She sobs for a moment. Each one of us with children feels her pain at not having her child with her, yet, we can't at the same time.
“I asked her to stay with me, I didn't want her to go back to him, but she said she couldn't stay. Mom just wanted me safe, and for me to get help to bring Teddy back to me. I didn't know what else to do. I'm so scared, Elliot, please, help me.”
“It's okay, sweetheart, nothing is going to happen to you. I'll keep you safe, and I'll bring our boy home, I promise.”
They already have a kid together? Oh, shit, little Teddy. How did I not realize that sooner? The name alone should have told me his association with Kong. The little boy he brings to the clubhouse now and again.
How did none of us realize before now? Kong was always shifty when asked about Teddy's mother. He never did give much information about her.
“What do we do about this, Shepard?”
“What we're supposed to do, BlackJack. Kong, take your girl back to the clubhouse, and Taylor will check her over. We'll meet you there. Settle Alison into your room, then meet us for church. We have a lot to get through.”
“Prez. Come with me, baby.”
How the fuck did Kong get himself mixed up with a Coyotes girl?
Shepard has repeatedly warned us many times, even beat it into us at our initiation that you don't fuck with another clubs girl. Especially not the damn president's daughter. Click is a well-known bastard, who runs his parch, an hour out of Bardsville, with an iron fist. The residents of Claxton live in fear of that man and his gang of thugs. They take what they want when they want. They push drugs, guns, women. They're a vile bunch of motherfuckers with no morals.
So why haven't the Snakes stopped them?
Their business isn't ours. We can't prove they run the sex auctions we've heard about. We've tried a couple of times to get information that would help bring Vidal in to shut the bastards down, but we've found none. Plus, no one will talk to us about it, so there's no much we can do. You don't go looking for trouble when trouble doesn't want to be found.
We can't stop the Coyotes pushing drugs. They're not coming into our town and pushing them. What they do on their turf is nothing to do with us.
This is going to end in a war between our clubs. Every man enjoys a fight, but those coyote fuckers are brutal. Sure, we've got some outright evil bastards in our club. Hammer and Roman the most sadistic of all. Usually, I'd be all for a war with scum, but I have Brooke and Gabe to think about now. It's not like any one of us couldn't be killed if anything went wrong.
If anything happened to me, who would take care of my family?
Sure, they have the whole of them MC to look out for them, but it's not the same. My parents will be lost to grief for a while, and my brother... God, knows what he'll do. Brooke will be alone in her own little world.
Don't think about this now, Hawk. Listen to what Kong has to say. Once you have, Prez will figure out what to do next. He won't throw you into the fires of hell without your brothers there to back you and each other up.
Half an hour later, and everyone is around the oak table ready for church, looking to Kong for an explanation. If we're to go to war for him and his girl, then we need to know why.
“First off, I just want to thank you all for what you did today. What you were willing to do if it came to it.”
Each man tips his head. He doesn't need to thank us; we'd have done it for any one of us in this room. We're always there for each other, no matter what, no questions asked.
“Why don't you explain how you ended up with Click's daughter.”
Kong signs, but nods at Shepard before looking at everyone around the table. He takes a deep, sighing breath. “I met Alison when we were nine. We went to school together. We were best friends from the off. Click didn't like me, and he made no secret of it. He made my dad's life hell, yet he didn't stop Alison and I being friends, while we were young, at least.
“At one point, my dad tried to keep me away from Alison. Click took offense, and my dad ended up in the hospital for a week.” Jesus! “My dad was a quiet man, he worked hard in his hardware store, and he tried to keep himself to himself. He suffered from PTSD due to an accident when he was in his twenties, and he wasn't the kind of man who was strong enough to stand up to men like Click. He wanted to move Mom and me out of Claxton and away from those assholes. Click made my dad's life a misery. He told him that wherever he went, the Coyotes would follow and make him sorry. The freak didn't want me near his daughter, but he didn't want my dad to be the one to make that decision, so he allowed Alison and I to be friends.”
