Priest drums his fingers over the table as if he’s considering his words, but I’d bet my boots he’s been planning whatever he’s about to say since leaving Mississippi. “I’ll talk to Rock about this too, but I want your relationships with the Iron Bulls and Savage Dragons nurtured. They’re two clubs who seem to think like we do—”
“Uh—”
He glares at me. “Where business is concerned. Don’t give a fuck how they want to patch their old ladies.”
“They also run drugs over the border which is getting to be risky these days,” I remind him.
“But you’ve been helping them go legit with their own grow-op, right?”
“A little bit.”
“I like that you and Rock have cultivated and maintained these relationships. They’re important. Like the Demons. Their connection into Canada has been useful for us.”
“Right. We have a long history with them. That’s all Rock’s doing, though. He’s maintained that relationship with Stump and now Chaser.” I don’t want the credit for something Rock has done and I’m sure as fuck not letting Priest take credit for Rock’s hard work. “Grinder too, back in the day. He and Stump were tight.”
“That poor fucker. When’s he gettin’ out?”
“Soon, I hope. Saw him not that long ago.”
Priest’s eyes widen, like he’s surprised I’d visit a brother who’s inside. “That’s good, Z. Thank you.” Some of the ruthless president expression on his face softens. “Your loyalty and dedication to this club and the brotherhood is what I’ve always wanted to fill this club with. Unfortunately, you’re a rare breed.”
“Thank you?”
“Don’t act so surprised. Who’d I come to first when Sway got shot?”
“Rock.”
“I know I bust his balls a lot about membership, but no one else can do what he’s done.” He gives me an evil sneer. “And I’m only saying that in here to you because I know he’d rather shoot his dick off than take my place at the head of the national table.”
I laugh but don’t agree or disagree.
He shakes his head. “I went to Rock first out of respect, but I wanted you because you’ve worked under him for years. You conducted yourself with respect at National last year and I knew you could be trusted.”
That’s a lot to take in. “This club’s been my family for a lot of years, Priest.”
He glances at the closed door. “And I don’t have confidence in Sway’s opinion on anything.”
Shit, I don’t want to throw Sway under the bus, but since I’ve been down here, I can’t disagree with Priest’s assessment of Sway’s leadership.
“You two ever discuss consolidating the clubs? Have Lost Kings, New York instead of this upstate/downstate bullshit?”
“Never work, Priest. We got Demons running Western, NY. Wolf Knights running their small part of Central NY, and NYC is held by a club we’ve held a truce with for years. We stay outta NYC they stay out of anything above Westchester county.”
He gives me a blank look, and since he’s not from New York, his failure to grasp the situation doesn’t surprise me. “It’s a diverse state with a lot of differing ideas on how to handle select areas.” Damn, I’m pretty sure I took that right from one of the policy reports Lilly told me she wrote one time. I’ll have to thank her later.
“Trying to claim all of New York would open us up to exactly what you don’t want,” I explain. “Wolf Knights are friends to our club. Demons are friends. NYC isn’t friendly but we have an understanding.”
“All right. You know better than I do.”
Yes, I do.
“Now that South of Satan has fucked stuff up in Vermont, you thought about pushing inside that territory?”
“We’ve talked about it in the past, but like you said, there will be a lot of eyes on clubs now. I don’t think making any serious moves is a good idea for us.”
“Every two-bit thug will have their eye on that area.”
“And let them fight it out with each other, get thrown in jail. We’ll come in when the dust settles if it’s the right call.”
He thinks on that for a second before nodding.
There’s a map on the desk that outlines the basic borders for how territory is divvied up in New York and Priest taps the section for the Wolf Knights. “This has always been too close to our territory for comfort.”
I shrug. “We’ve made it work this long. Fuck, Teller’s engaged to the niece of their last president.”
“Didn’t he fuck shit up, though?”
That’s putting it mildly, but not really something I want to get into at the moment. “He’s older and decided to retire. Their new president has things under control and Wrath’s known him a long time.”
“Good. I like that. Keep the peace.”
Make up your mind, Priest. Keep the peace or take their territory? Jesus Christ, this conversation is giving me whiplash.
