Nodding, she smiled. He gave her a quick kiss on her lips and rushed out of the room. If he stayed a second later, he’d have her in a heated embrace, his hands roaming over her body, exploring the curves she kept hidden.
When he entered the meeting room, all eyes were on him. Some of the brothers had smirks on their faces while others straightened up, preparing to question and rib him about Fallon. He pulled a metal chair out and plopped down, his eyes fixed forward.
“How was your night?” Goldie asked.
Of course it’d be Goldie who’d start the grilling.
“Good.” He crossed his arms over his broad chest.
“How’s Fallon? Did she have a good night too?” Goldie pushed his chair back against the wall, and some of the brothers snickered.
“She’s good.”I’m not giving ’em shit.
“Lucy and Maria were moping most of the night because you had her in your room,” Army said.
“First time we’ve seen you with a non-club woman,” Chains said.
Their words were beginning to wind him up as irritation jabbed at his gut. “So?” he gritted.
“It’s just that we wanna know what’s so special about this chick. Something is. Does she fuck better than Lucy or Maria?” Goldie laughed. Some of the brothers whistled while others guffawed.
To Diablo, their words and gestures were like acid—burning, slicing, potent. Anger hissed through his body as he sprang out of his chair and smashed his fist into Goldie’s nose, splattering red drops on the white walls.
“What the fuck, you asshole!” Goldie clipped Diablo’s jaw, and soon the two men were punching the shit out of each other.
Bam! Bam! Bam!The loud banging flooded Diablo’s ears and pulled him out of his rage. He shoved Goldie away and turned his attention to the front of the room. Steel, holding the gavel, didn’t look too pleased. Diablo wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, the coppery tang of blood overpowering his taste buds.
“What the fuck is going on here?” Steel demanded, his green eyes glaring.
“Nothing,” Goldie said as he held a wad of tissue to his nose and tilted his head back.
“Bullshit! Muerto?”
Muerto shook his head. “Raven and I were texting, so I wasn’t paying attention.”
“Army? Crow?” The men just shook their heads or shrugged. Steel crossed his arms and glowered at the brothers. “Diablo, what the fuck happened?”
“Goldie said some shit that I didn’t like. No big deal. He knows he was outta line.”
“Fuck you,” Goldie said.
“Does this have to do with Fallon?” Steel glanced at Paco, who nodded. “Next time take it outside. We don’t do shit like this at church. What the fuck were you thinking, Diablo?”
He stared at his president without saying a word.Steel’s right. I fuckin’ lost control.He couldn’t explain why, but when he heard Goldie disrespecting Fallon, it was like he’d thrown gasoline on the fire that had been burning inside Diablo since he’d seen Goldie’s smirk as he walked into the room. He’d just exploded and his primal instinct took over. He didn’t think he’d broken Goldie’s nose—he hadn’t heard the crackling sound he knew so well after years of fist fights—but itwasswelling up pretty good.
“You good, Goldie?” Steel asked. Goldie nodded. “Then let’s start. I called church because Hawk called me a couple of hours ago and said Satan’s Pistons are planning retaliation for the shit that went down at the warehouse and what we did to their strip bar. He said they’ve been buying a bunch of arms from some of the gangs in Denver. How’re we doing with adding to our artillery, Army?”
“Good. Banger hooked me up with this Irish dude, Liam. Seems the Insurgents have worked with him for many years. Banger said he’s a good guy who can be trusted for the most part. Muerto, Chains, and I are meeting with him next week. He said he can get us whatever we need.”
“Did Hawk say what the fuckers have in mind?”
Steel shook his head. “No, just that they’re talking a lot of shit about us, and the way they’re building up their stockpile makes him believe they’re planning to strike. Paco’s been in charge of installing security cameras at all our businesses.”
The Night Rebels never needed the cameras because no sane citizen would dream of vandalizing, breaking in, or stealing from the outlaw club, but since the Pistons’ acts of aggression, security cameras and alarms had to be installed.
“We need to strike them before they strike us,” Crow said.
“That’ll just escalate everything. We need to anticipate their movements,” Paco countered.
