by Zoey Parker
“Yeah, but we’re dealing with a lot of shit right now,” he said. “The guys were wondering where the hell you were.” He laughed, but I could hear the seriousness behind his words.
“You mean to tell me you couldn’t handle it on your own?” I asked. “I mean, who do you think is going to take my place when I step aside one day or if anything happens to me?”
“I never said I didn’t have it under control, boss. I was just letting you know,” he joked. “Um, Gage is back,” he added cautiously.
“Good,” I said. “I owe him an apology, and we need a hard ass like him with us today.”
“I’ll get him,” Dante said, walking towards the crowd gathering in the door.
“Hey, get all the senior members. We need to have a meeting before we go. We need a plan of action,” I called to him.
While Dante went to grab the guys for a quick meeting, I grabbed some ammo for my handgun and one of our assault rifles. I really preferred handguns, but we were addressing a pretty tall order on this mission. I needed something with a little more power. Plus, looks went a long way. If it looked more dangerous, it usually elicited a different reaction. Rivals were less likely to act up when they saw an assault rifle than when they saw a little handgun, regardless of the caliber. There were pistols out there that made our assault rifles look like toys, but the thing was they didn’t look like toys.
“Upstairs?” Dante asked, grabbing my shoulder.
“No, right here is fine,” I told him, turning to address the guys as they surrounded me at the table where Dante had spread out our guns and ammo.
Gage stood front and center. That was no accident, surely. His position was significant. He wanted me to see him.
“First off,” I started with a harsh tone, commanding everyone’s attention, “I want to start with an apology. Gage, brother, I should have paid better attention. You were right, man. We need to talk about your chapter placement when all of this is finished.”
“Accepted, brother,” he said with a nod. Neither one of us really expected a reaction from anyone else. Even Gage knew that no one really liked him. It was kind of his thing.
“As for the rest of you, today we’re going after Fang, as you all know. And I hope everyone can appreciate how serious this is. We’re not going in with guns blazing. I want you all to form a perimeter around his hideout. Gage, Dante, and I will go in to talk to him. Unless you hear gunshots, the rest of you stay back. I don’t care if his men can see you or if you decide to sit far enough back that they won’t be able to spot you.”
“They’ll be able to see us,” Gage interrupted.
He was right.
Fang had started off as a small time hustler and glorified pimp. He built his business on illegal gambling rings and prostitution. He expanded to call girls at some point, and as his reputation in that department grew, so did his business. It was rumored that through his escort service he made some pretty important connections that went way above anyone on the street.
The story was that he’d landed a politician for a client, and he blackmailed him into giving him access to military grade weapons. Fang took our weapons business because he could provide clients with things that couldn’t be purchased legally, and it was all clean. Nothing was traceable back to anyone so long as nobody was caught red-handed. That also meant that Fang and his goons had access to some pretty heavy duty toys for themselves, and they were not afraid to use them.
Guys like Fang really made the streets more dangerous than they needed to be. The rest of us just provided services and goods. Fang offered up game changers. His prowess in the weapons game hit us on two fronts. Not only did our supplier go under, but our security business took a pretty serious hit. We had some clients who were extremely loyal because they preferred our clean-up service to anyone else they’d ever used, but most people went with the guy who had the biggest guns. We couldn’t blame them.
“Yeah, you’re right, Gage. His guys have the equipment to see and hear us even in the dead of night when we’re not making a single noise.”
I saw a few worried looks.
“Guys, don’t sweat it. If anything goes wrong, we just do what we do. We kill everyone,” I added with a hearty laugh.
That got their spirits up.
“I mean, really, what good is this sort of thing if it doesn’t lead to a fight? And we know that if it turns into a fight, we’ve got them. They may have better weapons, but they don’t have the balls,” I said.
One of the things we were known for was our ability to fight. The Hell’s Overlords MC had been built on bar and street fights. We used to go into bars just to start fights until we got so big that it was beginning to undermine the rest of our business.
“Well, are we ready?” I asked everyone.
They all threw their fists in the air.
“Everyone got a weapon?” I asked.
I watched as the senior members all pulled their assault rifles around to the front. Gage also pulled a shiny silver revolver out of his waistband. Sometimes, I thought he should have been an outlaw in the Old West, not on the city streets of urban America.
“Then let’s go,” I told them.
Of course, they ran off yelling, howling, and whistling to get the other members riled up and ready to launch an all-out attack on our biggest rival.
“Andre,” I snapped as he walked past me with his gun in the air.
“Yes, sir?” He stopped dead in his tracks and turned with a frightened look in his eyes.
“You’re staying back. We need someone to watch HQ while we’re out,” I told him.
