Page 81 of Beast

“It wasn’tas satisfying as blowing his face off but getting under his skin sure as hell feels good,” Lars says as we walk up the ramp from the underground parking garage and into the clubhouse.

“He’ll keep,” I say.

Music drifts down from the bar, and when we pass Bear and Axe on the staircase, I stop them. “What’s going on in the bar?”

“Your girl has discovered a love for Wildfire,” Axe says with a grin.

“Right now they’re doing karaoke,” Bear adds.

“We don’t have a karaoke machine,” Lars says.

Bear grins. “Trust me, they don’t need it.”

Just as he says it, the sound of two drunk women singing out of key floats down the stairs.

Axe pats my shoulder. “She’s gorgeous, Prez. But she sounds like a howling cat when she sings.”

I should take offense to what he says, but he’s not wrong.

Leaving Bear and Axe, we head to the bar, where I find Belle and Annika doing shots and singing along to the jukebox. Seems their date into town was more successful than I anticipated, and they’re up to their eyeballs in Wildfire.

Which tells me something isn’t right.

Belle doesn’t usually drink. She admitted it herself.

So why is she hammered at one o’clock in the afternoon?

The moment she sees me, she throws her arms around me, and her tiny body slumps against mine, soft and supple.

She cranes her head to look up at me. Her eyes glazed. One of them half closed.

Yep, she’s toasted.

I notice the empty shot glasses on the bar behind Belle.

Five of them.

Jesus, no wonder she can barely stand.

“Want to tell me what’s got you drinking shots of Wildfire like it’s water?”

“We’re having a boozy brunch, and your girl is a lightweight,” Annika says. She’s not as drunk as Belle, but she’s on her way.

“Wanna tell me what happened in town?”

“Other than being denied entry into The Village Bakery, nothing much.”

“What do you mean you were denied entry?”

“Oh apparently that’s a thing now. A lot of stores have anti-biker stickers stuck to their windows. The bakery was one of them. When we tried to enter we were told to fuck off. Of course, I’m paraphrasing.”

This has Boney written all over it.

And it pisses me off.

But I know his influence over the town won’t last.

Not when I find the evidence I need to show the town how corrupt he really is.

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