Banger pounded the gavel on the old, scratched wooden table the members crowded around for their weekly meeting. The table couldn’t accommodate all thirty members, so metal folding chairs lined the concrete walls of the room. On hot days—even when the cooling system was working—the room was suffocating, but when the air conditioner fizzled, it was a sauna replete with the pungent scent of sweat.
“I know it’s hotter than Hell in here. The fuckin’ AC crapped out again. We got a repair man looking at it, but it’s happening too often. Seems like a good time to take a vote on replacing the unit. It’s gonna be expensive, though, ‘cause the repair guys are telling me that if we replace one, we gotta replace the other two that cool the building.”
“We got the money, let’s get rid of this fucker and get a new one. This fuckin’ sucks,” Bear said as he wiped his brow with the palm of his hand. Bear was large and stocky and didn’t tolerate the heat too well. He was always bitching how hot it was during the summer, and when the first snowfall came, he’d be out in the parking lot, laughing and doing wheelies with his Harley.
“Yeah, we got the money. Let’s vote. Seems like it’s gonna be unanimous, especially since it’s so fuckin’ hot in here.” Banger looked around the room. “All in favor of purchasing a new cooling system, say ‘aye.’ ”
The wave of “ayes” bounced off the walls, and Banger motioned to Jerry to come up front.
“Jerry, go tell that repairman we want to replace the whole system. Tell him I want to talk to him, so he’s to wait here until we’re done. Say, in ‘bout thirty minutes or so.”
As Jerry slipped out of the room, Banger addressed the members. “We got a problem in our county, and we gotta take action right away or it’s gonna be a mess.”
A loud bang on the table brought the eyes of the membership to Axe. He shrugged then motioned Banger to continue. When Axe lifted his hand up, he saw the fucking fly had dodged his fist. Fuck! He swatted the air as its buzzing filled his ears.
“As I was sayin’, we got a problem.” Banger looked toward Hawk, who stood up.
“Yeah, word is meth is being sold in this county.” He wiped the trickles of sweat running down his tanned face. “I know it’s been a long time since this shit has come up, but it was bound to happen. You know we have an implicit deal with the Feds to keep hard shit outta here, and they leave us and our dispensaries the fuck alone because of it. So we have to act fast, before they catch wind of it.”
“I’ll bet it’s those sonsofbitches Dustin and Shack. They’ve been trying to get back at us ever since we put them outta business. We shoulda killed them when we had the chance,” Jax said, his hot face made redder from anger.
The membership emitted sounds of fury, and Banger had to hit the gavel three times before the room calmed down. Hawk shook his head. “It’s not those guys.” He held his hands up, silencing the protests from a few members. “My old lady and I went down to southern Colorado last week for her friend’s wedding. While we were in Puebla, I stopped by the Night Rebels’ clubhouse, and Steel told me the meth was coming from a new MC who’re calling themselves Skull Crushers. The prez said the shit wasn’t coming from the Deadly Demons or the Demon Riders, who we know Dustin and Shack are riding with now, only these punks who’ve started the MC.”
“They wearing a bottom rocker that says Colorado?” Throttle asked, his voice hard as iron.
“Steel says no. If they had that shit on their cut, we’d be talking about a turf war right now. Seems like they’re a group of Neo-Nazi punks who ride rice burners, don’t get what respect is, and think they’re invincible. Fuckin’ assholes who need to be dealt with. Of course, I’m getting confirmation on all that, but once I find out it’s them, they’re dead.”
The membership whistled and held their arms in the air, waving their fists in support of the club’s solidarity. Each and every member would die for the other. The Insurgents were brothers, they were family, and they were loyal to the end. No one messed with them.
Banger stood up, and everyone quieted down. “I’ll take that as a unanimous vote that we stomp on whoever is responsible for bringing shit into our county.”
The guys whistled.
“Okay. Let’s hear from Hawk on the treasury report.”
Hawk opened his laptop and gave a stack of papers to Chas to hand out. Axe glanced at the numbers on his copy, but he zoned out when Hawk started going over them. His mind wandered to the same thoughts it always did since his one-night stand at his friend’s wedding—to the seductress in the celery-green dress. As hard as he tried, he couldn’t rid his mind of the luscious woman who made him come harder than he ever had. Her kisses were the perfect combination of sweet and nasty, and her tits? They were so soft and perfect. He couldn’t get enough of touching her skin; it was like velvet.