The Club

Luka stepped out where Lee and Alan both had four men on them, pinning them to the ground.

Amelia got her first look at Alan and he was Lee twice over again, but younger.

"Lee Foster. Alan Foster. I call you both to account. You have been stealing club funds for personal use for years. I am guessing since before Per was even gone. You have been not only allowing, but condoning and taking payment for letting outsiders in our borders to deal drugs, weapons and people. Fucking PEOPLE!" Luka raged. "You let people believe your actions were club sanctioned, tying OUR name to this shit."

"You are fucking weak, Luka!" Lee yelled. "Soft! You shouldn't be running this club, it could be so much more without you!"

"It would be less! What you do, that isn't club, Lee. That is just... petty criminal bullshit. No one here needs to go to jail to prove shit. That's not what we are about. We make plenty of money doing what we do. Plenty. There was no reason to go back to the old ways, you are stuck in a time that is outdated. That's not club anymore. We aren't criminals like that. You know that. No drugs here, no guns here. And it should go without fucking saying that we don't deal in human fucking lives. I am calling a summit. Your fates will be decided. Be here tomorrow at noon for your trial. Be ready, Lee, a reckoning is coming. Do I need to send boys with you? Are you so far gone as to need a fucking escort? Take their vests, their guns. Let them go. You will both be back here at noon tomorrow for the trial. You know what happens if you don't show. Both of you. Go. Get out of my club."

The two huge men stood up and glared around the room. Both of them landed eyes on Amelia and glared daggers before they left.

Luka turned back to her after they were gone. "You ok, Cherry?"

"Yeah. Thanks. Umm, thanks for leaving Jay with me. He saved me when Alan pulled a gun. Got me down and hidden behind the desk and safe. Moved the desk out of the line of fire in case something happened again. He made me feel safe."

Luka half laughed. "Is this you giving him a good review because you feel some sort of... something towards him? You don't have to. I know Jay and I picked him for a reason. He did his job like I knew he would. You don't need to talk him up, I know already."

Amelia blushed, but nodded. "Should I keep working on the..."

"Later. Come in and sit down, you need to eat. I need to eat. Apex, I want a full report and give Amy that folder. She'll sort it."

Amy sat with Luka at the bar as they ate, listening to all of the reports and what had happened. After, Luka let her go back to the office, but he went with her, talking on his phone and having people come in to give their reports.

In the evening, an older man came in and Luke stood up, grinning as he hugged the man.

"Luka, boy, good to see you," the man said with a fatherly smile.

"You too Sam. Sam, this is Amy, my old lady. Amy, Sam. He leads our southern hills chapter."

Amy gave him a nod as he smiled at her.

"She's a knockout. Sorry to hear about your troubles, boy. There was a time I looked up to Lee. He got stuck in the past, couldn't move on. Adapt. They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but I am living proof you can," he smiled, his eyes shining. "Guess this means no rager tonight?"

Luka laughed. "Oh, hell no. No, we are party'n old man. How many you bring?"

"Twenty two of us?"

"Then I am calling in all the girls from my new titty bar!" Luka laughed.

He pulled Amelia up and out, locking the door behind them before going out front to the packed main room.

In an hour, it was chaos. She had never been around so many wild and loud people, loud music, roughhousing and naked women. There were drugs out in the open, men and women doing lines of coke right out on the bar alongside shots. There were even people having sex right out in the open. It was over the top wild.

Finally, she leaned in and had to yell to be heard, even right next to his ear. "My head is killing me! Can I go lay down?"

"Yeah babe!" he laughed, picking her up and half tossing her in the air as he did. He was grinning, the joy in his eyes infectious as she laughed. He took her back to his room and shut the door, shoving her down to the bed and kissing her.

She turned, laughing. "You're drunk!"

"Yeah I am! Kiss me!" he demanded, pulling her to kiss him again.

She kissed him a moment, then pulled away again. "You can go out to your party and your friends, I don't want to keep you from them!"

"No, it's fine. I want to be here. Kiss me!" he laughed.

His door opened and Lee stepped in.

Luka stood up quickly and pulled Amelia up, pushing her across the room towards the bathroom.

Lee lifted his hands. "I came to talk. I talked to Alan. He told me what he did, I didn't know. Not about that. Yeah, I fucked up with the other things, but not stealing from club."

