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1 – NITRO
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ME:Where are you? I’ve been texting for the last hour.
ME:If you’re working, hit me up when you’re done.
“I’ll need two more shipments in the next month. Think you can handle that?” Maxim Petrov asks, jerking my attention away from my phone.
I pinch the cigarette between my lips, take one final drag, toss it to the ground, and stub it out with the toe of my boot. Narrowing my eyes through the haze of smoke, I ask, “Can you handle my price?”
“I handled this one, didn’t I?” he asks in that thick accent that I’ve come to hate.
Maxim Petrov is a middle man in the Bratva, and in the big scheme of things, he’s not shit. I don’t like his ethics, but I don’t got a problem with his money.
Pushing off my bike where I’ve been leaning while he checks out his shipment, I reply, “You know the old saying, Maxim. Money talks, bullshit walks. You got the money; you got the product.”
He looks around at my brothers and says, “I don’t like these guys. Next time, leave ‘em behind.”
“I trust them, Maxim. You...not so fucking much. You don’t trust my brothers; you don’t trust me.”
“I don’t,” he says, smirking at me.
“And I don’t trust you. Thought we had a beautiful partnership. Maybe we don’t,” I say, turning away from him.
“Not so fast, Blackwood.”
He calls me by my last name. I met him in my place of business, Blackwood Gun Center. Small talk led to big business.
“Let me check out what you bought, and we’ll see if we can keep working together.”
“Doesn’t matter. If my guys aren’t here, I ain’t coming,” I say, looking around at my brothers.
Frenchie and Toad are on my left, and Axle is to my right. I’m close with all my MC brothers, but Axle and I are the closest, and aside from him, I trust Frenchie and Toad the most. We started off as prospects and were patched in at the same time.
Maxim returns to the black van that Hurricane, one of our Prospects, is driving. He’s leaning lazily against the van while Texas, another Prospect, eyes Maxim carefully. He’s young and green, but he’s right not to trust the bastard. This is his first time on a road trip, but I notice that he’s picking up on things quickly.
Maxim says something to one of his guys in Russian, who nods, looks around at us and then walks back to their limo.
“Hey, where the fuck he’s going?” I call out.
Frenchie and Toad, already on alert, follow him at a distance.
“How do you say...chill, Nitro? He’s going to get the money.”
Maxim takes one of the assault rifles from the box and lays it out on the van's floor. Carefully he takes it apart, checking out all its components before he puts it together again. Nodding his head, he turns back to me and smirks.
“Good quality craftsmanship, as usual.”
“You think I’d stiff you? You know what I sell.”
“I just want to make sure you’re not pulling a switch and bait, Blackwood.”
I glance at Toad to see him checking the inside of a black bag that Maxim’s guy is holding.
I walk closer to the van coming eye-to-eye with Maxim. “Don’t fucking insult my reputation, bitch.”
He holds his hands up. “No disrespect. Just the mark of a good businessman. You do well to learn that lesson.”
