The Filthy Few (Iron Disciples MC) (8 page)

“Geeze, you
sound like a mother…well an anti-mother. A normal mom wouldn’t be giving out
this kind of advice.”

“Think of me as
the devil on your shoulder then.” She replies.

If she’s the
devil then Jason would be the angel on the opposite shoulder. He’s the ethical
one with an actual conscious. That’s probably the reason he’ll never go farther
up the food chain that he already is. This is a mother fucker of a business and
working at Capital America is like swimming in shark infested waters. You
either become a shark or you become bait. The only reason why Jason hasn’t been
gobbled up as bait is because I have been protecting him. Stacy needed
protection when she first started as my assistant, but she soon grew out of the
need for a mother hen; thank god. I can’t handle mothering more than one
assistant at a time for any length.

“What you did
back there Stacy, it was in-fucking-credible! Where’d you learn to fight like
that?”

“That wasn’t
fighting, that was just…just scrapping. I grew up the youngest child and had
four older brothers so I had to learn how to scrap. When Cabe moved in with us
I learned how to fight. And besides, I was just protecting my income stream.”
She replies meaning me.

Not only does
she get a salary, she also gets a small…a very small percentage of my net
commissions from trades. She earns more on trades than her salary.

“Be sure to
send me the bill for those shoes by the way, and don’t you forget.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“So what’s
going on back at the office? Have you been in touch with Jason?”

For the next
thirty minutes she proceeds to fill me in on office business, office politics,
and office gossip. Then we talk stocks. I value her input. Not only is she an
unusually good stock picker, but she’s a damn good analyst. While I prefer to
keep track of things on my own; my current situation prevents that so I am
relying on her and Jason more than usual. We’re just wrapping up our rap
session when Cade comes back in with a dark look on his face.

“I have some
business to take care of Morgan. Are you going to be alright on your own for a
few hours?”

“I’ll be fine.
Just leave the drugs with Stacy.”

“They’re on the
counter. Alright, I’m out. I’ll see you in a few.”

“Good riddance-
I mean goodbye.”

“You do know I
have to go back to the office right?” Stacy asks.

“Yeah, I know.
I also know that if he knew I’d be here alone he wouldn’t have left me here.
You go take care of business and come back for a wrap up when you can break
free. Bring Jason too if he doesn’t get buried by meetings.”

“You got it.
Here ya go!” Stacy tosses me the bottle of pain medication. I will definitely
be needing this.

Not five
minutes after she’s gone it all hits me again. I have just witnessed a fight to
the death! I have never really seen any violence that was not on the TV or in a
movie. I just saw three people fighting for their lives right in front of me
and I was helpless to do anything about it. If Cade had not been here I’m sure
Stacy and I would be dead! Yeah, Stacy’s a scrapper but I get the feeling that
these outlaw biker types take more than a scrapper to take them down. Cade’s a
fighter, no doubt about that and he struggled to get the gun from that other
psycho guy. I could have died today. I could have easily gone the other way and
the three of us could have ended up filled with holes.

I’m not a
crier. I don’t weep at sad movies or funerals. The last time I cried was when
my mom died on her birthday. Seems that I used up my lifetime supply of tears
that day and I have been dry eyed ever since. But after what just happened this
morning…I feel like my shell just developed a hairline crack. Is that how it is
being an outlaw biker? Constant violence? How does one get accustomed to that?
Or the better question might be…why would anyone
want
to get accustomed
to it?

I look over at
the clock. It’s nearly four in the afternoon; time to take another Vicodin.
Fifteen minutes later I get the warm tingles from head to toe. No wonder why so
many people abuse this drug; it’s pretty awesome. My eyes have just closed when
I hear the door open and close. That was fast. I didn’t expect Cade for another
couple hours or so and it’s too early for Stacy and Jason to be here.

The door
closes. “Cade…you in here?” A rough, gravelly voice calls out.

I’m just about
to answer when something tells me I’d better keep quiet. In fact, I think I’d
better be asleep. If whoever that just came in finds me awake there could be
trouble. So I close my eyes and do my best to fake a deep sleep.

I hear two or
maybe three sets of boots coming down the hall towards the kitchen. One more
time one of the men calls out to Cade but I get the idea that they’re not
calling out because they want to talk to him. I think whoever it is in the
room, they’re hoping Cade is out.

“Do you know
where he keeps it?” The gravelly voiced man asks.

“How would I
know?” Asks a smoother voice.

“You’re his
brother…his twin for fucks sake.” Says the gravelly voice.

“What, you
think we have some kind of psychic connection or something?” Asks the one who
is apparently Cade’s twin. “Were twins not super alien intelligences
communicating through telepathy.”

“So now what?”
Asks gravelly man.

“There’s gotta
be a list somewhere around here.” Cade’s brother replies. “He can’t keep it all
in his head. Soon as we find out who’s on his side we can make a counter plan.”

