Big Timber (Royal Bastards MC: Flagstaff Chapter #7)

Chapter 7

Timber

I’m honestly relieved the next morning, knowing that Talia will be safely tucked away at the fire house. There’s no telling how long we’ll be tied up in church today, and now isn’t the time to leave our loved ones without protection.

Brick is pulling into the lot at the same time and gives me a nod.

“I can’t fucking imagine what you saw, man,” his deep voice cuts to the chase and I realize it’s the first time I’ve seen him since Me’ansome’s death.

“The sight wasn’t as bad as the smell, if I’m being honest,” I reply, surprised when he grips my shoulder in greeting. “How’s Marcella and your family?”

“All good. She and Collette insisted on keeping the salon open today, so Teague is with Marcella’s parents and her brothers know to keep an eye out,” he informs me as we head around to the side entrance of the clubhouse. “Now, what’s this I hear about you hooking up with Bill Workman’s daughter?”

He laughs, pounding me on the back when I’m unable to conceal my surprise—not that he heard I hooked up with someone, but the mention of her father.

“We were on the football team together. Granted, I was a few years ahead of him, but you live your life here and it’s no different from any other small town.” He pauses for a moment, and I stand to the side with him rather than head straight into church. “In fact, Marcella’s brother is married to a niece of his.”

“Mateo or Alex?” I ask, referencing the two guys I’ve met at the Sunday get-togethers that could be related to Marcella.

“Mateo. She also has a brother named Alex, but not the one married into the Workman family,” he tells me. “Now, you and me? We’re brothers. But, in a way, so are Bill and I. That history pre-dates the Bastards, keep that in mind so we don’t have to have a more serious discussion.”

With his warning issued, he claps me on the back again and calls out to another of the old timers.

“Did he give you his I’m on my tenth wife, and here’s what I learned speech?” Wolfman asks, coming up behind me and I can’t help but laugh, trying to figure out if he’s serious. With Brick, it’s entirely possible that he was married that many times. “Technically, he’s only been married a few times, but there’s also some baby-mama’s in there.”

“No, I got the lifelong friend of your Ol’ Lady’s father warning,” I reply with a shrug.

“Huh. That’s a new one. No wonder it was so short.”

“Get your asses in here,” Axel calls out to the stragglers just as Wolfman and I are taking our seats.

Throttle is the last man in and closes the doors, giving Wolfman and me a nod as he leans against a wall. With him, it’s hard to tell if it was accidental or not, but I soon wish I was standing beside him, so I can better gauge everyone’s reactions to Declan’s plan.

Prez speaks for nearly an hour, calling for silence several times, before he stops to relight his cigar.

Axel continues on, summarizing the reason we’re really here. “Now you all know everything that Diesel, Declan, and I have found out about the international organization over the past few years. It’s obviously bigger than we ever imagined when we started tugging at the little strings. We have neither the manpower, money, nor reach to truly hurt the organization. Honestly, right now we only have enough hard evidence to take down the McLillians’—Joey’s mom and stepfather.

“We’re one of the original Royal Bastard chapters, but the code on the wall behind me no longer seems to matter to National. The loss of one of our allies, regardless of the family connection, didn’t mean shit to them. I want to be very clear—we are not saying that anyone from the Bastards are responsible for what happened here. If anyone here thinks that our chapter is being supported as equal members, speak up.”

“You are saying you want to bring us independent?” Brick asks, sounding incredulous as he stares down the table at Declan.

“Independent is one route,” Declan carefully responds. “Your other options are voting No Confidence in me, or I’ve also secured an offer from the Northern Grizzlies MC. They’ll patch us over immediately.”

“At least they sent representatives for Me’ansome’s last ride,” Throttle inserts.

“How does that even work?” Tonic asks and I can tell his leg is bouncing a mile a minute by the way he’s shaking. “I’m guessing it’s more involved than you sending National a text and we all get new cuts.”

“Vote first,” Axel says, holding his hand up for silence. “Does anyone want to challenge Declan for the gavel?”

I let out a breath when there’s a hardy round of No’s around the table.

