Page 42 of The Kings of Kearny

I told him about the fight. “If he’s a Joker, he’s new,” I said when I’d finished.

“What makes you think that?” Liam asked.

“Unlike the other guards, I didn’t see any visible tattoos on him, and he hasn’t been in a lot of closed-space fights. He projected the hell out of his first punch, didn’t guard himself, and let his pain slow him way down. It’s why I was able to take him out so fast.”

Liam’s eyes crinkled at the corners. “Why do I have a feeling that you’re being modest?”

I shook my head. “I’m not. I assume you noticed my limp?”

He nodded.

“The guard either didn’t see it or didn’t realize its significance. His opening move was to punch me instead of kicking my leg.”

“Ah,” he said, but he was still looking at me like he thought I was holding out on him.

I really wasn’t. Yes, I was faster and better trained than the guard, but if that big son of a bitch had taken me to the ground, that would have been a much uglier fight.

“When did you call Jakob?” Liam asked.

“As soon as I got out of the elevator,” I said.

He turned to his son. “And how did you respond?”

“I told everyone to get out the biggest guns they had, and we walked up to the front door open carrying them,” Jakob said.

Liam grinned. “I’m assuming they saw that you were loaded for bear and hightailed it out of there?”

Jakob nodded.

Liam clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Good job. Without that show of force, their pride might have gotten the better of them, and they could have tried to turn that nursing home into their Alamo.” It was hard to miss the pride in his tone as he let his son go. “Did you get out of there before the cops showed up?”

“Yeah,” Jakob said.

Liam turned to me. “Expect a phone call. They’ll probably want to question you about what happened.”

My stomach sank. “Lovely.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll send a club lawyer with you, and she’ll bury them in bullshit.”

“We’ll?” I asked, looking between the two men. “Wait, are the Kings a subchapter of the Specters?”

Jakob nodded.

Oh sweet Jesus.“Please tell me the Jokers aren’t a subchapter of another club.”

The smile fled from Liam’s face. “They’re a sub to the Bandits.”

Great. Just wonderful. Two of the biggest outlaw motorcycle clubs in the country had neighboring subchapters on the brink of open war. That would mean nothing good for Kearny.

I turned toward Jakob. “I need to go home and get some stuff if I’m going to stay here.”

He pushed off from the counter. “I’ll go with you.”

His father nodded in the direction of the garage. “You should take the Mustang. No one will recognize it.”

“Keys still in the same place?” Jakob asked.

“Yup,” Liam answered.

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