As he sat in the bar after lunch, all Bullet could think about was Mara. He thought they had reached an understanding that first night but he had woken up before her and gone to get coffee and then he had been busy all day. She had been asleep when they came back last night so he'd gone to his own room. When he had gone to her room to get her earlier, she had acted afraid and had jumped when he had tried to hold her.
He had tried to give her a good morning kiss on her cheek but she had turned away. He didn't know what was wrong and felt very confused but respected her by keeping his distance.
Bullet knew he had to talk to her, but what should he say? Should he admit to how confused he was feeling? Declare his undying love for her?
That thought made him stop dead in his tracks. Does he love her? Is this feeling of worrying about her constantly when he's not with her an indication of love? He knew he wanted to hold her. He had never wanted to touch someone as much as he wanted to touch her in his life. He wanted to feel her pressed up against him, to mold her body to his. He wanted to feel her skin against his. To touch every inch of her and to lose himself in her touch.
Holding her in bed that first night had been wonderful and both nights he had dreamt of her and it was more than just a wet dream. He had dreamt of them riding on his bike. Taking her out for a candle light dinner to some place really nice. Of slow dancing with her. Laying under the stars and just talking, making plans for the future and of course, of making love with her.
Not just sex but to really make love to her in a way he had never done with a woman. Doing it the way he had dreamed was so different but he had felt so complete and not just on a physical level.
His normal approach to sex was rather caveman and could be rough at times but with Mara he wanted more. He wanted to taste every inch of her and to revel in not only the feel of her but of her touching him.
He wanted to see her walking down the aisle to him, looking like a dream in a wedding gown with her skirt flared out behind her. He wanted her heavy with his child and imagined them with a couple of kids.
Everytime he thought about her, he felt like he couldn't take a full breath. He was worried that she was going to decide that the biker life was not for her and leave. What would he do if she did?
What does she want? What does she expect of him? Could he be the man of her dreams? She was certainly the woman of his!
He felt bad about how he had acted earlier. He should have gone after her when she ran out of the dining room, not Vie. He just couldn't figure out what had changed overnight.
He had thought that they had agreed for her to be his lady but then yesterday he had been so busy that he hadn't spent much time with her. Now today she was so different. Like she was afraid of him. Had she had a bad dream? Had she felt his morning wood before he woke up yesterday morning and it had scared her? Had she been pretending to be asleep when he had crawled out of bed? He should have stayed in his own room and let her be until she was more comfortable with him. He was kicking himself when Prez came into the bar and then put a beer in front of him.
~~~~~~~
Prez watched him walk out of the dining room and hurried to finish his lunch. He turned to Amanda and she said "Just go. He needs to talk to someone." Prez gave her a quick kiss on the head and said "I love you!"
Then he followed Bullet to the bar. He walked in and saw Bullet sitting at a table near the window, just looking outside. He went behind the bar, grabbed two beers out of the cooler and walked over to the table. He put one of the bottles in front of Bullet and sat down across from him.
"What's up, brother?" Prez asked.
"To be really honest, I don't have a fucking clue! I feel like I'm riding a roller coaster without the seatbelt bar." Bullet said. "One minute I feel like I'm floating among the clouds and the next I feel like I'm hanging on by my fingernails over the pit of hell and seriously thinking about letting go just to make it all stop! Are women always this complicated and confusing? It's only been two days but I can't tell if I'm making progress or losing ground!"
"Welcome to the world of loving a woman. If you think this is bad, wait until she goes through pregnancy hormones. I never know from one second to the next whether Amanda is going to be my sweet loving wife or a screaming banshee or a blubbering baby cutting teeth. I constantly feel like I need to wear a shield over my dick when I approach her lately.
I can not wait for our son to be born but at the same time I'm terrified that I'm going to end up getting one of the ladder two. Doc said it can get even worse after she gives birth. I'm not sure how much more of it I can take but then again, I know I'd walk through the fires of hell for that woman." Prez told him.
