Crank: The Devil's Highwaymen Nomads #1, page 7
A beautiful woman with smudged mascara and a mane of thick dark hair winked at me on her way out and I grinned. She held her shoes—red heels that must have been six inches high—in one hand and smoothed down her creased dress. “Laters, boys.”
“Keep it in your pants, we got business to take care of,” Hammer said, slapping my shoulder. “You ready to go?”
“Always.” I nodded.
“Bull’s in his office finishing up with Hardy and his boys. We’re rollin’ out as soon as he’s done.”
“What’s on the cards?” I asked, leaning against the bar and looking over at Bull’s office. The blinds were open and I watched Bull and Hardy stand and shake hands before heading to the door, followed by Wolf and what I presumed was Hardy’s VP—a white-haired man who seemed to see everything and everyone. His gaze caught mine the second he left the office and he gave me a quick nod.
“Cuttin’ off a snake’s head today, right before we get you cleaned up,” Hammer replied.
I turned to him. “Cleaned up?”
“You’re fighting tomorrow. Hardy’s got it booked already. You’re not a headline, but we’re all still in line to make a lot of money from you.” Hammer moved his dark hair back from his face. It was long, but not long enough to tie back yet and it was obvious it was beginning to piss him off.
I nodded in response. “I’ll be ready.”
He slapped me on the shoulder again. “I know. Bull has faith in you and I trust that motherfucker with my life. Need to cut out the juice for a couple days though, brother.”
“Not going to happen,” I replied without giving any room for an argument. I hadn’t been sober in six months, and I didn’t plan on being sober for the next six either.
“At least I can tell Bull I tried,” Hammer grumbled, and walked away, meeting the two men halfway and leaving me to feel awkward and uncomfortable about the suggestion of not drinking.
I wasn’t an alcoholic or anything, I just couldn’t imagine my life without the booze. I know, I know, that sounds like something an alcoholic would say, but this was more about self-preservation than anything else. I could live without the drink, I just couldn’t live with the guilt burning inside of me, and the drink numbed that.
Stone was nowhere to be seen, but Patch gestured for me to follow him outside and I did. Outside Hardy and his men were already heading away from the clubhouse in a loud series of throaty Harley roars. I headed to my own bike and sat down as Bull, Wolf, Hammer, Thor, and Patch did the same.
Bull looked over at me, his expression serious. His gaze moved over the other men as he scowled. “We got a snake to kill. A lowly motherfucker by the name of Click that’s been taking from the club and dealing it out for himself. We’re sending him to ground today.”
Everyone nodded their approval, and by the look on Patch’s face, I was guessing that was the first he’d heard of it too. Despite him being patched in, some private business only got discussed with Bull’s closest confidants. Still, it said something that he had both me and Patch there with him, I guess. I looked around for Stone again, but he was still nowhere to be seen.
“Where’s Stone?” I asked. Normally I wouldn’t have noticed, but since Patch had been patched in, Stone and I had been partnered up for almost everything.
“Rehab,” Bull replied bluntly, his face hard and serious and giving no room for further discussion on the matter. “Let’s move out. When we get there, keep your eyes and ears open and your mouths shut. Click thinks this is just a checkup, so he won’t be surprised to see me. But you brothers…” He nodded in mine and Patch’s direction. “That’s going to make him suspicious. And suspicious motherfuckers do stupid shit, especially when they’re guilty.”
He started his engine and we all followed suit. Bull and Wolf rode out of the clubhouse grounds, with Hammer and Thor next and Patch and I at the back. We threaded our way through the busy streets of Las Vegas, passing tourists and street entertainers before heading out onto the freeway.
This was what I loved most about this life, and if things didn’t work out with the Highwaymen, it was the thing I would probably be most grateful for: riding. As we picked up speed and leaned our bikes into the curves, I felt the freedom that only my bike could give me hit me hard. I took in great lungful’s of the humid air, sucking it in and letting it wash away the hangover I had, and wiping away the tiredness I felt behind my eyes.
