King steps across from me.
“Defend yourself, or I’ll end up killing you with my bare hands and until we know if you were drugged or just slept your ass off, I won’t end your life,” I warn him.
I bounce on the balls of my feet, not that I need amping up to kick his ass.
“I really am sorry, Prez.”
“Like I said, couldn’t give a fuck about your apologies. Consequences, King. We always have them.”
I strike. My fist shoots out and lands on his jaw before he can get his guard up. He shakes it off and lurches back when I shoot forward and land a right hook quickly followed by an upper cut. He blocks both. Darting around him, I kick at the back of his knee, and he drops to the floor like a sack of shit. Before he can get back up onto his feet, I kick his ribs twice and drop down and rain down blows to his head and one to his shoulder when he goes to roll onto his side. I slip and he takes advantage of my fuck up. He scrambles unsteadily up to his feet and comes at me. The anger of being hit unleashing. He lands two punches beforeI turn my back and spin back around to clock him straight on his nose. It bursts open, blood gushing down his chin and onto his chest. I step back and roll my neck. Now he’ll have two busted eyes thanks to the broken nose. I shake my hands out and look up to the top floor.
I can’t have shit going down in my own clubhouse. It was my mistake for thinking I didn’t have to spell it out for everyone. King steps toward me and holds one hand to his nose and the other out to me. I clasp mine to his and pull him against me.
“I can’t reiterate how much that woman means to me. Anything, and I mean anything, happens to her, this club won’t mean shit cause I’ll burn everything down. When I give you an order and it has anything to do with my old lady, you don’t sleep, you don’t do anything that will distract you from it. You hear me?”
“It won’t happen again.”
“Go see Rudi, she’ll look at your nose.”
He walks off and Leo steps into the makeshift ring passing me my cut and hoodie. “I like the way you do things here.”
“It sorts shit out. I can’t have them or me walking around with grievances building up and blowing up in our faces.”
He nods, knowing I’m right.
“Are you good now you’ve seen Victoria?”
I roll my neck to release the tension still residing between my shoulder blades. “I’ll never be good with what’s happened to her tonight. That bitch is lucky she’s already dead or I would kill her myself.”
“I know you won’t give a shit, but this will blow back on you.”
“Then I better get everyone on the same page.”
Putting my fingers to my mouth, I let out a sharp whistle. “Back room, now.”
Walking with my brother, he lights a cigarette, and I refrain from taking it from him. He sits to my side, and I slam the gavel down.
“The only people who knew she was here was the Mayor and the Haywards. As far as they’re concerned, we all woke up this morning and she had left. Took her shit and ran. We’ve been out all day looking.” The brothers nod. “It goes without saying Tor didn’t fight with her, didn’t shoot her. In fact, Annabel rarely spoke, just read her books while she was here.”
“If this does end up coming back at us, it was me who shot her, I’ll take the fall,” King says.
“It won’t come to that, but if the worst is to happen, then yeah, you fuckin’ will.”
He nods.
Taking out my phone, I hit up Jamie Boy’s number.
“It’s Luca Jackson. You got a minute to talk?”
“What’s happened?”
“The Mayor’s daughter. She’s run off. Got up this morning and she was gone with her things. We rode around looking but she’s gone.”
“Nothing on your cameras?”
“No, it’s like she had checked out our blind spots.”
“I’m surprised you have any.”
