Page 20 of Scorched King

The Mazzeo asshole who’d threatened my ex’s life after roughing her up and nearly killing her had been dealt everything he deserved. It should have been over, with me starting over with a clean slate. But here we fucking were. One club bitch being served up on a silver platter as I stood here, who could blow my whole fucking world apart.

Again.

“Hey, fucker. What’s up?”

I turned and watched Knox, our senior prospect who was chomping at the bit for his patch, approach me. Add him to the list as another one I had to watch out for. His ambition to become a full-fledged member made him just as dangerous as the others. All he’d have to do is turn me over to JD and that patch would be his.

While I’d been extra careful not to leave any sort of digital or paper trail that could lead anything back to me, I couldn’thelp but be worried that I’d missed something. Computers, cell phones, and cameras were insidious and complicated when it came to our daily lives. They captured anything and everything with very few hiding places.

Hence, all the insane precautions I’d taken. From leaving my cellphone behind to making sure I disguised every aspect of myself when acting on behalf of Mazzeo. The one and only time I’d been recognizable had been inside that club. Once I’d disabled the cameras, I ripped off my black ski mask to breathe.

“Not much,” I finally responded, offering him one of my smokes. Normally, a prospect joining me for a smoke wouldn’t affect me—we’d done it almost daily. But with Sasha’s appearance at the compound, my nerves were shredding.

“You seen the boss since his return?” he asked.

I shrugged, keeping my words to a minimum. With Knox it was always better to let him lead the conversation to see where he wanted to go. His eagerness to please was always his undoing. In general, he was easy enough to read and right now I wasn’t picking up any certain kind of vibe from him. However, I’d keep my guard up until I knew for sure.

“It’s good to have Bear back. There’s a lot to be done to finish rebuilding and not losing him feels like a win.” I meant what I said. I had tried to rig everything so that no one got seriously injured, but the impromptu celebration that day had thrown my plan into chaos.

However, I, more than anyone, wanted to put what happened behind us. But the idea that my life might depend on Sasha’s memory and what she shared of it, set me on edge. Worse, there was a dark undertone of fear every time I took a new breath.

“That is the truth, brother,” Knox said around his cigarette. “Although I wouldn’t mind a juicy mission right about now. Especially if it took us out of town. I’m beyond ready for a change of scenery.”

I couldn’t agree more. Standing around here every day with my dick in my hands, waiting with bated breath to see if the current day would be my last was driving me insane. It didn’t matter that I’d made this fucking bed myself. I’d had no choice. And all of these fuckers could go to hell if they couldn’t see that.

My actions were justified. And if no one had gotten hurt, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. But I’d seen the way JD looked at that sweet young bitch. She’d been ripe to be taken over by someone since the day she stepped foot on our compound. And she had the finest tits and thick ass I’d ever seen on a stripper.

Maybe if my stupid ex had kept herself out of trouble, and I could have kept my focus on my job, it would be me Sasha was stuck to. My dick she was riding instead of his. It still annoyed the fuck out of me the money I’d pissed away inside of her g-string. All while she’d barely given me a second glance.

“I’m sure we won’t be grounded forever. If there’s one thing you can count on in this world, it’s some fucker choosing to prey on someone innocent. It’s only a matter of time before we get a call because someone needs our help with some new psycho.”

Knox nodded as he looked out over the property, seemingly lost in his own thoughts. There were a lot of rumors swirling around him that he’d fucked up pretty bad in the real world and that’s how he ended up on our doorstep instead of in prison. Probably the Feds considering JD had a son working there.

At first I’d been kind of curious about his past, but never enough to dig. If a brother didn’t want to share, then there was probably a good reason for it. Besides, stirring up shit only got people looking at you with a closer eye and no one here needed that kind of trouble. Especially me.

“True that. Although first we need to get the poker club back open. Our paychecks relied heavily on that place, and I don’t know about you, but I like getting paid. If I could kill the man responsible for that shit all over again, I gladly would. There’s a lot of rumors swirling around the compound. People are talking.”

My muscles locked tight as I waited for him to explain. Even though I knew damn well JD’s suspicions about a traitor in their midst was hardly a secret.

“Yeah, getting the club open is the priority and everything else is just a fucking rumor,” I growled, tossing my cigarette to the ground and stomping it out.

Knox looked at me oddly and I did my best to keep a neutral expression on my face. “Boss don’t need anymore bitches gossiping on his compound,” I said, a broad grin spreading across my face.

“Who you calling a bitch?” Knox’s eyes sparked with humor, but I could see him challenging me to some time in the ring if I didn’t diffuse him. The man liked to fight—a lot.

I lifted my hands in surrender and laughed. “Just a little friendly advice is all. You are too close to that patch to fuck things up now.”

Knox nodded. I’d said exactly what he wanted to hear and the one thing guaranteed to keep him from too much talking.

“Good advice,” he said, tossing his cigarette into the bin and wandering back towards the clubhouse door.

I didn’t want to hear about the club spreading shit about a traitor.

I wasn’t a traitor.

I may have been the one who set the explosives, but ultimately it had all been Mazzeo’s fault. I wished I could have been the one to pull the trigger on his life. That mafia heir piece of shit got what he deserved, and I refused to believe that any one of these men in the club would have handled the situation differently. We’ve always done whatever it takes to get a job done, and hope there isn’t any collateral damage.

Collateral damage. That’s all it was. An unavoidable accident that we needed to put to rest. There was no point in assigning blame beyond the Mazzeo crime family. I did then what I had to, and I would next.

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