Kong rubs his forehead with his fingertips. I don't even want to imagine what it was like growing up in the same town as those motherfuckers, let alone having their president terrorizing my vulnerable father.
We all met Kong's dad a couple of years ago before he passed away. The man was jittery, on edge, didn't want his son joining us. Understandably after what we've just heard. It was apparent to anyone with eyes the man couldn't defend himself, especially against men like Click. Of course, the old cunt would pick up on that and take advantage of it.
“When Alison and I were fourteen, Click invited me to dinner. Alison begged me to go. She thought Click was finally okay with us being friends, and that he wanted to show us that he approved. She was so innocent minded, even with a dad like that, that she believed what he told her. I went because it made her happy.”
Kong shifts in his seat.
“Click showed me just how sick and twisted he could be that night. He plastered on the fake smile, giving me a false sense of calm. He still scared me half to death. In my fourteen-year-old mind, Click was the devil, no matter how nice he acted.”
He still is the fucking devil.
“His wife served dinner on a silver platter. Literally.” He sniggers sarcastically. “Click made some big speech about nothing of any importance to a kid, and then he lifted the lid... I'll never forget Alison's screams and the way my eyes were locked on what he served up.”
“What was it?” Ace asks.
“A baked dogs head.” Everyone murmurs inaudible words of disgust. It shouldn't come to a surprise to any of us that the sick fuck did something like that. It's still sickening to hear it. “My dog.” How did I know that was coming? “I knew right away that it was Bud because he was still wearing his collar.”
“He murdered your dog?”
“Yes, Stryker, he murdered my dog, cooked his head and served it to me as a warning. A warning of what would happen to me should I ever touch his daughter. Alison's mother dragged her out of the room because she was hysterical. Click sat calmly in his chair and told me that would be me if I ever went against him where Alison was concerned.”
“Yet you still did.” Mike chuckles, but this is no laughing matter to Kong. I also now have a better understanding of why his two huge Rottweiler's mean so much to him. Loyal pets that will quite literally tear a man apart if Kong snaps his fingers.
“Not until we were eighteen. I didn't want to admit I felt anything for her. I didn't want Click coming after my family, my dad was quite ill by that point, and I couldn't risk Click pushing him over the edge. However, there came a day that I just couldn't fight what I felt for her any longer. Alison and I had to sneak around so that we could see each other, to make sure no one cottoned onto what we really were to each other.
“After graduation, Alison left for college in Texas, and I would go up there to visit and spend time with her. While she was there, my parents moved out of Claxton and here to Bardsville. I met you guys and joined. I kept the fact that I even knew Alison from everyone because I knew how much you couldn't stand the Coyotes.
“When we were twenty-two, and she was home from college, Alison told me that she was pregnant. I told Shepard the truth because I felt like I owed it to my Prez, to be honest. He warned me not to bring trouble to the club, which I have never done. He also told me that I could tell everyone the truth if and when I felt it
necessary. I never thought Alison would ever get out from under her father's hold, so I kept it to myself. However, when Teddy was born, and Alison allowed me access, you guys started asking more and more who his mother was,”
“Alison is your kid's mom?” Jett asks for clarification.
Kong nods at Jett. We all knew the man had a son. He's not telling us anything we don't know in that sense. We've met the little man a few times when Kong had access. He never told us much about Teddy's mother, he'd never go into detail, and now I know why.
“Yes, Alison is Teddy's mother. She's pregnant with our second kid, and Click has my son.”
“How the fuck have you been seeing that psychos daughter all this time without anyone finding out?”
“With all due respect, we don't have time for this, Veep. Click will know by now that Alison is missing, and he'll want blood. Prez, he has my boy, and he'll think nothing of killing him to teach Alison a lesson.”
“We'll get him out of there, Kong, but we need an airtight plan. We can't afford to make mistakes when there's a three-year-old involved.”
We do, but I doubt we have time to sit here planning the abduction of a three-year-old child. He could be dead before we even get to the Coyotes clubhouse if he's even there, and that's before we make plans. Not to mention we need to collect weapons, the truck, and... Calm down, Hawk, where there's a will, there's a way.