“Maybe he likes it rough,” Canon growled, voice like gravel in a blender. He was the only man I’d ever seen do a shot of hot sauce on a dare, then go back for seconds.
Moab snorted and tapped the table. “Meeting’s called, you gorillas. Let’s get this circus started.”
Vin didn’t bother standing. He just slammed his palm flat, hard enough to rattle a bottle off the edge. “All right, listen the fuck up.” He had a voice like rebar dragged over concrete, and when he got loud, it came from deep in the chest. “We got problems with the church crowd again. This time it’s personal.”
He fixed his gaze on me. I made a show of popping open a fresh PBR and waiting for the room to chill out, but every set of eyes in the place was on me, waiting to see if I’d flinch or fold. I did neither.
“Maple?” I said, not even a question.
Vin nodded, then cut his hand through the air. “Motherfucker’s been sniffing around, using his flock to dig at our business. Yesterday, he called us out by name.”
Red interrupted with a theatrical cough. “Church gossip says it’s more than just a holy war, Vin. My people inside say they’re running something out the back of the sanctuary. Money, pills, maybe bodies.” She tapped ash into an empty shot glass. “And they’re getting protection from someone higher up than the cops.”
Moab spat tobacco juice into the communal spittoon—a Dunkin Donuts coffee can, because fuck corporate sponsorship. “You hear that, Axel?” He looked at me like I was a defectivegrenade he wasn’t sure would go off. “Your girl’s daddy is making us look like amateurs.”
I sipped my beer, then leaned back until my chair nearly tipped over. “That preacher’s all smoke. He talks big, but it’s just for show.” A pause. “But I’ll check it out, if that’s the job.”
Vin’s eyebrows did their best to reach orbit. “You volunteering?”
I shrugged. “I owe him a black eye.”
Red grinned. “Ooooh, he’s got a personal grudge. How cute.”
Shiv just shook his head. “Fuckin’ Romeo.”
“Pipe down,” Vin growled, silencing the room. He looked at me with that military stare, the one that’d make a lesser man break eye contact. “You’re not walking in alone. I want you to take Shivs and DJ. They’ll keep your nuts from getting pinched in the collection plate.”
Shivs clapped once, loud and sharp. “Hell yeah, boss. When do we roll?”
“Tonight. Church is hosting a food drive, lotta bodies moving in and out. Recon only, unless they escalate.”
“Always escalate,” Shivs muttered, but nobody contradicted.
Vin turned to Red. “Keep working your angle. Find out who’s protecting Maple. Money men, politicians, sheriffs—doesn’t matter, just give me a name.”
Red saluted with her middle finger. “Already on it, Prez.”
The room shifted gears. Moab lit a smoke and started picking at his broken finger. Canon dug into a can of Vienna sausages with a butterfly knife. Moab poured himself a three-finger whiskey. I sat there, icepack on my face, watching it all like a strange family dinner. Vin caught my eye one more time.
“You gonna keep seeing his daughter? Pussy worth it?”
I shrugged. “I plan on it.”
He smirked. “If that becomes a problem, you let me know before you try to solve it yourself.”
“I got no problems, Vin,” I said. “Only solutions.”
He barked a short laugh. “That’s what worries me.”
***
Clubhouse meetings never ended so much as they slowly decayed. Vin headed out first, probably to squeeze an informant or punch a mailbox, and Moab shuffled off to the bathroom, moaning about taking a piss too much. Canon and Shivs started arguing over the best gas station in Kentucky for blowjobs, which meant I was left to clean up. I didn’t mind. There was something ritualistic about putting the empty bottles in neat rows, mopping up the spilled beer, and lighting a stick of incense to cover the stench of ash and testosterone.
Red waited until the room was mostly empty, then sidled up to the table, elbows on the sticky wood. “You’re really going to do this?” she said, voice low. “Go after a church, in this town?”
“I’m not going after the church,” I said. “Just the asshole running it.”
She flicked her lighter, thumb rolling the wheel slow. “You know they’re going to crucify you if this goes sideways.”
