Page 5 of Devil's Queen
“No doubt she’s blocked my number by now,” I reply gruffly. She’d be justified in doing so. The boy she knew all those years ago is gone. This man may well deserve her attention, but it’s going to take something extraordinary to get her to speak to me again.
“Probably, but I know a guy who could hack her line and unblock it,” Coffey says, flashing a mischievous smile at me. “Want me to give him a call?”
“No,” I answer sternly.
“Why do you even want to talk to her? It’s been eight years.”
Eight years of regret after she and her mom were kicked out of the club when Rene died. I hadn’t been able to say goodbye before they left. The patches had made sure I was nowhere around when the order came down. By the time I’d gotten back to the clubhouse, she and her mom were long gone. No matter what I say now, she won’t believe me when I tell her that I am the president of the club she despises so much.
“You can’t deny you have lots of women to choose from,” Tex says as he looks around the clubhouse. “If you want to satisfy some of your needs, at least six of them would drop to their knees if you asked for sexual favors. Probably at the same time.”
“No, thank you,” I snarl.
“It’s easy pussy, Prez. It’s what they are here for. Go take one of them out for a test drive. They’ll make you forget all about her.”
“I said I’m not interested,” I utter with a more demanding bite this time. They all take immediate notice.
“These girls aren’t like Meredith,” Tex fires back.
I shove out of my chair and walk right over to Tex, going nose-to-nose with him. He tries to put space between us, but I grab his chair's arms, keeping him from moving.
“Don’t say that bitches name inside my clubhouse ever again.”
“Fuck, man, it slipped out,” Tex sputters apologetically.
“Make sure it doesn’t happen again,” I spit back, releasing him from my grasp and looking at all my other club officers currently in the room with me. “Same goes for the rest of you. Who I fuck and who I don’t is none of your fucking concern.”
A few muffled apologies come from under their breaths. I have one rule in this club since taking over, and they just broke it.
“Get out,” I order them. They comply quickly, busting out of the shared office like there’s a fire licking their boots.
I slam the door behind them and lock it. They had to mention her. Meredith fucking Crane. The mother of my daughter, Birdie. The woman who abandoned us both after she was born for another club and someone higher up in that MC’s food chain. I didn’t want to believe at the time she was a patch bunny, but it’s clear as day now.She was the only club whore I had ever been with and has cured me of any notion of wanting to go that route again. I’m grateful for my little girl, but I wish she had someone else for a mother. Anyone.
Returning to my desk, I try to focus on my work. Stacks of papers litter the worn wooden top. Invoices from vendors for our various business ventures. Real estate listings for a few businesses we are checking out. The final purchase contract for the garage I secured last week. The list is endless.
When I took the mantle of the club, I wanted to take things legitimate. The first thing on my list is getting out of the drug distribution game. New Orleans has enough problems without our club selling drugs, so I wiped the slate clean. Sold off the remaining stockpile to other organizations and invested in legitimate businesses. Mostly, bars in the French Quarter and soon, our new garage. We’re not rolling in dough, but it’s better than what we were doing.
A knock comes at the door.
“I’m busy!” I yell out from my desk, not even lifting my head.
“It’s Pike,” a gravelly voice calls out from the other side.
“One second,” I mutter, shoving some of my private papers from the top of my desk into the drawer on my left, locking it. I slide from the chair and head toward the door, flipping the lock.
Pike’s bald head appears when I open it. He pushes his large frame inside with a smile.
“Hiding out already?” He smiles as he passes me and sits in front of my desk.
“If I were hiding out, I sure as fuck wouldn’t be doing it from behind a desk.”
“Damn right.”
“What can I do for you, Pike?”
“Can’t an old man stop by and check on his president?” I cock an eyebrow. “That obvious, huh?”
“Pike, you’re many things, but you’re not subtle. What’s on your mind?”