Page 107 of Moonshine Lullabies

“Club business,” he said and he gave a nod. “Sorry, Jess.”

She smiled and shook her head. “Nature of the beast,” she said and she didn’t need to fake her disappointment. Still killed me to hear it.

“I love you, and we’ll be back before you know it, baby,” I told her.

She kissed me and let me go reluctantly. “Okay,” she said.

“Let’s roll,” I said to Saint and adjusted my jacket and cut on my shoulders.

We rode out to the appointed meet, which was in neutral territory up there in Tangipahoa Parish… and no, the irony was not lost on me.

We sorta literally met in the middle, both clubs pulling into the parking lot of the chosen sports bar in the middle of a busy strip that was sure to be under the watchful eye of the local pigs.

We were all on our best behavior to see if each side could come to some kind of agreement on mounds of territory and whatnot.

By the looks on some of these motherfucker’s faces, I wasnotgetting my fuckin’ hopes up.

Jesus.

The president, Rebel, was an ugly ass motherfucker. Just,fuck, the best way I can describe him is rode hard and put up wet. He wasn’t exactly a super big dude, but he wasn’t small either. He was supposed to be in like his thirties, but shit, he looked a lot older. His face was weathered and craggy and he smoked like a fuckin’ chimney. He had a do-rag on his head and plenty of brown hair around and in a tight, but stringy tail behind him. No tellin’ what he had going on up top, but if I had to guess, not a whole lot.

His teeth were fucked up, and he was missing a front one, but at least they weren’t that telltale green or blue that screamed meth addict.

His vice president honestly looked more capable of running the show. Tall, strong, and put together better ‘n Rebel looked. Took me a minute to see the family resemblance but once it was seen, it couldn’t be unseen. I wasn’t sure if they were brothers or what, but they looked like father and son – which mathematically speaking if Rebelwasin his thirties, wasn’t possible and just plain couldn’t be a thing.

“You’re little bitch killed my best friend,” a dude called out to Cypress.

“Viper, put a sock in it,” Strychnine, the VP for the Brethren called out.

“Actually,” I corrected. “She’s my woman, his sister,” I said, jerking my head at Cy. “Thank your friend for me. He got us together.”

“Col,” Hex said genially. “We ain’t here to poke the bear.”

Viper, a bald-headed guy, probably about six-foot, spit on the ground and glared at me and Cy in turn. I looked to Cy who looked at me and we barely kept it together. Dude was laughable. They all were, now that we had faces to name flashes.

“Sorry, sir,” I said to Hex. “Someone takes a shot at me and mine, I tend to return fire.”

“We all know that’s a lie,” a dude at the back of their pack called out.

I couldn’t make him out, but Rebel called out, “Fuckin’ shut it!”

His crew shut up, but it was a good dig. The night of the drive by Ididn’treturn fire. I was too busy making sure Jess was alright. You know, what a real man does and not a fuckin’ pussy.

“Let’s hear it,” La Croix said, and I knew he was trying to manage these fuckwits expectations.

“Hear what?” Rebel asked. “Now y’all started this like a bunch of snitches when that one snitched.” He thrust a middle finger in Cypress’s direction. “Y’all could have handled that like men, but since y’all wanted to be a bunch of pussies…” He held his arms open like “bring it on.”

A bunch of us traded looks and it silently passed between a lot of us that these dudes clearly weren’t playing with a full fuckin’ deck, becausewhat?

Hex laughed silently and put one hand up from where he had his arms folded over his chest to pinch the bridge of his nose. He raised his eyebrows like he was gettin’ a headache. “Now what makes you think this club has anything, anything at all, to do with his daddy’s business?” Hex demanded.

“Doesn’t matter, he’s one of yours, ain’t he?” Rebel demanded. “Then his sister goes an’ kills Zero, an’ well – it’s on.”

“Zero was in herhouse. What d’you dumb fucks think is gon’ happen you break into a motherfucker’s house? Hell, even a citizen court would’a said he done fucked around and found out with that one. I doubt she’d even been charged!” Hex declared.

“Well, we ain’t a civilian court, and we make the rules on what we say is a slight against us,” Strychnine said.

“Are you fuckin’ serious right now?” Axe shook with laughter and was leanin’ on Chainsaw. “You sound like a B-grade comic book villain, man!”

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