Yeah, the entire scene was useless.
But I wanted to hear it. I wanted to feel it again. The lies. The deception. The hurt.
“Tell me you have no debt on the streets. No gambling. No pussy. No drugs. Tell me you’re not in on some big crews or families.”
The old man reached up to me and touched my face. “You’re a man now, Trenton. You’ve been a man for a long time. You’re not my little boy anymore. You have nothing to worry about when it comes to me. Understand?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Well you should. Because I’m giving you a straight answer right now. I’m fine. No debts. No thugs coming to break my hands. No crews coming to shoot me in the head. Okay? I’ve got a few grand on some credit cards, that’s it.”
“That’s the truth,” I said.
“The entire truth, Trenton.”
I slowly backed away. I nodded. “Then I guess I better be going.”
“Good. Go live.”
“Good luck with that job interview,” I said.
“Yeah, sure. I’m sure I’ll nail it.”
I made it two steps from the kitchen when the old man called my name. He was the only person that called me by my real name. Trenton.
I looked back at him. “If you ever need anything, Trenton. You know where I am.”
Damn, those words were cryptic. Dangerously cryptic.
I stormed out of the apartment and made a line for my ride. I needed the thunder and the road.
I climbed on the motorcycle as Jasper stood next to me and Cash came running from behind the apartment.
“What the hell is going on?” Cash asked.
“Nothing,” I said.
“Did you get what you need?” Jasper asked.
I looked at him and nodded. He put a hand to my shoulder. Together, we both nodded.
I was no longer going to be Trent - or Trenton. I was going to be the monster. The enforcer. I would die for my club… and lately… I would die for Harlee.
I looked to my right and saw the old man standing at the window. Our eyes met. He knew there was a bullet coming for him. That was something he lived with everyday for the last twenty years, probably more.
What he didn’t know was that the bullet was going to come from his son.
**
“I spoke with Peter today,” Trev said, addressing the full table. “Everything is in place. We’ll ride south and east, meet up for the fight, and then spend the night. Pack for a campout, guys.”
“Question,” Cash said. “Will Peter and his friends be bringing some of that fine and tough pussy with them again?”
“Yes,” Trev said.
Cash smacked the table. “Goddamn, there is a God. The last time I had some of the Russian pussy I could taste it for days. Oh, fuck, I’ll never forget her… just her name… but she climbed up on my face and rode me so hard there’s probably still some of my beard inside her. I think her name was Kathryn. Kate. Katie. Kat. Ka… or maybe it was Sarah.”
“So, not to spread too much excitement,” Trev said, “but the plan is to stay and enjoy the evening with our other continent comrades. Peter and Ivan are hell bent on Nevada and I told them I would talk to Miller and make sure they’d have support from the MC.”
“Does that negate this fighting shit?” Duke asked.
“Hardly,” Trev said. “Just a favor that we could call back on.”
“I’m good with fighting,” I said, taking in all the conversation. “I think it’s important we really show our strength to everyone we can get to. Look at this from an outside point of view. You have a clubhouse falling apart. Ripper dealing behind the MC’s back. The new President is from another charter. We look shaky. We look unstable. And this gun shit is making it worse. Let me get in the ring with their best guy and rock his fucking world.”
“He’s putting up Denis,” Trev said. “The guy is a world champion fighter.”
“Shit,” Jasper said.
“What happens if the worst happens?” Max asked.
“What’s the worst?” I asked, curling my lip.
“You get your ass tattooed out there,” Tristan said. “Then what?”
“We look foolish,” Trev said. “Peter and Ivan move on. If I had to guess, I’m sure they’d still be wiling to help in some way. Their version would be bloodshed. They prefer a rampage kind of style and then hightail back to Russia until the smoke clears. We don’t have that option here.”
“So don’t lose the fight,” Jasper said with a grin.
“I’m not losing anything,” I said. “If I go down, I’ll personally rip this enforcer patch off my cut and hand it over.”
“We would never vote you out for that,” Hudson said.
“I didn’t say to take a vote,” I said.
“What’s the word on Night Soul?” Cash asked.
“We’ve got them on the wire,” Trev said. “Rocco and Gunner are settled for the moment. I reassured them we are working with the O’Nuall family about their guns. They have no choice but to believe us. What happened with Mays shook them up.”
“And Daxton?” I asked.
“He’s missing still,” Trev said. “We’re well protected here. Rocco has his men out looking too.”
“Anything else?” Jasper asked, looking around.
I rubbed my chin and raised my hand. “I’ve got something to say.”