"Prez, how did you know for sure that Amanda was the one for you?" Bullet asked.
"From the very first second I saw her, I felt this strange pull in my chest, like I had a magnet stuck in my chest and it was pulling me towards her. But we thought she was married at the time. We talked but I felt like I couldn't move forward because I thought she belonged to someone else. When we ended that crazy cult, I couldn't wait to be alone with her.
When I took her to get her stuff from the Devlin Compound, we found her so-called marriage certificate and she had been right. He had forged her name on it.
Now I'm going to tell you something that I would prefer not become common knowledge. Agreed?" Prez asked.
"Of course." Bullet replied.
"One night I had a dream about Lois. She told me that I had to stop grieving for her and to move on and make a life with Amanda. She said I was holding her to this plane and reminded me of a promise I had made to her when she was dying. She had made me promise not to seal off my heart and to spend the rest of my life grieving for her the way my father had done with my mom. She said that I had been waiting for someone special and that person was Amanda.
At first I thought I was going crazy and that I was dreaming about her out of guilt for being so attracted to Amanda but then she came to me again and got mad at me for not keeping my promise. The more I got to know Amanda, I knew Lois had been right. I had shut myself off and that she was my second chance. I'm so glad I took that chance too. Amanda has come to mean everything to me. I'd give up and walk away from this club before I would take a chance on losing her." Prez said with conviction in his voice.
"Wow! That's intense. I know what you mean about feeling like you have a magnet in your chest. I've felt like that since I first saw Mara. But one minute, she acts like she returns my feelings and then the next, she acts like I'm going to hurt her. I would never hurt her. I just want to love her but she acts like I'm going to rape her. She gets all stiff if I try to kiss her." Bullet said.
"That's because it's not even 2 weeks since she was violently raped when she was a virgin. And he didn't do it just once but at least daily for several days. You know as well as I do that victims take a while to not jump everytime someone moves too quickly around them and rape victims sometimes take a long time before they can become intimate again. Some never do, Bullet. At least not without therapy. Are you willing to wait for her, Bullet?" Prez asked.
"To be honest Prez, I don't really know. I mean I care about Mara but I'm a young man and I have physical needs too and you know I'm not the type to cheat but to give up sex all together? I don't know if I could do that. That's asking an awful lot for someone I don't even really know." Bullet said honestly.
"I just thought of something too. Doc said that she began her cycle the night she got here." Prez said.
"Yeah. Melinda had to send a prospect to the store to buy adult diapers because she can't wear tampons while she's healing inside." Bullet said.
"So you know she's having her cycle? Well, Bullet. That's the answer to the mood swing issue. For some reason, having their cycle throws their moods all out of whack. Lord, I just thought of something. Is what I thought was pregnancy hormones, is what
Amanda is going to be like every month? Oh good lord! I just might start drinking again!" Prez teased but had a confused look on his face.
"Hahahaha! I'm beginning to think I'd be better off staying single." Bullet laughed.
"Well, there are some advantages to it for sure but honestly, there's nothing that feels as good as waking up to a beautiful woman every morning or going to bed with her every night. And in between dusk and dawn can be mind blowing in the best way possible. And I'm sure that once Mara gets over her fears that you two will be just fine. Just give it time and be patient." Prez said.
"I've already asked her to be my lady but I have to admit that yesterday I was so busy that I didn't have much time to spend with her. Do you think she's upset about that?" Bullet asked.
"Oh, I didn't know you had asked her yet. How come you haven't announced it yet?" Prez said and it was like a light had gone off over Bullet's head. "I'm sure the other women have been telling her the rules and Snoop has already announced Jasmine as his lady. I'd bet money that Mara's feelings are hurt because you haven't done the official announcement yet. And until you do, you can bet she's going to be sour with you and forget getting any of that booty." Prez told him.
