My front door opened, and I heard the heavy tread of the Pres’s steps. He had a gait that was slightly off and easily discernable. Grizzly shoved young Simon into the kitchen just as I was pouring a cup of coffee. I handed it off to Griz and pulled down a second mug for me. Then I sat and waited. Simon was jittery, his hands twitching, his eyes darting around the room. He knew something was up, but I wasn’t certain if he was necessarily guilty. I heard the door again and this time the Sergeant-at-Arms, Demon, entered.
“Start talking,” Demon said.
“I-I don’t know what you w-want,” Simon said, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed hard.
“The girl. Who drugged her?” Demon asked.
His eyes went wide and flew to me, then both club officers. “I didn’t drug anyone!”
“Didn’t say you did,” said Grizzly. “But I think you know who did. Or suspect at any rate.”
“I took her two beers, but I didn’t put anything in them. I delivered them myself.” He shifted in his seat. “I’d never do that to a woman.”
“Anyone have access to them before you took them to Elena?” I asked.
Simon’s brow furrowed and I could tell he was seriously thinking it over. “I’m not sure. I had just opened the first one before I set it down on the bar when someone called my name. I only turned away for a minute, maybe two, and then I carried the drink over to the woman in the corner. The clubhouse was packed tonight. I didn’t pay attention to who was at the bar. Colorado said that all women got free beer. I’d noticed the woman at the corner table didn’t have anything, so I was just trying to follow orders.”
Grizzly folded his arms and looked up at the ceiling a moment before directing his gaze at Demon. “Pull the clubhouse tapes and see if you can spot anything unusual. Maybe we’ll get lucky this time. In the meantime, Outlaw, she’s your responsibility. Do whatever is necessary to keep her safe, and make sure she isn’t going to complain to the law about this. Whatever it takes. We’ll handle this shit storm in our own way.”
I nodded but my gut cramped. I didn’t like the idea of bending her to my will. Not like that anyway. I wouldn’t mind commanding her in the bedroom. Shit. My dick was getting hard again. One thing was for sure, I should thank her for curing me. It had been so long since I’d gotten laid, or been able to come, that I was tempted to shoo these fuckers from my house and go jerk one off in the shower. Elena was passed the fuck out and wouldn’t know the difference. I’d be in and out before she even woke up.
“I didn’t mean to hurt anyone,” Simon said. “You know I’d never drug a woman, right? I’m not into that shit. Any asshole who rapes a woman needs to die a painful death, and I can’t think of another reason to drug them.”
Couldn’t exactly disagree with him on that one. I knew all my brothers felt the same. Especially since Grizzly had a tendency to adopt teens who’d been abused in some way or another. His eldest, Adalia, was with Badger now, but the other two were younger. Lilian was all grown up and old enough to have a man of her own, but she was still reserved and jumped at shadows. Silva had done a number on her, and I wasn’t sure if she’d ever fully recover. The Pres had assured her she had a home as long as she wanted, and so far, she hadn’t moved out of his home.
Lilian was actually the second woman the Pres had adopted, and not too long after her, he’d taken in yet another teen, Shella. While Shella had never said anything about being sexually abused, she’d obviously been neglected and had to fend for herself. She was stronger than Lilian, but Griz kept her on lockdown as much as he could.
“Am I in trouble?” Simon asked. “I swear I didn’t know there was anything in her drink.”
“You’re free to go, kid. Keep this quiet for now,” Demon said.
Simon practically ran from my house with Demon following. Grizzly sighed and paced for a moment. I knew he was pissed this happened on his turf. Even worse, it wasn’t the first time. So far, whoever was responsible had been smart enough not to get caught, which just irritated Griz even more.
“When I find out who’s doing this…” He grumbled some more under his breath before coming to a stop. “It’s obviously not Simon. Henry is on the gate tonight. That leaves Beau, Carver, and the four new guys. With Beau’s history, I seriously doubt he’d pull this shit.”
“If it’s even a Prospect, Pres. You know as well as I do it could just be someone who’s here at every damn party. Who would gain anything from this? So far, we caught on before anything bad happened. Those girls ended up with patched members who could tell something wasn’t right.”
He nodded.
“Maybe we’re looking at this wrong. What if it’s not happening because someone wants the girls to agree to anything? What if it’s someone jealous of those women?” I asked.
“You mean another female?” he asked. “Like a club whore?”
“Wouldn’t surprise me. Look at the trouble some have caused for other clubs, and even here a few years back. Tasha poked holes in the all the condoms in the community bowl, hoping she’d get knocked up and land herself the title of old lady.”
Griz snorted. “Like any of us would have claimed her. The baby, sure, but not her. Good thing one of the other girls noticed and reported it. That would have gone sideways fast.”
No shit. A lot of us could have been daddies from that fiasco. Although, after my dick stopped working, I’d often thought that it would have been nice to have a kid. Then I’d lost hope. Until Elena. If my dick was getting hard again, then maybe it would work well enough to make a baby, assuming my little swimmers were up for the challenge. Only one way to find out, but I had to get myself a woman first.
Griz’s phone started ringing, and I recognized the tone. It was Shella. He stiffened as he answered and I tried to tune him out. I could hear the urgency in her voice even if I couldn’t understand the words. Then Grizzly roared like a fucking bear before screaming out, “I’ll kill him.” He ended the call and started stomping toward my front door.
“Problem, Pres?” I called out. “You need backup?”
I heard more growling before he answered.
“No, but Dragon better fucking run.”
What the hell? I stood up and went to the front entry. Dragon? He’d nearly died not that long ago, caught up with some shit that impacted a lot of clubs in the south. I couldn’t imagine him fucking shit up. Although, it seemed the club officers hadn’t seen fit to send anyone after him. He’d been tortured because Griz made a call that had gone sideways.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because he knocked up my daughter.” Grizzly snarled. “Fucker got Lilian pregnant.”
I tried to take that in for a moment. Little Lilian? Pregnant? She jumped every time one of us got too close. How the hell had Dragon gotten near enough to get a baby in her? Not that it seemed to matter right now. The way Grizzly was huffing and puffing, there wouldn’t be much left of the baby daddy once the Pres was done with him. Part of me wondered if I should call and give the guy a heads-up, but if he’d been messing around with the Pres’s daughter, then maybe he deserved his fate. Yeah, it had worked out for Badger when he’d knocked up Adalia, but Griz knew his eldest daughter was head over heels for Badger. With Lilian… well, that was a different story. He sheltered her even more than he had Adalia. And Shella -- I shuddered to think what would happen if anyone even thought of asking her out on a date, much less getting near enough for anything else.