Chapter 32

Austin
"Fuck, pick up your phone." I say as I slam my cell phone on the bar.
Max was supposed to be here over an hour ago and I can't get a hold of him. We started church without him and it's over now. He never misses church. I am just about to call him again when he comes waltzing through the doors like a fucking king.
"Where the hell have you been? Church started at eight. As in AM." I shout. I hate raising my voice at him, but he has been acting straggly lately.
"Sorry bro. Rescued a damsel in distress. Had to tow her car to the shop. Guess who it was?" He says nonchalantly.
"I don't give two fucks. We have serious shit going down right now, and if you didn't miss church you would know what the fuck that was." Max's face turns serious and looks around the room.
"What happened?" He asks.
"Jazz was attacked last night in his home. He is not sure who they were or how they got in, but they beat him pretty bad. Irma called me after they left, said some neighbors heard her screaming and when they knocked at the door the assholes took off. Thank God the neighbors know the club so they didn't call the cops. When I went over there, Jazz was trying to clean himself up. Had Abby go over and take a look at his injuries. He'll live but he wants revenge. Thinks there might have been about three of them. Irma remembers them having cuts." I finish, getting enraged all over again.
When I got the call last night from Jazz's wife Irma, she was hysterical. Jazz is one of the older members from when my dad was club president. He was one of the outspoken ones that wanted to see a change in the lifestyle. He was sick of the violence. When I arrived, he was standing on his couch holding his swollen eye with a slab of meat. Took me about twenty minutes just to get a description from Irma about these assholes. Not a lot to go on but it has to be the Road Kings. It's too coincidental.
"Fuck man, so what's the plan? What do you need us to do?" Max asks.
"We need to lay low. I already have some brothers watching the old ladies and kids. This place is on lock down for the time being. We will still work, but try not to stand out too much. We need to watch who we are around. Chance got me a meeting with Snake in a couple days so I'll see where he stands with all this shit. I'm hoping it's just some prospects trying to make an impression. I can't see Snake wanting a war with us. We're out of the drug business now. It's all his anyways." I say rubbing my head carefully. The skin glue has already healed and gone away but the nurse told me that my head may still be tender.
Max agrees and heads off to make some phone calls. I head over to the bar and grab the bottle of jack down. With the bottle in hand I sit on the couch and stare at the blank television screen contemplating what we are going to do. When my father died four years ago, I was afraid I would let him down. He certainly wasn't father of the year but he showed he cared in his own way. I make a mental note to get a brother to watch my mother's house.
Mom was never a constant around the clubhouse, but she still lives in the house my father owned. If these pieces of shit really wanted to hurt us they could attack her based on the fact that his name is still on the damn house. Although I can't see that happening, I still need to make sure she is safe. I lift my cell phone out of my back pocket as it starts ringing. Speak of the devil.
"Your ears ringing mom?" I say with a cheesy as smile on my face. Sue me, she's my mom.
"Why yes, that's actually why I'm calling. I figured between you and your brother not visiting me over the weekend, that you must be too busy talking about how wonderful, beautiful, and an absolute pleasure I am to be around." She says.
I laugh on the phone. I have always adored my mother. She was a full-time student when my father met her. She fell instantly in love, he didn't. Still Thomas "Crusher" Stone knew he had something good, so he stayed. After Max and I were born, she could tell he was slipping. It wasn't until I was ten and Max was seven that she finally gave up the marriage and divorced him. Dad didn't mind too much, he was busy messing with woman ten years younger than him anyways. Mom eventually moved on but never anything serious and never remarried. I think she figured if she filed for divorce than my father would turn himself around and love her. When he didn't fight for her, she lost her passion for loving another man.
"Of course, listen, I'm going to be putting some men on you. Nothing is wrong. I just want you to be safe." Please listen, please listen, please listen.
"The hell you are. I am not going to be having some men half my age watch me through the window. That's how I got in trouble the last time." She says laughing at her own joke.
Max got her sense of humor. I got my father's brooding fashion. Max and I look nothing alike. He took after mom in every way, the blonde hair, the smile, the quick wit, everything. I took after dad, his build, his attitude and quick fuse. I even have his full brown hair. You would never guess we were related.
"Mom, can you just say something like yes, my favorite son, anything you ask, in fact I am currently making your favorite chocolate chip cookies right now topped with Hershey's kisses and when you come over later you can have them all, leave that Max boy at the clubhouse, he is too ugly to be in your presence anyways." I say in a high-pitched voice, then turn around to make sure no one heard me do that.
I hear her laugh on the other side of the phone and crack a smile of my own. After the divorce mom went through a period where it took everything in me to make her smile or laugh. Her depression got the best of her. It took a while but she finally made her way back to us. Ever since I was ten, I always made it my life's mission to make the woman that was broken, smile.
"Okay honey, but I want you over tonight for dinner and you bring that crazy brother of yours with you. Oh, and bring Matthew. Last time I saw him he looked like he could use a mom hug." She says finishing the phone call.
I look down at my phone texting one of the prospects about watching my mom's house until Max and I get there. I see Shane walk in and signal him over to me.
"Anything new?" He asks. I shake my head indicating my answer and he sighs loudly.
"We'll get there brother. Those fucks won't get away with that. You find out anything from Bip?" I ask.
I had asked Shane to track down an informer of ours. Bip is a clown, but he knows the streets like the back of his hand. He used to run with a local gang, but after he got his girl pregnant he broke out of that scene. He still has tons of connections though, which is why I had Shane get a hold of him to see if he knew anything about the attack on Jazz or on me.
"Yeah, something small but still valuable. According to Bip there are rumors going around with junkies that we are still in the drug running business." Shane says.
I am a little shocked. I made it pretty fucking clear a couple years ago that this club was done with that shit. After my father was shot and killed while on a run, I put a vote out to the club about changing lanes. Once we voted, many members left, it took me two years to get the club close to how I wanted it but we have been doing just fine. That's why I don't get why there would be rumors about us staying in that business.
I shake my head at the idea and close my eyes. Feels like my head is going to explode. I fucking hate drama.
"We'll figure it out man. By the way, don't make any plans for tonight. Mom wants you over for dinner. Max and I will head out at about five."
"She making those chocolate chip cookies with the Hershey's kiss?" Shane asks.
After another ten minutes of promising him that those cookies will indeed be there, I head over to the bar. I need a shot of something and the empty Jack Daniel's bottle in my hand is no longer doing anything. I'm currently on my third shot when a hand pats my shoulder roughly, spilling some of my drink.
"Getting into trouble tonight Pres?" Psych asks taking his own seat at the bar.
I shake my head at him and continue to take my shot. Psych is a lot to take in at once. We brought him on pretty quick after we had so many members leave. His name speaks for itself when you listen to him talk.
"Me myself, I'm looking for a little bunny rabbit looking to get plucked." He says confusing the hell out of me.
"What?" I say wondering, not the for the first time, what the hell he is talking about.
"I need a release. Think I'll go find some whole to sink into tonight." He says.
"Sorry, Psych, but I'm afraid being on lock down prevents the abundance of said holes." I say putting the bottle away, no need to be wasted before going to my mom's.
"Damn man, guess I'll just go and beat an egg down from a tree." He says continuing to confused the absolute hell out of me.
I told these assholes we were on lock down. Yet here we are in the middle of the day and they want women over. For a brief moment, a flash of red hair comes through my mind. Not for the first time a certain nurse has clouded my mind. Maybe I should go down to that hospital and apologize to her. After all, I haven't been able to stop thinking about her since that day.