Khan Part I (Midnight Syn MC Book 1) Page 9

  There is a knock on my office door and the Abby opens it, seeing Dax there she suddenly becomes flustered again and then tells me that my 8:30 is here. I glance at my computer and see that it’s 8:25, and I can let him wait for a few more minutes.

  “Give us a minute,” I nod to her, motioning for her to close the door. When the door shuts I look back at him. He seems surprised for a second and then almost contemplates his last statement because I’m making my meeting wait.

  “I should correct myself. I actually said extremely,” I raise my eyebrow once again. And he runs a hand over his face. “I then gave him the advice to leave right the fuck now, leaving his girlfriend in the parking lot and going home to you.” I nod my head with it tilted to one side as that was good advice and he continues, “I then told him, ‘your wife, is not only fucking gorgeous but she is one of the smartest, funniest, and toughest women that I’ve ever met,’ then I promised him that if he fucked it up that I would be there making sure that he never got you back.” I stare at him and then glance out the door. He sighs, getting up from the chair and walking to the door.

  As his hand turns the door handle to open it I say, quietly and calmly, “And you didn’t think to tell me he was there with another woman?” His hand slinks and he looks over his shower back at me.

  “Is that what you’re really mad about?” He asks, looking back at me shocked, and for the first time I realize that is exactly what I’m mad about, “Would you have believed me if I did?” Then his voice grows quieter, “It couldn’t have come from me.” As the words come out of his mouth my office phone rings again, I glance at the clock, it’s 8:30 again, I answer the phone with a nervous voice and he looks at me with a concerned expression.

  I hang it up and say, “no one was there,” I try to play it off like this whole thing isn’t unnerving.

  “Then why do you look concerned?” He asks me.

  Shrugging my shoulders, “It’s been a stressful couple of months.” He stares at me almost as if he’s trying to actually determine if I’m telling him the truth before he accepts my answer and slips out of the door.

  ❖

  Tuesday

  I get another call at the office on Tuesday only this time it’s the breathing on my office phone and I quickly hang it up.

  ❖

  Wednesday

  When I get home I have an unnerving feeling like someone is watching me. I push the feeling away as I quickly change and walk back out to the living room, open a bottle of wine and sit back. Only I can’t manage to shake the feeling. When Lucy comes home I am relieved as she sits up with me and watches movies.

  ❖

  Thursday

  There’s a small knock on my door around noon, Abby pops her head in my office and says. “You have a student out here who wants to see you.” I nod my head at her and she opens the door. As I watch Ella walk into the office and I instantly stop typing on my computer and turn to look at her.

  “Ella,” my voice comes out maybe strained, “is there an issue with anyone?”

  She purses her lips like she is thinking about something and then says, “Well kind of,”

  “Okay, who is it,” I say turning to my computer and starting to scroll through the attendance of the school. It’s probably Becky Willcox. “It’s you.” Um, excuse me? Maybe she can see the confusion on my face. “Well, it’s not really, I don’t have a problem with you. It’s just. I saw the way my uncle looked at you the other day.” I look at her not sure what direction her next words are going to go in, “Underneath all the leather, scars, and tattoos. He’s a really good guy.” And I smile looking down at my papers.

  “I have that feeling about him, but It’s complicated.” She nods her head.

  “It always is, but for what it’s worth I’ve known him my entire life. I know about his reputation but he’s a really good guy. When he does care about someone he would stop the world to save them.” I don’t say anything and she smiles at me again, “Anyway, I just wanted to come and ask you to give him a chance, I’ve turned his life upside down in the last couple of months and I just want him to be happy. He deserves as much. His life has kind of sucked and well…” she pauses, “I’ve seen the way that women gravitate towards him, but what I’ve never seen is him actually care about any of them.” Her words make me smile even though I’m pretty sure she just told me that he cares about me, which should scare me. The way she speaks about him shows me just how much he means to her.

  “Did he ask you to come and talk to me?” She laughs at my question.

  “He would be pretty pissed if he knew I was here right now. He gives everything for everyone and never expects anything in return.” She smiles at me and gets up walking to the door.

  “Ella, thank you,” I tell her and she smiles at me. Before she leaves.

  That evening, I’m sitting on the couch and happen to catch something from out of the window. I swear I see that same car that was driving down the street only this time it is parking in front of the house.

  As I’m getting ready for bed I can’t help but glance out the window and notice that the car is still sitting here.

  Shit, why am I so paranoid all of a sudden? It’s probably just at a neighbor’s house.

  …You can yell at me all you want to then, okay?

  Friday

  "Prez, we have an issue.” I hear as soon as I walk into the clubhouse later that evening. Fuck, I’ve had a really bad fucking day already. For some reason, I haven’t been able to get the conversation with Billie the other day out of my head.

