Ruger (BLP Motorcycle Clubs #7)

Chapter 1

The doors to the bar pushed open as Gruesome rushed inside. The scowl on his face made me pause from reading my newspaper. He rushed over to me and paced before he spoke.

"Them motherfuckas got my sister, Ru! Them pussy ass Blaze Burners got my sister held up somewhere. I swear to God I'm killing every last one of them bitches! On God!" he yelled, kicking one of the chairs in front of me.

I instantly felt myself about to grab this nigga by his neck and snap it. I understood his frustration, but it was Sunday. A day I weaved out of my week to relax, and here he was, disrupting my peace.

Before I could say anything, my brother Jax stood from the barstool and grabbed Gruesome by his vest.

"Aye. Cool the fuck down, my nigga," he advised through gritted teeth. Grue stood, nostrils flaring and eyes red. I didn't know if he had been crying or if he was just that pissed. "You cool?" Jax queried.

"Yeah, man, I'm cool."

"Good. Now, slow down and tell us what happened." Jax knew — actually, all of them knew I hated to be disturbed, and it didn't take long for me to go from zero to irrational in a millisecond.

Interlocking my fingers as I placed my elbows on the table, I looked at him, nodding for him to proceed.

"Yesterday, my sister called me, telling me one of those Blaze bitches cornered her at the store, harassing her and shit. So, I paid his ass a visit and handled his ass. Today I get a call with my sister crying in the background and them niggas telling me to pull up. I gotta get her back, Ru."

I sighed deeply and removed my glasses, pinching the bridge of my nose a few times before leaning back in my chair and staring at him. I could tell he knew he came in here all wrong because not only did the anger melt from his face, but it was now replaced with worry. I'm sure by now he understood where he had fucked up at with his sister and with me. For one, Motor City Rebels were not only a motorcycle club founded by me and my brother, but we were indeed a brotherhood. We operated out of loyalty, respect, and honor. If one of us had beef, we all had beef. However, we didn't start shit with people. If homie stepped to his sister in a disrespectful manner, we usually tried to settle the beef by talking it out, but if niggas wanted smoke, we lit the fire. Although I was an enforcer — the nigga with no heart or patience, they dubbed me — I still knew how to pick my battles. Knowing the man that Grue was, I knew his ass popped off without knowing the full extent of what happened. First mistake. The second was him not making sure she was secured after he crashed out on her behalf. This was the fuck shit I didn't like.

"First, go back out that door, and try this shit again."

"Ru—"

"If I have to repeat myself, it's going to be a problem."

Grue huffed, then turned and headed toward the exit. Once he walked back inside, he calmly walked over to me as a smile drew up on my face.

"Oh, what up, Gruesome? How's your day going?" He looked at me, confused, while some of our brothers lightly chuckled.

Grue nodded, understanding where I was going with this. "My apologies, Ruger. This shit got me hot, and I don't have a lot of time. I need to get my sister back."

"Pull up a chair and have a seat."

Grue pulled up the chair he had kicked across the room.

"Now, while I am sorry to hear about the opps having your sister in custody, I have to say, this is your fault. My first instinct is to let you handle this shit on your own. I do get a burning feeling in my body when women or children get in the middle of beef that doesn't involve them. It's weak shit to go after people who are vulnerable and can't defend themselves.

"You fucked up by not keeping her out of sight until we handled them niggas together. I should make you take over Mina's job and have you clean this bar from top to bottom as punishment, but that's too easy for you. I have something better planned for you, though," I told him as I stood. "Rebels, let's roll."

I headed toward the entrance, walked outside, and climbed on my bike. The rest of the crew followed suit as Jax walked over to me.

"I say let him take the lead on this. It's his fuck up."

"And he will. However, let's try to avoid the bloodshed today. I'm serious about protecting my peace. If I have to let baby Ruger out to play, his ass gon' pay for the daycare fees."

"Type shit." We did our secret handshake, and he hopped on his Harley, which was parked next to mine.

"Grue, take the lead," I instructed. He nodded, got on his horse, and pulled out.

The engines of nineteen motorcycles lit the highway. Gruesome took the lead with Jax and me behind him, and our crew followed up, heading to Southwest Detroit — Blaze Burner's territory. We and their crew had a silent beef for years, so them harassing Gruesome's sister wasn't lost on me. The clowns hated us for unknown reasons, but I believed it was because we were the most respected out of the majority of the biker crews. That, and the fact that we ran them out of our hood.

Jax and I started the club because we had been fascinated with bikes since we were teens. My father, Honor, had us hooked the moment he taught us how to ride. As I said before, we didn't start shit, but our ability to finish it was unmatched. Our gunplay was lethal, and once you got on our bad side, it was best to move out of the country and never return. I didn't play that disrespectful shit, and clearly, these Blaze bitches were fluent in it. They hated us because we gave back to our community, flushed all the drug dealers out, and had the police in our back pockets. You couldn't move a bag of weed without us knowing about it.

Blaze Burners were like outlaws, one percenters. They were the one percent of the population who didn't abide by any rules. They were ruthless, but not more ruthless than us, and I was honestly getting sick of these bitch ass niggas coming for us. I had been lenient on them because I didn't promote violence, and these pussy niggas were trying me because I didn't. I was letting Grue take the lead on this. It was his sister and was the reason the niggas touched her, but they were going to hear my voice. Nino, the head of the BBs, was going to hear me. If the nigga jumped out of pocket, he was going to feel me. That truce he made was going to be forgotten if I had to get ignorant.

