Page 19 of Kairo

She didn’t fight it. She didn’t argue. She stood to her feet and passed me the keys before walking toward the bike. Junie looked defeated. No matter how hard we tried, no matter the distance we went, we couldn’t escape this shit… even for a few hours.

Junie’s heels clicked against the concrete floor as we walked inside the Savage Saints headquarters. There were bikes lined along the front of the warehouse. I knew Unc and Prez would send in their strongest and most dangerous club members for this meeting. The smell of smoke and leather filled my nose as I continued to walk behind Junie.

Junie had on her black Savage Saints leather jacket with her name on the back. Her hair was down and stopped at the top of her butt. Junie had on a black tank top and black leather tights. She wore thigh high red boots to match the stitching in her jacket. Junie looked beautiful but deadly. She did a whole one-eighty with her look. She looked like a boss as she walked through, passing both motorcycle club members with her head high. Confidence oozed from her. Junie impressed me more and more.

It felt weird being here around both members. Everyone from the Iron Knights knew about the mission I was on. I didn’t bother to make eye contact with any of them. I was dressed in all black. I didn’t bother putting on the jacket. That was one of my stipulations, to not wear either of the jackets. I didn’t care if itwas disrespectful or not. If I was questioned on it, I thought of a reason I didn’t wear it.

We finally made it to where everyone who was important sat. There was a chair beside Prez at the head of the table. Junie walked up, hugged her father, and took her seat. Across from Junie sat Unc and Mario, the VP of the Iron Knights. Mario and I were the same age. He was Unc’s son. Mario and I had no relationship. Mario was a coward. He and I bumped heads on a lot of shit. He looked at the world differently than I did. He knew if my father was still alive and cared about the Iron Knights as much as Unc did, he would be president, and I would be VP. He hated that his father took up as much time with me as he did. It made little sense to me because Unc made him VP.

I stood behind Junie as I watched the formalities take place.

“Good evening, Maceo,” Prez said greeting Unc.

“Evening, Josiah,” Unc responded. “Long time no see.”

Prez nodded in agreement. “Iron Knights, I would like to introduce you to Junebug, the new VP of the Savage Saints.”

The members of the Saints clapped.

“And this is M-Knight, new VP of the Iron Knights,” Unc said in response.

The Iron Knights clapped for Mario. The tension in the room was thick. Everyone was on guard, including myself. My eyes bounced behind my shades at both crews. I was on both sides of the clubs. I knew exactly how each of them was. These niggas were trigger-happy. Any sudden sign of disrespect or weird behavior, and they were ready to have a shootout. All I wanted to do was make it out of here undiscovered and alive.

“Nice to meet you, Junebug,” Mario said while licking his lips.

I scrunched my nose up. The thing about Mario was he thought every woman he came across wanted him. They didn’t want him for him. They wanted him because of his status. Mariowas a sorry excuse for a man. He had six kids, six different baby mamas, and he barely took care of them.

“Likewise,” Junie said in a dull voice.

Internally I chuckled. Junie was not impressed. She folded her right leg across the other. She leaned forward and looked at the folder in front of her.

“I am assuming this is the file of what you want to work on together as a club?” she asked, getting straight to the point.

After the fire was ceased between the two clubs, to make the community see them in a different light, they came to an agreement. The agreement was to do at least one event together to show unity, even if the unity was fake as hell.

“Damn, no formalities? We jumping right into business?” Mario said cheekily.

“We are. I have other things to do.” Junie bit back.

“Let me guess, a man? Didn’t you almost die fucking around with these ain’t shit niggas?”

Commotion began. The Savage Saints slowly walked toward the table and the Iron Knights followed. I placed my hand on my gun.

“Control your boy,” Prez gritted toward Unc.

“He a grown ass man. I can’t control no grown ass man,” Unc replied in a snarky tone.

My uncle was being a dick. I’d seen him cuss Mario’s ass out many times. It was just that he was on go time. He always wanted conflict. Unc could never go somewhere and be cordial. Words were exchanged, and I heard the sound of guns cocking, including mine. Junie stood to her feet and hit the table.

“Hey, y’all motherfuckers compare dicks another time. We got business to handle. Put them fucking guns away right now!”

Everybody paused, glancing around until Prez spoke up.

“Y’all heard her. We got business to handle.”

Everyone put their guns away and went back to their respected places. Both clubs took Prez’s word as law when it came to these meetings. He was able to gain control and be civilized during most, unlike my uncle. Junie opened the file and scanned the documents. No one said anything. Everyone watched. For ten seconds we all stood around watching Junie but also watching our backs. She shut the folder and looked at Mario. He looked annoyed by Junie, but from the looks of it, she didn’t give a fuck.

“Not a bad plan. If you want to do the event to show,” she did air quotes, “solidarity, then we can do that. As far as the bill, I will need to review more of what’s laid out and see what we can donate. Since both clubs are donating money, both names should be on the event?—”

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