His bike fired to life, the motor roaring underneath Madison but she was numb to everything as her mind raced, trying to figure out what was going on amidst her worry about Trish being left with the Prez. She doubted he would do anything to her, not while Dax was VP and Dane was Sergeant-at-Arms, but she still didn't feel comfortable leaving her like that.
As they rode, Madison paid little attention to where they were going until things started to look familiar. The houses around them were run down, the few people they saw looking like they had seen better days. By the time they pulled up to the warehouse, she had figured out what was happening. Somehow Guts had found out about the meeting and he was coming here to stop it. But why did he need to bring Madison along?
He pulled his bike around back, parking it next to what she knew was Dax's. The parking lot was surprisingly empty, only two other cars keeping the few motorcycles company. Was the casino closed? She didn't think it ever closed.
Guts led her around to the front. She was surprised to see that Thunder wasn't there to greet her. No one was, in fact. Guts pulled the heavy door open himself and pushed her through ahead of him. The place was deserted, even the bar was empty. The lights were on, though.
"Let's go," Guts said, pushing her forward towards the back of the club where the door to the VIP room was. Madison's heart was pounding as memories of the last couple of times she entered this room returned. Nothing good ever came of her going back here.
She pulled open the door and started to walk down the corridor again with Guts right on her heels. She knew there was no turning back, no stopping. As she got closer to the main room, she could hear voices. She recognized Dax's right away, among others.
As soon as she turned the corner, Dax looked up and saw her, his eyes instantly turning to anger at the interruption. As soon as Guts came into view, though, his anger dropped away into confusion and shock.
The other men turned to look at them as well. Dane was there, looking just as shocked. Troy was standing next to the other bikers but for some reason, he didn't look surprised at all. There were also the two Mexicans she had seen the night before as well as three Asian men who she assumed were members of the Triad. They were young looking, thin. All three of them were dressed in black.
"Sorry I'm late," Guts called out as the two of them approached the group. I hope I didn't miss everything.
"We were just getting started, actually. Good to see you again, hombre." One of the Mexicans reached out to shake Guts' hand. "Dax said you had something else to attend to and wouldn't be able to make it."
"Right, well I was able to get out of that and come here instead. This is far more important. Anyway, I made you a promise last night and I wanted to make sure I kept it."
Dax was staring in confusion at Madison but she just lifted her eyebrows and frowned, trying to indicate she had no idea what was going on either.
"Oh? What promise was that?"
"I told you that when we made a deal, I would bring you one of our girls to help you celebrate. I brought our finest. This one loves to please her men."
"Si," the other Mexican said. "And she loves to please her women, too, if I remember correctly."
Guts and the two Latinos laughed. Madison's heart was pounding even harder now and she shot a look at Dax. His brow was furrowed and his face a mask of anger that she could tell he was trying hard to control. Dane was looking furious as well, and not doing quite a good a job at hiding it. To Madison's surprise, even Troy looked angry and was staring at Dane with daggers in his eyes. Luckily no one was paying the other bikers any attention.
"Well, that settles it then. If we can make this deal work, then think of her as yours to do with as you please. As she said last night, she's not one of our regular girls anyway, so we won't miss her." Guts casually shot a glance at Dax before smiling back at the men. The gauntlet had been dropped and Madison's heart sank. He was setting Dax up, knowing he would be forced to make a decision - make the deal and give her up to the drug lords, or block the deal somehow to keep her safe.
"Guts, I need to speak with you," said Troy, his jaw clenched tightly.
"We can speak after the deal is done," Guts said, not even looking at his fellow Desperado. "Let's not be rude to our guests."
"I think we need to talk now," he said. "I think some conflicting promises were made, and that needs to be resolved."
The two men were now staring hard at each other. The Mexicans and the Chinese were watching as well.
"I said later," Guts said, not backing down.
Troy now took a step toward Guts, whose hand moved to the side of his belt. All of a sudden, the room exploded as both the Mexicans and the Chinese all drew weapons. Dax raised his hands up, palms towards the two groups in an effort to calm them down. Troy ignored them and took another step towards Guts.
"Don't fuck with me, Guts. You wouldn't even be at this meeting if it wasn't for me, so I'll not have you go back on your word."
"Shut the fuck up, Troy," Guts said. His hand was still hovering at his side and Madison could make out a bulge under his jacket that she assumed was a gun. She could see him looking at the guns pointed at him nervously while still trying to face Troy.
"Let's have everyone just calm down," Dax said. "No one needs any weapons, this is just a friendly disagreement."
The Mexicans and the Chinese were all still holding their guns, although all of them had them pointed at the floor. Madison could feel the tension in the air, though. No one in this room trusted one another fully, and they weren't sure what was going on. It was quickly turning into a disaster.
"You can't promise the same thing to two people," Troy said. He took another step. One more and he would be within reach of the other biker.
"Back the fuck up, Troy. Don't do something you're going to regret." Guts' hand now reached into his jacket and instantly five guns lifted and trained on him. The sudden movement distracted him, and he turned to look at the other men who were nervously aiming their weapons at him, making sure if he did draw he wasn't going to fire it their way before they put him down.
