Page 44 of Property of Zombie

Lyric grins, facing me. “Lock this shit down, brother. She’s a keeper.”

My girl looks from me to him and back again. “I’m lost.”

“Lyric loves music and has a song lyric for everything,” I explain. “The fact that you caught on immediately… Let’s just say that it makes you one of us.”

“That and the fact that Zombie’s claimed you,” Mellie states. “Welcome to the family.”

“I… You… But…”

“Cat got your tongue?” Lyric teases.

“Leave her alone,” I say. “I’m trying not to scare her away, thank you very fucking much.”

“If she can’t handle a little teasing,” Pres begins. “She’s not the one.”

“I can handle it,” Lucy grits. “I deal with ornery zoo animals for a living. Compared to them, you’re a pussycat.”

“Oh, Zombie, I really like her,” Mellie exclaims. “Don’t fuck it up.”

“Don’t plan on it,” I assure her. “Mel, can you take Lucy to clean up her hand? I need to talk to Lyric for a minute.”

“Sure thing.” Mellie slips her arm through Lucy’s and practically drags her away.

Once we’re alone, I focus on Lyric, but he speaks before I can get a word out.

“What’s up?”

“Martin showed up at Lucy’s place tonight,” I tell him and go on to detail the encounter. “Baker was supposed to keep him occupied for most of the night. Not only so Martin would forget about the date he practically demanded, but also to prove that we could trust him to follow orders and get shit done.”

“And he failed at both.”

“I know we voted to work with him,” I say. “But if he can’t do this one simple thing, how the fuck can we trust him?”

“We can’t,” Lyric confirms. “Isn’t that sort of the point, though? Martin has clearly worn out his usefulness to the club. The way he went behind our backs with the sale of the factory is proof of that. And Baker, well… we cut him loose. I was hoping to gain access to that property without our names being attached to it, but it’s not worth the risk at this point.”

“My thoughts exactly. Let’s call an emergency meeting of officers to vote on our next move,” I suggest. “I’d like to get that done tonight, if possible. Then we can eliminate both of them and move on.”

“I call church for tomorrow,” he counters. “Enjoy the rest of the night with your girl.” Lyric smirks. “I like her, brother. She’s perfect for you.”

“Glad you think so because I’m keeping her.”

“Figured as much.”

Mellie and Lucy return, and I notice that Lucy’s knuckles are still bleeding a little. “Why didn’t you put bandages on those?” I ask, nodding at the abrasions.

She waves a hand dismissively. “I’m fine. Mellie sprayed some antiseptic on them. Besides, a little blood never hurt anybody. Or can’t you handle it?”

I lift her hands to my lips and press a kiss to the wounds. “I can handle it, babydoll. Don’t you worry about that.”