by Jayne Blue
“I know. This patch means more to them then I realized, and I’m not about to lose one single member here.”
“Ok. Then fuck Sonny Maldonado up Ryder. And call if you need more Grand City Wolves. Also, tell Ridge to duck. I need him back here when this is all done.”
“Gotcha man. Oh and I think I’ll probably need Larry for a day or two.”
“He’s on the way.”
With Sawyer on board, there was nothing stopping me.
The first stop was their club. I had Larry pay a visit. Larry was the least physically intimidating looking Great Wolf in Grand City. He was also the smartest. We fixed him up with a truck and a cover story.
“Can I get a little pussy before I set this thing going? Seems fair.” The idea that Larry, who had to be in his fifties, could catch some Devil’s Hawks tail made me laugh.
“Shit yeah. Just get it all zipped up before you come back out.”
“Ain’t my first rodeo Ryder, don’t you worry.” We sent Larry into the Hawk’s Nest but as far as they were concerned he was a perverted old trucker. Not a loyal Grand City Great Wolf.
The Devil’s Hawks club was off the highway exit. You could get everything from a message with a happy ending to a heroine with a sad one there.
Larry went in looking for pussy. It was a cover story that didn’t take much acting on his part. Plus Cruz had given him a good idea how the inside of the club looked.
“So there’s a guy at the door. He’s usually stoned. There’s three or four usually in the back, and Sonny Maldonado comes in and out of the place. He issues a few orders gets a blowjob and then rides out.”
“Yeah, he actually lives at a place in the woods. A hunting cabin that he uses for shooting but not hunting.” I knew this thanks to Jules.
“And no one gets hurt?” Cruz reminded Larry. It was part of the plan. Maybe Sonny and his thugs would get what was coming to them, but the girls at the club didn’t ask for this. Cruz was worried about that from the beginning, and we’d made a plan that would keep them safe.
I had a hard time imagining Cruz as a Hawk, but he was back in the day. Sonny had said he couldn’t cut it, but I knew different. Cruz left the Hawks because he was a decent man with a fucking moral code. Sonny Maldonado’s only code was cruelty and cash.
“Also, I’m going to be sleeping something off there. I’ll pull the alarm as soon as I hear your rides,” Larry said. He was having fun with this one.
I had one more check to make before we unleashed.
“You need to be by his side. Period. There’s no deviating.” I told Jules the details on the phone.
“I got it. Don’t worry,” she said. But I worried. If I had my way I would have her out of Southwood and sitting in my Wolf Den in Grand City. But she wasn’t leaving with me until she did what she set out to do.
I didn’t like it, but I respected it.
Just before 7 a.m., we made our play. The alarm was going off at the Devil’s Hawks club as we circled on our bikes. Cruz, Nero, Polk, Bret and I were in the lead. We had half a dozen more Wolves behind us.
We circled three times and when I saw Larry get in the cab of the truck he’d driven I knew it was time. He’d gone through the place to be sure it was empty. And I trusted him.
People streamed out. Larry’s main job was to pull the alarm for us. Thanks to that everyone inside scattered. Women, Hawks, hangers-on, and the randoms like Larry poured out of the place. No one wanted to be there if the fire or police department showed up. Larry had done his job, and now I was going to do mine.
I threw the cocktail. This fight was personal to me.
We took the same approach they did when they tried to torch the auto body shop. Great Wolves lit the fucking place up just like they’d done to us.
Except I was better at it. The Hawk’s home base was going up good. There would be very little left.
As we set it on fire, we made real sure that anyone who was there saw it was us. We’d also slashed every bike tire we could find so it would be a while before we had company.
The Great Wolves MC could bite just as hard as the fucking Devil’s Hawks. Harder.
I was kicking the hornet’s nest on purpose.
My last circle around Devil’s Hawks disintegrating clubhouse on my bike and I had what I’d come for. Sonny Maldonado was there, he’d been alerted to the disaster. He came roaring up on the bike. He couldn’t do anything but watch as fire consumed their dirty ass club.
Sonny Maldonado looked at me with death, revenge, and blood in his eyes. It was exactly the look I’d wanted.
And I wasn’t done. Great Wolves were going to fuck him up without laying a finger on him.
That was the plan.
I didn’t pray much, but I did send one up when I saw Sonny’s eyes.
I prayed that Jules knew what she was doing and didn’t wind up paying for all her father’s sins at the end of this road.
I prayed that she stayed in the pocket of The Judge’s black robe just out of Sonny’s reach.
I also asked forgiveness, not for what I did to Sonny, but what she had to do with The Judge to stay in his pocket.
I choked on the bile that rose in my throat and mingled with the black smoke of the Devil’s Hawks torched club.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Jules
Paint, flooring, furniture, and only the occasional partial nudity. I used every single excuse to be in Richard’s office. I was alone more and more and naked less and less. A small dose was all he needed to stay happy. Especially since I’d become more actively interested in his life. It wasn’t hard to fool a man. No matter how smart.
When I was alone in the office, I searched every scrap of paper I could find.
I found every file I could. Every judgment related to every Devil’s Hawk appearance in Richard Wexler’s courtroom.
