Page 42 of Coal
CHAPTER 15
COPPER
It’s a week since the call with Cahir, and I’m in Coal’s office because Sterling has received all the paperwork, and Coal and I are going through it together.
Most of it is what we expected. I’m not sure I’m so keen on the name they’ve chosen for me. I suppose it’s close enough to my name to make it easier for me.
“Cooper,” I muse, pursing my lips and trying it out again. “I guess I’ll get used to it.”
Flicking through the file, I see the address of where I’ll be living and hand it over to Coal. “Here’s the address. Memorise it.”
He takes it from me and reads through the information. I know my brother—he’s worried about this, but it’s the whole reason we came here. This is why this club was started, and I’ll be damned if we fail at the first hurdle.
“Hey,” I tap on his desk until he looks at me, “It’s going to be okay. We’ve got this.”
“I know,” he sighs, rubbing his hands across his face. “I wish we could send another brother in with you. What do we know of the woman you're paired with? How do we know she’s trustworthy? Will she be able to help with protection? I know they say she’s trained, but how trained? There are so many unknowns.”
Flipping the pages, I get to the page with the picture of the other operative, and my breath hitches in my chest. She’s gorgeous and most definitely not a stranger. Well, she is because we’ve never met, but I’ve seen pictures of her when we’ve visited our allies. I’d kept my distance because I thought she was in a relationship. Maybe not. She wasn’t who I’d expected at all. I’d figured it would be a complete stranger.
I look up at Coal, and there must be something on my face because he asks, “What?”
I hand him the sheet of paper with her details, and he curses, “Fuck! It’s making sense now.”
“I thought she was seeing someone?”
Coal shakes his head, “It all went tits up. Now I know why.” He looks up. “You’re going to have to tread carefully with this one, brother.”
I nod, but in the back of my mind, I’m wondering if this is fate. The first woman to catch my interest in years was not only going tobe my roommate but also my pretend girlfriend. We’ll be spending a lot of time together, and when I’d looked at the flat listing, it only had one bedroom.
But Coal was right. I’ll have to tread carefully because if she’s the one that had blown everything out of the water with the man she was with, then she’d not be ready for a relationship of any sort.
‘Friends it is then,’I think, heaving a heavy sigh.
CHAPTER 16
COAL
I’m staring at the tapestry of our history, waiting for my brothers to arrive for church. I’m still trying to get used to Nickel as my interim VP. Not that he isn’t good at the position, but because we don’t have a rhythm yet like Copper and I had. That’s no fault of his own.
It's been weeks since Copper left to start his undercover work. Until recently, we’d been joined at the hip since he was born and had done everything together. It isn’t only me that’s having a hard time; my parents and other siblings are struggling too. It’s like we have a void in our lives that we aren’t sure how to fill. The uncertainty of how long this will take is another worry. It could all be over in a few months, but it could also take years.
I speak to him weekly, and he seems happy enough. His partner and he get on. She started work for the organization and he has a job asa mechanic around the corner from where she’s working. For now, it’s a waiting game.
As an MC, we still have work to do. I called Church this morning because we have to go over a few of our legitimate businesses. The door opens, breaking my contemplation of our history as Tinman walks in with Nickel and the rest of the brothers following in behind him.
Once everyone’s settled, I pick up the gavel, calling the meeting to order so we can start. “Church is now in session.” Immediately, there’s silence. “Before we get started, I’d like to thank Nickel for stepping up the way he has. I know it hasn’t been easy, and I appreciate you being patient with me.” I turn to him as I say the last bit. He nods. It’s what I expect. Nickel never speaks much except with Shea. He’s perfectly verbose with her.
Turning back to the brothers, I continue, “Thea isn’t joining us today and sends her apologies. Her tables were delivered, and now that the doors are installed, she wanted to get her workshop set up and up and running. Her brother called, and he has a few orders that still need fulfilling. I warned him that after they were done, she’d no longer be doing work for him. It’s too dangerous for her. He agreed,and he’d already made it clear to his buyers that this would be the last time. He’s found them alternative suppliers. Once these are done, Thea is retired, except for what we need. She’s agreed.”
And she has agreed. Neither of us wants the danger of trading guns for money. We need to stay as anonymous as possible due to the nature of the work we’ll be doing. Plus, both of us suspect she’s pregnant, and I’d rather she not be stressed during her pregnancy worrying about us moving guns, getting caught, and spending years in prison.
“Good,” Cross states. “I was worried about what was going to happen with that going forward. At least her brother gives a shit about his sisters.”
“He does,” I agree before continuing, “Next order of business is the paintball. Iron, Brass, and Blue. What’s happening with that?”
The paperwork had come through a week ago, not only with the land being in our names but also the planning permission to go ahead for a building that would house the paintball guns, a reception, and a small glassed-in lounge area for people to watch from.
“It’s going okay. We’ve spoken to the construction company that renovated the clubhouse, and we’ve paid our deposit; they break ground next week. We should be running in the summer. Opal has set up social media for us, and we’ve advertised. The first week of July will be a soft opening for a few select invitees to help iron out any kinks before our official opening the following week during the school holidays. We already have several parties booked. We’ll have to have our DBS checks done as we’ll be working with children. As for staff, we’ll need to hire a cleaning crew, but we’ll manage the front desk ourselves for now until we can’t anymore.”
