Page 92 of Sweet Pea

“Strange reaction from the guy who tried to kill me,” I said, trying my hand at getting Wolf to incriminate himself.

“Who, me? I was home watching the fight,” he said. “The article in the paper said it was a hit and run, isn’t that right? Probably a drunk driver. You’ve gotta be careful out there, Sweet Pea.”

Not only was his answer a bust, it made me want to beat the shit out of him even more.

“What about Doozer?” I asked, coughing up blood into my hand. “Did he slip in the fucking shower?”

“Now, Sweet Pea. Don’t get all worked up. I thought you wanted to talk about peace.”

Wolf wasn’t making this easy, but rather than back down at all, I dug in.

“Minus said you’d talk about bringing this war to an end if I agreed to meet with you alone, so here I am. If you brought me here to kill me, I wish you’d make your move.”

“I told Minus I’d talk to him if everything went well with us tonight. Plus, I told you I’m glad you’re alive. In fact, I have a present for you.”

Wolf reached behind the base of the tree and produced a burlap sack that looked both heavy and stained with blood.

“What the hell is this, Wolf?”

“Don’t worry, Sweet Pea, it won’t bite,” he said dumping the contents of the sack in my lap; a large snake.

“Jesus, what the fuck!” I shouted, struggling to get the snake off me. It was only when it hit the ground that I could see the snake’s head had been cut off.

“What’s the matter? Not an animal lover?”

“You sick fuck,” I said, regaining my composure. I studied the snake and a shock of panic hit me. “Where did you get this snake?”

“You know, it’s the damnedest thing. Vega’s little brother, Marco works at this little pet shop downtown. He cleans up cat turds and stocks shelves. You know, shit like that. But what little Marco wants to be when he grows up is a Spider, so he couldn’t help notice when he saw a Burning Saints patch come into his store one night.”

My fists clenched and my spine stiffened.

Wolf continued, “Marco said the Saint was buying feeder mice for his old lady’s ball python, and Marco only knew of one hot chick with a ball python in the area.”

I used every ounce of strength in my body to stand but was barely out of my seat when Wolf shoved me back down.

“I swear to God, if you touch her—”

“Can’t say I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Callie Ames, Esquire, but maybe you can let her know I found her snake.”

Fighting for the club or immunity was one thing, but now that I knew Callie was a direct target, I had to take Wolf out or die trying. This sonofabitch was gonna sing if I had to pull his voice box out and squeeze it like an accordion.

“So, that’s your thing now. Going for the head? The snake, Minus, Char?”

“Char’s celly did him. It’s on the official report. I was at home watching the fight.”

I forced a chuckle despite the pain. “I wouldn’t try so hard to sell that story, some of your guys will actually believe you. Then you’re fucked.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“You took out your own club President and took his seat. The only reason you’ve been allowed to keep that seat is because your club fears you. If they really thought Char’s cellmate killed him without your say so, then your Presidency is really thanks to some meth-head.”

“Whatever,” Wolf said, dismissively.

“Unless...oh, shit!” I said. “Char’s celly reallydid kill him for his own reason’s and you had nothing to do with it.”

“What the fuck would it matter? Dead’s dead and I was wearing the President’s patch before Char bought it.”

“Only because Char gave it to you temporarily while he was inside.”

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