"We'll have this out tomorrow," Luka said with a scowl.

"I know, I'll be here. I wanted to come to you tonight. Talk to you man to man. You came into all of this late, Luka. You came in when Per was having second thoughts. You took that and ran with it. That wasn't how things were supposed to be, we were..."

"We tried your way, Lee. Remember how it ended? Six of ours dead, five in prison. No. That was never the right way."

"We just have to be smarter about it!" Lee said, stepping closer.

"I am not having this out with you again, Lee!" Luka said angrily. "You need to go."

Luka turned his back, taking off his chest piece and when he did, Lee pulled a gun from the back of his waistband on his jeans.

Amelia didn't hesitate as she shouted a warning while he was still drawing and darted in, ramming a knife-hand punch into his kidney. She grabbed the gun when he hunched and twisted, flipping and pulling the gun free as she rolled to her feet a few feet away. She ran forward and leaped to the bed, then vaulted off of it as she spun, landing the butt of the gun heavily across Lee's nose. He went to his knees, holding his nose and she spun behind him, putting the gun to the back of his head.

Luka gaped at her and she let out a sigh. "Well that was a god damn shit show!" she yelled angrily, loudly.

Luke stepped forward. "Amy? Holy hell, did you just... save me?"

Amy stared hard at the back of Lee's head, her face red.

The music stopped out front and there was yelling, then moments later the door opened and police poured in.

Amy stepped back and handed the gun off to one of them, then pulled her hearing aids off and handed them to another one. "I got everything we needed," she told the man. She started to leave, but paused at the door and turned to Luka as he was being cuffed. "I'm sorry," she said softly.

The officer she had given her things to followed her. "Agent Winfield, Agent Blaine is out in the van waiting for you, he wants..."

Luka didn't hear more as they disappeared down the hall and he was shoved to the floor. His heart was crushed.

Three long days later, he was sitting in a holding room he had been brought to. He had been in it several times already being questioned.

This time though, it was her that came in the door. He glared at her, anger swelling up red hot. "Lying BITCH!" he raged, tears welling.

She looked down and waved off the officer who started to step in. She sat down and set a folder on the table, but didn't look up as she sat quietly.

"Nothing to say, CHERRY?" he demanded. "How? How did you do it?"

She finally looked up, her own eyes rimmed red, her nose red, as if she were holding back tears. She faked a professional smile. "I did a profile on you Lukallawei Ambrose. Conformed to your ideal woman. Quiet, sheltered, in need of protection, broken, adoring, naive, unsure. I became all of those things and put myself in your path. You took the bait like I knew you would. I was supposed to be in longer, but it is what it is. We got what we went in for and that's what mattered."

"It was all a lie," he said angrily, shaking his head. "All of it. How did you fucking fake being a virgin?"

"Oh, I didn't fake that."

"You let your job make you..."

"I made a personal choice. I could have stopped you any time I wanted. As you saw. So you know, I didn't... fake everything. Anyway. Not the point. You are aware of all the charges laid out, yes?"

"Yeah. You're what, here to over me a deal? I flip on my crew and you lessen my time?"

"No. No, not that. We have all of you dead to rights, we don't need a deal. While it was Lee and Alan who we were ultimately after, you and yours are still into a lot of illegal things. Including kidnapping, though I made a personal choice not to press charges. You are all looking at 15 to 30 years. A guilty plea will go a long way for most of them. I am going to personally vouch for Jay Santiago. Lessen his sentence."

"Not me?" he asked derisively.

"Not you," she said softly, her hands going to the folder in front of her.

"How much was a lie?" he demanded hoarsely. "Obviously you're not deaf. That whole sob story?"

"They were wires. My parents are alive and well in Memphis. It was a story concocted to appeal to your need to protect and to relate to you."

"The trailer?"

"A staged setting."

"Fucking bitch," he said angrily, looking away as more tears welled up. "How old are you?"

"Twenty six. I am just small. My backstory was all a lie, I was undercover. But Luka... anything not a backstory? None of it was a lie. None of it. And I was serious about most the things I said to you. Not the point. Luka," she said, sitting up and flipping open the folder and arraying the things inside.

He looked down at the license and passport and other papers in confusion.

