Page 145 of Wife Number One

War nodded. “And you got sick of doing that in Louisiana so you thought you’d come on over here for a change of scenery, or…” He waited expectantly.

Riot shrugged nonchalantly, sitting his seat back down on all four legs and pulling out a packet of tobacco from his pocket. “Or.”

War waited, but I could feel the irritation rolling off him in waves. He was trying to keep his calm and controlled exterior when I knew him well enough to know that he was mentally thinking about reaching for his gun as much as I was.

Fang’s warning to step up and do my job rang in my ears. “What War is too fucking nice to say, is why the hell are you here without so much as a word of warning and with your entire crew? How long are you planning on staying?”

Riot glanced up at me from tapping out his tobacco. “War wants to know that? Or you want to know how long I’m going to be hanging around, pouring drinks for your girl?”

War shot me a sharp look that clearly said, Don’t you fucking dare react. He’s a prez.

Riot’s guys wore identical expressions, the tension in the room so thick you could have cut it with a knife.

Preferably one I could later stick right through Riot’s kidney.

Riot laughed suddenly, like the entire thing was hilarious. “Relax! Relax! I’m not here to take your girl, Hawk. If you say she’s yours, then I’ll back the fuck off.”

“She’s mine.”

He held his hands up. “Done. Forget I ever saw her.”

I leaned across the table, making a show of putting my gun down in the middle of it. “Don’t expect me to thank you. Just tell us why you’re here.”

“Got some pickups to do.”

War narrowed his eyes. “And you needed your entire club for that?”

Riot chuckled. “Fine. Got a lot of pickups to do. Needed the extra bikes to guard the vans on the way home. Got some clients desperately waiting on…stock.”

“What kind of stock are you getting from our territory? Drugs? Guns? Anyone in Saint View or Providence and the surrounding areas is our turf. Not yours. You want something, you need to come through us,” War practically growled.

It was the way the clubs had always run. You couldn’t just walk into another club’s territory and start making deals like you had every right. That was the biggest disrespect to War, and hackles rose on the back of my neck.

Fuck this guy. I’d never had a problem with him until now. But tonight we definitely had a problem. A big one.

Riot rolled his cigarette and then lit it, blowing a small ring of smoke into the air when he was done. “Cool your jets, hothead. We wouldn’t dream of stepping on your toes. We came here for product you guys aren’t interested in.”

“Want to tell us what that might be?” Fang asked, his quiet presence as menacing as he was tall.

Riot took a long drag on his smoke and blew it out before he bothered answering. “Women.”

The tenuous hold on my patience snapped. I threw myself across the table, fingers clenched into fists, the first one connecting solidly against his cheekbone.

Chaos erupted around me, War and Fang and Riot’s two guys all pulling guns and pointing them at each other.

Pain exploded through my knuckles, an instant throbbing taking up residence in my fingers.

The momentum of my punch had forced Riot to turn his head, and he straightened it now to glare at me, his expression twisted with a scowl. “I’m going to give you that one for free because I did you dirty, hitting on your girl. Next one won’t be. Jesus fuck. You love her or some bullshit?”

I shook my hand out and settled back in my seat, leaving the others to their guns. “Ain’t none of your business. But don’t walk into my club talking about taking our women.”

Riot snorted. “Didn’t you see how many we already had out there? We don’t need your fucking club women. We got plenty of our own. And hey, I like the ones we have. I didn’t want to go giving them away when we were approached about making a deal. You guys have made it real clear over the years that you don’t do deals for women, so we came out here to talk to the contact ourselves.”

“Let me fucking guess,” Fang said darkly. “Luca Guerra?”

Riot raised an eyebrow. “Yes, actually. I thought you guys didn’t want nothing to do with that game?”

“We don’t,” War practically growled. “Slayers don’t traffic women.”

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