TORQUE
The Next Day
Sitting at the bar, my fingers tap monotonously, strumming away impatiently as I think about what the hell is going on. It’s been a week since the gun shipment fuckup with the Andrettis and the Triad. The fact the tracking beacon is still active has me on edge, and the end date for the replacement guns is up.
I have no idea if today’s shipment is going to go south again. What I do know is, against my better judgment, I’m sending Vibe with the new shipment to meet Linn at a different location, with Tremor and Renegade. I’m not sending all my men in there if there’s going to be another bloodbath.
I won’t risk it.
Fuck! To be honest, I don’t want to risk this shit at all. But we have a deadline to meet, and this is the best of a bad situation.
We found an exchange point in a built-up area. The boys are fully decked out in protective gear and the appropriate firearms for the ride. The area is completely secure in the fact it only has one entry point and zero windows. There’s no way anyone could take advantage of the situation, and if somehow they could, my men and Linn’s will be well prepared this time. They have enough firepower to wipe out a small army with them this time.
They will be fine, I keep telling myself. Although I’m not sure I’m reassured.
While the exchange is underway, all I can do is sit and wait for the call to know whether it’s gone through okay, or whether shit’s gone to hell again. And patience isn’t my virtue. I’m on edge, and the fact it’s been a week since I’ve talked to Heeley is driving me the fuck crazy. I need to talk to her.
My cell sits at the bar staring at me, and the ache in my chest to call her is always present, but right now my armor is wearing thin. The last time I saw her, I nearly got myself plowed over by a fucking car, so my head’s certainly not straight when it comes to her. Calling her, I fear, would only make matters worse.
I know she has Zane watching her, but still, I’d feel better seeing her myself and knowing she’s perfectly fine. Chains says she’s been keeping super busy, mixing her time between college, the froyo bar, and working with Kline. I have to say I’m happy Kline’s taken her under her wing. If there’s anyone who knows the brothers well, can handle us and the medical world, it’s Kline.
A stool grates on the ground sliding out beside me, and I turn to see Lift’s bulky frame moving in, and I smirk. His damn shirt barely holds together with the tension of his bulked-up muscles. Shaking my head, I chuckle. “Seriously brother, buy bigger shirts.”
He chuckles and nods. “Yeah, I really need to. My guns are way too big, and my usual size shirt doesn’t fit my arms.”
Rolling my eyes, I look at the clock on the wall and shake my head. I should have heard something by now. I’m beginning to think things have gone fucking south again. “Have you heard anything from Renegade or Tremor?”
He shakes his head. “Nothing. But, I did have an interesting visit from the gym realtor this morning, and he gave me some info you might be interested in.”
My brows furrow as I look at him. “Ahh… why?”
He leans on the bar, his muscles have muscles as they flex and strain. “So, get this… she said someone approached her about wanting to buy our gyms…” He pauses. “All of them.” I sit up taller, my interest piquing. “So I asked her who was this ‘person’ was who’s interested in buying a chain of gyms. She said it was a confidential buyer, but he would do anything in his power to obtain the rights to the gyms, and we should consider selling for the ‘right price’…” he uses air quotes, “… before he comes back with a lower counteroffer.”
Folding my arms over my chest, I let out a scoff. “No fuckin’ way. What did you say?”
“I told her to tell the fuckwit to come here and tell me directly to my face, or he could shove his deal up his motherfucking ass. She didn’t like that so much. At first, I thought she was shocked at my language, but I think it was more than that. She appeared… scared.”
Creasing my brows, I huff. “Figures. Andrettis don’t treat women nicely if they don’t get what they want. Okay, send someone to watch… what’s her name?”
“Tianna.”
“Yeah, send someone to watch her. Make sure she’s okay. I think we’ve sat on this long enough. The gun shipment hasn’t moved. They’re obviously holding it as an arsenal. I’m sick of waiting. The guys are feeling antsy. It’s time to sort this shitshow out.”
Lift nods and stands up. His leg is still not one hundred percent, but I know he’ll ride with me anyway. I turn around and let out a whistle through the club gaining everyone’s attention. “We have no idea how the gun exchange is going. I haven’t heard a word, so I’m assuming it’s gone south. I’m not about to sit back and wait for the Andrettis to fuck us over any more than they already have. They’re trying to buy up the entire fuckin’ town, and I wanna know why? So mount up if you wanna join me, but listen hard… there’s no pressure if you don’t. I realize you’re all recovering. If you feel the urge, we’re going for a ride.”
