Chapter 9—Cruz
Two days and the bitch hasn’t gotten anywhere. Babs was avoiding her like the plague, and the only reason I knew it was true was because we had Buzz tap her phone. We found out Buzz’s skill by dumb luck talking about how we wished it were possible. Buzz chimed in explaining a bunch of techy shit and set it all up. He then set up all these cameras and video shit around the compound. We could now see who was coming in and out at all times even recording shit at the drop of a hat. Buzz was proving to be a great asset to the club.
Listening into the phone conversation was boring as shit. Mindy only got through that first time shooting the shit about old times. She actually sounded calmer than I thought she would be. But Babs wasn’t biting. Bitch was a bit smarter than we gave her credit for.
Babs’s man Rabbit still hasn’t contacted Diamond, which was pissing him off majorly. Respect in this community was all you have, and when that’s slammed on, there’s nothing left. This shit was going to start a war.
I’m actually surprised that Diamond has held off as long as he has. This laying low shit was weighing on all of us, but we still didn’t know who has the paid hit on Princess. We’ve got some Intel coming in, hopefully this afternoon, and we’re hoping for some answers.
Mel still hadn’t signed the damn papers giving me full custody of Cooper. She hadn’t stepped foot in the club, but had passed through Burnzie that ‘she won’t have some biker princess raising her boy.’ Little did she know that biker princess was more of a f*cking mother to my boy than she’d ever been.
I wasn’t going to be able to put Princess off of it much longer, though. She was riding my ass hard about Mel not getting close to Cooper. The more she asked, and the more I evaded, the more it pissed her off. And a pissed off Princess did not equal fun.
“Church! Ten minutes!” Pops yelled across the room. Each of us placed our phone in the old cigar box on the pool table before entering and taking our seats.
Diamond banged the gavel as he called the meeting to order. “First order of business. Princess. We’re supposed to get the information from Deara today. Any packages delivered need to come to me immediately.” We all nodded.
“Our run tomorrow. It needs to go smoothly. Dagger, Rhys, Becs, Cruz, Pops, and I will run it. G.T., Zed, Tug, Buzz, and Breaker will stay here with Ma, Princess, and Cooper. It should be a day run, there and back, quick.” Everyone again nodded.
“Last order of business. Studio X.” My ears perked up. “Since the shooting, Liv’s been running the show and doing a great job. I know that Princess hasn’t gotten back in because of all this bullshit. I’m thinking we need to get better security there.”
“What do you mean?” asked Dagger. “We monitor the place and do drive-bys all the time.”
“No. I want Becs to start monitoring the books. I want him there also monitoring Liv. Princess will be pissed ‘cause she trusts Liv, and I want to, too, but I’m not taking any chances. We need to get this shit sorted. All in favor.” We all raised our hands to vote yes. Diamond slammed the gavel.
“Cruz. All Princess needs to know is that Becs is helping Liv out. Nothing else, because you know Liv will say something.”
“Got it.”
“Anything else?” Diamond asked, looking out over us.
“I got two extra runs lined up. It’ll bring in about three hundred thousand a pop, but I’ll need G.T., Cruz, Rhys, and Zed to come with me.” Dagger spoke up. “It’s not a long haul, but the runs will take two days. One there. One back.”
“Who’s the run for?” Diamond asked.
“Ransom.” Diamond nodded. We’d run for this guy many times before.
“When is it?” I asked.
“Right after this run.” Shit. That’d mean I’d be gone for three days. Dagger eyed me, “Problem?”
“Nah.” I didn’t want to be away from Princess and Cooper that long, but I’d deal.
Diamond threw down the gavel dismissing us.
“Where the f*ck have you been?” I stared into the eyes of a very pissed off Princess and was relieved I wasn’t on the receiving end of it this time.
G.T. had just walked out of church reaching for his phone. “Around.”
“Bullshit you’ve been around. I’m here all the f*cking time, and you’re nowhere to be seen!” Princess barked, getting close to his face.
“I’ve got shit to do.” G.T. wasn’t getting off that easy, and he damn well knew it.
“I don’t give a rat’s ass what you have to do. I’ve been out, and you’ve seen me…what… two, three times. No, how the hell are you Harlow? Or you doing okay?” G.T. pulled out a smoke, rolling it in between his teeth. “No. You’re f*cking avoid me. So you tell me where the f*ck you have been?” Princess’s anger was shooting off the charts, and I sensed her fists wanting to make contact with G.T.
“I don’t need another f*cking mother. One’s enough. Get out of my f*cking business.”
“Out of your f*cking business? Are you kidding me with that bullshit?”
“All you are is a f*cking ol’ lady, and you’d be best to remember that shit before I lay you flat on the ground.”
“Lay me flat, Gage Thomas.” Princess threw off her leather jacket inviting him.
“What you think that I’m a p-ssy like this guy over here?” G.T. pointed at me as I began stalking towards him.
“Stop!” Princess yelled as she saw me coming. “This is a brother and sister matter. Five minutes in the ring. Let’s see how big of a p-ssy you are.”
“F*ck off. I’m not getting in the ring,” G.T. snapped.
