6. Hawg
HAWG
If that fucker hadn’t been killed on impact of the explosion, I’d have strangled the fucker myself.
I don’t know exactly what happened yet but whatever it was, I know he was at fault.
So the recruit that the Scorpions took in a few weeks ago was probably using Shine to get to the Harlots or something worse.
Fucking bad news all the way around. This is just going to throw gasoline onto a fire that was already burning hot in their belly.
The whole thing is going to be on the news tomorrow with the explosion, no matter that the fire- men are putting it out in short order.
Personally, I hope asswipe felt something before he was called home to meet his maker.
Lousy son of a bitch. The thought of him anywhere near Onyx causes my chest to heave.
I’m just glad I listened to my gut and came outside to check on the ladies.
Girl talk my ass. She and I are going to have a serious conversation at some time in the very near future about what protecting them means, and their fucking boundaries.
I should have told Pearl about Shine when I found out a couple days ago that her girl was running with a Scorpion.
Too many things on my mind and now we end up with me explaining shit to this cop who looks like he just graduated high school.
It’s the third time I’ve regurgitated the same shit in the last half an hour.
“We’re having a wedding reception. I came out to have a smoke, heard a guy yell in the back alley.
The next thing there was an explosion. Called 911, end of story. ”
The police officer takes it all down probably not believing a word my lying ass has to say, but it’s my word and he’s going to have to prove that it didn’t go down that way.
And not one person in that club is going to have anything else to say.
Not one person in that club isn’t loyal as hell to Pearl and her VP and to the Royal Bastards. They’ll do what they say.
I glance around at the alleyway. The crews are fucking lucky they didn’t park all their bikes back here tonight or we’d be walking home tomorrow without our rides.
Either way, these ladies have managed to stir up a hornet’s nest with the Desert Riders and now I have no doubt the Scorpions will be looking for a little payback even if the asshole was a new recruit.
It’s not going to matter to the Scorpions.
He was wearing their colors, and a slight to him is one to his crew.
The drugs are an entirely different mess of trouble, and I have no doubt once the news hits the channels tomorrow, it’s going to be coming our way.
They’ll know somehow the ladies were connected to his demise and their loss of who knows how much dope.
The cop extends a hand. “Thanks for your help tonight. We’ll get ahold of you if we have any more questions. You live here with the Harlots?”
Any beat cop worth his weight knows exactly who lives in each of the clubhouses around this city, but I don’t sweat him none. “No, just here for the reception, but I may be hanging around to keep a closer eye on the ladies now.”
He nods. “We’ll see what we can do about increasing patrol.”
I’m not trying to make an enemy of a man who can make life rough for us out on the street and this guy seems decent enough. “Thanks, man. Appreciate your help tonight and the fire engine too. This thing could have spread to the clubhouse or to the other bikes.”
“Happy to help.”
I’ve got no beef with the guy, if he’s got no beef with me. The minute I walk into the clubhouse all eyes turn to me. I shake it off and head to the bar, sliding in next to Onyx who is nursing a glass of water. “Where’s Pearl?” I ask not seeing her or Carver around.
Onyx looks up at me. “She wanted to know what happened. I told her nothing we didn’t handle and that we’d get it all sorted in the morning.”
I nod. “And Shine?”
Onyx shrugs. “Wouldn’t say a word to me, just went upstairs. This night is supposed to be special for Pearl and Carver. I don’t want anything marring that, but this is not fucking good.”
Onyx knows the score and I’m not about to try sugar coating something to soften the reality.
“Ness is riding with the Scorpions. New recruit. These groups are desperate for more men to run their drugs. The shit they transport has to get there and more and more needs to be moved. They’ll take any rider they can get these days.
Times are changing. They let ‘em in and then deal with their baggage down the road.”
Onyx takes a long pull on her water. “I keep replaying that in my mind, wondering if there was a way that I could have de-escalated that situation, but the guy was out of his mind. I mean he knows we have a club full of us, and he’s brazen enough to call Shine out and put hands on her?
Did you see her face? It’s not like he was trying to hide the fact that he hit her.
He wasn’t scared. It’s not the first time either.
I walked in on Shine a while back and saw her covering up a bruise.
I was looking into him, trying to get a little more information before approaching her. I waited too long.”
“It’s not your fault. I found out a couple days ago she was running with a Scorpion and with the wedding I just got busy and didn’t let Pearl know.”
Onyx isn’t wrong about that guy. Guys like that, they aren’t thinking about the repercussions.
They’re in their own mind. That’s why domestic violence is so violent and deadly.
Brandy slides me a beer, but I shake my head.
“I’ll take a water too.” The crews are still having fun but a couple beers are enough while I’m keeping watch.
She gives me a nod and leaves us to get my drink. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. There’s been a lot going on with the wedding preparations.”
Onyx gives me a gentle smile. Maybe the green-eyed ice queen is melting a little. At least one can hope.
“Look Onyx. I want to be here when we talk with Pearl and Carver in the morning. I’ll bunk upstairs in one of the spare rooms for the night.”
Her stormy green eyes meet mine. “You think we need your protection?”
I exhale. Maybe I was wrong about her melting. “Between the Desert Riders little gifts to Pearl, and this with the Scorpions, they’re going to come for retribution, Onyx. You know that just as well as I do and when they come the Royal Bastards are going to be here.”
She closes her eyes. “I didn’t mean for you to get dragged into this. It’s completely my fault. I will take full responsibility. Let the Scorpions come for me. Pearl feels the same way about the Desert Riders. She did what she had to do to keep those ladies safe, we all did.”
“I was there. I recall. Nobody’s blaming you or Pearl. Shit happens, but it doesn’t change my decision. The Harlots fall under the Royal Bastards protection whether you and the ladies like it or not. When you get into trouble, it’s my trouble too.”
Brandy slides a glass of water over my way and discreetly backs down the bar. Onyx turns those eyes on me and now they’re lit up with ire. “Your decision? Just when I was beginning to like you that arrogance comes shining through.”
“It’s not arrogance, it’s the truth. It’s how things are set up whether you like it or not.”
Her voice softens. “I know, you don’t have to be so fucking right though,” she huffs.
I give her a minute and am rewarded with a turn of her head, actually meeting my gaze. “I’m sorry. I’m just a little in my head tonight.” She lowers her voice. “He’s fucking dead.”
“He deserves worse than a quick exit out of the world like that for what he was doing to Shine. If you ask me, you did the world a favor without intending to. It was an accident. You didn’t mean for the bike to explode.”
“Yeah, but the bricks he was carrying in that saddlebag? I mean somebody’s not only going to be missing him, but worse than that I have a feeling they’re going to want their drugs back, a shit ton of bricks, Hawg, distribution weight and that product went up into a wave of black smoke.”
My chest tightens. This just went from bad to worse. It wasn’t just a little bit of dope. If the guy is running bricks of dope for the Scorpions it’s on the mafia’s order. No one runs them through Tucson, Phoenix, or Vegas with that okay.
Whether Onyx likes it or not, she and the Harlots are going to be stuck with me and my crew for a while. Because trouble of the worst kind is heading our way.