Page 29 of Defended By Bam
“Look at my face,” I deadpanned. “He’s a piece of shit, but he’s not stupid.”
Glancing over my mug as I sipped, I regretted what I said. Bama’s stare was unnerving. But I just told him to look at me.
“Maybe. But until the dust settles, better safe than sorry. Think about what you want and let me know.”
As he stood from the table and headed back down the hall with his coffee, I was left with that loaded statement…think about what you want.
Chapter 15
Bama
After getting ready for the day, Brooklyn decided to stay put, so I headed to the clubhouse and sent a member to hang out. Hammer told me to meet up with some guys with Butterbean and to be ready later tonight for the prospects.
I ran into Glenda in the hallway, and she asked about them, so I told her she was welcome to go by. It made sense Brooklyn didn’t want to bring Sadie to the clubhouse. Hopefully when this round of prospects was settled, things would simmer down.
“Hey, fucker,” Butterbean said as I headed to the bar. His brown hair was covered by a black bandana. It was pretty dead at the clubhouse, only a few guys hanging around because most were at work.
Some of the members had jobs at our bar, and we had a mechanic’s shop as well as a tattoo shop. I was handy with tools so I could work on bikes, cars, or do work around the businesses. A few of us were handymen like that. I could even mix a few drinks, so I just filled in where I was needed or did jobs that came up.
“Hey man,” I said as I slapped his shoulder. “Rogers around?”
“Right here,” Rogers called from the doorway. “Thought I saw you. Was in there with Breaker.”
Breaker was our IT guy. He had a little setup for surveillance and trained a few members to take turns watching.
“Any updates on Brooklyn?” I asked as I waved down the bunny behind the bar. “Sweet tea, please.”
“Wiped. Both of them. They work fast. It’ll take a little longer to get them new identities. But shouldn’t be too long. Has she mentioned any places she’d like to go?”
“Nope. Does she need to think about that?” I didn’t want to think about that. But if she had a place far away that she wanted to go, I’d get her there. It wasn’t clear to me why the hell I was trying to make them feel so at home. When I went to the store, it just made sense to get the bed and all the clothes. As far as food, I had to eat anyway; I just got a little extra. At least that’s what I told myself.
“She can’t stay with you forever. She can choose anywhere, really. Driving would be best. They’ll have what they need, but flying raises red flags for anyone.”
She couldn’t stay with me forever.He was right. I just met her. It was fucked that I felt like I had some sort of claim to her. Even so, I did.
“I’ll ask her tomorrow. I have some shit to take care of today for Hammer and told me to plan to head out with the prospects later.”
“I may be there tonight,” Rogers said.
My tea was placed on the bar in front of me, so I took several big gulps then put the glass down. “See you tonight.”
Butterbean and I went to scope out the potential new buyers that Hammer was working on. We were meeting the runners and making sure they were legit. We also had to set up a spot to meet. We were close to the water but had to move around to keep the heat off us. We had some local guys in our pocket, but there was only so much they could do if anyone needed to break a case to save their ass.
We pulled into a local furniture store around back. As I pulled my helmet off, I asked, “We early?”
As if on cue, a large shipping door rolled up and two men stood, waving us over. Butterbean gave a nod, so I climbed off the bike and followed him over.
“Come on inside,” one of them said.
I looked up at the door. It was made for delivery trucks to back up to and there were no steps. Butterbean rolled his eyes and we both gripped the top, pulling ourselves up. As soon as we were up, we stood quickly and sized up the guys.
After we all proved we had no wires, we got down to business. “We got a spot near the docks. The patrol on Thursday is friendly,” Butterbean said.
“You can deliver here,” the larger of the two men said.
Shaking my head, I said, “Nope. Not part of the deal. Neutral location. You understand.”
“That’s not very convenient. What happened to customer service?” the smaller guy asked.
