“Hey, Gage,” I heard Cole shout as he reached the old timer. “Kill the bike!”
Gage killed the bike and climbed off of it to stand up straight in front of Cole. He may not have been built as thick as his younger counterpart, but he definitely seemed bigger when he wanted to. He was probably former military, probably served overseas with lots of war stories to share.
They looked like they were having words, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. I started walking towards them, as did just about everyone else in the room. Pretty soon, we all encircled Cole and Gage in a semi-circle that left only the bay door open as a way out. I looked around all the stern faces looking at their leader and a member who had have some kind of status among them.
“What’s everyone’s opinion of Gage?” I asked Andre, sort of as an aside. I didn’t want him to think I was trying to drive a wedge between the men.
“He’s a grouchy old-timer. I don’t think anyone really likes him,” Andre said.
“Who’s that?” I asked, pointing at the large bald man with a full, glorious beard and a tribal tattoo wrapping around his shaved head.
“That’s Dante. He’s Cole’s right hand man.”
“He looks like he got kicked out of ZZ Top,” I told him with a light laugh.
“Yeah, he does. Or like he kicked them out,” Andre offered. “I wouldn’t want to tangle with him.”
“I wouldn’t either, but it looks like Gage is about to tangle with both of them,” I told him.
I still couldn’t hear what they were saying, but I saw Gage lift an old battle worn hand and point at me. That was when Cole lunged forward, planting a fist in the old man’s face and shoving him back with a couple of shots to his chest when he didn’t immediately go down.
Dante followed closely behind him. It looked like Gage was trying to crawl away on his back, but Cole stood over him. I clearly saw a hand held up to block any further blows. Cole looked like he said something to Dante over his shoulder, and the muscleman came back inside for Gage’s motorcycle. He lifted it off the ground and chucked it outside, returning to Cole’s side to watch the old man get up and walk to his bike.
He shouted something back at the men standing in the bay door, watching him. He stood up his bike, climbed on, and fired up the engine.
Cole and Dante walked back in to a round of applause from the rest of the MC, myself and Andre included, but Cole shook his head with a serious look on his face. Dante joined the group as everyone went back to what they were doing.
“Thanks, Andre. I’ll take her from here.” Cole wrapped an arm around my waist and started walking me away from the scene.
“So, what just happened?” I asked him timidly.
“I just kicked Gage’s ass,” he said plainly. “He’s been fucking up a lot lately, and it needed to be handled. At the very least, you’re my guest. He needs to respect that. If he can’t, then he doesn’t have to be here.”
“At the least, huh?” I teased him. “What am I at the most?”
“I haven’t decided yet,” he told me, looking me dead in the eye.
“So what happens now?” I asked.
“He’ll probably go to another chapter for a while until he gets his head straight. He may or may not be back. It’s sad to lose him. He’s been with Hell’s Overlords since the beginning, or close to it,” Cole explained, growing introspective.
“Hey, I didn’t mean to cause that kind of trouble,” I said, putting my fingers under his chin and turning his face to mine. “I can leave if you need me to.”
“Don’t be silly,” he said. “You can stay. I want you to stay. But you have to be comfortable with the fact that I’m not going to let any of my guys fuck with you. Anyone who starts anything is going to get the same treatment Gage did.”
“Damn, okay.” I was taken aback by his sudden devotion to me. I was getting too deep too fast. My professional side told me to bail, but my heart told me I couldn’t, that it wasn’t business anymore, and I deserved something real like this after hiding myself away from the world for my work for so long.
Just then, I saw Dante walking over to us with a serious look on his face. I knew that look. It was business. Something was going down.
Chapter 8
Cole
I wasn’t sure what the hell was going on anymore. I didn’t realize what I’d just done until I was talking to Sasha about it. I’d just knocked the shit out of Gage, one of our longest standing members, for Sasha. My relationship with Sasha was just supposed to be professional. I was supposed to just be using my connection with her to get information from her. Instead, I was getting involved and punching out my own men.