Page 14 of Lawless
"My new girl then." Tom refused to let this go. "She served you last night. She's a medic, although I don't know about her bedroom skills."
"Mariposa," I exhaled her name in a thick cloud of smoke, making Tom cough pathetically.
Reaper said nothing right away. His expression was pensive as he lit up his own cigarette and took a long drag, almost as though he was actually considering it. Tom looked hopeful for a moment, a grin starting to spread across his face. That was until Reaper's hand shot out, catching the old man by the throat and shoving him against the wall so hard, the back of his head bounced. Hades pinned his ears back, lowering his head and growling with his teeth inches away from Tom’s dick.
"No parting gifts. No more deal," Reaper said, low and menacing next to Tom's face. "SDMC is washing our hands of you."
He released Tom's throat and headed for the exit, not looking back as the old man sank to the floor, clutching his throat as he struggled to regain his breath.
Hades and I followed Reaper outside. I leaned against the railing next to him while his dog sat on his haunches. We were on some balcony overlooking a dirty crater in the ground that had once been a pool. Years ago we would smoke just like this and then skateboard in empty pools, hoping to impress girls with our skills. Pre-Collapse life had been so much simpler.
"You almost said yes to the medic," I observed, flicking my ash over the railing. "Why didn't you?"
"Because," he exhaled, "accepting any parting gift would just be a string that keeps us tied to him. If we accept something from him, we'll still owe something in return. Better to cut the strings altogether."
That wasn't the question I asked, and he knew that. Still, I humored him and tried again in another way.
"All of that is true. But we could just steal her."
Reaper hissed in a sharp breath as he dragged on his clove. "No."
"Why not?" I was genuinely surprised by his refusal. "I thought you wanted a medic for the club after Daren--"
"I do. Just not her."
"Bro," I laughed in disbelief. "I dunno if you noticed, but medics aren't exactly growing on trees. She might be the last one we see in a while."
"I'm fine with that. You jerkoffs just need to not die on me in the meantime."
"Okay," I mused. "Humor me, then. Whynother? Because she's female?"
"Yes."
"Reaper, my man!" A laugh barked out of me so loud and sudden, it made Hades look at me with his ears pinned back. "Come on, now. We were both adults pre-Collapse, so I know you don't believe that horseshit. Not even twenty years ago, the US had plenty of female doctors, lawyers—"
"I'm sure she can do the job," Reaper snapped, stroking Hades' forehead. "But have you thought about what an educated woman in the club will mean? We might as well paint targets on our backs."
"We already do, essentially," I pointed out. Half the clubs in the Southwest wanted to join us, the other half wanted us wiped off the map. We bled for every square inch of territory we took and earned every whisper of our reputation. That kind of fame made us heroes to some and an obstacle to others.
"It's not just making us a target," Reaper leaned closer to me. "Educated women get ideas. They're dangerous because they want to change things. We need a man who can fall in line with club politics and not be a constant thorn up my ass."
"I hear you, bro," I nodded, tossing my cigarette butt into the empty pool. "I understand. I just know how hard it was for you to lose Daren—“
"I swear to God, Jandro, get the fuck off my nutsack."
"I am, man, for real. I'm just saying the whole club lost a brother, not just you. I figured finding any medic, male or female, would give you some peace of mind that we won’t lose someone like that again.”
"I am at peace. It happened. There's nothing we can do about it." He flung his cigarette into the pool, the stiffness in his arm showing he was all but at peace with his little brother's death. But I didn’t mention it again. That was his own demon to wrestle with.
"Nothinglike that is going to happen again,” he said. “Having a medic would just be an insurance policy. Whoever we find needs to fit in with the club, first and foremost. They need to be trustworthy above all."
"And you don't think a woman can be trusted?"
"Fuck no," he barked. "If the Collapse fucked us over as badly as it fucked them, I wouldn't trust my own goddamn shadow."
"You make a good point," I chuckled, pulling out another slim black cigarette.
Reaper and I barely lit up our second smokes when Hades rose stiffly from his sitting position. His ears pricked forward as he pointed through the balcony railing to the pool deck below.
