5. PayoutBloodshed
Chapter 5
Payout or Bloodshed
Steel
Torque leaned against the bar in the clubhouse common room. “I hate to bring it up, but we should figure out how the hell Josie got in your room.”
I sat on a barstool next to him and shook my head. This had been the first day thoughts of Simone hadn’t assaulted me the moment I rolled out of bed. The last six weeks, I’d had dreams about her. If that wasn’t bad enough, the craziest shit brought her to mind – and we’d only spent maybe twelve hours together.
“Hello… cat got your tongue? You got thoughts on this?” Torque demanded.
“How she did it doesn’t fuckin’ matter. It’s done and it’s never fuckin’ happening again.”
“So you’re just gonna be what… celibate from now on?”
I glared at Torque. “It’s not your fuckin’ business, motherfucker.”
Hard to say if my grouchiness stemmed from not getting laid since the night I was with Simone, or the fact I didn’t want to even think about another woman.
The difference in our ages should make it simple. If she were twenty-one, that made me twenty years older than her. Most men would balk at the idea of seeing her again. Don’t get me wrong, they’d jump at the chance to have a hot college girl in their bed, but they’d get their fill and move on – not dwell on that woman. I couldn’t stop thinking about her, and my dick wouldn’t stop getting hard at the thought of her.
It was almost enough to have me riding back to Gainesville to try and hunt her down, but I despised Florida for so many reasons.
“You’re right. It isn’t my business, but you’re crankier than normal when you don’t get laid.”
“Prez needs to get laid?” A familiar voice asked from behind me, and Circles leaned over the bar and grabbed a bottle of vodka.
I turned to Circles. He wore jeans with a thick, black, leather belt. He had a loose, white t-shirt under his cut – though with his lanky frame, all his clothes seemed to hang on him. Today, his naturally-curly black hair was bound up in a man-bun. I caught his green-eyed gaze. “No, I don’t need to get laid. You need to tell me what you found out about Corrupt Chrome. Are they still fucking with the strip club?”
Circles unscrewed the cap on the Grey Goose and downed a shot. “Not like they were, but they were at the Player’s Palace. Can’t exactly run them off without cause.”
“We can refuse service for any reason,” Torque said.
Circles looked past me to Torque. “Durham tried that two weeks ago. The cop who showed up said there was no cause to refuse them service. Not sure if that officer’s just a straight arrow or if CC MC is paying him.”
My patience slipped. “Where does that leave us, today ? How many of those assholes were at the club?”
“Four of them. Their president, an enforcer, and two prospects. They gave me a message for you. Said, they aren’t backing off on our territory without a pay-out or bloodshed. Either one works for them.”
“Goddammit,” I hissed.
Neither of those options were good. The Corrupt Chrome MC wasn’t worth losing a brother, and we would never give them money.
“What’s the problem, Prez? We pay them and it’s all good,” Circles said.
I glared at Circles. “Not a damn thing would stop those assholes from demanding more money the next fuckin’ day. Get your head out of your ass.”
After a beat, I asked, “Did they say anything else?”
“No, sir,” Circles said.
My cell rang. I stood and went to my room to take the call.
“Steel,” I answered on the fourth ring.
“Hey, it’s Naomi.”
Three months ago, the sound of her seductive voice would have been calming. Instead I dreaded this conversation.
“You busy? Feel like swinging by this evening?” she asked, her voice suggestive.
I dug that about her. She didn’t throw herself at me. I had met her late one Saturday afternoon ten months ago after a ride by myself. I’d stopped at a small diner not far from my house. She sat at the bar eating an omelette and we struck up a conversation about my bike. While neither one of us had been looking to get laid, we couldn’t stop flirting with one another. I took her to my place and we’d had random hook-ups ever since.
After the grief Torque had given me, I ought to jump at the chance to get my rocks off. Instead I said, “Sorry, but I’m not in the mood.”
“That tone of voice alone, I can tell. And just to say, word got around about one of your club girls messing with your condoms. Good thing we always use mine, right?”
I sighed. “Not funny, Naomi. Also, the rumor mill gets shit wrong. The bitch fucked with my condoms in December. You and I haven’t seen each other since October.”
“You’re right, I’m sorry. You know, we don’t have to be physical, you can just swing by and chat. Might help to have a female perspective who isn’t… a hang around.”
“Not gonna do that to you, Naomi.”
She chuckled. “You wouldn’t be doing anything to me, I’m signing on for this.”
“There’s more to it than that,” I muttered.
“There is?” she asked, and I heard the smile in her voice.
For a twenty-nine-year-old woman, she was damned intuitive and had a way of drawing things out of me. “Yeah, shit that isn’t known to the fuckin’ rumor mill.”
“Well, I’ll be,” she whispered. “You met someone.”
My body strung tight. “No.”
“Okay,” she chuckled. “It’s your call, but just remember, I’ll be here.”
I sighed again. “Do me a favor.”
“Sure.”
“I appreciate that you’ll be there, but don’t wait for me.”
“Steel—”
“Take care, Naomi.”
I ended the call and threw the phone on my bed. A hot shower always helped me clear my mind, and I needed a clear head. The Devil Lancers couldn’t allow a rival MC to encroach on our territory in any way. I needed to strategize. The idea of this problem dragging on for months and brothers getting injured, that was unacceptable.
For the first time since December, I was grateful Simone wasn’t around because she would distract me like nothing else.