Page 11 of A Love Like Venom

All of us mutter curses under our breaths except for me. Because this? This sounds fucking familiar. Too familiar. It sounds a little too close to fucking home.

“And how do we come in this equation?” Dex asks with a new fire in his eyes. Haven, his Old Lady and wife, might have calmed him down, but the man still loves to fight. Some would say Haven and his newborn daughter, Christine, give him even more reason to fight.

“They’re moving in on our territory. Trying to sell in our backyard. They’re trying to scare the local businesses we protect. That’s something we can’t have, brothers. It’s our job to keep them safe, not have them giving everything to this MC because of fear. It’s bad enough we have some of our young crowd getting mixed up with them. Now, I promised the Sheriff Department we could handle it. If they get involved, it won’t do us any good.”

He’s right. Having the Sheriff’s Department involved will only make matters worse. There’s a reason they let us handle these things. After all, we are the ones who run this town. Not them.

And our business has expanded immensely over the years. Especially since last year. Before we only owned an auto-shop and sold weed that was actually the good shit. None of that laced bullshit, but actual pure weed. The auto-shop helped launder the money. We didn’t make a shit ton of money, but it was never about that. It was about the brotherhood. Of having somewhere to call home when we felt we didn’t have anything.

But now we have expanded. And we have various business that brings us in more legal money than illegal. We own a night club, a bar, a strip club, and the auto-shop.

Our illegal activities have taken a back seat. Doesn’t mean we don’t dabble when we have to. We’re well known for getting our hands bloody for the right reasons. Around these parts we are quite infamous for protecting women against domestic violence.And the way we handle it, if anyone could find the evidence, would land us all in prison.

“How are we going to handle it?” Pax asks curiously. I love Pax, but he’s the last one I would send into a fight. Now, don’t get me wrong, the man is as tough as nails, loyal to a fault, and loves the MC. He’s just not the greatest with his fists. He’s different from the rest of us.

He’s a man of peace, not war.

I’m all about it. Being drenched in blood doesn’t bother me.

“We’re going to send them a message,” Sticks answers.

“A message,” Dex echoes slightly disappointed.

“Yeah, brother. A message. They need to know Vipers MC isn’t to be trifled with. That when they try to come in our territory and destroy it, we won’t go down silently. They need to know who exactly they’re fucking with.”

Ah, the endless ideas floating through my head right now are glorious. “What am I blowing up?” I sound a bit too enthusiastic. Watching things burn is the only thing that brings a true smile to my face nowadays. It’s been far too long. Burning down the warehouse as a birthday present to Haven after what happened to her there has been too long.

Way too long.

“Settle down there, Snake. We aren’t blowing anything up . . . yet,” Sticks says to me.

I suppose I can hold out a little while longer. “What are we doing in the meantime than?” I ask the first serious question since Church started.

Sticks smiles, a devilish one that promises nothing but trouble.My favoritekind.“We’re going to send a message, Snake. And I want you and Oak to do it.”

Wanting a name of this MC I ask, “And who is this message to?”

“The Crowned Devils MC.”

My smile matches Sticks before I meet eyes with Oak. His poker face is on, but I know deep down he must be thrilled. The boys back at it again. “Well, would you look at the Oaky Boy, we have a message to send.”

A message indeed.

Alice

Ibelieve in good and evil.

But I also believe the lines between the two can be blurred.

Everyone has their own definition of the two. Their own perception.

In the end does the villain of the story ever see themselves as evil?

Or are they the hero?

Good and evil.

Right and wrong.

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