Page 2 of Bastard

And eventually, I’d take theirs.

But it had to start now.

Five Harleys parked on the edge of the gravel lot. All the men were large and carrying baseball bats. It was only the first wave. There would probably be one, maybe two more.

The biggest asshole pointed his bat at me. “You.”

“Me?” I pointed at myself, trying to keep things light.

“You stole from us.” He lifted his chin.

“No…you owed us that money. I was sent to collect.” I was just grateful the safe had a fingerprint lock. The only other option was to take the whole damn thing and that would have been a much more complicated situation.

The asshole glared, his eyes darting past me, probably doing the math on Devil’s Wrath to Python. There were twenty-five to thirty patched-in members of the Pythons. I already kicked nine asses. If I was lucky, a few were out of town or out of pocket.

The man glared at me. “You’re telling me this scrawny little shit did this?” He looked over his shoulder at one of the men I’d beaten up. The man could barely stand as he nodded.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” The first asshole laughed.

I was pretty sure I could count the wounded guy out. That left me with four assholes with bats. I could do that. The weird new adrenaline rush I got from fighting surged through me.

Sam was gone. Hadn’t spoken to me in months. Which was good. Staying close was just a death sentence for her. Todd would use her as leverage until he really needed something from me. Then he’d hurt her. It would escalate. I knew how these things worked.

But life without Sam wasn’t something I knew how to do. We’d been inseparable since I could remember. I didn’t like this new life.

Until I found fighting.

Agent Steel gave me something to look forward to again.

“You authorize this?” The main Python used his bat to point at something behind me. I finally took a second to scan their vests. The Python vice president and road captain stood closest.

“Did I get my money?” Todd asked Rocket. I watched Rocket nod out of the corner of my eye. Todd grunted in approval. “Sure did. You got a problem with that?”

“Sure do. And I’m going to take it out on your shitty little prospect over here. I don’t give a shit if he’s yours.”

“Go for it,” Todd laughed. “Just remember you asked for it.”

It was strange to hear my stepfather say something positive about me, but then I realized he’d done the math. He knew I’d been training and he could see the evidence of my work. This felt like a victory for him. It had nothing to do with me.

The VP sneered. “See your daddy really loves you, bastard.” The bat swung back, but before it reached the apex, I punched him in the throat. It was quick work, actually. These guys were brawlers. They lacked finesse. I went for their vulnerable spots. Throats, balls, eyes, kidneys. I wasn’t nice about it either. I didn’t care if I broke something, blinded them, or ruined their lives. I began to wonder if I cared if I killed them.

Maybe that part of me was broken too.

All that mattered was getting established. Getting the Chubbies off my back. I wouldn’t be their court jester a minute longer.

By the time the second wave arrived the fight was over. They gave up and limped back to their bikes. I’m not sure how they made it home. I didn’t care.

When I turned around Todd and half of Devil’s Wrath stood in a semicircle staring at me.

“Well, well, well,” Todd clapped with each word, a grin on his face. He’d never smiled at me before. “That was some fine fucking fighting, son. Fine fucking fighting.” He came over, put his arm over my shoulder and squeezed. “The Pythons won’t be messing with us for a good long time.”

I glanced at each of the men. They all had variations of the same look on their faces: complete and utter disbelief. Spades flinched back when Todd walked me past him.

“You know,” Todd continued, “I’ve been wondering exactly where you belonged.” He shook his head, guiding me into his crappy office. “I’m proud of you for going out and finding the training you needed. It shows initiative. It shows commitment. You found your place all on your own.”

“Enforcer?” I guessed. It wasn’t the worst position. I could live with that.

“Perhaps.” He stopped and turned me to face him, one hand on each shoulder as he looked into my eyes. “With you at my side, we can take this club places it's never been. I can trust you because we’re family. As father and son, we’ll put this club on the map.” The toxic ambition came flowing out of him. He had fucking stars in his eyes as he spoke of a future he’d always dreamed of.

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