Page 48 of Minus
“Stop playing it. Get the fuck out while we still could. As far as I could see, we had no choice. The game had become unwinnable. If it ever was in the first place. In fact, we weren’t even playing the same game as everyone else on the streets anymore. The criminal world had moved into the twenty-first century, and we were still dragging our knuckles. Either way, by continuing to follow the same old rules, we’d all end up in prison or dead.”
“So, your solution to him was, what? Disband the Burning Saints?”
“No, but that’s how he took it when I told him what I thought our club should look like in the future.”
“What exactly did you say?”
“Something to the effect of ‘the club was like an old bike, with good parts, that needed to be rebuilt with newer,better parts,’ etcetera.”
“He didn’t much care for that analogy?” she asked.
“I believe his words were, ‘Boy, you ever refer to my club as an old pile of garbage again, I’ll skin you alive, starting with your patch.’”
“I see,” Cricket said, shifting in her seat. “The other side of my uncle that I’ve heard so much about.”
“I’m not gonna lie. Cutter is tough. Probably the toughest guy I’ve ever met. He’s one of the few men I both respect, and fear. I thought my days in the club were fuckin’ numbered the day of that meeting. Every time I saw Cutter after that, he’d be lookin’ at me with a fire in his eyes. I was convinced he hated me and wanted me gone. To be honest, it broke my heart because all I ever wanted was for the Burning Saints to have a future. I felt like we could learn something from clubs like the Dogs. I just wanted Cutter and the other officers to broaden their minds to new ways of doing things.”
“So, what happened?”
“The next thing I knew, Cutter, Red Dog, and three other Saints were dangling me over the side of the Burnside bridge at four in the morning, wearing nothing but underwear and handcuffs.”
“Jesus, did they really do that to you?”
“Indeed, they did. I was then told I was to drive a truck containing a load of club cargo and all my belongings, including my bike, to Savannah, Georgia. I was instructed to stay there until otherwise notified, or hell froze over, whichever came first. I was also told to, and I quote, ‘Stay out of Portland, and stay out of Cricket Wallace.’”
“Charming,” she said.
“So, that’s it. That’s why I was out of your life so suddenly and completely. I had no choice but to do what I was told. I was loyal to my club, and besides, it’s not like I had any other options. The club was my life, my source of income, and the only family I had.”
“Wasyour life. Is that not true anymore? Do you not feel the same?”
“The club is still my family and I’d die for any of my brothers, but no, I don’t feel exactly the same as I did back then.”
“Why the change?”
“The answer’s not so much a why, but a who,” I replied with a grin. “His name’s Duke. He’s the other reason Cutter sent me to Georgia, but that’s another conversation entirely. Let’s just say, that I understand Cutter a lot more now, and that he agreed with me far more than I could have ever known back then.”
“Really, how so?”
“Cutter built the Saints from nothing with his bare hands. It was the wild fucking west back then, and he was able to tame a handful of misfits and make them profitable in record time. He also managed to keep his crew alive, and out of jail in a time when that took deep pockets and an iron fist. The Burning Saints were born in the wild, but the world around them was becoming civilized and he knew it.”
“If he agreed with you, then why did he treat you like shit? Why did he break us up, and exile you?” Cricket demanded.
“Because, knowing the directionnotto sail isn’t enough information to take a boat into open waters. A good Captain charts a course and has the experience to know how to avoid waves when they come,” I said.
“Did Cutter teach you that?” she asked.
“No, Duke did, but I now see that it applies to Cutter, and how he dealt with me.”
“How so?”
“Cutter figured out most of the money had moved off the streets and onto the web, and that his way of doing things was pretty much over. He was also wise enough to know that he didn’t have a viable solution to transition into the new age yet. I, on the other hand, was full of piss and vinegar but would surely go out and get myself killed trying to change the world. At least that’s how Cutter saw me.”
“Was he wrong?” Cricket asked.
“Of course, he wasn’t. I probably would have gottenClutch, Grover, and our guys riled up, and embarked on some half-assed scheme that would have gotten us all shot or landed us in prison.”
“Still, to hang you off a bridge, not to mention what he did to us...”
