Epilogue
It was a quiet Tuesday afternoon in the clubhouse, but these kinds of afternoons were no longer quite the easy time they once were.
It was only when I was with Melissa that my mind and body felt at ease. And make no mistake, being back with her did a lot to calm my general sense of being. I couldn’t believe my fucking good fortune to be back with her, and she did a lot for me.
But getting back with her had not killed King. And so long as that fucker roamed the streets of Phoenix—or really anywhere, period—I would not rest easy. His death would be the only thing that would give me peace.
I was in charge of the shop’s operations for the day, but ever since the incident with Melissa and King, I’d mostly taken the time to just sit in the clubhouse and quietly think.How would I strike at the King’s Men? How can I get King dead?It was almost surreal how he seemed to escape us. He was like the snake that could just slither out of any situation.
The front door opened. I looked up to see Sonny entering. He moved quickly but purposefully, as he usually did. That was another thing that had surprised me about recent events—how much Sonny seemed to be moving to take control of the club. I didn’t know if it was a power-hungry move, if he just genuinely believed his father was inept, or if he didn’t even realize it, but there was certainly brewing tension between the father and son.
Certainly, Satan getting a new woman after being single for so long probably wasn’t helping matters.
“Spawn,” Sonny said, “I just got some intel on the King’s Men I thought you might be interested in.”
“Would I be?” I said. “Seems like every time we get intel, we learn this fucker is even stronger than we thought.”
“It does seem that way, doesn’t it,” Sonny said with a sigh. “You should call Satan. Tell him to come here so I can tell him as well.”
Why am I calling him and not you? Does this shit go even deeper than I thought?
“I’ll shoot him a text, but I want to know what’s going on now. My girlfriend nearly got killed by that fucker.”
“I know, fair enough,” Sonny said, drawing a breath. “So we know there’s ten of them roaming around the streets, right? Well, we based that number mostly on the fact that those were the ten on bikes, who wore King’s Men uniforms. I managed to capture one and interrogate him.”
“You did? I’ll be damned. And you’re not in trouble for that?”
Sonny shrugged.
“I think you’d be surprised how many of those guys are under King’s rule by fear and not by choice.”
That, I could believe. I wouldn’t be nearly as surprised as some of the other shit that had popped up.
“Anyway, so first thing I learned. You remember that messenger guy you beat the ever-living shit out of a few months back? Asher?”
“How could I fucking forget?” I said. “I mean, I didn’t memorize the dude’s name, but you don’t forget the chance to beat the fuck out of someone like that.”
“Well, turns out, he never went back to the King’s Men. They’re trying to find him badly. I’m thinking that if we get to him first, we can take him in and use him for information.”
“If he’d give us that info.”
“Heneverwent back, Spawn. We’ve all gotten our ass beat. But how often have we refused to return to our clubs?”
Fair point.
“The second thing I learned isn’t as favorable to us as the first.”
If you could call that first point favorable.
“King knows we’ve gotten our shit together some. So he’s bringing in the big guns.”
“And that would be?”
“The King’s Men sergeant-at-arms, Crush, and their vice president, Prince.”
“Heh, King and Prince.”
“They’re family.”
