TJ’s jaw clenches at the command from his president, but he doesn’t argue. He also doesn’t acknowledge his agreement, but you get what you get with TJ.
“Prez?” Ronan raises his hand like he’s in fucking school.
Another round of chuckles fills the room.
“What?” Lynch snaps but doesn’t pull his eyes from his brother for a few seconds longer.
“Those cartel fuckers scare the shit out of me.”
No one laughs this time. We all have a healthy dose of fear where the Colombians are concerned.
“I wouldn’t cross Luis. I know I’m the rookie here, but they have some crazy shit going on,” Ronan continues.
“You’re going to have to give me more than that, kid.”
“Did you see the collars on the women? I think they’re sex slaves.”
“Didn’t keep you from dipping your dick in two of them,” TJ mutters.
Ronan’s eyes widen. “They both told me they wanted to fuck, Prez. I swear it.”
Chains smiles wide. He took all that was offered to him and never batted an eyelash.
“Lots of people have sex slaves.” Lynch sounds agitated for even having to have this conversation. “We don’t deal in skin, but you’re ignorant if you think other organizations don’t.”
“I…umm,” Ronan wipes sweat from his forehead. “I opened a door I shouldn’t have, Prez.”
“He looks legitimately terrified,” TJ says finally putting his phone down and fully joining the conversation.
“I heard screaming, and not like sexy screaming when you’re fucking a girl so hard she doesn’t know if she wants more or wants you to stop. They were horrible screams.”
“Are you going to spit it out, or do I need to pop some fucking popcorn?” TJ asks.
“I heard the screaming, too,” Hornet adds. “But I wasn’t fucking dumb enough to go looking for the source.”
“We all heard the screaming,” Lynch adds.
The guys around the table nod their heads in agreement.
“What did you see?” our president asks.
“That big guy.” He looks in my direction. “The one you told me to keep an eye on?”
“The massive one with the tattoo above his eye?” Professor asks. Ronan nods and swallows. “That fucker even gave me the creeps, and I’ve seen some pretty crazy shit in prison.”
“The screams stopped before I opened the door, but I went in anyway. That guy was fucking a gash he had cut into some chick.”
“Really?” TJ sounds more intrigued than disgusted.
“She was already dead,” Ronan assures everyone. “I would’ve tried to stop him if she was still alive, but by the time I got there, she was gray and completely limp.”
“How are you still alive?” Hornet asks with clear confusion in his voice.
“He didn’t see me,” Ronan answers. “He was too into it to even notice the door had opened.”
“Prez?” I address Lynch when he doesn’t respond.
“We’re already in bed with them. There’s nothing we can fucking do.” I knew that before he spoke, but that’s some brutal shit.
I can’t think about Molly, Zoe, or any of the other girls here at the clubhouse going through something like that. I’d never get another minute of sleep, but doing nothing doesn’t exactly seem right, either.
“We can always drop some information at the Cerberus doorstep. Those do-good motherfuckers can’t resist shit like this,” Chains suggests.
Lynch remains quiet as if he’s mulling over the idea.
“They’ll trace any goddamn clue we leave right back to this clubhouse,” Lynch finally says. “I’m not willing to risk our club.”
“What if I can guarantee they can’t?” Virus speaks up. “I mean, I don’t know them, and I wasn’t with you guys at the compound, but if you want someone else to intervene, I can make it untraceable.”
“I appreciate your input, but their VP Shadow is pretty fucking badass with all that technology shit.”
Virus holds his hands up in surrender with Lynch’s comment.
“We can always go through Snatch’s son. He’s only a mechanic, so I bet we could pull one over on him,” Boston suggests.
“Him and that girl of his went back to New Mexico for the summer,” TJ interrupts. “Plus, mechanic or not, he’s pretty fucking smart. You’d think the guy was raised on the street and not in some cushy clubhouse.”
“You’ve been keeping an eye on them?” Lynch asks his brother.
“Thinking the son of a Cerberus MC member isn’t a concern is a mistake. Don’t you think?” TJ counters.
Lynch nods his concession.
“I’m not tabling the conversation completely, but we need to get through our first shipment with the cartel before we make any decisions on what to do after.” We all nod at Lynch’s reasoning. “Anything else?”
No one speaks up.
“Stick close,” Lynch warns again in dismissal. “Briar, a word?”
I wait for the other guys to filter out, making sure the door is closed behind the last guy before turning to speak with Lynch.
“What’s up, Prez?”
“You looked confused when I mentioned Virus’s project.”
“Figured I’d get wind of it eventually.”
“He’s going to be adding key card locks to all of the various doors in the clubhouse.”