I waited until the last second to make my move.
Danny never got a chance to try and hit me with his knockout punch. I stood, turned, and slammed my own right to his nose, busting him open. He grabbed for his face and I grabbed him, walking him to the van. A handful of hair later and I started to smash his face off the van. Even though he tried to protect his face it didn’t matter. The force of my strength was too much.
Slowly, Danny started to drop to his knees.
There was a goddamn dent in the back door of the van. That’s how hard I had been slamming him into it.
I gave him one more good smack to the head and Danny toppled to his side.
I looked back and asked, “Is that enough?”
“Aye,” Bryant said. “Tough, are you?”
I walked to my shirt and leather cut. I grabbed them and put them back on. My face throbbed and bled but I wasn’t going to wipe it away. Wearing blood was a badge of pride in front of the Irish mobsters. They both looked at me, nodding.
“Power has changed,” Trev said.
“The MC is different now,” Jasper said.
“Aye,” Garvan said. “But a change in power doesn’t take away what’s been done.”
“Meaning?” I asked. “What else do you need done here?”
Bryant snapped his fingers. One of the other doors to a van opened and there was an array of guns. It was all the guns Ripper had stored away, hidden from the rest of us.
“These were acquired and purchased,” Bryant said. “We don’t handle refunds.”
“You took the goddamn weapons back,” Trev said.
“That was to see where your honor remained,” Garvan said. “You were open and honest. We appreciate that. Normally we’d just wipe out your club. Fuck it. But I can respect a man who wants to do right.”
“So what makes this right?” Trev asked.
“These are your guns,” Bryant said. “We’ll keep them safe for now. We expect our full payment soon. If we don’t get that payment, I can promise that the massacre unleashed won’t be one you want to see.”
“Aye,” Garvan said. “And your baby will never see its first day of life.”
Trev jumped forward. I managed to grab his arm but he still threw a punch. He barely got Garvan, just enough to send the stubby man back. It wasn’t enough to make him bleed.
I pulled Trev back and Jasper had already drawn his weapon.
“Enough,” Jasper said. “Meeting is over.”
“I was just about to say the same,” Garvan said. “Good company thinks alike.”
“You may change anything you need,” Bryant said. “But the word of a man remains. Even if he’s silenced now. Remember that as a lesson.”
The two members of the O’Nuall family turned and walked away. At the exact same time, they took out their guns and pointed them at Danny. He was climbing back to his feet. Well, he was until they both pulled their triggers and shot him.
They got into their vehicles and the cars drove away.
I looked at Trev. “You okay, Prez?”
“Yeah. I feel like digging up Ripper’s ass and killing him again.”
“Prez!” Cash called out. He was wiggling his phone in his hand. “Call from Max. Says we have a package. A gift from the O’Nuall family.”
“Christ,” Jasper said.
“A gift?” I asked.
“When these guys send a gift, it’s nothing ever good.”
“Meaning what?”
Jasper shook his head. “Meaning it’s usually a body part.”
**
All I wanted was to get to Harlee. Before that, I had to see what the hell the O’Nuall family sent the MC.
The box was on a pool table and we all waited for Trev to give the orders.
Cade had done something to it to make sure it wasn’t a bomb. He had a laptop and something touching it, running tests. For as big and strong as he was, Cade could be a geek sometimes. His knowledge of money and tech stuff really helped the MC out a lot. Shit, he was going to have a heart attack when he found out we were on the hook for all those guns Ripper got from the O’Nuall family.
“We’re solid?” Trev asked.
“Yeah,” Cade said. “It could still be some kind of poisonous powder or something though.”
“Let me open it,” I said. I pushed forward.
“You’ve done enough today,” Duke said, staring at me. “You took a beating.”
“I won the fight though.”
Duke and I hadn’t spoken a word since our little rough up when Harlee came to the clubhouse.
Duke put his massive paw on the box. “I’ve been through this before. You can’t imagine the shit in boxes. Goddamn IED’s buried underground. Driving down a road, never knowing what was going to happen. Or the convoy in front of you going up in flames because they hit it before you did.”
“Open it up, Duke,” Trev said.
I nodded to him.
Duke peeled the box open and then jumped back. “Ah, fuck.”
“What’s in it?” Cash asked.
I leaned over the box and quickly turned my head. “Shit.”
It was a severed head.
Luckily it wasn’t one of our own.
It was a member of Night Soul MC though. It was Mays. A table member for the club.
I looked at Trev and saw the concern on his face.