As soon as his head turned, though, Troy launched forward and tackled the man. Both of them hit the ground hard. Troy landed on top and immediately punched Guts in the jaw. The look on Guts' face turned from anger and shock into fury, and he immediately thrust his body upwards which threw Troy to the side. As soon as he was off of his back, Guts jumped over onto the other biker and started to unleash his fists into the man. First against his body until Troy moved his arms to protect himself, and then he started punching him in the face. It wasn't until Dane and Dax grabbed both of his arms and pulled him off that he stopped.
Troy was groaning on the ground now, holding his head. Blood from his nose and mouth had sprayed all over the linoleum floor of the club. Most of the other guys had dropped their weapons now, but they all looked annoyed.
"Yo, what is this shit Dax? We didn't come here to get in the middle of a fucking internal squabble." That was the first time Madison had heard any of the Chinese speak. His English was perfect, but he did have an accent.
"I know," said Dax. "I apologize. I don't know what got into either of these idiots." He still held onto one of the arms of Guts while Dane held the other. The biker was still pulling at them, trying to get back to the fight.
Troy was sitting up now. He spit against the ground and Madison was shocked to see something white in the middle of his puddle of bloody saliva. "You fucker, you knocked out my tooth," he said.
"If these fucks didn't pull me off of you, that's not all I woulda done," Guts said, still struggling against Dane and Dax.
"What the fuck has gotten into you, dude," Dane said.
"He's afraid that I'll tell you he came to screw up this meeting," Troy said.
"Shut the fuck up," Guts snarled.
Troy shrugged. "What does it matter, you screwed me, I can screw you back. He promised her to me if I told him what your plan was for getting out of drugs. About this m
eeting." Troy nodded at Madison.
"Me?" she exclaimed.
Troy ignored her. "And then we get here and he promises her to them." He nodded towards the Mexicans.
"Dax, what the fuck?" The Mexicans had lowered their weapons now and were looking around. "I thought your club was on board with this deal."
"We are," he said. "There was a vote. It wasn't unanimous. Guts here was part of the dissenters. Looks like he wasn't satisfied with being part of the losing side."
Now that Guts had stopped struggling, Dane and Dax let him go. He pulled his arms away and walked forward, toward the Triad. "This deal is a mistake," he said. "It doesn't have the blessing of our president and thus it's not going through."
The Chinese were staring at him, confused as he walked towards them.
"Have we wasted our time here, Dax?" one of them asked the VP.
"Ignore Guts, he has no authority. The club voted, we're handing over our end of the drug business. It can be to you or someone else, but I know you guys want it. Don't let this asshole ruin a very lucrative deal."
"Then let us continue our discussions, in private." The man looked meaningfully at Guts, clearly indicating that he should leave.
"The fuck you say," Guts said. He immediately leaped forward and grabbed the gang member, spinning him around as he drew his gun and put it to his head. He kept his hostage in front of him as a shield so that his comrades couldn't get a shot and he whispered something to the man that Madison couldn't hear. The hostage dropped the gun he had been holding immediately. The room erupted in chaos. Everyone drew their gun again, pointing it at Guts and yelling at once. Guts was too well hidden for the rest of the Triad to take a shot, though. They would risk hitting their friend.
"Get the fuck out of here," he said. "This deal is dead."
"What the fuck, Guts! LET HIM GO!" Dax roared above the noise, but Guts held tight, shoving the barrel of his gun harder against the temple of the Triad member.
The Mexicans had their guns drawn as well, but they looked like they didn't know where to point them now and had lowered them. They weren't going to risk taking a shot and hitting a member of the Triad, potentially starting a war. Dane and Dax also had their guns out now, but they were just holding them. The two remaining Chinese were pointing their guns at Guts and talking quickly in Mandarin.
"Shut up," Guts yelled. The room quieted. "This is how it's going to go. This deal is dead, or your friend is, either way. You guys get the fuck out of here, and once I know you're gone, I'll let this one go. He'll call you to pick him up. And then I never want to fucking see you guys again."
He looked over at the Mexicans. "The drugs stay with us. I think you can see I mean business. I speak for the president of the club, Dax is a nobody. He won't be VP for long."
Troy was laughing on the floor as he spit out more blood. "You're insane if you think the Triad won't kill you for this," he said.
"They don't want a war with us over this, I'm sure," Guts said. He was turning back and forth now, but careful to make sure that he kept his hostage between himself and the other gangs. "If I let their friend go, no one got hurt. If they come after me, the whole MC gets involved. We have other MCs we're friendly with, maybe they get involved too. We both lose lots of guys on both sides. And for what?"
A sudden shot rang out, startling Madison as she reached up to cover her ears. Everything seemed to move in slow motion for her. She saw all of the guns start to spin around, pointing at Dax. With wide eyes she stared at him standing only a few feet away, closer than he had been when she last looked at him. He was holding his gun out, it's barrel still smoking.
All of a sudden Guts dropped to his knees, his hands limp at his sides as the gun he had been holding slipped through his fingers onto the ground. Once his knees hit the ground his body fell to the side toward Madison, crumpling to the ground. It wasn't until his head hit the floor that she saw the big gaping hole in the side of it.
