Page 25 of Scotch: Unraveled

The Outcasts to the left and the cartel to the right. Hero sits at the head and Blaze and I stand behind him to the left and right. Hero gives Mad Man the floor first to get his grievances out, then he looks to Perez for rebuttal. That’s not what I’m here for, though. I listen closely to Balfour and by the shite he and his men are spewing, I’m a hundred percent sure Perez doesn’t speak the language either.

Ya have to be pretty stupid to go against the Anguino Cartel and that’s exactly what this idiot plans to do, and screw the Outcasts over, framing them for the job they’re about to pull, at the same time by double-crossing the cartel. Clearly, they don’t go into the entire plan. No need, considering they’re all in on it. But from the jokes they make, I get enough to understand.

When we’ve heard both sides out, I lead Hero and Blaze out of the room to fill them in on what I overheard. Shite’s about to get real. No way were we getting out of here without guns drawn.

“Ready, brothers?” I ask. We ain’t going back in there ’til I know where their heads are at.

Both men nod and say, “Ready.”

We make our way back inside and Hero casually takes his previously occupied seat. “Here’s what we’ve decided.” He looks to Perez. “You are going to let him out of the contract. Shake hands. Part ways. This is the end of it. No retribution.”

“And why would I do that?” Perez asks.

“Because we’ve got information that we think you’ll find very useful and the Outcasts were the ones smart enough to bring us in. You have my word we’re not trying to screw you over.” Hero points around the room. “My guess, with these men and the ones you’ve got situated around the rest of the property, you’ve brought enough firepower to completely decimate a small country.” Perez laughs, but Hero is unamused. “So we’re not about to fuck with you.”

Perez turns to Balfour. “What do you think?”

“I think it’s bull,” he says. “I think you should put a bullet in his brain for suggesting this farce in the first place.”

“That’s an option,” Perez answers. Then he turns to his men to converse in Spanish. Finished with them, he turns back to us. “We will accept your offer.”

The Outcasts sigh and murmur amongst themselves as Mad Man and Perez sign the contract. Once that business is finished, Perez’s men lift their weapons, ready to fire. “Now, Sen?or Hero, you better hope you wow me with this information.”

There are so many ways this could end. It’s a risk trusting the cartel to keep their word, but if it’s one thing I know, they hate traitors as much as they hate competition. As the Outcasts are getting out of the game, they won’t be competition and once they know about the traitors in the mix, god willing Hero, Blaze, and I will make it home alive.

I step forward. “While you were hashing out terms of separation, I was listening to your friends, there.” I point to Balfour. “You should know, they have men in place ready to abscond with—” I look at the Scotsman. “What was it, forty million dollars in guns and heroin?”

Balfour’s mouth drops open and then all hell breaks loose. His men draw their weapons and begin firing. Perez’s men return fire. The Outcasts drop and draw, as do Hero and Blaze. It’s utter chaos and out of the corner of my eye, I see one of Balfour’s men aim for Perez. God help me with what I’m about to do, but a marker from Perez would go a long way and so, I send my love to Frankie and the wee ones, then I throw myself on top of Perez, knocking us both to the floor. I know the second I’m hit. Pain burns through my leg, but it doesn’t feel like the other times I got shot, so I know it’s a flesh wound. I look at the blood and realize it might be alittle morethan a flesh wound. Cartel men and Outcast men flood in. Someone takes out Balfour, a bullet right between his eyes, and he drops.

Two of his men are subdued and one is as dead as he is. Time to fucking go home.

If it were only that easy. Mad Man needs us around for the cleanup, and Perez wants us around to organize the takedown of the rest of Belfour’s men. Men in poor knockoffs of Outcast cuts that up close anyone can tell aren’t legit. However, in the fray, Perez would’ve certainly gone after Mad Man and the boys before figuring out they’d gotten it wrong. Can’t lie, it was a solid plan. Though, Balfour clearly underestimated the Outcasts’ intelligence by reaching out to us for help.

How do the men with old ladies explain this to them? We may not get home in time for me to take Frankie to Bald Head. I have a new bullet wound. How’s she gonna react when I can’t answer the questions she’s bound to have?

8.

Frankie

Mollie and Macie are on their way with me to meet Brighton for dinner at the new sushi place that just opened up. I was skeptical when Brighton first suggested we try it out. I mean, we live in the mountains of Kentucky, nowhere near the ocean. If I get gut-cramping food poisoning, who’s going to watch the girls? They’re my responsibility. But she assured me that it’s safe. The fish is simply farm raised instead of wild caught.

I owed this to her, though. We haven’t been hanging out much since Rory came back into my life. He has this way of keeping me occupied even when we aren’t together, the same as he did back eight years ago. Now even more so with the addition of the girls. Plus, with him away on business and me staying at the clubhouse, between our work schedules and the fact that she won’t step foot on Lords property because she finds them intimidating, Brighton and I talk on the phone, but we haven’t had any real girl time in weeks.

She’s waiting in the parking lot for us when I turn in and she waves big like she’s picking me up from the airport after I’ve been gone for three months. “Hey, chickee,” she shouts as I climb out of the car and she walks over to hug me. “I’ve started to forget what you look like.”

I open the backdoor to unhook Macie’s carrier. She does the same for Mollie. “Hi, beautiful,” she says to her. “I hold you in no way responsible. No, I don’t… you’re just a cute, innocent baby with a biker for a dad who has kidnapped my best friend’s heart. Yes, he has. So, I owe your daddy a punch in the gonads.” I punch her arm. “Ouch.” She sets Mollie on the trunk of the car to rub the spot out.

“Do not talk to Mollie about her daddy’s gonads,” I reprimand.

“Uh, sweetie, she’s going on five months old. She has no idea what I’m saying, just that I say it softly. I never thought these words would leave my mouth, but maybe you need to reacquaint yourself with daddy’s gonads. It might put you in a better mood.”

“I’m in a fine mood,” I snap. “Can we please go in and eat?”

She laughs as we walk inside, each of us holding a carrier. We get situated at the table and the waitress takes our drink orders, then we each take charge of a baby to feed while we peruse the menu. I kind of feel bad about taking up one of the six-person tables in the center of the restaurant, but all the four-persons are taken and we need chairs to set the carriers on.

When the waitress drops off my tea and Brighton’s Coke, we order a battalion’s worth of sushi. The place is decorated with stereotypical Japanese watercolors, lanterns, and what we know as Fu dogs, but are actually called “komainu,” “lion dogs”—I googled it one time for shits and giggles.

My eyes grow huge when she brings our trays of spicy tuna, salmon, baby octopus, eel, California rolls, and seaweed salad just to name a few. I’ve just loaded the perfect spicy tuna bite with pickled ginger and a hint of wasabi dipped in soy sauce and am ready to cram that sucker into my mouth when the bottom drops out of the entire evening.

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