I reread the text again, the earth seeming to sink beneath my feet. Then, I raised my gaze to the black, starless sky.
Fuck, fuck, fuck! Why did I go to her last night? Damn me and my stupidity.
I kicked the dusty ground with frustration and fury at myself.
Get a hold of yourself, idiot. Don’t make it worse.
I took deep breaths and after a while, I regained my calm. Wiping my face of all expression, I headed into the bar. It was lit with vibrant red lights and hazy with thick smoke.
The room was empty but for the club’s nine executive members.
Every one of them was staring at me, their gazes piercing, questioning, and waiting.
My gun was tucked into my waistband, but it would not have done me a fucking bit of good.
I slid into the nearest booth, behind a table I knew I could use as a shield if things went out of control.
“How you feeling?” Snake asked. If he had meant to sound caring, he failed miserably.
A cold shiver ran down my spine. “I’ll survive.”
Snake nodded.
The bar was eerily quiet, but I knew that it had nothing to do with the somber incident that had taken place just a few hours earlier. I addressed the suspicion head on, “Who was asking for me?” I asked.
Tyler spoke up. “I was. Where were you?”
I stared at him, my face darkening at the inquisition. “What’s it to you?” I asked. From the corner of my eye, I didn’t miss the look the other members shared with each other. “Is there a problem?” I asked around again.
Everyone remained silent. Snake responded, “None, Bone. We just got word that you went to find a woman, then disappeared with her. We’ve never heard of you with any hussy before so we were just a bit curiou—”
“She’s no hussy,” I interrupted, my fists clenching, my tone heavy and harsh.
No one said anything.
I stared grimly at the members in the bar and over to little Rick, the bar’s owner behind the counter. “So you tailed me?” I asked coldly.
“Don’t take it to heart, Bone,” Rooster placated. “One of the members just thought they spotted you. It was more for your own good than anything else.”
Malicious bastard must think I was born fucking yesterday. “Yeah? So what’s this interrogation all about then? I was with a woman. Since when did that become a crime? Like I haven’t dealt with enough bullshit for one day?”
“Who’s the woman?” Tyler asked, his eyes drilling into my soul. Unlike the others, he wasn’t even a little bit moved by my aggressive response.
“None of your fucking business,” was my furious response.
“C’mon,” RJ crowed excitedly. “You’ve always been a loner. Imagine our surprise when we found out you had someone to go to on such a tough day for ya. Volt, you saw where she lived right?” The moment the words left his mouth, he knew he had made a serious mistake.
“You fucking moron!” Volt screamed.
More curses and hisses rang out and the bastard lowered his head in shame to take a long slug of his beer.
I lifted my gaze to Volt, who had with seemingly good intention, secretly alerted me to the fact I’d been tailed in the first place.
“You left the hospital in a rush,” he explained hastily, his eyes darting around the members. “I followed to make sure you were okay. Then I saw you pick her up, but I lost both of you after that.”
I kept up appearances and continued to glare at him.
“Don’t get your panties in a twist. We’ll look over her for you,” RJ piped in.
I slowly transferred my glare to him. How I hated him. The term lowlife scum was too much of an honor for him. “Haven’t you caused enough trouble already? A damn kid was paralyzed on your account today, and I was almost killed. Are you ever going to learn to behave like a fucking human being, or do I have to destroy you myself?”
Embarrassed, he smashed the tumbler of whisky he had been nursing on the ground defiantly, shot up from his stool, and glared at me with his reddened eyes. “Let’s see who’s gonna destroy who first,” he boasted, starting to reach behind him.
Before his hand could even touch his gun, Tyler’s fist had slammed into his jaw. It happened so fast RJ didn’t even make a sound as he crashed to the ground.
Rooster who was sitting next to him jumped up to avoid his dead weight crushing him. Rowdy laughter rang out across the bar as Rooster bent down to shake the unconscious man. “He’s out,” he reported, as he arose.
Tyler reached for the gun that had flown off RJ and the meeting went on without further interruptions.
“What are we going to do about the Death’s Hand?” Tank asked.
“A war is unavoidable now,” Dobson responded. “I can’t figure out why they attacked first? What’s with these bloodthirsty bastards fucking running around?”