by Ryan Michele
“Huh?” he asked in confusion.
“Christ.” I looked at Brewer and waved my hand to the pipsqueak. “Idiot.” Brewer nodded as I turned back to the moron.
Tex jumped in, obviously done just as much as I was with this fucking mess. “He means, how much money per run. As in how much green is going to go in our pockets each time we work with you.” He was breaking down things crayon style for the man, something we didn’t normally have to do.
He finally caught on and nodded, then reached down to the floor, all of our guns coming out, and Phoenix’s feet slammed to the ground.
Damien pulled up a briefcase. “Fuck me,” I heard grumbled behind me. Yeah, it was taking a lot not to burst out laughing. This guy was a tool. A fucking briefcase?
“It’s just papers,” he said slowly, flipped it open and pulled out some papers. “This is a contract between us.” He pushed it across the table to me. It looked like something from Law & Order with the blue paper on the back of it and stapled at the top.
I didn’t move. Then it happened. There was no stopping it. Nothing could’ve stopped it except for gunfire. A fucking contract? He brought Ravage a fucking contract. Laughter burst out of me, and my brothers followed.
This guy was beyond fucking clueless. Who in their right mind would sign a contract to do something illegal? Not like he could take it to court considering it was fucking illegal! Someone please save me from this shit.
“Why are you laughing?” Damien asked, his face turning red, out of embarrassment or anger I wasn’t sure. This guy wasn’t going to make it far. From all of this though, I wondered how he found out about the shipment before with Xavier and Marcus. Something there was off.
“We don’t do contracts,” Wrong Way said through his waning chuckle. “Paper trails are for morons.”
Damien’s face got red, but he still didn’t stand. “I’m not a moron.”
Everyone sobered up letting all the hilarity fly out of the room. This guy was turning out to be a liability instead of someone to make money from. That was perfectly clear to me. He and his goons would need to be handled.
My mind raced with different scenarios right away.
“Do you have the good faith money?” Wrong Way asked, and I looked over to him. He just nodded, and I rolled with it. Who the fuck brought good faith money on something like this? Hell, I was surprised Wrong Way even thought of it. He must’ve had this feeling about him too. Fuck me.
Damien was going to end up six-feet-under or in prison. At least the first, he wouldn’t be able to talk about this little meeting.
Damien snapped his finger, like he was a god on a throne. Suit number two leaned down and threw a black duffle on the table, the zipper partially opened. I could see green inside. Wrong Way stepped up, opened it and held out a stack of bills, then went in and started to count.
Yeah, Wrong Way kicked ass.
“I’m willing to pay you four hundred thousand per drop,” Damien began, but I held my hand out halting his words. There was no way he had that kind of money to pay that much. Especially just starting out and trying to steal shit that wasn’t his to begin with.
“Where are you going to get that kind of cash?” I asked, knowing nothing he could give me would be the right answer.
Damien smiled, and it wasn’t a good one. It was an untrustworthy one, and it snaked across my skin about ready to strike. “Business.”
We needed to pump this guy for information. Every single bit he held in his brain. Including, how he knew about the shipment. His time was up.
Wrong Way looked over at me. “All four hundred thousand is here.” Damn. We just got a hell of a bonus. But I couldn’t believe he would have that kind of money twice a month.
Damien obviously thought he had the upper hand here. Paying us ‘bikers’ off to get us under his thumb. It was comical that he thought that was even a possibility. Like he could snap his fingers like he did with his assholes and we’d come to heel. Fuck that and fuck him.
In three swift moves, I was in front of the table, reaching over and clasping Damien’s shirt, pulling him from the chair and across the table to stand in front of me. Damien let out a sound of protest, but I got in his face.
My brothers moved immobilizing the other two men in the room quickly.
“What…” Damien said, but I shook him hard, his head snapping back and forth.
Nose to nose I started. “First. Ravage enters the fuckin’ room for a meeting, you stand your ass up like a man. You do not hide behind a fuckin’ table like a pussy and expect us to have even an ounce of respect for you. Second. You do not have any pull here or with us. I’d thought we wasted our time, but with the bonus you just gave us, it made it worth our while.”
The money was the only good part in this.
“I didn’t… I just wanted…”
I released him as he staggered back. I then kicked his legs out from under him and he fell crashing to the ground, his knees making a hideous noise. Damien cried out once again. Good thing the music was loud outside the door.
“I don’t give a fuck what you want. Let me tell you what I want.”
Damien tried to rise, but Brewer was there, pulling out his steel retractable stick and smacking Damien’s knee. The sound echoed through the room. That had to hurt like a mother.
“I’m not wasting any more time on you than is necessary. How did you know about the drop location?” It was the only thing I gave a shit about at this point in the game. The knowledge of the location was the club’s only involvement in this clusterfuck, and we needed to be wiped clean of it. Obviously, Xavier and Marcus hadn’t cleaned up the mess, so that left us.
He shook his head like an even bigger moron. Nodding to Brewer, he went down with his stick. It was police issued, and he could swing it hard. Damien’s screams continued to be muffled by the noise of the bar. Since he needed to provide answers, gagging him would serve no purpose.