He let out a sigh that was equal parts relief and disappointment. He was obviously relieved that I wasn’t scolding him for letting Sasha out of his sight, and he was understandably disappointed that I wasn’t letting him tag along.
“It’s an important job, brother. I need you come through for me. Don’t drop the ball on this one, got it?”
“Got it.”
“Alright. Close the bay doors behind us after we leave. Lock this place down while we’re gone.”
“I don’t get to keep anyone here with me?” he asked.
I looked at Dante, and he shrugged.
“Up to you, boss,” he said.
“Yeah, grab three guys to stay back with you. Stay armed. Stay vigilant. It’s possible Fang knows we’re on the way, and if he decides to pull anything, you need to be able to buy enough time to let us know.” I looked right into his young, scared eyes. Sometimes I wondered what I had been thinking by making him a senior member, but he had the muscle and weapons know-how that we needed. He didn’t have any common sense whatsoever, but if you told him to hit it or shoot it, it was handled with precision.
Dante and I walked to our bikes in the noise of everyone gunning their engines. We watched as Andre grabbed a few guys, stopping them from riding out and convincing them to stay with him. It really humorous. They looked at us for confirmation that he wasn’t just losing his mind, and we simply nodded to let them know it was legit.
We pulled out of HQ and into the afternoon light. This was the kind of business that was usually handled at night. We hoped that handling it in the afternoon, in broad fucking daylight, would give us a bit of an advantage over Fang and his goons.
Chapter 14
Sasha
After listening to Fang’s voicemails, all of which just amounted to being worried about my well-being and wanting to hear from me to make sure I was alright, I decided it was time to take action. Since Cole wouldn’t listen to me about not going after Fang, since he wanted to lie to my face and tell me they just wanted to talk to him, I decided it was time to call my boss and let him know what was going on.
After my conversation with Cole earlier, it had become clear to me that all Cole was trying to do with the sex and the caring relationship act was to get information out of me. All he really wanted was the same thing he’d wanted since day one—to know my boss. Well, he might have had a name, and he mig
ht have known Fang’s reputation, but he was about to find out first hand who my boss was.
I tapped Fang’s number on my screen and stepped outside. He answered after a few rings.
“Sasha?” His smooth voice sounded cautious, like he didn’t expect it to be me.
“It’s me,” I told him.
“Oh, good. How are you?” he asked with concern in his voice. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, but there’s something I need to tell you,” I started.
“Where are you?” he asked, ignoring me.
“I’m at Cole Masterson’s apartment,” I answered.
“You’re where?” he snapped.
“Look, when the drug thing turned out to be a trap, I decided to try to get some intel for you. I figured you could use some eyes and ears on the inside, okay? So, I’m fucking inside. I’m as inside as it gets.”
“Good girl,” he said slowly, letting the words roll gently off his tongue. “What do you have for me?”
I froze. I was about to stab Cole in the back bigtime, like Julius Caesar big. I couldn’t deny that we were both working to build trust, but I couldn’t deny that we were both abusing that trust at the same time. We were on opposite sides of a conflict, and we were both trying to reach out to each other while maintaining our integrity and our responsibilities to other people.
“Sasha?” he said. “Sasha, what do you have for me?”
“He’s coming to kill you,” I told him.
Fang laughed so hard I had to pull the phone away from my ear, and I could still hear him clearly.
“Oh, that’s rich,” he said. “How does he know where I am?” he asked. “Did you tell him? Are you playing double agent over there, Sasha?”
“No,” I told him as ice crept into my veins. The last thing I needed to do was to get on both of their bad sides. If I got on Fang’s bad side, that would have been bad. At least with Cole, I was pretty sure I could fuck my way back into his good graces.
“Are you sure? I know you,” he said, and the accusation in his tone chilled me even more. His voice told me that there had been other times when I’d flirted with his anger, and I hadn’t known about it. He hadn’t said anything then, but it was all about to come down on me now.
“What does that mean?” I asked. If he had something to say, now was as good a time as any to let it out.
“Nothing, Sasha,” he said dismissively. “You can just get a little too involved sometimes with the job is all I meant. What do you know?”
“Look, I found out today that he’s had his men looking for you. I’ve been doing what I can to keep him away from the MC, but they’ve been looking for you anyway, without him there,” I explained. “I think he’s been sneaking away from me at times to talk to them, so there’s no telling what else is going on.”
“Do they know you were working for me?” he asked.
“Yes,” I answered, and closed my eyes, hoping he wouldn’t ask how they found out.
“Did you tell them?” he asked.
Shit! What was I supposed to say? I ran back over everything that had happened so far, trying to find some other way to answer the question. I couldn’t tell him the truth. If he knew that I had told Cole, I was dead, especially if he found out I had told him after having sex with him.
