Page 120 of Ruin
“We were hoping to have a conversation. We’re having trouble and could use some advice.”
“You the Prez?” he asks.
“VP,” Kaison answers, then moves to the side. “He’s the Prez, but uh… he’s not feeling so hot right now.”
Coyote holds his hand up in greeting, both his eyes purple, his lip busted, and his nose swollen as hell. There’s still crusty blood on his face too.
“We don’t usually have uninvited guests,” the guy says.
“Understandable, but we’d really appreciate your time,” Kaison says as respectfully as possible.
One of the guys elbows the guy in front. “They’re family, man.”
“We’re family,” Kaison says with a grin, holding his arms out.
This charming mother fucker…
“What the fuck is going on out here?” someone calls out in a cheery voice as they push through all the guys. He’s as big as the rest, but with a more inviting face.
“Maine chapter,” the first guy says.
“Well, fuck. Welcome to Snow Creek!”
This guy walks closer, throwing an arm around Kaison, then one around me, and urges us toward the group. All I can smell is alcohol, which could be a good thing or a bad thing. The group of guys part and we walk between them to head inside where the AC is blasting and there are half-full drinks along the bar, two girls behind it—twins. Both blond with fake tits wearing whitesports bras and red booty shorts. Even if I liked girls, they’d be too young for me.
“Don’t even think about it, boys. Those are my girls, and they’re off limits,” the guy with his arms around us says.
“I got a girl,” Kaison says.
It’s on the tip of my tongue to say I don’t like girls, but I don’t know these people.
“Yeah, me too,” I grumble.
“Britt, get these boys some drinks,” the guy says as he gestures to some seats along the bar. The three of us sit, we get our drinks, and then we talk.
Apparently the big guy who first greeted us is Mouse, he’s the enforcer. This guy, who is way too happy for my likings, is Crete, which is short for Concrete, I guess, and he’s the Prez here. They’re happy we came by and are all too willing to help with what we need—we’re family. They’ve got hundreds of guys here, plenty of them with experience manning borders. The best part of all? They’ve already dealt with the Hollow Cross Cartel, and they moved on. Apparently, they aren’t as tough or as big as they make themselves out to be. They’ve been moving across the border, trying to scare someone into submission. We were a good target because we’re small, which only makes me hate them more.
I hadn’t thought to wonder why they aren’t dealing through their own borders, but Crete explains it’s because they’re at the bottom of the food chain. Bigger and badder guys handle that,and so they don’t have a choice but to look for others to fuck with. They’re bullies, and it’s pathetic.
I thought we’d come up with a plan to man our borders better, but I guess we are taking a trip to New York after all.
“The thing about Maine is that a good portion of the border is so deep in the woods it’s not worth it to use, so we haven’t had to worry about manning it,” Shark explains. “But we should focus on growing the club and spreading out through the state. We shouldn’t have to move across lines for help.”
“We don’t mind helping,” Crete says. “But it is a good idea to have your own guys in your back pocket for when you need them. Maine is a big state; lots of opportunity.”
It’s already late tonight, so we won’t take the trip to NY until tomorrow. Crete told us we can stay at the clubhouse for the night. There are plenty of rooms upstairs with bunks, and we get a room to ourselves.
It’s late and I’m tired, and I’d love nothing more than to go to sleep, but I need to call Lucian, so I head out front and lean against my truck as I stare at the missed calls and press his name. It starts to ring, and I bring the phone to my ear.
“Kolton?” Lucian says into the phone, sounding worried.
“Yeah, it’s me.”
“Christ, are you okay? I was about to jump on a plane.”
“I’m fine,” I say. “Just club shit.”
“Oh, right.” I don’t miss how his tone changed. He sounds almost disappointed. “Is everything okay?”
