I’d only heard them talking shit about Monica. Confused, I shook my head. “They talked shit about Naomi?”
“While you were… wherever the fuck you were, these bastards started talking about a different four on two scenario for this parking lot.”
Snake laughed. “Don’t worry, we’ll still have time to take care of your women after we handle you, right Steel?”
Any rage that had trickled off me during our walk outside was back with a vengeance. These fuckers needed to be taught a lesson, and I was all too willing to teach. Apparently Eagle was, too. Our club’s secretary’s road name came from his position as a Marine scout sniper, but as he swooped down on Snake, I saw a different side of him. His fist connected to Snake’s face and he spun away before Snake could retaliate.
Skoal, Hyena, and Steel abandoned their friend to gang up on me.
Fucking chickenshits.
Needing to even up the odds and buy myself a little time, I slowly eased back like I was afraid, giving them the confidence to advance. Hyena was the first one in range. I lunged forward, throwing my weight into a kick at his leg. He saw me at the last minute and tried to move, but he was too slow. My steel-toed boot connected with a crunch. He went down with a shout, grabbing his leg in agony.
Pussy.
Steel saw an opening, so he threw a jab my direction. I blocked him, throwing up an elbow as I spun around. Skoal came at me from the other direction. I ducked into his right hook, letting him graze my shoulder as my fist sunk into his soft stomach. He grunted and tried to fold in on himself, but my uppercut connected with his jaw. His head flung back, and he went down, landing on his ass.
Snake could actually fight. He managed to land a jab on Eagle’s shoulder.
Eagle laughed, sounding maniacal as fuck, and swooped in again, looking like he was having the time of his life. I didn’t envy Snake one bit, but I didn’t have time to watch more of their moves because Steel nailed me in the back with his foot.
I was impressed. I’d half expected him to turn tail and run when he realized his friends were both out of commission. Grabbing at my back, I put on one hell of a show, acting like the fucker had near mortally wounded me. He bought my acting and closed in for the kill. I let him get close enough to land a jab. Turning into his punch, I flexed my stomach for impact and countered with a hook. The bastard hadn’t been expecting that. His eyes widened and he doubled over. I swept his legs out from under him, and he landed on his ass with one hell of a loud thud.
Steel coughed, rolling to his side to spit on the pavement, and I got a good look at the colors on the back of his cut. Dirty Hellions MC. I’d never heard of them before, but the name was fitting.
Eagle was standing between Skoal and Snake, bleeding from a small cut across his jaw. He swiped at it, still looking pissed. “The fucker came at me with a rock. Who does that?” He kicked Skoal for good measure. “Pussy.”
“You done?” I asked Steel since he seemed to be the ringleader of this not-so-merry band of depraved degenerates.
“Fuck you,” he spat.
“Don’t show your face around here again,” Spade said, pushing off the wall from where he’d been monitoring the fight. “Disrespectful pussy-ass bitches aren’t welcome in the Copper Penny.”
Monica
AS NAOMI AND I finished up our song, I sought out Stocks, only to watch him stand and pick up his barstool. Confused, I grabbed Naomi’s arm. She followed my gaze, and we both stared as he raised the stool over his head. Face twisting in a scary-ass scowl, he turned toward the four bikers seated beside him, looking like he was about to fuck them up.
What the…?
Shouting something I couldn’t make out, Eagle latched onto Stocks’s arm, trying to wrestle the stool out of his grasp. As the two tussled, the bartender joined in, grabbing ahold of Stocks’s other arm.
People crowded around them, blocking our view.
Latching on to the nearest Dead President, Naomi asked, “Rabbit, what the hell’s going on?”
“Those four pieces of shit were disrespecting you and your friend, and Stocks lost his mind. Looked like the lights were on and nobody was home, if you get my drift. He picked up his barstool and went after ’em like he was crazy. Thankfully Eagle stopped him before he could do any damage to the stool. Stocks is a good guy. Wouldn’t want Flint to kill him or eighty-six him from the bar.”
Judging by Rabbit’s tone, he thought banning Stocks would be a far worse punishment than death. Thanks to the waters Stocks had been pouring down my throat, I was sobering up, but not so much that I didn’t find that funny.
“What’s going on now?” Naomi asked, standing on her tiptoes and trying to see over the wall of people in front of us.
“Shit talkin.’ Oh, looks like Eagle’s gettin’ into it, too. Spade is tellin’ em to take it outside.”
“They’re gonna fight?” I asked, surprised. Outside of the battlefield, the boxing ring, and high school, I’d only seen a handful of fights. Most of them had consisted of a lot of posturing and talking until someone took a swing and both parties realized that shit hurt. Or people danced around and acted like they wanted to throw hands until the authorities were called to break it up.
“They sure the fuck are! Shit, I should call Link. He’s gonna miss this.” Rabbit seemed far too excited about the prospect of witnessing an ass kicking. We followed him out the back door and into the parking lot where we heard some of what was said to set the guys off.
“Guys are so weird,” Naomi said, studying the four troublemakers. “I mean, where do they get the confidence to walk in a club and see two beautiful and talented singers and just assume we’d be down for their little gang bang? They’re not even cute. I wish I had that kind of confidence.”
