Page 26 of Mace

“Are you sure about that, Riot?” Nicky asks. “One wrong move and we’re pushing up fucking daisies. I don’t want to trust the wrong people.”

Riot shifts his shoulders. “I hear shit from our club brothers. Ain’t a single one happy with the status quo right now. I reckon they’d flip if given enough incentive.”

Incentive like the backing of our National President…

Fuck.We only just finished one war, and now, we’re about to head into a far worse one. This won’t be the club against its enemies—this will be brother versus brother. Some of the guys in this club have known each other for years, grew up together, are related by blood. It’s going to tear apart every single faction of our chapter.

I tip my head back to stare up at the moody grey sky. We survived hell, battling against the Pioneers without thebacking of our President. It was hard when we had our hands tied by someone who was supposed to give us the means to defend ourselves no matter what. I’ll never forgive him for the things he has done. His inaction caused the deaths of so many brothers and Jade. She was just a child, with her whole life ahead of her, and because of that shit, we lost her and Hawk.

“Keep pushing and probing. The more information we have, the easier things will be when Rav is ready to move.”

“What about Temptation?” I ask, and I know the reason I care has nothing to do with the business itself.

He blows out a breath. “Crank wants to keep it on the books. Someone will need to be posted there for at least the next month or so while we handle the takeover and put some rules in place. I don’t think we’ll get any backlash from the staff, but I ain’t gonna sit around waiting for trouble.”

“Except for that little mouthy one.” Riot grins. “She sure as fuck had a lot to say.”

He’s talking about Maylie, and my jaw clenches. “She ain’t gonna be an issue,” I mutter, mostly because I intend to ensure she won’t.

“I get her riding my cock, she’ll forget all about—” I slam my fist into his side, relishing the ‘oof’ that escapes his mouth. “Fuck, Mace.”

Nicky stares at me, suspicion in his expression. “You don’t shit where you eat, brother,” I mutter, but that ain’t the reason I hit him. The thought of him getting his teeth into Maylie pisses me off.

His eyes twinkle, even with the pain behind them. “You like her.”

“I don’t know her,” I counter, but it annoys me that he’s on the money.

“In that case, I’ll take one for the team.” Riot blows out a dramatic breath as he rubs at his side. “Those ladies need a protector.”

“And you’ll fuck most of them before the week is out.” I give Nicky my full attention. “I’ll go.”

I’m no better than my brother because my motives for volunteering are entirely selfish. I couldn’t give two fucks if the bar burns to ashes, but I want to see her again.

Nicky arches his brow at me, a million questions rippling across his face. I have zero answers to any of them, so I say nothing.

“You wanna babysit the pole dancers?”

I shift my shoulders, standing from the wall. Keeping an eye on Temptation puts me back in Maylie’s sphere again. “Ain’t like I’ve got anything else to do.”

Nicky shakes his head, as if he can’t believe what I’m saying, but Riot answers, “Bro, I was fuckin’ born for this role. All that fresh cunt dancing is like my dream come true.”

“I’m sure you’ll find other ways to entertain yourself,” Nicky drawls.

“You keep putting your dick around, it’ll rot off.” My smirk earns me an eye roll.

“I never smack unwrapped,” Riot says. “You taught me that.”

I taught him lots of shit over the years, so it annoys me that’s the only fucking lesson he learned. At least it means we don’t have a string of kids running around.

Nicky leans back against the bench, his gaze zeroing in on me. “You okay?”

Of course, my best friend sees through the mask I put in place. I know he’s asking about my sudden desire to volunteer, but I’m not ready to talk about that. Not when I don’t understand why I did it myself.

So, I do what I do best—I deflect.

“I went to see Maggie.”

Riot sits forward, interlacing his fingers between his parted thighs as pain ripples across his face.

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