The last of my mother’s screams left me as we pulled off the highway twenty minutes later and headed into more of a secluded area. A wooden fence went all around the place as we drove up the long, winding path to a huge barn. There was land on every side, large boulders and dirt in every direction, perfect for blocking anyone’s view of what was going on there, but also perfect for anyone hiding too.
I felt awake now and ready for whatever Bull needed of me as I scanned the area, on the lookout for anything that seemed out of the ordinary.
I spotted it almost right away: a beat-up gray car hidden in some bushes by the back fence. It was barely noticeable, unless you were actually looking for it. Though it did look like it should probably have gone further back than it was, it made me wonder if Bull had given Click an early morning warning that he was arriving for a checkup that day in the hopes of a slipup just like this. Bull was a smart man—probably one of the many reasons he was the president of the club. He ran a tight ship, and he was unforgiving in his brutality if you pissed him off. It was one of the many reasons he had everyone’s respect, including mine.
But most of all, you knew exactly where you stood with him at all times. He was firm but fair, and he always had the club’s best interest at heart, which meant every brother in it was under his personal protection. Which made Click’s betrayal even worse. Bull would do anything for his club and his brothers, and from the small clips of story I’d so far heard from my brothers, he’d rescued more than just me from a life on the run. Couldn’t imagine how pissed off Bull must have been feeling right then. I knew betrayal and it wasn’t a good feeling.
The large wooden barn door opened and Click strutted out of it. I’d only met the man once before, at my welcoming-in party the night after I killed that man on Bull’s orders with a rusted old crankshaft in the basement of the clubhouse.
He was a short man, reaching only around five foot five in height, but what he lacked in height, he made up for in width. He was overweight, without a doubt, but beneath the fat there was no denying that the man had some serious strength. I’d liked him, that one time I had met him, and it seemed a damn shame for things to have gone south so badly for him. I couldn’t help but wonder what in hell’s name would have made him steal from his own club like that. Man had to be either desperate or have a death wish.
We pulled to a stop, with dust from the gravel- and dirt-covered road flying up around us. I turned off my bike and we removed our helmets. Bull climbed off his bike immediately, gesturing for us to stay where we were as Click came over and shook Bull’s hand. Click gave the heavy crew Bull had brought with him a nervous once-over.
“What’s all this?” he asked, nodding to us. “Something you need to tell me?” He threw the accusation at Bull’s feet, but by the way he was sweating and checking the gate for an exit he was the one that should be worried.
Wolf and Hammer climbed off their bikes and shook Click’s hand as smoothly as possible, but it was obvious to anyone watching that Click wasn’t buying any of it. He was suspicious, and a light sweat that had nothing to do with his heavy bulk trailed down the sides of his face. The quick glance he gave to the area where I had seen the car on my way in sealed his fate for me, and I knew I had been right.
“On our way out of town for a couple a days. Killin’ two birds with one stone by passing through here on our way,” Bull replied with a heavy frown. “That all right with you? Or do I need to run my plans by you first, Click?” he snapped.
“Yeah, yeah, course Prez. Just seemed strange is all, bringing such a big crew with you.” Click cracked his knuckles on both hands, making a clicking noise as he did. It was clearly a nervous gesture which had probably gotten him the name.
“Then get to showing me my stock and my money so I can get on my way. I got important shit going down.” Bull slapped Click on the back and started toward the barn. Click gave a last look back at me, Patch, and Thor still sitting on our bikes before following Bull.
Thor was smoking a cigar, a nonchalant look on his face as the three men walked away, heading inside the barn, but there was a tenseness around his eyes and a hardness to his jaw. As soon as the heavy door slammed behind them, with Click giving one last nervous glance toward us, Thor climbed off his bike.
“Get moving, we’re looking for—”
“Already found it,” I interrupted, “by the back fence. There’s a gray car in the bushes and by the looks he was throwing in that direction, it ain’t holding dead cats in it.”
