Page 64 of Serpentine

“Everything alright?” he asks.

I shake my head, downing my beer in a few gulps.

“You know the rules. If you drink over three…”

“My keys are yours,” I finish for him, rolling my eyes.

He nods satisfactorily and moves off, and I’m thankful he doesn’t linger. Looking around, I find no Cobras present. I’d have thought at least one of them would be out drinking. But I guessed wrong. Though I’m getting looks left and right because of who I am.

The Ghost never shows his face in town.

Someone here likely thinks I’m here for them.

Right on cue, two men grab up their girls and exit stage left, bikes roaring to life as they escape my presence. Likely, they’ve done nothing to warrant the way they’re acting. If they had, they’d already be six feet under.

Once I down my second beer, I pay Zeke and leave the bar. I swear, the moment I step boots outside, the place gets livelier. Like they’d all been holding their collective breath for me to leave.

When I get to my bike, my world spins upside down because it’s fucking trashed. It’s beaten into a pile of parts, almost. The mirrors twist off in either direction. One tire is slashed. The body has taken on significant damage.

The internal war that’s building in my chest is something I know is going to be bad. It’ll cause me to become someone I don’t like to. The bike was freedom to me. The bike meant I’d never be left anywhere helpless again. It was control. Now it’s gone. I know I'll lose it as I clench and unclench my fists. I have to keep it together long enough to deal with this first.

“What the fuck?” I shout, looking around through the quiet night surrounding the bar.

I’d only been inside for twenty minutes. Someone had followed me here.

Someone didn’t like what I was up to and made a statement.

I pull my phone from my jeans and dial Kylo. He usually has the keys to the tow truck we keep on the property, so he’ll need to give me a lift.

“Yeah,” he answers.

“I need the truck. Someone bashed my bike to fucking bits up at Zeke’s.”

Kylo whistles. “Got too close to something, hm? I’ll be right there. Have Zeke roll the security cameras back while I’m up there. See if you get an I.D. on them.”

“Alright, just hurry. I’m too fucking mad to be around drunk people much longer.”

Just as I get it out of my mouth, a girl tumbles to her truck, finding it locked because Zeke likely has her keys. She climbs into the truck bed and giggles before she hiccups.

I roll my eyes.

Kylo chuckles. “On my way, man.”

There’s nothing on the security footage other than when the man turns and flashes his Jackal signet on the back of his leather jacket.

“Why the fuck are they up in our territory?” Zeke grinds out.

I pulled the photo from inside my jacket and flicked it to him. “Because we were in theirs. That’s a girl Miles fucked a while back,” I tell him.

He whistles, giving it back to me. “That’s Vito’s sister. Man, all of you just started a fucking war.”

I shove the photo inside my jacket, letting the gravity of the situation sink in before I step outside again.

Kylo’s already got my bike loaded and everything tied down.

“Ready?” he asks.

I nod. “Yeah.”

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