MC: Pres: Book Four (22 page)

"Brother Kate is pissed at me.  She's looking for truck sex."  Ben tells me.

I crack up wondering where the hell he is talking to me about truck sex.  "I covered it Brother.  Thanks for the heads up." 

"You're not at your meeting?"  He asks.  Kate is too close for this call.

She lifts her head.  "No he's taking care of me."  Fuck she's pissed at him?

"I'm at home Ben.  Kate is with me, as in on my lap.  We must have fallen asleep.  Where are you?"  I hear noise in the background.

"I'm at the school picking up the kids."  He sounds a little off.

Fuck Kate didn't make it back to work.  "Is everything ok?" 

"I'm waiting for Alex and Ally's teacher.  He's late bringing out the kids.  There are fuckin kids everywhere." 

I crack up.  He's talking about truck sex with kids running around him.  "You're supposed to wait in the car rider line.  The kids will be waiting there."

"Fuckin line was out to the road.  Fuck that."  He's pissed. 

I try to hold the laugh in.  "Go to the car rider side and the kids will be waiting there.  You can walk them out from there."  

"Hey, how do I get to the fuckin car rider side?"  He's yelling at someone.  I cover my mouth.  Fuckin Ben is going to start shit swearing in the fuckin school.  Kate is laughing. 

I hear muffled sounds then he comes back.  "There should be directions for this fuckin shit.  I see the kids.  I see you when we get home."  He hangs up.  I burst out laughing.  Fuckin Ben.  My phone rings again.  Fuck.

"Yeah Ben." 

"My fuckin picture isn't in the book!"  He's fuckin yelling at me.  I can picture his hand in his hair.  Fuckin Chicken Little mode.

I'm laughing; when I pull in a breath I tell him I'll be right there.  Kate is hysterical. 

"Fuckin school should know who the fuck I am without a fuckin picture.  How the fuck does Steve pick up Little Ben without a fuckin picture?"  He hangs up again. 

Kate runs to the bathroom holding her stomach.  She's chanting 'got to pee.'  I button my pants and tell her I'm going to rescue Ben from the car rider police.  She's still laughing on the fuckin toilet. 

I get to the school and Ben is yelling at Alex and Ally's teacher's assistant.  Fuck.  I pull right up since almost everyone is gone.  "Ben this is Christy."

He spins around.  "I don't give a fuck who she is.  These are my kids too.  I shouldn't have to fuckin fight to bring them home!" 

Fuck he's pissed.  "Christy this is Ben James.  He's the kid’s father too.  We'll send a picture on Monday."  She nods and runs into the building.  I clench my teeth.  Jessie, Darren and Little Ben are sitting with the kids waiting to see what happens next.  Fuck.

"Come on LaPonte-James crew.  Let's get you home."  I give Ben the key to my bike and take the keys to his truck.  We pile in and watch Ben leave.  I turn to look at them. "Well I bet that was exciting."  No one says a word.  Fuck.  "Alright what happened?"

Everyone looks at Jessie.  "He tried to tell them he was their father too.  No one would listen.  They made us sit on the bench away from him."  Fuck. 

"Are you mad that they wouldn't listen?" 

"Yes, but it's the first time he's ever said he was their father.  We're all mad that we couldn't even go near him.  He really loves all of us, even me."  Little Ben says.

Fuck.  "Of course he does.  Let's go see Penny.  I think we can make him feel better by the time we get home."  They nod. 

We pile out and go into the t-shirt shop.  "Hi Penny.  Do you have the jerseys ready?" 

She smiles at the kids.  "Hi LaPonte-James kids."  They smile for her saying hi.  "Let me get them.  I made the t's this morning.  They’re ready to go." 

"Wow, thanks.  I didn't think you would get it done that quick."  I pull my card out and pay while Little Ben, Jessie and Darren get the t's on the kids and themselves.  I got one that says 'honorary' for Little Ben.  He loves it.  The boys do the man hug cracking me up.  I thank Penny and pull Devan's shirt out of the box.  I put the box in the back and drive to Millie's to get Devan.  We get his shirt on and go home. 

