Page 22 of Draco

“Come on, Draco. I’m not scared of you!” Rattle yelled between heavy exhales.

Zo laughed. “You know we can end this fast.”

“Fuck you, Zo!” Rattle spit a loggie at his feet.

“Bet!” Zo yelled as he kicked Rattle in the back of his kneecaps, causing him to drop to the ground.

Rattle shamelessly reached out to Bear, but the big man shook his head.

“I can’t help you, partna,” he replied as he smacked on a pack of corn nuts like he wasn’t in the middle of a murder scene.

Once we were done withRattle,blood and cartilage littered the floor. Quadir used a sharp bladeto slice his throat, and the laceration was so deep it nearly tore Rattle’s head off.

My ride homewas pollutedwith visions of the hour before. That was the downside to being half human. My conscience didn’t settle after a kill unless the person was a stranger, and even then, there were times I had nightmares about what I’d done.

Zo slapped my shoulder. “Hey! Don’t start acting all sensitive and shit. Thatniggadeserved it.”

I turned to tell loudmouth to lower his voice, but the sound of the second-floor window sliding open caught our attention. I glancedup,finding Frankie staring down at me. Her armswere crossed,and the mug on her face was tight. The longer we stared at each other, the more tense I became.

“Go get her,” Zo muttered. “Y’all looking at each other like it’s that time.”

“Nah. She doesn’t need to see me like this.”

“I’m not getting on that thing.”

“Yes, you are.” I placed the helmet against her chest. “This isn’t your first time on my bike.”

Her eyes bulged behind her glasses. “Seriously? You can’t compare the two. I was half awake and half unconscious.”

When she looked off to the side, I seized her chin and forced her to look at me.

“All you have to do is hold on to me. You won’t fall.”

“You don’t know that for sure, Draco.”

“I promise.”

Frankie ran her tongue over her pearly whites and shuffled her visionfromme andontomybike.

“If I fall and die, you can bring me back to life, right?”

“Yeah, if I fuck you.”

Her shoulders dropped.

“I’m just fucking with you. Stop being dramatic.”

“Can’t help it,” she whined. “Put on some music. If you play Tank, I’ll be able to relax.”

“Nah, I don’t ride to that.”

Her lips morphed into a pout.“You have to compromise, Draco.”

“Tomorrow. I got you. Get. On.”

While we rode to the clubhouse, I tried to think of contrived answers to questions I knew my brodies would ask. I had been a part of The Sons of Eshu for over a decade, and I never brought a woman around them. Most of them thought I was a player. Truth was, I was powerless. Other than Bear, Swag, and Sparrow, no one knew the truth about my bloodline. They just thought me and my brothers were three men with no family except for each other.

The clubhouse was always packedon Saturdays, but since it was Bear’s birthday, there was an overflow. Car and motorcycle clubs we fucked with showedupalong with anyone else in the city. Werarely chargeda cover, but since Bear was saving up to buy a new bike,we madefolks paythenplanned togive the money to him.

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