“What?” I urge him to keep speaking.
“I don’t wanna fuck this up, what we have here, what this is,” he holds our hands up, looking down to our clasped hands and then into my eyes. “As much as we try to fight it, we do have somethin’, Shi.”
He’s right. We do have something. Little does he know just how fucked in the head I am from my past. He knows parts of me, but Hammer doesn’t know everything, and I’m terrified to pull down the curtain.
I’m afraid he’ll run out of my life like everyone else has.
Chapter Seven
Only the weak are cruel. Gentleness can only be expected from the strong
~ Leo Buscaglia
Hammer
“How the fuck does something like this happen?!” Zane roars in the room where we hold church, nostrils flaring, furious at the stupidity of Bama. He didn’t tie the restraints on Donnie tight enough and the fucker got loose. Hell, he cut Gears lose too, but much to our surprise, Gears didn’t go anywhere. He said he didn’t leave because the second he leaves this clubhouse, he’s dead now, and he knows it, how Boomer’s men are going to be hunting him like a rare beast.
Bama’s in the room, which is unusual, but the kid’s getting rammed by Zane right now. “I’m so sorry, Prez. It won’t happen again. It shouldn’t have happened. I’m so fucking sorry.”
“You’re damn right you should be! You know where we found Donnie this morning?!” Zane’s voice grows louder and louder. Hell, he’s probably makin’ Bama shit himself right about now.
“No, Prez. I don’t.”
“Shot in the back of the head, execution-style in downtown Billings. We only got a little bit of information from him and now we can’t get anything else. Fuck. Now we’re nowhere!” Zane slams his hand down on the table. His face is turning red and I’m sure if he doesn’t take a second to breathe, he’s going to stroke out.
“I’m so sorry. What can I do? What can I do to repay this?” Bama asks like any decent person would.
Zane looks to Bama and glares with all his might. “You can get the fuck out of this room before I wrap my hands around your scrawny chicken neck.”
Bama does as Zane orders and rushes out of the room, lucky he even left with his life.
“We all know the General’s dead. No way this is the same guy,” Bull speaks up first, making his thoughts known.
“Bull is right. This has got to be some sort of copycat,” Tex is the next one speaking.
Zane nods, listening to both of the brothers. “I know. It has to be some sort of copycat. There’s no one else it could be.”
Now, I’ve never gone up against Zane, but I don’t agree with what he’s just said and I’m not going to shy away from it. “Prez, the logo was exactly the same. No one was trying to copy him, trust me. Do you see the small imperfection in the logo across the middle? That was on the General’s supply before, and it’s on it now, which means it’s the same stamp . . . and you know what that means.”
We all heard rumors the General was never in charge, but it was the Commander. The one calling the shots on the streets was the General, but there was a man above him. That’s who I believe is behind this shit. Who else would be going around using the same stamp? Donnie had been dealin’ in Billings for years now and he always dealt the General’s shit, so why the fuck would he deal for a copycat? Easy. He wasn’t.
“I get what you’re suggesting, but we don’t have proof. I don’t do shit unless we have facts, not assumptions,” Zane states.
“I know you don’t, so why don’t I go and find some hard proof this is legit?” One of the perks of knowing Zane this long is knowing how the guy operates. I can usually avoid getting into confrontations with him because of it.
“Fine, but Razor’s gonna help you. He has a bit to prove to me if he wants to end up bein’ the VP down at Amara’s charter.
I nod, perfectly fine with what Zane’s said. “Sounds good. I’ll get started on some stuff later.”
“Good. Now that this is out of the way, Zorro, I want you to come down to the barn with me in a bit. Need to figure out what Gears knows,” Zorro smiles devilishly at Zane’s order. The man is as fucked up as us all, but he loves him some fresh blood.
Zane ends church and we all go our separate ways, but before I head out with Razor, I need to go off with Oakleigh to the small lab in town. I got us an appointment in forty-five minutes to see if she’s my daughter. I’m sure the results won’t be instantaneous, but at least it’s one step in the right direction.
The fact of the matter is this young woman could very well be my daughter, and with everything going on with my dad right now . . . I don’t think discovering we have more family could be a bad thing. This could be a huge blessing in disguise, and Shi helped me realize that last night. I ended up taking her back to my bedroom, but we didn’t do jack shit. I just fuckin’ held her against my body until I fell asleep. I know one thing for sure—my bed will never be the same again.
Chapter Eight
Strength doesn’t come from what you can do, it comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn’t.
~ Nikki Rogers
Shiloh
Ashley came home from the hospital yesterday and Rory looks just like Blackjack. She has the darkest hair like it was plucked straight from a raven. She even has her father’s eyes, and while Fist and Noelle are obviously her siblings, too, I think Blackjack’s features are all over this little
