“Man, I’m sure glad she’s back, because the smile on your face is not moving. You guys – you know, seeing one another, is it going anywhere?” Bear asked.
“It’s definitely going somewhere. We’re doing pretty good right now,” I said. At the back of my mind I wondered if it would be better for us as a family unit if we were all together and not separate. Would that put too much pressure on Lucy with the new job and us adding Sarah into the mix? The swirl of confusion in my head was keeping me from knowing how soon to move forward. Doubts were floating around inside my head as I walked in the door.
I was greeted by Angie, a wide grin on her face and a newspaper in her hand. “Hey, hey if it isn’t my working buddy! Just you wait for this treat.” She held up the rolled up newspaper in her hand.
The rest of the guys were sitting at the back of Wheelz and two boxes of Krispy Kreme doughnuts were on the table along with coffees in carry trays. There were a few newspaper articles on the table.
I nodded. “You’re really going all out here. This is some show you’re putting on. What did you say in it? Is this going to become national news or something?”
Angie tilted her head as her golden sea of hair dropped over her shoulder. “You never know, it’s pretty juicy. It’s one of my best pieces ever written. Will it win a Pulitzer prize? No, but might it get a case reopened that the police glossed over because they botched the evidence? Well then, yes.”
“Impressive, Angie. Really impressive. What’s your next assignment? Are you going to keep working with Mia to help her? Or do you have some other adventure planned?” I asked.
Angie thought for a moment as we came to the table with the others. “I might stick around for a little bit and look into this case with Mia. I helped with a couple of things on it. We actually make a pretty good team. I know it’s an all boys’ club, but I’ve been working with Mia this whole time, so she’ll be here to celebrate and contribute as well. She’s been a huge help with the story. She really has.”
“That’s a good thing. I guess you’re staying then,” I pointed out with a soft smile. “Are we good, Angie, you know, with everything?” I wanted things to run smoothly between us, especially if she was going to be around.
“Umm, yeah, we are.” She nodded. “I saw you with her and the way you two are together. I get that’s the route you wanna take. I can respect it. I’m not sure I’m the motherly type anyway.” She screwed up her nose at the thought.
Even though she sounded arrogant, I found her to be endearing. “Thanks. We gotta run Rocky outta town as well. After this comes out, it’s going to be interesting to see if he tries to come down here to play pool or explain himself. I’m pretty sure he won’t.” I pulled up a seat.
Mia came in beside me, putting a warm hand on my shoulder. “Hi, Chalk. How are you?”
“Good, Mia. Sounds like your case is evolving.” I took one of the hot coffees out of the carry tray and sipped at it.
Angie coughed and got the attention of all the other guys at the table. “Hi fellas. Thanks for coming down this morning. This is a mini press release of the article that’s going to run tomorrow. If you see anything that you want to talk about then let me know now, so I can put it forward to the editor. Happy reading, pages three to six. Thanks for the photos, Bones!”
“You’re welcome, Angie. From the draft I saw, I know it’s going to be a tear jerker with the community. I love it.”
Tear jerker? This I had to see. I opened the pages up and started to read the article. Bones had given her the original photographs from the club. These included the original members, half of whom were part of the newly formed Devil Riders. Hawk was in it, Numbers in his younger years. Bear looked even more buff than he was now. He was carrying a little more weight these days, but he wasn’t a man you wanted to mess with. Gunner, young and fresh with a big smile. All with their patches on. Angie crafted the story so well, painting the picture of a club that had weathered many storms. The article left out the illegal actions and focused on the community bike activities that brought the youth together.
The way she wrote made me want to keep reading. She touched on Red Stone Casino with our security support and helping keep the drugs out of the area. Jaz was left out of the article name wise but she added mini interviews of her and the influence she had over the casino. Small interviews on each one of us as a unit were there too.
“Bear, I didn’t know you liked Star Trek! Why didn’t I know that?” I called out, trying to embarrass him. Angie had drawn out information that both hid and revealed our identities to the world.
“You didn’t ask, bro,” he responded.
Angie had her hands clasped up to her mouth like a proud parent.
Mia had her glasses on and was poring over the details of the article. She had her pen poised, I guessed to pick up any errors, but it wasn’t landing on the paper.
After about twenty minutes, Bones spoke, “Angie, this is damn good. I didn’t even know this stuff about the club and the region. You are a hell of a writer. You make us sound angelic, this is crazy. And there’s not too much information that’s incriminating to us. Hats off to you. I’m glad we got you to do the article. This is highly accurate. I’m floored. If the community of Holbeck doesn’t get behind this, I don’t know if they ever will.”
“Agreed. This is ace,” Gunner said standing up. “Especially my part. You see that, boys?”
The whole crew laughed at Gunner.
“Gunner, siddown!” Bear claimed, grabbing a doughnut from the box. “My part was the best. Now everybody is gonna come down here. All my trekkies,”
Angie beamed. “I’m so happy you called to let me do the article. You are the best motorcycle crew I’ve ever met. Chalk, I look forward to beating you in a game or two. I have to get one in.”
I grinned right back at her, relieved that we had sorted out our differences. “Not on your life. Stick with journalism and writing, pool hustling is in my blood. That’s a good shot of me with the pink chalk, nice work.”
Angie winked. “I know, pretty good right?”
Bones thumped the table to get everybody’s attention. “Angie, we have to leave you now and head upstairs for club business. Fellas, we have some things to discuss that have cropped up.”
Every man at the table moved and followed Bones upstairs to the meeting room.