“That’s pathetic on so many levels.” I shoot Scratch a look. “How long you been working there?”
“A little over a year.” He shrugs. “Fuckin’ customers are assholes, and the boss sucks, but it gives me enough to keep my bookie from breaking my legs.”
“Nobody’s gonna break my treasurer’s legs.” I offer him my fist, and he returns the gesture.
“What’s the plan?”
“Funny you should ask…”
Chapter Nine
SAMMIE
“You don’t look so good.” Evie, my best friend since Mrs. Hanson’s sixth grade science class, examines me with her crystal-blue eyes.
“Viper was here today.”
Her light eyes widen then narrow. “Why?”
“The usual. Intimidation, bullying.”
“You know how dangerous he is,” Evie states the obvious.
“Nobody knows better than me.” I bend down and scoop up the broken glass with the dust pan. “I didn’t think he knew I was out. Figured he’d stay in Philly, but, of course, with my miserable luck, he searched me out.”
“You need protection from him.” She motions to the broken glass. “Did he do this?”
“Ohhh, no, that happened when I screwed Deuce, another badass biker, right here on the bar.”
“What?” Evie screeches.
“Yes, it looks like every lowlife within twenty miles wants The End.”
“Whoa, whoa, back up to the part where you screwed the other biker.”
“Seems my bad choices haven’t improved my decision-making skills.”
Deuce revved me up the first time he came to The End. Main reason why I shut him down, main reason why I ordered him to leave, main reason why I refused to tell him my name.
“How? When?” Evie stutters.
“Oh, just your typical day in the life of Cinzia Conte Moreno.”
“Slow the hell down and give me all the details.”
“You’d think screwing another outlaw would be the worst thing, but it’s not. If my research is correct, he just got out of MCC, and him and Viper got into a pissing contest because Deuce, that’s his name, is looking to revive the Kings of Anarchy in AC.”
“The Kings haven’t been around since just after we go out of high school.”
“I remember hearing about it from my father’s nefarious connections. Back then, the Kings had real power in the city, but seeing one up close and personal is another story.”
“And that’s the part I want to hear about—the up close and very personal.” Evie’s eyes widen, and I know there will be no putting her off.
“I was fighting with psycho biker, Viper, then badass biker, Deuce, barged in and threw Viper out . . . so, of course I felt compelled to fuck Deuce.” I stop sweeping. “I always envisioned the Kings as older beer-bellied degenerate criminals, similar to the guys my father knew.”
“And?” Evie fills one of the unbroken glasses with bourbon.
“Not the case with the former president of the Kings.”
