Page 51 of Biker's Collar: Property of Scrap

“Establish a business.”

I laugh at him. “Are you fucking serious?”

Because that’s exactly what you want to give a degenerate gambler. Money. Wyatt doesn’t flinch.

“Yes. I’m sending you out there with Deacon Hollingsworth. Tylee and Isaac already have a place out there ready – an apartment complex for the family – and Magnum’s heading out there too.”

Deacon and Magnum both have a head for business, but bigger heads for trouble. It’s terrifying to think that there might be people in this world that need me to keep them in line. I must have done a good job with Ruger. Ethan warned me. When you do a good job at something, people just add more work to your plate. Told me that our first jobs pushing snow out of driveways in Missouri and I never forgot his wisdom.

“Why the hell is Tylee going to be there?”

“Because she’s going to take Waverly for the first part of your job.”

“Which is?”

“There’s a kingpin in Las Vegas who goes by Hakeem…”

“Jesus Fucking Christ.”

“What?”

“I can’t kill a black guy.”

Wyatt rolls his eyes. “You don’t have to do it. Magnum wants to do it.”

“I don’t want to do it.”

Wyatt glares. “You must. And since when do you care about race…”

Okay fine. That was just an excuse. But I was hoping with the new climate and situation, it would work. I bite my lip to keep myself from saying something unproductive. My brother has a sensational glare. He could start a campfire with his mild irritation and after a few seconds, I wonder if killing one person of every race would satisfy him, because I would do it if I thought it made any sense.

I don’t want the job to end up back on my plate, so I don’t bother asking why the fuck Magnum wants to kill Hakeem. I know that motherfucker runs poker tables all over Vegas. Not just the one where I lost big all those years ago. You remember your biggest losses as much as your biggest wins in my world. I wish I could only remember the wins.

“Why can’t I have Waverly with me? I’ll work nights.”

“Because it’s not safe. Tylee will be a fortressed apartment and she’ll have tutors come in… We need control over the people in our lives. Do you see how these women act? If anything wereto happen to Tamiya… how do you think that wouldinfluenceGideon? The bigger our family gets, the bigger we need to get.”

I want to disagree with him, but how the fuck can I justify that. I just think about how I would act if I lost Vickie. Losing her the first time – or whatever you call it when your woman drugs you and disappears for five years – screwed my mind up badly enough. I can’t go through some shit like that again. I don’t have the heart or the stomach for it.

“Understood. We kill Hakeem and take over Las Vegas. You know I have other responsibilities aside from Waverly?”

“So?” Wyatt snaps. “I saw how she acted before. Give her a gun. Ethan told me what happened when you met.”

“So now you’re gossiping about me?”

“Anna informed me that sharing information is very different from gossiping. Now, are we done here? Mom’s outside and she’s had more than five drinks.”

“Fuck. We’re done.”

“Good,” Wyatt says. We shake hands and I seal my fate – a gambler on his way to Vegas with the girl he met there. The girl who drugged him and ran away.

Twenty-Three

Vickie

The sex screws with my head. I don’t want it to screw with my head, but I suspect that I medically can’t help what happened to me. My body changed once Owen entered me. I never felt so full in my life. I never felt so much of anything – especially not while having sex.

Owen’s gigantic dick must have fucked the sense out of me while he had me bent over and entering me from behind. That’s my only explanation I can come up with for my behavior. He leaves me behind to sit with his daughter all afternoon and then when he comes back he just tells me… “We’re going to Las Vegas.”

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