"Lukallawei Ambrose is getting into a transport vehicle as we speak. There will be an accident on the way to the facility where he is being processed. His body will be found among the wreckage and he will be laid to rest alongside his brothers from the club. Luke Hannover will be free to walk out of this building to start a new life. Away from here. Away from this city. Is there anything you do not understand about this? That you do not agree with?"

"What about my boys?"

"They will serve their time and get out, regardless of where you are and what you are doing. As far as they will know, you will have died. Luka... stop climbing. Start building. Say yes to this. It's your way out and you deserve a chance to try for happiness instead of... just fighting for the next rung."

"Did you mean what you said?" he asked, looking at her challengingly.

She looked him in the eye. "Every single word." His lip curled slightly and she stood, feeling sad. "Have a good life, Luke Hannover. Find happiness. Build."

She left, feeling both relief and regret. It was her sixth time in a sting like this, she was good at her job. Never once had she become invested or pulled a single favor to do what she had just done until now.

She stopped at the front desk and gave the officer a nod. He picked up the bag of clothes, including Luka's chestpiece, and took it back to the room.

She left and went to the airport to fly back to headquarters. The debriefing took a while, especially since they hadn't gotten nearly as much as they had hoped. They had put in with the wrong crew, thinking they were running things, but it wasn't them. It was just Lee allowing it. Someone else was behind the human trafficking and gun running.

That was for them to figure out, her part was done and she wanted a break. She asked for time off to go home.

Not that it was really a home. She had been in her apartment a little over a week, hadn't even unpacked completely when she was pulled for the assignment. She had rarely been at home at all in the years she had been going undercover.

She flew back to Memphis feeling tired and heartbroken. This had never been an issue before. They were usually scumbags and she was happy to put them behind bars.

He was different. His idealism, his joy. She had played her part too well. She had even convinced herself. She tried to tell herself that as she went to see her parents first, staying for a few days to be spoiled by her parents. Her mom made her favorite dinners and she sat and watched horrible fake reality TV about survivalists with her father. It was a nice, relaxing weekend. She sat in her old room, looking around at her memories and wondered.

Was she climbing or was she building?

She thought of her apartment, a hollow shell, stacked boxes. She was never there.

When the long weekend was over, she headed into the city to her apartment and went in, ready to tackle boxes. She was pleasantly surprised as she looked around and realized she had unpacked more than she remembered, The living room wasn't bad at all. Her bedroom and office were wrecks though and she knew she had her work cut out for her as she tossed her keys in the bowl and looked through the huge stack of mail.

She finally wandered back to her bedroom, considering a shower before she started, then froze as she looked around.

There were no boxes and everything was unpacked. Put away. Everything. She turned and went out to her office and it was set up as well. Not a box in sight. She spun and started for her phone to call the super and Luka was standing there.

She stood, frozen and staring as he stood off the wall and walked all the way to her until she was craning her neck.

A million things went through her mind.

If he tried to hurt her, she would go for a crotch shot first.

He looked beautiful.

She wanted to kiss him.

Why was he here?

Was he going to try and kill her for betraying him?

Why was her heart hammering so hard?

Could she hurt him if he tried something?

"Building," he shrugged, looking around. "Though... this seems pretty generic to me. Not really you at all."

"You don't really know me."

"I think I know you enough to know that this," he said motioning around her, "isn't you. This is a version of Agent Winfield that you adopted like one of your personas. Abigail. Never did think Amelia suited you."

"It was your grandmother's name. A name you probably heard as a kid and associated with family. Love. She died before you were born."

He nodded. "I think I remember that, now that you say it. You all thought of everything, didn't you? Abigail doesn't suit you either. Abby. No. Cherry. Cherry suits you," he said, reaching out and toying with a curl.

"Why are you here, Luka? Luke?"

"Why do you think? I have an interview tomorrow. Fixing fucking bikes," he laughed. "Me. I could build a bike from the ground up but I have to interview and test. It's all good though, isn't it? Building. I can do that."

"You know my work... it takes me away for months at a time?"

"Not anymore, too dangerous. You're going to take a desk job or something and fucking build. With your husband. I told you, Cherry. You are mine. I meant it. Now come here and kiss me," he smirked, taking a knee and pulling her close. He tilted her face up and looked into her eyes a moment before kissing her softly. "And I am about to teach you how to suck my cock."