“Which makes it a nice tidy business to rake in some cash. Increase the old dude’s product, get one of us to help him out, then undercut the price and sell it ourselves.”
Ace shakes his head. “Gotta love the way your mind thinks.”
“We gotta start building back up, and that might be one way to do it,” Speed agrees.
“Tell Ace about The End,” Shady prompts me between puffs.
“The End?” Ace asks. “That place’s been shut up for over a year.”
“I got a line on buying it cheap from my cellie in the joint. Went over there yesterday to look at it. It’s a shit-hole now, but it’d make a perfect clubhouse. Just enough outside of AC and set way back off the road.”
Ace narrows his eyes. “But?”
This fucker knew me way too well.
“Some chick owns it, and she’s a little flaky.”
“Big tits flaky?” Speed waggles his eyebrows.
“Nah, like really flaky. When I got there, she was trying to open a piece-of-shit safe by whacking it with a hammer.”
“There’s gotta be more to that story.” Speed passes the weed back to me.
“I made a deal with her.” I take a hit.
Shady shakes his head. “Ahhh, shit. You’ve already had your dick in her.”
“How do you get that from what I said?” I ask.
They all laugh way too loud, then Ace says, “‘Cause most deals you make with women center around slipping your dick in their pussy, mouth, ass or all three.”
I screw up my face. “That was the old days, man. From now on, I’m all about business and getting the Kings back to where they belong.”
They all exchange an annoying look, but I ignore them. I’d fuckin’ show them when I came back with the deed for The End, soon to be the Kings of Anarchy clubhouse, in my pocket.
“Tomorrow we hook up with Fist and Scratch. Let them know what’s going on, then we get those cuts on our backs and start riding again.” I look at each of them, my eyes landing on Speed. “Plus, we gotta get your bike back.” I look at Ace and Shady. “How about you guys? Still riding?”
“Mine needs work.” Ace sucks the last of the smoke and pitches the ember onto the concrete. “But I got it all covered up in a rented garage.”
“Same,” Shady agrees.
Ace leans back in the chair and eyeballs me. “Don’t give us that look. After everything that went down, none of us wanted to ride or do anything related to our old life.”
“Too fuckin’ painful, man,” Shady adds. “After all the shit went down, being tagged as a King was not good, even potentially hazardous to our health.”
Again, I’m hit with the guilts, so I take a swig from the bottle of beer next to me. It was gonna take a long-ass time for those feelings to evaporate, which made getting The End and regaining my brothers’ trust my first priority.
“All that’s behind us now, and the Rabid Dogs better watch their mangy asses, ‘cause no fuckin’ way are they coming into AC. No fuckin’ way are they coming into Kings territory.”
They all nod, and we tap fists in solidarity. For the second time tonight, I feel like I’m finally home.
The next day I had another amazing breakfast at the diner. I forgot how much I missed Taylor Ham and any food not made for five hundred other guys.
“You going over to The End again today?” Speed asks.
“Nah, I’m gonna lay low for a few days, then head over there with some tools I stored in Maggie’s garage. The place needs a shit-ton of work, so maybe if I offer to help her out, it’ll soften her to the idea of selling.”
“Not a bad plan, except she’s a woman, which always ends badly for you.”
