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“Shit, we could use one of those in the club,” Copper said. “Someone get him in here later. I’ll talk to him. See where he’s at.”
“He’ll do it,” Screw said. “If it helps protect Jazz, he’ll do it.”
“I see one major flaw in this plan,” LJ said as he shot an apologetic look across the table.
“What’s that?”
Damn. Screw had known this was too smooth to work.
“One of the Disciples told you all this shit, right?”
With a nod Screw said, “Yeah, Squirt, the guy who gave me the invite.”
“Okay, so I’m sure by now he’s told Blade or Crank all about what he squealed to you. Hell, they’ll probably be ready and waiting for an attack by us.”
A heaviness settled on Screw’s shoulders. Logically, Squirt’s death wasn’t his fault. The guy chose to get mixed up in a vicious club. He also chose to run his mouth against Crank’s wishes. Still, the kid would still be alive had Screw not gone against his president’s wishes and gone to the party. Playing a role in the kid’s death went down like jagged shards of glass.
“Um.” He cleared his throat and looked up at the ceiling. “He wasn’t supposed to tell me anything he did. Crank wanted to meet with me later in the night to test the waters. It’s possible Squirt fessed up to what he’d told me, but everything happened pretty damn fast after that and as Gumby drove away from their clubhouse, I saw Crank shoot Squirt in the head.”
“Fuck,” Zach said as the full magnitude of what the club was capable of sank in. If Crank could shoot one of his own without blinking an eye, he wouldn’t hesitate to take out any of the Handlers.
Or even their women.
“How did you guys get busted?” Mav asked. “Sounds like you were home free.”
“Jazz’s neighbor was there partying. He recognized me.”
“Jeremy?” Mav asked and when Screw nodded, he added, “Man, I hate that fuckwad.”
“Tell me about it,” Screw muttered. He’d known Jeremy since middle school. He’d been one of the kids who frequently snuck into the strip club where Screw’s mother worked, and the asshole took unending pleasure in tormenting Screw with lurid details. Hell, he was pretty sure the guy had fucked his mom at some point.
And Jeremy wondered why he wasn’t voted to prospect with the club. Now the guy had his eye on Jazz? Wasn’t happening. Last thing she needed was a slimy weasel like Jeremy. She’d been through enough in her life.
And great, now he was thinking about Paul. At some point he needed to have a chat with Gumby about locating and ending that asshole.
“We need to keep an eye on his movements,” Copper said.
“On it. I have a prospect tailing him today.”
“Good. Thanks for being proactive about that.” Copper nodded his approval which made Screw’s chest puff. Finally, he’d done something right in his president’s eyes. “All right. Let’s get moving on this right away. Church tonight at six. We’ll fill in the rest of the club. Screw, stick around a minute.”
Oh, fuck. Here’s where Copper said something along the lines of, “Thanks, but you’re still out as enforcer.”
Well, it’d been fun—and stressful as fuck—while it lasted.
As the room cleared, each and every one of his brothers slapped him on the back or squeezed his shoulder. Ugh, even they knew he was on the chopping block.
Copper sat in his chair, rubbing his chin in what they’d all come to know as his thinking mode. None of them knew if he was even aware of it, but it was the guy’s biggest tell. So, Screw sat without speaking and waited for his president to formulate his thoughts.
After a minute or so, Copper folded his giant hands on the table. His silver wedding ring still made Screw chuckle. It’d been no surprise to anyone that he’d locked down Shell fast once he’d finally pulled his head out of his ass and got with her.
“I’ve worked with Zach as my enforcer for more than five years. His instincts were rock solid, and I trusted him to make most decisions without even running them by me.”
Screw nodded. None of this was new information. Working under Zach, he’d seen the way the president valued him.
“I should have trusted you more. Zach vouched for you and I agreed to make you enforcer, but I didn’t put my full trust in you. This won’t work if I don’t give you that.”
“I get it Copper.” His shoulders sagged. “Now you feel like you can’t trust me. I’m sorry I didn’t do the position justice.”
His prez held up a hand stopping him from offering the enforcer patch back before he had to hear the man actually ask for it. “No, Screw, I’m saying I do trust you and I should have at the very least entertained the idea of someone attending the party when you came to me. Your instinct was dead on, and you brought us remarkably valuable intel we never would have gotten any other way.”
