Page 48 of Ripper
“Everything went smoothly. This doesn’t make any fucking sense. We took each and every one of those guys through the damn ringer before they got to this point. We were watching them all like hawks. Did someone slip up, or are we being fucked with?”
“We need to get everyone down here to move this shit. I don’t want any of the prospects involved in the move. Ripper, that goes for Ronnie too,” said Tank.
“Come on, man. Ronnie ain’t got nothing to do with this. She just fucking got here.”
“All the more reason to keep her out of this. Look, until we figure out how those Freeway Fucks found this place, I don’t want any of the prospects near the stock. They can go ahead with their runs as planned, but they need to report to one of the members to hand it over. I ain’t letting Ray take this shit from us. We can’t fight back if we ain’t got the tools to win,” Tank said, gritting his teeth.
I could practically feel the anger emanating from him. I stepped back, nodding, deciding it was best not to fight him on this. I watched as Tank pulled his cell phone out, dialing up every last member, telling them to make it down here. We all got to work, unloading each set, stuffing shit into duffel bags to drive it out of there. By the time we wrapped shit up, the sun was starting to come up.
The morning air was crisp when I finally managed to make it back home, wondering when Tank was going to call in the first hit. I was tired of sitting on my ass, letting the Kings take everything that we worked so damn hard to protect. I promised myself that the next time I saw any of them out on the streets, there’d be hell to pay.
I went to bed right as the sun was settling into the sky, waking up a few hours later to the sound of my cell phone nearly buzzing itself right off my nightstand.
“Hello?”
“Ripper. I’m at your front door. Open up.”
“Arch? The fuck are you doing here?”
“Just open up the door, man.”
I hung up, groaning as I got out of bed, dragging my feet across the wood floors to the front door. I opened it up, staring at him through the screen before he pointed to the lock so I could let him in.
“I ain’t gotta be at the clubhouse for my run with Ronnie until tonight,” I said, glancing over at the clock on my wall.
“Yeah, but I need to talk to you first.”
I furrowed my brows at him, outstretching my hand to the couch so he could take a seat. I started a pot of coffee real quick, realizing I probably wasn’t gonna get any more sleep.
I came back with two cups, handing him one even though it was just after two o’clock in the afternoon.
“So, Arch, what did you want to talk to me about? Trouble with Rose? You know—”
“I’m not here to talk about my lady. I’m here to talk about yours,” he said.
“The hell are you talking about?”
“Wrench and I have been watching every single one of those prospects for weeks, Ripper. None of them stepped out of line or acted weird. The only new addition to the line-up is your lady. Look, I—”
“No, Arch. Please tell me you didn’t come all the way here to tell me I need to look out for Ronnie. There’s no way in hell she could be involved with those Freeway Fucks, okay?”
“I hate to break it to you, Ripper but this wouldn’t be the first time your lady decided to side with the enemy. All I’m saying is that she was the only one that had some random phone call the night shit went down. She looked real shaken too.”
“Arch, there’s no fucking way.”
“Listen, man, it could be nothing, but it also could be something. All I’m saying is to keep an eye on her. Tank’s heating up. We’re moving out soon to start giving these fuckers a little payback. We just gotta make sure we ain’t gonna have our plans squashed before we can even do anything.”
“Yeah, whatever. I’ll watch her, but I’m telling you that she’s good for it. Ronnie isn’t Anna. Soon, you’ll all see that.”
“That’s what I’m hoping for, man. I really am.”
When Archer finally took off, I felt the anger well up inside me as I imagined the scene again. Every empty crate was another goddamn run we were gonna have to go on, and I sure as hell wasn’t looking forward to that. I shook my head, breathing deeply, damn sure that the woman I was falling for had nothing to do with those motherfucking Freeway Kings.
***
The sun was finally starting to set when I made it back to the clubhouse to find Ronnie chatting with some of the members. I looked down to see her smile brightly at me, taking some of the worry away. Arch may have been right that Ronnie was new to the line-up, but she was damn well just as much of a fighter as the rest of us. I saw it in her eyes, in the determination she oozed every time we were out. That was exactly what I’d felt when I first joined, and I wasn’t gonna let anyone take that away from her.
“Ripper.”
