Holding On (38 page)

--HEM--

“
Almost home, damn it is
good to be back in town.  I hate these short runs, they are
almost worse than the long ones.” We’ve been on the road for hours
and the feeling of relief has started to flood because now we are
close.  “Being gone makes antsy to see Sadey even more knowing
I’m coming right back.”  I’m unsure if Shame is listening
because he’s staring off, probably into Maceville.  God my
sister has that man more pussy whipped then I am. Jesus, grow a
pair brother.

“
Want me to return these
too?”  He’s holding up the guns we took from the warehouse to
use in case we needed them during the ride.  I hate unloading
all this shit every time but I’m not keeping more shit at the Club
then needed in case of robbery or someone turns us into authorities
on a death wish.

“
Yeah, take it all back in
there and secure it up tight then let’s roll out and get home so I
can see my girl.”

“
Yeah brother, all about
you. Every damn time, always about Hem.” Shame is kidding but I’m
not. Let’s get the fuck outta here and go home.

Pulling up to the
Clubhouse we know immediately something is fucked.  Scattered
bits of ammo shells have littered the street outside and tire
tracks have left skid marks in their wake. Whoever left these marks
fuckin left in a damn hurry and there’s only one reason someone
would do that. Whoever it was, was not welcome. I’m sick to my
stomach instantly.  I remember I had told Sadey to stay put
because she was going to be safe here.  

Fuck!

Coming out of my dreaded thought I can
hear Shame barking behind me. He’s last pulling up so he’s just now
arriving.

“
What the fuck is
happening?”  He’s is looking from side to side for present
danger and Honor has already given his all clear, his gun drawn.
 

Once in the gate we see the damage.
 Jesus, so much damage. Windows blown out, the damn walkway is
pebbled with more shell casings and bikes are laid on their sides.
 Thank fucking God my brothers are here, just hope when I walk
in that they are all okay.

“
MACE.  SADEY!”
 Shame is screaming at them before we even open the door. His
strides are so long that Honor and I are left behind in a hurry to
catch up, not knowing what he’s walking into.  He isn’t
thinking, just knows he’s going to find the girls and worry about
the rest later. Brother is as frantic as I am.

Gunner sees us walk in
first, blood dripping from his arm and off his cut. Laying on the
ground he tries to talk slow enough that we can understand him but
the pain is too much and coming too fast.  He’s been shot and
he’s one pale mother fucker. Brother is trying to maintain eye
contact with me but his eyes are dilated so much I’m unsure he even
knows who is here with him now. Raider is standing over him with
his finger on his pulse. This brings reality screaming into the
room.

“
I don’t know boss, we had
no warning.”  I haven’t even asked him what happened so I know
he’s in a hurry to get the story out in case something happens to
him. He’s really starts to go in and out now.  Shame pulls him
up a bit and lays him near the couch so we are in the interior of a
room in the case of another unprovoked attack.  He finally
passes out, thank fuck for that. Raider looks sick now, he’s one
prospect that I was concerned for in the event of something like
this. Unsure he’s ever witnessed something so
disturbing.

Snapping out of his
thoughts, I try to help him focus. “RAIDER!  Call the doc now,
no cops or hospitals unless he’s in dire need, do you understand?”
 Raider nods, still in shock. Welcome to the Club
bro.

I’m about to lose my own
shit. “Where the fuck are the girls?”  Not one man speaks so I
can see this is bad. “WHERE ARE THE GIRLS?”  I start towards
the other side of the room and I can see the blood stained hair on
the floor.  My nerves go on end and Ace comes rolling around
the corner straight at me and pushes back.  I’m not fucking
happy with this brother anyway and having him put his hands on me
is about to really set me off.  Shoving him to the ground with
an easy push I walk towards the lifeless body.

Fuck! It’s Winnie.  Jesus Christ
I should feel guilty about my relief but for that brief second of
thinking it was… with the blood soaked hair… it looks like… oh god,
where is she? Where’s my Sadey girl?

