by Wilder, L.
Having her there ended up being a blessing for me. Menace was slightly distracted and left his computer out on the table, which gave me the opportunity to swipe a copy of his hard drive—something I’d done with my father’s computer. It’s amazing what could be found on anyone’s computer, especially when they thought no one had the means to hack into it.
I was doing my best to keep a calm composure as Menace looked down at me with utter confusion and asked, “What are you doing here?”
“I’m waiting on you and your brothers.”
“You’re the one who requested the meet?”
I tried to hide the anxiety building in my stomach and answered, “I am.”
“Does this have something to do with Billy?”
“No. He has no idea I’m even here.” I motioned my head towards the front of the coffee shop. “It’s getting late. Why don’t you ask Viper to come on over, and we’ll get started?”
“Kiersten, this isn’t some game you’re playing here,” Menace warned. “You’ve called a fucking meet with the Ruthless Sinners. You don’t do that shit without a good reason.”
“I have a good reason, and as soon as you get Viper to join us, I’ll tell you what it is.”
Menace studied me for a minute, then turned and walked over to the group of men. They spoke for a moment, then all eyes were on me as Viper and Menace made their way over to my table. As soon as they sat down, Viper gave me a quick once over, then asked, “You’re Billy’s daughter?”
“I am.”
“Does this have something to do with him?”
“No, sir. This has nothing to do with him or the work he does for you.”
“Then, what the fuck is this all about?”
“I have a business opportunity for you.”
My hurt, anger, and overall resentment over what my father had done stuck with me as I left home and headed off to college. I tried to put it all behind me, but no matter how hard I tried, my father and all his secrets were always lurking in the back of my mind.
I was in my second year of studying botany, learning all there was to know about plant life when the topic of marijuana came up in class. Our professor was discussing how, when used correctly, the drug could be beneficial for cancer patients and people experiencing chronic pain. This was a thought that struck me deeply because of my mother. The more he talked about the benefits of marijuana, the more intrigued I became. I began doing my own research and discovered even more advantages of the notorious drug.
I also learned that some states considered it legal, but Tennessee and four other southern states did not. In fact, they considered it just as illegal as any other illicit drug. That alone should’ve put an end to my thoughts of marijuana altogether, but it didn’t. Instead, it made me even more eager to develop a method to grow a stronger, purer form of cannabis—one that could make me a great deal of money and possibly help a few people along the way.
I knew it was a crazy idea. I wasn’t the kind of person who would venture into something illegal like growing and selling weed, but if my father could pretend he was someone he wasn’t, so could I.
If I was going to pull off this little charade of mine and create a new method of growing a purer form of cannabis, I would need money and lots of it. Thankfully, my mother and my grandparents were both very wealthy and had left me with a hefty trust fund. I used it to buy a large piece of property half an hour from my college campus.
It was an abandoned religious commune that included several small homes, a large barn, and a school with a gymnasium. The place was in rough shape, but it didn’t matter. I planned to renovate the entire property—just like my father had done with our basement. It took some time, but once I was done, I had a state-of-the-art set up, and I got to work. After six months of busting my ass, I had my first harvest.
I gave a few samples to some friends at school, and it wasn’t long before they got the word out about the mind-blowing pot. My plan worked. In a matter of days, I started selling to students all over campus, and it wasn’t long before I was able to add another old classroom to the mix and even hired a couple of extra hands—including Braylon.
With their help, I was able to expand my small business into something bigger than I’d expected. Using the connections my father had made, I gained a huge buyer in Memphis, and with their monthly purchase, we were averaging just over fifty grand a month. There was just one problem. We had enough supply for three to four times over our distribution and lots of product was going to waste.
I needed help moving it, which was why I reached out to the Ruthless Sinners. Unfortunately, they weren’t exactly pleased with my method of contact.
I’d seen Viper on the Sinners’ security camera footage on many occurrences and knew he was a man who demanded attention, but the Sinners’ president was even more intimidating than I had ever expected. He looked like he wanted to wring my neck as he growled, “Billy’s daughter or not, you have a lot of fucking nerve messaging us on Menace’s private account.”
“I understand that you’re upset with the way I handled this meet, but I needed to get your attention. Clearly, I succeeded.” I inhaled a quick breath, then quickly got to the point. “I think when you hear my offer, you’ll see that it was worth the unsettling nature of my email to Menace’s account.”
Viper was absolutely fuming as he barked, “What makes you think the Ruthless Sinners would ever be interested in going into business with you? You’re just a fucking kid.”
“Because I can make you and your club a great deal of money—much more than you make at your strip clubs or by selling coke.”
“How the fuck do you know about that?” he roared.
“It’s my job to know everything there is about the people I do business with.” I could see by the expression on his face that Viper was both angered and confused that I knew about his club’s business dealings, so I looked over to Menace. “You really should be more careful with your laptop. It’s not safe to leave it sitting around.”
“Holy shit,” Menace grumbled. “I knew something wasn’t right.”
“What the fuck is she talking about?”
“I left it on the table. Right there in the wide open. Goddamn it.”
