Page 19 of Rage's Solace
Shooting him an exasperated look, I tell it to him straight. “I’ve been stroking myself off like a demon, sometimes two or three times a night. I’m seriously fucked. I can’t let her go before she’s ready, but having her close and not being able to touchher is a living hell. I feel like the creepiest motherfucker going jerking off to thoughts of her when she’s in my house.”
“I feel you on that one, bro. You need to blow off some steam with one of the club girls before you fucking explode.”
I reply stubbornly, “These are the kinds of problems that club whores and booze can’t fix.”
“You’re letting this get to you, brother. That’s a bad move. She’s going to live rent free in your head forever now.”
Before I can answer that she’s already been doing that for the last eleven years, Siege drops the gavel and calls the meeting to order. Ever since we found Ven’s old lady and her mother, things have been pretty quiet for our club. In my opinion, that’s always the time to stay sharp, because things inevitably pop off.
We talked about old business, which was the huge amount of money we raised for the women’s shelter. And then new business. After busting the meth lab out at the Grayson farm, the Grave Diggers MC have started encroaching on our territory again. It almost feels like we ran off the bigger criminals and the smaller ones saw that as an opportunity of sorts. It seems as though we can’t win for losing, but I know all the way down to my bones that we’ll never stop fighting to protect our community.
Siege sets up brothers to monitor the roads in and out of town. Of course, he wants Ven’s drones in the air as well.
The last thing on our agenda is voting on patching one of our prospects into the club. The brother’s name is Wyatt, and he used to be a Texas Ranger. Wyatt is a hard-working and dedicated prospect. He’s older than our usual prospects, beingin his late thirties, I guess that gives him a different outlook on life—dude knows what he wants and ain’t messing about. I’ve seen him around, worked with him and he’s extra cautious about protecting the old ladies when the brothers are on a mission. I’d trust him with my girls.
Fuck. My girls?
I do a double take, shocked that I so easily think of them as mine after a mere six weeks of them being in my life.
Wyatt gets up and talks about what the brotherhood means to him and why he wants to join the Savage Legion MC. I gotta admit that it sounds like he’s got his head screwed on tight, so when it comes time to vote, I say yay, as do all the other brothers present, and Tex is patched in.
By the time Siege calls an end to the meeting, it’s midmorning. I’m about to sit down and talk to Ven when my phone rings. It’s Priscilla, so I quickly answer it. She doesn’t usually call when I’m at work or at the clubhouse so I know it must be something important.
“What’s up, Prissy. Is everything okay?”
There’s a short silence, and she finally says weakly, “Can you come home. I’m not sure what to do about this.”
I start walking towards the door with Ven on my heels. “Talk to me, Prissy. What happened?”
“I found a headless animal on your front porch welcome mat.”
I stop walking. “Mister Boots likes to leave gifts. It’s his way of saying he likes us and is a bit worried about our lack ofhunting skills. He usually just brings birds. What did he kill this time?”
She stammers, “It’s not Boots, It’s a rabbit, two actually, a large one and a baby one. It’s in a box wrapped in newspaper with no lid.”
I curse long and hard under my breath before telling her, “Don’t fucking touch it. I’m on my way.”
When I end the call and take off running for my bike, Ven follows, yelling, “What the fuck happened?”
“Priscilla found a cardboard box with two headless rabbits, looks like a mommy and baby. Someone is fucking with her, or me. Either way, I’m gonna make them wish they were never born.”
Ven jumps on his bike and follows me.
***
It takes us about twenty minutes to get to my place at top speed on the backroads. I come to a skidding stop in front of my house and see the cardboard box still on my welcome mat and Priscilla sitting on my porch swing with Boots in her lap. He’s acting weirdly protective, glaring at the box. I don’t know what’s going through his cat head, but he’s clearly picking up on the tension.
Ven and I take the box to my shed and glove up before inspecting the gruesome contents. I lift out the smaller one. I’m no good at figuring out rabbit ages, but it’s clearly a baby. Ven takes out the larger rabbit and looks it over. “I’m guessing it’s the mother. She has teats. What about yours?”
I look more closely at mine. “Mine isn’t a newborn but she’s not fully grown either.”
“You sure it’s a female,” he asks in a serious tone.
“Of fucking course, I’m sure. It doesn’t have balls.”
“What do you think this means?”
I put the smaller one back down beside the box, thinking I need to get the box dusted for prints or something. Ven lays his down on the table beside mine. “I’m pissed. Mia could have been the one to find this instead of Priscilla.”