KING
I'd only meant to drive by and give Abbie her purse, maybe get one last look at her, but that was it. I figured she worked nearby and after talking to Luna at the restaurant, I managed to figure out where her PR firm was located. Just drive by, drop off her purse, nothing else, I told myself. She'd made it clear that she didn't want anything to do with me and I intended to honor that. As much as I thought it sucked and I didn't like it, I had to respect her wishes. That had been the plan, at least.
The plan changed the moment I saw that piece of shit in her face, though. When I saw him grab her and shake her, I lost it. Something in my mind shut down and all I could think about was killing him. I didn't kill him, of course, but God knew I wanted to. The scared look in Abbie's eyes made me want to hurt him so bad – but she'd begged me to stop. And only because of her, because she'd asked me to, did I stop myself from beating the shit out of him – maybe even from killing him.
“King, wait – ” she called after me as I rushed away.
I shot a look back toward the man who'd had his hands on Abbie, “Remember what I said. I will kill you next time.”
“King – ” Abbie called out.
But she couldn't walk as fast as I could. And before she could say whatever it was she wanted to say, I was on my bike, riding off down the street, leaving her in the dust. I'd handed her the purse and I was out of there. She didn't want to see me anymore, I'd obey her wishes. After all, if I forced myself on her, I was no different than the asshole in the parking lot.
But man, when I saw his hands on her – I thought back and couldn't remember a time I'd ever been so angry before. They say you see red when you're that pissed off, but I blacked out for a minute. Lost control. Never before had a woman caused such an instant and violent emotional response in me. Never before had I let myself get this crazy over a woman.
She'd told me to stay away, though. And I'd planned to do as she asked. I pulled into the clubhouse just as Roy was walking out.
“'bout time,” he said, his usual joking tone missing this time. His face was always a bit rough, but this time, his eyes looked more tired than usual.
“What's going on?” I asked.
“We need to get the guys together,” Roy said, scratching his beard. “We need to talk. All of us.”
“About?” I asked.
“The Incas.”
Great. Just what I needed right then. Nodding, I walked inside with Roy and gathered the gang together. Roy had put out a message that we needed to meet, but I'd missed it thanks to getting caught up with Abbie.
Pacing the room, I was still fuming mad. Though I'd handled the situation, I hadn't come down from the rage that had taken control of me just yet. Part of me wished I could just hop on my bike, go back there and continue punching him in the face until there was nothing left. The other part of me knew I had responsibilities to attend to right then. But my eyes were narrowed, my fists were balled up at my side and my men watched me, all of them keeping their distance but Roy.
“I don't know what's going on with you, man,” Roy said to me, pulling me to the side, “but now is not the time for this shit. We got bigger shit on our plates right this moment. Got it?”
“I'm fine. Let's do this,” I said, walking front and center, leaning against the bar. Crossing my arms in front of me, I waited for Roy to call the meeting to order and tell us what the hell was going on. The Incas. Which meant trouble no matter how you put it. “What about the Incas, Roy? We've held up our end of the deal, they need to pay up now.”
“Not so fast,” Roy said, scratching at the stubble on his face. “El Segador is claiming we haven't finished the deal.”
“That's bullshit,” I snapped. That dark rage was beginning to creep back in at the edges and I physically had to keep it from going any deeper. I took several deep breaths and let them out slowly.
“I know it's bullshit, but there's more. They also want us to work out a new deal with them – this one involving black tar heroin.”
A low whistle passed my lips and a feeling of dread settled around my shoulders. This day couldn't possibly get any worse. The Cossacks ran drugs – weed, some cocaine a time or two, but nothing too hardcore. It was how the club made money. But we had our limits and we didn't fuck around with stuff that would come back around to bite us in the ass.
“We don't deal in that shit, much less with the Incas. Too fucking dangerous.”
My men all nodded their agreement. It was one thing that united all of us. Petty crime, some drug runs, but nothing too dangerous. And nothing that was going to land any of us some serious prison time. The last thing any of us wanted was to get caught up in that shit. And as I stared out at the gang, they all seemed pretty united in that belief. It would have been big money, but doing life in prison wasn't worth it to any of them. I knew that to a man, they all had my back. More importantly, I knew that Roy had my back.
The Incas? Couldn't trust them. Never could. That was just asking for trouble.
“We agreed to a pot run, that was it,” I said. “We held up our end of the bargain, now it's their turn to pay up.”
Easier said than done, and even I knew that. Roy shot me a look that said we needed to be careful. The Incas weren't people to screw around with. The problem was, we were already in bed with them. Not something I wanted to do, but at the time we cut the deal, it seemed like a good way to make a large sum of money and get out of this life for good. You know what they say about things that are too good to be true? Well, it came back to bite me in the ass, big time.
There was trouble brewing, I could feel it. We'd been delayed in finishing our original deal with the Incas, and there had been rumors flying about us talking to the police. We didn't talk. We never talked. But now it seemed they were going to push the envelope and were going to pull us down with them. But there was no way in hell I'd let my brothers go down that way. Not for those pieces of shit.
I was still pissed because of what happened earlier and this didn't help my mood any. But if anything, it helped me come to terms with ending things with Abbie. After all, violence was on the horizon – one way or another – and it was better she didn't get caught up in all of it. Didn't want her to get hurt or worse.
Because God knew, my feelings for her were getting the best of me. And if I was about to be dragged down into some deep shit, I didn't want to bring her along for the ride.