Center of Gravity (Marauders Book 3) (4 page)

“I would never do that!”

“Sure you would,” Mac laughed. “I know you, little brother.”

“I swear on my patch
and
my bike!”

“She’ll be relieved to hear that.”

He watched his brother leave with a big smile on his face. He might not be actively looking for a girl like the one his brother had, but he was living family life vicariously through Mac. He loved to hear about it all, and he was so fucking thrilled about the baby it was pathetic.

-o0o-

They had church that Friday, and Mech and Mitch were the last two into the chapel, since they’d been working with some upgrades on the computer security. Mitch closed the door and sat down at the end of the table, opposite Tommy, and lit a smoke. His dad banged the gavel and cleared his throat.

“I had a talk with Chucky the other day,” he started. Chucky was the president of the mother charter, and to Mitch’s amusement, he had something of a resemblance to the evil doll Chucky in the B-horror movies from the 90s. “They’ve been contacted by a Dutch club regarding a business deal.”

There was a tangible silence in the room. The prospect of branching out in Europe was both intriguing and worrying. Mitch didn’t know much about Europe or the biker climate there. It had never been much of an issue, since, as far as he knew, that was something that had never come up. The majority of the diamonds they shipped up to New York were sent over seas, but by then the merchandise had left their hands and it wasn’t their problem anymore. Sisco was the first one to speak up.

“Any club we’ve heard of?”

“I don’t know if I’ve heard of any European biker clubs,” Bull said. “Only the American clubs who’ve spread there, but no clubs that started out over there.”

“This is an American club,” Brick answered. “Smiling Ghouls. I’m sure you’ve all heard of them.”

“Aren’t they just a bunch of drunken losers?” Mace asked and looked at the others. “Or did I get that wrong?”

“Not entirely wrong,” Brick agreed. “But the reason they’re not really doing shit over here, is that they pretty much own the Netherlands, and they’re raking in big sums from there. The American side is living on the profit.”

Mitch immediately saw the problem with that equation. “So we’re gonna try to set up a working business arrangement with a bunch of drunks who tend to let others work for them?”

“No. Thankfully not,” his dad answered. “Two guys from the Amsterdam club are coming here. Not their president, but the VP and the SAA.”

“Why not the president?” Bull asked and sounded a bit insulted, which was understandable. If a club was serious about something, they sent the president.

“He’s apparently not allowed into the US. I’m not sure about the details, but that was the reason,” Brick explained. “They’re coming over for a few months to discuss it further, tell us what they had in mind, if we’re interested. The idea was that they’d go to Englewood to talk to them first, and then they’d travel with them to meet with some of the other clubs.”

It was a no-brainer to Mitch that Greenville was on the list of ‘some of the clubs.’ They were one of the bigger clubs, and more importantly one of the border clubs, and Brick was the one who most often dealt with the cartel who supplied them with pot and diamonds.

“So we’re having two Dutch coming to visit?” he asked.

“One Dutch and a Swede, actually.” Brick scratched his head. “Chucky’s got his guys doing a check, but he wanted Mech and Mitch’s help, too.”

Mitch looked at Mech, who shrugged and nodded, then he nodded, too.

“Got names?” he asked.

“The Swede is called… Well, it’s spelled O-l-l-e, and Orn as the family name? Is that an actual name?”

“How would you pronounce that?” Bear speculated. “Like Olé, or Oll-e? Or maybe—”

“It doesn’t fucking matter,” Brick interrupted him. “The Dutch guy is called Dieter—“

“Obviously,” Sisco deadpanned.

“Bohm,” Brick continued without taking any notice of Sisco’s comment.

There was another silence before Sisco cleared his throat and, in a very controlled way, asked, “As in ‘goes the bomb?’” And then they all started laughing.

“There’s actually dots over the o in both last names, according to Chucky. Like in Motörhead,” Brick explained and dried his eyes while he still chuckled. “I’ll write it down for you, along with the other details I got on them.”

