Page 23 of Property of BamBam
I can’t help myself; I start giggling as I mentally picture Marge putting Jasper in his place. “I’d have paid good money to see that,” I tell her, grinning.
“Beth, do you think we can check into self-defense classes?” Ashley suddenly asks. “I think if we knew how to better protect ourselves, it would be a good thing.”
“I’ll check around and see if there’s a class being held somewhere,” Beth replies.
“What about parenting classes?” Briley adds. “Because I want to have all the tools I can get to be a good mom when I’m finally able to get my babies back.”
“Another good idea,” Beth muses. “I think they have classes like that at the hospital, so I’ll check into those as well. Anything else?”
We all shake our heads, so she lets us go for the day. When Ashley grabs the remote, I grin because it’s time to do a little bit of binge watching while each of us processes what Beth’s said.
CHAPTER
FIFTEEN
BamBam
By the time I return to the clubhouse, my initial anger over Jasper and his buddies showing up inourtown and hassling Buddy, who’s one of ours, has turned into absolute rage. In the scheme of things, I know Buddy wasn’t badly hurt, but the fact that hands were put on him shows me just how little Jasper and his friends care about others.
Which gets me to thinking about Livy and the condition I found her in several weeks ago. She’s nowhere near the same size as Buddy, in fact, she’s somewhat petite in stature. Plus, she was obviously malnourished when we found her, so she was seriously underweight as well. How the fuck did she manage to survive Jasper’s abuse? It’s truly a miracle that he didn’t kill her before she was able to escape his clutches.
I pull into the front of the clubhouse and Monkey is standing there waiting. While I carry in the money bag from the laundromat, he’ll move the truck back to the vehicle barn, since the bikes have the best parking spots because they are our mainsource of travel. Our area of the state typically has temperate weather; not that we typically have harsh winters like other parts of the state get, but we do get a light dusting of snow in the higher elevations, so we’re able to ride a lot longer than many bikers stationed further north of us. Plus, later in the summer until early fall, monsoons are somewhat expected. I may be a diehard biker who’s always up for putting my knees in the breeze, but during monsoon season, I’m more apt to take either one of the ranch’s trucks if I have to go anywhere or send someone else out.
As I meander toward Nerd’s office so he can count the money and handle the deposit, I pass by Rio who says, “We’ll have church once y’all are done. I think those fuckers are going to be a problem if we don’t get on top of things.”
“Same,” I reply. I got the sense that even though we kicked them out of our territory, they aren’t going to go far. Especially since they have it in their head that Livy is here.
Nerd’s office is distinctly different from Pokey’s, although both of my brothers are eclectic in their own way. Where Pokey has computer monitors all over the place, as well as one of the most comfortable chairs in the world, Nerd’s is almost minimalist in comparison.
He’s got the requisite desk, of course, and off to the side, he’s got a table that has various money counting machines. One handles bills, another handles coins and today, it’s all about the jingle, although thereissome paper in the bag that Buddy pulled for me, as well as what I collected from the change machine.
“Whatcha got for me, Bam?” Nerd asks, coming out from behind his desk. When he grabs the bag from me, he acts as though it’s about to pull him to the ground. “Holy shit, this is a heavy one.”
“Definitely don’t need to do arm day this week,” I tease.
Not like I miss any workouts. As the Kings Enforcer, I have to stay in prime condition at all times to ensure my brothers stay safe and I can handle all threats that presents itself to the club. But the weight of the bag is such that Icouldslack off of a few of my bicep repetitions if I wanted.
He scoffs as he hefts the bag up on the table and opens it. “I see Buddy helped today,” he says, pulling the smaller bag out. “I don’t understand why he won’t just do the washers and dryers as well.”
“I’m not sure of his reasoning,” I say, confused about the difference myself, “but I don’t want him to feel as though it’s something he’s required to do. I think that would stress him out more, to be honest. He does the vending and soda machines, so that’s one less thing we have to take care of.”
“This is true,” he replies, before he stacks the paper money into the bill counter and hits the switch to turn it on.
Taking the change, he pours it into the machine. It’ll separate every quarter, dime, and nickel and count it with proficiency before Nerd wraps it to separate rolls and takes it to the bank to deposit. Some of the change will go back to the laundromat to refill the change and vending machines, of course, but most of it will be funneled through the myriad of accounts that Pokey set up to ensure that it’s untraceable. While a lot of our businesses are legit as hell, there’s no sense in giving Uncle Sam more of our hard-earned money than necessary. The club is already taxed to the max as it is, and some of the transport jobs we do definitely don’t need to be known by anyone else.
“I’ll come back and grab the rolled change that’s going back to the laundromat to replenish the machines after church,” I tell him.
He snickers then says, “If I’m in church too, then it’ll be after that, brother.”
“Fuck, yeah, guess I’ll just take it over tomorrow. There was still enough that I think we’ll be okay overnight,” I reply. “See you in there.”
Before heading into church, I pop my head in Pokey’s office. “Got a minute?” I ask.
“What’s up?” he questions, pulling his keyboard closer to him, his fingers poised to start a search.
“The assholes who showed up at the laundromat, can you pull the video?” I query.
Once he has it up on the screen, with each of the fuckers showcased, I point to Jasper and say, “That’s Livy’s ex, Jasper Price. He said something that’s got me thinking.”
