“You fucking bitch!” I yelled back.
“Just fuck already!” Austin and Seth shouted together.
Chapter 7
Kara
I flipped them off and marched off to slam my bedroom door. Maybe it was childish, but I had to make a statement.
You’re acting like a fucking child. Why would anyone vote for you to be their leader? I scolded myself. I had to calm down and stop letting Tony get under my skin. I had to not let Sophie get under my skin. Anyway, what was I really worried about? There was no way she’d become the Prez.
I took a few deep breaths, then I opened the door and walked back to the room.
“You got this, Kara,” Mom said, patting me on the back as I passed her. That gave me a boost of confidence.
“Where is Tony?”
“On the phone,” Seth said. “You two need to figure out a way to get along, seriously. Austin is right— if you just fucked, I think this frustration and heat between you would cool off.”
“I’m never fucking Tony, Seth. You and Austin need to cool it off with that shit. It just riles Tony up. I’m not interested and neither is he.”
“Okay!” Seth held up his hands. “I won’t say it again.”
“I will,” Austin said, “because you two are full of shit.” He and Seth laughed.
“When I become your Prez, I expect your respect.”
“If you become our Prez, we’ll give you the respect deserved,” Austin promised. “I’m stepping out for a smoke.” He got up and walked out. I got some more coffee and snagged the last raspberry jelly donut in the box. It was so sweet but so messy. I grabbed a napkin after stuffing the rest of it in my mouth and wiped off my hands after licking the delicious jelly off my fingers. “We’re out of donuts!”
“We’ll cook burgers and dogs for lunch,” Mom said. “There will be plenty of food, always.”
“What are we waiting for,” one of the older men asked. “We’re all gathered here.”
“Waiting for Tony. He had an important call to make,” Seth explained. “Just sit tight everyone.”
People were starting to get restless. Bikers didn’t like to be cooped up unless they were in a bar throwing back beers.
Tony came back out. “Sorry about that. I just feel like Sophie has a claim too, so we’ll hold off on the vote till tomorrow, so meeting adjourned. I believe we’re having a cookout. I need four guys at the end of the road at all times and all men must be armed. We must be ready at all times for a fucking attack. We know it’s coming, we just don’t know when.”
“I think you and Kara should talk,” Austin said. “Notice I didn’t say fuck, I said talk. Get on the same page, because everyone knows it’ll be you or her or both of you, so get on the same damn page.”
“Yeah, why are we waiting for Sophie? Everyone knows she’s not going to take the role of Prez. You’re just using her to fuck with Kara’s head, and that’s not okay,” Mom spoke up. “Now, Austin is right, you two need to sit down and talk.”
“Fine.” Tony and I gave in and agreed. We took a seat at the table.
“Ladies first,” Austin said. “Speak your grievances about Tony.”
“Tony is an asshole.”
“Kara is a bitch,” Tony shot back.
“That’s not productive, and it’s not talking to each other,” Mom scolded us both.
“Okay, I’ll go first,” Tony said. “I’m pissed because when I came to you and fucking offered you this exact position, you fucking turned us down and flipped us the bird.” He flipped me both his middle fingers to remind me.
“Yes, I did. I thought I could stay out of all this shit. That’s all I wanted, to live my life in peace, but then my shit ass father decided to pull me in when he broke into my house, so I figure I have nowhere else to go but here, so I might as well step up and take my place. My rightful place,” I emphasized.
“I hate my father, I wouldn’t care if he died. If you or any of your men actually manage to kill him, I would be grateful. I grew up here, whether I wanted to or not, so I have every right to be here and to claim my place. I got plans, Tony, and if you’d just get that stick out of your ass and give me some time to tell you about them, I think you’d be impressed. Hell, I’m the one who got the Crypt Keepers to do more than you did. To actually have our backs. To join us as allies. God knows we need an ally to survive this bloody fucking war. I got us one. I did.”