  Ace and Fury both kept their positions because neither of them wanted the VP job. I’m not sure why VP is a pretty easy job at least when the Prez is around and actually running things. Instead, I had to figure out who was going to be my VP. I talked with Oz a couple of times, who pretty much told me that I knew what the fuck I was doing and he wasn’t going to give me advice on it. The only person who has been around long enough to do the job, who I trust enough, and who is actually interested, is a 27-year-old kid, Ash. The kid is loyal to the core. I mentored him for a long time and in the last few years, he has turned into my right-hand man well outside of the other officers.

  “What fucking now?” I mutter looking to Ash, I feel kind of bad for snapping at him like this. I get it, it’s weird this is the first official week of his new position and I’m jumping down his throat.

  “Rising Henchmen,” he pauses and looks at me, “they heard that Oz accepted the plea.” Fuck me. We were worried that this would happen.

  “They’re coming into our territory?” I cut my stare down. Fuck, “Call and set up the meeting.” I see him become uncomfortable. Fuck me… “Ash, toughen the fuck up.” I cut to him and feel bad for him for a second, groaning I look back to him and sigh, “Look, this is the only time I’m going to say anything like this so fucking cherish it. I know this, is all new to you, but you have to toughen the fuck up and make the call. Don’t let them sense weakness. They do that… they will eat you alive. I know you can handle this, but I’m not going to hold your fucking hand through this… I have my own shit to deal with.” He nods to me and gets up.

  “I’ll get it done.”

  “Get everyone in for church later, tell everyone to be ready to go out afterward.” And he nods.

  Walking up to my house and up to the door I open it, I’ve got to change and get ready. Get into the mindset.

  “El,” I stop outside of her door and can hear her sobbing. Ah, fuck… “El,” I say loudly as I tap on the door. She opens it quickly without even trying to conceal her crying and she wraps her arms around my waist. “Oh, Ella,” I soother her hair down before muttering to her, “shhh, It’s okay, I’ve got you, I’m sorry, El?”

  “Uncle Dax, it isn’t your fault. You’re doing everything that you can possibly do for me and I’m out here acting like I’m ungrateful.”

  “El, you’re not acting ungrateful. This is hard. And no one should have to go through it.” I tell her as sh
e continues to cry. I sit down on her bed and pull her close letting her cry into my chest. Once she settles down she moves up and sniffles again. “El, you going to be okay?” She nods her head and as much as I don’t want to leave, I know that I’m going to have to, “I have to leave for a little bit, Bullet is going to stay behind. Call him if you need anything at all.”

  “Yeah, I’ll be fine.” She tells me and I feel bad. Maybe I should step down and let someone else run things for a while until she is settled. “Uncle Dax, stop. I’m fine. I just needed to be sad for myself for a little bit.” Maybe growing up around the MC has hardened her too much. The guys have always been on their best behaviors when she has been around, but the lifestyle, the guys, everything that the-life brings, she still has to deal with day today. The worrying about if what happened to her dad, is going to happen again. I ruffle her hair and get up walking out of the room. I walk into my bedroom and reach into the closet. Taking off my cut and pulling on my kevlar vest, I pull out one of my black t-shirts from inside of my closet slipping it over my head to conceal my kevlar, pulling my shoulder holster out of the top of my closet I wrap it around my body. Kneeling down to my safe I press my thumb to the scanner and the safe door pops open. Loading my two Glocks, I then slide them into the holster, making sure to clip them into the place. I load each of the 4 extra magazines and lock them into the holster as well. Taking my pocket knife, popping the blade out, and inspecting it making sure that it doesn’t need to be sharpened and when it meets my expectations, closing it, then slipping it into the front band of my pants, so that my belt conceals it. This is my favorite trick. Especially if we have a meeting and have to place all of our weapons. People rarely find it here… even with a metal detector, the beeping they assume is due to my belt. Before I leave the house I stop at Ella’s room again.

  “El, I’m heading out, you sure you’re okay?” She nods her head… looking much better and smiles.

  “Uncle Dax, please be safe.” She mutters.

  “Always my goal,” I tell her, honestly as I start to walk down the stairs. The Syndicate is going to have to prove themselves once again because people think we are weak. Setting up a meeting is strictly to be polite because what I should have done is go in there and blow off Tito’s fucking head. But I don’t really want to start an all-out war. Not unless they start it…

  I think back to Billie’s words as she said them to Ella a few weeks ago, don’t start it, but if they fuck with you fucking finish it. Damn, maybe this girl isn’t too innocent for me.

  I stop a few steps down the stairs and I turn around, “El,” she looks back up from her notebook to me, “love you,” she smiles.

  “Love you too, Uncle Dax.” I press my lips into a line and rush down the stairs.

  ❖

  Walking into the clubhouse as Ash comes up to me, “Khan, the meetings set for 11,” I nod my head.

  “Everyone here?” I ask him.

  “Yeah, we are just waiting for you.” He mutters and I nod my head. “Khan, you sure you wanna do this?”

