AllFreeNovel
Share Us
At first, he’d thought Taylor and Burn’s breakup was amicable. It had only gone down the toilet when Taylor went to Kentucky to attempt reconciliation with Reaper. When Taylor came back, she took the gloves off and made Burn pay for Reaper not wanting her, and for his own refusal to give their marriage another chance.
Doom couldn’t blame Burn; it would be hard to take a woman back when she had left him to pursue another man.
He spent the rest of the day on chores Wizard had told him to do. It was eight o’clock before he had time to make himself a sandwich and eat at one of the back booths, ignoring the fact that Arden had come while he was out running Wizard’s errands.
When she didn’t seem miffed at being pointedly ignored by him, he found himself sulking into his beer.
Wizard shot him a wry glance from across the table. “Who pissed in your cornflakes?”
“No one.”
“Could have fooled me,” Wizard scoffed, turning so he could stretch his legs on the booth’s cushioned seat.
“Nothing’s wrong.”
“Fine. You don’t want to talk, don’t. Want to shoot some pool?”
“Sure.”
They slid out of the booth and went to the empty pool table. Doom let Wizard go first since he had won their last game.
“Were you able to find Burn another lawyer?”
“Arden, bring me a beer!” Wizard shouted. “Not yet.” Wizard hit the 1 ball into the corner pocket. “None of the fuckers I called want to take Burn’s case.”
Doom kept his gaze leveled on the pool table as Arden brought Wizard his beer.
Sinking the 2 ball, Wizard took aim on the 3 ball. “We both know why no one wants to stick out their neck to take the case.”
“The mayor,” Doom voiced the person who had been seeking The Last Riders since his daughter became fixated on Moon.
“Yep. The fucker gets more pleasure out of making our lives miserable than getting a hefty donation.”
Walking to the other side of the table so Arden would be out of sight with his back turned as she cleaned the booths and tables nearby, Doom said, “What are you going to do?” He was still waiting to take his first shot. Wizard was on a roll, sinking all his shots.
“It’s irritating as fuck. I should never have promised to help Burn. Hell, I can’t even get the building permit approved so we can expand the back of the club. The brothers want more bedrooms, and if I hear one more time why Margarita is the only woman who has a room, I’m going to shoot myself in the dick.”
When it was finally his turn, Doom had to walk around the pool table. At the same time, Arden picked up the loaded tray with beer mugs to carry it back behind the bar. Wizard didn’t miss the haughty way Arden shifted her gaze away from him.
“What’s going on with you two?”
“Nothing.”
Wizard made a face at him. “Bullshit. You still butt hurt she did Buck and Puck before you?”
Doom straightened from the pool table after he missed his shot. “I wasn’t mad.”
Wizard made another face. “If you don’t want to talk about it, I’ll shut the fuck up. But…”
“Then shut the fuck up.”
Wizard laughed. “Okay, I can take a hint.”
“Since when?” Doom sarcastically looked across the bar to see Arden was talking to Buck and Puck.
Wizard caught him staring.
“Why don’t you make it even more obvious?” He nodded his chin toward the trio.
Doom wanted to ram his pool cue down Wizard’s sarcastic throat but caught sight of two new recruits sitting close to Puck, starting to argue with Jesus, their loud voices drawing everyone’s attention. Another recruit sitting at a table behind them joined in the disagreement, voicing his opinion. Wizard had already nicknamed him Roid because of the recruit’s huge mass of upper muscles on his body. In the week Wizard gave him the opportunity to join the club, Roid had been severely argumentative and confrontational.
“He’s going to have to be given the boot.”
Doom nearly laughed at Wizard’s downcast expression. Wizard really wanted someone to be able to even the playing field with the Yeti in case The Last Riders went up against Mama’s minions again.
“No shit.” Wizard looked like a dog who was about to lose his favorite chew toy.
Doom set his pool cue down on the pool table as the argument escalated. He was already moving toward the side of the table when Roid picked up his heavy beer mug and threw it at Jesus, who was smart enough to duck, unwittingly giving the mug a clear shot at Arden.
Doom ran at full speed when he realized Arden was about to be struck, and he wasn’t going to make it in time.
“Duck, Arden!” he yelled, rushing behind the bar. The fucker had thrown one of the thickest mugs the club owned. If it struck Arden, it was going to do some damage.
