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Bane downs another shot, throwing his head back as he does it, which is a dumb and annoying habit of his. One of many. The three haven’t been very talkative and I doubt it’s just the drink.
“You know anything about this new job the Prez is riding on?” Fossil asks and all three glare at us like they’re waiting for us to fuck up.
Pretty much all I can see of Fossil’s face is his beady, tiny eyes, because the rest of his face is covered by a beard and moustache in bad need of a trim, or a complete shave. He’s my age, twenty-six, but it makes him look like he’s in his forties. The other two look just as old, but in their case it’s the flat, dead looks in their eyes that’s to blame.
“They’re riding to avenge Summer. Ice wouldn’t let me come,” Edge says with just the right amount of bitterness in his voice. “The fucker. Even after all I did, he still won’t let me have anything to do with his daughter.”
He delivered the lie in an Oscar-worthy performance.
“What?” Fossil says and laughs harshly. “You took a bullet for the Prez and Ice still doesn’t think you’re good enough for one of his precious daughters. Man, that’s rough.”
“See, that’s why we stopped giving a shit what any of the top guys think of us a long time ago,” Bane says. “The game’s rigged and we’re just the foot soldiers to them.”
“Yeah,” Archer says, nodding hard. “Kill or be killed. And don’t expect any thanks for jack shit.”
They’re all slurring their words and the way they’re stringing words together doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but I get it all the same. They’re even less loyal to the MC than they used to be back when I spent all my time with them.
“But you boys, you got in tight with them lately,” Bane says and grins, which does nothing to light up the darkness in his eyes. “Bet it must hurt to find out you’re nothing more than bullet fodder in this war we’re fighting.”
“Not that we’re complaining,” Archer says. “Nothing like getting shot at from all sides to know you’re alive.”
They all laugh at that like it’s the funniest thing. Edge grins darkly. I can’t even do that much.
“That’s exactly what I’ve been thinking,” I say, deciding to roll with it. “And it’s not funny at all.”
“But at least they sprung you from prison,” Bane says to Edge. “I admit I didn’t see that coming.”
Edge shrugs. “Cross owed me, didn’t he? And he always pays his debts.”
They all guffaw at that. The saying that the Devils always pay their debts is a time-tested truth, so I have no idea what they find so funny.
“But you expected more,” Bane says and Edge nods.
“They probably just want me out here in case there’s another bullet to step in front of. They probably figure I’ll do it a second time too, but they got another thing coming. From now on, I’m looking out for number one and that’s it.”
“I’ll drink to that,” Bane says and raises his shot glass. He’ll drink to just about anything and he’s already drunk way too much today going by his slurring, but I toast him anyway.
I feel like a traitor to the MC just listening to all this. Ice saved my life—mine and Edge’s—when we were just a couple of homeless, parentless runaways. I’ve always been treated fairly by the Devils. And so have they.
But we need to convince them we hate the execs as much as they do. Although I’m pretty sure these three won’t remember this conversation tomorrow. At the rate we’re drinking, I might not either.
Maybe hate’s a big word. They’re just malcontents, as my English teacher dad would say. Me, I’d say they’re just bullies at the bottom of the food chain, which is a bad place for a bully to be.
“We missed you two assholes,” Archer says clapping me on the back.
I grin at him. “To be honest, I didn’t think you noticed we drifted away.”
“Sure we did,” Archer says. “Why’d you leave us all alone?”
He kind of sings the question and sounds like an idiot just like always when he does that. And most of the rest of the time.
“Women, why else?” I say. “But mine’s not worth my time.”
I feel like a traitor again only it’s worse now. I’ve never met a girl like Ariel and she’s more than just worth my time. She’s the only fucking thing I want. Too bad I have no idea how to make her mine.
I spent the better part of my early twenties fucking the type of girls like the ones up on that stage. None of it was memorable. Not even their faces and definitely not their names. It did nothing to prepare me for meeting a woman I want to make my ol’ lady.
“And mine’s not worth the grief her father’s bringing over the two of us hooking up,” Edge says. “But I almost got her out of my system now.”