“Yeah, you did, and we’re grateful for that,” Tony said. “Alright, you got plans? Let’s hear them.”
“Not yet.” I crossed my arms stubbornly. “If I give you my plans now, and you win as Prez, you’ll take credit for them, so I’m going to hold on to my plans for leverage. I may be a bitch, but I’m no stupid cunt.”
“Fine!” Tony’s cell phone began to ring and he excused himself to answer it.
“Now you two are talking,” Mom said. “Good for you, Kara, hold your ground.”
Tony came back. “This will have to wait. Austin, Seth, we got to go.”
“What’s going on, Tony?” I pressed.
“Until you’re voted in as Prez, you can stay out of MY business.” Tony got out three guns, loaded them, and passed them out. With that, the three of them took off on their bikes.
“We must have trouble again. He’ll fill us in when they get back,” Mom said.
Hours passed, the barbecue was lit, and soon the smell of meat grilling filled the air. Salads and all kinds of side dishes were prepared and set out on a long table in the yard. A watermelon was sliced with a machete, and sprinklers were turned on for the kids. Someone brought out a boombox and we all tried to relax and enjoy the afternoon.
It was almost dark when Tony rolled back into camp. He had a guy at gunpoint on Seth’s bike. They lead him off to the interrogation room and vanished for hours.
Seth’s hand and shirt were bloody when they came back out. They didn’t say a word as they helped themselves to the food.
“Who was that?” I dared to ask them.
“Some thief who broke into the warehouse.”
“Again?”
“Yeah. We’re betting your fucking father sent him. There is something in there he is desperate to get his hands on. He keeps sending these fucking idiots to get it for him.”
“So, empty the warehouse, move whatever the fuck it is he wants,” I suggested. “Did he tell you what he’s after?”
“Nope” was all Tony offered.
“It was drugs last time, but we cleared that shit out. Austin suspects he hid some cash there. He and the boys are at the warehouse hunting for it now.”
“This fucker is dead. I told him if I saw his face again, I’d kill him. We’ll beat the shit out of him for information, then he’s a dead man. Then I’m going to fucking pack his skull with dynamite, put it in a box, and blow it up on your father’s fucking doorstep. Maybe that will send the right message,” Tony snarled, though I didn’t believe he could actually be that hardcore. Their captive was just a kid, no older than eighteen. Killing people with a gun or knife fight was one thing, but blowing up a kid was another.
Austin returned and dropped bags of cash and drugs on the table in front of Tony. “That’s what he was after.”
“I thought we cleared out all the drugs.”
“We found that stashed in a fucking tire. There’s about twenty grand right there.”
“Boys, we’re rich,” Tony said with a chuckle. Typical. He didn’t even see it for what it could be.
“We should use that as bait,” I suggested.
“What do you have in mind, Kara?” Austin asked, and I was glad that even though he was a little shit, he was more civil with me than Tony.
“We plant it somewhere, make sure he gets word of it, and ambush him when he arrives.” I shrugged. Good plans didn’t have to be complicated.
“I like how she thinks,” Austin nodded.
“Alright, where do we plant it?” Seth questioned, elbowing Tony as he simply inhaled the food i
nstead of joining in the conversation.
“We could put it back in the warehouse. He’ll keep sending people there,” Seth suggested
“No. Put it in the safe at the bar,” I suggested.
Tony nodded. The idea was fucking crazy. Bold as shit. But it could lure my father out himself instead of sending these little boys. It could be over, and the bar was an easy place all of us and our allies could be lying in wait.
Speaking of . . . I looked around, seeing if Eric was still here. He had only come to testify for me at the vote, but if I knew him, he’d hang around and blend in so he could be here with me longer. My feelings about him were so fucking conflicted, mostly because I felt like I was using him here. In truth, I was.
Normally, I wouldn’t fucking care. I was a bitch, and I used men when I needed to, had always done it, but Eric, despite what he’d always said, felt different. We’d had something real way back when until he helped me get out and into hiding. And now, I was almost certain he still held a candle for me.