Thirty minutes later, we pulled up to the block where Nino's warehouse was located. Several bikes were parked in the front of the building. We revved our engines to gain their attention when the door to the warehouse lifted. I sat coolly on my bike before turning off the engine, getting off, and walking over to Grue.

"Let me handle this."

"But you said?—"

"You've done enough, my nigga," I stated, cutting him short. I initially was going to let him handle the situation, but because I felt as if he would only make shit worse, I decided I should be the one to settle this shit before we took it there.

Nino stood with his team of six and crossed his arms, chucking his chin up at me.

"Was it necessary to bring the whole crew?" he asked with a slight smirk on his face.

"One band, one sound, my guy. A word?"

He stared at me for a beat before his eyes went to Grue, then gave a stiff nod and walked off. I followed him inside. He stopped at the entrance, away from prying ears.

"I thought we had an agreement, Nino."

"Yeah, well, that agreement is null and void now since ya mans put mine in the hospital, so fuck him. The only way he's getting her back is if I break his fucking jaw like he broke my cousin's."

"Was it not warranted? Apparently, your cousin sexually harassed his sister, and as any woman would do, she went to someone who she knew would step behind her?—"

"He never touched that little bitch!"

"Easy..." I dragged and chuckled lightly.

"You should probably stay out of this, Ruger. This ain't ya beef."

"But it is. Those are my people. They are the ones who have my back, and I have theirs as well. I agree. Gruesome may have taken things overboard with putting ya mans in the hospital, but I'm sure we can both agree that it could have been worse. You could be planning his funeral right now because we both know Grue has no sense."

"Then that nigga would be lying right next to him along with that pretty little bitch of a sister. It's taking everything in me not to fuck her and kill her." Nino chuckled, and my face grew stoic. I didn't play that disrespecting women shit, and he was clearly trying to take me there.

Today, you are peaceful.

I had to keep telling myself that because I was five seconds from blowing up.

"Let's end this here, Nino. I'll pay for your cousin's medical bill, and you return Grue's sister unharmed."

"I don't think I can do that. I want to break his face like he broke my cousin's."

"You know that's not happening. Before I get stupid, I'm trying to extend you some grace."

"I'm not one of your fucking lap dogs! I don't give a fuck about a truce. Ya mans violated, so either he takes this ass whuppin', or you can. Make your choice, motherfucka!"

"Ya moms still stay over on Mark Twain? What about ya granddaddy? Is he still at the nursing home on Seven Mile and John R.?" Nino's eyes hit me with fire blazing behind them.

I could see his chest rapidly rise and fall as I stood, clutching my right wrist in front of me where my Ruger resided. I was trying to take the easy approach, but obviously, Nino wanted to play Nino Brown, and we all knew how that story ended.

His nostrils flared as he signaled to one of his flunkies. Five minutes later, the flunky brought out Grue's sister with a sackcloth over her face and arms tied behind her back.

"This ain't over, nigga." He sneered as the flunky pushed her into my arms.

She whimpered and tried to push against me. I leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Relax. You're safe." She calmed slightly. Her body was still tense as my eyes hit Nino, who stood by, still seething.

"I'm hoping for your sake, it is."

As I pulled the sackcloth from her head, something shifted. I wasn't easily enamored by women. The ones I've come across were the same — fat ass, cute or fuckable, big breasts, and had gold digger as their résumé. Looking at the one before me, she donned none of that. The innocence behind her terrified eyes made me pause. She was a vision... like an exquisite painting that you couldn't take your eyes off of.

Mona Lisa.

Her eyes penetrated something inside of me that had both of us searching for whatever the fuck this was that had us trapped, but before I could fall completely into her realm, she turned toward Nino, gathered all the spit inside her mouth, and launched it in his face.

"Bitch!" she screamed.

I hurriedly tucked her protectively behind me when I saw Nino's hand coming toward her. I grabbed it and pushed him back as my crew rushed inside. I'm sure they saw what had transpired.

His people upped their burners, and so did mine.

"Be cool!" I commanded, which I never did. I knew this shit was about to go left, and I needed to restore order. "Put the guns away!"

"You better keep her close. That bitch is mine when I see her again!" Nino threatened.

I snatched shorty up and walked her out of the building as my crew followed, keeping their eyes on the opps. I cut the tape from her wrists as she looked at me before backing away, running into Grue's arms.

"We out," I asserted, looking at Nino while he and his crew stood back, pissed off, I'm sure. "She's riding with me," I told Grue. He frowned, but I didn't give a fuck.

"I got her."

"I don't believe I asked you if you did. Let's go, shorty."

"No, thank you. I want to ride with my brother," she sassed.

"It isn't an option." I looked at Grue while he stared at me.

I knew he had an issue with the way I was doing things, but I didn't care. He was reckless, and because of his recklessness, I had to hide shorty because I was almost positive Nino and his flunkies were going to retaliate. If not today, then for sure tomorrow, and he showed he couldn't keep her safe. As their leader, I had to take charge.

"Go, Kenz. I'm right behind you," he assured her, taking his eyes from me to her.

"I'm not riding with him, Ghana!" she angrily protested.

"Y'all wanna keep standing here arguing about this shit in front of the opps? The nigga over there ready to snap both of y'all necks. Get on the bike, shorty. I won't say it again."

"Kenzi, go. Now." Grue pushed her slightly toward me as she hesitantly approached my bike.

I gave her my helmet, still keeping my eye out for Nino. She placed the helmet on and got on behind me. Our engines fired up. Her arms came around me in a tight hold, and I peeled out of the parking lot, heading to take her somewhere safe.