Page 13 of Bad Like Me

12

Crow

“Heavy,the DC Prez, just called, they’re hitting the road tomorrow. They’re going to stay the night at Cyrus’ clubhouse up in Pittsburgh then they’ll be on the way here. Should put them in Cleveland sometime Wednesday, depending on how many stops they make,” Wily said in a hushed tone after he shut the door behind him, his eyes shifting around the room to make sure we all were paying attention. We got a lead from an anonymous source The Dogs were going to retaliate—this much we expected. They didn’t anticipate we would be ready, but this was our fucking town. The law was in our back pocket, and when they caught wind of something shady going down, they let us know. Truthfully, I think there was a pig in the doghouse because for the cops to have knowledge meant someone fucking squealed. For that alone, I would happily beat the fucking breaks off those guys. Add that to them trying to fuck us out of the AK deal, and those fuckers had a hell of a storm coming their way, and its name was the Royal Bastards.

“They bringing some girls?” Sledge asked, rubbing his hands together. Our DC chapter was in the porn business, and we all knew it, but not all of our dicks had ears like Sledgehammer’s did. Someone could simply whisper the word pussy and his dick got hard.

“I doubt it, this is a business trip,” I paused, taking my normal seat at the table and scrubbed my palm over my face. “Is fucking all you think about, man?”

“Fuck. Ride. Sleep. Isn’t that what we all do?”

“He has a point, Crow. What else do we do?” Circuit chimed in adding his two cents, which wasn’t at all needed as he leaned his back against the wall, propping his left boot behind him for support.

“You fuckers are a bunch of dirty bikers.” I tapped the table with the tip of my finger and closed my eyes for a second.

“So are you brother, that’s why we let you stick around.” Sleeper sat down beside me and waggled his eyebrows, both of us knowing that I’ve held a patch longer than he has.

“Matter at hand, what’s the plan once they get here, Wily?”

“Heavy and the guys are going to stay around the clubhouse and make sure those fleabags don’t try to come looking for the guns that aren’t here anyway. Diablo, Sac?” he called their names to grab their attention.

“Brother?” They said in unison.

“No way of trailing those AK’s back to us, right?”

“No fucking way, man. The law got their cut of the money, so even if someone did come snooping around, we have an alibi and the cops on our side,” Sac assured in his usual laid-back voice. I wasn’t sure how the fucker could function given the amount of weed he smoked on a daily basis, but it leveled him out. I saw him one damn time sober, and I hoped I never witness it again. I barely got a word in the conversation with him because he was talking so fast about nonsense. To be blunt, he reminded me of someone on crank—he was all twitchy and shit. If I didn’t know he would never touch anything harder than weed, my money would have been on crystal.

“Ghoul know all of this?” I asked, concerned he wasn’t in here and was out in the common area with Ray and Flashman. This was definitely a conversation he should be a part of.

“Yeah, he wanted us to fill you in,” Diablo nonchalantly informed me, shoving a cigarette between his teeth and fishing a lighter out of his pocket.

“Everybody knew about this except me?”

“Ghoul tried to call you. Said you didn’t answer. Probably just luck you are who you are, or you might be trading places behind the bar with Flashman.” Diablo sucked on the end, and smoke bellowed down his body from his nostrils. Right now, Flashman was on Ghoul’s shit list along with Circuit and Sledge. Circuit already did his time, and Sledge’s was coming, but I could easily join them.

“He did mention that. My phone died.” It was a rookie mistake, especially now, and although I couldn’t stand Diablo most of the time, he was right. The stakes were high, and if anyone else had been unreachable when I tried to call them, I would be raising five levels of hell right now.

“Won’t happen again, brothers,” I promised. I would be the first to admit when I was wrong to people I cared about. I lived by the motto that you should be completely clear when it came to people who may be put in the position of saving your life or not. We were all Royal Bastards, and we lived by a creed and a set of bylaws, but that didn’t mean a bad seed didn’t come in under the radar every now and then. I wanted to make sure if that ever happened and we didn’t catch it in time, maybe the fucker would remember my honesty and think twice before double-crossing me.

* * *

“How’d my boss treat ya?”I questioned Ray, noticing her glassy eyes.

“Perfect. The doctor is in.” She laughed and turned toward Ghoul. “Ain’t that right, doc?” A small giggle popped through her lips, and she nudged his shoulders with her own.

“That’s right. Have you met my number one nurse, Crow?” Ghoul joked, catching her as she weaved on her barstool a bit. Rage, blind fucking rage was all I saw, but I reminded myself that she was her and he was him. Although she didn’t have the word property slapped across her back, she was mine, and Ghoul wouldn’t dare cross that line with me. I took a handful of cleansing breaths and resumed my seat at the bar beside Ray.

“Your girl is alright by me, brother. She can hold her whiskey and cusses like a fucking sailor. Why the fuck did you wait so long to bring her around? She’s the little sister I never had.” He laid it on thick after our eyes connected. Ghoul was more than aware I had a jealous streak a mile long; it was one of the reasons I never brought a girl to the clubhouse. The second was I hadn’t had someone serious in my life since Ray. I guess I’d always been hung up on her even when she wasn’t here.

I didn’t have an answer for him, not one he wanted to hear anyway. If she’d never left…No. I wasn’t spiraling down the same slope I had for so many years. We were trying to give us a shot, though I didn’t know what target we were aiming at, and I needed to keep a clear mind to do so. All it would take was the smallest glimmer of negativity to drive all of this to shit. I refused to let it in. We’d spent so much time practically hating each other for letting everything fall apart, and I wouldn’t do it this time.

“Yeah, she’s pretty fucking awesome, isn’t she, Ghoul?”

Ray smiled and slapped the bar. “Flashman, can I buy another round for the doctor and me?” I see she was introduced to him while I was in the back.

“This one is on me, Nurse.” Flashman wickedly smiled, flaunting his perfect teeth. He was a pretty boy, definitely, someone most wouldn’t picture when thinking about a biker. I hadn’t when he walked through the club doors saying he wanted to prospect for the Royal Bastards. The thing was, the guy had a sinister streak; he liked blowing shit up. A pyro if I’d ever seen one.

“Thanks.” She smirked and leaned her head onto my shoulder blade. “Thank you for this.”

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