After the loudness of the gunshot, the sudden silence seemed to fill the room in its place. Dax dropped his gun first, and then slowly so did everyone else.
The man that Guts had been holding was covered in blood, but otherwise seemed unhurt. He just stood there, dripping.
"Madison, can you go get some towels from the Champagne room," Dax said quietly. She nodded numbly, running to the private back room and quickly finding a fresh pile of towels that the girls used for a variety of purposes. She rushed back out and handed some of them to the bloody Triad member. She kept a couple back herself and helped him by wiping down his back. She wiped up blood and other bits of matter, the origin of which she didn't really want to think about. She deliberately tried to keep her mind blank, not thinking about what she had just seen. She felt like if she concentrated on anything other than just wiping this man down, she would throw up.
Dane had helped Troy to his feet, but then walked him over to a corner and sat him down, telling him to stay put until they were done. She was considered giving him one of the towels as his face was still covered in his own blood, but then she remembered the deal he had tried to strike with Guts and the Prez and decided he could go fuck himself.
"Guys, I'm sorry about this. This situation is fucked up," Dax said. "I know you probably both have some misgivings about this deal now..."
The Mexicans were talking quickly between themselves in Spanish, and the Triad were discussing something in Mandarin. They both stopped at almost the same time.
One of the Chinese men spoke up first. "You did the right thing. We respect that you killed one of your brothers to save one of ours. I think we both know he was right," he pointed quickly at Troy across the room. "This would have turned into a war, and you avoided that. We are still ready to move forward with this deal if they are." Now he indicated to the Mexicans.
"Hell yeah," one of the drug lords nodded. "This MC is crazy. We'll be glad to start working with you guys instead." He had a smile on his face, but Madison had a feeling there was some truth in what he was saying.
"The promise that Guts spoke of," Dax said. "That dies with him as well. This girl is my ol' lady, she isn't going anywhere."
The Mexicans both nodded.
Dax turned to Madison. "Go get yourself a drink. We'll be out in a few mins. Dane," he turned to his Sergeant-at-Arms, "I think I can handle things from here. Can you take Troy out of here and keep an eye on him and Madison until we're done?"
"Sure thing, Veep."
Dax shook his head and rolled his eyes. "And call someone to take care of this. At least there was no one to call the cops this time. I can't imagine what we'd have to pay to keep another one of these quiet. This place will start to get a bad rep."
Dane laughed and turned, putting his hand on Madison's shoulder as he guided her around the pooling blood. He stopped in front of Troy and jerked his head. The beat up biker nodded grimly, getting up and shuffling out of the room ahead of them.
"Shit, Trish!" Madison said when they got out to the bar area. She quickly filled Dane in on what had happened at the club. He grabbed his cell phone and made a quick phone call, walking away as he did but keeping his eyes on her and Troy to make sure he didn't try anything.
Troy sat on the bar stool after reaching over and grabbing a bottle of scotch. He opened it and started drinking it straight.
Madison sat down a couple of stools away and watched him closely until Dane walked back. "It's taken care of. I got a hold of Lurch, he had just gotten back to the club. He and Thunder busted into Dax's office. Trish was fine. They have the Prez still in there, waiting for us to get back."
Madison breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't know what she would have done if anything had happened to Trish. She already felt responsible for so much of this, even though logically she knew that it wasn't her fault.
She didn't end up leaving with Dax for a couple more hours, even though his business with the two other gangs was done in less than half that time. As soon as the agreement details were ironed out, the M
exicans and the Chinese left, and he sent Dane out to escort Troy back to the clubhouse and back to Trish. Madison stayed with him while he waited around for the cleanup crew to come and take care of Guts. He supervised that for a while, and then they finally made their way back to the club.
It was already past 8 PM when they pulled into the compound, so Madison was surprised to see the grounds covered in bikes. She wondered if there was a party going on or something. What bad timing that would be. Hopefully they wouldn't stay here long. She couldn't wait to get out and back to Dax's apartment. She was exhausted. Emotionally and physically.
When they walked through the door, the place was packed with bikers and a lot of their girlfriends. Everyone was talking loudly to each other, some in smaller groups but a much larger one was formed in the center. As soon as people started noticing that they had arrived, the crowd in the center began to part and Madison was relieved to see Trish and Dane at the center of it.
"Trish!" she said, running towards the girl. Trish's eyes lit up as she saw Madison and she opened her arms, taking the girl into a big hug as soon as she was within reach. Dax followed closely behind her, putting his hand on Trish's back and giving it a rub.
"Glad to see you're okay. He didn't touch you, did he?"
Trish shook her head. I think he wanted to, but he knew what would happen when you guys got back. Although I think he expected a different outcome. He mentioned that you'd probably be stripped of your patch by the time the night ended."
"I still might be," he muttered.
Madison knew what he was referring to. He had killed one of their own, after all. And although he could try to keep it a secret, there were a lot of people that knew, including Troy. It wouldn't stay secret for long.
"What's going on?" he asked Dane.
"Word got out about their being a coup when people found out that Thunder and Lurch were holding the Prez in your office. Everyone started coming back here and taking sides.
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