Page 76 of Inglorious
“I hope so!”
Chapter Seventeen.
Inglorious
Ilooked around the yard that was attached to the back of the club. There had once been a building here, but it had collapsed years ago. The club had turned it into an area we could use for cookouts. We were celebrating the return of Oil, Lasher, and Daisy-Duke. To my surprise, Drew Lemmon was there as well, having driven down for the weekend.
Nanci had offered the cop the sheriff’s position, and he’d accepted. He was starting with us in two weeks. She’d, in addition, dropped the vacancies for the Sheriff’s Office in his lap too. Drew had been amused to learn he was now responsible for finding a full-time day and night receptionist slash dispatcher. In addition, he also had to hire two part-timers to cover weekends and a deputy.
He and Nanci had agreed that the day receptionist would work from half eight till half five, and the evening one would work from five till two in the morning. Drew’s phone would cover the hours between two and half eight. Drew had goneover the budget and the sheriff’s office with a fine-tooth comb. There’d been a few things he’d needed, ordered, but on the whole, he was happy. Currently, he was shooting the shit with the Lasher and listening to old stories. I was sure Drew would be running for the hills by the end of the evening.
I wasn’t surprised to see scantily clad women hanging around. Although we didn’t have any club whores currently, they had somehow found out about the cookout. I noticed a couple of brothers with women hanging off them.
However, Nanci was watching them with a sharp expression on her face. If one of them stepped out of line, Nanci and Daisy-Duke would no doubt put a beatdown on them.
“Hey,” a woman spoke, and I looked down. A petite brunette smiled at me.
“Hi,” I replied dismissively.
“Are you lonely?” she asked.
“No, and I have a woman,” I stated. I didn’t want any misunderstandings here.
“Oh, okay. Nice talking to you,” she remarked and walked away. I glanced at Nanci and noticed her relax as Daisy-Duke scowled at another woman approaching Lasher.
Lasher did much the same as I, and the women moved on. There were enough men here for them to pick from. I chuckled inwardly as both old ladies relaxed.
“I don’t want to disturb Nanci, but we’ve got an issue,” Hercules muttered from behind me.
“What?”
“The cameras have picked up movement at the stables. We’ve alerted the two stable hands that live there, and they’re ready to protect the horses.”
“Okay,” I said and turned on my heel. This wasn’t something to be messed with. There were horses stabled there that were worththousands of bucks. Anyone who could hurt an innocent animal was a monster in my eyes, and I wouldn’t risk their safety.
Hercules kept pace with me as we headed toward the clubhouse. Nanci intercepted us with a knowing look.
“What is it?” she demanded. Hercules and I swapped glances before I told her.
“Stay here. As president, you need to be seen welcoming Lasher and Oil back home. If you leave, it would be an insult,” I explained.
“They’d understand—”
“No, they wouldn’t because Hercules and I can deal with this. Nanci, we’re wasting time here. Time that could mean the horses are in danger,” I stated.
Nanci chewed her bottom lip but nodded and stepped back. Thank fuck. I hadn’t wanted to cause a scene, but she couldn’t go running off.
Hercules and I hit our bikes and sped off in the direction of the stables. They were a thirty-minute drive, and we made it in twenty. As we approached, we could see smoke in the air, and I began cursing. I aimed my hog straight for the stable building, concerned about the horses, and there was a small fire.
Two figures were on the scene with fire extinguishers and were putting out the blaze.
“The horses?” I shouted as I ran towards them.
“Safe in the field,” Danny, the stable hand, called. I didn’t recognise the girl with him. “Kevin and his girlfriend are moving the last two now.”
I nodded and grabbed the extinguisher from the girl. “Stand aside, honey. Let me do this.”
Hercules raced around the far side of the barn to help Kevin if he needed it. There were two exits in the barn, specifically for this reason. Just before we’d opened this, another stable had gone up in flames, an accident, but five horses had died becausethey’d been trapped. When building our stable, we’d made sure that wouldn’t happen to us.
