“Why would you get in a fight with these psychos?”
“The one grabbed my ass and said he was going to rape me,” I said, anger flaring. “Was I supposed to let him?”
He clenched his jaw. “Just be careful,” he said, and stormed off.
I sat down at the table. Noble and Dow were grinning at me.
“What?” I asked them.
“You two bicker,” Noble said.
“Yep,” Dow agreed, “you bicker.”
“So the fuck what?” I snapped.
Dow just laughed and sipped his drink while Noble shrugged.
I turned away from them, annoyed. Clutch was busy tossing out the two guys. They were up and moving, though barely. I felt a little relieved that we hadn’t killed either of them.
Clutch didn’t have to be such a dick to me. It wasn’t my fault that guy came on to me.
But Noble and Dow were right: We did bicker. If it was obvious to them, it was probably obvious to everyone else. I needed to be more careful in the future. I needed to remember that I didn’t care what Clutch thought of me.
I finished my second drink fast, anger and confusion swirling through me. The MC had just gotten so much more dangerous, and I was going to have to be careful.
I wasn’t safe anywhere.
Clutch could protect me, keep me safe, but I wasn’t sure he could save me.
22
Clutch
Not long after throwing out those asshole Rebels, I took Janine back to her apartment. She didn’t seem to want to go, but she didn’t argue either.
Which was good, because I didn’t have the energy for it. She was quiet on the ride back and went right up to her room when we got there, not bothering to say a word.
I collapsed onto the couch and grabbed a bottle of whisky from my bag. I drank right from the bottle, too lazy to get up.
I could see two lines moving down a long, flat plane, and those two lines were slowly moving toward each other. The line on the left was me and Janine. The line on the right was the merger with the Rebels. Neither line was very straight or strong, but they were moving forward anyway, faster and faster.
That was how it all felt to me, at least. We were moving together on a collision course, and there was nothing I could do to stop any of it. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to stop that shit. I wanted Janine, wanted to sneak into her room right then and fuck her sweet, tight cunt again and again until she begged for more, but I couldn’t. And I didn’t want the Rebels to join the Demons, as much as they would help us in the long run. We all held a grudge against those bastards, and none of us wanted them inside our club.
It didn’t matter what I wanted though. There were forces at work bigger and stronger than me, forces that’d been at work for a long, long time, probably longer than I’d been alive. Only Larkin and Jetter and the other old-timers and council members understood all this shit.
I knocked back some whisky, got good and drunk, and passed out on the couch. That was about all I could do at the moment, and I was pretty damn good at that at least.
I woke up to my phone ringing.
I had a slight hangover tinge in my skull as I groggily grabbed my phone. It was barely after five in the morning.
“Yeah?” I grunted into the receiver.
“Clutch, it’s Larkin.”
“Yeah, prez?”
“We’re going on a run in an hour. I need you with us.”
I paused. “A run?”
“We got word of a Mezcal drop in the area. We’re bringing in our best guys and the Rebels are bringing theirs.”
“Shit,” I said. “What about Janine?”
“TomTom and Slip will watch her,” he said. “Come now.”
“Got it.”
I hung up the phone and got off the couch. I didn’t have time to make coffee, so I just walked over to Janine’s door and gently pushed it open.
She was sleeping wrapped in a sheet, a single perfect leg hanging out.
I knocked on the open door. She stirred slightly.
“Janine,” I said.
She woke slowly, opening her eyes. “Clutch?” she grumbled. “What are you doing?”
“I have to go,” I said. “TomTom and Slip will be here to watch you.”
“Okay,” she said. “Where are you going?”
“Got a job.”
She sat up and the sheet fell away. She was wearing only a thin, tight white T-shirt, and I couldn’t help but stare at her perfect breasts through the fabric.
“When will you be back?”
“Soon as I can. Be nice to the new guys.”
“Sure.”
She stared at me for a second. I wanted to say something to her, but what was the point?
I turned away and left.
The other guys were already there by the time I pulled up outside the clubhouse.
Noble, Dow, and Ford were the guys from the Demons. I only recognized the one Rebel, the short man with the crazy eyes. They were all sitting around the bar, the nervous energy before a fight buzzing around everyone.
“Clutch,” Larkin said as I approached. “This is Burke, Clinton, and Lavoy.”
Clinton and Lavoy were big guys, heavy and mean looking.
“Boys,” I said, nodding.