A sudden
realization hits me like a freight train! Cade’s brother must be planning
something against his own brother; something to do with the motorcycle club and
apparently Cade has no idea his twin brother is plotting against him. At least
that’s what seems to be happening. If these guys realize I’m lying her awake
listening to their every word I could be in serious trouble. My heart begins to
pound painfully hard in my chest. If they even come anywhere near me they’ll
hear the booming against my sternum! I take a deep breath and slowly let it out.
I have to calm myself. I’ll have to roll over and lie on my stomach. It’ll be
painful as hell but if they see my face they’ll know I’m not sleeping. This is
the only chance I have so I grit my teeth and turn over. Unfortunately my cast
foot hits the coffee table with a loud thunk! Fuck!

“What the hell
was that?” Asks gravelly voice.

“I don’t know,
but it can’t be my brother. He’s at work meeting with a new client.”

“Well someone
is here and listening to our conversation.”

And if I wasn’t
scared enough, I hear the unmistakable, metallic sound of a gun being loaded or
something like that. I do know it’s a gun though. Panic is threatening to make
me do something completely crazy; like jump up and run like hell. Like I would
get far anyway. I would take two steps and fall on the ground screaming in
pain. Instead I lie perfectly still and bite the pillow that my face is pressed
into. Seconds later I hear two pairs of boots walk into the living room and
over to where I’m lying.

“What the
fuck?” Says gravelly voice. “Who the hell is that?”

“No fucking
clue! I’m pretty sure Cade does not have an Old Lady.”

“So who the
fuck is she?”

“I don’t know
but it looks like he’s playing nurse maid. She’s wearing a cast and look at
these.”

I hear the
unmistakable sound of my pill bottle being picked up and rattled around. Those
fuckers better not take my drugs!

“Holy shit,”
Says gravelly voice. “She’s got the good stuff!”

“Lemme see.
You’re right, this stuff is powerful. You want one?” Cade’s brother asks.

“Are you
fucking kidding me? This shit’s better than pussy! No wonder she hasn’t moved.
She’s passed out. Well, maybe not. We both heard a noise a second ago.”

“For the
record,” begins Cade’s brother. “Nothing’s better than pussy, not even Vicodin.
And I think she’s still out cold and just rolled over or something.”

“Shit, we
better get out of here then. If your brother is taking care of her it means
he’ll probably be back soon. He probably just went to the store to get
something. I seriously doubt he’s at a client meeting now.”

“You’re right.
We should split before he shows up. I’m gonna have a hard time explaining what
we’re doing in his house.”

Even after the
door has been closed a full five minutes I am still hesitant to get up. Maybe
it’s a trap and just one of them left. Maybe the other one is standing here
watching me still. I make a big show of slowly waking up and turning over.
Gradually I open my eyes, fully prepared to react in total shock if I see
someone other than Cade or Stacy looking down at me. Thankfully I am alone!

I have a dilemma
facing me. Do I tell Cade that his brother and some other dude are plotting
against him or should I just keep my trap shut and let him find out on his own?
I mean, this is his world not mine. Do I really want to get involved? Fuck no! In
a couple days I’m gonna be back home and I’ll never see Cade again. Why should
I jeopardize my safety and my career over someone I don’t even like? I just
gotta keep myself together here for a couple more days and then I’ll go home
and it’ll be business as usual.

This time when
I close my eyes I really do fall asleep. I dream about the second worst day of
my life; the day when my parents told my brother and me that mom had cancer.

“Jaime…Morgan?
Kids, I want you to turn off the TV and sit down with your dad and me. We have
something to talk about.”

We sit down
between our parents and wait for them to ruin our lives. I figured they were
getting separated or something. They had been fighting a lot lately. What they
told us instead was a million times worse. Dad starts talking first.

“Kids, as
you probably have noticed, your mother has been sick off and on lately.”

“Yeah,” I
say interrupting him. “You said she has this weird virus that takes twice as
long to kill. So what, is it going to take even longer to kill?”

“It’s not a
virus honey. Y-your mother…she has cancer.”

For a couple
seconds neither Jaime nor I say a thing. We are so stunned neither of us can
respond. Finally Jaime breaks the silence.

“But you can
cure it right?” He pleads. “It’ll just take a while and mom will be really sick
but she’ll get well right? Tell me she’s gonna get better!”

Neither of
them says anything for a few seconds which of course makes us even more afraid.
Finally dad begins speaking again. Mom seems to have lost her voice. She just
looks down in her lap where she is wringing her hands and crying softly.

“Your mom
has a rare form of bone cancer. There is no cure.”

“Nooooo!” I
scream. “Noooo!” It’s all that comes out of me; one long anguished defiant
word…no.

My reaction
makes mom even more anguished. Her whole body shakes as deep sobs are ripped
from her soul. I don’t deal with the news well. I collapse on the floor
screaming into the carpet. I don’t know how my little brother is taking the news,
but I can’t be worried about him right now. After a time I am finally able to
listen and to talk. I get back up on the couch and give my little brother a
sideways glance. He has been crying. He wipes his reddened eyes with an already
soaked sleeve.

“So…there’s
medicine she can take to slow it down right? Mom’s still going on our trip
right?”

One look at
dad’s face answers my question. I don’t need to hear his words.

“I don’t
think so honey.”

“But it’s
this summer. That’s only four months from now.” I plead.

“The doctor
tells us her disease is progressing very rapidly now.” My dad explains. “She
has a month…maybe two at most.”