25. Onyx
ONYX
Hawg takes a call on his cell. I head to the kitchen and bar area where all the ladies are gathered setting up a big bucket to fill with ice and beers.
Brandy smiles. “I’m taking the night off of barkeep and tipping a few back myself.
It’s going to be busy once the ladies get here,” she says, but it’s a volunteer job that we usually rotate when she wants time off and no one minds a damn bit if she wants a break every once in a while.
I grin. “We know how to pour a shot of Tequila if the urge sets in.”
She laughs and pops the top of a beer and takes a long swallow. “It’s so hot out there and these beers are going to go down so good tonight,” she says as the ladies help her fill the big silver bucket she’s set on top of the bar with beers from the twelve-pack cardboard boxes they came in.
I scoop one myself and head to the back kitchen before settling in to season the ribs with a smoky and spicy little rub that I think everyone’s going to like. I’ve just finished getting them into large storage bags, which are easier to carry out to the grill later, when Pearl finds me.
“Word on the street is some of the Desert Riders got busted up pretty good a couple hours ago. Seems they stepped across a line with the Rivalry.”
My eyebrow arches. “No surprise, how so?”
“The Larussios found out they were running guns and two of the guns that hit a couple of the Rivalry crew when they were helping get you and Shine back were ones they gave the Scorpions and apparently those guns are being run for the DeSantis family. Those three are just digging their own graves because Matteo Larussio runs that crew and him and his family, the boss, underboss and that consigliere they have, they are going to lay the fucking hammer down.”
“Nothing but good news for us.”
“You’re not wrong. The Desert Riders’ prez doesn’t have a bit of sense. He should have cut all alliances with the Scorpions a long time ago.
“The Larussios don’t fucking forget when one of their own gets hurt. Sounds like the Rivalry hunted them down and two of them took a bullet from a sawed off as payback for the Rivalry injuries. Those boys don’t play.”
“Damn.”
“And, true to their word, the Larussios put the word out that we’re protected from the Scorpions, but I think it’s going to take more than threats and a couple of his men to pound some sense into that prez’s head.
Stubborn and fucking evil is what I hear.
Let’s just be vigilant tomorrow and Saturday night.
Keep someone on the cameras all night long.
I know Hawg’s got his guys stationed at the front and he’ll have them planted as customers inside, but we know the regulars and can spot the drifters better than they can. ”
“You got it.”
I pull out some veggies and start cutting them up. “You cooking everything tonight?” she asks.
“I seasoned some ribs, got some potato salad, and thought I’d put out some sort of sustenance other than the bags of chips we’ve been consuming all week like they’re going out of style on the table. Maybe some veggies and dip.”
She smiles. “Onyx is cooking for Hawg, how sweet.”
“Shut up and go be prez.”
Pearl laughs.
She wouldn’t take that shit from anyone but me and I wouldn’t dish it out if we weren’t alone and the closest of friends. She gets my full respect when the ladies are around.
I finish getting the vegetables cut up after she leaves and wash my hands, grab two beers and go in search of the man who has made my world better than I ever thought it could be.