“Deal! Two grand each on the table?”
Optimus nodded, confidence oozing. Two grand wasn’t a lot of money for us to throw away. We made more than good livings through the businesses we owned and other club dealings, but it was the bragging rights between clubs that were like gold.
“Choose your man.”
“Kev, get your ass over here,” Optimus yelled back toward the clubhouse.
I looked over my shoulder and found Rifle looking at me with a smirk on his lips. Rifle had joined us last year and earned his patch faster than any other Brother. He was sharp, fiercely loyal, and the guy had skills we couldn’t afford to lose. Ex-army sniper, he knew the ins and outs of tactical work. Shit that came in handy, more often than you would’ve thought. Plus, he was a fucking crack shot with a gun.
Optimus’ man took the gun first. It was something simple, a .22 long rifle with an attached scope. He took the first shot and then sent one of the prospects down to mark it with a red marker. He fired off another shot into the woods, scaring the crap outta the kid and making us all laugh as he ran a little faster.
When he got back, Kev handed the gun over to Rifle. He looked pretty damn sure of himself, but I knew my man was the best of the best. He stood up to the mark and raised the gun to his eye. His hands were perfectly steady, not a single shake or movement as he sighted the target. I saw a small smile flicker in the corner of his mouth just before he squeezed the trigger. He knew he had this.
We all walked down to the target together. Kev’s mark was circled in red and just on the edge of the black center circle.
“Fuck me,” Optimus groaned.
I smirked and patted him on the shoulder when I saw the other bullet hole. Straight through the damn center of the circle. I bet if we measured that shit, it would be fucking perfect.
“Where’d you find this fucker?” Optimus said with a huff.
“Rifle is an ex-army sniper. Three tours.”
“Hustled! Hustled in my own damn club grounds.”
I laughed. “How’s that saying go about the better man winning?”
He shoved me, and we all headed back to the other end of the range where we spent over an hour competing with each other.
When lunch was called, we headed inside the clubhouse, my stomach now aching for food as I hadn’t eaten since one of the club girls cooked us all breakfast at too-fucking-early o’clock this morning before we headed out. Just as we stepped inside the door, Optimus pulled a ringing cell phone from his pocket.
“Harmony.” I watched as he listened for a minute, his face growing increasingly redder with anger. I followed him as he stormed off to the back of the clubhouse and into what I assumed was his office.
“Give the motherfucker the phone,” he roared. I shut the door behind us and took a seat on the arm of a chair, curious about what was going on. There was a moment of silence as I watched my Brother sizzle. “Listen here, shit-for-brains. Those two girls in front of you, they fucking belong to me. Do you know who I am, asshole? I’m the motherfucking president of the motherfucking Brothers by Blood! Now back your pansy fucking ass away from my damn girls. You get me, limp dick?”
I choked on a laugh.
Optimus waited a moment before pulling his phone from his ear and checking the screen. “Bastard hung up on me.”
“You think you got enough insults in there?”
“Shut the fuck up, Knight Rider,” he shot, storming out of the room mumbling something about some guy hitting on his girls. Ah, these few days were going to be interesting for sure.
Chapter Five
HARMONY
We decided to get ready for the party at Lucy’s place. Because she was a stripper and not a club girl, she had her own house not too far from the clubhouse. Reinforcements had been called in for the night because of the number of extra brothers in the house. There were extra girls from X-rated coming in as well. It was a club rule that the brothers were not allowed to sleep with the strippers. Brothers by Blood had strict feelings about keeping business and pleasure separated. But for tonight, they had all been given a free anything-goes pass. I knew Lucy and some of the girls were itching to get their hands on the men.
There were close to twenty brothers in attendance at the club and only seven club girls, with around the same number of strippers. Shit was going to get a bit crazy, and I couldn’t wait.
Lucy leaned against the door frame of her room where I was getting dressed. “Girl, you look hot!”
I smacked my now bright-red lips together before turning to her with a bright smile. I’d chosen a deep red pleated pleather skirt that was short but covered just enough to be super sexy. I topped it with a black sequin top that tied around my neck and dipped low in the back. I’d never been a big fan of the hooker type heels that strippers wore, so I’d paired my outfit with a sexy stiletto ankle boot.
“A couple of your girls just got here.”
I raised a brow. “Who?”
“Lou, Missy, and Satan, aka Dana.” She rolled her eyes. The girls from X-Rated weren’t exactly Dana’s biggest fans either. Dana had this high-and-mighty attitude about her and liked to act like she was better than Lucy and the other girls. She’d picked fights with them more than once and was on her last legs with Optimus. Unfortunately, there were actually a few guys who enjoyed her company and had stuck up for her to keep her around. Sometimes, I wondered about those men, a few too many drugs rotting their brains.
“Speak of the devil,” she groaned quietly. Dana pushed through the doorway, shoving Lucy out of the way. “Bitch, this is my house. We ain’t at the club yet, so you better watch yourself.”
Lucy steeled her with a look before turning and walking back down the hall where I could hear all the other girls laughing and chatting. Dana scoffed and turned to the floor-length mirror, eyeing herself with a devilish smirk.
“So this guy who’s taking over the Troy chapter, you know what his name is?” she asked, leaning forward and adjusting her breasts under the small black boob tube top she was wearing. It was almost like she had taken two pieces of material and wrapped one around her tits and the other around her ass and decided to call it an outfit.
Wow, classy.
“No, I’ve never met him before.”
She continued to study herself, turning to check out her own ass. A giggle almost fell from my mouth. Bitch looked fifty shades of ridiculous. Even as a club girl, I liked to hold myself with a bit of respect. That meant being sexy without basically flaunting my pussy and ass right in front of the men’s faces. But I guess some men liked their girls easy.
She shrugged. “I heard he doesn’t have an Old Lady.”
Now I saw where this was going, and this time I couldn’t help but laugh, earning me a sharp glare from the she-devil. “And I’m pretty sure that will still be true in four days when they ride out,” I threw over my shoulder as I left her standing in the room, admiring her assets. “Bitch is crazy,” I muttered to myself.
It was after nine o’clock by the time Slider called to tell us we were needed. The boys were going into Church, so they could congratulate the new chapter president in a more official way, and we needed to be there for when they got out.
Bikes lined the clubhouse parking lot. Sparkling chrome reflecting in the headlights of the car as we pulled past the prospects standing guard at the steel gates. All in all, the club had three new prospects. Caleb was the closest to getting his patch, having been with the club for a little over a year. The other two had joined more recently and would have to wait a little longer. Caleb was the only one I was close to since his main job was manning the bar, which meant we had to interact more. He was an awesome bartender, and sometimes I had to wonder whether he had missed his calling. He was a sweet kid who had been dealt a really shitty hand. He ended up coming around with one of the club kids he had met at school, and before I knew it, he was eighteen and wearing a prospect patch on his back.