Page 21 of Out for Blood

“Tell the boys to keep alert. Snake has that name for a reason.”

Bear nodded. “Yeah, I remember. Ace, they outnumber us by ten to one.”

I saw that too, but I wasn’t one to back down, and he knew that. No one fucked this club up, my grandfather founded the Ghost Rebels with his brother. There’s no fucking way a simpleton like Snake would take us down.

“Ace.”

He needn't have said anything as I looked around at the drug den we’d walked into. We all did the occasional drug party, but never like this. Everyone was fucked off their faces, women half dosed out of their mind being fucked by members against every surface.

What the fuck.

Snake saw the look in my eye, a slow smirk making its way onto his face. He knew I didn’t approve, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. The only thing he hadn’t counted on was the day I’d had before I left.

The moment I realised Sheridan had never been mine, and never would be.

“What the fuck are you doing to the Nomads, Patrick?”

His smirk disappeared when I used his real name and he made a move to throw a punch at my face. Savage caught the fist before it landed and twisted his shoulder around, marching him back toward the end of the clubhouse. I saw a familiar face as I looked over the deal being made.

“Killian?”

His dark eyes locked on me and he smiled in recognition. Standing, he made his way over to me and shook my hand. “It’s been a while, Ace. Nice to see you.”

“Yeah, it sure is a surprise.”

He looked around. “No more surprised than I was when I walked in here. Your boy Snake invited us down to talk about the gun running in Limerick. Lorcan and Conor are both … indisposed, so I came by.”

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“Their women are pregnant,” he said. “Together, which means the place we’re building is not a fun place to be.”

I stifled my chuckle. “Damn, no wonder you came down alone.”

“Trust me, Conor was chomping at the bit to leave, but Tee would never allow him to go.”

God, I missed those guys. Helping them six months ago had been great, and seeing them with their women had made me miss the only woman I had ever wanted to be with.

Sheridan.

“What do you want to do, Ace?” Bear asked me, bringing me back to the task at hand. I looked around, and the club was drugged up to the eyeballs. This is not what the Ghost Rebels was about.

“Take him out back,” I said. “He’s lost his way.”

Some of the Nomads turned around, knowing exactly what that meant. I turned back to Killian.

“The Nomads won’t be gun running, not for a while. Keep them at bay if they ask.”

Killian watched as they hauled Snake out by the arms. “I doubt they’ll be asking anytime soon. Need me to stick around?”

“We got this,” I told him. “Club business and all.”

“Call me if you need help,” he said. I shook his hand again. “You know I love a little violence. Anytime.”

He walked out of the den of sin we’d stumbled across and left. I followed the boys outside and stood over Snake. He was on his knees as Savage and Viper held his arms out on either side. Bear and Kendrick stood behind me, as I looked down at the man who had always wanted my job. He had been my former VP, Dog’s, best friend. They came up together. When he died and I didn’t kill the guy who killed him, Snake had been a dick to everyone, shutting himself away, causing shit with townsfolk so we couldn’t stay long.

I gave him the Nomads as a peace offering. We couldn’t kill Lorcan. He’d killed Dog because he was trying to kill someone under his care. Dog had lost his way, and it was a clean kill. It had cleared the air between us.

“Any last words?” I asked him, taking my jacket off and rolling my sleeves up.

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