Page 45 of Savage Spades

Venom’s mouth twitched. “I might have been busy tonight.”

“What the fuck is he doing here, and why is he alive?” Kit asked, no longer trying to escape out of Hugo’s arms. Venom was in their territory after all.

“I came to make a deal,” Venom said.

“And why the fuck would we make a deal with you?” Zeke growled.

“Why shouldn’t we kill you right now?” Gunner asked.

“Because I have a man in my organization who is far too eager to take over, and if I die, he will. That man is too ambitious for his own good. If you think I’m bad, he’s a monster. He’s been trying to convince me to get into sex trafficking for years. Girls like your sister”--his eyes flickered to Kit--“would all be too easy to sell on the black market.”

Kit fought against Hugo’s hold again, but Hugo was too strong.

“What do you want?” Gunner asked.

Was Gunner really about to make a deal with this son of a bitch? His sister was in the hospital right now because of this piece of shit.

“I want my money,” Venom said, his eyes turning dark. “Sell the bar and give me what I’m owed, and I’ll make sure this area stays free of any sex trafficking.”

“That’s not up to us,” Otis said.

“No? You can offer protection to a bar but not sell it and give me the money I’m owed? I thought you could figure it out.”

A heavy silence filled the room.

“We’ll need to vote,” Gunner said.

Venom stood up from the chair. “I’ll be around in a few days for your answer.”

He walked past Kit to get to the door. It wasn’t until they heard his car start-up that Hugo let him go.

“What the fuck was that?!” he yelled.

“Kit, I know you’re mad, but we have to make this decision just like every other decision: we vote. If we kill him, we’re putting everyone at risk.”

Zeke snorted. “Yeah, if what he’s saying is true…”

“Do you wanna take that risk?” Gunner snapped. He took a deep breath. “We have a simple solution here. We need to convince Cam to sell the bar and it solves all our problems. If we don’t, we might have a bigger problem on our hands.”

Kit crossed his arms over his chest. He couldn’t believe they were talking about this. No one in the room spoke, everyone lost in thought.

“Those in favor of taking the deal?” Gunner asked.

Kit kept his arms tightly folded in front of him as he watched his brothers raise their hands. Gunner raised the gavel, but before he could slam it on the table, Kit stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Chapter Sixteen

Cam

She should have immediately called Jen to pick her up, but something stronger pulled her down the hall to the room that the receptionist said Megan was in. Cam’s heart ached for the woman she didn’t know but had seen laying on the floor in probably one of her worst moments.

She listened at the other side of the door for a noise. What if she was sleeping? If she was asleep, then Cam would just leave and call Jen. This was a stupid idea anyway. Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door.

“Come in,” a voice called from inside.

She pushed the door open to see Megan propped up in the hospital bed. Machines surrounded her, beeping softly. Megan raised an eyebrow at Cam in confusion.

“I’m sorry to barge in… I was with Kit when he, uh, found you.”

---