He taps another section of the map a little west of Empire but north of the Wolf Knights’ territory. “This is—”
“Free area.”
“You guys have never had a support club, right?”
Oh shit. I see where he’s going with this. “That’s closer to Rock’s area.”
“Get him in here.”
Rock’s gonna fucking shoot me, but I get up and go find his ass.
“I don’t like the look on your face,” he says when I stop him at the beginning of the hallway.
“Smart man.” We’re far enough away from the party and a good distance from the room I left Priest in that no one should overhear us. “Priest asked for you.”
His jaw tightens. “What now?”
“Concerned about territory issues. I think he wants to talk to us about setting up a support club.”
He growls with irritation. “Just what I need. More kids to babysit.”
“Look, maybe it’s not a bad idea. We both know when Grinder gets out, he’s not going to be able to jump right into sitting at the table. Maybe giving him a club to mentor will be good for him.”
Rock glares at me.
“Okay, maybe that’ll be too much for him. What about Dex? Fuck, Murphy could do it. He’s got connections with a few guys I think could form a decent support club.”
“Who, those little shits he fights with?”
“You haven’t been out there. They run a tight game. Smart kids. Young and hungry. We give them the right support, they could be an asset to us.”
He runs his hands over the back of his neck, seeming to think about my words. “Teller’s mentioned them too. In a positive way.”
“See? And he’s almost as cynical as you.”
I get another glare for that one. “Why don’t you want to bring them in as prospects?”
“Don’t know if they want to give up what they have going on out there to come wash our bikes and play bouncer at Crystal Ball. But if we help them form their own club, it might be worth it to us.”
He scans the crowd. “Where the fuck is Murphy?”
“We’ll talk to him later.” I grab his arm and nudge him down the hall. “Priest’s waiting for us. I just wanted to have some semblance of a plan before we went back in there.”
Finally, his irritation seems to pass and he slaps me on the back. “Good call. Thank you.”
Yeah, Sway would’ve let Rock walk in blind. But this isn’t a competition to me, it’s a brotherhood.
Priest stands when we return and shakes Rock’s hand. After we’re all seated, Rock grins. “This where y
ou tell me I’m never getting my VP back?”
“Not at all,” Priest says, smooth as ever. “Believe me, Z’s made it quite clear he wants to go home.”
Rock glances over at me and I shrug. “I’m a country boy at heart.”
Priest laughs. “You never know. I could have a heart attack tomorrow. Then the club would need Rock to take my place. And they’d need you back upstate, Z.”
He says it casually but the scenario has the effect of a nuclear warhead going off in front of us. Rock and I both turn and stare at each other.
“You don’t think some of the other presidents might have an opinion on that?” Rock asks.
“Don’t really give a fuck about their opinions. Niner can’t do it. Blink is needed where he is. Love that motherfucker, but he hates the whole fucking world.” Priest shakes his head. “Don’t worry, I just had my physical. I’m perfectly fine.”
Rock and I are still too stunned to say anything, which doesn’t faze Priest at all.
“Z and I were discussing this map.” He jams his finger into the center of our territory. “And how a support club might be beneficial.”
Thank God I prepared Rock because, instead of telling Priest to fuck off, he sits forward and studies the map with us. “We’ve talked about it in the past. Sway had one for a while, but they were a bunch of lazy misfits from what I remember.”
That’s putting it mildly, but we won’t go into details. Priest’s already aware that Sway’s a bit of a fuck-up. No need to drive home the point with any more colorful examples.
“Murphy knows a couple kids.” Rock jabs the map in the same spot Priest and I discussed earlier. “In this area. They have an underground fight ring that’s apparently well-run, organized, and profitable.”
Priest smiles. “Ah, Murphy. Our youngest RC ever.” He smacks Rock’s arm. “You’ve always been a good judge of character.”
I’m surprised Rock’s head doesn’t blow off from the effort of holding back his eye-roll.
“This is good.” Priest nods at both of us. “I was concerned you’d shoot this idea down.”
“We’ll look into it,” Rock assures him in a not very reassuring tone of voice.
“It makes sense,” I rush to add. “And we’re definitely working on keeping those other relationships solid.”