Page 48 of Property of Chaos

“A lot of the guys I used to sell to approach these new sellers directly,” Matthias continues. “They get better deals by cutting out the middle man: me.”

“This is my problem, how?” I lift my upper lip in an aggressive sneer and pick at my pointy eye-tooth.

Psychological tricks. They’ll get you places.

Matthias shifts his weight, brow twitching. “It’s your problem because if I can’t afford your shit, who will?”

“Plenty of states where it’s still illegal.” I let my eyelids droop a fraction. Enough he believes I honestly don’t give a shit.

I give a shit. I give a lot of shits.

Fucking weed went legal, and our business got whacked off at the knees damn near overnight. Hence, our potential alliances with the Fallen Aces and Reapers.

“Still ain’t heard you say what you propose to fill the gap with,” I state, raising the volume of my voice as well as my chin.

Matthias wets his lips. He’s a short fucker, stocky, and with thick hands that never fail to fascinate me when he manages to make those sausage fingers roll a joint. “I can get you the names of the guys who torched the loading dock.”

My eyebrows shoot up, and I study the guy for a second before throwing my head back and laughing.

“What’s so fuckin’ funny?” he asks.

Crow grins before explaining. “Man. You stiffed us eighty Gs, and you think a couple’a names will do the job?”

I huff, calming my shit enough to add, “Way I see it, those assholes are your grief anyway.” All humor slides from my face as I step into his goddamn space to growl, “You oweus. It wasyourfuckin’ beef with the Devil’s Breed that brought their wolves to our door. So it’syourfuckin’ job to sort it out.” I stab my finger into his chest, shoving him back half a step. “You still owe me eighty grand.”

He scrambles for a fucking answer as I turn for the steps, Crow hot on my heels.

“I didn’t get anything for it!”

“Neither did I,” I holler, spinning on the fuck as soon as my feet touch the ground. “We know where you live.” I toss my arms wide, indicating his house. “Know where your wife works, where your kids attend gym class, and where your fucking momma does her grocery shopping.” Last resort—all of them. “Don’t fuck with things you don’t understand.”

My brain picks the least opportune time to flick back to the last time I goddamn said that—Vanessa.

I blink several times, snapping my head to clear the cache.

“You come after me,” Matthias roars, marching his bulky ass toward us, “and I take you down with me.”

“Like to see you try,” Crow murmurs. He lifts his hands, lacing them behind his neck to pop his muscled arms wide.

Again—psychology. Who’s the bigger predator and all that shit.

“You forgetting how much I know about your club?” the short prick taunts, opting to stay on the porch so he’s taller than us.Smart.“You’ll get your money,” he hisses. “When your fucking life insurance pays out.”

“Yeah?” I chuckle, turning to Crow. “You hear that? He thinks I have life insurance.”

Crow crinkles his nose. “Nah. You were too much of a liability for that. Sorry.”

“You’re both real funny,” Matthias drawls.

“Fuckin’ yeah, we are.” I launch myself toward him, scaling the steps in two large bounds to lean right in the asshole’s face. “As funny as you’ll look when I leave you bound naked to a goddamn chair while your house burns down around you.” I tip my head to one side, eyes mad when I throw in a wicked grin for good measure.

He knows I’d do it. I’ve done it before.

Matthias takes a careful step backward. “You want to throw away decades of friendship over this?”

“Oh, no, no, no. Think you’re a bit confused there, buddy. You ain’t no friend.” I shake my head, straightening up. “I don’t do business with friends.”

“Yeah?” Lips in a firm line, he nods in short, jerky movements. “Good to know where I stand, I guess. Imagine what your father would have said hearing you say that.”

---