“Thanks,” Mech smiled. “I think I’ll need it.”

“I hope they have easily pronounced road names,” Bull mumbled while he shook his head and lit a smoke. Then he nodded towards Mitch. “Find out what you can about the biker situation in Europe, too. They’ll fill us in on it, I’m sure, but I want to know some of it before they come here. Don’t want to have to rely on their say-so on that shit.”

“Sure.”

“Does anyone know anything about the situation in Europe?” Mac the over-thinker asked. “Aren’t those mostly drunks on bikes, too? Like the Smiling Ghouls?”

“From what I’ve heard, they’re insane,” Bull said. “Kind of like Australian bikers.”

“We’ll hear them out,” Brick said, and Mitch knew that would be the end of the discussion for now. “No point in speculating about anything now. Might not lead to anything, but I want all the info you can find. Chucky and Dutch’ll come with them.”

“Awesome, Dutch’ll come with the Dutch, that’s not confusing at all,” Dawg mumbled.

The rest of the meeting was the usual stuff, and Mitch didn’t think much about a possible cooperation with the Dutch club, simply since it probably wouldn’t lead to anything. Suggestions like that one turned up now and then, and no one paid them much mind until it started to look real. They did all the background searches and found what they needed in case it took off, though. To be on the safe side.

Once the meeting was over, he went to find Mac.

“You sticking around?” he asked. Mac usually stuck around for a beer or two before heading home. Mitch hoped he might stay longer this time, since Vi was away. “Wanna head over to The Booty Bank, so you can see some non-fat chicks when you have the chance?” he added and wiggled his eyebrows.

“Fuck you,” Mac laughed, but he knew Mitch was kidding about the non-fat chicks. “And no, I’m heading home. See you tomorrow?”

“Absolutely. I’ll check out some girls for you and describe them in detail.”

“You do that.” Mac waved as he walked out.

Mitch emptied his glass and turned around to see which girls had showed up for the night.

-o0o-

Two days later, Mitch was outside the clubhouse. The birthday weed-session with Mac had turned into a drinking session as well. They’d toasted the unborn boy with whiskey. They’d also called Vi and given a half crying, incoherent speech to the Squid. She wasn’t too happy about that and had told them to drink water and get their drunken asses to bed.

He had a splitting headache and was resting on one of the picnic tables on the lot when he heard someone in high heels walking towards him.

“Gotta ask you something,” Lisa said.

He’d figured it was a sweetbutt and was a bit surprised when he heard her voice. He opened one eye to look at her.

“Unless it’s a life and death thing, think it can wait? My brain isn’t really with me today.”

“Yeah, Vi said you two called while pissdrunk yesterday,” she said, and he was pretty sure she was giving him an evil smile. “Are you still banging anyone who’s willing?”

“Why? You offering?” he smirked. He knew she wasn’t, he just loved teasing her. Lisa was hot as hell, but she was like a sister to him. They were the same age and had been hanging out since they were around six, so it really would be like fucking a sister. “Cuz I’ve told you, like a million times, it would be so cute if the two brothers married the two sisters. Our moms would die of happiness.”

“Oh, yeah, you stud, fuck me right now.”

“I don’t think I can.”

“I know.” That was definitely an evil smile. “But really, if she’s even remotely attractive, is that enough? I mean, are you still like when you were eighteen when it comes to that?”

“Pretty much,” he shrugged. “As long as I think she’s hot, that’s fine. Why are you asking?”

“Just worrying. I’m practically your house doctor, and I figured I should feign an interest.” She sat on the bench and leaned her elbows on the table next to his head. “How are things?”

“Besides the hangover, just peachy.” He closed his eyes again. “And you?”

“Good. Thinking about doing some research here in Phoenix.”

“Really? Miss ‘LA is the best place on the planet’ is thinking about coming back to ol’ Arizona?”

“Yup. I’ve been offered a spot on a project. It’s a good opportunity and what I want to work with. And I’d like to be closer to Vi when she has the kid.”

