Page 110 of Kings Don't Break
“I tried to warn you,” he says with a solemn shake of his head. “But time and time again, you have to be a troublemaker.”
Cold horror washes over me, paralyzing me to the spot. “Ken… what did you do? Oh my god, what have you done?”
“It’s not what I’ve done. It’s what you’ve chosen, Kor.”
“How could you?!” I scream in a torrent of emotion. I rush toward him, determined to get him the hell away from Mama. Get him the hell out our apartment.
Ken takes a wide step back and then lifts his arm up, clicking the hammer to the gun in his possession. He’s taken aim at me, the twist of his lips insidious. “Uht-uht. Not so fast, Kor. I told you you’d be coming back home one way or another. Did you think I was lying?”
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“Alright, now that we’ve decided Stricklin’s gonna die,” Mace says matter-of-factly. “We’ve got to map it out to be as clean as possible.”
“This is boring. We’ve done enough planning. Let’s go shoot shit up.” Ozzie sighs.
Mace grits his teeth. “We’ve been over this. Stricklin’s a cop. No matter how much we want to turn up and spray his ass with bullets, we can’t go leaving a fucking paper trail. We’re already being investigated by the law.”
“How about we get the Hellrazors involved?” Tito asks, stroking his chin. “They owe us for sparing them during our last altercation.”
I’m barely listening to a word the others are saying. I’m peering out the window of the club office, my eyes narrowed as they can go. Pulsboro PD isn’t even trying to hide the fact that they’re tailing us—there’s a squad car parked across the street from the saloon. Some rookie asshole whose name I don’t give a fuck to learn.
Turning away from the window with my arms folded, I’m sick and tired of listening to the strategies being discussed. Mace is convinced we’ve got to be careful about our next move, but I’m done with being careful.
Stricklin dies tonight. One way or another.
Mace glances over at me as if reading my thoughts. “Cash, you hearing this?”
“No,” I answer in the bluntest tone. I slide fingers through my hair, barely containing myself from doing what I want to do in the moment. “I’m not listening ’cuz I told you where I stand. Stricklin’s done. I couldn’t give less of a shit how you think it should go down.”
“I get it. You want to tear him apart. I was where you are when the Rebels had Sydney. We’ll get him. We’ll make him pay.” Mace reaches out and grips my shoulder in his hand that’s capable of just as much damage as mine.
I shrug him off, my insides a deep pit of rage there’s no clawing out from. It’s taken over me, turned me into some kind of entity existing with one goal and one goal only. To seek and destroy. Tear apart the man that’s standing in the way of the rest of my life.
Korine.
Mom and Bill have made things no easier. Rather than leave me the hell alone after our failed family dinner, they’ve taken it upon themselves to reach out once they found out I’d been arrested. Bill left a scathing five-minute-long voice mail telling me I was a piece of shit that thought I was better than him… when all I really am is a drunk.
It’s only amplified the rage that’s already pent up inside me. It’s made me want to stop holding back and unleash everything I’ve been holding back.
My heart booms in my chest and roars in my ears. My hands flex open and shut and I feel the violence swelling up inside me. It’s about to unleash itself.
There’s no stopping it; there’s no holding this kind of brutality inside. I’ve held back long enough.
The other guys in the room exchange looks. Tito steps in the path between me and the door.
“Sit. I’ll grab you a Coke,” he says amicably. In a the way only Tito could pull off. “We all need to let off steam. We get ourselves going like this—it’s never good.”
“Not now,” I drawl. “Step out of my way, Tito.”
The uncle-like King defers to Mace from beyond my shoulder. Mace gives a motion of his head that signals he should do as I say and get the hell out of my way. I leave the office behind and stride across the lot that leads to the Chop Shop. If I have any hope of hanging onto my sanity, then I need to see the person that reminds me of the good in the world.
“You seen Kori?”
Chaz sits up from where he’s lying on the floor replacing some tires. “She left not too long ago. Something about her mama and an appointment. I thought you were at the One Stop? We need those spark plugs for the Screaming Eag—hey!”
I’ve moved on the moment he said Korine’s not here. I almost head through the front exit of the shop ’til I remember the police have staged a full-fledged stakeout on the street outside. Doubling back, I opt for the rear exit while I fire off a text to Korine.