The kids run into the house while I get Devan.  Walking in I put Devan down, he runs to Ben with the other kids, he’s checking out their shirts with a smile.  He throws me chin.  The kids hug him. Devan is jumping up and down yelling 'da Ben'.  I lift him to Ben's arm.  He puts his head on Ben's shoulder and starts talking.  He's so fuckin cute.  The kids all tell Ben they love him and Devan gives him a kiss. 

"Thank you.  I love you too.  I'm sorry I was yelling at the school."  I can hear the emotion in his voice.

I go back out and get the box of jerseys.  I put it down so I can sign while talking.  "Monday you wear your shirts to school.   When we send Ben's picture I want every one of you with his name on your back so they won't ever forget who you belong to.  Yeah?"  They all say 'Yeah' making me smile. 

Kate is blowing her nose at the doorway.  She comes in and hugs Ben.  The kids move away.  I sign to get a camera and take his picture so we can have it ready for Ally and Alex.  Jessie runs up the stairs. 

Devan is trying to jump out of Ben's arms so I take him.  "Babe, do you need to get back to work?"  I ask Kate. 

"No I was done.  I've been tired so I cut back my time at work.  I can do the paperwork here.  I left the suv there."  She moves away so Jessie can take a picture of Ben.  When he's done he runs back upstairs.  The kids follow him.  I watch smiling. 

"I'm sorry Ben.  In the car rider line they know our trucks.  Without them they need picture verification for Alex and Ally.  The other kids don't need them.  I'll get your name and picture to the school on Monday."  I watch him for a reaction.  He just nods. 

I get the kids down to pull their papers and we get on with living.  Thank fuck.

BEN

Fuckin school.  I pull Danny's bike in and just sit for a minute.  I fuckin lost it; I run my hands through my hair.  The kids didn't say a fuckin word.  I must have embarrassed the fuck out of them.  When the teacher made them sit away from me I was pissed.  Who the fuck is she?  I met the kids’ teachers but I never met her.  Danny and Kate are going to be pissed.  Fuck.  I should have called him before I went in the school.  I've dropped the kids but never picked them up.  Danny, Tiny and Patches usually get the kids home.  I'm going to have to ride with Patches so I can do it right next time.  Fuck.  I walk into the house and wait.  It's taking them forever to get home.  Maybe he took them for ice cream to make them feel better.  I could go up to the Club and avoid all the shit I'm going to get.  I shake my head.  I might as well get it over with.  We have a whole schedule of shit to do this weekend.  I need to fix this before it wrecks it for everyone.  I sit at the table until I hear my truck.  I stand up, blow out a breath and wait. 

The kids come in running.  They show me their shirts.  Fuckin kids.  They have our logo on the back and the kids’ names on the front with LaPonte-James in bigger letters underneath.  They all hug me and wait for Danny.  Even Devan wears a shirt, so fuckin cute.  Danny puts him in my arm.  The kids tell me they love me.  Fuck.  They're not pissed.  I close my eyes and tell them I love them and I'm sorry for losing it.  Devan kisses me then puts his head back on my shoulder.  Fuckin kids. 

Danny gets a box from the garage and pulls jerseys out showing the kids.  He tells them they have to wear them Monday so everyone knows who they belong to.  Fuck that feels good.  Fuckin Danny.  I can't talk so I throw him chin.  Kate comes over and hugs me.  When the kids go upstairs Danny tells me about the schools pick up policy, apologizes and says he'll fix it Monday.  Fuckin Brother.  I just nod.  He's not pissed and he'll fix it.  I'm so fuckin relieved.  We've been doing good, I'm glad I didn't fuck it up.  We get the kids settled and Kate changes our plan so the kids can wear their shirts.  I'm smiling the whole fuckin night.  They all have my name on, even Little Ben. 

It hits me while we're eating.  Fuckin Danny.  I look at my plate.  Dominance is protection.  He fuckin threw it on me and I didn't even notice.  It feels fuckin good with him having my back.  When I look at him he's watching me.  He throws chin with a smile.  I throw it back.  Fuckin Brother.

