If he had any say in it, Demon would also kick out Mud and Mammoth to get rid of all the trash at once. But since his Prez and VP, Silas, were buddy-buddy with them, he would store that thought for another moment in time.
Demon sat down at the table and nodded at Zeus on the opposite side. He didn’t envy his best friend since Zeus would take over the club from his father one day and would have to deal with all the club politics Demon loathed.
He trusted Zeus over Annas, especially now that hidden currents inside the club had come to light. The new generation grouched over the originals, making a mess out of things and today was just another reminder of how they were stuck in old biker ways by condoning a brother taking what wasn’t his to take.
Thinking about what Cat had to go through made his blood boil. He slid his hand over the sheath hanging from a loop on his belt. Touching his knife usually helped calm his primal need for blood. Not today. He needed a piece of Rick.
Annas glanced around the table filled with officers. At his right hand side sat his VP, Silas, then he nodded at Tiny, the Secretary, and finally at their Road Captain, Red, before he said, “Mud stays. And where the fuck is Turtle?”
“I’m here, Prez,” Turtle said as he shuffled inside. Demon could tell by the look in his eyes that Turtle had been smoking weed all day again.
“Where have you been?” Silas sneered.
“Up in my room with a sweetbutt, what do you think? Fuck, Ginny reminds me of a giraffe with that tongue of hers.”
“Giraffe is a pretty good name for her,” Red snickered. Most of the brothers’ road names were not as inventive as Giraffe, since they named Red after his long, red hair and Tiny because he didn’t come up to Annas’ shoulders.
“Enough!” Annas slammed the gavel against the oval table in the middle of the room, rattling the ashtrays against the hard wooden tabletop.
Accustomed to the Greek's outbursts, Demon's gaze wandered over the engine parts that hung on the back wall of the room. Pictures taken at biker rallies and at the river bend stared back at him.
It showed memories of a true brotherhood ever since Annas and Silas started the Iron Vikings MC back in 1979. He looked over his shoulder to sixty-four-year-old Turtle, who’d grown up in the same neighborhood as Annas and Silas and had been an officer ever since the start of IVMC.
Turtle fiddled with his lighter before actually lighting his joint. After blowing out a heavy cloud of smoke, Turtle nudged his head toward Mud, sitting on one of the two couches in the back of the room.
“What’s he doin’ here?”
“We’re discussing my son,” Mud said to Turtle.
Turtle pulled a sour face. “What has he done this time?”
“He attacked Whirlwind,” Zeus said.
Demon still couldn’t believe what almost had happened.
Turtle dropped his joint in the ashtray as he glared at Mud. “Whirlwind?! She’s Devlin’s kid sister. I take it that leech is in the basement, where he belongs?”
Turtle’s gaze fell on Annas and Silas, who both sat perfectly still, eyeing the other officers from their side of the table.
“They won’t let me play with him in the basement,” Demon said, already knowing they would deny him retribution.
“He didn’t rape her,” Silas said, like that was reason enough not to punish Rick.
“He touched her. Licked her face and dragged her across the compound by her hair, before he threatened to fuck her mouth,” Demon said. Images of cutting off Rick’s tongue for daring to touch Whirlwind was the only thing that kept him in his seat.
“My son took one too many lines and just horsed around.”
Zeus pulled a brow at Mud’s unwanted contribution and said, “We can’t have prospects running around strung out. He’s here to do as told. Demon and I already tried to kick some sense into him last week.”
Demon had enough of all talk and no action. He made sure Annas looked him in the eye when he said, “Here’s the deal: I’m no fuckin’ saint, but I’m not sharing this club with child molesters. You can ask me to torture and kill any fucker threatening this club, but I draw the line in hurting children and women. You know this.”
Annas scratched the back of his head; his fingers flitting through his thick, black hair with a touch of gray as he gave his VP a side glance.
Demon almost missed Silas’ slight shake of his head, but it was all the confirmation Demon needed. Instead of taking the lead as Prez, Annas checked with Silas first before taking a stand.
Demon had never liked the VP, or rather ‘Sneaky Silas’ as Wolf called him. Since Zeus also had to deal with Silas as his father-in-law, he probably closed himself off from the bad juju floating around Silas.
“I want the bastard out,” Turtle said while picking up his blunt from the ashtray.