I also looked for purchases. I looked for bank statements. There was a pattern to the court dates and the lifestyle The Judge lived. I took photos with my phone of everything.
Each day I spent half my time searching and half my time tearing up Richard’s office so it looked like I was re-decorating. Which I actually also had to do for him to buy my story.
“This is a mess. How can I work?” The Judge was getting cranky as I dismantled his office piece by piece.
“Richard come now. I’m going to make it your sanctuary. You can surely handle a little disruption.”
“Only if you’re the one causing it.” I made sure he always had his comfortable chair, his desk, and me. I catered to his needs like he was an infant. For a man who’d spent most of his life single the simplest things made him putty in my hands.
I found the more I ministered to his arthritis and had his favorite foods available the less he pawed at my breasts. The more I said yes to going on in public with him and made a fuss over him in front of his old man friends the less he tried to dominate me in private. I truly was a trophy and staying polished for company was my job.
Today was particularly important. I was to be in his office all day. I’d arranged for contractors. I knew The Judge’s schedule. I would even get ready here before the event he wanted us to go to tonight. If Daddy were going to come after me, he’d have to do it in full view of the courthouse employees.
Ryder was doing his part. I looked out the window and saw black smoke in the distance. The Devil’s Hawks clubhouse was no more. I knew it. But that meant they were going to be roving around and who knew where they would land? The hair on my arms stood up on end as the sirens wailed in the distance. This was a dangerous plan that we’d put into play.
Daddy wouldn’t let this attack stand, and that’s what I was counting on.
Would he take the day? Would he strike at night? I tried not to think about it. I was setting a trap, and I had to have the guts to let it play out.
I spent the day searching, recording, and navigating contractors in The Judge’s office. I didn’t go home, and I didn’t go out on the streets. I needed to
make it tough for Daddy to get to me.
At the end of the day, The Judge and I head to Riverside. The fanciest restaurant Southwood had to offer. He mingled with diners.
“That one there, he’s the biggest donor to my last campaign.” He told me where to smile and when. I did exactly as he said.
He slid a hand on my lower back and slightly inside the fabric of my dress. He was going to be sure all his old friends saw. Fine Judge Wexler. Touch me where you want, you’ll never get close to the real me. That I knew, and it helped me withstand a night of smiling at his friends.
When the night was over Richard deposited me at my place with a peck on the cheek.
“You did a lovely job, Jules. Will I see you tomorrow?”
“I’ll probably be in your office before you!” Richard was getting used to me being in his space. He had no suspicion and put very few restrictions on me.
“Good night child, I’m too tired for any of my favorite diversions. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Richard kissed me on the forehead, and his driver would transport him to his house. I thought I’d found what I needed in his office, but that would be the next area to conquer if I didn’t have enough ammo. I just hoped like hell I could pull this off before I had to walk down another aisle.
It was a long day, and I hadn’t heard from Daddy. The longer he simmered, the more I worried about how he would strike out.
When the elevator doors opened on my loft, I didn’t have to worry anymore. Daddy had sent me a message.
A loud, clear, violent, and direct message was all over my loft.
He’d more or less destroyed it. The walls were spray painted. My bed was shredded. Stuffing from the pillows floated around the place in strange tufts, every dish, every mirror, every bit of clothes, everything The Judge had paid for was either shattered or cut to bits.
I walked through the mess and knew exactly who did this or who ordered it done. I didn’t need to call the police or Richard. This was a message from Daddy to me.
I walked over to my workspace, the only place I really cared about in here, my jewelry design work table. Whoever had ransacked my apartment had taken a hammer and smashed my work table.
I was certain Daddy hadn’t done the dirty work himself. No, one of his guys did I’m sure. But he did leave a note.
“Just the beginning,” it said, and it was Daddy’s writing.
I looked around and tried to decide what to tackle first. I had sparked this. I knew Daddy would come after me. But it didn’t make it any easier seeing how much destruction he’d authorized.
My phone buzzed, and it startled me enough to make me jump. I looked at the number. It was Ryder.
“Hey.”
“Hey, are you back at your place. Door locked.”
“I am.” I decided right then I wasn’t going to tell Ryder what I’d come home to. He’d done enough today, and he hated Daddy plenty for both of us.
“Nero and Bret are taking shifts outside.”
“You don’t have people to spare.” I walked to the window, and sure enough, there was Nero, on his bike, patrolling like he was a beat cop.
“Cruz and I will decide that.”
“Did it go okay today?”
“Your Daddy’s shithole club is gone. If that’s what you mean.”
“And he saw it was you?”
“Sure did. Plain as day. Are you sure I can’t bring you here?” Ryder wanted me with him. I wanted to be with him. But The Judge needed to believe I was his. At least for a while longer.
“Retribution is going to start soon.”
“Yep. Stay safe Ryder.”
“I’m not worried about me. I’m worried about you.”
“Don’t. I’m fine.”
“Okay, do you have everything you need?” he asked.
“One more day. And I think I will.”
“Good. I hate every second you’re with him, but I also believe it’s the only reason you’re alive right now.”
“Part two tomorrow?” I asked.
