FIVE
Splice
The warehouse, as he stepped through the open doorway, reeked of body odor, caffeine, and weed.
Splice kicked the door closed behind him with the heel of his boot and scanned the area, shifting his gaze among the workers gathering in teams as they packed boxes.
The metal shelves extended nearly to the twenty-foot ceiling, disappearing into the distance throughout the warehouse.
As Splice ambled around the perimeter, some sent him speculating glances and a few chin lifts from some he recognized, and one younger woman flirtatiously wiggled her fingers in his direction.
Still, he didn’t stop as he made his way to the office at the back, snapping the minty gum he’d been chewing for a while, his hands casually in the pockets of his leather jacket.
He didn’t bother knocking on the closed office door, and Bryce showed his surprise at seeing who was there as he snapped. “I’m fucking busy... oh, shit. Splice. Hey, man. I didn’t know it was you. Come in. Do you wanna coffee?”
The wiry guy sitting behind the desk shuffled in his seat and used nervous fingers to scrape his jet-black hair back off his forehead, glancing nervously at another man working in there, too.
“Your payment is late, Bryce.” He informed right off the bat.
From way back when, the Diablos have kept hard drugs out of Utah, but when medical cannabis was allowed, Axel put it to the council vote on whether they wanted to invest in cannabis pharmacies – and because locals were eager to get in on it too, the Diablos became the main loan providers in all fifteen dispensaries within Utah.
They allocated the startup capital for the pharmacies.
It provided a consistent stream of passive income.
Similarly, their Canadian prescription drug operations, which saw steady yearly expansion, had now partnered with Jamie Steele, selling in his territories on the outskirts of Colorado.
“I’m sorry about that, man. You know I’m good for it.”
Splice took slow steps around the desk and perched on the corner, looking down at Bryce, bored. Splice arched his brow at the sweating man before him. “You should thank your lucky stars it’s me here and not Ruin. You know why, right?”
“Yeah, man. Yeah, I get it, and I’m sorry it’s late. Shit’s been rough this month.”
“In this economy, it’s rough for everyone.
You’re nothing special. I don’t wanna be here anymore than you want to see my pretty face coming through the door.
” Splice said evenly, like he was about to give the guy a break.
He might sound friendly, but he wasn’t feeling it, not when he’d given Bryce a chance last month, too, and now it proved it was a fucking mistake, and Splice didn’t sit well with mistakes.
“I know you have kids and a young wife. It’s not their fault they have a prick for a provider, you know?
So how do you think this is going to go, Bryce? ”
“Please, man, I just need a day or two. There’s money coming to me as soon as I move this stock. I swear it on my life, honestly, I will.”
Rising to his feet, intent on leaving, Splice heard the guy mutter. “So fucking sick of their bullshit. Can’t give a guy a fucking break.”
Was that right? He smirked and turned back around.
If Splice had been into sob stories, he would have believed the desperation shaking Bryce’s voice. But he wasn’t, and he didn’t, so he snapped out a hand and grabbed the guy by the throat, lifting Bryce out of his chair.
“You might want to leave now.” He told the lackey behind him and heard the guy scrape the chair in his haste to get to his feet. Without looking at him, Splice warned. “Don’t be phoning anyone, you hear?”
“Yeah, yeah, you got it, Splice bro.” And then he was gone, slamming the door behind him, leaving Bryce dangling in Splice’s hand.
“Here’s what’s going to happen, Bryce, since I’m in a good mood because I saw an old friend recently.
You can have those two days to bring your account up to date.
But you’re gonna go home a little less together than you are right now because I don’t like the disrespect, and if I see your name on my list of shit to do that day saying you’re late again, you’re gonna lose this place.
We’ll put someone competent in that chair, got it?
” He explained calmly and pulled back his clenched fist. He saw fear cross Bryce’s eyes a second before that fist connected with his mouth.
Ten minutes later, Splice stepped out of the warehouse and took in a lungful of fresh air, wondering if he’d gotten a contact high from the weed the assholes were smoking inside. He flexed his hand and frowned at his knuckles, noticing one of Bryce’s front teeth had cut his skin.
