Page 187 of Misrule
Knox simply said, “I love her.”
“Funny what bitches make motherfuckers do. I had to pull a few low-motherfucker moves to get Zoann. I kept fucking up, and she got sick of my ass.”
Before Val expanded on the statement, Gabe walked in, a joint of his own hanging between his fingers.
“It’s illegal to smoke in public,” Knox complained.
“It’s illegal to smoke around the general public,” Gabe corrected, using Val’s lighter on his weed. “This is a public place, currently closed.” He took a few hits, then passed it to Val, who happily indulged again.
“What are you thinking of getting?” Gabe went to the sink and washed his hands as thoroughly as a surgeon might. “How big and where?”
Knox had thought long and hard about this. “I want a heart with an arrow through it. Roxanne’s name on one end and my name on the other end. About yea big.” He used his fingers to measure about one or two inches.
Gabe nodded, gathering prep supplies. “Where? Your ring finger, maybe?”
“Ring finger?” Knox asked, incredulous. “No, nothing where there’s so much bone. I was thinking my buttocks.”
“Your ass?” Val said in surprise. “You want a fucking tattoo the size of a mosquito bite on your ass?”
“It’s my money,” Knox argued. “I can get it where I want to it.”
“He’s right,” Gabe agreed. He looked at Knox. “You’re right.”
Knox gave Val an authoritative nod. In response, Val shook his head and took another swig from the rum. “Make sure you buy Roxanne a magnifying glass, motherfucker,” he said into the silence as Gabe opened another cabinet door and pulled out a shelf that held a laptop and small printer.
Knox glared at Val, who only grinned.
“You have a state-of-the-art establishment.”
“Yeah, Knox,” Gabe said in an off-handed manner, his attention focused on the screen. “It wasn’t always like this. Not until the club invested in it. Digger put up his own money to have it rebuilt from the ground up. I have fifty percent ownership, Bunny has thirty percent, and the club has the rest.”
“Why does the club have any interest?” Knox asked, his tone peevish. Did Outlaw have to muscle his way into everything?
“Originally, they invested in my shop,” Gabe answered as the printer spit out a piece of paper. He grabbed it. “Since it was club property, everything needed to be voted on. Outlaw knew Digger wanted Bunny to have a cut and that I wanted renovations. Again, club property so club decision.” He squinted at the paper. The light reflecting on it revealed a very small object had been printed on the other side, too tiny to make out. “Outlaw had Brooks draw up papers that set up percentages that we all owned. He had me draw up plans and run reports on profit and losses. I even had to submit a proposal.” He tapped a couple of keys on the laptop. “The day of the meeting arrived, and I was so nervous. I couldn’t attend because I’m not a member. Digger said there was some wrangling, especially on the renovations. That was the big sticking point. Digger finally decided he’d pay for it himself. After that, it was smooth sailing. The members voted to sell me back half the interest in the shop.”
“And all of this was Outlaw’s plan?”
Gabe grabbed another sheet of paper from the printer. “Not the design of this building.”
“No, I meant how you, Bunny, and the club shared interest.”
Gabe nodded.
“Motherfucker brilliant at business,” Val inserted. “I always thought if he would’ve been CEO of the club’s labs, we would have more than just a couple locations.”
“Then you might be stuck with Johnnie as prez,” Gabe said with a cheeky smile.
“Fuck off,” Val ordered. “John Boy just fine. Have you heard different?”
“No,” Gabe said quickly, losing his grin. “Of course not, Val. I didn’t mean any harm.” He handed the paper to Knox. “A design of your tattoo.”
Knox stared at the heart with the arrow, then squinted. Drew the image closer and still found it hard to read his and Roxanne’s names. Val stood from his seat to peek over Knox’s shoulder.
“Don’t get none, Knox,” Val said. “Put that on your ass and it’ll just be a fucking blob.”
Sighing, Knox handed the paper back to Gabe. “I have to,” he insisted. “Roxanne’s family is my family. I’ve disparaged tattoos and motorcycles and everything for so long. I want to show her what’s important to her is important to me.”
“You don’t have to change to be part of our family,” Val told him. “We not asking for that.Roxannenot asking for that. We just want you to be fucking fair. Give us the chance we always try to give you. You asked me if Mort sent me to teach you. No, he sent me to give you a chance to get to know me. Maybe, if you spend time with each of us, you can see we just motherfuckers like you. He doing this even though he want to slice you in little pieces again because, every time he call to check on shit, he hear how sad Roxanne is and that’s making Bailey sad.”