"Maybe I should just save myself all this grief and buy stock in Vaseline!" Bullet paused to think about it. "Nah! It's definitely not the same!" Bullet laughed and Prez joined in. "Thanks Prez."
"Anytime, Bullet. Now, come on. I promised Snoop a meeting with you and Fist. I've got a feeling I know what it's about." Prez said and pushed himself out of his chair, set his empty bottle on the bartop and together they walked out of the bar.
Prez texted for Fist, Snoop, Thor, Spokes and Wolf to meet him in his office right away as he and Bullet entered his office. Within 5 minutes all of the others had joined them and once they were all seated, Prez asked "Okay, guys. What is this all about?"
"Prez, Fist, Bullet and I talked and we want to go into Hank's tonight to see what is going on inside. We feel that we need to know what the women we are supposed to rescue look like and who the men are and what we are going to be up against. You know as well as I do, knowing the layout is always beneficial but in this case, it's crucial if we are going to be successful." Snoop said.
Prez looked between Snoop, Bullet and Fist and then looked at Spokes, Thor and Wolf. As the ladder three nodded, Prez said "You're right. But we go in no colors and cause no disturbance no matter what we see or hear. None! And I mean that. We can not react to anything we see but keep your eyes and ears open. Remember, tomorrow night we are going incognito. We'll get the women out and we won't be endangering any innocents.
I will tell you this, depending on what we see tonight will help make the decision on whether or not Hank lives beyond tomorrow night. I've kind of been on the bench about how to deal with him. Everything in me says end him. But if we do, it will put us in danger of being exposed and we could all go to jail.
Hank may be the scum of the earth but he's still a business owner of a very popular hang out. He will be missed and being that his cousin is a cop who enjoys his cousin's entertainment venue would mean we'd have a bloodhound on our tail that wears a badge. This might be something that would tie Captain Joe's hands from helping us." Prez tried to explain the dilemma he had been facing on the issue.
"So we go in both incognito and show our faces in public at the same time we end him." Wolf said as if the solution were simple.
"How are we supposed to do that?" Prez asked.
"We do as you suggested by covering ourselves from head to toe and even allow Bullet and Snoop some payback for their women but instead of them taking him out, we let Blaster and Fist use their special skills on him, just a little bit later in the day when we are all out somewhere in the public eye. We could take the club out somewhere altogether or be in several places at the same time. The law would be hard pressed to say that we had anything to do with it and they would have no evidence." Wolf said.
"That sounds great and I think that will work to not only cover our asses but to keep his cousin from coming after us if they think it was an accident." Prez said. "Man, I'm so glad you guys are back!"
"I've got just one more fly in the ointment." Snoop said.
"Uh-oh. I was afraid that there was going to be at least one." Prez said, rubbing his hand over his face.
"Jasmine said she thinks that the upstairs guard, Bubba, and one of the girls have a thing for each other. Or at least that he has a crush on her. They were both there before Jasmine got there so she's not sure how Julia, who they call Juggs, feels about him.
Apparently his face and head are all scarred up from some guy attacking him with a beer bottle one night. Stabbed him repeatedly in the face with the broken bottle before they could stop him. She says he's really horrifying to look at but he's very protective of the women, especially Julia and she's always nice to him." Snoop reported.
"So how about this, didn't Jasmine say that Hank takes Julia out for supplies on Sunday's? We could watch until they leave, then go in and talk to Bubba. If he wants to leave, then we'll wait till Hank comes back so that we can get Julia too and then you two (pointing to Snoop and Bullet) can have your workout.
Then Fist and Blaster can set the place to blow at a later time that day after we're all clear and in a public place. We could go fill up Blue's or the diner. Snoop, can you go get Jasmine, please? I need to ask a couple of questions about times they go away from the bar and how long they are gone. Is there anyone that comes around on Sunday's? I'd also like to know what he drives."