Three Days

Ben

I meet up with Rob at his new office.  A crew is working around us while he tells me what's going to be done on this side.  "I like the bar on one side.  I bet the Brothers will use that more than anything else.  I'm going to check about serving here."  He takes me to the bar the electricians are working.  Walking in the back I see the plumber is here to.  How the fuck does he get them here so fast? 

Back in the bar he spreads a roll of paper out with the logo.  "This one is going to be pub style.  This is what we came up with."  I crack up.  The Office arched over our logo.  A beer sign is in the middle.  "I was hoping to get the logo painted on the window and etched in the wood.  Amanda did the art for the shirts."

"I like it, you’re good at getting all this done.  Who’s your replacement for the manager position?" 

"Horse.  He's the only one I'd trust all the bars with.  He jumps from one to the other now.  He's coming in later today so I can start training him on the paperwork."  He looks around smiling.  "Andy said they should be done in three weeks at the latest.  Danny said a month."

I nod.  "He pads his time for problems that may come up.  I'd go with his time.  All these walls coming down?"

"Yeah, no problem areas, I like the open room; it makes it easier to watch customers and employees.  Shit.  I forgot to tell Danny about the lockers."  He pulls out his phone and starts typing. 

"He'll put them in or ask if you want them."  I tell him thinking it's strange to worry about lockers now.

He talks while he's typing.  "I need them bigger.  The waitresses complain about their winter coats fitting in.  I want to catch him before they're ordered." 

"Looks like you have everything moving along here.  Let me know if you have a problem or need some help."  I tell him but he's still typing.

He never looks up.  "Thanks Pres." 

I smile walking out.  At least he's not still pissed at me.  Checking time I need to meet Patches.  I park my bike and hop in with him.  He sits in the fuckin line not going around the cars that stop for nothing.  Fuck.  I glare at fuckin Christy.  She smiles holding my picture to show me it’s in the book.  I fuckin laugh.  She's not pissed at me.  Fuckin Danny fixed it.  Once the kids are in, he tells them he likes their shirts. 

He drops me at my bike and goes for Tess, I go to meet Josh at HR and get the pay rate and benefits set for the second tier of Officers.  Once Rich is in the others will happen fast.  I need this done for that to work smoothly.  Tiny is talking to Casper, the Club will pay his dues for however long he's at the PD and he'll slide in Rich waiting for him to step down hoping Casper catches it.

I rush home and finish dinner so Patches and Tess can get home.  Fuck it's been a crazy fuckin day. 

I recognize Patches as our new Officer in the common room.  Rich is the loudest whistling and clapping for his Brother.  Patches throws him chin.  Fuckin nice.  We get through the meeting quick and head out for a drink. 

VP yells to Patches.  Danny is running for the door.  I follow wondering what the fuck is going on.  At the house Rich jumps out running for the door.  He's talking but I can't hear what the fuck he's saying.  Danny, Patches and VP follow.  I get in and follow Max's barking.  He has a pole and wire on his neck in the pantry.  Fuckin hell.  This shows that Tess can be taken advantage of.  Walking out I see they already have two guys kneeling.  They beat the fuck out of them.  I laugh and call Casper.  Danny and Steve go to the last two guys standing at the wall.  I watch them beat the fuck out of them not feeling one bit of remorse.  Fuck, maybe the violence is getting to all of us. 

Peter shows asking questions then Casper comes in.  He calls for detectives to come pick them up.  The detectives drag the guys out.  Fuck.  This must be the new training he was talking about building from the top down.  "I don't know how to show respect to the fuckers that strip it off and throw it away like these asswipes.  Since the detectives have been working effectively, crime is going down."  He says shrugging.  We fuckin laugh.  Fuckin Brothers.

Two Days

Kate

I can't get what Tiny and Ben were talking about out of my head.  I look up vasectomy.  It looks like a simple enough procedure.  Most sites say recovery time is in days.  Some say longer but my guys are Badass Bikers.  They can take it.  This will ensure I don't have kids younger than my grandkids.  I don't know why they thought it was funny.  I don't find it funny.  I'm talking to them tonight.  I print the information twice so they each have copies and get back to work.

