Page 24 of Dodge

Rafter: Missing you, brother. Got it all in. You get to finish installing.

A second pic was a candid one of Fauna cooking some sort of stir-fry on the restaurant’s grill.

Rafter: I don’t know what it is, but it sure smells good!

Then a series of pics of Mute, Bruiser, and Stud shoving food in their mouths.

Rafter: Damn, brother, you’re missing out big-time.

That was Saturday while he listened to his father’s complaints. The jealousy that smoldered in his gut didn’t surprise him but added to the guilty weight on his shoulders.

It didn’t help that in between the pics, he received texts from Mallory.

Mallory: When are you coming home?

Mallory: I haven’t seen you much in a couple days.

Mallory: I miss you, baby.

Now this emergency Sunday night church meeting with the Dragon Runners. There were a dozen different directions he was being pulled to, and there would be a point when he would rip apart.

Brick didn’t waste any time. “I got a call from Colonel yesterday over in Maggie Valley. Said there’s been some drug problems in town.”

Stud leaned forward and moved his laptop to rest his elbows on the carved table. “The only drug people we know for sure are the Jessop boys. They deal in weed and moonshine, but they know not to sell to kids. We ran the hard shit out of town years ago. Shouldn’t be coming back. Is he worried about that in his town?”

Brick shook his head. “I ain’t concerned about the Jessops. Henry and I go way back. They make some premium ’shine, but they’re real careful about who they deal with. There's some unofficial hard drinkin’ spot over there, but as long as it don’t come over here, we’re good. This is somethin’ different. Colonel said no one paid much attention to the first one, but another one got reported last week, and two more girls came forward yesterday.”

Dodge dropped his hand, and his chair creaked as he settled himself. “What are you talking about?”

“Some women got roofied and assaulted. Tourists mostly. They go to that big fancy dance place that has all them whiskey barrels for decorations.”

Brick’s answer sent a palpable wave of anger around the table. The Dragon Runners weren’t perfectly behaved choirboys, but when it came to their women and the women of the community, there were no better protectors.

“How many?” Stud inquired grimly. “And do we need to be concerned about that here?”

“I don’t know. Neither does Colonel, but he suspects there’s some we ain’t heard about. That place does weddings and parties and shit. Take any night of the week and you’re apt to find a bunch of women drunk off their asses. I guess it’s hard to tell if you’re drunk or drugged, but somehow the sheriff over there figured it out.” Brick jammed a hand over his craggy face. “Bad enough that shit happened to out-of-towners. Now one of our own got hurt. Little Peg, Colonel’s granddaughter, is one of the girls.”

“Fuck! Isn’t she like twelve or something?” Bruiser turned to a glowering Mute as if he expected an answer.

The big man shook his head and flashed his hands twice, then added one finger.

“Twenty-one? When the hell did she grow up?”

“It happens. I’m amazed every day at my girls and how fast the time has gone.” Stud’s demeanor turned dark. “If any asshole came after them, there wouldn’t be enough pieces of him left to make an identification.”

Brick grunted. “I’ve put a lot of men up the mountain. I’m getting’ too old to keep up. Hell, last time I took Betsey over to Asheville for a visit, we went to a restaurant that didn’t have menus. Had to take a picture of this black-an’-white computer thing just to find out what they had to eat.”

Bruiser raised his brows. “A QR code.”

“I don’t know what the hell it was. All I know is Betsey had to use her phone, and it was damn hard to read them little words.”

“You can make the screen bigger by—”

“I ain’t interested in that shit, Bruiser. All that tech mess is what you do, not me. This old dog is tired as hell of learnin’ new tricks.” The man gave a big sigh. “Seems the world is changing so damn fast, I can’t keep up no more. I’m thinkin’ it might be time for someone else to lead the Dragon Runners.”

Shock replaced the anger as the entire brotherhood absorbed the unexpected announcement. Brick was the man who’d pulled the club back from the brink of extinction and made it into the tight communal group they knew it to be. He spent the majority of his adult life cleaning up after the old guard, developing legit businesses, and balancing between the law and biker justice. The idea of the Dragon Runners MC without Brick as its leader was unthinkable.

Dodge coughed into the silence. “Well, boss man, today you’re still sitting at the head of the table. Is Colonel looking for help, or is he just warning us?”

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