“You’re upset about it, more than is necessary. Hell, you’re even more upset than I am.”
“How do you know that?”
“I can tell. You’re not always an open book, but you have a real temper.”
Bones sighed and dropped the trash back onto the coffee table as he straightened. “Yeah, I know.” He sighed. “The men that are responsible for the drugs in your casino, and probably other parts of Holbeck as well, are part of a rival motorcycle club.”
“Can they do that? Just come into your territory like that?”
Bones looked surprised at my knowledge of territories.
I explained, “I googled motorcycle clubs. There’s some vague and conflicting information out there, but the stuff about how much clubs value their own territory was pretty consistent.”
“Well, it’s true. Which is why I’m so pissed. Not only is this club made up primarily of members that betrayed Rebel Saints by walking away, but I told them to stay out of Holbeck. They know how disrespectful this is.”
“Are they…” I hesitated but decided it was important I know who I was really spending my time with. “Are they cutting into your business?”
“You mean, am I mad because I don’t want competition in drug dealing here in Holbeck?”
“Well … yeah?” It came out as a question because I didn’t understand the look Bones was giving me. It seemed almost like disappointment.
“We don’t deal drugs.”
I thought about what Brianna had told me weeks ago, about them getting away from doing all that. She said there were rumors they were cleaning up the streets. “So, it’s true?” I asked. “You guys are good?”
“I like to think that we were ultimately good guys even when we were doing illegal things, but yeah. Since I took over as president, we’ve gotten out of drug dealing and all the other shit we used to be involved in.”
I had a feeling I didn’t want to know what else they’d done.
“We’re trying to do one-eighty. Cleaning up Holbeck. Not only are we not doing these things, but we don’t want anyone else coming here to do it.”
“That’s why you’re mad? Because someone is doing that?”
“Not just someone. These men were my brothers. Being a member of a motorcycle club is about loyalty and brotherhood more than anything else, and they turned their backs on that because they liked the money that came with being criminals. Coming here when they know that we’re trying to keep that shit out of Holbeck is like they’re betraying the club all over again.”
I never would have guessed how complicated this was. Bones was showing me a part of himself I hadn’t seen yet, the man who was hurt by the actions of men he used to care about, and probably still did, to some extent. I was also learning something new about the nature of a motorcycle club. Before, I hadn’t taken it to be such a serious institution. I saw it as a group of men that liked motorcycles hanging out together in a bar. But it was more than that. Bones saw these men as family.
“I’m just so damn frustrated. This is the third time in the last couple of weeks. I don’t want to resort to violence, I don’t want the club to do that kind of thing anymore, but I’m not sure what other options I have.”
“There’s only so much you can do,” I said, placing a hand on his arm, trying to be comforting. “You’re not the police.”
Like a lightbulb had turned on above his head, Bones straightened, his eyes lighting up. “That’s it,” he said, placing his hands on my cheeks and swooping to place a chaste kiss on my lips. “I have to make a call. I’ll be right back.”
As I stood there, watching him walk into the other room, pulling his phone out of his pocket, I wondered what his plan was. Did he have a solution to the problem?