BANG!
“The fuck!”
More gunfire erupted. Loads of gunfire. Men screamed.
And we hadn’t shot a single bullet.
“Get me the fuck out!” King yelled, his voice dropping as his microphone or whatever the fuck he’d used vanished.
“Fire on those bastards!” I yelled.
With the King’s Men distracted, we lined up at the windows. A few even went out the front door and landed some shots from a better angle. It barely took two minutes for the entire place to clear out of King’s Men.
“Holy shit, we won,” Spawn said.
We had.
But I knew better than to declare this a victory. We’d gotten lucky. And luck…
It had come in the form of the Reapers.
Cole, Butch, and Connor—I’d certainly remember their names now—emerged from the shadows, carrying what looked like M4s. They nodded to us. I walked over, nodded to them.
“Thanks for the help.”
“I’d say you’d do the same in return for us, but that’s not important right now,” Cole said. “Now do you understand the threat King poses?”
I sighed.
“I may have underestimated the extent to which the fucker would go.”
“He didn’t kill any of you because he respects your strength,” Butch said. “He wants your power.”
“But he’s only got so much patience,” Cole said. “And he has enough resources and manpower to defeat you over time.”
A week ago, I would have told Cole to get the fuck out of my face before I made him even more of a midget. Now, I had to believe him.
“Ally with us,” Cole said. “You don’t have to color up. If you want to later—”
“Don’t try this foot-in-the-door shit with me,” I said.
But I knew the days of us being truly independent, in the face of this threat by King, were gone. We would never fucking become part of another club, but we couldn’t operate like an island.
“Send your club presidents to me; those are the only ones I want to speak to.”
“I am a club president,” Cole said.
“You said you got multiple chapters. Send them to me. I’ll talk to you and whoever else there is. And make it quick. I don’t think King took kindly to whatever the fuck happened.”
Cole nodded.
“And thanks.”
I turned and left before they had a chance to react to my gratitude. It wasn’t like me to show appreciation to competition like this.
But then again, nothing these days was like normal.
I headed back into the clubhouse. Everyone had returned inside.