“Yeah. You’ll be there.” Princess turned walking back down the hallway to my room.
“What the f*ck, A*shole?” I said getting close to his face. “Why the f*ck are you gonna provoke her like that?”
“I didn’t do shit. She needs to calm her shit down and remember that bitches don’t run shit here. She thinks she f*cking does, but I got news for her, that shit’s stopping.”
“And what? You’re man enough to stop her?” I laughed knowing that there were only three men that could get through to Princess, and G.T. wasn’t one of them. “Dumbass, she doesn’t think she runs shit around here. You would know that if you got your head out of your ass.”
“You’d be best to put your girl in check.” G.T. crossed his arms over his chest, and the arrogance that came off of him had my hand clenching into a fist wanting to make contact with his jaw.
“That girl is your sister, your blood. You best remember that. Whatever you got up your ass right now, you’d better work that shit out in the ring, and get the f*ck over it.”
“Whatever.” We both knew he wouldn’t back down from a challenge, be it his sister, or not. He wouldn’t come up a p-ssy even if he did get his ass kicked.
The fight went on for much longer that we thought it would. Apparently these two had a lot of shit they needed to work out. Both G.T. and Princess were bloody from face cuts and a bit wobbly from all the chest kicks. They were both still standing, barely. Neither one of them were backing down, which was what I’d expected. They’re too damn stubborn to give in.
“Daddy!” I heard Coop’s small voice behind me as he ran up into my arms. Ma followed closely behind.
“What the hell is going on here?” she barked, causing Cooper to look into the ring. Cooper’s body went ridged in my hold as if he were a statue. Looking at the shock and horror on his face, I didn’t move quickly enough as he got his bearings, wiggling out of my grasp faster than a slippery eel.
Running after Coop, I called his name reaching for him, but he didn’t slow down. “Mommy!” He yelled as he reached the ring with me right at his heels. “Mommy!” he yelled again making my mouth drop to the floor.
Princess stopped sparring with her brother, ripping the head guard off her head. She slipped under the rope of the ring to the floor kneeling in front of him staring into his eyes. “I’m okay, Baby.” Her tone was soft and gentle.
“Hurt. Owie,” Coop said looking at Princess’s face.
“Get me a towel,” she ordered to no one in particular. She wiped her face gently getting rid of some of the blood. “See, Buddy. I’m okay. Just a few scrapes.”
“Why fighting, Mommy?” he asked her innocently. Princess looked up at me, her eyes showing me a small glimmer of a tear that wanted to escape with tons of unanswered questions swirling inside of them. She breathed in a deep breath trying to regain control.
“I was just practicing to be strong. One day I’ll teach you.” She brushed his hair away from his face lovingly.
“I be strong.” He smiled.
“You are Buddy.”
“Mommy?” Princess looked stunned as if she didn’t know if she should answer. She looked to me asking for permission and I, of course, smiled, loving the fact that I was witness to this remarkable exchange.
“Yeah, Baby?”
“You need Band-Aid?” Princess laughed, wrapping her arms tightly around his little body.
“Yeah, Buddy. I sure do. Let’s go find those Spiderman ones. I think that’ll make it all better.” Princess picked Coop up, carrying him to the clubhouse, the huge smile she sported, even with the cut up lip, was beautiful.
“You sore?” I asked, walking into the bedroom expecting to see Princess and Coop hanging out, but only found Princess.
“I’ll be fine.” Her face had been butterflied, and the caked-on blood removed. She was beginning to sport some serious bruises, but her beauty still shined through.
“What the hell was that shit?”
“What shit? My brother or the fact your kid just called me mom?” She glared at me. I didn’t feel the need to touch the mom comment, so I moved on.
“Your brother. What’s going on?”
She blew out a deep breath, “F*ck if I know. He’s been distant since I got out, and when he blew up on me, I couldn’t hold back. Even in the f*cking ring, he didn’t talk to me, though.” She shrugged.
“You two fight like that a lot?”
“We used to. He taught me how to fight and how to protect myself.”
“While I’m gone, you need to work that shit out.”
“Yes… Dad,” her words dripped with sarcasm as she rolled her eyes. “You okay with Coop calling me mom?”
I walked over to the bed, sitting down on the edge. “It’s more of a question of how you feel about it.”
“Why do you do that? I ask you how you feel about something then you turn it back on me. I hate that shit.”
Giving her a sexy smirk, I said, “I’m completely fine with it. You’re my ol’ lady and someday soon, my wife.”
“Wife?” She sounded stunned. I didn’t answer; I just let her sit on the idea for a few. If she didn’t want to marry me, I’d throw her over my knee and spank her ass, and the fact that she hadn’t confirmed yet that she was my ol’ lady was not lost to me.
“We’re leave in the morning,” I said, pulling her out of whatever thoughts were racing through that head of hers as I wrapped my arms around her.
“Okay,” she whispered.
“Be smart. You need anything you get the Prospects to handle it. You keep our boy safe.”
Her eyes narrowed into mine. “Always.”
“You know I wanted to f*ck you, but you had to go get yourself beat the f*ck up. Now I’m screwed.”
Princess moved from her chair dropping to her knees in front of me. “Let me see if I can help.”