“Well, that was a total fucking shit show,” Blaine screamed into his phone as soon as Zeb picked up.
“Fuck. What happened?” Zeb asked.
“I’m on my way back to the clubhouse. I can’t talk now, Zebby,” Blaine said, hanging up the phone.
“Can you ride?” Blaine asked, turning his attention back to Crater, who was clutching at his arm. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to see that it was dislocated.
“Yeah, I think so,” he said and grimaced as he tried to lift his arm to grab onto his handlebars. “Nope. That’s not going to happen.”
Blaine sighed and shook his head. “You’re going to have to let Skinny pop it back in. That’s an order.”
Skinny, who was the polar opposite of his nickname, ambled over to Crater and grabbed his wrist.
“I’m going to do it on three, ok?” Skinny said.
“Ok,” Crater said, bracing himself and closing his eyes.
Skinny jerked Crater’s arm towards him and Crater fell to the dirt in agony. He looked up at Skinny and seethed, “I thought you said on three.”
“Nah, it was better this way, you were nice and relaxed,” Skinny said, then lit up a cigarette and laughed. “It feels better now, right?”
Crater nodded and reluctantly rose to his feet. “Thanks, man.”
“Just make sure to drink some whiskey tonight, that will fix you right up,” Skinny said, slapping Crater on the back of his kutte.
“Are you two finished playing doctor?” Blaine asked. “Because if we don’t get back and figure out our next move, a dislocated shoulder is going to be the least of our worries. Let’s go.”
Crater slapped the dust off the ass of his black jeans and threw his leg over his bike. The three of them roared off to the clubhouse to fill Zeb in on the bad news.
When Blaine, Crater, and Skinny arrived back at the clubhouse, Zeb was sitting in the yard with a bunch of the guys and Chrissy. Zeb dismissed them with a nod of his head and headed inside with the returning soldiers.
“Now, are you going to tell me what the fuck is going on?” he said, wiping his hands with a dirty rag.
“We can’t trust Ed,” Blaine said.
“What did that little weasel pull?”
“Well, I can’t be sure that he was in on it, but I can’t think of any other way the Scorps knew about the drop.”
“The Scorpions? What the fuck were they doing out there? That’s way out of their turf.”
“I know. They were waiting around the back of the shed and when we showed up they were ready for us. They had some serious firepower. They took the ice, they took our guns, and when the buyers showed up, they took their money too.”
“I guess they’re not too impressed with our new venture.” Zeb mused and stroked his beard thoughtfully. Blaine couldn’t see his eyes behind his dark sunglasses, but he knew Zeb’s wheels were turning. It was rare that Blaine saw Zeb get angry, and he saw it now with the redness flushing his neck. “Do you think the buyers were in on it?”
“They could’ve been, boss. But they seemed really surprised when they pulled up and the Scorpions were ready for battle.”
“Anybody put up a fight?” Zeb asked.
“Nobody. Well, Crater resisted when they grabbed the ice from him and they knocked the shit out of him.”
Zeb smiled at Crater. His pock-marked face had turned the greenish shade of yellow that precedes deep purple bruising.
“So, we’re out the dope. We’re out the money. And we have to figure out who the hell stabbed us in the back,” Zeb summarized.
“That’s pretty much it,” Blaine said. “And they took our guns.”
“Did they get your Desert Eagle?” Zeb asked. The Eagle had belonged to Blaine’s dad and was now his prized possession.
“Yeah,” Blaine replied. “But I’m going to get it back. Those fuckers are going to pay.”
“You guys go inside and get some drinks,” Zeb said to Crater and Skinny. They complied, their bodies easing with relief that Zeb hadn’t flown off the handle about the loss of the cash and the dope.
Blaine stepped onto the bench seat of the picnic table and took a seat beside his President.
“We weren’t prepared for that. It’s my fault. We’ve gotten too complacent about our position here in Torver.”
“The thing that’s not sitting right with me is the fact the buyers didn’t put up a fight. They just straight up handed off 50k and left with their tails between their legs?” Zeb asked.
“Someone betrayed us.” Blaine agreed.
“Maybe you and I should visit our friend Eddie,” Zeb said. “Only this time we won’t go in there with our dicks in our hands.”
Blaine looked down, ashamed. They might as well have had their dicks in their hands today. There were at least thirty of their rivals, the Scorpions, heavily armed and ready for them. If Eddie had anything to do with the double-cross, that slime-ball wasn’t going to get off easy.
“Go tell the crew that we’re having Church here tonight, and it’s mandatory.” Zeb stood up and walked back inside.
Blaine knew that Zeb wasn’t impressed with him, and had to put together a plan to make things right to get back into his good books.