“Yep. I am going to tell you again. Stay in the courthouse. Stay close to The Judge.”
“I will.”
“Good night Jules. I love you.”
“Good night. Love you more.”
I wanted to be in his arms I wanted to leave this apartment that I lived in, but that wasn’t really mine. But I had to be patient. We needed to push Daddy one more time, hopefully over the edge, and into something that he couldn’t come back from.
And hopefully, something that Ryder and I could survive.
That part was key. It was going to be a long night. I’d clean the glass, the stuffing, my work area, all of it. But before I did. I uploaded every photo I had on my phone into the cloud.
The pictures I’d taken on my phone were more important than anything else.
They were the leverage I hoped I knew how to use.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Ryder
We were ready but still I felt something cold prickle down my spine when the quiet of the night was shattered by the window erupting in a million pieces.
I wasn’t going to risk one Great Wolf, I couldn’t afford to, so we were on the hillside watching. Cruz and the rest of the MC watched and didn’t do a thing to stop it as the Great Wolves MC Southwood Den was consumed by fire like it was made of toothpicks.
They’d thrown their little fire bomb in the main conference window. I wondered if Cruz felt anger as the Hawks wrecked the place. He straddled his bike and watched. It had been his home base. We knew it was coming but still a fire is a powerful thing and almost hypnotizing.
The Devil’s Hawks had ignited the blaze at the Great Wolves MC Den. They were so fucking unoriginal. They circled in the exact same way we had done at their place the day before.
The fire spread quickly, but there were also a few popping noises that traveled up to our perch. The fire got worse after the popping noises.
I turned to look at Cruz.
“Wet bar going up?” I asked.
“Yeah, Everclear might have been left open, oh and there might be a box of aerosol cans in our cleaning supply closet.”
“Your Den has a cleaning supply closet?”
“As of this morning yes. Thought we should be more respectable.”
“Ah, well it appears that your cleaning supplies made things worse down there.”
“It’s looking like there won’t be anything left of it.”
“You’re going to be in need of a new Den.”
“Damn. Funny we were just talking about that.” Cruz’s lips curled slightly up at the corners. I’d call it a smile.
The Great Wolves Southwood had a shitty home base to begin with and watching it go up didn’t fill me with rage or any type of loss. It appeared not to phase Cruz either. Good. I didn’t want to piss these guys off, and they all agreed that sometimes to build something you have to clear shit out. We were letting the Hawks do it for us.
It was all there. The ride up, the fire bomb, the circling by members of the Devil’s Hawks, complete with their cuts and jackets in full high definition.
“So glad it was fully insured,” I said.
“Your Sawyer is a useful guy to know brother,” Cruz said.
“Yeah, he is. And you have proof it wasn’t you if the insurance man asks.” I tapped the camera. There were three cameras actually, positioned around the perimeter. We’d have every angle we needed.
I called Jules again to let her know that we’d predicted exactly right.
“Did he destroy the club,” she asked. Her voice was tense. I figured it must suck wondering what was going on. She had to wait to hear from me. But it couldn’t be avoided. She couldn’t be seen anywhere near me.
“He did, but unfortunately, he sent his boys to do it.”
“Daddy wasn’t there?” Jules asked. Her voice was pinched. The strain of trying to make this work was getting to her. And to me.
“No.”
“Shit. We n
eeded him to lead the charge.” She was right. We had a good bit of evidence now against his top guys. But we didn’t have him. The victory of catching Hawks in the act wasn’t as good as catching their Prez.
“We’ve got one or two more things to try.” I didn’t want to escalate this but I would. I had Cruz and the Southwood MC behind me.
Ridge was making sure the protection services were operating without a hitch while Cruz and I stoked this war. Bret was running the shop. It was all going the way I needed it to. Which made me nervous as fuck.
The Great Wolves Southwood were my army in this simmering war between the Hawks and the Wolves. They were ready to fight for Southwood territory. They knew the only way to succeed was to stand up to the Hawks. They also knew that meant fire, rage, and blood.
We shared one mission, take down Daddy. Sonny Maldonado was the reason the Devil’s Hawks were strong and feared here in Southwood. If we could take down Daddy, we would break the Devil’s Hawks hold and give the Great Wolves a chance to survive here.
But he had to give me more. Sonny Maldonado could blame today’s destruction on his guys right now, and that wasn’t enough.
“Be careful, my Daddy’s not going to take this well.”
“You be careful.”
“I know. Stick close to The Judge. I am.”
We hung up.
The Hawks drove off. I stayed a beat with Cruz, and he ordered his guys to get moving. It was time for us to regroup at the garage and plan the next step. Their home here was gone. The firefighters were showing up, and we were going to have to deal with official shit.
Cruz could handle that, especially since we had our evidence.
“I’ll meet you at the garage after I’m done here.” Cruz headed down to the Den and the chaos. He was going to put on a good performance. Outrage, accusations, loss, he knew his script, and he was ready.
The trace of the smile he’d sported was gone as he went down to do his job as Prez.
I was about to head out myself when a familiar bike and rider roared up behind me.
I wished for a moment I was packing. But I wasn’t. Never did. Well. Fuck. I’d act like I was.
