“Ripper is dead,” Bryant said. “You gave up all those guns to us.”
“They were yours,” Trev said. “I’m not here to rattle anyone. I’m not here to dig up old bones. I’m not here to start a new fight. Ripper made a few heavy promises to another crew.”
“Aye,” Garvan said. “They’ve been in contact. They want their guns. They said they paid. That’s troubling to me. I was never paid.”
“I’m sorry about that,” Jasper said. “I’ll take the heat on that, okay? I was VP while Ripper ran wild. I should have done more.”
Garvan looked at Bryant and nodded.
A second later Bryant took a gun out.
Shit.
I jumped in front of Jasper. “No, asshole. You’re going to have to kill me.”
“I don’t have a problem with that,” Bryant said. “I’ll shoot your fucking head off, boy.”
I stepped toward the powerful Irish mobster and puffed out my chest. “Make it count.”
“Why don’t we try talking,” Trev said.
“You’re VP is weak,” Garvan said. “We have that other crew calling out to us. I don’t do fucking house calls, gentlemen. I deal in my version of fair trade. I’m not in customer service. Do you understand?”
“We understand,” Trev said. “We are handling all situations. I wanted to meet with you personally to tell you that. I’ll make sure the situation with Rocco and Gunner ends soon. As for our situation, all I can offer is knowledge that Ripper is dead. I’m in charge. I don’t fuck around.”
Bryant kept his gun on me and put a hand to Trev’s shoulder. “We know that, Trevor. We know that.”
I saw Trev’s lip curl. He hated being called Trevor as much as I hated being called Trenton.
“So we’re going to find out what everyone is made of,” Garvan said. “First off, your monster here is going to prove his worth.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” I asked.
Garvan whistled and the backdoors to one of the vans opened.
A man jumped down to the ground.
He quickly ripped off his suit jacket and button down shirt. He was layered with tattoos from shoulders to wrists. He took off his gun harnesses and walked right toward me.
“Take him down,” Garvan said. “Then we’ll talk business.”
“Bullshit,” Trev said. “This is how…”
“It’s fine, Prez,” I said. “I could use a good fight.”
I had so much pent up energy inside me, this was a good thing. I tried to ignore what this meant though. Chances were, if I went down, Bryant would put a bullet in my skull and then send Jasper and Trev packing.
This was a power move.
I was the muscle to strengthen the power.
I had to be the monster to steal the power.
**
My leather cut and shirt were on the ground. I circled up with Danny. That was the guy’s name. He had it tattooed across his wide chest, the letters slightly blocked by his tight, sleeveless undershirt.
We had our fists up and this asshole started to dance around me. Kicking his feet and moving his shoulders, trying to get me to do something stupid. I knew patience. They were beaten into me a long time ago and I carried patience on my back.
From the corner of my eye I saw Trev, Jasper, Garvan, and Bryant standing together. They were starting to talk, which was a good thing. These crazy people liked to conduct business with a fight going on. Shit, this was their version of going to a strip club and cutting loose a little.
Danny threw the first punch, which was all I needed him to do.
He clipped my jaw and I set my feet to keep from falling. I threw a right to his gut and it was like punching a wall. I got Danny to crunch down enough so I could sweep at his leg. That could cause him to stumble a little and I went in for the kill. Three solid punches to the face took him back to the van he climbed out of.
Danny lunged forward at me, shoulder down. He slammed into me, lifting me up, and rammed me into the side of the van. Hot pain shot through my back. I started to come down on his back with elbows as he repeated the move three times on me. He broke away from me and moved fast. A trained fighter, probably in the ring and on the streets, he kept himself tight and swung hard and fast. My ribs suddenly felt like they were being shattered one by one. Before I could attempt to defend myself there, fists were at my jaw, cheeks, and eyes. I felt like I was being jumped by two guys.
My head rocked left to right and Danny finally grabbed my hair and threw me to the side. I stumbled and fell to one knee but I wasn’t done yet. That was his biggest mistake. He took me for granted. I looked back at him and watched as he laughed at me. He had some blood on his teeth and licked it off.
“Finish it off!” Garvan called out. “Come on, boy!”
Danny strutted toward me, his right hand cocked back.