Page 104 of Break Out

“Fun?” he bit out.

“Yeah. I’m fucking pissed, and it’s time to retaliate.”

“We gotta warn the other chapters.”

“Yeah, you call Raleigh, Atlanta, Vegas, Richmond, Reno, and Milwaukee. Tell Tie to handle his six cities, and I’ll deal with the rest.”

“You on your way to the clubhouse?”

“No, I’ll be there around ten-fifteen.”

“What’s the hold up?”

“The hold up is that I’m in a shitty part of town, and I got other shit to do.”

“Simone,” he muttered.

“Get the chip off your shoulder, Tor.”

He hesitated. “Not a chip on my shoulder, man. You’ve been happier since you’ve been around her.”

“Yeah, so what’s your problem?”

“You aren’t as methodical since you’ve been with her,” he said.

I wanted to argue, but he was right. “You find out a woman’s carrying your baby and neither one of you expected that shit, it fucks with you.”

“Yeah, well, get your head on straight, Prez, because this shit’s serious.”

“Why don’t we just kill Knuckles and be done with it?” Nelson asked.

“Are you still fucking high?” Tie demanded.

Torque locked eyes with Nelson. “If we did that, it would start a war.”

I nodded. “Hell, Knuckles wanted to shoot me on sight, and said the same shit about war.”

“What are we going to do? Match their bottom-feeder prices? We’ll be operating at a loss in no time,” Tie said.

The room went quiet and I debated how much to share. I had an idea, but it needed time before we could execute it.

I looked at Tie. “Problem is, if we don’t drop our prices, we’ll be operating at an even bigger loss. For the next three weeks, we’ll meet their prices – but do it on a case-by-case basis.”

Greco’s thick dark brows lowered. “Due respect, Prez, but why three weeks?”

“Circles is in a coma right now, and if a Corrupt Chrome member ends up dead, the cops are gonna look at us first. Three weeks isn’t enough time for that to die down, but it’s as long as I can tolerate to let this shit go unanswered.”

Most of the men at the table nodded their heads.

“This is going to get ugly, not that that’s going to bother any of you.”

“Damn right,” Nelson muttered at the other end of the table.

“Knuckles said it would be bloody – so watch your backs.”

“Where are you going to be?” Torque asked.

“I’m rebuilding the Jacksonville chapter. Went too easy on Jackhammer and Warden. They have four patched members and three prospects. Obviously, they haven’t been recruiting like they should have been. The clubhouse is a fuckin’ shambles which turns off most hang-arounds and creates a vicious cycle for filling the ranks.

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