A round of cheering erupts throughout the clubhouse, and I see Surge walk out from down the hall, his arm in a sling as Mom and Neala step along beside him. I stride up to them, and Surge looks me in the eyes. I already know what he’s going to say, so I stop him before he has the chance. “No, you’re sitting this one out.”
He slumps his body and looks to Mom, who nods and wraps her arm around his shoulders pulling him to her for comfort. “You know my boyo’s right, Surge. How would you even ride? You only got one functioning arm.”
Neala smiles and moves to his other side. “Plus, we need someone here to keep us company while these douches ride off and cause trouble… again!”
Surge wraps his good arm around Lala and finally nods. “Fine! But I swear to God, son, if you don’t come back to us—”
“I will...”
“Torque, what’s the go?” Trax calls out. Stepping up to my side, his smile the widest I’ve seen in days. The idea we’re finally going after Andretti has him on a high, and I detest that this is the only thing to have him smiling—his thirst for vengeance, this thirst for payback. I loathe that he’s this far gone.
I give a curt nod to Mom, Lala, and Surge, and grab Trax and spin, heading with him to the middle of the room. Ace looks up.
I take a deep breath. “Ace, I need you to send a message to Enzo. We want to meet him in a public place. Somewhere where there are heaps of civilians.”
Trax looks at me pulling his brows together. “What? You’ve got to be kidding? How are we supposed to go in fucking all guns-a-blazing if there are people fucking everywhere, Torque?”
“Because I want to attempt a ‘nice’ chat first.” I used hand quotes around the word. “Let’s see what I can get outta him before I shoot him between his fuckin’ eyes.”
“Fuck. Shoot first, ask later, brother,” Trax blurts out.
“If they’re all dead, you can’t ask them anything, idiot.”
“Who cares about talking? Honestly? Let’s fuck ‘em up.”
Shaking my head, I place my hand on his shoulder and sigh. “Trax, do not fire unless fired upon. Do you understand me?”
Trax’s lip curls up, and he shrugs out of my grip. He walks away out of frustration.
Turning to Ace, I nod. “Send the message. Let me know when it’s received, and we’ll head out.”
Half an hour later, we’re on our rides heading to the Chicago Park District. We’re meeting Enzo in the playground on the corner of W 19th Street and S Wood Street—a damn children’s playground will keep us all in line. One thing both the Andrettis and Defiance have in common is our absolute respect for children. Nothing will happen while there are kids present. I know this will be simply a discussion, to see why shit’s going down the way it is. What Enzo wants? And what we can do to try and curb him from taking over every fucking thing.
We pull into the parking lot and notice the parents of the children all look up as we enter. Some of them call out to their children which causes them to run to their parents. Others let their children keep playing but keep a close eye on them. The thing is, when you get one or two bikers, it’s intimidating, but when the majority of a club rolls in, it’s more than a little disconcerting. I understand why the parents are reacting, and I’m not the least fucked off by their actions.
We pull up and park our rides, taking off our helmets, and stand to the side as we notice Enzo’s men walking up to us from behind the fitness center. Immediately, I wonder if maybe they have bought that place too. My arms fold across my chest as I notice Enzo only has four men with him compared to my seven.
I like these odds.
He looks me up and down and lets out a long, drawn out exhale as he steps up in front of me and shakes his head. “This has been a long time coming, Torque.”
I glance to his side to see Alfonso is nowhere in sight, but there’s a new guy by his right hand. With a glance up and down, I don’t particularly like the way he’s looking at me. “No Alfie today, Enzo?”
Enzo smiles as his new guy stiffens his posture and flexes his fisted hands. “We don’t keep snitches at our table.”
Nodding, I look to the new guy, he seems on edge. Maybe he’s trying to prove he’s better than Alfonso. “What’s your name, new guy?”
“Franky, and I’m not new. Been with Enzo a really long time.”
Raising my brow, I nod. “Hmm… hadn’t noticed. You seem unimportant. Let’s get to business, shall we?”
Franky grits his teeth which does nothing but make me smirk.
Enzo places his hand on Franky’s chest and exhales. “Look, Torque... there’s some shit going on in this town I can’t explain. Like for instance, your MC going around and buying up all the fucking businesses—”
“Wait up! Defiance buying businesses? Don’t bullshit me, Enzo. I know it’s your mob under-handing everyone. Don’t think you can weasel your way out of this shit. You’ve always wanted the Defiance gyms. And now, I learn you’ve sent your men in, only this morning, in an attempt to take over. Did you think we wouldn’t figure it out? How stupid do you think we fuckin’ are?”
