Raging Barons MC – Book One – Truth and Lies

Walking into the clubhouse kitchen, I can’t believe the fucking mess that has been left in here. I wash a cup and pour a coffee from the machine, I’m not sure how long it’s been made, but it’s hot at least.

I steadily walk through the main room, looking around at the state of everything. This is going to be sorted this morning.

Opening the Church door, I walk to my seat at the table. The logo of the club is painted on the wall behind me. I’ve always been proud and still am, but the brothers have got to up their game.

Leaning back, I patiently wait for everyone to settle into their seats. It takes about twenty minutes before everyone is here and seated.

Drag leans over to me, ‘Women all in the office, and Jig is watching them.’

Giving him a nod, I pick up my gavel and hit the table, ‘Okay, meeting open, I’m not fuckin’ around with it this morning. How many of you have done any kind of cleaning in the last few months?’

The faces on them would be fucking funny if I didn’t feel like I was about to blow my fuse.

‘Okay, let’s go around the fucking room then, Knuckle. When did you last pick up any trash?’

He looks at me as if I’m joking.

‘So, by the looks of you, not any time in the recent past. You Brag, when did you last pick up anything?’

Brag sits straighter, ‘I cleaned all the kitchen out last Friday, the fridge had moldy shit in it, and I emptied it all, then sent prospect Brad to get a load of stuff from the store.’

Nodding at him, letting him know I appreciate it.

‘Silver, you?’ I add. He nods, shaking his head no.

‘So let’s shorten this, shall we?’ I snarl, leaning forward over the table, ‘The place looks like shit, the place stinks like shit, you need to get out of the shit place you’re living. We didn’t work our asses off to get this place and the businesses up and running to let it slide like this.’ This has a few sitting up and grumbling. Still, I don’t give a fuck how they feel about it, ‘The women are loose pussy who are living off our backs. They are doin’ fuck all to clean up, cook, or anything else. They cost us thousands any year.’ I stand to let them know how angry I am about all this, and I lean over the table, placing my knuckles on the wood and give everyone the eye.

‘What do ya want us to do, Pres?’ Rock asks, and I know he is not being a prick as he is a good brother who does anything I ask whenever I ask.

‘We have to make a decision today, now, do we boot out the women or do they stay and earn their keep. They need to cook and clean at a minimum. It would cost less to pay a cleaning company to come in.’ I state and maintain my anger, so they all know I’ve had it with this bullshit.

For the next hour, we discuss what will happen in the future, how we move forward with keeping the place clean, and if we keep the club women around.

‘Okay, let’s vote on the women, do they stay?’ and ayes apart from two who say nay, majority rules, so they stay.

‘So they stay, do they earn their keep by cooking and cleaning?’ I ask, again, ayes go around and this time unanimous.

‘Who will volunteer to oversee this gets done?’ I lean back in my chair and wait. After a minute, Hammer speaks up, ‘I’ll do it, Pres, but I need someone to do it with me. As you know, I can’t always be here.’

Brag states he’ll help Hammer and keep the women in line or boot them out if needed. We all agree that we’ll leave this to them to deal with, and if they need help to come back to me.

‘Okay, everyone, clean your room. Let’s all help get the place in order. Then the women can keep it that way.’ I look around once more, and they are all in agreement, so I hit the gavel and close the meeting.

‘Drag, Buzz, and Specs stay behind,’ I state firmly, stepping up and closing the door behind the brothers.

‘What’s up, Pres?’ Drag asks, sitting again and leaning on the table with his forearms.

‘Specs, what you found out so far about the woman from the diner?’ I ask as I’m sure now it’s the same woman who went to prison, just my gut instinct shouting at me.

‘The information I received from my source shows she didn’t have it easy in prison to start with. She had to defend herself numerous times. Inside she was called Blade because she fashioned something to use as a blade to keep herself safe. She did a lot of time on her own, not making friends or even talking to anyone. From what I understand, the MC put out an order that her life be as hard as they could make it without killing her.’ Specs informs us, and I’m not surprised somehow.

Placing an image on the table of the woman in her prison garb when she was sent down and one of the woman in the diner has far too many similarities not to be the same person.

The hair color is wrong, but dye will do that. The eye color is not correct, but contacts will sort that. But as I’d seen before, her mouth, cheeks, and eye shape are the same. If you place one image over the other, it shows the same person.

‘It’s the same person,’ Drag says and blows out a breath he must have been holding.