Vi and Lisa hadn’t been all that close when they were younger, but they were getting there now, especially the last few years. Vi was working on a flower garden on Lisa’s back, and even if he’d never been allowed to see the entire thing, what he had seen had looked pretty fucking awesome.

But Mitch didn’t think Vi having a baby was the only reason Lisa’d come home.

“So you coming here wouldn’t have anything to do with you cutting off all your hair. Seem to remember that the last time you did that was when that asshole dumped you.”

“That’s not it, not all of it, at least.” She swallowed. “Can I keep that talk in the bank?”

“Yeah.” He stroked his hand over her hair. “It’s kinda cute.”

“Thanks,” she smiled. “We’re gonna be the godparents, you know. Need to be close when you’re a godparent.”

“At least I’ll kind of have a kid with you then,” he chuckled. “I’m guessing that’s as close as I’ll get.”

“It is. Don’t pretend you’re sorry about it. You know we’d kill each other in a matter of months.”

“We would,” he agreed. “Probably in a matter of hours. It would also be a bit pervy.”

“Totally.”

“Hey, your friend, by the way, how is she?”

“Anna? Think she’s okay. Surprisingly okay, actually. I mean... she’s sad about it. Her entire family is all about ballet. Her dream was to become a principal dancer at the New York City Ballet. She used to talk about it when we were kids. Remember Mom saying that it probably wouldn’t happen, that you’d have to be crazy talented and lucky to get there.”

“Your mom is such a positive woman.”

Mel, his dad’s Old Lady, had been friends with Ella, Lisa and Vi’s mom. Once Bear and Ella got divorced, things the rest of them hadn’t known, or had only suspected, started to seep out. They’d seen that Ella didn’t get along with Vi, but it turned out she’d been mean to her, and Lisa still felt bad about that. She’d been her mom’s favorite, and she’d never defended Vi while they’d both lived at home. That was one of the things Mitch knew that the two of them needed to get over, and it was probably a good reason for Lisa to try to stay close for a while.

“Not really,” Lisa agreed. She still got along with Ella, who also lived in LA, but she wasn’t as quick to defend her anymore. “It’s the best of the best, but she made it.”

“She did?”

“Yeah. She was a principal dancer for years, and then she got hit by a cab when she was trying to get to the ballet in time for a practice.”

“Man, that’s gotta suck.”

“No shit.”

“So that cane, is she gonna be able to walk without it?”

“Probably not. They don’t know. My guess would be not. There’s a lot of nerve damage and a lot of nerves that were severed close to the spine. They don’t usually grow out when it’s so far for them to grow, and I don’t know if they managed to stitch them up. That doesn’t always work, but even if they did, I don’t think she’ll ever be fully healed.” It was always funny to Mitch to hear Lisa get into doc-mode. “But I think the fact that she’s so extremely disciplined by nature helps, especially with the physical therapy. Being on a rigid training program is pretty much her natural state.”

“I bet.” He didn’t know much about ballet dancers, but he knew they had to train like maniacs, all the fucking time, so PT was probably nothing to a girl like her. “Poor chick.”

“Are you really feeling sorry, or are you just planning on how you could turn it into a pity fuck?”

“A little of both,” he admitted with a smile, mostly to himself. “But really, I do feel sorry for her. Bet she’s a pretty stable person though, disciplined and all that, she’ll be fine.”

“Think so. Seems to have the right attitude.”

“Does she speak Russian?”

“No idea. Why?”

“Sexy language.”

In fact, he had a thing for girls who spoke any other language. Especially if it was their mother language because it was a special sense of achievement when you managed to fuck a girl so properly she forgot English and started to yell in a foreign language.

“You’re really a dawg. I bet that’s why you never got a road name. ‘Dawg’ was already taken.”

“Could be.” He looked up and noticed Lisa had a big smile. “So no prince charming around the corner for you then?”

“No,” she shrugged. “Isn’t it annoying? With Vi and Mac, I mean.”