Page 20 of Truth

“Nigga, you still my best friend. That means I know when you’re hiding shit. What’s up?”

“Nothing I can’t handle.” He sat up and glanced around. “It’s you I need to ask what’s going on.”

He punched my arm and I frowned, feeling the tenderness in my back from fighting his big ass.

“Ole girl upstairs. That’s Germ’s sister, right?”

“And?”

Once I brought her here, I called Aunt Myanne over. She was a retired nurse and whatever else we needed. She checked her out, gave her something for the pain, then set her up for the night in one of my guest bedrooms.

My house sat on the outskirts surrounded by a few acres of land. Breeze liked being in the mix, uptown in Rockside. Gen did too. Alix and I stayed here, but he’d been spending moretime at his girl’s place or wherever the fuck he was. Once he wasn’t invited to Chancellor University for an appointment after he missed the first one, I was pissed. He had no clue what an accomplishment it was to attend a prestigious school, and now, he’d probably never know.

Fucking kids. So the fuck what he was twenty? Age didn’t qualify you for being a responsible adult. Maturity did, and he was dumb as fuck, thinking with his dick along with instant gratification. He was a techy, loved to game, and made a shitload of money doing it. That wasn’t a career, though. I had bigger dreams for his ass. But Alix wanted to be common, a motherfucking Saint Rider. I’d never water down what we brought to the community, but I won’t lie—I wanted more for him. He was just too stubborn to see it.

“Hey.” Breeze lifted both hands and stood.

He grunted when his cell phone rang back-to-back like he was running from a gang of bill collectors. He looked at it and grimaced before sliding it back into his pocket. Lately, he had been doing that more and more. I was worried, but he’d talk when he was ready. For now, I had a woman under my roof who irked my damn nerves but made my dick hard as fuck.

“Let me make this call. When the brothers get here and you’re ready to start, text me. I’ll be out by the river.” He was like Genny. They both loved to sit out there by the river, sitting on the pier and taking in nature. That’s why I was shocked when they both wanted to live uptown.

We slapped hands but pushed each other away, looking at our hands. Fucking blood.

“Nigga, wipe the side of your mouth. Look like you ate some bloody pussy,” I teased him.

“Fuck you.”

Just like that, shit was good between us. We had to save our energy for the enemy. Shit wasn’t making sense, but it wouldas soon as I had Alix investigate a few things. His tech game was strong which included hacking, but I mostly discouraged that shit. It didn’t matter, though. He was still fucking off, being stubborn. Ordinarily, that shit wouldn’t bother me, but things were falling apart, which made me realize that I did need to speak with Beast. Like it or not, he had experience with shit and Alix idolized him.

In the meantime, I had to tell my dick to calm the fuck down. The entire bike ride, her nails dug in my skin, her face was against my back, and the smell of lavender wafted like a sweet smell called life underneath my nose. She was everything good in this world, even if she had a fucked up way of how she talked to people. I got it. She wanted more for Germ. Hell, I did too.

Instead of turning him away and seeking another club to call home, I took him under my wing. I had my reasons for how I operated, how I selected those that were worthy to become a Saint Rider. Life had hit him like it had hit me, but I felt that shit twice as hard—once for Gen, and now his sister when he told me how she died. I caught him in the tattoo shop with that same look on his face.

He mentioned her anniversary death was coming. Damn, I had no clue, which meant I needed to spend more time with my prospects and not because I wanted to fuck his sister but because shit like that was important to know. It didn’t hurt that I actually liked his sister. She was like a tiny, cute chihuahua but with small, perky breasts and hips and ass that made me want to suck the lining out that pussy before I took her down. It was more than that though. I had to admit it, and that was the part that scared me. I wanted her for her, even though I knew deep down inside she wished Germ had never met me. He had, and her ass was stuck with me... for now.

After all theSaints showed up, we took it outside to the backyard. Every once in a while, we’d hang out here and barbeque, shoot the shit away from the clubhouse. It was mostly those in leadership, the motherfuckers that had to make the calls.

“What’s the next move?” Brick queried, kicking it off.

“Footage.” I looked at Breeze who was taking the lead on that. “When Alix brings his ass here, I need anything he can hack into and find. Motherfuckers shooting at me in broad daylight.”

“Told you they think we’re soft,” Brick muttered when Harlem slapped him in his stomach. “Fuck you.”

“I’m on it but we also need Eriqua and her girls to have their ear to the streets,” Breeze replied. “One of the bitches will be eager to talk shit. I’ll hit her up.”

“Fuck you will,” Brick boomed, sitting up. He rolled his neck around with slitted eyes. “I got that. E’s my responsibility. Before we put her or her girls on, we need that footage first. That arson report told us it was an explosion. What you have on that?”

“Detonator. Someone had to have watched her enter then triggered the explosion. Report stated traces of nitroglycerin were found in two locations, near the front and back doors of the building. Gee went through the back. As soon as the dooropened, a timer started on the one she’d set off. They were trying to trap her ass if she ran out the front. By the time the firefighters arrived, the one near the front was located under the debris. Guess all that fucking water and other shit stopped that one from going off. Cost us a pretty penny to get that shit, but it was worth it.”

I watched as he spoke, his eyes staring off that filled with tears. He looked at us, then pinched his nose before he cleared his throat. He was taking this shit hard if not harder than I was. He and Gen were always cool though, sometimes too cool to the point he gave her man, Charles, ass the blues any time he came around. If he and Gen were fucking around, that would be a problem I’d have to check later. No one was good enough for my Genny. Charles was nothing but a pawn since he worked at the tax office. Plus, she ran that nigga. He probably didn’t even get the pussy.

“I say we find out who’s known for making that shit,” Breeze continued. He looked over his shoulder and nodded at Harlem. “Bring it here.” He went to a bag near his bike and brought it over. The entire time, Breeze watched him as he wiggled his fingers. Like me, he was ready to blow a motherfucker’s head off. He opened it up after he slid a glove on, then held it up.

“This is it. We find who made this, we find out who’s coming for us.”

“Maybe,” I chimed in, then looked at Germ.

“Any word on Alix?” His ass was still missing. He’d text back but he wouldn’t call. Maybe I was too hard on him, but I had to be. Bitches wanted us dead.

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