“
ACE
WHERE ARE
MY
GIRLS?”  I grab his cut and pull him off the floor and
close to me, tight so I’m in his face.

“
I’m here, baby.”
 The faintest sound has calmed my storm in a fucking instant.
 I drop Ace and toss him to the side, then turn to see my
girl. I don’t hesitate as I her now picking her up and holding her
close to me for a few long minutes. She’s crying in my neck, I
press her head to me, I smell her hair, and I feel her face
checking to be sure she’s okay.  Physically she appears that
she is all right. She can get past what the scene has done to her
mentally, with time.

“
Sadey? Where is...
Mace... where is Mace?  Sadey, she’s not here, I don’t see
her... where... would she have... gone?”  Brother Shame has
paled in worry and he is about to go down if someone doesn’t answer
him.  Fuck he looks petrified.

“
She’s still in the
bathroom Shame, she’s cleaning up one of the girls that took some
glass to her back on the way down the hall, she’s okay.”
 Sadey, my sweet mothering Sadey.  Thank fuck she’s
alright.

He starts to move towards
where the girls are. They are all scared and from what Sadey says,
they are hurt. If Shame walks in there and starts screaming and
making all his sudden movements, we could have pandemonium in here
and we still have yet to clear the place of scum. He’s not thinking
right now, I’m going to think for him.

“
Shame, help get Winnie
out back before the rest of the girls see her.  Hurry up, get
yourself together because Mace will need you to be in control.
 She’s never been exposed to this shit man, go on.”   He
glares at me. All our lives together I have never seen that look on
his face. Fucker wants to challenge me right now, I see it.
 No way brother, get your shit straight.

“
Fucking hell Shame, do
it!” I’m using my President tone now that I generally save for the
new prospects but fuckin’ hell this brother needs to listen to my
words so I don’t have to put a boot in his ass.

Reluctantly he motions
over for a few of those left in the room to help him get her body
outside and away from the girls.

After Shame and the others
have moved Winnie, the room is quiet.  So quiet it is
deafening to me.  I’m out of my mind with anger that someone
could do this.  This has to be personal, Switch is so far down
under no one can even find him but yet his power is still very
present.  His connections must have strengthened in his
absence.  I’m going to find Hood though, and he can be the
first in a long line of skin to pay for this.  My girls, Jesus
my girls were that close to harm.  I will die myself before
shit gets this close to them again.  Thank fuck for Gunner and
his aim.  From what he said to Raider as he drifted in and out
there were about 10 of them fuckers on the roof of the building
just across the street so they had zero resistance to an vulnerable
building filled with blameless women and defenseless men.  
Pussies.

Winnie was our only casualty.
 Can’t say that I feel terrible, hardly knew the girl other
than a few nights she spent with Shame and I.  She was sweet
in her own way I suppose, but if she was the only collateral damage
to all of this then that leaves me thankful.  May make me a
bastard, but this is the life.

Peril has never done harm
to innocent people and that’s exactly what was done here.
 This was the start of a war. I’m not one of those members
that has an appreciation of violence, until you fuck with my
innocent family. That shit does not go unavenged.

I hear a loud sob and Mace
comes barreling out of the hallway and running to Shame who has
just walked back in. He doesn’t give her even a moment to reach for
him.  His reaction is the same as mine, he’s gripping the back
of her head and holding her so close to him, tight.  I will
give them a minute before I check on my sister, Shame has her now
so I know she’s okay.

I’m close enough I can see
that Shame is asking Mace without his words again.  This is
his way of knowing there was a problem but he doesn’t want to say
it out loud.  He’s asking her if she’s okay.  Then I hear
her broken voice and it is like music to my fuckin’ ears.
 “I’m okay, Shame.  I’m not hurt.”  Sadey bursts
into tears and it is just like I said to Mace before, I swear these
two share a damn brain. Goddamn women.

