo and where she lived. It had taken them an hour, and they had scared a bunch of people, which by the way was still a good time, no matter how many times they did it, but they finally had her address.
Bic was frowning when she got off her bike as she looked around. The place was a dump, hell, even poor college students lived in better places. It may have a fence around it, but unless they were guarding a treasure buried underneath it, the gate wasn’t actually making anything safe. If they tried, they could have totally broken the thing down and gotten in. Instead, they went to the entrance and buzzed.
An old woman walked out of the apartment on the first floor wearing, no shit, a muumuu and slippers with a cigarette dangling out of her mouth. “You gotta be fucking kidding me,” Shady muttered.
They all heard the sirens and they turned. Several police cars were barreling down the road. They watched as they slowed down and pulled right up in front of the building they were standing in front of. The old woman yelled to the cops, not to the women standing there.
“Hey,” she said. “What the hell are you doing?”
A police officer got out of his car and walked to the gate. Shady and the others backed off as the officer’s partner joined him and was eyeing them warily.
“Ma’am,” the first officer said. “Someone at this residence called to report a breaking and entering.”
“Ain’t no one here been broken and entered,” the woman said and waved them away with the hand holding her cigarette. Shady grinned and turned to her friends and whispered.
“You know; no one will believe us if we tell them this. I mean, you can’t make this shit up, but damn, it is almost unbelievable.”
They all laughed lowly and the police officer who had been eyeing them rolled his eyes and said, “You have no idea the stuff we see on a daily basis.”
“I hear you,” Shady said with a chuckle.
“Ma’am,” the first police officer tried again. “If you would open the gate please, the resident in apartment 4C has called in a complaint.”
The girls all stopped laughing when they heard that and Bic whispered, “The fuck?” It was Boo’s apartment, at least it was the number that was given to them.
“4C?” the woman snapped and turned around as if to look for Boo. “She is always complaining about this or that. I am sure she is just—”
“Ma’am, we need to check,” the officer said and the Lady Riders almost pushed past all of them and broke the gate down.
The older woman grumbled but she pulled out a key and unlocked the gate. Shady and the others made to follow the police in, but the second officer, the one who had been speaking to them turned and shook his head. “Sorry, ladies, you are gonna have to wait.”
Bic pulled out her phone and swore. “I am calling Freebryd.”
Shady turned and nodded and said, “Have him tell Creed and the boys, we may need some help here.”
Chapter Five
The new leader of the Vipers stepped into the doorway of the large hacienda and grinned stupidly at the butler who was frowning deeply at him.
“Shoes?” the butler said and the biker looked down at his boots and nodded.
“Yep, got me two of them,” the leader said and laughed.
The older man rolled his eyes and turned, saying over his shoulder, “Follow me.”
The biker chuckled, he loved pissing off people who looked down on him. Seriously, he didn’t think there could be a servant as snotty as this dude. Hell, he was a lowlife slave like he was, how the hell did he think he was better than him?
They walked through the open huge mansion that had an open garden in the middle of the estate. There were flowers and a small waterfall in the middle, right where a table and chairs had been placed. The biker saw the tea service already laid out and wanted to laugh loudly. Every single time he came here it was the same thing. The bitch thought she was gonna impress him with this shit? Nah, he could care less about high tea and all that bullshit. He and his club only cared about money, cold hard cash.
The butler held out his hand, motioning for him to sit down at the table. He rolled his eyes and sat, they played this game every single fucking time he came here, and every single fucking time it pissed him off. He didn’t need some bitch to flaunt her shit in front of him. Especially since he would rather kill her just as soon as look at her. It was high time he let her know who the fuck was the boss. His old leader had been a fucking wimp, and he had died because of it.
