These men that moved to start their own chapter in Kanla are the most sort out killers in the fucking world.
Killer alone has eight thousand confirmed kills. Spade is the best in close combat, while Knight is our long-distance shooter, he can make pretty damn any shot.
Zero is our all-round man, and best tracker we’ve got, he aces every fucking aspect of a perfect killer.
Too bad the fucker wants to waste it mooning over Beggar leaving him and not finding her. It’ll make my job much simpler if Zero got off his fuckin’ ass and helped but Prez’s orders were to leave the brother alone.
So far, I’ve listened, but I’m starting to notice a lot of problems surrounding the club. Some of those problems are because of Beggar’s leave.
The way she did it hurt some of them. They trusted her and they believe she betrayed them. If only they knew.
Another problem I noticed since my stay at the clubhouse is the strain from having a sick leader. None of the guys want to be the one to tell Rounder to step down, well none besides Killer, heard the brother told the man to hand in his patch.
He didn’t listen.
Now he’s always fuckin’ sick leaving Storm to take his place. These men aren’t too happy to take orders from Storm, the boy is still a kid.
I look at all my brothers, aware that I can’t particularly blame one of them for this mess because it’s all of their faults. They are grown-ass men.
The one-woman patched in here, Venus has a sweet spot for Rounder. Clearly, they must have something akin to common sense.
They all know I’m aware of the situation happening around them, and that Storm the VP had to step up much sooner than National thought. I won’t comment further.
I can feel eyes on me and I couldn’t give a fuck. This is another problem I’m going to have to clean up.
The club is solid, all good brothers, but they’re fucking blind to think that it’s okay to keep Rounder as their Prez.
I’m not going to like informing National about this because not only is Storm, Rib’s son but someone is going to have to step up and take Rounder’s place and I’m dreading who it’s going to be.
My eyes dart to Zero, the brother looks fucked. When Beggar left apparently the fucker smashed anything and everything he could find.
He even landed a punch to Killer. Worst mistake he made, Killer almost put him in the fucking hospital.
“Heard you getting shipped?” I ask Zero as my fork digs into the sliced beef casserole.
I lift the beef up and put it on my plate then proceed with dishing out veggies and still the brother doesn’t answer.
Finally, I look up and instead of getting pissed I’m surprised to see him glaring at Falon who has since put her hand on his shoulder.
“What the fuck is your problem.” He bellows, throwing his fork on the table.
Falon flinches, removing her hand from his body but it’s much too late.
Shit just got real.
“I’m fuckin’ talkin’ to you Falon. I told you we done. I told you I claimed someone else but you still fuckin’ touch me. So I’m going to tell you this one more time, so you get it in that thick head.”
He looks at her with so much hatred that I kind of feel sorry for her but still you don’t touch another woman’s man when she’s not here to see it.
“I don’t want you to fuckin’ touch me, I already claimed a woman and she sure as shit wasn’t you, and wanna know what she did? She fuckin’ betrayed me. I’m not making that fuckin mistake again, so stay the fuck away from me.”
At that, I glance at the brother as he gets up, throws his chair back that it falls to the ground. We all sit here watching my brother march off.
Fuck, why did National put me here? I’m going to have to make a call, but before I do that I need some good fuckin’ sleep.
Come tomorrow I’m going to be building a treehouse for Jo. So as much as I’d like to follow the brother, I eat my fucking food and don’t ask anyone shit. The tension is thick in the air, everyone wants to leave the table besides Killer and Texas.
The two of them chat about football, loudly, eating more food, in no hurry to leave. And it’s not for the first time I envy them for not having that emotion the rest of us have to live with.
It’s almost nine when I start my bike. I don’t twitch a muscle when Killer shows up mounting his Dyna.
“You want me to tell him?”
I don’t look at the brother when he asks me that question, I rev my black beauty and shake my head in the negative. We ride the empty roads at full speed and don’t stop until we park our bikes in front of my house.
From habit, my eyes track for suspicious people around us. The place is quiet and empty apart from the lone figure sitting on a step at Hannah’s house. I know it’s her and maybe someday I’ll ask myself why I throw my keys at Killer and track on to her house but it’s not today.
Today I sit directly opposite her and take the beer from her hand, today I drink from the same bottle she drank from and ask,
“Who names their daughter Jo?” I don’t ask her for any other reason but to talk to her, not sure why because I really don’t care why she named her kid Jo.
She chuckles,
“That’ll be me. What are you doing this side of the fence River, couldn’t get enough of my charm?.”
I lift the beer up to my mouth, take a deep swallow and it goes down smooth. I glance at her dark form, the bridge of her nose, the fullness of her lips thinking of some many things I could say. Instead I just go for honesty,
“Fuck if I know, it just seemed like the thing to do.”
“Yeah, it’s peaceful isn’t it.”
I hear her rustle something and then hear the cap of a beer getting popped before she lifts the bud to her mouth and swallows. We sit there on her steps in silence and it’s fucking peace.
Not sure what time is it when she gets up off the step and stands up.
“Leaving so soon.”
“We’ve been sitting here for two hours, I got church in the morning.”
“Go out with me Hannah, one date.” I can’t explain why I’m insisting, why do I even think she’ll say yes after my impromptu meeting with Lauren.
“Then what? I saw the way you looked at Lauren. I once looked at my ex-husband that way, I married him four months later. Don’t waste your time on me River when she’s waiting for you.”
I’m not sure why her words get to me, but they do. I feel them deep in my soul,
“I left her right before our wedding, I’m not sure why, didn’t think she still lived in my place. When I saw her today, I couldn’t even talk to her.”
Hannah’s touch on my shoulder burns me up. Her fingers are long and firm as they rest on my shoulder,
“Lauren is a nice girl, and from what I heard since I moved here, Jake Stiles is an amazing guy. You don’t know how lucky you are River to have someone wait for you.”
“I never asked her to.” Not sure why I feel the need to point it out.
“My mama used to say that everybody has a keeper, don’t matter where life takes you, in the end, you’ll know who’s yours. My dad was hers, I thought I found mine when I married Landon, but I realized mine came in a different form the day Jo was born, lord only knew why he brought me to Kanla, maybe it was to tell you this today, maybe not. Who knows what gods plans are right? Point I’m tryna make is, you need to know if Lauren is River’s keeper, and it’s not going to be while you on a meaningless date with your single parent neighbor.”
I don’t respond to any of what she says, instead, I keep my voice low,
“Goodnight Hannah.”
Cold air takes the place of her fingers as she goes to the front door,
“Goodnight River.”
I don’t leave Hannah’s porch steps even after her bedroom light goes off. I take in the fresh humid air, Hannah’s words ringing in my ears. And it’s only once I’m by my front door does her words finally hit, she said Rivers Keeper not Jakes.