Sunday Morning (Damaged #7.5)(20)
Ideas spun in my head for a while before I made my move. I wasn’t scared as much as wary. I knew the men in Memphis could help me. They might also shoot me where I stood. I never feared dying before, but I had people to take care of. Death was no longer an option.
Arlo James was a roly-poly shaped guy I met back in juvenile hall. He and his buddy Jeff Goldstein broke into an old lady’s house on a dare. They got caught and spent three months locked up. Both were soft, rich boys perfect for beatings. More than once, I stepped in to help them. Mostly, I liked pounding on people and helping them gave me a reason.
Even with a plush f*cking life, Arlo grew up to be cold inside. He was quick to kill if he could make money and take territory. He remembered how I helped him out in juvenile hall and gave me a chance to help him again when he took power in Memphis.
After all of these years, we retained a sort of friendship. He used to call on us to do his dirty enforcement work. Though not as much anymore. There were other clubs with harder members, willing to do uglier things with better results. The Chesterfield Vandals made messes when Arlo wanted precision.
In late June, we met for lunch at a barbecue joint in Memphis. He brought several big guys along, but they sat near the door and gave us privacy.
“I have a kid on the way,” I said after a few minutes of chit chat. “My woman still has a way to go, but I’m thinking about the future.”
“Children are a blessing.”
I thought about how Arlo remained childless and realized he and I weren’t so different. We thought our world was too ugly for families. Jodi changed my way of thinking.
“There’s a college town in Kentucky run by a small group of moonshiners. They run drugs too, but they started out as moonshiners, and they don’t have the brains to do much more. They’re small and disorganized but violent,” I said and then got to my point. “With your help, I want to build a new club, take over that town, and give my family a quiet place to live.”
“What’s in it for me?”
“The college town has untapped potential. Taking it would give you a pathway to expand your territory outside of Tennessee.”
Arlo tapped his fork against his plate. “Tell me about the club you’re building.”
“I’d take a few guys from the Vandals. They’re older and less impressed by our leadership. I know other guys around Chesterfield and in Tennessee. They’re not in clubs, but they’re loyal. Smart guys with experience.”
“Think your current club will give you trouble?”
“I don’t think they’re smart enough to know to give me trouble. They think of the club as a social thing. The business side doesn’t interest them. It’s like the f*cking Boy Scouts with *, drugs, and booze.”
Seriously considering the plan, Arlo scratched his balding head and frowned. “Will the moonshiners be easy to remove?”
“No, it’ll be bloody, but they have no reason to see me coming. They’re like a lot of crews in Kentucky. Disorganized, only thinking about this job or that mark. With the right kind of leadership, Kentucky could belong to you.”
“What do you need from me?”
“Money and weapons. I can bring the guys. Once we’ve removed the moonshiners, we’ll need funds to build our organization and fend off anyone thinking of messing with us. It could take a year before we can expand further into Kentucky. By then, I’d have my club together. Once we have a strong base, we can push out and take more territory.”
“And you just came up with all this since you got a kid coming?”
“I’ve always thought about stuff, but the Vandals don’t have the organization to make those kinds of moves.”
Arlo was interested in my idea, but he didn’t trust anyone and needed to poke at me before agreeing.
“I thought clubs were about loyalty to your brothers.”
Arlo’s dark eyes made me feel like a f*cking chump. I wondered what my dark eyes made him feel.
“I joined the Vandals because I knew one f*cking guy. He’s dead now. What do I care about loyalty to a group of kids playing tough guys?”
To make me squirm, Arlo ate the rest of his meal before talking about my plan again.
“I’ll back you, but if you’re underestimating these moonshiners, it’ll be your ass. I won’t send reinforcements. I’m not investing my reputation in this scheme. Money and weapons, I can recoup. A damaged image never goes away.”
“Fair enough.”
Arlo leaned back in his chair and yawned. “I don’t see you doing daddy duty, Kirk.”
“And I never saw you being a badass when we met back in juvie. Shit, didn’t you cry the first day?”
Grinning, Arlo nodded. “Yes, I did. Point made. I wish you the best of luck with the family man routine. Is your kid’s mother okay with you wiping out moonshiners to get her a new zip code?”
I wiped my mouth. “My woman is mine so you know she’s got balls of steel.”
Arlo laughed, and the mood shifted to talking about sports. That was that. He would back me unless I f*cked up. Then I was on my own. Fortunately, I didn’t plan to f*ck up.
16 - Jodi
I cried like a f*cking baby when Kirk told me he was leaving town for a few weeks. The hormones made me weaker than usual, but the idea of him never returning was the real reason for my blubbering.