“Not following, brother.”
Menace raked his fingers through his hair as he told Viper, “It was back when Parker and I were at Billy’s... Fuck! I just wasn’t thinking.”
“Damn.” Viper turned his attention back to me. After letting out a disgruntled breath, he said, “Enough of the bullshit. Just tell me why you’re here.”
He sat back and listened silently as I told him about my business endeavor, and he seemed intrigued when I told him about how well I’d done and how I’d managed to pick up a big buyer out of Memphis. “Honestly, I hadn’t expected to ever make it to this point, but I have, and now, I need your help.”
“Help with what?”
“Our distribution.” I could see the wheels turning in his head. “My product was in such high demand, I expanded my manufacturing. I overcompensated a little, and now I’ve come to the point where I have more product than I can move on my own. I was hoping you and your club could be the answer to my quandary.”
“So, what you’re saying is that you want us to help move your product for you?” Before I could respond, he grumbled, “I hate to break it to ya, doll, but we’ve got bigger fish to fry than this bullshit.”
“Bigger fish than two to three hundred grand a month, ’cause that’s what I’m offering.”
“By selling fucking pot?”
“This isn’t just any pot, sir,” I argued. “Like I mentioned, this is the cleanest, purest cannabis on the market. I guarantee it.”
“Okay, it’s good stuff.” Viper shrugged. “Who gives a shit? It’s only a matter of time before they legalize it, and what then?”
“If they do, it still isn’t going to be easily accessible. They’ll make sure of that. Plus, I have other options. I can either sell off ever
ything or continue to grow and become a legal distributor. Until that times come, we stand to make a great deal of money.”
“So, even if I consider doing this, how would it work? You supply the goods, and you want us to move it?”
“Exactly.” Feeling like I was finally getting somewhere, I smiled and said, “With a seventy-thirty partnership, we both—”
“Seventy-thirty?” he scoffed. “I don’t think so, little girl.”
“I’m sure we can come to an agreement on the percentages.”
“I don’t know. Why wouldn’t I just become another buyer? I could buy it outright and sell it on my own. Get rid of the need for any kind of cut.”
“I’ll tell you what. Why don’t you come and see for yourself what I’m offering? You can get an idea of how I run things, and if you like what you see, we can go from there.”
Viper thought for a moment, then looked over to Menace. “What do you think?”
“I figure we owe it to Billy to check it out.”
“No,” I interjected. “My father has nothing to do with this. If you decide to come, keep him out of it.”
“You know he has ties to us. Hell, we wouldn’t be here if you didn’t. So, he’s a part of it whether you want him to be or not.” Before I could counter, he asked, “When do you want us to come by?”
“The sooner, the better.”
Three
Country
As ordered, Rafe, Lynch, and I remained outside the coffee shop to keep an eye on things while Viper, Menace, Axel, and Hawk went inside for the meet. It had been almost an hour since they’d gone in, and I was growing concerned. We all were but remained in our positions until we noticed Viper and the others walking out. Their faces were void of expression, making it difficult to get a read on how things had played out. When they approached the SUV, Lynch got out. Before he could speak, Viper shook his head and growled, “Not here.”
Without saying a word, he got back inside the truck and waited as Viper and the others followed suit. As soon as the last door closed, Viper turned to Menace and growled, “How much do you think she knows?”
“No way to know for sure, but you heard her. She knows enough.”
“But I don’t get it. How would she get that kind of information from your fucking laptop?”
“It would depend on how well she knows her way around a computer’s hard drive,” Menace answered. “If I had to guess, I’d say it was the club’s security cameras. I was checking them while I was at Billy’s. I’m pretty sure they were still pulled up when she got access to my laptop.”
“Damn, I don’t need this shit right now.”
Even though I was curious as to what the hell they were talking about, I knew better than to ask. It was clear Viper was pissed and needed some time to cool off, so I kept my mouth shut. Once back at the clubhouse, we all followed him into the conference room and took a seat, then Viper grumbled a line of curses under his breath. “The meet was with Billy’s daughter. She’s been growing some kind of ‘power-house’ marijuana and wants us to go into business with her.”
“Hold up... You’re telling me Billy the Butcher has a daughter?”
“Yeah, I told you about her. Parker and I met her when we went out to Billy’s place.”
“Nah, brother. You didn’t tell me shit.” Billy was the club’s cleaner, and he was incredible at his job, but the guy had always given me the creeps. Knowing the kind of mess he was about to encounter, he’d show up at the end of some big rival shootout in a pair of fucking khakis and a dress shirt.
Then, before getting to work, he’d put on an orange hazmat suit like the kind from some apocalyptic movie. Billy was so methodical and efficient about it, too. Just thinking about it had me rambling off, “So if Billy has a daughter, that means Billy had sex with someone. Ugghh. What kind of crazy-assed hooker would fuck the Butcher?”
“Oh, come on, brother. Billy’s not that bad,” Menace replied, trying to defend him.
“He’s a little off, and you know it.”
