11:35AM - Joel & Demi
While nobody had ever verbalized to Demi that the Vegas PD or the likes had placed men inside of the Road Devils, she had come to that conclusion on her own when her daddy and his guys had been busted. They were careful, so careful that it was the only conclusion that made a lick of sense to her. Years ago she had been resentful of that fact, because what child liked having their daddy taken away from them? But now as an adult she could look at it for what it was. Maybe it was Isaac’s influence and his constant striving for justice, but Demi knew the Road Devils had been put behind bars because they were outlaws. Still, she loved them all the same and would always support them. They were family.
“My daddy and his men were notorious,” Demi remarked with a fond smile. “Someone would have had to live under a rock to not know about the Road Devils in that area,” she added, well aware of the reputation they had had.
What surprised her was Joel’s remark about the Hellhounds needing to take a page out of the Road Devils book. Demi knew her dad and his men were not nearly as violent as the Hellhounds had been. Sure, they shared a lot of similarities. But Patrick Rafferty had never been hellbent on burning Boulder City or Vegas to the ground, not like Rodeo had been when it came to Austin. “They could have, yes,” Demi agreed. “But my daddy and Rodeo were very different men and living in very different situations.” She couldn’t say whether her dad and his men might have taken the same road if put in the same spot. For all she knew they might be doing the very same thing that the Hellhounds had done, scavenging and claiming Boulder City as their own.
Despite trying to be professional, Joel had only been partially successful at smothering his snort when Demi mentioned Rodeo Hawkins. “All due respect, Ms. Rafferty,” he began, “I don’t think the different situations can rationalize Hawkins actions.” In Joel’s mind there was no excuse that would hold up when cops had been killed.
“What I meant,” he continued, “was they could have made a better show at allying the community with them.” Despite knowing the Road Devils had been criminals, there had been a lot of people willing to look the other way because of the good the MC had been doing. “But it’s water on the bridge.” He wasn’t going to be the one to present a bad example by arguing with Demi Rafferty over something that couldn’t be changed.
The snort came as no surprise. Rodeo never had been and never would have been a saint, Demi wasn’t delusional enough to think otherwise. “I never said it did,” Demi replied. “I just said they were different men who were living in different situations.” She had never and would never make excuses for the terrible things the Hellhounds had done. But she would forever hold firm to the fact that people in the Capitol, under Olinger’s rule had done things just as bad, if not worse.
“And don’t you think that the Hellhounds are trying that now?” Demi countered at the remark about allying the community with them. “I would say they’ve done an admirable job of beginning the very slow crawl back to gaining the trust of these people.” She waved a hand around The Bar. “But like you said, it’s water under the bridge,” Demi paused. “And also not likely the sort of discussion that Mayor Clarke was hoping for among people at this event.”
Joel’s expression was neutral. If he had any doubt that Demi would defend the Hellhounds it would have been thoroughly squashed by the way she argued his comment. “We weren’t talking about now,” he responded reasonably. “I respect what the MC is trying to do.” And for the sake of their conversation he thought it would be better if they moved on from talking about it.