Page 48 of Biker's Collar: Property of Scrap

“I mean…” Ruger says. “I might have killed someone.”

“Are you fucking stupid?” I snap at him.

Ruger keeps going. I swear, the Blackwood boys are some of the messiest motherfuckers on the planet.

“I killed Darlene after making her give birth to the baby. I looked it up on YouTube ‘cause I got tired of dealing with her.”

“Right,” Ryder says. “Youused the internetto research how to commit your highly specific murder? I need to call Joslin.”

“Sit down,” Hunter commands him. “He didn’t do that shit.”

“I did,” Ruger said. “I’m a father now.”

Everyone in the room struggles not to have a reaction to Ruger’s announcement. We all know the situation. That baby has nothing to do with Ruger. His old lady lay down with some Midnight SS biker and ran off on him after he was sending her money. Everybody understands Ruger’s anger but… killing Darlene will clearly bring more problems than we fucking need right now.

“Fatherhood. Now is certainly the perfect time,” Ryder says. “It’s exactly what you need in your situation.”

“He’s not alone out there,” Tanner says, stepping in oddly defensively. “He has somebody with him.”

They exchange a strange, secretive glance that I hope I don’t have to investigate later. I have very little interest in staying involved in the personal lives of club members as long as they manage their shit according to club values without my involvement.

“Even if I was alone,” Ruger says. “It’s my property to do what I want with.”

The streaks of sadism in Ruger have always made me deeply uneasy. Fortunately, his brutality has a purpose for the club for the next few months.

“Good. Let’s button it up then,” I growl. “Our plan for warfare is simple. We engage them on multiple fronts to sow confusion.”

“I don’t get it,” Ruger says.

“You don’t need to get it,” Gideon reminds him. “You need to wait for your orders and carry them out.”

“How can I do that with a newborn?”

“I don’t care how the fuck you get it done,” I growl. “Now let me finish or I swear, I’ll keep us locked in here all night.”

Again, silence. My temper has always been able to command a room without much effort and I don’t feel particularly guilty about the fear that I inspire. Their silence and their respect for me places a great weight on my shoulders — the only thing that gives me a similar obsessive drive to playing dice or betting on sports games.

I might relapse, but after — I remember. I have a family to live for. Anna. Junior. Our second baby on the way. And the Barbarians.

“Each of you will have a crew and an assignment. If we can’t fill all the spots with club members, we’ll get recruits looking to prove themselves. Each crew will have war patches so that we can identify each other easily…”

War. It shouldn’t have come to this. But I always promised Anna and everyone else that I would do whatever I needed to keep us all safe. I force myself to stomach what those patches mean. That we could lose more members. Risk losing more than we already have…

“Mom and Karen are getting the patches done. These are the crews…”

Ryder Sinclair won’t do anything that could land his ass in prison, so his job is pretty simple — establishing an outpost on the old Route 66 highway near Conway, Missouri and defending it from the inevitable spillage of Midnight SS bikers when wordgets out we’re massacring anyone stupid enough to wear that patch and those tattoos on our land.

I don’t want to stop at sending a message. Right after I met and married Anna, my heart softened to the work the club needed to carry out. I wanted to be a good man for her. The deeper and more troubling the violence around us has become, the easier it is for me to access my ruthlessness.

It’s all in the service of protection — keeping Anna, Junior, and my family safe.

“Hunter, I need you to take your team and hunt down a man named Eldon Barlow. He’s from Texas, and has the club name ‘SCOURGE’. All these assholes should be easy to find. They don’t go anywhere without starting trouble and they stick to known biker friendly towns.”

“Yes, sir.”

“If you can get this done with Wade, and any other Sinclair or Shaw looking to get patched in who needs money.”

Hunter nods. Simple plan and pulling men from our families will make building a loyal team much easier.

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