“No,” I finally said. “Someone called them a few days ago and told them that you had sold some of the stolen heroin.”
“What? How would they have known?” he asked loudly in my ear.
“I don’t know. Don’t ask me, I don’t use the shit, but apparently this guy’s a loyal customer or something. I didn’t go with them. I think they figured it out when the guy described you to them.” I hadn’t talked to Cole about what their guy said. I was just making up the story as I went along, filling in the details just enough to get his suspicion off of me.
“I bet I know who it was, too,” Fang said with a thoughtful tone. He probably did have someone in mind, and knowing him, it was probably the same guy Cole and Dante had gone to talk to.
“You’re probably right. Look, they’ve been careful to make sure I don’t get too much intel, so I can only tell you so much. I don’t know where they think you are, so you might not even be in danger, but they’re on their way somewhere to find you, and I’m pretty sure Cole is going to kill you.”
“Thanks for the heads up, Sasha,” he said, and I heard that fatherly tone I’d been needing to hear from him since this whole thing started.
“No problem, Fang. It’s the least I can do,” I told him.
“It’s more than you realize. Are you safe? Are you okay?” he asked.
I thought about his question. I’d felt safer than ever while I was at Cole’s apartment with him. I felt like there was nothing to worry about, but as I was giving up his plans to Fang, I realized I was probably putting myself in danger.
“I’m safe for now,” I said, “but if they show up wherever they’re going, and you’re not there, Cole is going to know I ratted him out to you. I’m not going to be safe then.”
“No, you won’t be. Let me ask you this, are you ready to come home, Sasha?”
“I am.” I sighed, realizing that no matter how safe or comfortable I felt sleeping against Cole’s magnificent body, I wasn’t truly at home. Under Fang’s protection, and with him looking after me, that was the only time I was truly at home.
“Well, do you want me to send someone to pick you up?” he asked me. As I listened to the way he talked to me, like a father talking to his daughter, I was reminded of all the things he’d done for me over the years. He’d been there for me the way a father would have been. He’d looked after me like I was his own and not just his employee.
Before I could answer, there was something I needed to know.
“Cole thinks you were behind the guys who attacked me in the park the other day,” I said carefully, uncertain on how to approach the topic.
“You were attacked?” he asked. He sounded shocked. “Was that why you weren’t there when I showed up? I didn’t know what had happened to you.”
“Yeah, when I showed up, there were three guys in black suits waiting for me, with another in the car. Only the driver and one other made it out. Cole and a few guys from the MC showed up to handle it. They shot two of them dead, and caught the third one in the leg. The driver never got out of the car,” I told him.
“Damn. I hope you know I would never do anything like that, Sasha, but let him think what he wants. It won’t matter anymore after today. I’m sending someone to pick you up,” he said.
“But I haven’t told you where the apartment building is,” I protested.
“You think I can’t figure out where Cole Masterson lives?” he asked, laughing. “Have you forgotten who I am so quickly, Sasha? Of course I know where you are. I’ll have someone around back in about an hour,” he told me. “Be there.”
The line disconnected.
The knife was planted firmly in Cole’s back now, and in an hour’s time, I knew I was going to give it a pretty good twist by leaving the apartment with Fang.
“What are you doing, Sasha?” I asked myself. The thing was I didn’t know anymore. My loyalty was split between two men.
I grabbed a glass from the cupboard, filled it with ice, and took the whiskey bottle from Cole’s liquor cabinet. I needed a drink to steady my nerves before I sealed my fate with Cole. The whiskey burned all the way down, burning the edge off of my decision. I thought about pouring another glass. I unscrewed the cap and tilted the bottle over.
“No,” I said aloud to the bottle. “One’s enough.”
Something in Fang’s voice hit me. He’d been too calm, too confident in himself. He already knew where I was before I called. He already knew I was okay. He knew why I hadn’t shown up at the park. But there was no way he could have been behind the attack, unless he was the driver. Or, unless he sent those men to get me.
If it hadn’t been Fang, I didn’t know who else it could have been. No o
ne else could have known where I was going and when I would have been there.
I had an hour. If I called Cole to tell him Fang was on to him, I would out myself as a spy, a double agent as Fang had put it. If I didn’t call him, he would find out when he showed up to an empty hideout. At the same time, I would have the opportunity to address my issues with Fang if I didn’t call Cole.
I’d locked myself into place on this job. I left myself no choice but to let Fang give Cole the slip so that I could get to Fang and find out what the fuck was going on. The more I thought about it, the more it seemed Cole had been right about the attack at the park. Fang had led me right to it. He’d probably even sent the guys himself.