Page 44 of Raze

“Let’s just say they disagree about how a situation should be handled.” Vike gives nothing away. I know Raze doesn’t see eye to eye with Griller which is a terrible term of phrase considering I’ve heard the rumor that it was Raze who took his eyeball out. Not that I believe it. Raze can be brutal but not that bad.

“Well, isn’t that what the meetings are for, so you vote?” I pick up the cards and shuffle them.

“Vote was split, Prez gets final say.” He shrugs, hanging his smoke between his lips as he takes the deck from my hand and starts to shuffle them himself. I wonder if they call him Vike because he looks like a Viking. He’s almost as big as Sasquatch, and although his blonde hair is shaved at the sides, it’s long on top. I smile to myself when I imagine him in furs.

“And where did your vote go?” I’m curious to know more about these men who Raze calls his brothers.

“I back my prez, always will. He was asked by Jimmer to take this role for a reason. If Griller’s ideas were all that wise, I’m sure he’d have asked him.”

“What about his brother? Alicia told me he left.” I never ask Raze these kinds of questions for fear of putting him in a bad mood. I know he hates not being sure who he can depend on.

“Greaser will be back, he’s always throwin’ a hissy if things don’t go his way. Both of ‘em do. I’m surprised Griller’s stuck around without him here. Makes me wonder what for.” He must have realized he’s said his thoughts out loud because he taps the cards on the table and quickly changes the subject.

“Am I cuttin’ you in on this?” he asks.

“No, I’m going to go check on Raze.” I stand up and attempt to smile at one of the girls on the other side of the room, but as usual, it’s not reciprocated.

I knock on the door and when Raze calls for me to come in, for some strange reason I feel nervous.

“Hey, darlin’.” He swivels round in his chair and pats his lap for me to sit on it.

“You okay?” I step toward him and carefully place myself down.

“I am now.” He grabs my face and kisses me, and when I smell oil on his hands the little bit of panic that rises in my chest is quickly soothed by the way he strokes my hair.

“You seemed mad when you came out of your meeting,” I point out, slowly accepting how the smell of oil is different on him than it was on Billy.

“Yeah well, Griller put somethin’ to the table that I didn’t like,” he tells me, his fingers clutching into the skirt of my dress in frustration.

“You wanna tell me what that was?” I ask, trying my best to sound playful and lift his mood. He didn’t seem happy when he left the hut this morning either and I’m sure it had something to do with all the questions I was asking him about his past relationships.

“Do ya wanna know?” He shakes his head and reaches for his cigarettes

“Yeah, Raze, I wanna know.” There’s nothing I want this man to keep from me, even if it’s bad.

“There’s a rival club based about 5 hours from here,” he starts to explain and I feel myself go cold. “We just got word that they lost one of their members.”

“How?” I ask, far too quickly.

“I don’t know, I hate to say it but in this life, death’s just round the corner.” I let what he’s said sink in while he lowers his head.

“Anyway, we’ve been havin’ our suspicions that the Reapers will see the club being under new leadership as a weakness and make a move on us.”

“What kind of move?” I stare at him, starting to worry. I never really thought much about the fact my brother and the man I’ve grown to care about so deeply are on different sides.

“Either on the streets or here. They’d wanna thin out our numbers, make us appear weak so men like Burlusconi don’t trust us. The Reapers have been building over the last five years, they want the bigger jobs now. If we can’t keep up with Burlusconi’s distribution demands he’d have to go to a different source. They wanna be that source because Burlusconi’s paycheck is hefty.”

“So, what does this have to do with one of their club members dying?” I frown, trying to keep up, and wondering who that member is. Maybe they found Malice’s body. Kane has no idea where I am and the phone is still in the glove compartment of my car, he’d have no way of warning me. Or worse, what if it’s Kane who’s dead because they found out what I did?

“Griller wants to raid the club on Wednesday after the member’s funeral.” I slam my hand over my mouth.

“I’m against it too.” He notices the horror in my reaction. “Yeah, they’re our rivals but they still are brothers who lost someone close to them. Women and kids could be at that funeral so I won’t risk it.” He slams down his glass.

“But he’s right, we have to strike them before they strike us, so once this funeral is over, we’re movin’ in.”

“No!” My heart sinks into my chest when I think about Kane getting caught up in the crossfire. I couldn't bear for anything to happen to him, or Raze.

“Darlin’, we can’t sit back and wait for a war to come to us. But don’t worry, I swear I would kill every single one of ‘em before I let ‘em hurt you.” He kisses me and I feel like a fraud when I kiss him back. I’m so scared that all my sins are about to catch up with me and hurtle through this amazing thing I’m building with Raze.

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