He took hold of her hand and removed it from his chest as if it was a piece of garbage. “I’ve already got the only number I ever want,” he snapped.

She shrugged. “Doesn’t matter to me. You can have two numbers; she doesn’t need to know what you get up to on the side.”

Scott leant in close to her. “I obviously haven’t made myself clear enough. My woman’s number is burned into my memory, as is the way her lips feel around my dick, and let me tell you, there’s not another set of lips that’ll ever get that close to my dick again. And as far as her not needing to know what I get up to on the side? I’ve never been interested in sides; I’m a mains kinda man.”

Surprise crossed her face. “Never known a man to say no to a bit on the side,” she muttered.

Jesus, do I have to listen to this shit?

I stepped forward so I could speak. “Did Slug come into work today? Yes or no? That’s all we’re interested in.”

Her eyes widened. “You guys got out of bed on the wrong side today.”

Staring at her, I repeated my question. “Yes or no?”

“No,” she muttered. At fucking last.

“We’re gonna need an address,” King asserted, his tone full of impatience. He was obviously as done with this conversation as I was.

“I don’t know where that asshole lives,” she said, straightening her shoulders as if she was preparing for a battle.

King glared at her, but before he said anything further, Wilder piped up. Holding up his phone, he announced, “I’ve got his address.”

“Thank fuck,” J said as he slapped Wilder on the back.

A minute later, we exited the bar. As we crossed the street to where we’d parked our bikes, my gaze narrowed on three guys down the road. I recognised two of them, but not the third. Jerking my chin in his direction, I asked Scott, “You know who that is?”

Scott squinted through the sun. “No idea; never seen him in my life. But if he’s consorting with those two, we need to make it our business to know who he is.”

“Yeah, my thoughts exactly.”

While we were watching him, another guy joined the group. “No idea who he is, either,” Scott muttered. Turning to Wilder, he called him over. “I want info on who those guys are. After we deal with Slug, you take off and look into that for me.”

“Done,” Wilder agreed before heading to his bike.

“Jesus, this town is beginning to crawl with scum,” I said, convinced those two were deserving of that label simply because of who they were laughing and joking with.

Scott nodded. “Sure feels like it, brother.”

King sat on his bike looking at Scott expectantly. “Let’s go fuck some shit up, Cole,” he said. “I’ve had about enough of pussy-footing around; it’s time to get down to business.”

And there was the King we knew. God help Slug when we found him.

* * *

“Jesus fuck,” Nash said, looking at the bloody scene in front of us.

We stood in Slug’s living room, all seven of us silent as we took in his dead body. Or more to the point, his body parts that were strewn across the room.

King whistled and turned to face Scott and me. “I don’t know what the fuck’s going down, but going by this, it’s something you need to figure out fast. I’m gonna put a call into Hyde and get him to start asking questions; see if we know anyone who knows anything.”

“Thanks, man,” I said. Between his VP and our guys, surely someone had to know something.

Anger clouded Scott’s face as he took one last look at the death scene. Then he directed his attention to us, a look of determination on his face now. “Wilder, you check into those guys like we discussed. J, you and Nash follow up on that drug deal Ricky’s talking about. Griff, you and I are gonna spend today visiting every fucking person Slug knew and see what we can find out.” Eyeing King, he said, “And you and Kick can either ride along with us or you can question my boys.” He paused for a moment while a darker look shadowed his face. “And if you figure out who’s been spreading that shit about your club, I want time with them before you do whatever the fuck you’ve got planned.”

King’s lips quirked into a grin. “I like the way you think, Cole.”

I was with King there. We’d been treading carefully with the club for too many weeks now; it was way past time to deal with misplacements of loyalty.

5

Sophia

I sat in my car outside the diner I ate dinner at occasionally, and pulled the rearview mirror down so I could take a good look at my face. After a long day at work, I’d gone to the gym and spent an hour there trying to work some of the stress out of my body. I’d showered afterwards and changed into shorts and a shirt with the intention of going home, but on the way, I’d had a craving for a hamburger.

Looking in the mirror, I decided that tonight perhaps wasn’t the night to eat out. My hair hung half dry after I’d washed it, and my face held no trace of makeup. Some days I had no problem going out without my hair or makeup done, but I wasn’t sure today was one of those days. Not only were my hormones all over the place, but I’d had a run in with one of my work colleagues today, and she’d made me feel little. I fucking hated giving people that power in my life, but some days I struggled not to. And today, I hadn’t won the battle.

Fuck it.

I opened the car door and stepped out. Locking the car, I began walking towards the diner. My tummy growled, eager for a hamburger because, goddamn, they were the bomb at this diner.