“Who will take gavel when you leave then? Bryant?” Destiny asked.
“It’s a possibility. We both know Eric, as much as we would like him to, will never sit in that spot. But he’s like me, he grows older and doesn’t have the energy to run a club. Bryant does, he’s good and strong and most importantly, smart. Riccardo, he’s worked well as my sergeant but he would never serve as good VP for Bryant. Jay and Charlie, they aren’t president material right now. Vat and Drew never will be. Vince is in the same boat as me and Eric, but he would be a damned good VP for Bryant as a voice of experience and reason.”
“What about Fabio?”
Alec looked her in the eye. “Fabio will never sit at the head of that table. The only way he would ever be paired well enough with anyone else to even flank that seat would be if you were at the gavel. Fabio deserves to be there, same as you. But Fabio will not serve anyone else or work with anyone else the way he will you.”
“It’s understood,” Destiny said, looking at him. She wondered how many others in the club knew that this was how Alec would push for the dice to fall. When Alec stepped down as president, he would recommend for the gavel to go to Bryant unless he held on longer than either one of them anticipated. She did wonder why Drew wouldn’t be fit for gavel. But she didn’t ask. Frankly, she didn’t care. At least knowing the pecking order around here would help her fight some.
“One more thing,” Alec added. “I know it’s been some years since you and Trent had your falling out, but those aren’t flames we need to be rekindling. Not with his badge.”
“I never intended on it.”
“Just checking.”
7
“Church. Nine.”
One of these days Eric would learn to text and this would be a lot simpler, Destiny thought as she tucked her burner back into her sports bra.
It was eight a.m. and she was actually up and moving. Maybe moving a little too much. She put her arms above her head and rested her hands on top of her ponytail. She wasn’t in the shape she used to be in and it probably wouldn’t hurt to cut back on her smoking a little either.
The former Marine girl had busted her ass to get back on her feet and in the seat after the attack that nearly took out her legs. Now it had been almost a month since she had pushed herself to the extremes. She needed to start doing it more often. She had to keep this body in fighting form.
Speaking of fighting form… there were few reasons as to why church would be called at such an early hour of the day. There had to be pressing business at hand.
She was a mile out from the clubhouse. If she pushed herself she could be home, showered and sitting at the bar, waiting patiently for the news and latest gossip before eight-thirty.
Time to go.
As she predicted, Destiny was at the bar by eight-thirty, hair still very damp but it would dry quickly enough once she was outside in the dry Texas heat. The prospect poured her a cup of coffee and she looked up to see Fabio walk in, looking like he had less energy than normal.
“If that bimbo from the club kept you up all night, I don’t even want to hear it,” Destiny told him.
“Eh. Brunette from up the road.”
“Well, better get your shit together. It’s not like this club is filled with morning people. Something’s up.”
“No. You think?” Fabio asked with a smart mouth as the prospect handed him his own cup of coffee and the others began piling in.
Alec walked into the main room followed by Eric and Bryant just behind him. “Church.”
Everyone followed obediently. Destiny took her spot in the back, avoiding eye contact at Drew. He would only piss her off and it was too early in the morning.
It was eight-forty-five once everyone was seated and settled in. With everyone present and Jay shutting the doors behind them, Alec slammed the gavel and called the room to order. Not that he needed to. No one had been saying a thing.
“We were approached with a situation early this morning. A situation that needs to be taken care of quickly and quietly before everyone starts to roll in tomorrow for the ride,” Alec began. “A good friend of ours, who pays quite a bit to us in protection yearly, ran into an issue late last night.”
“Belmm is in the hospital with several cracked ribs and a concussion,” Eric added.
“Belmm is a weasel if there ever was one,” Charlie butted in.
“Yes, but one of our other local freelance criminals has taken it upon themselves to do him harm. Hesser,” Alec said, tossing a picture on the table for anyone who hadn’t familiarized themselves with the profile.
“Old man Hesser, or his brat?” Destiny asked.
“The brat,” Eric said and lit a cigar.
“Anyway. He has a memory card containing pictures of Belmm’s back greenhouse,” the president went on.
“Grows more pot than produce,” Drew mumbled.
“Yes, and we would hate for that to fall into Trent’s hands.” Fabio threw a glance at Destiny as he said it.
“Our protection agreement with Belmm says we will take care of this inconvenience for him. Any takers?” Alec asked.
“I’ll do it,” Destiny volunteered without missing a beat.
Ten heads turned to look at her. Few were surprised. A few proud.
“You’re not Sweetwater. This isn’t your detail,” Drew told her.
Destiny shrugged. “It’s still business pertaining to the Bastards. I still wear this cut. Besides, I might as well work while I’m in town. Put some of my talents to use.”
“If she wants to do it, let her. I’m sending two others to back her up anyhow,” Alec said before Drew could reply. “Fabio, you’re going with her. Charlie, you too.”
“Torture is Vat’s area of expertise,” Charlie pointed out.
“This isn’t torture. This is simple explaining. I’d send him along as it is but we don’t need his and Destiny’s kind of crazy overlapping on the same detail,” Alec said and tapped the gavel. “Today, Destiny.”
