Thrash
“You stepped out of line.”
Bull looks at me pointedly.
From where we’re standing, rows and rows of pot plants rustle in the breeze, their leaves sending up a quiet green chorus that joins with the general chirping and chattering of life out here in the forest.
“What do you mean?” I say.
He gestures angrily, spilling some of his Irish coffee on the grass.
“You left the grow op, after Hawk and I specifically ordered you to stay put. What the fuck are you thinking, Thrash? Do you have some kind of deep-seated need to consistently fuck up?”
“Damn, Bull, I never would’ve thought that, but, now that you mention it, yeah, I do. Especially when I’m being ordered to do something that’s as fucking pointless as staying out here at the fucking grow up. I’ve been babysitting plants for fucking days, Bull. I’d rather be dead.”
“Keep messing around with that bartender for the Reaper’s Sons and you will be. Hawk will see to that, if Hammer doesn’t get to you, first.”
“Don’t make me laugh. Hammer doesn’t fucking know, if he did, he’d have come after me by now and I’d have had to put that old bitch down.”
“Well, either fucking way, you’ve forced my hand, here, Thrash. I went and had a chat with your ex, Chastity, this morning.”
He takes a slow sip of his coffee and, it might be an illusion, but I swear to God I see his lips curl slightly in a smile.
“My ex? Is that what she’s calling herself, now? Just because she swallowed my cock a few times doesn’t make her my ex,” I say, indignant.
Chastity’s been after me for a long fucking time. She has this strange idea that a few shared orgasms constitutes a relationship.
“She’d sure disagree with you about that. She was pretty damn interested to hear you were deep-dicking that Reaper bitch.”
“She can be interested all she wants, there’s no way in hell I’m taking her back. If she wants to suck on something, I’ve got a pistol she can wrap her lips around.”
“You seem pretty set on this Reaper chick. Why?”
“Might be. Maybe I’ve found one I might actually want as my old lady someday.”
More than maybe. I want Alice as my old lady, once things settle down and any threat from the Reaper’s Sons is long gone. I’ve never felt this way about a woman before, it’s new and strange, but it’s a damn nice feeling, and there’s no way in hell I’m giving it up.
“Jesus, Thrash, have you fucking lost it? You’re going to ruin this truce and get a whole mess of blood on your hands, all for some pussy?”
“It’s more than that, Bull. Though the pussy’s fucking nice, too.”
“Look, I don’t want to hear it. I’m glad we had this chat, Thrash, it makes me feel a lot better about what I told Chastity to do.”
My eyes narrow and I look over at Bull in alarm. Chastity’s the sheriff’s daughter. Fucking her was a mistake, one that I wish I could take back a hundred times over. I do not like the tone in Bull’s voice right now.
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“She’s going to have her dad, Sheriff Bowles, take an interest in your Reaper bitch.”
He takes an arrogant sip of coffee after he says it. It makes my fists curl in rage. I hate where I can see this is heading. It’s another obstacle between Alice and me, another obstacle in the execution of my plan of ripping off the Reaper’s Sons and knocking those bitches back into the gutter where they belong.
And just when things between Alice and I were starting to work.
“What do you mean?” I say, warily.
“He’s going to give her a message. From me. From the club. To keep away from the Rebel Riders — especially you — and keep her head down. We need to take her out of play, Thrash. We’re not going to have you starting shit. Especially when the Reaper’s Sons are hosting the fucking mayor’s party tomorrow.”
It’s probably not the wisest idea for me to deck my club VP, especially since Bull earned his nickname by because he is built like a literal brick shithouse, but the son of a bitch is doing everything he can to tear apart the plans I’ve worked so carefully to put together.
Alice is mine.
I deliver that message with my knuckles right to his face. A solid right to the jaw that sends his head snapping.
It hardly moves him. Not that I was intending to fight it out with him, if I had been, I would’ve done more than just punch him. Bull’s a beast with a brain — it’s why he’s our damn VP. He shakes his head clear and shrugs off my punch like it’s nothing.
“I’m giving you that one, Thrash. No more,” he says.
“Why are you supporting Hawk’s shit? Why are you standing aside while the Reaper’s Sons fucking run circles around us? You know they’re not going to be content just letting us do our thing, they’re going to come for us, and the more we sit around with our hands on our flaccid cocks, the worse it’s going to get.”
He throws his hands up. “It isn’t my fucking call, Thrash. I get where you’re coming from, I do, but right now the truce is the more important thing. We’ll deal with the shit with the Reaper’s Sons if that even fucking happens. But in the meantime, the more you act like a fucking idiot, the more you keep digging yourself a deeper hole. You need to get your shit in order.”
I calmly look at him while I think about ripping his throat out.
Forget about the Reaper’s Sons and their drug business, him and Hawk stepping into my personal business is a bridge too fucking far. And doing it by sending Chastity and her father after the woman I care about?
I snap.
“Do you even understand what you’ve fucking done? Sending Chastity and her fucking sheriff father after Alice like that? They’re not just going to give her a message. I’ll be lucky if Chastity doesn’t put a bullet in her head and leave her in the woods for the black bears and coyotes to pick apart.”
“All the more reason for you to stay in line. But you fuck up, and I’ll put a bullet in her myself.”
He downs the last of his coffee, wincing slightly as he finishes the last of the lukewarm, whiskey-laced beverage. I stay there, fuming, soaking in his threat and trying to figure out my next move.
I don’t give a shit about what Hawk and Bull are threatening, there’s no way in hell I’m going to allow them to treat Alice like that.
There’s too much riding on it. There’s our relationship, and there’s the cash that Hammer’s holding on to for the Reaper’s Sons drug business.
I wait for Bull to leave before I head back to the cabin, where my bike is parked. I’ve chosen my path. I won’t be staying in line.
I think about what she means to me, about how she and her family have given me something that I didn’t even know I was missing, and how, whether I’ve planned on it or not, I’ve come to respect who she is and what she brings to the table. All that from a woman who introduced herself to me by telling me she doesn’t give a shit about the gun in my hand… and then macing me with fucking salsa.
No way in hell I’m losing her.
One way or another, I’m going to get to her.
Even if I have to face down my own club to do it.