Page 56 of Wolf.e

“You know exactly what I mean. The girl. She knows too much… i.e. she should be dead. I didn’t push you last night, but this club belongs to all of us. We want to know how you’re gonna make sure she doesn’t fuck us.”

I clench my fist under the table to keep myself calm.

“The girl is my problem,” I say.

Around the table, each one of them looks at me like they don’t know what to think.

“I know this is unorthodox.” I’m not going to show them an ounce of weakness. The way I want this woman is unexplainable and none of their goddamn business. “She’s going to prove useful,” I say just to shut them all up. “You have to trust me. Don’t ask me again.”

Jake sets his jaw.

I turn to Ax. “When you moved Layla into your house after two weeks, no one questioned you.”

“Layla’s my wife now,” Ax answers.

“Wife. What even is that? A piece of paper? She wasn’t then. You’re all only questioning it because it’s me,” I say.

“Yeah,” and “exactly,” every single one of them says in some form.

“It’s unlike you, boss, you know it is. We just want to make sure you’re thinking rationally. With this face, I won’t survive in Henderson,” Kai says, mentioning the local penitentiary.

“The girl is my problem,” I reiterate. “Do any of you doubt my decisions? My leadership?” My fist hits the table.

“Not at all, boss,” Kai speaks first, everyone else either shakes their head no or speaks up with him.

“We all trust you… just… wanna make sure she isn’t a distraction,” Jake says.

“She’s not,” I tell them.

“Why her?” Kai asks, genuinely curious.

I look at all of them.

“When I fucking figure that out I’ll let you know. Until then, she’s my problem and I’m not distracted.”

With that, I snap the gavel down, which tells them all to shut the fuck up.

I make it to the corner of Netherwood and Spruce just as the sun starts to set. The crew is hard at work just like they were told to be.

The wide old porch on her massive century home is almost completely torn down already and it’s only been a day. New cedar sits on pallets in the driveway and Chantel’s SUV is long gone but the bike in the driveway and my prospect sitting in a lawn chair under a tree tells me Brinley is here. I told her I had business and that she should ride home with Layla and the other girls, and pack her belongings, anything she wants to bring with her.

I see the drape inside her kitchen snap as I shut my bike off. I find myself wondering how I’ll find her. What will she be wearing when I go in? Did she listen and get packed up and ready to leave or will she give me that feisty look and put up a fight? Will she be grateful I got a crew here to fix her porch or will she be pissed I took over?

“Thanks, bro,” I say to Austin, our newest prospect, over the sounds of demo saws and construction chatter. I pat him on the shoulder. “You guys can finish up and head out, keep the neighbors happy, it’s getting late.”

“Cool, you just said as fast as possible, so we didn’t want to stop until you said we could.”

I nod. Good man.

“The boys or Shell got some barbeque going tonight?” he asks.

“Maybe, feel free to head over and find out,” I tell him as he fastens his helmet.

I turn around and nod to the porch crew: two other club prospects, and an older member who barely rides anymore and his grandson who is a licensed carpenter.

“Good work, boys,” I tell them as I move to head in.

“We’ll have the rest of the old porch down by tomorrow and be starting on the new one.”

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