Destiny loaded her clip and slipped it back into her gun as she walked toward her bike, Charlie and Fabio following behind her.
“Hesser still live on the property east of town?” she asked Fabio.
“Same as always. Place just looks shittier,” he replied.
“Good to know.”
“He’s tapping a girl over outside of BP territory. It’s risky business but you could swing out and see what’s going on?” Charlie added.
Destiny swung onto the seat of her bike and shook her head. “Nah. Too damn risky. It’s still early, knowing his buddies, the place will be deserted or they’ll be too fucked up to fight back. We take Hesser there. It doesn’t have to be a private thing. He needs to know it’s a Bastard deal.”
“Alright. Let’s do this,” Fabio said and mounted his own bike as Charlie fired up his.
Destiny latched her helmet on and started up her bike, cracking the throttle. This was going to be interesting.
Destiny had brought it upon herself to be trained in hand to hand combat in the military. She always had a way of making the right friends. It had crossed her mind to become elite government ops once upon a time and she had been approached once. But this better suited her. She was tough and she knew it. She was thirteen when she was left in the truck the first time she saw her brother Austin rough somebody up for the club name. A prospect who Destiny could barely recall was standing guard over her, making sure she didn’t wonder where she didn’t belong.
A year later she started tagging along on more club business. It was against the rules but there were times when she just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and gotten her hands messy. The bike show in Austin was a family vacation when she was sixteen and had been full of firsts for her.
First time. First bike. First fight. All the things to make a Bastard proud. Her right hook had really messed up the face of an older cocky drunk who wore no patch. He had gotten drunk and a little too touchy. She took the first swing and h
is buddies who had his back hadn’t stood a chance against Austin, Houston, and Fabio.
By the time she was two months into prospecting, she was gaining a firm foot in the door and got to start tagging along on enforcer jobs. Long before she patched, the club had seen what she was worth. A secret weapon. A lethal tool. Her body could lure in any rat and then it could lash out and tear down any challenger as quick and as sly as a viper or messy as any she-wolf.
Now, enforcing was something she was known for with the Fort Worth chapter. Hopefully Drew would hear how quickly she handled this problem and he might begin to falter. Or the boys would help change his mind. Either way.
The old Hesser place was about forty-five minutes from the clubhouse outside of Sweetwater. It was a double wide trailer that should have been condemned years ago. The lawn, or what would have been a lawn, was a patch of dust and overgrown weeds. Trash and junk surrounded the place and a car that looked too expensive to be parked out front sat close to the front door.
Destiny parked her bike up front and reached in her small saddle bags and pulled out a pair of brass knuckles. She tucked them into the pocket of her cut and made sure there was a round loaded into the chamber of her gun.
She glanced to her boys and nodded to Fabio. With a toss of her head she ordered him around back and held up ten fingers. She would give him till the count of ten to get into position and they were going in.
She and Charlie reached the stoop of the trailer and she started mouthing to him. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
Charlie put his boot to the flimsy door and busted it down. With a loud crack it flew open and the racket on the back side of the trailer told Destiny that Fabio was in as well.
Gun up, she stormed into the house. The first room she entered was the living room. A large dirty man had been passed out on the couch with a crack whore blonde draped over him. They struggled for consciousness and for their feet.
“Up! Now! Move,” she shouted, as Charlie swooped to the right and down the hall and Fabio to the left.
The man and his girl struggled to their feet as she heard Charlie kick in another flimsy cardboard trailer door and then another. “Clear!” he shouted.
Fabio had gone through the rat and flea-ridden kitchen and down the back hall.
“He’s gone out the window to the front!” Fabio shouted.
“Damnit!” Destiny yelled as Charlie came back into the room. “Deal with them!”
Destiny flew out of the house and off the metal stoop and ran as fast as she could toward where Hesser was jumping into the car. He slammed the door but unfortunately he had left the driver side window down. He started the car as she lurched through the window and grabbed the front of his wife beater with one hand and pressed the business end of her 9mm to his forehead.
“I would think twice about putting that car in gear if I were you,” she hissed.
Hesser raised his hands and Destiny let go of him and turned off the key. She then slowly removed herself from the window of his car, keeping her gun trained on him the entire time, and opened the car door.
“Get out. Now!”
Fabio was right behind her and he grabbed him and threw him on the ground. Destiny placed her gun back in her shoulder holster and removed it as she handed it to Fabio. No need in letting it get in the way.
She slowly removed the brass knuckles from her pocket and pulled them onto her hand.
“You know, I hear women sometimes wear pretty diamond rings to help do this job. When they get angry and want to beat the fuck out of some girl. This though… hell, every girl needs a classic.”
“Well, the sweet of Sweetwater has returned. Madam Callaghan. The Bastards’ darling,” Hesser sneered from where he lay on the ground. He had rolled into his back and pushed himself into a half sitting position.
Hesser wasn’t a very big man. His height was similar to hers, only topping out at five-foot-six tops. No more than a hundred and fifty pounds, he had a wiry look about him. His face had weasel-like features but that was what he was. A rat, a minion, and a pain in the ass.
