“Copper Black.”
“Uh-huh. And him?”
“He’s my security. Let’s go. I ain’t got all day,” I said impatiently. His amateur intimidation tactics were doing nothing but pissing me off even more.
He stuck his head inside the office and mumbled something before straightening and opening the door for us to enter.
Todd Russo was everything I expected him to be—a slender man with slicked-back hair in a cheap suit. He stood from behind his desk and extended his hand. “Good evening. I’m Todd Russo. What brings you into my fine establishment this evening?”
I glanced at his hand in disgust. “You know damn well why I’m here.”
He feigned surprise. “I’m afraid I don’t.”
“Three of my boys have been working out here. When they declined your invitation to fight for you, you put one of them in the hospital and trashed the apartment of the other two. Now, I wouldn’t have given a shit what you’ve got going on here as long as it didn’t affect me and mine, but it has, and now I’m pissed.”
“Again, I’m afraid you have me at a disadvantage. Your boys?” he asked.
I grinned. “Oh, you really don’t know who I am. Allow me to introduce myself. Copper Black, President of the Blackwings MC. Your cronies fucked with two of my patched members and a prospect.”
He tried to hide his reaction, but I saw his body slightly stiffen at the mention of the club. We were well-known in the area and you’d have to be new in town or completely clueless to not know who we were.
“I can assure you none of my employees or associates were responsible for the unfortunate situation your friends found themselves in.”
“Cut the shit, Todd,” I snapped. “We both know that’s bullshit. When’s your next fight?”
His eyes widened in surprise, but he answered quickly. “Tomorrow night.”
“Good. We’ll see you then,” I said and turned to leave.
“Excuse me?”
“You wanted a fight, and you’re going to get one.”
“You can’t just—”
“Yeah, I fucking can. We’ll be here tomorrow night.”
He grinned. “All right, but if my guy wins, your boys will fight for me.”
I returned his grin and extended my hand. “And if my guy wins, I get your gym and you find a new town to play in.” When he didn’t immediately shake on it, I added, “What? You don’t have faith in your fighter?”
He smirked. “Of course, I have faith in my fighters, Mr. Black. I’m just not sure you understand what you’re agreeing to.”
I snorted, “I know exactly what I’m agreeing to.”
He stuck his sweaty hand in mine and limply shook it like the pussy he was. “Well then, we’ll see you tomorrow night.”
Judge managed to keep a straight face until we made it back to our bikes. “This is going to be fun,” he laughed.
I smiled. “Yeah, it fucking is.”
14
Savior
Ispent the entire day at the hospital with Grant. He was doing much better than the day before, but he slept most of the time I was there because of the pain medication they were giving him.
It killed me to have to sit in his room knowing Avery was down the hall and I couldn’t visit her. Part of me wondered if Copper had intentionally assigned me to stay with Grant to test my willingness to follow his orders; but, the more I thought about it, the more I didn’t think that was the case.