Damien rolled and moaned on the floor. Looking down at him, he was a joke. Full out joke. Phoenix zip tied one of the guards hands behind his back as he fought. Phoenix won. Tex was on the other. They were asking them questions, hoping to get answers on their end too, but my gut told me Damien would be the only one to answer them.
“Location?” I barked as Damien shook his head. My boot lifted and went right into the man’s ribs. “Location!”
He screamed then groaned, and my patience was waning fast so I turned to Brewer and Wrong Way, but spoke to Phoenix. “Knives.” Phoenix took Wrong Way’s position and stood above Damien.
“One finger for every minute he makes me wait.”
Phoenix gave a menacing laugh. It must have clicked in Damien’s head what was going to happen to him because the fear took over him and he talked. “I have an insider. She gets me the information.”
“So they have a rat among them,” Brewer said, looking over at me. “We fuckin’ hate rats.”
“Yes, brother, we do. Name,” I barked down, and Damien went back to shaking his head. “Pussy done fucked you.” Nodding to Phoenix, he and Brewer removed Damien’s index finger with ease, holding it down on the concrete. Swear Phoenix sharpened those damn things daily. So sharp they could cut a hair in ten pieces with ease.
The man’s screams were getting annoying, and as Phoenix held up the knife to take more, Damien said, “Lily. It’s Lily.”
“Hope that was good pussy.” On that, my boot went down on the man’s head. “Need to get them to the van after the place closes. We have a special delivery to make tomorrow morning.”
Now if Xavier and Marcus could get this Lily bitch cut out, we’d be good to continue our arrangement. Otherwise, we would walk the fuck away.
“Xavier, Marcus.” I held my hand out shaking each one of them. We stood in the clearing right outside of Rebellion, my brothers at my back. The sun shone on the grass, and the air was crisp. It was too damn early to be up doing this shit, but this needed done.
“Crow,” Xavier said shaking
my hand, stepping back and shaking my brothers behind me. Marcus did the same. Now, that was respect. “You wanted to meet?”
Crossing my arms over my chest, my mind played out the scenarios of different reactions to expect from the two men in front of us. Calculating and putting together plans one by one making damn sure none of this would blow back on the club.
“It seems we have a mutual acquaintance.”
Xavier looked at Marcus then to us, no doubt wondering what the hell was going on. While the previous run had a major hiccup, Xavier had called wanting to schedule another, which Brewer already did. There was really no reason for this meeting in his eyes.
“Who would that be?” Xavier asked, mimicking my stance, his eyes floating along all of us, watching, waiting and trying to anticipate.
Wrong Way moved beside me on the left, and Brewer came up on the right.
“First, let’s get a few things straight.”
Xavier’s brow quirked. “Thought we already had shit straight.”
A chuckle escaped me. “Things change”—I snapped my finger—“in the blink of an eye in this business, Xavier.” We all knew that well, and at my words, Xavier’s face changed from assessing to on guard.
Good.
If we were going to continue this relationship, he needed to understand the rules of working with the Ravage MC. The incident last time would not happen again. My brothers and I were protected at all times. The fuckup with these two would be the last.
If it should happen again, they’d be gone.
All of them.
“What’s goin’ on here, Crow?” Marcus asked, his eyes darting from brother to brother, probably waiting for someone to pull out their gun and end him now.
It wasn’t a bad thought.
“First, our meetings are strictly confidential. You do not talk to anyone about them except for those who are picking the shit up or paying us money. Our name stays out of shit. Always. You do not speak it to anyone about our deal.”
“Understandable,” Xavier said, looking over to Marcus who nodded.
“Damien Curtis is the problem.”
Xavier and Marcus looked at each other in question, then back to us. That whole looking for confirmation with each other was starting to piss me off. “Besides trying to steal my shit, how is he your problem?”
“First, because he was coming at us on your drop. You obviously didn’t handle this problem because Damien was still out there breathin’. Second, he came to us last night with an offer to do business.” They didn’t show any emotion to this, but I could see the fire behind their eyes they were containing well.
“And?” Xavier said, wanting me to continue on.
“And he says he’ll give us five hundred thousand per trip.” This was a lie, but Xavier and Marcus needed to pay more for our services considering the pain in the ass this had turned out to be. They were currently paying three-fifty. We weren’t cheap. It was why we could be selective on who we worked with. I also knew they had the money to do it. Wrong Way looked into it.
“So you want us to start paying the five?” Xavier said, hands going to his hips as he finally showed irritation.
“Yep.”
“Give us a minute.” Xavier and Marcus were talking in hushed tones, but I could still hear everything that was said. Cutting into their profit margin. If they could find someone else. That one was a huge no for this location. What other options they had. None.
They came back, irritation clear on their faces. “Deal.”
This showed me their true colors and that they were very serious. Going up against that kind of money wasn’t easy. It meant that everything they sold would need to be for more to cover these costs. It wasn’t my problem, but I cut them some slack knowing they were good on this deal. “It’s four hundred k per go around. And…”
I trailed off as Ethan drove the van into the grass, the back end facing us as he maneuvered around.
