Page 56 of Clash
I was kind of expecting him to ask again. He hadn’t been the same since the warehouse—hell since Sabbath’s death, he’s been a goddamn zombie almost.
We all kind of looked at each other, but Snyder took the lead. “I don’t see a problem with that. Does anyone else?”
None of us disagreed. He was definitely worthy of the title. And after finding out he had some talents, we could use for the club; Chaplain didn’t seem fitting anymore.
“All in favor of Priest becoming our new club Secretary, say aye.”
The club said aye in unison, and for the first time in weeks, Priest actually smiled.
“Now that we got that shit figured out, I think Ranger is right, promoting a few people around the club will help strengthen us. Though, right now, Poison is the only one I truly trust to patch in as a member. I’m still iffy on Slaughtermen, and I’m currently questioning Riot’s loyalty. If I could, I’d demote you right here and now,” Snyder exclaimed, shooting Riot a menacing glare.
Riot sat slumped in his seat, picking at a frayed string on his jeans. “You know I’m loyal to the club, Snyder,” he mumbled. “Ratt was my friend. I trusted him to take care of us after theclub went to shit. I quickly learned that he wasn’t someone I could trust. None of them were.”
“It is rather convenient that Ratt just let you guys walk back over to us without a second thought,” Skid said, shooting me a wary look.
“And the fact that you know absolutely nothing about who the Prez of that club is,” Ranger added. “Why is that, Riot?”
“He never came to the meetings, and I was only a hang-around for them. I never got close enough to see anything.”
The way he couldn’t look anyone in the eyes made his guilt even more visible. He knew something, he just wasn’t fucking talking. “I smell a rat…” I said, rising to my feet. “Are you a rat, Riot?”
“No!” he shouted, his eyes snapping up to meet mine. “I told you everything I know. I fucking put that on my life.”
Snyder crossed his arms, his eyes narrowing on Riot. “Something does feel off. You’ve been rather quiet. Almost too quiet.”
“I swear, Snyder, I know jack shit about anything.”
Snyder and I shared a look, but then nodded, knowing what we had to do. “You need to prove your loyalty to us again, Riot. Until this shit with the Crows is taken care of, I think it’s best if we demote you back to a prospect.”
He jumped to his feet, suddenly puffing his chest and looking manic. “Fuck that!” he roared. “I put in my time. I’ve been fucking loyal to you all. You can’t just demote me like that!”
Snyder laughed; his smirk more condescending than anything else. “You’re right. I can’t. But we as a club can. Everyone in favor of demoting Riot to prospect say aye.”
In a unanimous vote, everyone said aye, even Zeppelin and Motley.
“You can’t do this!” Riot screamed. “I won’t fucking stand for it. Fuck you, Snyder. You don’t deserve that goddamn Prezpatch. You deserve to be six-feet under, just like Sabbath!” His hand shot around his back, gripping the handle of the gun he had holstered there. “This is for the Crows…” But before he could even show off his piece, a shot rang out, a pretty little bullet hole appearing right between his eyes.
“Anyone else want to fucking question my patch?” Snyder growled, slamming his gun on the table as Riot’s body hit the solid oak wood with a thud.
Nobody said a word. And I had to admit, his sudden reaction gave me a little more respect for him.
“Zeppelin, make sure he’s dead. Priest, I’m gonna need you and Wasp to dispose of the body when he’s through.”
Zeppelin checked Riot’s pulse and put up a thumb. “Motherfucker’s dead. No pulse.” He retook his seat, then put his foot in Riot’s side, pushing him off the table until his body hit the ground with a thud.
“Why do I have to dispose of the body?” Wasp asked, looking incredibly pale.
“You’re good at it,” I remarked, smirking when he threw me the middle finger.
“Sit and spin, motherfucker,” Wasp said through clenched teeth. “I told you I had no control over that shit. I was blackmailed into it. Something you should be very familiar with.” He beamed proudly, but his dig did nothing but make me laugh more.
“What are we going to do about Slaughtermen? If Riot was a rat, then Slaughtermen probably is too.”
“I dunno about that. I’ve actually seen Slaughtermen trying. Something just felt off about Riot, now I know why.”
Snyder snapped his fingers, and somehow, Skid knew what he wanted, snagging Riot’s phone from his pocket. “It’s locked,” Skid said in a huff.
“See if Gideon can crack it. We need to know what the fuck is going on. We’ll deal with Slaughtermen later, but for now, we got other matters to deal with.” Snyder shot Motley a look. “Motley, go grab Poison and drag his ass in here.”