"Sure. Be right back." Snoops said and stood up to leave the room. "Oh Prez, before I forget, will you order her cut for me, please?"
"Sure thing. Good luck!" Prez said and all of the men smiled. Prez shot a look at Bullet but he just shrugged his shoulders.
Snoop left Prez's office and hurried over to the living room where Jasmine was sitting with all of the other women. He motioned for her to come to him and when she reached him, he pulled her in for a kiss then said "Prez has some questions for you. Will you come talk with us, please?"
"He's not going to ask for details about what happened to me, is he?" Jasmine asked nervously.
"No, baby. No one will ever ask you to tell that. I'm hoping that one day those memories will fade and we will be able to make good memories together." Snoop told her honestly.
"I'd like that, very much." Jasmine said with a blush to her cheeks. She slipped her hand into his and they walked back to Prez's office hand in hand.
When they joined everyone around the table, Prez said "Thanks for coming Jasmine. Snoop told us that Hank takes one of the women to town on Sunday's to buy supplies?"
"Yes. That's right." Jasmine replied.
"What time do they usually go? And how long are they usually gone for?" Prez asked.
"Hmmm. Well, they go after Hank wakes up. Usually they leave around 1 or 2 in the afternoon and stay gone for a couple of hours. They always bring back take out food from somewhere depending on what Hank is in the mood to eat." Jasmine told them.
"Does anyone come around on Sunday's?" Spokes asked.
"No. That was our day to rest and clean." Jasmine said. What she didn't say was that that was the day when Hank would let one of them use his bathtub to bathe but it meant that they had to "pay" for the privilege with sex and Hank liked it rough. Every Sunday after dinner, he would pull one of their names out of a bowl and one of them had to sleep with him for the night.
Jasmine was thankful that her name had only been pulled a few times but she wore the scars of her time with him. Hank was cruel and disgusting and he liked sex rough. And he always burned them with the stinky cigars that he always had in his mouth.
"What kind of car does he drive?" Prez asked.
"An Impala. It's yellow. He parks it behind the bar." Jasmine replied, trying to give them as much information as she could.
"Snoop said that there's a chance that the upstairs guard might want to get away from him too. Can you tell me why you think that?" Prez asked.
"Well, I don't know for sure but from things I've heard him say to Hank and the way Hank treats him and seeing Bubba's reactions to different things.
Now this is all before I got there but I heard that Bubba and Julia were in the bar as a couple one night. Bubba got into a fight with a big man because a guy went after Julia and was pushing her around because she refused to dance with him while Bubba was in the bathroom.
When Bubba came out he told him to back off, the guy got mad and smashed a bottle over his head and it broke and nearly knocked Bubba out. The guy stabbed Bubba in the face more than once and cut his face and head all up. Bubba was almost unconscious and unable to fight back!
The bartenders and the downstairs guards finally managed to get the guy off of him and they called Bradley to take him to jail. Bubba spent a long time in the hospital and ran up a huge bill.
Hank paid it but Bubba and Julia had to work the bar to pay it back. Julia said it started off with just waiting tables but Hank said it was taking too long for them to pay it back so he made Julia start stripping and that led to forcing her to "pleasure" the customers with blowjobs and that led to her having to have sex with them.
Hank hangs that bill over Bubba's head every time he gets upset with a man taking Julia upstairs or even touches her and I've seen Hank pull his gun on both of them more than once, threatening to kill them if they don't cooperate. He's even threatened to go after Bubba's mom. She lives just outside of Mt. Steel and is elderly. Bubba goes once a month to see her, to make sure she's alright."
"You told us that there is a small kitchen in the bar? What kind of appliances does he have? Gas or electric?" Fist asked.
"The stove is gas but the rest is electric." Jasmine said.
"What do you guys do on Sunday nights?" Wolf asked.
"Mostly just relax. Catch up on things that didn't get done during the week. Sometimes get drunk and try to forget how shitty our lives are. I want to thank you for helping me. I have a feeling that if I hadn't gotten away from those two guys, I wouldn't have been allowed to leave, at least not alive." Jasmine said.