Thor nodded his approval. “You two, go check it out. I’m going to do the rounds on the exterior, see what else this traitorous fuck is hiding.”
Patch and I headed to the car, stomping through the overgrown bushes, half dead from the burning sun and lack of water. At first I thought I was completely wrong and that perhaps the vehicle did only house dead cats and rust. It was in worse shape than I had originally thought, and didn’t look like it had been driven in a long-ass time, but as Patch popped the trunk, the view inside showed me that I had been right.
“Nice catch,” Patch said, his tone hard. He pulled a block of drugs out from under the scruffy brown blanket that had been hastily thrown over the top of it and tutted as he weighed it in his hand. A scowl formed on his face. “Fucking hate thieves. And brothers stealing from brothers is even worse.”
“Gotta be a reason why though, right?”
Patch looked over at me, looking even more annoyed than previously. “Ain’t no excuse for taking money from the club. You’re taking money from your brothers’ own pockets doing that. And taking money from their pockets is taking money from their families, food from their children’s mouths. We stand together, we fight together, and we fall together. You get it.” He said it in a way that made it clear he wasn’t willing to move on that. No matter what Click’s reason for stealing from the club, there would be no way out of it for him.
I nodded in agreement, afraid of opening my mouth and saying something that would land Patch on his back with me fucking up his face. I didn’t take too kindly to be spoken to like that, but now wasn’t the time, or the place.
“Good. Because the Highwaymen are all or nothing.” Patch grabbed the rest of the bags of drugs and slammed the trunk closed on the car, and we headed back to our bikes.
By the time Bull, Wolf, Hammer, and Click were coming back out of the barn, we’d stashed the drugs into the saddlebags on Thor’s bike. Patch was eager and more than ready to spill Click’s blood. Click must have sensed it too, because one look at Patch’s furious face and he turned and tried to run back inside the barn. Hammer grabbed him by his collar, and Click went for the gun at his waist only to be smashed in the temple by Bull’s own gun.
“Enough,” he roared, and Click stopped fighting.
“I’m sorry, Prez, I’m sorry! It’s not what you think, I swear!”
Hammer dragged Click down to his knees and Wolf and Bull stood over him. Thor recounted the amount of stolen drugs we’d recovered, which did little to serve Click in the “it’s not what it looks like” department.
Bull held his gun loosely in one hand and glared down at Click. “You been stealin’ from your club.”
“No, Prez, no!”
“—Stealin’ from your brothers!”
“Prez, it ain’t like that!”
“—But worse, you been stealin’ from me! After everything I’ve done for you.” He cracked the butt of his gun against Click’s temple again, drawing blood. “Ain’t no excuses for that, Click.”
Click put his head in hands and the cowardly bastard started to cry. “I didn’t have no choice. I got into debt, I needed to pay people so I could survive. It was nothing disrespectful against the club, or you. I love this club, it’s my life—it’s everything I have! I would never do anything to harm it.”
Bull crouched down so he was closer to Click’s face. “Look at me.”
Click looked up, wiping sweat and tears from his face.
“See, brother, now that’s where you’re wrong. It was disrespectin’ me, and the club. You should have come to me. I would have helped you. Instead you got brothers hooked on crank to pay off your own debts. And that ain’t right! I can’t let that shit just go!” Bull stood back up and aimed his gun at Click. “That ain’t right at all.”
“Please!” Click begged, and from behind him Wolf tutted.
“Have some pride, man,” Wolf said, smacking the back of Click’s head. “Acting like a pussy after all the shit you’ve caused. What did you expect was gonna happen when we found out? You should be glad that Bull’s promised to make it quick.” He leaned down close to Click’s ear. “I woulda made it long and painful.”
“That’s enough,” Bull said, and Wolf stood back up with a wolfish grin. “Click, brother. I hate that you made it this way, but shit is the way shit is, and you knew the score when you joined us. Now start acting like the man I first recruited.”
