After the Fall (The Fallen Men 4)
I even got my fingers on the handle before he was there, hand to my throat and squeezing. I gasped around the pressure, suddenly filled with cold dread because there was nothing humane left in Danner’s eyes, only hatred and fury.
“You tell them they don’t bring my wife back to me, I’ll start by taking you and Lou. The Venturas could always use pretty girls for their enterprise.”
“You fucking bastard,” I wheezed, clutching at his hand, prying his fingers off my throat.
He released me so abruptly I fell back against the door. “You want war with me? You tell your kind, they’ve got it.”
King
* * *
“Skell’s been arrested,” Buck announced after Bat closed the door to the Chapel and everyone had taken a seat.
There was a low series of curses.
“Are you fuckin’ kiddin’ me?” I growled. “What the fuck did he do?”
Buck ran a weary hand over his face, and I noticed how much the leadership role had robbed him of his health—skin ashen, eyes red with exhaustion. “Decided we weren’t doin’ enough and confronted Danner in Mac’s Grocer… ended up throwin’ him into a canned good display.”
“Fuck,” Bat groused, rubbin’ his temples. “We need brothers outta the clink, not fuckin’ goin’ in.”
“Such an asshole,” Curtains muttered, which said somethin’ because the kid was not one to judge or talk shit about anyone one.
But Skell was an asshole. Buryin’ the club deeper in shit just to have an outlet for his vehemence? What about the rest of us marinatin’ in our own goddamn fury?
I sighed and pulled at my lower lip so hard I wondered if it’d bruise. “Danner Senior went by Paradise Found today and threatened Cress when she was takin’ out the garbage.” My words scored like dragon’s breath out my throat. It’d seen red when Cress told me, even though she’d driven over to the garage herself just to tell me in person so I could see she was unheard. “Motherfucker out his hands on her. Shit is gettin’ outta hand, brothers. We need to do somethin’ about it.”
“Yeah, fuckin’ end Danner properly,” Heckler demanded.
“No. That is exactly what got Skell arrested,” Bat retorted, slidin’ Heckler a look that no man could misconstrue; a look that called him a fuckin’ dumbass.
Heckler was out of his seat, looming over Bat in an instant. “You got somethin’ to say, Combat?”
“Think I just said it.” Calm, cold, ruthless; the Bat trifecta.
“Settle down,” Buck ordered.
No one followed.
“You think endin’ the man who put our Prez in the can is fuckin’ stupid?” Heckler demanded, slappin’ at Wiseguy’s shoulder because the pair of them were tight and both, it had to be said, could be dense as bricks. “You hearin’ this?”
“Did the drive-by you clowns went on make any difference?” Axe-Man asked, leaned back in his chair, arms crossed, biceps bigger than Christmas hams. “You keep goin’ after Danner like that, it’s just what he wants. Like shootin’ fish in a barrel.”
“Listen, Cress said the woman Danner’s been shackin’ up with is fuckin’ Paula,” I cut in, standin’ up to lend my voice even though I didn’t raise it. There was an art, I’d learned over the years, of talkin’ to bikers and included talkin’ low and talkin’ slow so they didn’t think you were orderin’ them and they could process your words with their own bias. “Paula, same woman who basically stalked me through my entire teenager years. Apparently, she snuck in the night of the party and took the gun. We get to Paula; we got an in. We start targeting some’a the cops, we find dirt on them and blackmail them to flip on Danner. We. Get. An. In. Killin’ Danner isn’t goin’ to get Z outta jail, and isn’t that the priority here?”
“Sit down, boy,” Buck commanded wearily. “Let the men who’ve been here longer than you’ve been alive talk about things in a reasonable fuckin’ way.”
“How is this not reasonable?” I countered. When he didn’t answer, I cocked a brow and studied the dissatisfied looks on every single member’s face before taking a serious gamble.
“Callin’ for a vote of nonconfidence.”
A pause that felt lethal, then Wiseguy broke it to grunt, “The fuck?”
“A re-vote,” Bat offered, eyein’ me down in a way I couldn’t tell if it was respect or skepticism. “King wants us to re-vote on who’s actin’ Prez while Zeus’s behind bars.”
“Let me guess, you’re nominatin’ yourself,” Buck said, but he wasn’t bein’ combative or even insulted, just mildly shocked and maybe even a little disappointed.
“If anyone will stand with me,” I proposed. “Mean no offense, Buck, but this is not the way to handle the situation and you’re not providin’ any answers when we’ve got a real fuckin’ need for them. This club is under fuckin’ attack and we need to move.”
There was a pause like the thick, buzzing quiet after a bomb strike, and then they moved. My brothers split into two factions across an invisible, impenetrable line. Us and them.