14
Quain
Kingand I were having a stare-off. I couldn’t decide if he wanted to throw me over the bar or just shoot me to get it over and done with. Probably both. I would have wanted to hurt me if I was him.
“Tell me why I shouldn’t feed you to my dog,” he finally said, the threat clear in the tone of his voice. He looked good tonight, even with a cigar hanging between his fingers and a glass of whiskey in his other hand. From what I’d seen while watching Luke, King was supposed to be easing off the drinking, but it didn’t look like he was doing a good job with it.
Luke was in the upstairs toilet, cleaning. As soon as he told King he’d forgiven me, in his own Luke way, King had him returning to his punishment, much to Luke’s irritation. Not that I needed him to save me. I was on a good-behavior order. I couldn’t hurt any of the Kings even if I wanted to.
“Because I owe you five jobs and you will need me eventually.” I smiled sweetly at him.
“I have Undertaker and Reaper and other guys to do the job, Barber included.” King grunted when Dallas placed his hand on his shoulder. Dallas sat on a barstool behind him, offering silent support. Undertaker was on the couch with Lee, and while he watched me, there was more respect in his eyes than what King had for me.
“You do, but they’re not me.” I raised my eyebrows in challenge.
“Cocky fucker, aren’t ya?” King grumbled, taking another sip of his whiskey.
I chuckled and eyed the gun he’d placed on the bar earlier. If he reached for it, I’d be ready. But I didn’t think he would. King enjoyed having men who owed him a favor. “I know what I’m talented at.”
“He’s good at sucking cock, too,” Luke shouted from somewhere deep in the clubhouse.
I rolled my eyes.
“But he can’t suck yours! He’s my cocksucker,” he finished, and I laughed.
King’s mouth twitched, and finally he smiled. “Shut the fuck up, Barber. You’re in enough trouble.”
I held up my palms toward him. “I did what I was paid to do, King, just like you do what you need to in order to protect your brothers. It wasn’t like I was trying to kill him.”
“You got his family kidnapped,” King growled out. “I like Errol and Sophie.”
“And so do I, but it wasn’t me who had them kidnapped, and it wasn’t my fault, either. If you want to talk to anyone about that, it should be District Attorney Jeremy Booth. He was the one they wanted revenge on.”
“And now? Will the Reyes boys keep coming for him?” He tapped his fingers on the bar near his now empty glass. “Because Barber is a pain in the ass, but he’s our pain in the ass.”
“King, you’ve never let me beyourpain in the ass, if you know what I mean,” Luke shouted again, making me roll my eyes. “If you wanted me to fuck you, you should have told me before I got with Quain.”
King took a deep breath, his face flushing in irritation, and it took all my effort not to laugh. He spun toward the stairs and yelled back, “Barber, stop eavesdropping and start scrubbing. You just added another month to your cleaning duties.”
Luke stomped down the stairs, his boots thumping loud enough to make me wince. He had a bucket clutched in one hand as he pointed at King with the other. “You can’t do that. The club needs to agree.”
King opened his arms. “Who concurs with the punishment?”
Nearly everyone in the barroom raised their arm, including guys like Lee, who weren’t members.
Luke’s shoulders slumped. “Fucking hell.”
“Back to work. Now.” King spun on the stool, turning his back to Luke as he raised his hand to Josh, signaling for another drink. I thought maybe he needed it after dealing with Luke. I didn’t blame him. Sometimes Luke drove a man to drink. There were times since I’d started protecting him that I was tempted.
Luke cursed again and rolled his shoulders, walking down the hallway on the ground floor, probably toward the bathroom there.
I grinned in amusement. “Yeah, well, he’s my pain in the ass, too.” King gave me a look and I snorted out a laugh. “Not in that way, but also yes, that way.”
He grunted out a chuckle of his own as Josh came down the bar, opening the cap of a whiskey bottle. Pouring King a drink, Josh gave me a wink before he was off again. Sometimes I wondered if the kid ever went anywhere outside of the bar. God knows he always seemed to be here, especially when the Kings were having a gathering, whether it was a party or meeting.
“Five favors you say?” King raised his glass in a cheers to me before he took a deep drink.
Dallas’s eyebrows furrowed in concern and he leaned forward, toward King’s back. I heard him mutter, “Don’t you think you’ve had enough? You said you were only going to have one.”
