“I’ll take a beer,” I call to the girl behind the bar before she can ask for my order. While she goes to get it, I stare dude down. Making sure my irritation is obvious. “What are you doing here, man?” I lean down at this motherfucker. I tip my beer back and take two long pulls from it and slam it down on the bar.
“Same thing as you, man, just chilling’ and having a beer.” I move closer, deliberately bumping him with my arm and watch as the dude spills his beer.
“You ladies may want to find someone else to chat up today,” I state.
“What’s your problem?” he asks, a sneer on his face.
“My problem is that patch; it’s a fake-ass patch.” What a fucking stupid idea to put on something fake like that!
“You wanna play, okay, we can do that.” He stands up to me, putting on a show. He doesn’t know he’s testing the wrong person. I’m willing to rip his arms off to take that cut off him, if need be. I punch him in the face and he cries out, “Stop I’ll take off the patches.” He’s down on his knees, begging. And I’m laughing. Laughing because one hit was all it took for this asshole to crumble, but it’s too late now.
“What’s your name?”
“T-Tom. Tom Miller.”
I pull out a bill from my pocket and set it on the bar to cover our drinks. “Tom. Get up! We’re going to have a chat.” When he makes it to his feet, I usher him outside.
Axel, Crank, and Missouri are waiting. His eyes are wide, staring past me at three big-ass dudes, who don’t look happy to see him.
Missouri walks over, bridging the gap between us. “Why are you doing this? I haven’t done anything to you guys,” Tom whines at Missouri.
“You have something that doesn’t belong to you” Missouri doesn’t mince words. As much as I’m dying to just put my hands on this guy, I have to bide my time and wait until we make it back to the clubhouse. This guy isn’t the top of the food chain. He’s just a crumb chaser. We need info; something for us to dismantle and crush them.
Missouri tosses Tom in the back seat of Crank’s ’69 Mustang Fastback. The only thing that guys loves as much as his Harley is this car. Axel is riding shotgun. I tap on the hood, “All right, I’ll see you all back there. Get your red shoes ready Tom, you’re about to meet the Wizard.”
When I arrive back at the warehouse, Missouri is leaning on the back of the car. Arms folded with a pissed-off look on his face, like he wants to bite someone’s head off. Literally. Which makes sense, his official Dark Leopard name is The Missouri Madman, we just call him Missouri for short.
“Tie this bitch up and get him inside,” Six commands, and shoves Tom in Missouri’s direction. While Missouri handles our company, Six shoots me a look that tells me I’m about to have my ass handed to me.
“Six.” He cuts me off.
“Did I miss something? Are you the new president of the Dark Leopards?”
“I’m sorry. I just.” I knew an explanation wasn’t necessary. Now I just had to take whatever he was about to dish out.
“Chapter President calls the shots and as long as that’s still me; you should’ve come to me before you got in over your head.” He was right. I hadn’t been thinking things through and just went off on half-cocked.
“What do we do about them?” Wizard asks.
“Them?” I repeat, not knowing who they’re referring to.
“Looks like Gotham Grunge is trying to stake their spot by running games.
We had heard of this group a time or two but didn’t really pay them any mind. As long as they stayed away from our territory we gave them a pass.
“This is not just you on your own. This is a sanctioned war,” he began. “You fucked up, because you forgot about brotherhood. No one sets us up to take the fall for what they’re up to.”
“Let’s go take the gag off and let him talk,” Wizard suggests. “Give us a minute, then Brayden and I will be in.”
“So tell me this isn’t just about you getting your dick wet.”
“It’s not. Not totally. I’m not going to lie. She’s my mate.”
“Really?”
“But what got me was the video I saw. Someone involved with a missing girl, wearing our cuts, I couldn’t let that stand. I have too much respect for the club to let it go.”
“So you were going to start a war without involving me?” His fists are at his side and I know he’s pissed.
“I’m an enforcer and one of the duties I swore to is to uphold the laws. I’d never been good at things like most people, but when it comes to fucking someone up, I’m the best at what I do.” When I finished Wizard turns and walks away.
I let out a groan, raking my hands through my hair. I fucked up and I knew it. At any point I could have talked to Six about what was going on and didn’t. All I can do is hope he doesn’t hold it against me.
I swing the door open and immediately hear Tom’s voice.
“If you hurt me, they’ll know. I was expected back by now. It’s time for another shipment to go out.”
“When and where?” Missouri asks.
“I don’t know. I’ve wanted to be part of Gotham MCs. They told me if I did what they asked that I’d be part of them. I am
