Page 35 of Bully's Darkness
He runs kisses over my collarbone. “No, so I can have lots of little Livs wrapping me round their fingers.” He groans against my neck. “Just thinking about you round with my baby makes me hard.”
“One day,” I say firmly. “But you have a war to fight, remember?”
Bully
The next day, church reeks of smoke and bloodlust. I stand at the head of the table, arms braced against the scarred wood. My kutte creaks under the strain of my tense shoulders. “All right,” I say. “Let’s get everything we’ve got. Lay it out.”
Boss clicks the laptop, and the projector hums to life, casting a grainy image of Dagger’s face on the wall. Even in a still photo, he looks smug.
“Dagger. President of the Scorpions. Before that, an enforcer. Smart operator. Doesn’t drink on runs, doesn’t screw around in public, doesn’t get caught,” Boss says.
“Military?” I ask.
“Not officially, but he moves like it.”
Whizz speaks up from the corner. “His enforcer is ex-Forces for sure. Viper. Honourable discharge, then went ghost for a while. Shows up again in a weapons ring out of Manchester.”
“Tech?” I ask.
“Patch,” says Brains, flipping through his notes. “Quiet, weird. Good with burners. We know he reroutes calls through six countries before they hit a SIM card. Same guy handles their accounts, too.”
“They got an auto shop just outside of Notts in Mansfield,” adds Stretch. “And a strip joint there too. Laundering front, cash-heavy. I’ve got eyes on both.”
Ragnar leans forward, tattoos catching the light. “Their street crew’s getting louder. Word is they’ve taken over two corners from local dealers. If they’re not careful, they’ll have more wars. I’ve already had two big timers call me for backup, Pres. We made the deal with them to run the drugs as long as they were cutting clean. Now, they’re calling for our protection.”
Tally sneers. “They’re not expanding cos they’re smart. They’re expanding cos they think they cantake us.”
Smiler lights a smoke and exhales slow. “Yeah, but none of that explains why Dagger walked into that barhimself. Presidents don’t do grunt work. Not unless it’s personal.”
The room falls silent. That’s what’s been chewing at me since Liv told me. He didn’t send a soldier. He went in alone. Foundher. Touched her face. Whispered that she was a ‘good girl’ like he’d known her his whole damn life.
And he let her walk out.
“Maybe he’s fixated on Liv,” says Lords. “Wants to rattle you.”
“That’s a death wish,” mutters Taz.
But Boss frowns. “Nah. This wasn’t a stalker play. He wasn’t trying tokeepher. He was trying to send a message. Not just to you, toallof us.”
I slam my palm against the table. “Then what the fuck’s he trying to say?”
No one answers. There’s just the hum of the projector and the quiet hiss of Smiler’s cigarette. “Could be grief,” says Brains quietly. “We’ve seen it before. A death that twists someone up, turns it into a vendetta. Could be we missed something. Something old.”
“Like what?”
He shrugs. “No names in the system. But if he lost someone and thinkswehad a hand in it . . .”
I straighten and my jaw tenses. “I’d know,” I snap. But deep down, I’m not so sure. “Keep digging,” I bark. “Check old prison records. Smiler, you said he had an ex, find out about her. Or any woman tied to him, even family, whatever. Find out who she was and if she crossed our path.”
“You thinking what I’m thinking?” Taz mutters under his breath.
“That he didn’t go there for Liv. He went therebecause of me.”
“Exactly.”
“I don’t even know what I did.” I check my watch. “We meet out front at one. a.m. No excuses. Ready to roll out.”
The bass thumps through the pavement like a heartbeat trying too hard. Outside, the neon sign flickers “Venom” in cracked red light.