“Nice to know Austin sends a woman to do a man’s job. Ahh, but that’s right. Austin’s dead and gone now. So is Houston. Must be Alec who no longer wants to dirty his hands.” Hesser was trying to get under her skin. She knew it and damned if it wasn’t working.
“Clearly you know why I’m here.” She curled her fingers on her right hand and lashed out.
Hesser tumbled down from his sitting position and sank into the dirt. He laughed as he spat blood into the dust and pushed himself back up.
“Stay down!” Fabio ordered, drawing his gun.
“No!” Destiny barked. “Let him rise.”
Hesser stood up and faced her, and no sooner had he looked to face her, she let her right hook graze the side of his head again. He didn’t even stumble as he fell backwards. She pulled back her fist and saw Hesser’s blood had splattered on her skin, on her brass.
He spat and she narrowed in. She felt herself going there. Pulling into herself like a vortex. Fabio became more and more distant of a figure, blurring out around the edges of her vision as she zoomed in on Hesser until he was the only thing she saw.
She knew where she was going. Felt that dark mist seeping in her mind, rushing through her veins and clouding her soul. It was a dangerous place. Deadly and strong. Overpowering her.
“The Callaghan bitch could never stay in her place,” Hesser spat out and the match was lit inside of Destiny. Her last drop of control snapped with it and she fell upon him like a hawk after prey.
The black haze clouded her as she pounded her fists into the flesh. Over and over again. Hesser was no longer a man. Just a target.
After a few moments, she felt hands on her. One set and then another. Pulling at her. She turned to swing at the hands and caught someone in the kidney. As a pair of arms struggled to pin hers to her side from behind, realization took over her as she saw Fabio double over in pain for just a moment before righting himself as he called out to her.
But she had heard nothing. She still heard nothing. Slowly the sound of his voice seeped into her dark space, bringing with it just a little bit of light. She recognized the body struggling to grip her was Charlie and the fight slowly left her body.
“Destiny! Destiny! Calm down. It’s okay. Breathe. Just breathe.”
The voice came to her like someone was slowly turning up the volume on the television. Notch by notch until the words were audible and recognizable. Fabio was talking to her as he righted himself and rubbed his side where her fist had connected one more time.
She was still shaking but stopped fighting Charlie and soon Fabio nodded to him and the other Bastard released her.
The dark mist was clear now. She was in control once more. Barely, but she was in control nonetheless. She looked at the moaning pile of flesh on the ground.
The brass knuckles hadn’t been necessary once she had reached that dark state but they had been used. Hesser had the wounds to prove it. Blood ran from a cut on the top of his head, a gash by his eye, one in his lip. A few cuts on his arms and shoulders showed. It looked like he had taken a few hits to the chest.
Whatever damage had been done, it had been painful and it had been quick. Not to mention unnecessary. She had taken the job and more than fulfilled the requirement. She could have killed him if Fabio and Charlie hadn’t been there. She probably would have too.
She took a step back and removed her brass knuckles. “Come inside,” Fabio said, taking her by the arm and guiding her back into the house. The couple had taken the time to escape in the car she had pulled Hesser from.
Fabio must have seen her expression when she noticed they were missing. “The girls got enough coke in her system to take out a horse. They ain’t going to the cops.”
“I know,” Destiny replied. Once in the house she walked to the sink and started the water. Remarkably, it ran clear and she rinsed her hands under it. Most of the blood cam
e off in moments and she ran her brass knuckles under the water as well, washing away the most obvious evidence that they had been recently used.
Once her hands were clean she noticed she had managed to break open her own skin over a few of her knuckles. She didn’t care. She didn’t feel any pain from them.
She turned off the water and tucked her brass back into the pocket of her cut; it too would need cleaned when she got home. There were a few splatters of blood on it, though it was hardly noticeable.
She faced Fabio. “Well that backfired.”
“Good entertainment,” Fabio replied and lit a cigarette and handed it to her.
She took a drag and shook her head. “So much for proving I can be an aspect to this club. All I did was show I’m a loose screw.”
“But you’re tough; you get shit done. He just successfully got under your skin saying shit about your brothers. Don’t worry about it. Charlie’s vote won’t sway. If anything else, he’s too scared to vote against you now.”
“How’s your side?”
Fabio gingerly touched it. “I’ll live but you owe me.” He flashed her a wicked smile.
“I don’t sleep with patch members,” she replied with a laugh.
“Damn.” He paused. “You got your shit together now?”
Destiny nodded.
“Good, because we got another problem,” he said and walked toward the back bedroom where Hesser had bailed from.
Destiny followed and looked in. A pale skin-and-bones brunette lay in the bed. Destiny had seen enough dead bodies to know this girl wasn’t going to be walking out of there.
“Son of a bitch,” she muttered. “What the hell happened?”
“Best I can tell, from the needle tracks on her arm, I would guess heroin.”
“What we gonna do with her?”
The Devils Bastards MC: Destiny Dallas Callaghan Page 6