Xavier and Marcus went on high alert.
Wrong Way threw open the doors and started pulling the men out, one by one to the grass, tossing them like rag dolls. They were gagged, and their hands and feet had zip ties around them. Those zip ties were connected behind their back. They looked like fucking pigs ready to be roasted.
“We brought you a present.”
“Present?” Xavier responded in a cautious tone, looking around me.
“Do what you want with them, how you want, but if in the end, they’re not dead, you’ll be payin’ for that shit.” I turned and started to walk away, only to turn my head back. “Oh, and some bitch named Lily on your side is feeding them information. She needs to be dealt with before we do the next shipment. If she’s not and we have to deal with her ass, we cut off our assistance.”
On that, we turned and left.
Not even eight am and already it was turning out to be a great day.
2
Rylynn
Sophia.
Reactions. My father always taught me that you can’t control other’s reactions. They had different ways of handling situations and were going to do what they wanted to do. Right or wrong it didn’t matter. It was their cross to bear.
But you could control yours. You could control the way your body moved and the words that came out of your mouth. It wasn’t something to learn overnight. Me, I’d taken to the lesson with ease. It was part of me, possibly in my genes.
Therefore, my face did not show the shock, hurt, anger and disappointment of seeing this woman open the door to Crow’s home. My body didn’t jerk or twitch giving her any indication of my feelings inside. While my veins bubbled with acid, there were no flinches giving it away.
Nothing.
Stoic.
The woman was beautiful. There was no getting around it. Her hair was long and falling over her shoulders and back, face with light makeup showing her flawless skin. She had to be around Crow’s age, but I would guess she was younger from her appearance.
The once beautiful face from just moments ago turned cold as ice as she recognized me. She hated me, and good thing because the feeling was mutual.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded, putting her hand on the door to block my way inside the house. Unfortunately, that pit of doubt hit me hard as flashes of Sophia and Crow kissing moved through my mind. If I could erase those memories, I would in a second. Unfortunately, I knew, they were never going away. I’d need to learn to deal.
On the way here, I called Crow. He told me he had club business and where the key to the house was located, giving me the security code. He was happy, excited to see me. Told me he missed me laying in his arms at night. That he missed my smartass mouth, and we’d made plans to be together tonight for dinner.
We were going to order in and just be together, shutting out the world around us. He even had Goldi watching Van to give us time.
There was no way on this planet that Crow would plan all of that and then have Sophia here to greet me when I showed up. He knew the consequences of this action.
My instincts to protect my heart were playing games in my head. Not going to lie, part of me wanted to get in my Jeep and head back to Sumner. Back to where life was safe. Where these emotions wouldn’t become so much I wanted to scream.
It was an impulsive reaction, and I’d done enough of those lately. I guess thinking about it, my father’s lessons only worked when I did what I was supposed to. Needed to work on that.
“Didn’t know you were gonna be here to welcome me, Sophia,” I said on a wide smile, letting her read whatever in the hell she wanted to with it. Fuck her.
“I’m not. You need to leave.”
I burst out laughing, and her face went even harder. She didn’t like me laughing at her. It pissed her off to the point steam could be rolling out of her ears if that were possible. This would be my play with her. There was always an in with people. Sometimes it was harder to find, but Sophia’s was shining bright. She wanted to be up in my business, then she’d really see wh
o and what I was made of.
Instead of answering, I pushed past her, knocking her out of the way and entering the living room. It smelled of pine and the carpet had vacuum marks. “Awe. You cleaned for me too. You really are sweet.”
The door slammed as Sophia turned around to me, arms crossed over her chest. “I did nothing for you.”
“Trying to win Crow by cleaning his house?”
A smug smile crossed her lips. “I don’t have to try at anything with Crow.”
That pit hit, but I pushed it down. “When was the last time you fucked him?”
Her body jolted at the question as if I tazed her. This too, I found funny as I tossed my bag down to the couch, pulled my phone out, and set it on the small table with my keys. She was off kilter.
“Last night.” She was haughty and lying through her damn perfect white teeth. It was in her stance and the fact she was catty. Women who were getting them some didn’t act this way. No, this was a desperate plea to hang on to something they lost a long damn time ago. Desperation.
I wasn’t sure what to expect when my path crossed with Sophia’s here in Rebellion. Sure, I’d thought about the possibilities of knocking all of her teeth out and using her head as a punching bag, but that was just because she kissed my man.
There wasn’t much time to contemplate it, but this scenario wouldn’t be the top of my list of first communications. Better get it over with now.
O’well. I could only be me.
“So you got him all primed up for me?” The sarcastic bitch was gearing up and ready to play. She wanted to spread lies, game on. “Thanks, but I can do that from now on.”
“You’re a whore talking like that. You’d fuck a man when he slept with another woman the night before?” Her hands on her hips, she leaned in and hissed at me like she was going to punish me. I’d love to see her try.
I took a couple steps meeting her only a few feet away and tilted my head. “See, the thing is, you didn’t sleep with my man last night or in the past few years. You’re all smoke and mirrors trying to hold on to something you lost a long damn time ago.”