Page 49 of Ryder's War

Darkness scoffed. “Stop pretending there’s some kind of love lost there. We came up together, man. The best years of your life were when that vicious bastard was inside the joint. All he ever did was come out long enough to screw over your club and fuck up your life before ending right up back on the inside. I did you a fuckin’ favor, and we both know it. Now you get the gavel back.”

Letting go of that particular bone of contention, Devil asked suspiciously, “What did you do to my girl?”

“Not a damn thing. She sat in our basement, and we tossed her energy bars and bottled water for the last four weeks. She got a hot meal a day. All she did was bitch. We got the security feed for you if you want to have a look.”

“Ain’t nobody got time for that,” Devil said, waving the offer off. “Get her in here. We’ll do the deal.”

Ryder stalked outside to grab her from Ace.

Abby was fighting mad. “What the fuck did you do, Ryder? We all heard the gunshot.”

“Darkness is changing up the deal. Your precious little Honey Bear already accepted our counteroffer, so shut the fuck up and sign the paperwork they give you.”

“Devil’s still alive?” The hopeful look on the woman’s face was all kinds of nauseating. If not for the child she popped out for his friend, Ryder would have absolutely no use for her crazy ass.

“Of course he is. Our club knows this dumbass plan was Ratchet’s brain child. We got no beef with Devil. That shit’s water under the bridge, so try acting civil.”

“We still get the payday, right?” she asked, her eyes wide and hopeful, which just made him sick. Dumb bitch.

“Devil agreed to fifty grand and a load of guns. It’s a fair trade.” Reaching into his pocket, Ryder pulled out a thick envelope. “Darkness instructed me to give you this. It’s a little bonus for you. There’s fifteen grand in this envelope. You can keep it secret for yourself or hand it over to Devil. We don’t particularly care, but there ain’t gonna be no more where this came from. Between this and the fifty grand, our club is all tapped out. Don’t come sniffing around for more.” Ryder didn’t even feel guilty lying about his club being tapped out. Whatever kept her fromstupidly trying to wring more money of them was the correct option.

Grabbing the envelope, she opened it and flipped through the bills. “I won’t ask for anything else, I promise. I just want to go back to the Seven Devils.”

“Get your pretty little ass in there and sign your shit. You can be riding Devil’s big, glorious cock within the hour.”

Abby rushed into the warehouse so fast that Ryder almost couldn’t keep up with her. Thank God his crew had covered the weapons they’d thrown down with a heavy tarp. God knew the attorney didn’t need to see that shit. He whistled for Cork to bring the legal eagles.

By the time they arrived, the room had been cleared of dead bodies, and the desk had been shoved over the pool of blood. Sweet Jesus, it was nights like this that made Ryder hate his work. Literally, the only silver lining was that his brother didn’t end up in a firefight with the Seven Devils. The loss of life would have been high.

Abby jumped into Devil’s arms the moment her eyes landed on him. Ryder always thought it was good when crazy people hooked up with each other and left normal folk alone. Abby and Devil being together had a certain symmetry that he could really appreciate. She slid her envelopimmediately into his hand, like any woman in love would, earning herself a hot kiss.

Ryder stood shoulder to shoulder with Ace and watched her sign off on the divorce and custody paperwork. When Darkness pulled out the cancelation for the insurance policy they had taken out on him, neither of them had the decency to even act embarrassed.

Some of the tightness in Ryder’s chest loosened once he knew they could no longer benefit in any way from his friend’s untimely demise. He’d thought Abby would kick up a fuss about visitation or something, but she didn’t mention a thing about it. It was just as well because Darkness had a sister moving back to help out with his little one. She was likely his only living relative. It would do him good to have some family around, assuming she was remotely sane.

Once the legal eagles took off, Darkness made his payout to Devil. The money was duly counted, and Darkness pulled out the guns. They went through the entire case, checking that each worked and firing off some shots. It was a regular, run-of-the-mill gun trade. This particular set of stock had been sitting in the basement for a long time. His club had stopped moving hot guns awhile back. It was risky and not worth the markup.

The Seven Devils didn’t give a good goddamn if they were hot or not. It fell in the category of trading something the club valued very little to a person who valued it a great deal. Devil would consider the weapons a force multiplier in dealing with the numerous gangs that inhabited his territory.

Normally, his club would party and smoke a little weed with MCs if they were on friendly terms, but the Seven Devils didn’t fall into that category. They were the kind of men that you couldn’t really be nice to or you might wind up with a knife in your back.

Heading outside once again, Ryder realized it was well past sunset. Floodlights illuminated the small dock area as the speedboat rocked gently in the water. Standing beside his club president and close personal friend, Ryder watched the Seven Devils load the last of the weapons onto their little boat. Together, they stepped out face-to-face with Devil for the final phase of their plan. This was the part where they made sure the Seven Devils understood they were not welcome in Blind Jack’s territory.

Darkness was the first to speak. “We both made out on this deal, Devil. You wound up withan injection of cash, your woman free and clear of me, and nice little bonus cache of weapons. I ended up with a daughter and that damned insurance policy cancelled. This makes us square, but don’t think for a fuckin’ minute it makes us friends.”

Devil smiled indulgently. “It ain’t gotta be that way, Darkness. Now that my dad’s outta the picture—”

Interrupting before Devil even got the words out of his mouth, Darkness brought him up short. “Your old man’s only been out of the slammer for three months. You sent your old lady to me over a year ago. I don’t have to be a fuckin’ brain surgeon to recognize a head job when I see one.”

Staring at him for a brief moment, Devil took a step back. “Not that it worked particularly well, but I get where you’re coming from on this one.”

“Good. You’re in Bind Jack’s territory right now. Don’t ever let that happen again. The next one of your crew we run across gets a dirt nap, and that goes double for you.”

Devil’s anger flew hot and fast. “Think you fuckin’ rule the world, don’t you?”

Darkness sucked in a disgusted breath, clearly deciding he’d had enough of the whole situation. His voice was calm and deadly. “Just like you, I rule my own little corner of the world. I won’tcome sniffin’ around your territory, and I don’t wanna catch you or yours crawling around mine.”

“Waterways are neutral territory. Nobody can claim the ocean, my friend.”

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