Chapter 60
CHAPTER
SIXTY
DARE
My bike rumbles as I idle at the front gate of the Iron Flame original chapter.
The prospect sees my cut and jerks his chin before he opens the gate for me to ride through.
Lifting my hand in a wave, I take off down the dirt road, curving along the path, and hope to fuck that I make it out of this situation alive.
Parking my bike, I throw my leg over and make my way toward the door. Before I can even reach for the handle, it swings open, and there, standing in the middle, is Cake with Piston and Clutch close behind him.
The expressions they wear are not ones of welcome. In fact, they appear pissed as fuck. Like ready to pull out their guns and end me here and now. Curling my lips into a smirk, I jerk my chin.
“Hey,” I call out.
All three narrow their eyes simultaneously. Obviously, they know something is up, and also obviously, they are not happy about it. They really are not going to be happy once they hear what I have to say, so they might as well just continue to stay salty as fuck.
“Can we talk in your office, or are we gonna have this conversation out here in the open, under the blazing fucking sun?” I ask.
Cake grunts, keeping his arms crossed over his chest before he tips his chin slightly, looking down his nose at me. “You’re fucking lucky I know my daughter is safe,” he murmurs before he takes one step backward. His sons move with him as if they are a single unit. “Follow me,” Cake calls out.
I watch as the three of them spin around on their heels and walk into the dark bar.
I’m not sure what Cake is trying to prove here.
It doesn’t matter, though, because he’s not proving a goddamn thing to me.
Chassis is mine, my wife, and my responsibility.
As much as I know he still feels the need to protect her, it’s my job, one that he willingly gave me.
As I walk through the bar, I can’t help but feel everyone’s eyes on me. They’re watching me, wondering what the fuck I’m doing here—and without a doubt ready to finish some shit if I start it. Though I would be a fucking idiot to do that, considering I’m here alone.
Once I step into Cake’s office, I don’t bother looking for a place to sit. Cake, Piston, and Clutch take their same positions. Cake stands behind his desk and his sons one step behind him on either side of his body… ready to pounce.
“We got a problem,” I begin.
“No fucking shit,” Cake barks. “My daughter is holed up somewhere un-fucking-known to me, and you’re standing in front of me instead of going to get her. So I want to know… what the fucking fuck is going on?”
As much as I want to tell them that I have everything under control, I don’t, at least not yet. I’m sure he knows what happened with Samuil and Rocky from Gauge and why he and Chassis had to skip town and lie low for a while. It’s now time for me to fill in some blanks.
“Samuil is being sent to Russia for tasks unknown to me, and honest to fuck, I don’t want to know, either. Rocky is dead, so that’s not something we ever have to worry about again. Now for the reason I’m here.”
“Yeah?” Piston asks in a growl. “Why the fuck are you here then?”
“Rustik isn’t happy. He’s pissed I was going to go behind his back and kill his man. I didn’t succeed, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t figure it out. He’s pissed that I wasn’t forthright with him, and I’m pissed I even had to worry about that motherfucker at all.”
Cake growls, no doubt thinking about the fact that he asked me to be involved and it’s become a bigger clusterfuck than it needs to be, but here we fucking are.
I didn’t feel like I could blindly trust Rustik’s assurances, and he doesn’t feel like I should have been planning on taking out one of his men.
“Shit planning on your part,” Cake announces.
“Chassis kind of fucked up my plans when she went rogue,” I state.
It’s not a lie. It’s the fucking truth of it all, but that doesn’t mean I’m pissed at Chassis, because I’m not. I understand what she was doing, and I also know that she’s pregnant and worried about the future. I felt the same way, which is why I had a plan.
If I had been open with her and shared it, we probably wouldn’t be in the position we’re in, but sharing club business is not something that’s done. I was trying to get this handled without Chassis knowing a damn thing about it or being stressed by it, but the point is moot.
Something lodges in the center of my chest, making it hard to breathe. Lifting my fist, I slam it against myself a couple of times, trying to break up whatever the fuck is settled there, but it doesn’t work. It is there and unmoving—stuck.
“So what the fuck do the Russians want from us to be square?” Cake asks.
“The reason I’m here,” I say. “They want a partnership,” I state. “A merger of sorts.”
Cake doesn’t say anything immediately. He presses his lips together and narrows his eyes on me. I know he wants to tell me to fuck all the way off, but I’m not going to do that. This was inevitable. The Russians were looking for just this moment to seize what they wanted.
“I don’t want to be part of them,” Cake mutters. Piston and Clutch snort, no doubt feeling the same way. “I also don’t want them to come up with new ways to weasel their way in with us, but it seems like we’re at an impasse.”
“You got a plan, then? Because I’m already in with them.”
“My plan at this moment is to hear the Russian out,” Piston growls. At the same time, Clutch snorts.
Cake lifts his hand, waves it around a few times to shut his sons up. Everyone is silent for a moment, then he leans over slightly, placing his palms flat on the desk as he looks directly into my eyes.
“I don’t even blame you for this. It’s my fault. I should have ended that slimy motherfucker before I even asked for your help. I tried to pussyfoot around this, and there is no pussyfooting.”
I want to ask him what the fuck he’s going to do, but I don’t get the chance. He slams his palms down, then straightens his back. “Pussyfooting is over,” he states, repeating his words.
“It’s time for war.”
It’s at this moment that I realize I might have to go against my original chapter.
I hope I don’t. I hope that Cake can see reason, but I’m in some serious fucking doubt right now.
I press my lips together. The last thing I want is war, even though that’s what I’ve been planning. I see it as a last resort.
“Shouldn’t we try to reason with them? Maybe they don’t want anything too invasive.”
“You sound like a pussy,” Piston grunts.
Clutch laughs, but I shake my head once. “I’m sure I do. But just know I’ve been preparing for war even though I don’t want it. I have a wife and a child on the way. War isn’t something to enter lightly.”
“Nothing about the goddamn Russians is light,” Piston quips.
He’s not wrong.