‘I think so,’ Specs states. He brings up more information, ‘I printed off all I could find from newspaper reports at the time and the court transcripts. I think you were right, Pres, she was railroaded, now by who and for what reason I don’t know.’ he continues, ‘Miriam had been the ol’ lady of Gunner for five years, brought the kid up from 2 years of age. The odd thing is that not one single word has been recorded from Miriam.’

‘Okay,’ I run my hands down the back of my neck, ‘Buzz take Mav and pick her up as soon as you get the chance. Bring her back here. I don’t want her hurt at all. I just want to know what happened and who railroaded her.’

‘Why Pres?’ Buzz asks me, looking at me intently, ‘What does it matter to us?’

‘It doesn’t, but I don’t like it. I have that itchy feeling, and I just gotta know what the fuck happened and if she did do it. My gut tells me no. Suppose I’m just fuckin’ nosy.’ I state and then walk out of Church and head for my office.

Mia

It’s time to move. I pick up my backpack and look around at the apartment, where I have found a small amount of peace. Now it’s time to move and get far from here while I can.

I leave a note on the counter in the kitchen for Suzie to find and leave locking up the diner’s back door and sliding the key under.

Thankfully it’s still dark, and I can move before the town starts to wake and people see me walking around town. I need to get to the bus station, and on the first one out of here, it doesn’t matter where as long as it takes me away from here.

Walking along the side of the road, I keep looking at the treeline on my right. I’m sure I keep hearing an animal moving around. Nerves start to grind, and I take my blade from the holder on my calf. Squeezing the handle gives me a feeling of being in control, and I start taking calming breaths as I walk, listening for any movement.

Hearing bikes gets my attention, and when I see headlights coming towards me, I quickly jump into the treeline and place my back to a sturdy tree but turn my head so I can watch them pass.

As soon as they’ve passed, I get back on the road and power walk to cover as much ground as I can. I may need to run, so I want to keep some energy for that if it’s needed.

On the edge of town, it’s light enough now that I’m not going to be able to hide anymore. I make it to the bus station and have half an hour to stay out of the way before the first bus leaves.

Picking up a couple of bottles of water, chips, and a newspaper, I sit in the food court, tapping on the table as nerves start to get the better of me.

I keep looking at the clock to see how much longer I have to wait, and with only ten minutes to go, I head for the bus, which now has passengers boarding.

Climbing on, I place myself midway down and sit with my back to the window, hoping no one knows me from the diner. I hear bikes, and looking around, I see two slowing, coming up alongside the bus, so I quickly slide down in my seat and pull the hood up on my hoodie.

A woman pushes me down further, sits next to me, and throws her jacket over me as well as a couple of bags, ‘Stay down; they won’t see with those on top. Keep still and quiet.’

I hear boots stomping along the bus aisle, and the woman sitting here has taken her cell out as she is talking to someone or pretending to talk to someone.

The steps stop, and I can see a pair of biker boots next to the woman’s foot. I hold my breath with fear, but I’ll fight if I have to.

‘You see a woman with long black hair? About five-four in height?’ the biker asks the woman.

‘Nope,’ the woman fidgets, ‘Can you not see I’m speaking to someone?’ she’s good at acting, sounds put out, and if I wasn’t in this mess, I would laugh at her antics.

The biker stomps off, and the woman pats my arm. As the bus sets off, she taps me again, ‘Okay, they’ve driven off, and we’re on our way.’

I sit up next to the woman, look over at her, ‘Thank you so much, that was kind of you.’

‘Don’t care who you are, my lovely, but I know men, and no way was I letting bikers find you, not on my watch,’ she states, grinning broadly at me.

I hold out my hand, ‘I’m Mia.’

‘I’m Chrissie. Nice to meet you girl,’ she responds, grinning again.

We spent the next two hours of the journey talking about everything and nothing. She lets me know she is going to live with her cousin as she dumped her no-good husband, as she calls him.

I tell her about coming out of prison, leaving the diner to get away, and that I didn’t do anything but protect the child, and she believed me, only the third person to hear my story and believe me. It made me feel good. Chrissie gives me her cellphone number on a scrap of paper, and I tuck it into my backpack, I doubt I will ever use it, but it was nice of her to care enough to give it to me.

At the end of the journey, we are in Rainsville, still in Nevada.  The town is small, and I’ll just stay one night then catch another bus somewhere even farther away. Once I’ve done this a few times, I’ll see if I can disappear to a place off the beaten track and make a life. For now, keep moving.