“Before you vote on the next question,” Declan continues without hesitation. “If we elect to leave the Royal Bastards, but you want to stick with them, then you get up and walk out of here.”

Diesel gets up and starts to distribute a ballot.

“Fuck that,” Brick says, refusing to take one as he leans back and crossing his arms over his chest. “Independent twenty or thirty years ago was doable. Today it’s not. Flint and Jasper are solid. I vote Northern Grizzlies.”

I immediately call out an aye and it’s echoed most of the way around the table—until Tonic.

“Can I think about it?” he asks.

“In or out?” Throttle insists, glaring at him.

“Out,” Declan answers for him. “Pack any shit you have in this building and go.”

“But—”

“My house. My rules.”

As Tonic looks at the guys around him, Axel stands up, pulling his blade from the sheath on his belt, and his long legs deliver him to Tonic in seconds.

Terror flashes in the seated man’s eyes as Axel leans down to start sawing off the word Flagstaff from the front of his cut. Once he’s done with that, he pushes Tonic’s head forward, where it momentarily bounces off the table.

When Tonic tries to straighten up, the men on either side of him reach over, each one securing one of his shoulders so Axel can remove the chapter from the back of the cut.

“Son of a bitch!” he calls out. Tonic’s cheeks are flushed with embarrassment, still struggling against those holding him down, as his dark eyes stare down the table length at Declan. “You can’t do this. They’ll take this all back from you!”

“I own this land. And this building. I will protect my brothers, I always have,” Declan drawls out. “Now, why don’t you run along before I show you what I do to snitches?”

“Maybe you and me should have a little chat, Tonic,” Wolfman’s low voice rings out and I’m only now noticing that he moved to stand near the door.

“He ain’t worth your time.” Axel chuckles, nodding at the men to release Tonic.

“Anyone who wants to leave, do it now—no questions asked. If you want to remain Royal Bastards, I’ll trust you to remove Flagstaff from your own cuts. However, Tonic here leaves on foot since he hasn’t repaid the loan I gave him to buy his new bike,” Prez explains, exhaling a large plume of smoke like he doesn’t have a care in the world. “Unless you want to call National to ask them for the balance, Tonic? I haven’t been able to get anyone on the phone, but maybe you have a different number?”

“This isn’t over,” Tonic snarls, shooting out of his chair as soon as Axel allows him to back up his chair.

“Maybe your wife or your side-piece will help you out with the balance?” Diesel taunts him as he darts out the door with Wolfman just behind him.

“Prez? I joined up wanting to be a Royal Bastard. No disrespect to you or any man in this room, but I’d like to stay one,” Jeeves speaks up, looking nervously around him.

This doesn’t come as a total surprise, the guy’s only had his patch for a few months, but I doubt he realizes that just walking into a new chapter is going to be difficult. Especially if National doesn’t take our leaving well.

“Understood. Stay the night if you need to make a plan and reach out if you need anything,” Declan responds, not looking overly surprised. “Throttle will make sure your current paycheck from The Office gets to you.”

“Thanks,” Jeeves says, looking guilty as he stands to go. “I’ll send when I figure out where to land. I owe some of you, one way or another—I won’t forget that.”

“Anyone else?” Declan gives his final warning after Jeeves’s departure.

“Me,” Ferris calls out. He’s by far the oldest member in the room, which might explain his loyalty to the Bastards. “It ain’t for no reason other than I want to fucking retire. My wife wants to move down near her family in Tucson. If I can be of help in any way, you call me. My walking away now doesn’t mean that I’m taking sides.”

“I’ll miss you, old man. I was hoping for some advice on our next steps,” Declan graciously responds, making Ferris look pleased.

Once he’s gone, Declan continues. “Are we all agreed on patching over then?”

His eyes rest on me for a second longer than I’m comfortable with and I wonder what he has planned for me going forward.

“Issues with Tonic aside,” Cash pipes up. “I’m wondering about his point—how do we go about leaving the Bastards?”

“Since New Orleans is dodging me, and I refuse to talk via a go-between, I’ll head to the rally next week and deal with it there.”

Axel’s head swings around with Declan’s answer, so this was obviously news to him.