  “Fuck no, I don’t want to, but we have to. They’re testing me. I look weak now and if I don’t do anything they will never stop until they fucking kill me.” Ash nods his head.

  “Nah Prez, they’re testing me.” He looks at me and then looks away almost as if he’s ashamed and somehow it’s his fault. “Think about it. We all know that you have pretty much been running this shit for years now. They all know you. Me, they don’t know shit about me.” I contemplate what he is saying.

  “Fuck.” I mutter and look back at him. “Ash, I was going to have you hang back in one of the SUVs.”

  “Fuck that,” he says to me.

  “Yeah I know, you may be on to something there.” Fuck I don’t really want to go out there with my SSA and my VP. If they take us out then we’re all fucked. I’m going to have to move some people around now, “If I have Fury hang back…” I pause and look at him again trying to think of exactly how to phrase what I want to say, “Look kid, I know you’re loyal to me…” After all of the things I have seen him do, I don’t doubt that. “You’re like a kid that I had way too early in life,” and he laughs again, “so that’s the only reason why I say this… I know this is your first meet as VP so when we get out there. Follow my lead If I give you the sign you fucking shoot to kill, don’t fucking hesitate. If you do you’ll get us all fucking killed. Now when we go into this room. It’s you and me… we have to work together as one. You got that.” And he nods his head. We walk into the room and Ash and I walk to the front. I’m standing at the front of the table and someone starts it up.

  “What do you have for us, Prez.” And the whole room starts cheering.

  “All right that’s enough,” I say in my normal tone and the whole room goes quiet, which surprises me at first, usually it takes more than a couple of words to quiet them down. “ We’ve got some serious shit to attend to. The Henchmen are trying to spread into our territory.” Someone yells fuck that from the back of the room, “They are testing us because they think that since Oz got locked up we are weak.” There’s a couple more fuck that’s and cheering, in response to the aforementioned fuck that’s, from around the room, “We have a meeting in an hour and a half at the marina.” I pause. “We are going in with three teams.” I pause and look around the room… suddenly I feel like I should have talked to Fury about this first. He’s going to be pissed that he isn’t there with me. “Bullet, I need you to stay behind on this one.” He groans trying to argue with my plan. I glare over at him and shake my head. “Bullet, I need you to be here with Ella.” I can tell that he is upset about my decision but he doesn’t argue with me in front of everyone, he knows better than that. He wants to complain because he’s the Road Captain, he should be on the run with me and I need someone to stay with her who I know would be able to take out a handful of men if they decide to come here, “Solo, Viper, and Zodiac stay back with Bullet and guard the clubhouse and Ella. You guys got that?” I ask them all and they nod.

  “I need the two other teams to stay a block back in the trucks, in case shit goes down.” They all nod, “The north team will be Ace, Tuck, Golem, and Lock,” Ace nods to me and then I continue, “Bender, V, Grim, you’ll be with Fury at the south end.” I can see Fury’s frustration as he starts to say something and I move my hand telling him to stop, that we will talk later, “Ash, Lex, and Blaze, will be with me at the marina.” I stop and look at all of them and I sigh, “Understand this is them trying to test us. They will probably try and pull some shit. When they do, I need you guys to get to us, immediately. We leave in 15 so be fucking ready to roll. I’m not fucking dying tonight.” Everyone cheers and follows my chant of I’m not fucking dying tonight, “Bullet.” I motion to him and he comes up, as everyone else leaves the room except for Fury who is well, furious with me for making him sit out. “I need you to go and check on Ella, she should be fine but if shit goes down. I need you to get to her, get her safe, and don’t leave her fucking side until I get back or you hear I’m dead. You hear me.” He nods his head and then leaves the room I say to him to shut the door and he does. I turn to look at Fury, “All right brother, let me have it.” There aren’t many people that I would let question me at all.

  “What the fuck, Prez. I’m your SSA and you’re taking Ash with you.” He yells his words. “The majority of my fucking job is to make sure that you are protected.” I put my finger up.

  “That’s not exactly your job,” I step into him, never letting my voice falter. I’ll tell you that I’m a tough motherfucker, but Fury has been able to scare the fuck out of me, I’m just glad that he’s on my side of things, “Your job is to protect this club. Which means doing what is necessary for everyone. I can’t go out there with my VP and my SSA with me. If shit happens, we can’t all go down with the ship, you got me. Normally, I would have you there, you know that, and he would be sitting back,” hell the last few meetings that we have had where we were worried about shit going down
, it was Fury and I as Oz sat back a block away. “But he has a point. They all know me. They’ve been dealing with me for years. But Ash, they don’t really know. They are testing us mostly because he’s the new VP.” Fury nods his head understanding why I made the decision. “Hopefully, nothing goes down, but since when does that happen with us?” he nods his head agreeing with me. “And Fury,” he looks back to me again, “I need you to have my back on this. I don’t need them questioning me as well.”