Butch was sitting next to him and he turned and snickered. “You can’t handle a little heat, brother?”
Dom glared. “The heat I can handle. It’s the sweat I can’t.”
I cocked an eyebrow at him and Butch laughed again. “Dom has a real thing about being clean. Think he’s got some OCD shit going on about sweat.”
“Didn’t seem to mind last night when Candy was riding your sorry ass like you were a rodeo bull,” Gauge added in with a rumble of laughter that echoed around the room. Even Hardy laughed. “Gotta say though, think you gave that poor girl a complex.”
I frowned and laughed at the same time. “Why’s that?”
Fighter shoved me. “Dom made her wear one of his baseball caps and an old T-shirt. Woman has a face like an angel but he made her ride backwards.”
“She was fuckin’ sweatin’ all over me,” Dom grunted out in reply, his expression hard and unamused. “Besides, I like her ass!”
“All right, no need to be so touchy,” Gauge roared in laughter. “Hope you gave her a towel to wipe off afterwards.”
“Can we get on with this shit now and stop talking about my dick-action?” Dom deadpanned. “Not sure why my sex life is the cause of so much interest in the first place.”
“Brother, we’ve all got our vices and things that turn us on,” Click said, “but that’s some weird shit going on right there.”
Laughter echoed around the room again.
Dom glanced over at Butch, who was leaning back in his chair with his arms folded over his chest while he smirked.
Hardy slammed the gavel down. “All right, all right, chill. Dom’s right—we’ve got shit to discuss, so let’s get on with it.”
All eyes went to Hardy and he nodded over to Ripped. I looked down at my hands on the table, feeling uncomfortable as hell holding eye contact with the man I once called a friend but now saw only as my competition and my enemy.
“Got a lead on a missing load this morning and I wanna go and check it out. B-Man, a nomad of ours, said he came across some whispers in a bar he was in about a new crew in town that’s taking out other MC clubs, stealing their supplies and customers before dropping in spies and tearing the clubs apart man by man.” Ripped’s eyes strayed across us all, though I kept my head low. Felt like a traitor after what I’d done, but I didn’t regret it.
I’d promised Quinn I’d find a way for us to be together, and I had meant it. I needed to talk to Ripped, but it wasn’t the right time—not when we were close to getting a lead on our missing shipments. It wasn’t just about the drugs or the money; it was about our brothers lives being at risk, and that outweighed everything.
“Let’s go see if the lead provides some fallen fucking fruit for us then, brother,” Gauge said, and Hardy growled out his agreement.
“Tomorrow we need to do a pickup of a shipment, so I need all hands on deck and ready for anything. We’re splitting it seventy-thirty with the Burning Eights as a gesture of our goodwill to our brothers.” Hardy didn’t look happy about that, and I didn’t blame him. But we had to have the Burning Eights on board or we’d lose their trade and their corner of Savanah. I think everyone was hoping we’d find out what the hell was going on soon and they’d all be heading back home. The Burning Eights were our brothers, no doubt, and they were our business partners, but their accusations were getting tiresome.
“You got twenty before we get back on the road,” Hardy said, and slammed the gavel down.
Everyone began to file out of the room, including me, when Ripped grabbed my elbow and pulled me to a stop.
“Need a word,” he grunted.
My hackles were raised and I was ready to blow his brains all over the wall behind him before he could pull his gun on me, but instead of trying to kill me he held out a pack of smokes, and I took one, my hard glare staring down at him.
“’Sup?” I asked, not trusting myself to say anything more.
He lit his cigarette and then mine and shoved the pack back into his cut. “Need a favor.” He glanced around the room before looking back at me. “Don’t like leavin’ Quinn here on her own. She acts all tough and shit, but she’s got a lot of baggage and this town holds a lot of memories for her.”
“What you asking of me, Ripped?” I replied, not happy with where the conversation was leading, but also curious now that he’d drip-fed me a little information on Quinn.
He slapped me on the arm and laughed. “Right to the point—that’s what I like about you, Battle. That and the fact that I can trust you. So the thing is, we’re all brothers here, but any red-blooded man is gonna be tempted by her, and she might be wearing my cut but she still won’t take my ring. Keep her close, and you cut off the dick of any man that even looks at her the wrong way.”
He stared at me, and I felt my heart sink to my gut as I realized what he was asking of me. I couldn’t tell if he was being entirely serious or if he was joking around right before he put a bullet in my dick for going near his woman. I wouldn’t blame him for that because I’d do a hell of a lot worse if she were my woman and I found out another man had been even looking at her and having the kind of thoughts I did about her.
“This ain’t your job, I know, but I need all my men with me today and I don’t know…” He cocked his head at me, his gaze seeing more than I wanted it to as he peered at me. “Somethin’ about you tells me I can trust you to keep her safe.”
“We’ve got prospects for this shit,” I said, my voice low, almost like a threat.
He nodded and stubbed out his cigarette. “I know, but I figure if anyone is goin’ to keep her safe as pie for me, it would be you. Like I said when I arrived, you’re loyal and you didn’t come about a name like Battle by being a pussy. I need a man watching my woman, Battle—a man I can trust. And I trust you.”
