Page 103 of Break Out

His lips twisted. “Keeps the bitches in line.”

“It scares off the johns, too.”

He smiled. “No, they know they’re next if they fuck around with us. That’s where the Pussy Lancers fucked up.”

I ground my molars together at the insult to my club. He was wrong. Johns who didn’t pay or messed with the girls in any way got theirs. We didn’t have to beat the girls in our rotation to prove the point.

Knuckles put his hands on his hips. “Know what the best part is? We took out your best pimp, and ran off two of the top whores in your stable.”

Top whores. That was Tie’s idea. Every one of our prostitutes claimed to be the best one. He said it was basic marketing – fake it until you make it. If the girls said that shit enough not only would they believe it, but so would the clients. I’d thought it was ridiculous at the time, because how many johns were going to believe that bullshit? Now it seemed to have been a possible stroke of genius since Knuckles thought he’d targeted our best.

“Why did you send Scar after me for a meet?”

Knuckles threw a hand out. “Give up your drug territory.”

I widened my eyes in question. “Where? Here?”

Knuckles gave a single shake of his head. “Anywhere there’s a Devil Lancer chapter.”

“Why in the hell would we do that?”

“You got other businesses. We’re going to take your drug business. I’m giving you the chance to save face.”

I took a deep, quiet breath. “Right. I give up our drug business, then what? I saved face for you to move in on how many other dealings we have? Fuck off, Knuckles. That shit isn’t happening.”

He swung a leg over his bike and put the key in the ignition. “It’s going to get bloody.”

I took a step back. “Considering what you did to my brother, it already has. If you want us out of the drug trade, why attack two of our whores?”

Knuckles started his bike and shrugged. “Why not? It was fun.”

He walked his bike forward, twisted the handle to rev the engine and be an annoying show-off, then he roared off down the street. He turned right, and away from where I’d parked the truck.

I sat in the truck debating my next move. It was early enough, Simone should still be sleeping. For some reason, I didn’t want her to wake up with me not there. Being an MC princess, she probably wouldn’t bat an eye at my absence, but I wanted to be there when she woke up.

At the same time, I needed to meet with Torque, Tie, Nelson, Greco, and Tuscon at a minimum. Really, this demanded a full session of church.

I tapped out a quick text to Torque, Greco, and Tie telling them to get word to everyone about church at noon. Then, even though I could have texted, I wanted to fuck with Rafferty so I called him.

With a thick, husky voice, he answered on the first ring. “Hey, Steel.”

“Hey. You at the house?”

“Yeah,” he said, sounding groggy.

I nodded. “Do you know if Simone likes donuts?”

He wheezed out a laugh. “Yeah. She doesn’t like them, she loves them. If you have a mom-and-pop shop, those are normally her favorites, but otherwise, she can put away three or four Krispy Kremes on her own. Or at least she used to. Not sure with the pregnancy thing going on.”

I liked that she loved donuts so much. Knowing that, I wished I had time to drive across town to Belair Donuts, but that was a hike from where I was and then getting back to the house. “Krispy Kreme works since there’s one on my way. She gets up, tell her I went to get donuts. I’ll be back soon.”

“Awesome. Later, Steel.”

My phone rang in my hand. “Yo, Torque.”

“We’re having church while Circles is in a coma?” he asked.

I started up the truck. “I just met with Knuckles. They’re coming for our drug business in every city where we have a chapter. He said they beat Circles, Heather, and June for fun.”

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