“Fuck this,” Max said. He threw five twenties on the table and took his beer and walked away.
Cassie walked toward me with two beers in her hands. She had this little tick-tock thing going on with her hips, her shirt pulled up just enough to show some skin. She was blonde hair, blue eyed, full of wildness, obviously new to this life. Just wait until she saw her first dead body or one of us brothers cut up or shot. She’d learn real fucking fast that it wasn’t all about riding fast and fucking hard.
“Congrats,” she purred at me. “Let’s drink and pick up where we left off before.”
Temptation was an old friend of mine. But my phone conversation with Belle really fucking rattled me. Shit, where had that come from? Calling me about Jim? I hadn’t talked to him…
Fuck.
I jumped out of my convoy, like a fucking fool. I heard screams and shouts. It felt like there were bomb blasts everywhere. I was running the wrong way, no protection, all my fucking training completely left somewhere else. All I could focus on was the twisted pieces of black metal that used to be the ride Jim was in.
When bullets started to zing by me I dove forward and hit the ground. I returned fire until the guys behind me took control so I could save Jim. I got to him and pulled him out of the charred mess. His face was bloody and black. His eyes were dazed. His hands clutched to me, shaking, filthy. The second I looked down his body I saw that he was missing a leg. Shock settled in pretty fucking quickly for both of us.
“I got you, brother,” I shouted. “You’re safe.”
Jim reached up and touched my cheek. “I didn’t get them all out. Billy… I let him die…”
There were more explosions, the ground rumbling like a damn earthquake.
Seconds later we had air support.
Two of my guys came to Jim’s aid, trained medics, knowing what to do and how to do it.
I pulled back and away from Jim, our hands holding together until I had to break the hold. Then I lost my fucking mind. I stood up, grabbed a gun, and just started unloading. Everything went black. I only stopped shooting because I got shot.
“You listening to me?” a voice rang out in my memory.
I saw my left hand balled up in a tight fist. I was shaking. I felt a cold rage in my veins.
I snapped my head to the left and saw pretty Cassie. I put my hand to her lower back. “Tell you what,” I said. “Go find Max. Take care of him tonight. Tell him it was from me.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t do…”
“You’re in my clubhouse, act accordingly. You’re a fucking reliever so do your damn job or leave.”
That was Cassie’s first dose of reality.
I watched her walk away and I curled my lip. I walked toward the bar and Cash spun around from his stool.
“What happened?” he asked. “She finally see how small your dick really is?”
He was just fucking around, but I wasn’t in the mood.
I slammed my beer bottle off the bar. I grabbed Cash by his shirt and pushed him against the bar. I thrust forward with the broken bottle only to have someone hook their arm into mine and stop me.
“Fuck, brother,” Jasper yelled in my ear. “Take it outside. Right now.”
“Jesus Christ,” Cash said. “Go take a fucking pill or something, man.”
I dropped the broken bottle. I walked to the door and punched it open, going outside. I walked to a picnic table and flipped it over. That did nothing. I started to pace like a hungry animal, wanting to fucking attack. Yet there was nothing to actually attack that would make me feel better.
Shit, it wasn’t even about Jim. It was about Belle. I made myself very clear to her a long time ago. She didn’t need this shit in her life. Especially with her brother being hurt. And fuck, I had no idea she was taking care of Jim on her own. Her old man died a while back from heart issues. I spent the night getting shit wasted during his funeral. I fucked two different women, trying to chase the guilt away.
I should have gone to the funeral.
“Fuck,” I said.
“You need something,” a voice said from behind me.
I turned and Trev was there. “Prez…”
“Hey, take it easy,” Trev said. “You want to talk about it?”
“No.”
“Fair enough.” Trev put his hand forward. “Fresh beer?”
“No.”
Trev kept the beer for himself. He stepped up next to me. He was the same height as me. I probably had a few extra pounds of earned muscle than he had. Yet he stood there so calm. Staring out into the night. It pissed me off.
“Whatever the fuck you think you have to do tonight, I would just go with it,” Trev said. “As long as you’re not going to hurt yourself physically. Or wind up in jail. But even if you do, we’ll back you up, Duke.”
Jesus Christ… did this guy really have to be that good of a President?
“Anything else, Prez?” I asked.