“What the fucking hell, man?” Jason said. “I don’t even know you!”
“No, you probably don’t,” Mason said. “But you damn well know my sister. You’ve been stalking her this whole time.”
“I have a girlfriend!” Jason said. “I don’t know—”
Mason delivered a hard kick to his back. Now that Jason was on the ground, all but knocked out, a bit of the adrenaline had faded. I needed to play the part of boundary-keeper, making sure that shit didn’t explode past the point of death.
“If you go near my sister again,” Mason said, crouching down by his side. “I will fucking kill you. And if you think I’m full of shit, just ask all your other Bandit friends.”
Why, why, why?That was a stupid-ass taunt, and I knew it as soon as I saw the look of recognition on Jason’s face.
“Fucking Black Reapers, huh?” Jason said, snickering.Goddamnit, Mason.“First you slash our fucking bikes, and now you make up reasons to attack us?”
It was a damn good thing Mason was too infuriated to actually listen to Jason. He might have picked up that the guy was telling the truth.
“This is going to end so badly for you,” he said. “You think you’re the only one getting bankrolled in this town? Think again, motherfucker.”
Mason and I traded looks. I had no idea what Jason meant, nor did I really care. We had enough weapons to take on a military unit. What were some fucking Bandits, taunting us under duress, going to do to us?
“You best watch your fucking mouth,” Mason said. “I came here with a promise not to kill you. Don’t make me change my mind.”
Jason stared up at Mason, who spat in his face one more time. He motioned for us to leave.
“I may change my mind about fucking your sister, though.”
I saw it all happen so slowly. Mason turned, raised his foot, and curb-stomped Jason right in the face. The kick knocked Jason out cold, and blood splattered everywhere. I pushed Mason aside, making sure we didn’t do the one thing we promised not to, and felt Jason’s pulse.
“He’s alive,” I said. “Think we made our fucking point?”
“Asshole needs to die!” Mason roared, and I really thought I was about to be a casualty by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“And he will, in combat,” I said. “But not here. We kill him here, we’re dead. He already knows we’re Black Reapers. We’ll be hit. We’ll have our chance to kill him.”
Mason’s breathing intensified through his nostrils, like he was bracing to push me aside. He let out a deep roar…and then turned and knocked over a table in frustration.
“You better fucking help recruit new members,” he said. “If that attack is coming, all these fucking Bandits need to die. We need all the manpower we can get. Get more prospects and less bitches.”
He said nothing more as he stormed out of the bar, going to his bike and leaving me. I checked one more time to make sure Jason hadn’t died. He had not.
But that didn’t mean we were off the hook. I had no idea what he meant when he said we weren’t the only ones being bankrolled, but it didn’t sound good.
And that certainly didn’t mean I was off the hook. The only thing keeping Mason blind was his hatred of the Bandits. When that secret got exposed…
I hurried back to my bike and headed for the shop. When I got there, to my surprise, Cole and Butch were waiting there with the rest of the Black Reapers.
“Where have you been?” Cole asked.
Mason was standing in front, and I stood by his side. It suddenly felt like a trial, with the two of us before a jury. Except the jury probably wanted the crime committed.
Except…the closer I looked, the less likely that seemed to be the case.
“Handling personal business,” Mason growled.
“And?” Brock said. “Did you?”
“Yes,” I said. “Fucker got what was coming to him!”
But no one responded to my celebratory voice, and I dropped it.
