Page 23 of Bane's Beginning

“Before we get into this coke shit, does anyone have any other club business they want to discuss?” I asked my brother and gave a quick look around. “Crash, how did the Santoro drop go yesterday?”

“All good on the gun front,” he said. “Luca’s wife is about to fucking pop though. Said he was going to take some time off.”

“Time off?” That came from Ares.

“I didn’t know the mafia took vacations,” I chuckled.

“Fuck, me neither but he said he was going to get us set up with his brother at the next drop so we don’t have to worry about losing money while he was out of commission.”

“Matteo?” I asked and Crash nodded his head. “Circuit,” I directed my eyes to our tech guy. “Can you look into this fuck before our next drop. I’ve heard the dude was a fucking psychopath and I don’t want to go into business with him blindly.”

“Gotcha, Prez,” Circuit said.

“Alright, next order of business,” I sighed. “Overdoses are increasing, it’s safe to say it’s not some stupid kid. They would have changed the batch by now,” I said and my brothers nodded in agreement. “Someone is intentionally fucking with us and using innocent kids to do it. We need to think of a way to find the supplier.”

My brothers looked deep in thought. “I don’t know, man,” Ace said. “We’ve tried fucking everything. Increased security at the clubs, patrolled the streets, sent our girls over there. Hell, we’ve done everything we can.”

I nodded in agreement as I ran my fingers through my hair. This shit was getting old. It would be any day now the feds would look for someone to pin for this. I have been doing all I can to keep the Sheriff happy and out of our business, and we didn’t need this extra heat.

“What if we are looking at it all wrong,” Hollywood said. “We’ve been using club girls and prospects to try and infiltrate on a deal, but what if those aren’t the type of customers they are looking for?”

“What do you mean?” I said, hearing him out. “Well, I think it is safe to bet that whoever is making the drugs is new to the scene and needs to make a name for themselves, build up their clientele. If it were me, I wouldn’t be wasting my time with kids from the wrong side of the tracks. I’d be looking for the ones who are loaded with lots of equally loaded friends so they can spread the word.”

“Well I’ll be damned,” I clapped my hands together. “Maybe you are good for something other than banging bitches.” I smirked and the whole room erupted with laughter. Hollywood laughed and flipped me off. Dude knows he’s a whore.

“What are you proposing that we do?”

“Well, we do have a girl living with us that literally screams stuck-up rich kid,” he said, and I immediately got what he was putting down.

“Not happening,” Ares said, catching on to what he was saying, as well. Thank fuck. There was no way in hell I was putting Thea anywhere near this shit. “Let’s think about this for a minute,” Crash said. “It’s not like we’d be putting her in any actual danger. She was already at Jynx once.”

“And you saw where that got her,” Ares said as his eyes shot to me with a piercing glare. “I didn’t know she was your sister,” I replied to him. “If it means anything, I agree with you.”

“So she fucked Bane, what’s the big deal?” That came from Crash. “She didn’t get hurt or anything. Well, maybe a little.”

“You all sound like a bunch of fucking pussies,” Hawk said before Ares could pop off at Crash’s lewd ass comment and we all turned our heads to look over at him. He didn’t speak too often, but we didn’t care about that. As road captain, he didn’treally need to speak or even make his presence known unless he needed to plan a run. “It’s not like we are sending her on a date with the fucking Russian Mafia. We’d simply be asking the girl to get ready, go to the club and see if anyone approaches her. Same shit she’d be doing if she was back home.”

He was right. I knew he was right, but I didn’t like the idea of using Thea for club business. Not when she was just starting to get used to being here. Hell, what would that make me if I haven’t even taken her on a proper date and I’m already asking her to do such a big favor for the club.

“You’re right, Hawk.” He grunted in response. “What do you think, Ares?”

Ares looked like he could blow his top at any minute, and rightfully so. The entire reason he kept her at bay was to protect her from what the club had going on and now we are asking his permission to put her right in the fucking middle of it.

“Let’s put it to a vote,” Ares said while still looking at me like he wanted to box right here and now. “Alright,” I said and clapped my hands together. “All in favor of asking Thea to help us stake out Jynx say ‘aye’”

I was shocked when all of the brothers unanimously agreed, even Ares. That’s the thing about being a Martyr. We may do some shit that the other brothers don’t like, but we trust each other to always look out for family. We took a few minutes to think through how exactly we want this shit to go down. If we send Thea in, then we can’t be up her ass or we’d raise some red flags with whoever is selling that night. After agreeing to a strategy, the club also decided that I should be the one to ask her. Everyone started to trickle out and I grabbed Ares’ arm to stop him from leaving. “I need to talk to you,” I said moresternly than what I wanted. It was time that I told him that I planned on pursuing Thea and I needed him to know that I was serious about her. No more games.

Ares crossed his arms and leaned against the wall as I shut the door behind him.”You finally telling me that you’re still involved with my sister?”

“You know,” I said more matter of factly than a question. “Yeah, fucker. I know,” he grumbled. “I was waiting until you had the balls to talk to me yourself.”

I let out a sigh. Ares was more than just a member of my club. When Flynn introduced us, I immediately recognized that we had shared some of the same demons and we helped each other get through some pretty dark shit. Of course, Ares had spent much more time in the military than I did, we could still relate to each other and got pretty close. I hated that me and one of my best friends were fighting for no one’s fault but my own.

“You told me to leave Thea alone if I was going to treat her like some hang around, and I haven’t been doing that, but I also haven’t been able to get to know her like I want to because you’re a dick,” I said.

“I’m the dick?” He scoffed. “Maverick, you don’t know the first thing about treating women right and you decided to sink your fucking teeth in to my little sister!”

“Did you?”