Page 44 of Charger

Hush gives me a head nod, exhaling a puff of smoke. I can’t let tonight throw me off. I have to get my head in the game.

“They here yet?”

Hush pulls down his hood. His lifeless, emotionless eyes give me the chills. “No, looks like they’re late.”

A roar of bikes from the distance catches our attention. Hush throws down his cigarette, pushing himself off from his ride. Venom pulls up with his President, parks, and starts heading our way.

The grass and dirt underneath their steps crunch as their boots hit the ground. Our boots mimic theirs as we approach them.

“Gentlemen.” The President of the Steel Valley Skulls is a prick and I can’t say I can tolerate the fucker much. Same goes for Venom—I want to wipe that stupid smirk off his face. “Too bad your President couldn’t be here himself. I like to conduct my business with the one who actually runs the club.”

“Yeah, well, you got us. So, start talking.”

“I can see patience is not your strong suit.” He says it with a smug fucking look. Refusing to acknowledge the comment with a response, I just stare, waiting for him to get this over with. “I’d like to negotiate a deal with your club. You see, we have a business we want to start. The profit being very beneficial. However, the more people we have in on this, the better.”

Keeping his enemies close. Smart fucker. Not that we’re enemies necessarily. As clubs, it’s just how it is. Same turf, but we aren’t pals.

“Which is…?” My voice is stern. He smirks. Venom rubs his facial hair, glaring at me. I give him a scowl in return, holding it with hatred.

“GTA, grand theft auto.”

I let out a laugh. “Yeah, I know what that stands for. I don’t think so. We ain’t into anything illegal, so count us the fuck out.” Attempting to turn around, I lead with Hush at my tail.

“We thought you might refuse.” His sleezy laughter carries over my shoulder.

We stop dead in our tracks.

I sigh, rolling my eyes back. “Oh yeah?”

Scorpion grins with a shrug of his shoulders. “If you boys don’t want to work with us, that’s a damn shame. But if I were you, I’d watch my back. We hear that the business of pretty girls—willing or not, especially not—is very lucrative.” His voice takes an ominous turn. “And it seems to me that there are a lot of pretty girls hanging around Steel Valley Chains…”

My stare goes cold with every part of my body tensing. I feel the rage inside my blood rise by every ticking second. Hush taps the end of his bat into his palms continuously.

“What did you say? Are you threatening us?”

“We may have some hot ones already lined up.” He looks to Venom. “Isn’t that right?”

“Oh yeah, lots of fresh ones. By the looks of them, I’d say we would really be bringing in the cash for sure.” Venom follows the statement with a crude gesture, grabbing his cock. That’s when Hush lunges forward. I grip him by the shoulders, walking us both backwards.

“Not now,” I tell him in a low hiss.

He’s angry. I can see it because so am I. His eyes are shooting daggers at Scorpion and Venom. Twenty more seconds of this and Hush is going to unleash on these guys. And I have no doubt in my mind he will rip them apart.

What the fuck kind of point are these fuckers trying to make?

Turning around, I stalk back over. Venom takes a step forward, meeting me right in my face. My eyes linger, burning into him. He’s lucky I don’t tear through him to get to his President. He might be taller than I am, but only by a cunt hair and that doesn’t mean shit.

“Get in my face anymore and he…” I point to Hush, who’s standing behind me. “Well, he might just gut you from the inside out.” Hush grinds his teeth, juggling the bat. “Now, your President there is going to retract that statement because if he doesn’t, our club and yours are going to have a major fucking problem. Got it?”

“No can do… Charger, is it?” Scorpion steps around Venom. “Tell your President that we’ll be in touch. We do hope that you and your club will reconsider. It would be nice to have more manpower.”

“Oh, you can be sure that we’ll be in touch.” I grind my teeth and watch them walk away. Their bikes rumble as they take off, and I turn to Hush. “Fuck. this is bad.”

Hush is silent as his eyes follow them down the road.

“They’re fucking dead if that’s the game they wanna play.” The anger in my voice is undeniable. “Chain’s not gonna like this.”

I swing my leg over, start my bike up, and dial Chain. “Think they’d be that stupid?” Hush asks, while he secures his bat in place.

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