I was in a place now, once I defeated my father, where I could maybe learn to open up and let someone in. But was he the one I wanted to do that with?
I had always thought he deserved better.
Sure enough, I spotted him sitting down with his own dog, pretending like he hadn’t been looking at me.
“The warehouse is easier to contain the violence,” Austin argued, bringing me back to the matter at hand.
“Maybe there doesn’t have to be any violence. Make a rule of no guns and no innocents can get hurt,” I offered.
“Do you really think your father will stick to that?” Austin gave me a look.
“No, but you all can take him down before he gets off a shot.” Duh.
“I still say the warehouse.”
“We can’t set up a sting at the place where we found it, he’d know it was a sting. Moving it makes more sense.” Now, Tony was on my side. That felt fucking good for a change. The things we could do if he would just stop waving his cock around like an ass.
“What if we use Sophie?” I suggested. “Have her set up a meeting with him. She doesn’t believe the shit anyway. She can meet him at the bar, he’ll come alone to meet with her, and he won’t guess it’s a setup. We have her drop the hint that the safe contains twenty thousand dollars, and he won’t be able to resist going after the money.”
“Would she do it?” Tony asked.
“Not if she knows it’s my idea, but yeah, I think she would. Make it sound like he is in trouble, like he needs her.”
“I’ll try to call her again, set it up.” There we go, Tony. “What if she says no?”
“Then we do it anyway, without her help.”
“Would he meet with you, Kara?” Tony asked, leveling with me.
I had to think about it. The motivations would be different, the situation less than ideal. “Me? Not without backup.”
“I’ll go call her.” Tony got up again.
Chapter 8
Tony
“Hey Sophie, it’s Tony, the new Prez of the Midnight Saints. You got some time to swing by the clubhouse tomorrow?”
“Why would I do that? No, I don’t really have time, unless it’s really important.”
“It is really important. I need to talk to you.”
“Oh, okay, yeah, I can come by tomorrow afternoon. Don’t suppose you could give me a hint about what you want to talk to me about.”
“Nope. I think it’s better if you just come to the clubhouse.”
“If it’s about my father, I don’t know where he is.”
“It’s about your father, but that’s okay if you don’t know where he is. I’ll fill you in when you get here.”
“Fine, whatever, I’ll be there in the afternoon.”
“Great. Look forward to seeing you.” I hung up and rejoined everyone. They had moved back inside to the war room. Well, everyone but Kara.
If I thought Kara was a bitch, I realized Sophie would be so much worse. I was only doing it now because Kara herself had suggested it. I should have realized the problems someone like Sophie would cause. And now, I owed Kara an apology I was too proud to ever give.
“I called Sophie. She’ll be here tomorrow afternoon. I didn’t tell her why, just convinced her I needed to talk to her. At first, it was because I felt, as Maxum’s daughter too, she had a right to be here. Plus, I know Kara hates her.”
“Why are you so hellbent on pissing her off when I know for a fact you like her?” Seth asked.
“Sophie has no business being here. She’s a law student, she doesn’t need to be getting mixed up in all this,” Austin said. “And she’s not Maxum’s daughter, not really, not by blood, so she doesn’t get a claim.”
“To Maxum, she’s more his daughter than Kara ever was.” My voice had no conviction when I said it.
“Since when do we give a fuck about what Maxum wants? He fucking betrayed us, and he killed Devon when he was gunning for you. Have you forgotten?”
“Of course, I haven’t forgotten,” I snapped. “I just thought she had a right too, if Kara does.”
“Call her back and tell her you don’t need her to come. It’s the decent thing to do, Tony. You’re just wasting her time and pissing off Kara. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think that is such a good idea. Kara has what it takes to lead us, and Sophie doesn’t,” Austin said.
He had a point. He had many good points. By asking her to be Prez, I was just being a dick and I knew it, but if we could use Sophie to set up Maxum, well, that was another story.
