Page 7 of Sleeper

My pulse thrummed beneath the surface and my chest ached. I wasn’t sure if she meant to hit me right in the feels, but she had. I sniffed back a few unwanted tears and stared at the ceiling. Neither of us was dealt a good life, but she had something I never did growing up—someone to protect her. Apparently, I was doing a shitty job at it, or she wouldn’t have been on her own for so long without me knowing. I was here for her now and I swore nothing like that was ever going to happened to her again.

4

SLEEPER

Tin Man paced the floor of our clubhouse while he chewed on the end of a straw. “So, let me get this straight, you’re taking time off to chase after a necklace?” he asked, cheeking the straw as he spoke.

“Yeah, I know how it sounds, but it isn’t the only thing missing.”

“I don’t like that look. What the fuck did she take and don’t you dare say it was something of the club’s!”

“It was something of ours.” I licked my lips and nervously rubbed the sweat off my hands onto my shirt.

“Fucking hell, Sleeper. I said not to say something of the club’s.”

“Technically he didn’t,” Sac chimed in.

“You tic-tac swinging motherfucker. It’d be in your best interest to keep your mouth shut right now,” Tin Man snapped.

“The fuck. I was just saying.” Sac waved his hands around. “But excuse me for speaking,” Sac added, as he crossed his legs and propped his feet on the empty chair beside him.

“What was it, Sleeper?” Ghoul’s gruff voice asked from the cellphone laying in the middle of the table.

“Our guns.” I squeezed my eyes together, even though he wasn’t here, preparing for him to lose his shit. He never had patience, but since he’d been on the road, he had less.

“That was your fucking safe spot?” Ghoul yelled so loudly out of the phone’s speaker that Sac, Sledge, Tin Man, and I jumped. In usual Wiley fashion he seemed unfazed by Ghoul’s outburst and simply took another drag off his joint.

“Yeah. I had to stash it fast after the warehouse was raided, remember?”

“Fuck. Yeah. I do now. But a junkie’s house, Sleep? I mean come on, you’re smarter than that, brother.” Ghoul calmed down a little more with each word he spoke.

“I thought he was clean, Prez. I don’t know why. I guess I wanted him to be so much that I believed him. The guns were under my little sister’s floor, and beneath any other board I was able to pry up throughout the house. It’s not like they were out in the open.”

Under Spider’s supervision the club had recently bought a shipment of guns from one of his ex-military buddies with the plan of flipping them for the cash. It should have been easy money, but someone tipped off the Feds. With us already being on their radar it was hard to tell how they would react to us trafficking guns. Not that any of us gave a damn about their opinion but going back into the bureau’s office was the last place we needed to be right now. Agent McFaye had made it clear the last time we were in there that we were no longer her problem. She hinted that someone on their payroll had a soft spot for us, but without knowing who, I didn’t trust them.

We may have been doing their dirty work now for around a decade, but the truth was they hated us just as much as we did them. My club was their means to an end and how they kept their hands clean. The fucked-up part about it was more people than I was comfortable with admitting that we killed for them were government officials, lawyers, or somebody equally as glorified in the public’s eye. Yet we were the scum of the earth. Sometimes I wanted someone to make it make sense.

My hands folded together, and I leaned my chin on my knuckles, wondering if McFaye was a dried up line or if she would answer if we called. I didn’t give a shit if the guns were sold to another criminal like us, but if they landed in the hands of a kid, I’d never forgive myself. This was on me, there was no denying it. If it came down to it, I’d take all the heat from the law, but I hoped it didn’t come to that. I had Belle to think about now. It wasn’t only me I had to worry about anymore, so I would do everything in my power to keep my name, along with the club’s, as far away from the guns as possible.

“So, we think she has our guns, too?”

“I doubt she does, honestly. Belle didn’t mention it, and we all know she wouldn’t have let me live that shit down.”

“Ha. You’re right about that,” Sac coughed through his statement as I lit my cigarette and puffed on it. I was trying to quit but based on the current clusterfuck we were in, it looked like I picked a hell of a time to give up the habit. Belle was still mad at Sac for letting her guinea pig die on his watch and it had been six months. Sac wasn’t at fault, the fucking furball was ancient, and had lived well beyond its life expectancy. Nothing about its death was humorous in the least, but Sac carrying its lifeless body into the pet store Lina, Sledgehammer’s old lady, ran was. He cupped the little thing in his hands, and it remained there the entire way across the store. The poor guy was a blubbering mess by the time he reached the back of the place. Lina wasn’t able to do shit for him or the guinea pig, though, so I guess it was a waste of time.

“But,” I raised a hand as I spoke. “She might be able to tell us who does. Belle said she was there with her mom. So, at the very least, we have a lead. The mom is a druggie, according to Baby Belle, so if anyone would have info on someone like that it would be Monty Cat.”

“Fucking really? We have to go back there?” Sac complained, waving his hand in front of his face to clear the air some.

“Yeah, Sac, looks like it’s time to pay your good friend a visit.” Ghoul laughed, “Are his knees moving under the table?” Sac’s knee had not stopped bouncing ever since Monty Cat was mentioned, they always did when he was brought into conversation, and we continued to give him shit for it.

“Sure are, Boss,” Tin Man answered after glancing under the table. “Yeah, I guess that knocks you out of the race then. Who would you be?”

“Like Ghoul said a few years back, if you’d keep your elephant balls to yourself and away from Monty’s sloppy seconds, he wouldn’t have a problem with you.” I smirked, choking back a laugh.

“A pussy in need is Sac’s pussy indeed,” he retorted as he smiled, proud of himself. “All women are welcome to ride the S.S. Sac.”

“More like the little engine that could,” Wiley howled.

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