Page 32 of Allegiance
Tank
“I don’t thinkhe’s coming, bro,” Maniac surmised.
Tank cursed under his breath and rubbed his jaw, still watching the entrance to the clubhouse. As much as he hated to admit it, Maniac was fucking right: Raptor wasn’t walking through those doors. Church was supposed to have started fifteen minutes before, and the members were getting antsy.
“If any of us were late for church, Raptor would tear us a new asshole, so why the fuck are we letting him get away with this shit?” Shark fumed, pounding his fist on the table.
“This disrespect is more fuckin’ proof that the brotherhood isn’t the first thing on his mind,” Hammer growled. There was a low chorus of agreement from the back corner where a majority of the vice president’s supporters hung out lately since the dissension in ranks. “Are we just gonna wait for Raptor to decide we’re more important than whatever else is going on in his life? Suspend everything we got going on within the club until he decides to give a fuck? The club isn’t something a president can ignore until the fuckin’ timing is right forhim. This disrespect is a reflection on his fuckin’ view of the brotherhood as a damn whole.”
Hammer stalked around the room, gesturing with his hands and getting the men riled up. Ignoring the small tick in his jaw that was quickly working its way into a headache, Tank tipped his chair back until it rested against the wall. The whole damn situation was a total clusterfuck. He didn’t see any way through or around it, so long as Raptor kept fucking up his responsibilities.
Tank probably understood what Raptor was going through more than most of the brothers. He knew what it was like to have a family member sick as hell, needing attention and support. That kind of fear and sadness rocked through a family and never let up, not until there was a miracle and the person got better, or…Fuck.Tank shook his head, unwilling to think of the other alternative. Either way, he and Raptor were in the same spot. Raptor’s son was fighting for his life, and Tank’s mother was slipping away. Family was damn important, and that was the one constant he and his president shared above all else. But Tank understood where the members’ anger and sense of betrayal was coming from, and that couldn’t be ignored.Yep, nothing but a damn clusterfuck.
Groaning, he shifted up and out of the chair, tuning out whatever the hell Hammer was saying, which was getting a rousing chorus of cheers from his cronies, and a few of Raptor’s followers. He assessed the men in the room, noticing a good majority of them were listening to Hammer. Raptor still had allies in the clubhouse, but they were decreasing by the day, and him not showing the hell up for church hadn’t helped the situation.
“Fuckin’ hell,” Tank muttered under his breath as he walked toward the door, slamming his empty beer bottle on the bar top so hard, he thought it would shatter in his hand.
“Going somewhere, Nomad?” Hammer’s gruff voice echoed through the room as soon as Tank’s boots hit the threshold. “Are you just now realizing your president can’t be fuckin’ trusted? Reality stings like a swarm of damn wasps, doesn’t it?”
Hammer chuckled along with his army of jackasses.
Clenching his fists at his sides, Tank didn’t bother acknowledging Hammer before walking out of the clubhouse and into the humid air. The sunlight pierced his eyes and he squinted, fumbling at the same time for the pair of sunglasses in the inner pocket of his cut. The asphalt radiated the heat of the day, and he pounded the pavement until he was next to his bike parked under a tree. Shit had to be straightened out, and he wasn’t going to sit by while Raptor got his ass handed to him by a selfish, greedy motherfucker whose goal was to bring back anarchy, pain, and a shitty lifestyle for the members and the town. When Raptor had taken the reins, he swore to the townspeople that the club would make sure the shit imposed by the old regime wouldn’t continue, and he kept his word. For the most part, the Jagged Outlaws were respected by the citizens, and they appreciated the MC’s diligence in keeping the cartel out of the area and the town safe from rival clubs and gangs. Now, Hammer was hell-bent on destroying all the trust and respect Raptor and the members had worked so hard to build.
Tank’s hands curled around the handlebars as he threw his leg over his baby and sped off, heading for Raptor’s house. He was done giving the president the benefit of the doubt. The brothers in Raptor’s corner treated him with kid gloves, but Tank wasn’t doing that shit. Nowhewas handling it before shit got worse for everyone.
Less than twenty minutes later, Tank walked up the five brick steps and rang the doorbell. As he waited, he couldn’t stop staring at the overgrown garden in the front of the house, the broken porch swing, and the dead flowers in the hanging basket.I guess the club isn’t the only thing Raptor’s neglecting.
There was a creak of metal hinges as the door opened a crack, and Raptor glared out at him.
“Hey,” Tank greeted.
Eyes widening, Raptor rushed outside and shut the door behind him. Wrapping Tank in a tight bear hug, Raptor said, “It’s been too long,” as he released him. “How’s your ma doing?”
Rocking back on the heels of his boots, Tank shrugged. “Could be better.”
Raptor looked down at the ground. “I’m sorry, man. It fuckin’ sucks to see someone you love suffer and not be able to do a fuckin’ thing about it.”
“Yeah. How’s Nick doing with his treatments?”
“He’s a real trooper, but they’re brutal,” he replied, a hint of sadness in his eyes.
For a moment or two, silence fell between them.
“So what brings you over here?” Raptor asked.
“I’m sorry for the intrusion, but you blanked on church today.”
“Shit.” Raptor slammed his hand against the brick, muttering a few other choice words. “You know how things are going here right now. It’s hard.”
“I get it.” Tank rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s not just missing today. From what I hear, you’ve been scarce for a while now, and this isn’t the first church you’ve missed. There’s some serious shit happening at the club. Hammer’s vying to knock you out and take over. A lot of members see you not showing today as disrespect. It’s just a matter of time before you lose everything you worked so hard to build.”
Tank waited for Raptor to say something, but he stood there, mute.
Breathing in deeply, Tank leaned against the brick wall. “I get that shit’s hard right now, but you gotta lock it in and take care of business, because Hammer’s working you out and taking your place. He’s already reinstated extortion on Main Street and enforcing protection blackmail. You got the club outta that fuckin’ game years ago for a reason. The fucker’s also talking about getting back into the prostitution and drug business, which means forcing women to do some terrible shit and bringing in the cartel. Jagged Outlaws under your reign have made a tacit agreement with the town council that we could protect their way of life if they turned a blind eye to some of the low-level shit we do, like selling weed. Hammer’s aiming to destroy all of that. He’s got a whole list of shit he wants to change. The asshole is squeezing you out and going back to the old ways, turning brother against brother. And do you think the town council’s gonna go along with that? The minute they get wind of the shit Hammer’s pulling, they’ll have ATF on our asses.”
Raptor’s shoulders sagged. “I know.”
Tank felt as if someone had punched him in the gut with a pair of brass knuckles. For a beat, he couldn’t quite breathe right. He cocked his head, hoping maybe the words he’d heard were wrong. “You fuckin’know,and you’re not doin’ shit about it?”
