Page 25 of Biker's Baby

ELEVEN

Abe

There wasa twinge of guilt in the back of my mind as I left the house, but Tad called, and I had to go. That was my life. Whenever he beckoned to me, I answered. That’s just the way it was.

It didn’t matter that I had just worked a long shift and only had a couple hours of sleep under my belt. Tad was clear that this was something big, and he wanted all hands to show up at the clubhouse. And I was one of the men who was higher up in the club, so there was no way I’d be getting out of this.

He didn’t tell me on the phone why he wanted me to be at the clubhouse, but I had shut down pretty quickly the idea of anyone meeting me at my place and riding to the clubhouse together. There wasn’t any reason for that, and with Iris in the house, there was even less reason for anyone to come by my place.

At the same time, I make sure Tad knew I’d be at the clubhouse as soon as I could, just to make sure no one came by my place to see what I was doing.

But, as I made my way to the clubhouse, my mind drifted back to Iris. I didn’t know why she wanted me to go with her back to her old apartment. There was a hundred reasons why that would be a bad idea, and I didn’t want her to go anywhere near the place.

I didn’t know why her neighbor would even suggest such a thing, either, but Iris had enough confidence in her neighbor that she didn’t even seem to think anything of being invited back to her old place. I could see it being a trap of some kind, but I wasn’t going to go into that with her now.

There was enough on her plate, and mine, too, for that matter.

I didn’t want to do anything that would encourage this to turn violent, though I did see that as being one of the fastest ways to take care of the situation. But I also didn’t want to put her in that situation, either. I knew without her being my girlfriend, the best thing to do was to take a step back and let it play out as it did.

But it was difficult for me.

I was in the business of fixing things, and when she’d come to me for help, I wanted to be proactive in helping her. But that wasn’t without it’s complications, as I quickly realized whenever I heard from anyone in the MC.

I pushed her out of my head for now, however, as I pulled up in front of the clubhouse. It quickly became evident to me that Tad had called more to his attention besides just me when I saw two other members pull up in front of the building.

Everyone moved with the same steady motion. We removed our helmets and put them on our bikes before heading inside the clubhouse. It was such a swift, natural movement I didn’t even stop to think about it.

Then again, after having done this for so many years, it did come naturally.

I walked right into the clubhouse with my head held high. I liked to embrace the strong, silent persona and being six foot five, it wasn’t that difficult for me.

The parking lot had been full when I pulled up, so it wasn’t a surprise when I stepped into the room to find that the place was packed with all members of the MC, and some of their women as well. It was unusual for the women to be inside the clubhouse, but with the way they were talking to Tad, I had a feeling they were the reason we were here.

I found a place near the back wall of the clubhouse and waited for things to settle down. Tad wasn’t the kind of leader to let the talk last for very long before he jumped in with his own opinion, and I was more than ready to hear what he had to say.

After all, I was exhausted, and I wanted nothing more than to catch up on the sleep I was missing.

But I wasn’t going to push this. It was my job to show up and listen to what he had to say, not to ask questions. That is, not until he was ready to open up the floor to those questions. And even then, I wasn’t one to draw attention to myself beyond what was necessary.

It still came as a surprise to me that I was so high in the ranks as I was. But I pushed those thoughts out of my head when Tad raised his hand to silence the room.

Glenn and I made eye contact with each other. It was the first I’d noticed him standing on the other side of the clubhouse, and he nodded toward me. I returned the gesture before paying attention to Tad.

“I’m glad you all showed up with as much speed as you did,” he said as he looked around the room. “This is almost a state of emergency. I say almost because it could take a turn for the worse in a matter of seconds, and I don’t want to risk that happening. Which is why I’ve called you all here right now.”

There was a murmur running through the group, but Tad continued before it got too far. He wanted to maintain control of the entire conversation, and the best way to do that was to keep everyone focused.

“There’s another MC in the area, and they’ve already harassed some of our women. They’ve come straight to me to tell me what happened, and as you can imagine, our brothers aren’t happy with their women being messed with by anyone,” Tad continued.

There was another murmur, as well as the agitated shouts of the men who were part of the offended parties.

“I’ve called you all here to tell you right now, we’re not friendly. We don’t want these men in our borders, and we’re not going to put up with them being here. I don’t want this to turn into a turf war, and I’m not going to encourage violence from the beginning. But I do want to encourage everyone to keep an eye out for anyone who’s not wearing our emblem and make sure those riders know that they aren’t welcome,” he said.

The men loudly agreed with this, and Tad smiled. “This has been my territory for years, and I’m not in the mood to share it with anyone. I don’t care who these men are, and I really couldn’t give two shits over what they think they’re doing here. This isn’t common ground, and I want them out. And when I say out, I mean it, out!”

A cheer rose throughout the crowd as the men wildly agreed with what he said. They were all for throwing their weight around, that was for damn sure, and this was a chance for them to do it. Anyone in the club was ready to toss any other biker out of the town without asking questions, and now they had Tad giving them not only permission, but the directive to do so.

A wave of panic washed over my chest, and my heart pounded.

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