On the outside, I was devoid of any emotion, uncaring whether this man died in front of me or not. It was his mess, and he knew the risks involved with fucking up. So I stared, and I watched, a hard look on my calm exterior, just like my brothers. But on the inside I wanted to turn away. Death wasn’t something I liked to see, it was just something that had to happen to survive.
“Take his cut,” Bull ordered, and Hammer and Wolf pushed Click to the ground and dragged his cut from him.
Hammer threw it over and I caught it, the leather still warm from his body.
“Hold him still.”
Hammer and Wolf grabbed each of Click’s arms and held him facedown on the ground. Bull nodded to Thor, who pulled out his knife and cut open the back of Click’s shirt, revealing his Highwaymen tattoo.
“You ain’t one of us anymore, you burned what you had with us,” Bull said darkly.
Click nodded, his face scuffing against the ground. Bull looked at Thor and nodded, and Thor straddled Click before kneeling down and digging the tip of his blade into his back.
Click screamed and his blood flowed thickly as Thor cut an X right through the center of the tattoo, destroying the club patch that had been branded on his body when he’d joined. When it was done, Thor stood back up, wiped the blade down his leg, and put the knife away. Click had stopped crying and was trying to breathe through the pain.
“All right, drag him up,” Bull ordered, and Hammer and Wolf pulled Click back up to his knees.
“Prez, I’m sorry.” Click sniffed and closed his eyes.
“Apologies don’t mean nothing to me. And apologies won’t help you now, brother.”
Click nodded, his red-rimmed eyes flicking across us all. “I’m sorr—”
Bull pulled the trigger, sending a bullet straight through Click’s forehead, cutting off his final words. Bull muttered something to Wolf and Hammer and turned and headed back to his bike, pulling out his cigarettes as he walked.
As he passed by me, he paused. “Ain’t no forgiveness when it comes to harming your family. That shit ain’t right, not ever,” he said, and continued on to his bike.
His words were meant to make me feel better. Said as a way to show me how far he would go to protect his brothers and the club, his family…me. But his words had the opposite effect. His words sent a chill down my spine, because he had no idea of the sort of man I really was, and no idea of my past, and what I had done before joining the Highwaymen. Which was good, because if he knew what I’d done to my own family, it would probably be me being buried in an unmarked grave that day, and not just Click.
~ 11 ~
Back at the clubhouse I was more than ready to get blind drunk and pass out, but Bull’s words about a brother being hooked on crank kept ringing in my head. I knew he meant Stone after the brief mention that morning of him going to rehab, and though we weren’t particularly close, I still felt it my duty to check up on him.
I strode across the clubhouse, heading to Bull’s office intending to ask about going to see Stone when he was ready. I wasn’t sure if it was possible—my mother had never gotten as far as rehab so I wasn’t a hundred percent sure on how these things worked—but I had to ask. No doubt Bull had made sure that Stone knew the club was all the way behind him getting clean, but having personal knowledge of someone with an addiction problem meant I might be able to help him more. Bull didn’t know about my past, no one did, and I intended to give as little information away as possible.
I paused, halfway across the room, when a couple of girls came in through the main door. They were both brunette and attractive, with an air of confidence about them that told every man in the vicinity that they knew how hot they were and they weren’t to be touched unless invited. One of them—the taller and more beautiful one—looked familiar, like I’d seen her around the club more than once. And yet…I didn’t quite remember exactly when.
She caught my eye and smiled, and I quirked an eyebrow at her. She turned to her friend and whispered something, and her friend glanced in my direction, looking uncertain. But Miss Tall-and-Beautiful clearly didn’t give a shit what her friend had said, and she gestured for me to follow her. I looked over at Bull’s office door and then back to the woman. I wasn’t in the mood to fuck after everything that had gone down that day, but fucking was better than thinking, and thinking was all I was doing at the moment since Wolf and Hammer had beaten me to the punch and had already gone into Bull’s office. The curtains were shut, meaning whatever they were talking about wasn’t to be interrupted. So I followed her down the corridor, giving her friend a cocky grin as I turned away. I watch as she slipped into a side room, leaving the door open for me.