Playing the heavy wasn’t his favorite thing to do, but when Axel was pissed off about people missing their loan payments, that meant he got tagged in to keep their well-oiled endeavors moving along.
He fished around in his pocket and brought out a small bottle of hand sanitizer, slathering his hands; he didn’t want to be carrying the douche’s saliva with him.
Because he was close to the Diablo-owned diner, he took the few-minute journey, parked alongside three other bikes he recognized, and sauntered inside, tipping his chin when Mouse waved him over to their table. Denver and Primo were with him.
“Who’ve you been scrapping with?” Denver nodded his chin toward Splice’s knuckles. He quickly recounted what he’d been doing.
“Take me with you next time,” Mouse said, his mouth half full of a breakfast burrito.
Mouse was their youngest patched brother; his patch was still shiny new, and the guy wore it like he was the sheriff of the whole town, so fucking proud, with his chest puffed out.
“I’ll put his lying ass through a fucking wall. ”
His declaration made all three men laugh.
Primarily because Mouse was a small guy, not even six feet tall and all of one hundred sixty pounds, with concrete in his pants pockets, they joked with him that his name should be Twink and not Mouse.
What the father of twins lacked in size, he more than made up for with loyalty.
He’d have any of the brothers’ backs, no questions asked.
His knack for breaking and entering undetected was a definite plus.
The Diablos didn’t mind having that in their arsenal of talents.
“What are you all laughing at?” Mouse scowled, brushing the sweep of hair from his forehead with the side of his hand. Tattoos decorated both hands and wrists, and silver rings adorned all of his fingers.
Splice reached out and gripped Mouse’s skinny shoulder. “Little badass, he’d probably throw you around like a rag doll, then you’re gonna be embarrassed all day, pouting under Axel’s desk.”
Splice’s insult made Mouse’s eyes flash. “I’ll kick your ass. I’ll break every table in here on your back.”
Splice snorted, amused, and ruffled the kid’s hair.
“I think he’s flirting with you.” Primo chuckled, but he’d yet to lift his head from the tablet he was scrolling on.
Splice had looked at the screen but couldn’t figure out all that coding shit.
Primo was a mad genius with any tech. It didn’t matter that Primo had spent the last few years locked up.
As soon as he got out of prison, he’d slotted right back into his IT specialist role, investing the club’s profits in stocks and shares.
Mouse snorted and rolled his eyes. “As fucking if I’d go for his ass.”
“You’re saying I’m not pretty enough?”
Instead of answering Splice, Mouse’s gaze arrowed toward the door, and he whistled low, wiping his hand over his mouth. “Speaking of pretty. Now she’s classy.”
The Diablos men switched their heads around to see who Mouse was talking about, and Splice’s chest inflated watching Lisa striding into the diner and heading for the counter at the other end.
Wearing white jeans and a pale pink shirt, tucked in at the front and hanging loose in the back, he noted the skinny-heeled ankle boots on her feet and the swishy way the ponytail moved as she leaned against the counter and spoke to the server.
What were the chances, huh? He hadn’t seen her all this time, being back in town, even though she was a close friend of Tomb’s wife, and now he’d seen her twice in a matter of days.
Splice wasn’t about coincidences much, but maybe he’d listen just this once as he rose to his feet. Ignoring Primo asking where he was going, he strode over to her. Lisa noticed him when he was three steps away, and he saw her eyes widen a little before she tilted her chin down and smiled.
He recalled that smile and how it had once made him feel like a giant.
“Hey, Ryan.” She greeted him instantly, and he smiled in return. “This is weird seeing you so soon after not seeing you at all since I moved back.”
“I was just thinking the same thing. Let me pay for your coffee.”
“I already paid.”
“Ah,” he said. “Next time, then.”
Lisa gave him a noncommittal nod, turning to pick up the coffee cup and small plate of cookies. So, she was eating in.
“Well, I have some emails to work through,” she told him. “Nice to see you again, Ryan.”
There was nice to see you again. Splice didn’t know how he felt about that.
And before he could stop himself, he said, “Come and join my table with my boys. I’ll introduce you.”