“You know I thought about what I’d do to you. If I’d take out an arm or cut out your tongue, but I decided I like having the power here. You see, what I do tonight, you’re not going to tell another living soul, O’Klaren, because if you do, I will make sure all the relevant people know what kind of scumbag they are dealing with. Push me, and you’ll see.” Turning him just right, he drew his foot up and slammed it down on O’Klaren’s leg.
The snap filled his senses, followed by the unmistakable sound of his scream.
Preacher smiled.
This was what he wanted to hear.
It was perfection.
Letting him drop to the ground, he held his hair, making him look at him.
“Now, I’m only going to warn you this once and it will be up to you if you take this warning. If you ever so much as come near Robin again, you ask her questions, try to get anything out of her, I will break your other leg, and then I’ll shatter your hand. You want to play hardball with me, then you come to me. Don’t be a fucking coward hiding behind your badge. It’s … tacky.”
Getting to his feet, he walked over to his bike.
“This isn’t over,” O’Klaren said. “You’re not going to win. I always win”
“Oh, I know it’s not over, but you are wrong. You’ve never come up against a man like me because I always win.”
Taking off down the street, he spun around and made his way back to his home.
He’d snuck out after putting her to bed, and as he entered his home through the kitchen, he paused.
Robin was at the fridge.
“Hey,” she said.
“I just went out for a ride.”
“You don’t have to tell me everywhere you go. I get it, I do.” She chuckled. “This is your home.”
“What are you doing up?”
“I had weird dreams.”
“In what way?”
“I dreamed I was giving birth, and everyone disappeared. I was all alone. You know. The usual.”
“You’ll never be alone. That I can promise you.”
“I don’t know. Unless you’re around people seem to avoid me.”
“Let me make you a hot chocolate.”
“You don’t have to go to so much trouble.”
“You’re not trouble. I don’t know who has you convinced you are, but they’re lies, all of them.”
She smiled. “Did you have a nice ride?”
“Yeah, I cleared the air, you know, got my shit together.”
“Sounds amazing.”
“It is.” He poured some milk into a pan and got to work heating it up. Next, he added in some dark chocolate, because that’s how he liked it.
“I still can’t believe you’re such a good cook.”
“You should be thanking me. It’s a reason you don’t starve.”
“Could you teach me?”
“You want to learn how to cook?”
“Yes, of course. I think it will be good for me and the baby to cook.”
“Then I’d love to.”
She smiled, and he stared into her eyes. She was a beautiful young woman.
He added in a splash of vanilla and poured the chocolate into two mugs. Sitting at the kitchen counter opposite her, he took a sip.
“So the big, bad biker knows how to make hot chocolate?”
“There’s a lot this big, bad biker can do.”
“I bet.”
****
“What exactly is it you want me to do?” Reaper asked.
He stood in the cop’s house, and to be frank, he was a little disappointed. Being in Preacher’s turf was a huge gamble, one he wasn’t willing to make until O’Klaren promised him something he couldn’t refuse.
A way to bring Preacher and the Twisted Monsters down.
He’d never liked Preacher, and he liked to fuck with him quite a few times. It helped that he had weak people around him who were always willing to run their mouth off. Of course, he didn’t really care if those same people got recaptured by Preacher and killed. It saved him a job.
Reaper wasn’t a place of refuge for anyone trying to get away from the bastard. He was intrigued by a cop reaching out to him. He knew of O’Klaren, and the shit he knew, he wasn’t impressed with. This man was as bent as they came, and he used his power and place as a cop to get what he wanted. He knew how to manipulate the facts to suit him, and to make innocent people look bad.
O’Klaren was the kind of guy people avoided at all costs. At least, he had done for a long time, but now he was here, in Preacher’s territory, and seeing as he had a long-standing hatred of the leader of the Twisted Monsters MC, well, he just couldn’t deny himself a chance at hurting the bastard, even if it meant responding to the summons of a cop.
“Take the girl. She’s his weak link.”
Reaper laughed, as did his men.
“You expect me to believe Preacher has in some way fallen in love with an underage girl? We know all about Robin. We know she’s married to his son and last check of my intel those two were thick as thieves.”