"Well, we're glad to have you join our family." Prez said. "Now if you will excuse us, we have some more planning to do."
"Prez, I'm going to walk her back to the living room. I'll be right back." Snoop said as he and Jasmine stood up to leave.
"See if you can find Blaster too and tell him to join us." Prez said.
Snoop took Jasmine back to the living room, then went to find Blaster, who was in the gym. "Prez wants you to join us in his office. We're planning for tomorrow's mission." Snoop told him.
They joined Prez and the others and as soon as they were in place, Prez asked, "So. We've decided to go in tonight to check out how Hank's Hangout is laid out and to find out what the women and male workers look like. We're not going to wear our cuts and will enter 2 or 3 at a time. Thor, I'd like for you to be there tonight but not be involved tomorrow. You stand out too much. There are not many men your size in this area but I want your eyes and brain there tonight.
If anyone asks, we're just passing through or looking for work. Keep your stories consistent with each other. Hold your beer and sip at them if you drink them at all. Under no circumstances are you to react to anything you see unless a man is hurting a woman.
Jasmine said there is a guard at each door and one upstairs. The man upstairs has a sawed off shotgun. He's there to keep the women from being hurt while they are servicing men who have paid for time to be with them. Otherwise, the women are supposed to wait tables. He has one stripper that might be performing.
She said there are two bartenders on busy nights, which are Friday and Saturday nights. All of the men are packin' so keep your eyes open and check out what they are carrying. Larry told us that sometimes there is a floater and that he'll be packin' too.
"Tomorrow, we are going to wear our swat uniforms with gloves and ski masks even though the bar will be closed. I don't want anyone being able to ID us, even from a distance.
Jasmine told us that Hank takes one of the women to town to get supplies on Sunday afternoons. We'll watch until he leaves and then go in and get the remaining women and if Bubba wants to come with us, we're going to bring him too. He may not want to leave until the woman that goes with Hank returns.
I would like for us to be inside when Hank comes back. Snoop and Bullet are going to dish out some payback and that's when we will rescue Julia.
Blaster. Jasmine says there is a gas stove in the kitchen. Can you rig it so that it explodes once we are all out and somewhere else? We need a cover story so we are going to take our women somewhere we will be seen when this place goes up." Prez said.
"You know I can. I can either set it to explode at a certain time or be there and flip a switch. Doing a timer is more dangerous so I vote for being there. I'd say that when we leave that we leave the gas on but blow out the pilot light. Give the gas a chance to fill the place up then it will be like lighting a match and the explosion will be epic!" Blaster said with a big smile. He really loved blowing things up.
Everyone chuckled at him and just shook their heads.
"Sounds good to me. Anyone got anything to add?" Prez asked, ready to close the meeting.
"Where are we going to go eat?" Thor asked.
"I vote for Blue's. I could really go for some catfish." Prez said.
"I second that." Thor spoke up.
Everyone agreed that they would just remove their SWAT gear and call the women to meet them at Blues.
By the time they left Prez's office, it was almost time for dinner and since they were now working against the clock, Prez called for church to bring everyone up to date on what they were going to be doing tonight. As soon as everyone was in the room, he banged his gavel to call the meeting to order.
"Listen up guys! It's almost dinner time and I'm hungry." Prez called out. "We have decided that we'll be going into Hank's Hangout tonight to see what the layout is. Now, I know you all want in on this but giving away our numbers could be a mistake so tonight it will be only Thor, Spokes, Wolf, Fist, Bullet, Snoop, Blaster and me on the inside and ........"
Without waiting for him to finish, Chain cleared his throat and interrupted Prez. "Sorry to interrupt, Prez but you do realize that that line up is not only all of our leaders out but our best trackers and demolition personnel, right? Amanda is going to hang you up by your balls if something goes wrong and the law shows up. You are going to want to race the cops to prison."
