Page 116 of Outcast

Rita spun on her heels, taking in our guys and even the women who were still here.

"That's not who we are anymore. You don't like it? You can leave. I won't hold you here, but Dirty Dogs is not that club anymore and you damn sure won't run those businesses in our territory." She pointed to Hap. "You want to bring back that business?"

He nodded. "Fuck yeah."

"Fine. Then bring Gloria to the club. We'll put her to work just like the other girls."

His eye bugged. "Our wives and daughters are off-limits. Always have been."

"That's why those businesses are evil. Do you even hear yourself? Women aren’t commodities. We never were."

The women along the walls whooped.

"You're forgetting one thing, Rita," Due said casually as he scratched his jaw.

"What's that?"

"We're not going to just let you have the gang. I wouldn't be a Dirty Dog if I did." He snapped his fingers at the men behind him. They reached for the coolers as he continued speaking. "I'm making my claim for it."

"You and seven men?"

"You're forgetting Joel." Due smirked. "But no, there's more of us than that."

Then the coolers were tipped. Five or six heads were dumped out. One rolled right to Rita's feet.

Alarm and fury fought for supremacy. I recognized that head.

And it opened a shit storm we didn't want to fight.

Matthews' sightless eyes stared up at Rita.

29

RITA

Sound disappeared as the sweaty head rolled right to my feet, face up.

I swallowed the bile as a few drops of dark blood hit my shoe.

Matthews.It was Matthews’ head. I kicked it away so it wasn't resting on my feet and glanced at the others.

Due had declared a war. I didn't know how many men were in Matthews’ club, but six couldn't be all of them.

Somehow, I managed to tear my eyes away from the floor and meet Due's gaze. An arrogant smirk stretched across his face as he wiped his chin.

"What did you do?" I whispered.

"What was that?" He cupped his ear and leaned forward.

"How many men did you leave?" My voice was stronger now. I had to be stronger. I needed to prepare for whatever hell was about to rain down on the Dirty Dogs, whether it was from the new group or from within our own fucking gang.

"That's the beauty of my leadership. I didn't leave a fucking soul breathing." He cast his gaze aroundthe room.

I wanted to look, to see how the gang responded to him, but I couldn't. A surge of adrenaline filled me so fast, my fingers trembled.

"No." I shook my head and moved toward him. "No! That's not leadership. That's a psychopath! You wiped out a club before giving them a chance to become allies? Before giving them a chance to leave? You know what that does?"

I met the eyes of every man I could see. Some were sickened. Some avoided looking at the floor all together as they faced the wall. Then some watched Due with feverish approval.

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