Crow: Kings of Carnage MC - Prospects

“Ruin, what are you doing here?” My sister instantly comes to mind, and I begin to panic.

“Oh my God, where is Dime? Is she okay? What’d she do?”

Holding both of his hands up, he smiles.

“Easy, she’s fine… as far as I know. This visit isn’t about her.”

My entire body sags, and my hand raises to my forehead that’s brewing a headache. Dime is the opposite of me. Just turning eighteen, the girl is fast and wild, it’ll be a miracle if she’s not pregnant before she’s nineteen.

“You got a second? I have a business proposition for you.”

Slowly raising my head, I stare him in the eyes. Without asking, he takes initiative and shoves past me inviting himself into my home, Saint following him in. My eyes sweep to the motorcycles where the two other men stand. Just knowing they’re out there makes me even more nervous.

Stepping inside, I shut the door to keep the cold air in. Our air conditioner can barely keep up with this Georgia heat.

Turning around, Ruin is looking around my place, one hand in his pocket. Jesus, he’s big. Having him in my house makes everything look smaller.

“I’m just going to cut to the chase. There’s a place across the street from our club and I need someone I can trust to run it.”

“Run it? What is it?” I ask, sitting down in a floral chair across the room from him.

He shrugs. “Whatever the fuck you want it to be. Salon, bakery, I don’t really give a shit, I just don’t need someone we don’t know running it. I got too much shit coming and going for that.”

“So, just buy it and leave it empty.” I solve the problem for him.

“Yeah, that won’t work either. People come through this way a lot and having an empty building across from us would raise questions.”

“So you want me to rent out a place across from the club just so you don’t get narked on?”

“You ain’t gotta pay rent money, we’ll help with any maintenance problems, and if you need help moving in, I can have some prospects help with that too.”

Looking down, I start scraping the pink nail polish from my nails nervously. Ruin is not a man you say no to. Shit will start happening around here, to my car, and God knows about my sister. They’ll say it’s just a coincidence, but I know better.

“I’m going to take your silence as a yes.”

Lifting my head to tell him I want to think about it, he slaps a wad of cash onto the coffee table, shutting my mouth.

“This should help you get started. Paint, new lights, signs, and shit. If you need more just come over to the club and let one of us know.”

Saint opens the door, declaring the conversation over, holding it open for Ruin.

“I, um—” I have no words, I guess the only thing I can think of at this moment is why did he choose me for this?

Abruptly standing, I blurt out, “Why me?”

Ruin stops in his tracks, his hand raising to rub his scruffy beard until his icy blue eyes stab me where I stand. Just as I think he’s about to bring up about the time we were in school and the teacher called on me asking what I wanted to be when I grew up, and I said a coffee maker he said, “Why not you?”

Blinking, I don’t respond, I can’t. He was the only one who didn’t make fun of my small-time dreams.

“Because I trust you to keep your mouth shut, and look the other way, Maybelline.” The way he says my name has a shiver race up my spine, it’s a warning if there ever was one without having to say it.

“Didn’t you and your sister have a thing for baking or coffee?”

And there it is, I knew he’d remember.

“Well, keep your head down and bake your cookies and make your foo-foo drinks and there won’t be a problem.” Without another word, he dips out the front door, Saint shutting it behind him. The sound of motorcycles start up, and I fall into the chair, eyeing the stack of cash on the coffee table.

The Kings of Carnage MC are dangerous criminals that shake me to my core. I couldn’t dare tell them no even if I wanted to. But if anyone has the power to bring my sister and myself out of this dump, it’d be them.

I sit like that all night until Dime shows up at two in the morning wearing skimpy jeans and a tube top. She doesn’t even start her string of excuses. She spots the money on the coffee table and just drops onto the couch staring at it, chewing her fingernails.

“It’s from The Kings of Carnage. They want us to open a business across from their club.”