Prez, Thor and Wolf all looked at each other and Thor said "He's right. We can't leave the club with no leadership. A smaller group might be wiser and less conspicuous. We've always trusted Wolf and team 1 to get us the information we need to infiltrate more dangerous clubs."
Wizard jumped in and said "Prez, I've got a new toy that might help here. I bought a pair of glasses online with a built-in camera and they came in the mail today. Hang on and I'll go get them." When Prez nodded, Wizard jumped up and left the room to go retrieve them.
While he was gone, Snoop and Bullet looked at each other and Snoop said "Prez, no matter who else goes, Bullet and I want to be included. It is our women after all."
"Don't worry, you can go so long as you promise to keep yourselves in check and not lose your tempers, no matter what you see or hear." Prez said and both men nodded their agreement. Their women wouldn't be there after all.
Wizard came back after a few minutes and walked in wearing a pair of glasses that actually looked quite smart. Everyone had expected the glasses to be bulky and obvious but they looked like something that most any of them would wear if they had to wear glasses.
Wizard looked around the entire room, stopping to look briefly at specific things in the room and had his hand in his pocket.
He sat down, opened his laptop, took off the glasses and hooked them up to his laptop. He clicked a few buttons, suddenly the TV screen was filled with a video of him walking from his office to the meeting room, passing Amanda on her way to the bathroom and they all heard her say "Hi Wizard" as plainly as if she was in the room.
Then they saw Wizard enter the meeting room. Wizard clicked another button and there were individual pics of the men and things he had looked at before he sat down.
"Wow! Now that is cool. I never even heard a click when you took the pictures or anything." Prez said. "But none of us wear glasses."
"I don't either. These are clear glass, not prescription. I wish I had known about this before now but I only ordered these about a week ago and haven't had a chance to really check them out yet but if you ask me, this will be a great tool for in the future when we need to gather information before a mission." Wizard said and everyone nodded their heads. "By the way, it was Ivan that found them. That kid is becoming really good on the computer."
"Have you thought of a road name for him yet? His birthday is in a little over a week." Prez said. He had been meaning to talk to Wizard about this but had just been so busy that it had slipped his mind.
"Nothing definite or that seems to really fit him. He's kind of too tall to call Mouse. Circuit is already taken by the MSMC guru. Keyboard sounds too much like a piano player. If I don't chase him out of the office, he'll stay there 24/7 researching stuff and practicing hacking. He managed to find out how to make my wireless cameras send an alert to the computer when they detect movement. We need to work on it because right now, it picks up everything, even stuff like a bunny rabbit or larger." Wizard reported.
Just then one of the prospects knocked on the door and called out "Dinner!"
"Damn! Is it that time already? Where did this day go? Wizard, talk to him about his other interests. We have to come up with something for his name soon. George said he needs more than 24 hours to do our cuts unless we pay a much higher price and Ivan's birthday is in a little over a week.
Does anyone have any questions about tonight?" Prez asked, picking up his gavel.
"Prez, you never really finished saying. Is the whole executive staff going in or is it just my team, Blaster, Snoop and Bullet?" Wolf asked.
"On the inside add Thor to that list. Outside I want designated drivers but not prospects. This is too sensitive and they are under age and that might draw attention. Wheels and Guardian. Park close enough that these guys don't have far to go for cover if they need it but make sure you can get away fast and keep your eyes open for trouble coming in behind them. Everyone, make sure you have your coms charged and ready to go and loaded weapons. Anyone have any other questions?" Prez asked.
No one said anything so Prez banged his gavel. "Let's go eat!"
As soon as they opened the meeting room doors, they could all smell garlic bread and knew that Andy had made either spaghetti or lasagna and everyone hurried to wash up for dinner. The women were already in the dining room so the men all got in line and filled their plates with Andy's delicious lasagna.