Page 46 of Rigid

After two minutes of silence, Crip turned to face me. “What’s this about?”

“Got some news to give ya.”

He folded his arms across his chest. “Well, give it.”

I took another hit off my vape, and held the smoke in. “Waiting on the Nut.”

He shook his head. “Perfect. That’s all I need is the two of you together.”

“We’re all brothers, Brother,” I said, my tone sarcastic.

P-Nut was a veteran with the Fuckers, and was a lot like me. He was a man of principle, had a good set of moral values, and didn’t take shit from anyone, especially Crip. He didn’t hang with Pee Bee or Cholo, and not because they didn’t like him. It was more a result of his desire to survive on a day-to-day basis without being scrutinized by anyone.

He would do anything for the club, for his brothers, or for a good cause, as long as he was the one to make the decision.

And, it was that lone wolf attitude that kept him and Crip at odds.

The sound of a motorcycle’s approaching exhaust caused me to tense. I wasn’t necessarily nervous about talking to them, but I wasn’t completely comfortable either. After spending nearly two decades screwing every woman who held still long enough for me to poke my cock in them, settling down and having a baby with someone would certainly raise eyebrows, and I knew it.

P-Nut came screaming through the parking lot at twice the speed that was safe and shot past the shop. Beyond the opening of the overhead door, but still well within our view, he locked up his rear brake and slid into a smoky 180 degree turn.

With his front tire now facing the garage door and the motorcycle still well into a power-slide, he hit the throttle and launched the bike into the shop.

Blazing across the floor – and directly toward us – at full speed, his little display of power didn’t bother me. Crip, on the other hand, was screaming at the top of his lungs.

P-Nut’s bike came to a screeching stop right beside mine.

He revved the throttle once, and shut off the engine. After tossing his helmet onto the floor, he looked up and grinned. “That was interesting.”

“God damn it, P-Nut,” Crip hollered. “That was un-fucking-necessary.”

P-Nut pulled a pack of cigarettes from his front pocket, lit one, and then looked at Crip through one eye while the other was pinched shut. “Which part?”

“All of it,” Crip snarled.

In the middle of taking a drag off his cigarette, P-Nut paused, and then blew the smoke to the side.

“Can’t agree with you on that, Crip.” He waved his hand toward the wide-open garage door. “Fast as I was going, I had to shoot past the door, or I’d have wrecked. Then, if I didn’t do that little U-turn, I’d have hit the far side of the fucking fence. And, the coming in the shop part? Shit, you know I ride hard. Nope. I’m thinking pretty much all of it was necessary.”

He took long strides across the shop floor. Upon reaching us, he pounded my fist, and then gave Pee Bee and Cholo a nod. “What’s up fellas?”

“You need to slow that piece of shit down,” Crip said. “If you’d have been going the fucking speed limit, we wouldn’t be having this conversation, would we?”

P-Nut flicked his ash on the floor, rubbed it with the toe of his boot, and then looked up. “Changin’ the name of the club to the Clean Clan or are we keeping the Filthy Fuckers patch on our colors?”

Crip glared.

P-Nut shrugged. “Just wondering. I mean, if we’re all going to abide by the speed limits and everything. Want me to turn in my pistol, too? I could start carrying a bible and a box of Snickers bars instead of a pistol and a pack of cigarettes.”

Crip clenched his jaw. “Slow the fuck down in the parking lot.”

P-Nut took a long drag off his cigarette, blew the smoke in Crip’s direction, and then began to rock back and forth on the balls of his feet. “Got all the decision makers in the same place. Hope nobody drops a bomb, this club would be brainless.”

The Nut never stood still for longer than a few seconds, and to those that didn’t know him, he seemed sketchy and nervous. His given name was Percy, and considering the fact he acted nuts most of the time, he earned the name P-Nut.

“Shouldn’t take long,” I said “I’ve just got something I need to bring to light.”

“Make it quick,” Crip said with a laugh. “He’s making me nervous.”