“Wait,” Trev called out. He whistled to stop the applause. “Everyone sit but Duke.”
Everyone took their seats except for me and Trev. I felt really uncomfortable. It was goddamn unsettling with all eyes on me. Reminded me of when I got pinned that medal after coming home. My so-called heroic actions of dragging my old buddy out of his blown up convoy, along with returning back on enemy fire to prevent further attacks on the rest of us, helped to save hundreds of lives. Standing there listening to the words being tossed around, a medal pinned on me, people clapping, taking my fucking picture… hell no. I went home that night and never put my uniform back on. I hit the streets, got piss drunk, picked a bar fight with some asshole, and knocked him out cold. I got arrested, tossed into jail, and ended up sharing a cell with Hudson.
That wasn’t quite the start with Back Down Devil though.
That started after I saved Hudson’s ass from getting shanked. Then I got into a fight with him, almost knocking him out too.
“Our crazy brother here,” Trev said, stealing my thoughts, “stood up to the fucking Russians and took a bullet to the shoulder. I couldn’t stop this prick from running his mouth. But Ivan respected it. So did Peter. I got a call this morning letting me know that they send their condolences for shooting you, Duke. But it had to be done.”
“Great,” I said.
“He’s not worried,” Cash said. “He’s eating up all that pity pussy.”
“They’re eating me up,” I said.
“That’s why he’s late to the meeting,” Tristan said.
“You saw the tits on that new one,” I said.
“Fuck no,” Cash said. He slapped the table. “Cassie? Or was it Katie? Kathryn… maybe Beth… either way, fuck. You hit that?”
“No,” I said. “She just had a mouthful.”
“Now a belly full,” Kye said.
“Fuck,” Cash said. “I was working that one. I’m going to have her drink a bottle of mouthwash before she goes down on me.”
“Shit,” Xavier said, “she goes down on you, Cash, she’s going to need more than mouthwash to clear up whatever she catches.”
Austin, Max, and Trent all laughed.
“Listen,” Trev said. “I wanted to also take a second and personally apologize to Duke for putting him in that position. I shouldn’t have put my trust into their attempt at securing our roads. That’s my fault, Duke.”
“Easy, Prez,” I said. “Don’t be a fucking pussy now.”
Trev grinned. “You don’t take apologies. Okay.”
“It could have been worse,” I said. “We got our shit delivered. We got paid.”
“Now we owe them sixty-five large,” Jasper said.
“We know that the Hell Five attacked us,” Trev said. “So that’s where we go to get our money back.”
“Can I sit the fuck down yet, Prez?” I asked.
Trev gave a nod. “Sure. Just wanted to say thank you, Duke. You saved my life, and Trent’s. You saved Eden’s future. And the baby’s. You saved my family.”
The entire table looked at me again.
I shook my head. I touched the patch on my leather cut. “The club. Nothing else matters.”
Everyone made a fist and slammed it against the table, letting out a yell.
That shit made me shiver from the inside. That’s what we were about. A true brotherhood. Standing side by side, fighting our own war, living the realest freedom possible. Nothing like what it was like when I got back from the hell desert.
Funny thing… I lost my freedom by getting tossed into jail, but when I got out, I got a greater sense of freedom. More than most men could handle.
I took my seat and we got down to business.
The Hell Five.
“They know what they did,” Trev said. “So calling Carlo or Durango won’t do shit. They’ll laugh us off.”
“So what’s the plan, Prez?” Cash asked.
“Did Ivan give us a timeline for his cash?” Jasper asked.
“No,” I said. “He’s looking for our strength in all of this. He wants blood on the money.”
“Shit,” Max said.
The way the Hell Five aligned themselves was this: there were five men in charge of the entire street gang. Those men rotated based on performance or death. Right then, there was Carlo and Durango as the top two. They were the contact points. The other three guys were murderous muscles. They were Dice, Jop, and Leto. They’d made it an entire year without changing names. But stealing money from the MC and the Russians could all but promise that wouldn’t happen for a second year in a row.
“Then we make our move,” Jasper said. “Fuck these guys.”
“Why not just put some blood on the cash and give it to Ivan?” Hudson asked. “That will settle up the Russians and give us time to approach this thing.”
It wasn’t a bad idea.
Except when Ivan said blood on the money he meant something else.
“Then the MC is out money,” Trev said. “That fifty payment helps us a lot. We can shore up some things and have money to bet on some fights.”
“Plus we have to make sure Cash gets his stripper money,” Cade said.
“Cheaper than drugs,” Cash said.
“Not the ones you pick,” Xavier said.