“
It was over in 30
seconds, Hem.  I swear it felt like forever.”  I’ve got
my sister in my arms now and verifying she’s okay with my own eyes.
 She’s always been strong but never Club strong.  I hate
her and Sadey see sort of shit but it is this life, not often and
rarely this raw, but it is.

“
Ok Sis, go finish with
the girls.  Let me and the boys start clearing this shit up
okay?  No one comes in here but brothers until I say it is
okay.  You and Sadey see to that.”

I kiss her on the temple
and then have to push her towards Sadey.  She’s rattled in
fear and doesn’t want to take her eyes or hands off both Shame and
I. Sadey grabs her in a one arm hug and takes her down the hall
with her. Finally they are gone and it leaves Shame, Honor, Raider,
and myself for a few minutes.

“
I want a fucking meeting
with Hood, neutral ground.  I’m not fucking kidding so stop
looking at me like that for fuck’s sake.” All of them stand around
me with hands to hip or arms crossed, anger radiates the room.
 “This is fucked and we all see it.  These were innocent
women here and they were attacked.  No one would fucking think
about doing this other then Switch and his weasel, Hood.  If I
can’t fucking put my fingers on Switch I can sure as fuck put a
slug in Hood. Raider, find an independent willing to put his ass
out there for a settlement.  Stack owes us for helping his
sister last year, find him and assemble the meet, impartial ground
only. We may be still walking into a trap, but if that’s what is
set up let’s make sure the fuckers have to travel to us and we
aren’t close to home. Now MOVE!”

I see Shame is shaking his
head back and forth.  Now is not the time to question me,
mother fucker.  “You got something to say?”  I’m past
pissed and I don’t have time for his shit.

“
Nope, not a damn thing. I was
just thinking that since I am not letting you go get your ass
killed alone that now I have to tell Mace what we are doing and she
may cut my dick off, that bitch can be a little crazy and I’m
really seeing the fuckin family resemblance now.” He turns around
to walk to his girl again and as he does I see him kick my chair
and yell, “FUCK.” He has his hands in his hair as I smile at his
back. I should have known no matter my decision, he was with
me.

“
Honor, once this mess is clean
you take the reins of logistics, you handpick four brothers besides
all us to go out on the meet and decide their strengths and how
this stage is to be set.  Leave Ace, I can’t focus on anything
else but wanting to gut him still when I look at him.”  Honor
gets me, nods in understanding and continues cleanup.

“
What the fuck you still doin’
son?  You’re no longer a prospect.  Jesus, do ya miss
shoveling shit?  Call out the new prospects and have them
clean this place up and you supervise.  Then go do what I told
ya to do.”

Dumbass stands there and just nods, feeling
stupid.

Oh Lord Honor, thanks for the
laugh.  Bad timing mother fucker, but still a
laugh.

Shaking my head and praying up above out loud
I walk back to my office.

“
Dear God, when you grant me a
son, please for my sanity sake make the boy smart.”

Chapter
Sixteen
:

“
No weapon has ever settled a moral problem.
 It can impose a solution but it cannot guarantee it to be
just one.”

--Ernest Hemingway

--HEM--

Still shaking my head after my
heavenly prayer as I walk into my office, I’m trying not to think
about how close we were to losing one of our own tonight.
 Winnie in her own way was one of us and I do feel some guilt
for what happened, hell it happened on my fucking watch.  When
I exact revenge on this monstrosity I will be giving her some peace
in my own way.  

I need to calm myself before we
finalize our meet with Hood.  Switch is apparently enjoying
his time away down under, wherever he is enjoying his vacation.
 Son of a bitch would be entirely fucking stupid if he has no
idea that I will wait for his ass to appear again.  When it
finally does, it will be his very own private reckoning.
 

I am about to go through
some old files of those that owe me favors.  I have no issue
calling in markers for this one either.  If I’m about to start
a war, I’m no fool to believe that backup won’t be needed.  As
I pull the top drawer open I feel it tug back, something is jamming
the damn thing and it won’t open.  I do not have patience for
this right now dammit.  Hell I’m still wearing blood that
Sadey transferred to me.