Kara busted into the room in typical fashion. I simply rolled my eyes as she sat down, not shocked at all.
“Another meeting without me?”
“Kara, you got decent ideas. If you got more where those came from, we might just end this war before it really begins.”
“My word, Tony, was that a compliment that just came out of your mouth?” Kara teased.
“Alright, Seth and I have some work, so I’ll see you both tomorrow.”
Seth and I headed down to the interrogation room. The kid sat tied to a chair in the center of the room. His head was tilted forward. He was unconscious after Seth’s beating. I filled a bucket with water and threw it on him.
He sputtered awake. “Here’s the deal. You’re going to tell me what I want to know, and Seth here is going to end your suffering, or you don’t tell me, and Seth here is going to prolong your suffering. The choice is yours.”
“What do you want to know?” The kid sounded scared.
“Let’s start with who sent you.”
“I don’t know.”
“Wrong answer.” I nodded to Seth, who punched the kid in the gut. He grunted. “Try again. Who sent you?”
“I don’t know who he was,” he claimed.
“Sounds like he’s telling the truth,” Seth said. “I can’t punch him for telling the truth.”
“Fine, what did he send you to get?” I asked
“His stash,” the kid said.
“Be specific.”
“Money and drugs.”
“We cleared all the drugs out. Where did he tell you to look for the money and drugs?”
“Are you going to kill me?” he begged.
“Just answer my fucking question.
“He didn’t remember where he left it. He said I had to search around. I was supposed to search an area, and if I didn’t find it, I was supposed to leave and report to him. He was making a map.”
“Wait a minute, you said you didn’t know who he was.” I nodded to Seth to punch him. Seth punched him in the face this time, busting the kid’s lip. He spat blood on Seth’s shoe and got another punch in the gut. “Let’s go back to that first question. Who sent you? If you say ‘I don’t know’ one more time, I’m going to fucking lose it,” I snarled at him.
“The Preacher,” he said with a mouthful of blood.
“Sounds like Maxum,” Seth commented.
“Okay, now we’re getting somew
here. You said he was making a map of the warehouse. What areas have you searched and reported to him?”
“I started on the north side. I hit a five-foot area at a time.”
“How many times have you reported to him?”
“Five, before I was caught.”
“Five? Five times you’ve broken into my warehouse undetected? Oh, well, that just makes me pissed off. Seth, get the kid some water and food. We’ll continue this tomorrow.”
“I told you everything I know. Now, can I go?”
“We’ll see about that,” I said and turned and walked away. “Austin! I need the roster for the warehouse guards. Someone isn’t doing their fucking job.”
“Yeah, I can get that for you,” he called back.
“I’ll deal with it tomorrow. I’m going to bed.”
“Goodnight, Prez.”
I headed to my room, got myself a beer to wind down, and turned on the TV. I channel surfed, but nothing caught my eye, so I finished my beer, stripped down, took a shower, jerked off, and headed to bed. Mom had washed my sheets and had made my bed.
But I just ended up having another wet dream about Kara.
We were sitting in the war room arguing with each other. She stormed off like she does, but I grabbed her by the hand, pressed it against my throbbing cock, and said, “I want you. I know you want me too.”
“Oh, Tony! I do want you.” She ripped open her shirt, revealing her tatted-up breasts. I buried my face in them and kissed her warm flesh. Then an old familiar face appeared. Phoebe. Man, I hadn’t thought of her in a long time. She came in already naked, fighting Kara for my attention.
Kara won the fight, and Phoebe went off to fuck some other guy. Kara got naked and stretched her sexy tattooed body across the table. She was so hot, and her body screamed for me to touch it, taste it. “Oh, Tony!” she purred. “You’re all I’ve ever wanted.” That’s when I knew it had to be a fucking dream. But I just basked in it while I could.
The dream was hot and heavy, and when I woke up, my bed sheets were a mess again.
Discord (Midnight Saints MC Book 2) Page 6