Page 78 of Keys

I’d had enough. I reached over and smacked the little douchebag in the back of his head, correcting him like the unruly little child he was. Disrespectful as all fuck? Yes. Deserved? Also, yes.

“Yo! What the fuck man?!” He cried out as he righted his head from where it popped forward and forced him to spit his gum out. Did I mention the gum? I couldn’t stand to hear him smack that shit one more fucking time.

I wiped the grease that transferred from his rarely washed blond hair onto the guy’s own t-shirt. The fuck if that shit was getting wiped off on my own clothing. Sweet couldn’t even stifle the grin that worked its way onto his face.

“Listen up, you snot-nosed little baby punks,” I told them as I stood to my full height, which was head and shoulders above most of the guys here. “I don’t give a fuck what any of you do. My Pres there is telling you that you will call if you hear any legit word on the street about girls disappearing again. You fuckin’ hear?”

They all stared. “Man, we ain’t gotta tell you shit!” One of them called out to me. He was the tallest, and probably the most built guy among them. He also didn’t seem to fit in with the wanna-be misfits.

“No, you don’t have to tell me shit, but if we find out you knew, or helped the situation out, I’m coming for you.”

He chuckled at my threat. “Whatever.”

I turned to Sweet. “We done here? I have real shit to take care of before we head back.”

He laughed but nodded his head. Sweet stood and walked right up to the asshole who thought he was in the clear for mouthing off at the last minute. Then, my President knocked the little fucker on his ass. I didn’t even get to see it happen; it all went down so fast. One second, my back was turned as I started to walk away. The next, I turned to see what the fucking clatter was about behind me to find Smooch flat on his ass and rubbing his jaw.

“Remind me to beat Walker’s ass when we get back.”

I glanced over at Sweet as we both casually threw a leg over our bikes. “Why is that?”

“He’s the one that said this little group of hoodlums might have intel we needed.”

“What the fuck, man? You didn’t check that shit out before taking off.”

Sweet grinned at me with a slight shrug of his shoulders. “Didn’t care. Knew Angel Girl was busy today and wanted the ride.”

I rolled my eyes at the asshole and took off. He could follow me on my real fucking errand now. Unfortunately, my destination led us straight into the heart of downtown Atlanta, north of the airport. Traffic was a bitch, and thankfully being on two wheels helped with that. We were able to bob and weave through the cars that were stuck at a standstill, waiting their turn to merge after an accident bottlenecked five lanes of traffic down to two.

When we finally made it to Pandora, Sweet shook his head at me as he climbed off his Harley. “Are you serious right now?”

“What?” I asked, as if it was totally normal for me to be standing outside of a jewelry store.

“What? You took me through downtown Atlanta traffic during rush hour so you could grab a fucking piece of jewelry for Keys?”

I shook my head and marched my ass inside. “Not just jewelry, asshole.”

“No fucking way!” Sweet grabbed my arm and yanked me back just before I could toe a foot through the door.

“What’s your problem?”

“A ring? You’re seriously going to get her a fucking ring?” When I just stared at my Pres, he continued to openly fume over my decision. “You just fucking got back together, and you know that bitch is skittish as all hell.”

“Watch your mouth,” I warned.

“You know what I mean. I don’t blame her after hearing what the fuck her family life was like, but Quick, this is a bit extreme.”

“Nah. It’s not. Extreme would have been doing it when I first wanted to – about five minutes after I met her.”

“I thought you didn’t believe in marriage?” It was a question, but I didn’t answer right away. “You know, your folks being a shit example and all,” he pressed.

“I don’t. Not for other people anyway. Not in our lifestyle.”

“Then why?”

“Because she’s different.” It was a simple answer, but as honest as I could make it.

“Quick, she’s more complicated than any other chick out there and you know it. She’s the fucking mastermind behind a lot of S.H.E.’s success. You already think it can’t work for couples because of our MC. What happens when you mix two together?”

---