She made a face. “No need to be an asshole.”
I got dressed and ignored her. I tossed on some jeans, a T-shirt, and my vest with the Demons patch. I strapped on my gun, assuming I was going to need it. The girl just watched me from the bed, her eyes dripping sex.
I paused at the door before I left. “If you steal anything, I’ll kill you. Got it?”
“Fuck you,” she said.
I grinned at her. “You’d like that.” I turned and left.
I didn’t need to be an asshole to her, but it didn’t matter. Women liked me, always had. I didn’t have trouble finding one woman after the next to bring home and fuck. I was good at it and always left them wanting more, but I never gave it to them.
That just wasn’t my style. I lived a fast, hard life and didn’t have the time or space to let anyone inside it. They were a warm body for a night, a hard, intense fuck, and then they were gone.
I couldn’t be nice the next morning. I’d let too many dumb girls think I was going to call them again by doing that. No, it was better for both of us if I was a dick. It just hammered home the truth that I was never going to bring her home again, if we ever even saw each other.
I got outside my beat-up place and found my bike. I hopped on and took a second to look around. I lived in a shit neighborhood in a shit apartment building, and it suited me just fine. I was barely there anyway. I mostly just used it to sleep and shower. Otherwise, my life was at the club.
I fired up my bike and rode out, the wind whipping through my hair.
I got to the clubhouse in ten minutes. I parked the bike and hopped off. There weren’t many bikes parked out there; I recognized Larkin’s and a few other council members’, but that was it.
Probably too early for most of the boys to show up, let alone wake up. We were a hard drinking bunch, and as such we tended not to be a morning crowd.
I pushed in through the front door and immediately spotted Larkin sitting at the bar. He had a plate of food in front of him and was sipping a big mug of coffee.
Larkin was a scary man: intense, powerful, and a great leader. He’d singlehandedly taken the Demons from a minor gang to one of the biggest in the country. It was because of him that we had so much power.
I’d been a part of it. Maybe not those early wars, but a lot of the stuff later on. Some guys claimed seniority, but I didn’t give a shit about that. The club was my home, and that was all.
“Morning, boss,” I said to him.
“Morning. Take a seat.”
I pulled out the stool next to him and sat down.
“Coffee?”
“Yeah,” I said.
Larkin nodded at TomTom, the pledge who was working behind the bar that morning. He returned with another mug of hot coffee, which I drank gratefully.
“Bet you’re wondering why I called you in so early,” Larkin said.
“Yeah,” I said, “I am.”
“You have fun last night?”
I shrugged. “Sure. Went to another place with a few boys. Nothing special.”
He nodded thoughtfully and took another bite of food. I watched him chew and swallow, the silence deafening.
“I have a job for you, Clutch,” he said.
“Name it and it’s done.”
He looked at me. “I need you to be Janine’s bodyguard.”
That stopped me in my tracks.
“What?” I asked.
“Janine. My girl. You need to be her bodyguard.”
I screwed up my face. “Why?”
“I have something going down, something big, and it involves her. I can’t say more than that, but she might be in trouble. I need you to make sure she’s safe.”
I nodded slowly, not sure what was happening here. It was very unusual for us to be a bodyguard, especially a high-ranking enforcer like myself. It was even more unusual for Larkin to want one of the boys to be around Janine.
“Okay, boss,” I said. “I can do it.”
He nodded. “Good. She has work today. Get to her apartment and don’t leave her side until I tell you to.”
“Got it.”
He pushed me a slip of paper. “Her address.”
I pocketed it. I went to get up but hesitated. “Why me?” I asked him.
He shrugged. “You’ve been around a long time, right, Clutch?”
“Sure,” I said.
“I feel like I’ve watched you grow up in this club. You’re like family.”
“The club is my family,” I said.
“You’re about her age; you two seem friendly enough. Not too friendly,” he added, giving me a look. “You’re good at what you do. Competent, serious, smart. I trust you.”
“Okay,” I said. “Thanks, prez. I won’t let you down.”
“I know.” He turned back to his food and began to eat again like I wasn’t even there.
I turned and left the club, my head spinning.
Bodyguard to Janine? Acting as a bodyguard wasn’t an easy gig for anyone, but acting as a bodyguard to the princess of the bikers was going to be even worse.