“If he is connected to the DeMarcos, he blew up my brother’s business and tried to kill my boyfriend. And he could be Lucas, the mysterious boyfriend of Michelle’s. I have every right to be suspicious. Besides he was here wanting to buy the body shop location.” Something doesn’t sit well with me. “Maybe we need to research the area where the body shop is on and see what’s so special about it.” Derby nods. She taps the bar top a couple of times before she heads off but stops.
“Are you coming back to the clubhouse or are you heading to the hospital?”
“Clubhouse. It’ll be too late to go see him.” It’s almost closing time, which I’m thankful for because I want to try to get some sleep. “Why?”
“When you get there, we might need to have a quick Church meeting with officers only to let everyone know what’s going on. I think it’d be best to keep everyone on the same page.”
“Should we call for an eight a.m. meeting to give DaVinci and Joker time to do their thing?” She nods as she pulls out her cell phone. My phone buzzes and I’m pretty sure she sent a group text about the officers only meeting. She waves as she bounces out of the bar. The rest of the night goes by without any incidents. When the last customer is gone, I sit down and check my phone.
NOAH: I wish you were here.
NOAH: Picture
He sends me a picture of him in the hospital bed all by himself but he circled a spot for me. I send him a selfie of me with my makeup off and hair sticking to my face.
ME: Long ass night.
JOKER: Come see when you get in.
DAVINCI: I'll get the results hopefully by the time of the meeting if not tomorrow sometime.
I sent them both replies. I yawn and decide to leave the cleanup to the rest of the staff. I tell them I’m heading out. I’d been there since noon, so a fourteen hour day. Derek is helping the drunk people get into Ubers and cabs. We have a contract with them to be here at closing time and they get all the money. I will also send the drivers a tip the next day as well. They love being able to work for the Valkyries. I wave to Derek as I head to my bike. I do my check of it, making sure there’s no trackers, no one messing with my brakes, or anything else on my bike.
I start my bike and let the wind clear my mind before I get to the clubhouse. I don’t want to worry about what Joker has to tell me, Noah being in the hospital, Tripline spiraling back on drugs, TJ having to start over, and Michelle not talking to me. There’s so much going on and I don’t know if I’ll ever catch my breath.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Medusa
Walking into the clubhouse to the stench of cigarettes, sweat, and pot makes me mad. Indiana isn’t a state where pot is legal. I don’t have a problem if people want to smoke pot or take edibles but don’t do it where we can get shut down or go to jail. When they get into this party mood I think they forget there are minors that come here. Some of the members, officers, and prospects are parents or guardians. I won’t have them taken away.
I walk over to the light switch since it’s a mood setting and I flip it up to turn the lights on. Many people groan and someone yells what the fuck!
“If this place isn’t free of drugs by morning, all of you that are here right now will be dealt with old school ways.” My voice is calm and I make sure to look into everyone’s eyes so they know I mean business. “Drugs are not allowed in the clubhouse or on the premises. If you want to do them then go somewhere else. I won’t stop you from doing them but I will stop you from doing them here. This is your one and only warning. Next time, no more chances.” They all look around the room waiting for something—I don’t know. “Am I understood?”
“Yes, President!” They all say not in unison but close. I walk away. “Fancy, get the coffee going. They are going to need to sober the fuck up.” She nods and goes into the kitchen. I notice Bubbles standing with her arms crossed watching everyone. “Rooms need to be checked too. I want the Duchess in charge of that. She won’t do anything to hurt her kids. If she finds out they’re having parties like this, then hell is coming for those girls.” Bubbles's smile gets bigger.
“I’d like to see her lay down some smackdown on some of these girls. They won’t know what hit them.” Bubbles giggles. “Joker said she had something big. Let’s go.” We walk toward Joker’s den when I see Tripline walking my way.
“Hey.” The three of us stopped in the hallway. “I didn’t take part in that. I stayed in my room. I was working on some things.” I raise an eyebrow. “Joker got me the bomb squad report.”
“Did you find something?” Bubbles asks as she catches the piece of paper in Tripline’s hand. She nods. “Do you want to tell us?”
“Oh sorry.” She smiles. Tripline seems to be clear minded, but it’s hard to tell. I know this shit makes her happy so maybe she isn’t on something right now. “Let’s go see Joker. I need her to do her hacking.” We all head out.
“Wow.” The room is Joker’s, and only hers. She has a bed, mini fridge, and a big screen TV off to the left. On the right areabout ten computer screens on the wall. They all have something different on it. She’s typing away as she mutters to herself. I see an array of energy drinks and coffee all over the floor. “Someone needs to come in and clean this up,” I whisper to Bubbles as Tripline is talking to Joker.
“I’ll talk to her about leaving so someone can come clean up or she can direct someone to do it. This is disgusting.”
“You know I can hear you, right?” Joker swivels in her computer gaming chair.
“No, I thought you had your headset on and were ignoring all of us.” I cough being caught talking about her. She rolls her eyes at me.
“Let me do this with Tripline first then I’ll get to you nosy people.” I stick my tongue out at her. Bubbles and I stare at the different screens. One is a map, which I assume is the tracker we put on Luca’s car. Then there’s some video of the businesses watching the workers cleaning or just keeping an eye on them. We upped our protection on the other businesses we own. I also offered Smitty some extra protection as well.
“I knew it.” Tripline slams her hands on the desk. Joker yells at her to watch it. “Sorry.” I step forward to see what she’s so excited about. “I was looking at the components of the bomb and something wouldn’t stop nagging me. I’ve seen this chemical makeup before but couldn’t place it. Do you remember the Irish pub we would go to during high school to make money? The old geezers would have us doing their errands. We knew they were the Irish mob but the money was good.” I nod. “They died in an explosion the then the chief of investigations ruled it as a gas leak. It was a bomb. Everything is the same.”
“I remember that someone took credit for that after the funerals of the four men who were inside at the time. Who was it?” Bubbles stands next to me as we surround Joker.