Page 59 of Wheelie's Challenge
Banger took a deep breath and let it out slowly, his gaze fixed on Wheelie. “Now we gotta decide if Wheelie’s ass is outta the club for betraying a brother by fucking his old lady.”
“Get ready to get your back patch burned off,” Skeet said, venom in his voice.
If a member was thrown out of the Insurgents MC for disloyalty, he didn’t have the option to remove or black out his full-patch tattoo on his back—instead, it would be burned off. Considering that the tattoo covered the whole back, at best, the member would be severely burned and deformed, and at worst, he would die.
“You got something to say before we vote?” Banger asked.
“Don’t matter what he’s got to say. He admitted he fucked a brother’s old lady. He’s out.” Cruiser leaned back in his chair.
“Because of the situation with Tigger and his old lady, I want to ask Wheelie when he started fucking Sofia.” Hawk crossed his arms and stared at Wheelie.
“I never had sex with her until a few days ago. She told me she’s leaving Tigger.” Wheelie wiped the corners of his mouth. “I’m not gonna stand before you and lie. You all know me. A lot of you for more than ten years. I fought the attraction I had for Sofia for years and never once crossed the line, but I knew she was done with him. I did go with her while she was technically married, but she’s signed the papers for a divorce.”
“Because of you. You came between them, and you’re making excuses like a pussy,” Skeet said.
“Sofia decided to leave Tigger on her own. She got sick of him beating her, fucking club girls and smearing that in her face, playing mind games with her, and a whole lot of other shit. My feeling is that we failed her as a club. We should’ve put a stop to this long ago.Ishould’ve put a stop to it. But we didn’t. We pretended it wasn’t our problem, but it was. We owed her more than that.”
“The club is for the brothers, not their old ladies,” Bones said, annoyance creeping into his voice.
“But the old ladies are part of the family, and each of us has to respect them. If you say something disrespectful to Belle or Cara or Kimber or any of the other women, you’d feel the wrath of their men. Wearing the property patch means the woman belongs not only to the brother who patched her but to the club. She knows she can count on us to respect and protect her. We didn’t do that with Sofia. We dropped the fuckin’ ball.”
“You still fucked her. If I fucked any of the old ladies, their men would have my ass, then burn off my patch. That’s the way it is. You know that.” Itchy rolled a cigarette then lit it. He’d been an Insurgent for thirty-five years, and he was as old school as any biker could get.
“I did. I admit it. I love the brotherhood. I’ve been there for all of you, and you’ve been there for me. I’m ready to deal with the consequences. I don’t have anything more to say.” Wheelie sat down and put one foot over the thigh of the other.
“I just want to confirm that Sofia has filed for divorce.” Hawk looked at Banger. “I guess we’re ready to put it to a vote.”
As Wheelie heard the first few “yeas” his stomach twisted, but he knew this day would come. He’d be damned if he would’ve lied. An Insurgent never lied to the club and he wasneverweak. After a couple of seconds, the “yeas” stopped. Wheelie blinked and looked up.
“Those opposed to kicking Wheelie out saynay.”
Wheelie stared stoically at each brother as the booms of “nay” bounced off the walls, but elation surged through him as the sweetest word he’d ever heard resounded in his ears over and over again.
“You’re still an Insurgent, but considerthisthe last of your chances for the rest of your life used up,” Banger said as he picked up the gavel. “If there’s nothing else to discuss, we can all go out and get a drink. It’s never easy to cut a member lose even though it’s merited.”
“I got something to say,” Hubcap spoke up. Hubcap had joined up about the same time as Hawk and Throttle, but the last few years he’d been battling cancer, so he’d gone inactive. Having kicked cancer in the ass, he was back in, taking up his old position as treasurer.
“Come on up here,” Banger said, stepping aside.
The blond-haired man stood in front of the members. “I was going over the books for the club’s fund and something didn’t seem right, so I traced all the receipts, inventory, petty cash, expenses, and payroll.” Hubcap took a swig of water.
“And?” Hawk said.
“A brother was turning in phony receipts and had even faked vendors who supposedly fixed shit like leaky pipes, sinks, and other things.” He paused and took another drink of water.
“Did you find out who’s doing this?” Banger asked.
Nodding slowly, Hubcap put the bottled water on the table and pressed his lips together.
“He’s always gone in for drama,” Animal said to Wheelie. “I wish he’d just fuckin’ tell us.” Wheelie chuckled.
Frustration and tension filled the room as all eyes were on Hubcap, waiting for him to tell the members who’d dared to steal from them.
Hawk threw up his hands. “Hubcap… who the fuck is it?”
The biker leaned back and rocked on the heel of his boots then bent forward. “Tigger.”
Cussing and yelling filled the room, and a slow, satisfied grin spread across Hubcap’s lips. Wheelie glanced over at Skeet and saw him whip out his phone and watched his fingers fly.I bet he’s telling the sonofabitch the club’s onto him.Wheelie nudged Throttle and jerked his head toward Skeet. “He’s texting the asshole for sure.”