“I mean it,” Prez says, looking directly at Axel.

The room erupts. Declan’s temper is legendary and the fact that he’s had to spend much of tonight asking permission from men that he’s led for over a decade, it’s surprising that he has stayed as calm as he has.

“Meeting is over,” he announces, standing and exiting without another word.

I stay in my seat as the majority of the men file out. Diesel and I sit facing each other, almost waiting each other out. Wolfman re-enters, his eyes quickly scanning to see who’s left in the room before he closes the door behind him.

And that’s when I realize I have no business still being at the table. It’s not unusual for the officers to iron out the details after church, but that’s above my pay grade.

“Stay a minute,” Declan says when I stand to go.

“What’s up?” I ask, pretty certain that I already know.

“Are you sure about giving up your Royal Bastards patch?”

“They were a place for me to go when I was transitioning out of my old life. Honestly, as a Nomad, I spent the most amount of time in Ohio and Virginia. Hell, it was after I met you in Roanoke that I decided to come out this way and see what it was like,” I answer Declan after pausing for a moment. “I don’t really know the guys who run the national chapter of the Northern Grizzlies, but the men in Roanoke chapter were pretty solid guys. I’d hang out with Vector and Roman from time to time and inked a handful of those guys.

“The short answer to your question, is that I like it here and it’s an easy distance to where my sister lives. What is it you really want to know, though?” I ask him in return.

“Tonic was our Road Captain and we’d like to put you up for that spot. Besides those duties, we’d also like you to assist Diesel with different security related aspects,” he responds, leaning back in his chair.

“Security?”

“Surveillance and enforcement, when needed,” Diesel clarifies.

Considering his work happens in front of a monitor, I immediately know that when he says surveillance he means out in the field, and for the first time in my life I have someone else to consider.

I take my time, studying each of the men—my brothers—in turn, trying to figure out what they think is coming, and again wonder why Throttle sent Dylan to her parents’ house.

“You’re not worried about the Royal Bastards,” I hedge, fishing for more information.

“No,” Axel responds. “They’ll bluster a bit, but it’ll settle down without much fuss.”

“As long as they respect our territory,” Declan amends that statement. “They don’t know our border protocols or my contacts in Mexico, so their pipeline might suffer for a while, but they have their own in other areas.”

The grin shared among Declan, Diesel, and Axel tells me that their contacts are probably from the same place they grew up. Keeping my face passive, I have to wonder about the nuns that ran that place and if any of the former orphans in their care actually ended up on the other side of the law from where these three are sitting.

“So, you need someone out in the field?” I ask, bringing the conversation back to their expectations for me.

“From time-to-time,” Diesel responds after a nod from Declan. “And not alone. You pick someone you trust to have your back. There’s a lot I can manage from here, but sometimes an actual pair of eyes evaluating a situation is more important.”

“As you all know, my personal situation has changed,” I respond. “I can’t outright commit to this without considering how it will affect Talia. Does that take me out of the running for Road Captain?”

From behind me, Wolfman claps me on my shoulders and lightly shakes me as he laughs. “I told you he was all-in with his firefighter.”

With his words, I look around, wondering if this was a test.

“Road Captain is yours if you want it,” Declan answers me. “We can get you the votes. And as far as the extra help we’re looking for, we’ll take situations as they come. I’m not looking to lose anyone else on my watch.”

“That being said,” Diesel pipes in as he pushes his chair away from the table and stands up. “I’m tracing a few leads on who killed Me’ansome and will need some help with that. But now, I need to get to The Office. Why don’t you follow me, and we can talk there?”

I nod without immediately following him.

“Why’d you cut his patches off? Why not just take his cut?” I ask Axel, and for the first time in weeks I see that man smile.

“For the sheer joy of knowing he’s out there on foot with a raggedy ass cut on,” he replies with a shrug. “Fucker’s too pissed off right now to think about removing it, but the next Bastard he crosses paths with—he’s going to remember seeing Tonic like that.”

“And that’s the image that’ll stick.” I nod, seeing Axel’s point before looking back to Declan. “If you’ll see to getting Talia’s cut, I’ll handle her ink.”