I didn’t know where my brothers were. I didn’t know if any of them were part of this new MC, or if I would be asked to fight against them to get them out of our territory. I didn’t think I would have it in me to fight against my own brothers. We were loyal to each other above all else, and I’d never before considered that we’d be given a directive that would go against the loyalty to the family.
I didn’t know if our father had thought of that when he gave us our directive, either. And there certainly wasn’t any way to ask him. I wasn’t sure if any of my brothers knew the answer, either. All I knew was that now I could potentially be pitted against them, and I didn’t know how I would possibly get out of that one without causing a real war.
With a shake of my head, I leaned against the wall.
I wanted to roll my eyes. This all seemed so petty to me. Who cared if someone from another MC rode through our territory? It wasn’t as though they were coming through with the intent to take over. At least, that’s not the impression I had gotten from Tad when he was speaking.
These men could have been hitting on those women without realizing they were part of another MC. This could be blown wildly out of proportion, and I hoped that Tad had all his facts straight before he went through with giving us this order.
But I wasn’t yet high enough on the chain of command to ask him about this. I had to just wait for him to give the orders and ask me what I thought about the things he’d said. And right now, I wasn’t entirely sure I was happy with his directive.
I didn’t have the time to find Glenn to talk about it, however, before I found myself being ushered toward the front. I hadn’t realized Tad was motioning me to come up to him until I was closer to the stage, and then I stepped onto the wooden platform with him.
“There you are, I was afraid you hadn’t made it,” he said. “Tall as you are, I’m not always able to see you in the back of the room when it’s dark like this.”
“You called me, so of course I’ll be here,” I told him. “What can I do for you now?”
“Listen,” Tad lowered his voice. “Do you know how to shoot a gun?”
I gave him a look like he was joking, and he shook his head and waved his hand.
“That’s not what I mean. I’m being serious. Do you know how to use a gun? Like if I were to hand you a weapon right now, do you think you could use it to kill someone without a moment of hesitation?” he asked.
“Sir, I thought you already knew how well I can shoot,” I said. “Do you need me to demonstrate?”
“Not in front of everyone,” Tad said. “But I’m getting in a shipment of guns tonight. I want everyone in the club to be armed at all times. If you have your own, great, but you’re still going to grab what I’ve got to give you – and I want you to make sure everyone else in the club is armed as well, got it?”
I wanted to argue with him. There were plenty of others in the club who weren’t qualified to be running around with a gun, let alone with loaded guns at that. It was just asking for someone to pull the trigger on the wrong person and start a complete war between the two MCs.
“You sure you want me to give a gun to everyone in the club?” I asked. “Regardless of whether you know how well they can handle themselves?”
But Tad wasn’t in the mood to hear my opinion on the matter.
“You are going to make sure the shipment comes in, then I want you to bring the guns right here to the clubhouse. Tomorrow morning everyone’s going to be coming by, and by noon, we need to make sure everyone is armed. Can you do this for me?” he asked.
“Yes, sir.” I nodded.
“Good, I knew I could count on you,” he said. He gave me a pat on my chest, then turned his attention to one of his other cronies. I didn’t want to have the responsibility of this mission, and I was inclined to tell him so, but chose to keep it to myself.
The fact of the matter was that Tad thought highly of me, and he was going to continue to give me these jobs for as long as he did. It was up to me to accept them and stay in his good graces for as long as I could.
The more he thought of me, the more likely he was to trust me with things that I could use to turn this MC around. It was all little steps, I knew that, but it was hard for me to breathe and take those steps one at a time. I knew it was for the best, and I knew my brothers would all push for me to do it.
But, I also knew how frustrating it was for me to have to accept doing these things when I really didn’t want them. I didn’t want to meet gun runners, nor did I want to get involved with the transfer of these weapons.
But that wasn’t my choice to make.
This was out of my hands, and now that I had accepted the job, it was up to me to see it through to completion, regardless of my personal feelings about it.
That’s all there was to it.
I no longer had any say in the matter.