“What happened?” Blaine asked.
“Come on,” Gaige said. “We have to go visit some old friends.”
“What the fuck happened?” Blaine yelled.
“They want us to be on Ethan’s radar,” Miller said. He started his motorcycle and everyone followed suit.
Blaine hurried to his ride and made sure to stay up next to Miller. If there was going to be bloodshed, the President needed to be fully protected at all costs. If anything, Miller should have been in the middle of the pack or in the back. But Miller would always refuse that.
When they hit the streets, the motorcycles were like rolling thunder. Plenty of people in town weren’t sure about the MC but everyone deep down inside knew that Frelen was safer with the MC there.
The wind ripped at Blaine’s face and he thought about Ethan. The new chief was going to be a big pain in the ass. There was no way they could just kill the guy either. It would bring too much heat on the MC. So they’d have to deal with Ethan. Keep their noses clean or maybe Ethan would see the pressure from the other crews and towns. Hell, all Miller had to do was pull back and let the shit bleed into town. Ethan wouldn’t be able to keep up and he’d be begging for the MC’s help.
They all rode to the east side of Frelen. A little bit of a rundown part of the town, it was famous for drugs, violence, and plenty of domestic calls. Not to mention it was like a cesspool for other crews to sneak in, make a few bucks, and get the hell out.
That wasn’t happening today though.
There was a woman standing with messy hair, a long t-shirt with holes in it. She had a cigarette in her hand and she sucked on it like it was an inhaler keeping her alive. There were two kids clutched to the woman’s legs. One boy, one girl.
As Miller stopped, a man came out of a ground floor apartment building. His face was bleeding. He hurried and took out a gun, causing both kids to scream. That made everyone in the MC draw their weapons. Blaine jumped off his ride and rushed to the guy.
“What the hell are you doing?” Blaine asked. “They’re going to light you up.”
“I don’t give a fuck,” the guy said. “They fucking roll in and fucking shoot at my fucking family. They fucking hit me, take my money, give me nothing good.”
“Whoa, whoa,” Blaine said. “That wasn’t us, brother. We got a call to come down and help. They were a different crew.”
“Reggie! Put the damn gun away.” The woman yelled. “You're scaring the kids.”
“They ain’t mine. You need to shut your fucking legs, woman.”
“Holy shit,” Blaine said. He put a hand to Reggie’s chest. “Go clean yourself up. You come out here again and I’m going to shoot you.”
Blaine then went to the woman. “What happened?”
“You heard it,” she said. “Two came in and they beat up Reggie. He was just trying to buy stuff. He had good money. He had my fucking money.”
“Okay,” Blaine said.
He touched the woman’s shoulder. She was boney everywhere but her belly. Her shirt went down past her knees. She had no shoes on. The kids clinging to her looked tired and terrified.
“So what are you going to do?” she asked.
“We’re going to find who did that and make sure it never happens again,” Blaine said. “I need you to work with me, beautiful. Okay?”
“I ain’t beautiful. Don’t butter me up, asshole.”
Blaine stepped back. Miller and Gaige came forward. Nate, Jace, and Landon stood with their guns out, eyeing the rest of the rundown apartment building.
Blaine crouched and looked at the kids. “You kids like magic?”
The girl nodded. She had greasy hair stuck to her face.
“Don’t talk to strangers,” the boy said.
“That’s good thinking,” Blaine said. “So you don’t have to talk to me. But I’m going to show you a magic trick. I can make a quarter appear behind your ear.”
“No you can’t,” the boy said.
“Devin,” the girl said. “Stranger.”
“He ain’t no stranger. He’s going to kill us.”
“Whoa,” Blaine said. “I’m not going to kill you. I’m just… wait a second…” Blaine reached out and flicked the kid’s ear. “Ah, look.”
He opened his hand and there was a quarter.
“Wow,” the little girl said.
“Can you do that fucking trick with the rent money?” their mother asked.
Blaine closed his hand. He shook his hand and let the quarter slide away. When he opened his hand again, the quarter was gone.
“Ah, man,” Devin said. “A quarter…”
“You kids do good in school?” Blaine asked.
“She does,” Devin said. “I don’t give a damn.”
Blaine touched the young boy’s shoulder. “You should give a damn. The greatest thing about life, my man, is that you can change anything at any time. Remember that.” Blaine reached into his pocket. He took out some cash. “I want you each to take this and get yourself something nice. Okay?”
Blaine stood up.
“What the fuck was that for?” the woman asked.
“How much did they take?”
“Fifty,” she said.
“Here,” Blaine said. “There’s sixty. Don’t give it to Reggie.”