Danny

I have a lunch meeting with Patches today.  He met Steve this morning.  I thought it would be good to calm him down before he picked the kids up.  Steve is the only one that would cause him stress.  The guy's a fuckin lunatic; I don't want Patches worried over the guns and stolen cars and bikes.  Knowing Steve he'd tell him where the bodies are buried just for fuckin entertainment.  As if fuckin with Ben isn't enough for him. 

I pick him up from Security and he's pale as a ghost.  Fuckin Steve.  "How are you doing Patches?"  He just looks at me.  "There are no cameras in the truck, only a tracking device to keep us safe Brother."

"Fuck that was intense.  There's fuckin cameras everywhere.  The police station has them!"  I nod.  I figure I'll let him vent.  "Our whole street is monitored as high security.  VP has a safe room that could blow the whole fuckin town up.  I don't think he should be in charge of that stuff.  I've heard stories but don't really know what's true.  He’s fuckin scary though."  I hold in my laugh and nod.  "I'm not sure I'm ready for more right now.  That's a lot of fuckin information to get through.  He wouldn't let me write anything down.  He took my fuckin book.  It has all my notes in it.  I'm afraid to ask him for it back.  He might kill me or something.  Did you know he hung Geek out a window?  The guy was hanging against the building for fuckin hours."  I bark out a laugh.  He just watches me. 

When I calm down I look at him.  "VP is the worst you'll hear from the Officers.  I think he tries to scare people on purpose.  He can't have his shit talked about.  He's just making sure you don't talk to the Brothers about anything he says." 

"Does he really do high cash jobs for the government?  Am I allowed to ask that question?"  He's fuckin shaking.  Fuckin Steve.

"Only VP, Casper and Pres know about the cash jobs.  We don't talk about them because we don't know about them.  He is a scary Brother.  I'll get your book for you when we go back." 

"Thank Fuck.  I don't want to ask him anything ever a fuckin gain.  He scares the shit out of me."  He's serious.  I can't help but laugh. 

"He's the same Steve you've had a million dinners with, sat and talked with and coach soccer with.  He takes care of the MC, his community and his family."

He looks at me.  "But he does it by killing people."  He says softly.

"Yeah he does.  So does every member of High Security including me.  How do you think the Outlaws died?  To keep us safe we do what needs to be done.  Most of the Brothers don't know what that entails but I'm pretty sure you've been in the common room and heard Ben tell everyone about taking out the bad guys.  You're not a stupid guy Patches."  I try for a gentle tone.  He's already shaken.

"I know Pres says it and I watch the guns and Brothers come and go but seeing and hearing the details are different.  Before it was about nameless people, now I know who does what.  Rich went to the Outlaw Club.  Did he kill them there?"  Fuck. 

"Yeah, we all did.  Rich is a trained sniper on top of his other specialized training.  His job was and is along with all High Security Brothers classified.  We're not allowed to talk about it.  We can to Officers but not the Brothers, even the ones in Security."  I hope he doesn't ask for details.  He doesn't need to hear them but I have to answer if he asks.

"The guys in surveillance must know."  He's fuckin smart.

"Only Geek, Digs and Sticks run ops for High Security.  They're cleared for the job and they don't talk to anyone, they're considered part of the High Security team." I tell him.  "The rest of Security does the outside paid jobs, the concerts, Bodyguards, and monitoring jobs.  They don't deal with High Security at all." 

"That's why Digs and Sticks are on tracking."  Fuckin smart.

"Yeah."  I don't add anything. 

He looks over at me.  "So what do you do?  Your name is everywhere in Security." 

I park the truck but don't get out.  "I run with High Security when the big stuff happens.  I sub for Brothers that are out or on vacation to keep conditioned.  The rest of the time I'm the Building Super." 

"Your number two to VP."  He says.

"Yeah.  I shoot straight and can ride." 

He rolls his eyes. "You have a black belt and are a master; Rich said you can shoot bows too.  You didn't learn in the military like them." 