“Maybe, but Billy and who he screwed around with isn’t important right now,” Menace grumbled.
“The hell it’s not. We need to know the kind of crazy we’re dealing with here. A little crazy, kinda crazy, or batshit crazy. We gotta know that kind of stuff.”
“She’s not crazy.” Menace thought for a brief moment, then added, “At least, I don’t think she is.”
“Well, she hacked into Menace’s fucking computer and used what she found to request a meet. She’s either got a little crazy in her or she has balls of fucking steel.”
“He’s got a point there,” Hawk snickered. “Pretty ballsy move, if you ask me.”
“Yes, it was.” Viper shook his head, “Fuck, if she was anyone other than Billy’s daughter, I’d—”
Before he could finish his sentence, Axel leaned forward and interrupted him, “Well, she is, so like it or not, we can’t touch her. Might as well get that thought out of your head and decide what the hell we’re gonna do about all this.”
“Easier said than done.” Viper raked his hand over his goatee and gave it a hard tug. “We need to find out everything there is about this girl, and I mean everything.”
“I’ll see what I can come up with.”
Hawk was the Sinners’ sergeant-at-arms. It was his job to make sure things ran smoothly for the club, so I wasn’t surprised when he offered, “I could go to her place and check it out. See if this business of hers is legit, then we can decide our next move from there.”
“Yeah, we need to check it out, but I’m not sending you out there alone.”
“I’ll go with him,” I volunteered.
“Me too,” Rafe told him.
“Whatever you need, Prez,” Menace added. “Just say the word.”
“If we do this, I don’t want y’all fucking around. I need to know everything, from how she got this business off the ground to who she’s got on her payroll. I want you to see for yourselves how she moves her product and who’s moving it. Leave no stone left unturned.”
“Understood.”
“All right then, pack your bags, boys. I want you on the road first thing in the morning.”
With that, our brief meeting was adjourned. I still had a million questions but hoped I’d get all my answers the following morning when we met up with Billy’s daughter. I said my goodbyes, then left the conference room and started out to the parking lot. I’d just made it through the back door when Rafe came rushing up beside me. “Hey, man. What do you think about all this with Billy’s daughter?”
“Not sure what the hell to think.” I shook my head as I got on my bike. “Could be a good opportunity for us to branch out, or it could be something that might bite us in the ass. Won’t know until we see what’s really going on.”
“Yeah, I was thinking the same.” He got on his Harley as he asked, “Where ya headed?”
“Figured I’d go on home.” My mind drifted to the night before, and I shook my head as I grumbled, “I had a late night last night. Think I’ll just crash early, and then I’ll be ready to roll out in the morning.”
“Sounds good.” Before starting his engine, he glanced over at me and smiled. “You know, one of these days, those late nights are gonna catch up with you.”
“I think you might be right.”
Rafe chuckled, then without saying anything more, whipped out of the club’s parking lot. I took that as my cue to head out myself, and it wasn’t long before I was on the highway out to my house. As much as I liked Nashville, I preferred living out in the country more, so I’d bought a barn-style home on the outskirts of the city. In comparison to my brother’s homes, it was a little out of the way, but every time I pulled up to that long drive next to my thirty acres of land, the extra miles were all but forgotten. When I got to the house, I took a minute to give things a once over, making sure all would be good while I was gone, then headed inside to grab a quick bite to eat.
After finishing off some l
eftovers, I packed a bag, took a much-needed shower, and called it a night. By the next morning, I’d gotten caught up on my sleep and was feeling like a new man. I grabbed a quick cup of coffee and then, I was on my way. When I arrived at the clubhouse, I wasn’t surprised to find Hawk and Menace already there and waiting with Rafe. I’d barely pulled into the parking lot when Hawk asked, “You all set?”
“I reckon,” I answered. “You know where we’re headed?”
“Yeah, we’re good.” Hawk gave me a quick nod. “I got the address yesterday at the meet.”
He motioned for us to follow, and moments later, we were on our way. I hadn’t been there to listen in on the meet, so I had no clue where we were headed when Menace took Route 70 towards Murfreesboro. Again, I didn’t ask questions. I figured it wouldn’t be long before I knew everything there was about Billy’s daughter and her little business proposition.
We’d been riding for about forty-five minutes when Menace led us off the highway towards a small town between Nashville and Murfreesboro. There were a few houses here and there, but for the most part, it was one winter wheat field after the next until we came upon a town. With its country square, old-fashioned light posts, and dated stores, the place reminded me of fucking Mayberry. The only thing missing was a Ford Galaxy 500 cop car with Andy Griffith behind the wheel.
We continued riding through the small town and out of its limits. Soon after, Hawk took a turn down what looked to be an abandoned road. After ten or so more miles, we came up to a metal gate and searched around for some semblance of a guard, but there was none to be found. Having no other choice, Hawk got off his bike and pushed it open.
Once Hawk was back on his Harley, we continued down the road, winding up in the middle of what looked to be a religious community. A large church stood in the center with several small houses surrounding it, as well as a mid-sized school with a gymnasium and a barn in the back.
