Page 49 of Chill’s Chance

“No, don’t. This is what she wants. She wants to be an Enforcer, and this is her first step. I’m just hoping she doesn’t regret it.”

I slap him on the back in commiseration before heading back to the clubhouse. You don’t forget your first kill, but if that kill is in defense of a fellow soldier or to right a horrible injustice, it can be easier to live with.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: CHILL

Waking up alone, I feel off. I miss Hunter sleeping next to me. How did that happen? Only two nights and I’m already used to him. Addicted to him, really. Shaking my head at myself, I get up and head to the bathroom for a shower. Church followed by a little torture. That should put a smile on my face.

I grab a cup of coffee before heading into Church. Puma and Viper are already there. She’s sitting in Dice’s spot. I open my mouth to suggest she move when Puma interrupts. “Dice isn’t attending the meeting today. He and Avery are going hunting for a loan shark.”

I nod in understanding and take my place between Puma and Viper. “It will be a relief to find him and figure out if he’s really got a cop working for him. Does Sterling have any ideas?”

“No, we didn’t talk about it too much, but he said he was afraid it could be possible. He doesn’t want to believe it, but he’s not naïve enough to believe that all cops are trustworthy.” She says.

“What did he think about your getting patched in?” I ask her.

“He’s happy for me. Thinks the kutte looks good on me. Especially when it’s all I’m wearing.”

Puma snorts as I chuckle. “TMI.” I chide her.

She shrugs and grins as the rest of the guys come walking in and taking their spots. The last one in is Wildcard. He shuts the door and takes his spot on the other side of Puma. When Puma calls the meeting to order, Wildcard is the first to speak. “What the hell is this rumor going around about turning those rapist bastards over to the authorities instead of putting them into the ground?” He asks, his eyes moving between me and Puma.

“Seems we have our first topic for discussion.” Puma drawls. “Yes, we are taking a vote. A few of you are former military and all of you respect our soldiers. We have three military men in The Pit and the original plan was to eliminate them. But we received information that might, and I mean might, change our plans. Spark?”

“You all know what these assholes did to Chill when she served with them. Once she came here, she and I did research and found five other women who went through the same ordeal. We used the information to blackmail them into behaving. I put electronic checks in place to alert me if certain criteria happened. I missed one. We recently learned that a few days ago, about the time Hunter came to Vegas to hunt for his son, the two assholes, Billet and Abbott, attacked another female officer. It didn’t alert me because she didn’t have the opportunity to report the incident and she hadn’t left the service or transfer to a new unit. Because she’s in a coma. They beat her almost to death. The authorities have enough to point the finger at both Abbott and Billet. I’ve run my own searches and know that the DOJ is ready to file charges against them and Patterson.”

Spark’s pronouncement elicits several curses from the others. But it is Wildcard who again voices the question. “So we what? Hand them over to the authorities and hope they do the right thing?” He asks in disgust. “Patterson protected those assholes, and it’s more than possible that someone has been protecting Patterson when they should have been protecting the soldiers who were honoring the flag, not pissing on it.”

“I agree.” Puma says. “If it were up to me, we’d be in The Pit and watching Chill work her magic. But she respects all of you too much to make that move without the consent of the club. She doesn’t want hard feelings to eat away at our family. I agreed to the vote, because she’s right. This affects her the most, but it affects all of us. The assholes did us a favor by covering their tracks when they came to Vegas to take out Hunter and Chill. The authorities don’t know that they’re here, hell they don’t know where to find them. But eventually, they’ll find their way here. They’ll look into these assholes and find the other women they attacked, and they’ll come here.”

“And they won’t find anything.” Wildcard finishes for him. “We know how to keep a secret and all of us would die to protect Chill and the club. You know that.”

“I do.” Puma says as I nod.

“So why do we need to vote?” Wildcard asks.

I feel everyone looking at me. “Taking a life for a life is something none of us feel sorry about. These guys haven’t taken a life. Yet.”

“No, they did much worse than that.” Spock says. “They took something that didn’t belong to them. They hurt our sister, and that alone earns them a death sentence.”

“Look, Chill, I think you believe we don’t consider rape to be as evil as murder. But it is.” Wildcard says. “Every time a man forces himself on a woman, we all pay the price. We may not know the emotional and physical trauma these assholes inflict on their victims, but we see the aftermath. We see it every time we talk to a woman and watch her flinch. Or when we see the flash of fear on her face. Fuck, I don’t know how you women do it. How you put yourselves out there even though you’re aware of the danger? And every time I see a man force himself into a woman’s space or push his attention on her, even though she’s given him all the signs she wants him to back off, I want to kill him. Or at least beat the shit out of him so he knows what’s its like to feel fear. Those assholes signed their death warrant the minute they put their hands on a woman. And I don’t give a fuck if they’re wearing a suit, a kutte, or a uniform.”

The shouted chorus of “here, here” and “fuck yeah” loosens the knot in my belly. I knew these guys have my back, that they’re loyal to the club, but they’re also loyal to our country and killing a soldier isn’t a task to take lightly.

“Thank you.” I say. “I still want to take a vote, I can leave…”

“Won’t be necessary.” Puma says, raising his hand as each of the members does the same with no hesitation. I look around the table and meet the eyes of everyone and see the resolve on each face. No hesitation. No doubt. I nod my thanks. “Ok, now that’s done.” Puma continues. “Any other news before we get to the grand finale?”

“On a positive note, I have the lots mapped out.” Spock says. “Once we get approval, we can start building.”

“Let’s take a hike over to the new property later and start picking lots.” Puma suggests. “The faster we can get started on building homes, the better. We’re busting at the seems right now.”

We all agree to head over to the new property and I find myself excited about the prospect. When Puma first mentioned building a subdivision for our crew, I never thought I’d want to take him up on it. I saw myself always living in the clubhouse, but now I can picture a home with Hunter, Slade and maybe one or two of our own kids. Nerves flutter through my stomach, until I place a hand there to calm myself. I never thought of myself as a mother. What is happening to me? Hunter. Hunter is what is happening to me. The bastard. I think with a grin.

I tune back into the conversation to hear Hawk describing his plan for building a motorcycle course and a custom bike shop. Puma seems excited about the idea as Hawk and Rush discuss numbers, and Spock chimes in with all the permits and planning they’ll need.

“We need a lawyer who can help with this kind of stuff.” Spock tells Puma. “I know Chaos’s woman, Evie, helps them with their legal needs, and she’s offered her help with ours, but we need someone here in Vegas. We had that one firm that helped when we built 1%, but we weren’t their priority client.”

“Alisa worked with a lawyer for her charity auction. I’ll see what she thought of her and have Spock check her out. If she passes scrutiny, we can see about hiring her.” Puma says. “Anything else?”

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