He raises his brow and shakes his head. “Well, it’s a fucking good idea, but it’s not fucking mine. Someone came into my gyms yesterday attempting to buy them out from under me. We thought it was you bastards trying to remain anonymous. It’s bullshit.”
I look to Sensei, and he tilts his head slightly.
Ace yanks out his tablet and begins typing shit into it.
“So, let me get this straight… you’re not buying up all the businesses in town?”
He shakes his head. “I mean, I bought an Italian restaurant a few weeks ago, but that’s as far as it goes. Other than that and my gyms, I have nothing else, Torque. For once, I’m not trying to bullshit you.”
I glance over to Ace as he steps forward and shows me a document. “I’ve done a quick search on how many businesses have been bought in the Chicago area in the last thirty days. This is showing a total of fifteen, all to the same mystery conglomerate. Seems the name Enterprises Holdings is coming up, and they’ve been purchasing under an umbrella business. I still can’t for the life of me figure out who the fuck it is. They’re well hidden, Torque.”
“So we have a third player in town?” I state, and Enzo’s eyes light up with fear.
“Someone from the outside is coming in and trying to take over what’s been ours for decades,” Enzo scoffs.
My stomach rolls uncomfortably, and I shake my head, not liking this fact at all. “Fuck. So what does this mean?”
“As much as I hate the fucking idea, I think we have to…” Enzo pauses, his lip turning up in disdain as he continues, “… work together. Find out who these assholes are and take them down.”
Tension ripples through the air, and I stiffen my back as I look at him and shake my head. “You want us to work with you? After you came in, stole our damn guns, and shot us all the hell up?”
Enzo looks around to his men like he’s perplexed. “Umm... what? Am I missing something?”
I throw my hands up in frustration. “Your men infiltrated our trade with the Triad. Took our damn load, and then shot at each and every single one of us.” I pull the sleeve of my shirt up to show my bandage where the bullet nicked my skin, and Enzo’s brows crease as he slowly shakes his head.
“Ahh… that wasn’t my men.”
“Bull-fucking-shit. They were in your Alpha Romeos, Enzo!”
He shrugs. “I don’t know what to tell you, Torque. We don’t have your guns, and we certainly didn’t shoot at you… as much as we’d really like to.”
Sensei steps forward tilting his head. “As much as I am having trouble believing Enzo… one thing does point to his honesty.” I raise my brow and glance to Sensei as he continues, “The men we believed were the Andrettis were wearing balaclavas. So, in actual fact, they could have been anyone. Just because they were using the same cars as the Andrettis, to make it seem like…” he dips his head, “… the Andrettis does not mean it was… in actual fact, the Andrettis.”
I let out a bemused chuckle, more out of annoyance than anything as Enzo shakes his head. “So whoever this is framed us so it appeared like we attacked you and stole your guns, hoping you’d retaliate and basically end up with us taking each other out. But you didn’t. You stopped and thought about it, you came to me instead. You talked it out, instead of war. You’ve outsmarted them, Torque. And believe me when I say this, you’re a fucking better man than me. If they framed you and tried to take out my men like they did, I would have had no qualms about coming after you all.” He raises his brows with a look of respect on his face. “I give you credit. It’s a good thing you didn’t make this war an all-out carnage without knowing the facts.”
Nodding, I glance to Trax who’s keeping unusually quiet through all of this. “Well, don’t thank me just yet. We seem to have a bigger enemy at our heels, but neither of us knows who the fuck it is.”
Enzo nods. “For now, I think we have no option but to call a truce. We have a much larger fish to fry. We need to pool our resources and try to figure out who this conglomerate is and take them the fuck down. No one comes to Chicago and takes it away from us. It’s always belonged to the Andrettis and Defiance. We can’t let some new coglione come in and take what belongs to us.”
I let out a small chuckle. “I’ve never heard you talk like that. It’s always been Chicago is Andrettis, or Chicago belongs to Defiance. It’s never belonged to the both of us.”
Enzo nods, and I take a deep breath and brace myself for what I am about to do. I’m still not sure it’s the right move, I definitely don’t trust fuckin’ Enzo. Not for a one single fucking second. But for now, it seems we’re on the same page. I thrust my hand forward and open my fist.
Enzo looks down, his eyes opening wide as I hear throats clearing behind me in obvious shock as well.
Enzo smiles and thrusts his hand into mine, and we shake hands for the first time in history.
The O’Sheas and the Andrettis shaking hands.
Who the hell would have thought?