“This can’t go wrong,” Bryant said. “We need this off our backs. You know that.”
“Nothing will go wrong,” Jasper said. “We have our end under control. This is about moving forward and beyond what Ripper did. After today, all this shit is laid to rest.”
“Aye,” Garvan said. He then looked right at me. “Speaking of laid to rest. Your father” - (sounding like fadder) - “is still breathing” - (sounding like breeding).
“Yeah,” I said. “For the moment. Everything is fucked up here, okay? We are doing what is right to protect our club and our families.”
Bryant nodded. “Takes big balls to call us out and ask for a favor.”
“It wasn’t a favor,” Trev said. “It was the only way to fix all this. Now, we’re just wasting time. We gave you the cash, you have what we need. Now it’s time to end this conversation and all of us move forward.”
“Agreed,” Garvan said.
Bryant stepped toward me. He put a finger to my chest. “But you mark my goddamn words, lad. If that old man of yours ain’t dead when I want him to be dead, I’m coming for you. I’m coming for everything you have and will ever have.”
I grabbed Bryant’s finger and twisted it. It made a loud pop sound. He tore his hand away and went for his gun.
Jasper sprung to life and got between us. “Okay, men. Trent, go back to your ride.” He then whistled and waved for Austin. “Get up here and drive the van, Austin. We’re out of here right now.”
I walked back to the motorcycle and sat there, waiting. There were a few more words exchanged and then we were all in gear. Somewhere in my dumb heart, I had let too much in. Bad enough letting Harlee creep inside and twist me up, I thought for a second I could maybe save my father. Hell, maybe I still could. Maybe we could all turn something like a new fucking leaf and end all this.
Back down the dirt road we went and in the cloud of dust, I knew anything new was bullshit. Not with what we had in the van.
This wasn’t going to end the war… this was only going to ignite it even more.
**
The first thing I didn’t like about the meeting was that both Rocco and Gunner weren’t there. They were trying to be defiant about the meeting. It was a blatant sign of disrespect to us because they didn’t feel they needed to meet with us. Instead, they had seven patched in members, none of them the regulars we’ve dealt with. That meant the Night Soul MC clubhouse had all their table members waiting for someone to call and tell them the meeting was over.
That was not how Back Down Devil MC operated. Our meetings were always face to face, and judging by the way Trev had taken over in a storm, he was always going to show up and be on the front line of it all. Even if he ended up dead, he’d at least die with honor.
Trev and Jasper were next to each other, enough space for another motorcycle. Trev looked at me and gave the nod. That was a real sign of trust and respect. Behind us, the rest of the guys were broken up into two groups, leaving a path for the van. Austin backed the van up and got out. He walked to the backdoors and stood there.
“Where’s your President?” Trev asked.
A tough guy stepped forward, wearing sunglasses and tattoos like he was the coolest kid in school. “He don’t have time for you punks. You give us what’s ours and we ride on. This is bullshit. You fucking steal from us? Fuck that.”
Trev gave the guy the time of day for about five seconds before the guy walked right up to Trev and bumped chests with him.
That’s where I drew the line. I knew Ripper caused this mess. I knew we were in fault of this. But goddammit, nobody just walked up to my Prez and bumped into him.
I got off my ride and stepped forward.
The cocky asshole turned toward me. He opened his mouth to say something smart but he never got the chance. I swung my right fist like it was a boulder. I hit the guy and sent him off his feet. When he hit the ground, he was on his back, hands up, trying to reach for someone.
“Anyone else want to run their mouth to my Prez?” I asked.
Two other guys stepped forward. They at least took their sunglasses off.
“Conor,” one said and offered his hand to Trev.
Trev didn’t shake it.
“Fair enough,” Conor said. “I’m in charge of the meet.”
“Because your MC has no guts,” Jasper said.
“I’m wearing the cut,” Conor said. “This guy next to me is Bullet. He’s muscle. He’s fully armed and will shoot. We are under orders from Rocco to kill if anything goes wrong. I’m just going to be upfront about it. We just want what’s ours and we want to leave.”
“The guns you paid for,” Trev said. “You paid a previous President of this club. A President who turned his back on this club. A President who was put down by his own members.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Conor said. “A deal was made. Things have been in motion since then. You want peace?”
“Fuck you,” Jasper said. “We’re going to arm our enemy and expect peace from that?”
Bullet opened his leather cut and showed that he was packing two sawed off shotguns.
Yeah, shit was serious.
And it was only going to get worse.