Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Good Show
Kingston
I didn’t rush back to Kal’s place. Instead, I did a lap or two around our small town. There weren’t many people in the streets despite it being nice outside. When I didn’t see anyone worth harassing, I looped back toward the tavern.
The crowd had thinned a little, allowing me to park right next to the door. I felt like I was on top of the world. And, why wouldn’t I? I was Kingston fucking Crowe. None of these bastards would step to me.
I’d be VP the minute Birdman took over…
Assuming I let him.
He was a bastard to be around when his power was unchecked.
I’d suffered it as a child, when the indictments rolled in.
The club had never been hit before, and he was terrified the charges would turn federal.
So, he ran, dragging me and my mother out into the desert with him.
I couldn’t even say where we were. Nevada?
New Mexico? I was too small to be aware of such things at the time, and yet I was old enough to know the fear of God.
Well, not God. I feared Birdman more than any deity back then.
I feared death.
Mine. My mother’s. All of us on his bad days.
People talked about my coldness, but they didn’t know what cold or crazy looked like. In my own mind, I had a superpower and it wasn’t the violence I was capable of. Being terrorized as a child, made me into a man that could only be moved by the most considerable of measures.
The last time my ol’ man held a gun to my head was the day I told him to pull the trigger or stop woofing. The exchange had happened in a room full of brothers. I was patched in later that week.
I threw the backdoor of the tavern open and stepped inside, only to find it barely buzzing with life.
Preach was swigging a bottle near the window, mid conversation with my sponsor, our sergeant at arms, D-man.
Rigs was parked on D-man’s knee, ever one of his favorites, even if the feeling wasn’t mutual.
Preach’s sudden shift of attention caused D-man to turn and investigate.
When his gaze landed on me, his lips pinched, and he finger fucked the air in a bid for me to get my ass over there.
Rigs perked up, only for him to shift his thigh and land a slap to her hip that was hard enough to send her packing.
“Get a round and then get your ass on top of that bar where I can see you.” He didn’t bother looking at her. He kicked the chair next to him out, making it clear where I was to sit.
I stared at the seat, snorted and took my time complying. He was the only one that could give me a go for my money in a fist fight. So I didn’t push too far.
Before my ass even found the cheap, cold metal of the folding chair, he grabbed just above my knee, and I swear it felt like he was about to dislocate the damn thing if he applied anymore pressure.
I let out a yell and stumped my hand against his upper arm. As I did so, something sharp and stabby bit into the top of my knee cap. I hollered all over again and grabbed the table with my free hand, staring wildly at his crazy ass.
“The fu–” Before I could finish my sentence, he quietly dropped a question of his own.
“You think you’re cute, you little twat? I’ll not stop you from riding, Kal says I can’t, but if you– Ever– Disrespect our president like that again, I’ll leave your puffed-up ass walking with a permanent limp. Got me?”
“What the f–” My pride and anger flared, but they evaporated in a blink, when he put some pressure behind that knife and a trickle of hot blood leaked down the inside of my pants. “Alright, motherfucker, alright!”
He jerked the knife up and shoved me, sending me and the metal chair sliding loudly into the wall next to him. The threat was gone, but his furious glare was still pinned on me.
“Fuck. I didn’t realize we were in the Middle Ages and I needed to ask for her father’s hand.”
Preach abruptly looked away and drained his beer. He sat it on the table and stood, mumbling something I didn’t catch.
“Right. So, she ain’t never to be kissed. Got it.”
“You keep your nasty, little dick skinners off her, or I swear to fuck. King–”
“Leave us.” Forty calmly bid, pulling Preach’s seat out and picking up the abandoned bottle. “If we could not leave these lingering in wait when tempers are flaring, ladies.”
Roach scurried to him and fetched the bottle with an apologetic smile. Before she could scamper back to the bar with Rigs, he hooked her by the waist and hauled her to his lap.
She settled with a surprised, bashful smile, folding her legs one over the other, and hooking her arm delicately around his shoulder.
Forty didn’t say anything for a minute, he just teased his finger along Roach’s knee and down the contour of her shin, “You know, I never noticed how nice and shapely those legs of yours are, honey.”
I snorted, unable to help myself, even if I was sitting there grinding the heel of my hand over my knee in an effort to chase away the deep ache and stem the bleeding.
It hurt like a bitch, but I tried not to show it.
“You think so?” She held one out for him to admire, and he ran his hand over it with a throaty sound of appreciation. “Nicest ones I’ve seen in a while. Get up here.”
He tapped the table and she softly giggled, before daintily edging her ass onto the edge.
Forty’s warm laughter caused her to freeze and wobble awkwardly, “Up with you. Go on then.”
She hesitantly rose and he winked at her, “Atta girl. Now dance for me.”
She nervously glanced between us and the contents of the table.
“He doesn’t exist. Me and you are the only ones that matter here.” Forty assured her.
Someone adjusted the volume of the jukebox, and she nervously began to move. She wasn’t any good at it, and I’d have probably gotten a good kick out of the sight, if I wasn’t still trying to decide if he’d insulted me on purpose or not.
When his gaze finally landed on me, and I saw the amusement in their depths, I knew he had.
“You see how easy you don’t exist. I simply say the word– And you’re a figment of everyone’s imagination, King. A weak memory from back when that people will eventually stop talking about.”
“Forty, I didn’t–” I tried to choose my words wisely, which wasn’t easy. I was gripping the table so hard my knuckles were losing color.
Probably because I wanted to flip the damn thing into his lap and see how far I got before D-man got to me.
“Mean it? Oh, I know. I see how serious you are about pussy on the regular.” He shrugged, and glanced up to Roach, growing quiet while he admired her momentarily.
“I didn’t hold it against you, either… I never gave a good damn which one you dumped your load in and disposed of.
Until my daughter became another piece of ass on your radar. ”
His hand teased up the back of Roach’s ankle and widened around her calf, only to start back down the path when he reached her knee.
“Your glory run is at its end, because if you embarrass or hurt my daughter…” He paused only a breath when my father entered the tavern, raising his tone until it was clear he didn’t give a fuck who heard his parting words, “I’ll take more than your goddamn patch.”
Roach’s calf stiffened into a tense ball that popped a little more, when Forty slapped the table and announced, “Good talk, son.”
Roach gave a little squeak when he snagged her by the waist and tossed her caveman style over his shoulder.
“Good show, too,” he murmured, rubbing her ass as he headed toward his office with his prize.
My ol’ man slunk into the chair opposite of me, unable to take his eyes off Forty.
Meanwhile, I stared at the coward before me, my decision made.
He didn’t have the balls to lead us.
He didn’t even have the balls to back his own soldiers, his sons.
When he looked back at me, I scoffed with all the disgust I could muster and walked away.