"I was in the Club before Rich was born.  I trained with their number one.  He taught me how to shoot and fight.  I worked until I was number two.  Then I had to get out because my ex was psychotic.  I never gave up on the training.  I continued it.  Even today I train every day.  It's not something you let go of.  Keeping our families safe is fuckin important.  Look at what happened to Tess.  Can you imagine Ally going through what she did?  I need to train every day to keep that from ever happening again." 

He faces forward and takes a deep breath.  "Yeah.  It all seems less scary when you look at it like that.  We do what we need to.  We take care of our own."

"Yeah.  Let's get some food and I'll tell you about buildings and safe rooms."  He finally smiles. 

We eat and I tell him about the buildings the MC owns and the safe rooms in them.  I explain the importance of them and where some of them are.  We talk about the solar making us money and added to every building that we buy.  He has a fuck ton of questions and I know it's killing him because he doesn't have his book to take notes. 

I get him back to Security and run in for his book.  Fuckin Steve laughs.  He scared him on purpose.  Fuckin Brothers.

Ben

I pull into the drive and Patches pulls out with all the kids.  I don't remember what they had today.  I'm losing it.  I need the new fuckin Officers moved up before I lose my fuckin mind.  Thank fuck Danny got Rob set up and Keith is redirecting calls to him.  I walk in the door seeing Kate and Danny at the table.  Kate smiles but Danny is reading something.  He doesn't even look up.  I grab a beer and sit.  Kate pushes papers toward me.  "What the fuck?"  Vasectomy.  I read through the information thinking I don't want any fuckin body cutting my fuckin balls.  Just the threat has them drawing up trying to hide.

I finish and look at Danny he's on the last page.  It's not colored so he's using a business card to read each line.  When he finishes he looks at Kate then me.  She hasn't said anything yet.

"Why am I reading about cutting my balls?"  He asks her so calm.  Mine move up again trying to hide from this fuckin conversation. 

"Ben and Tiny were talking about Tess having a baby and how many kids we would have that were younger than the grandkids.  Tiny said there's a woman with twenty freakin kids.  I don't want twenty kids and I don't want kids younger than my grandkids.  This is a few days of heal time for guys.  It's a whole hospital procedure with weeks of heal time for women.  It would be better, quicker and easier for you to do this."  She looks at him then me going back and forth as she talks.  Holy fuck!

Danny looks at me.  "You and Tiny had this conversation in front of Kate?" 

Oh Fuck.  "We were just joking around, it wasn't serious.  I don't need any more kids."  I tell him.  He's fuckin pissed. 

"Then you have no problem doing this."  She says satisfied. 

"Fuck, wait a minute.  This is cutting our balls.  We were just joking around.  You can stay on birth control."  How the fuck do I get out of this?

"I got pregnant while I was on birth control.  It's not 100%."  Fuck she has an answer for everything.

"Where are the kids?"  Danny asks.

"Patches took them to eat and get shoes."  She says.

He stands up.  "Deal with this.  I'm going for a fuckin ride.

"I'll come with you Brother."  I don't want him to leave me here with her.

"Let me make it fuckin crystal clear.  I'm going for a ride so I'm away from you and I don't rip your fuckin head off for making jokes about twenty kids in front of our very pregnant woman."  He walks out the door slamming it as he goes.  Fuck. 

I look at Kate.  "I think he handled that well."  She says.  "I cleared your schedule for next Friday.  You'll have the weekend to recuperate.  We planned on going to the beach house over the weekend.  It will be perfect." 

Fuck no it won't.  "I don't want to do this Kate.  This isn't a preferred form of birth control for me.  Can't we find another way?" 

"Why don't you find something that is 100% effective, that can be done in minutes and has a heal time just as fast.  We'll look at what you find and decide on which one we should do."  She's calm but her voice is fuckin scary.  I watch her. 

"Danny left because he knows we don't have a choice?"  Holy fuck she's having our balls cut.  She nods.  "Next week?"  She nods again.  My fuckin balls are shriveled up.  "I'm going to the Club."  She nods.  I get up and walk to my fuckin bike wondering how the fuck I'm going to get out of this one and how I'm going to keep Danny from fuckin killing me.  Fuck, right now I want to kill me.  Next Friday.  I have a week with my balls.  Fuckin hell!  I need a fuckin drink.