My old man is pacing in front of the clubhouse when we pull up. Darting forward, he opens the back door of the Range Rover before we come to a complete stop. Seeing Jimmy’s body, he slams the door and punches his fist into the panel until his knuckles bleed and hand looks deformed. Jimmy wasn’t just his VP, he was his oldest friend.
“Tell me again what happened.” He turns to Kai and me, his eyes wild with fury. “Bad information. Situation went bad. Jimmy got hit with a bullet from a prospect,” I grind out. I feel like I’ve popped a thousand uppers. My blood vibrates through my veins. Adrenaline is fucking crazy.
“Who!?” he roars.
“Stealer. He fucking took off while we contained the situation,” I try to explain, but there’s no excuse. I should have shot out his kneecaps. The dried blood all over me gains flared tempers from my brothers. I feel it too, brothers, the need for retribution.
“He what?” His tone is deadly.
“He fucking ran. I’ll go find him and bring him to you in pieces, Prez.” Kai pipes up, fisting his knife. Body shuddering with the violent need to punish.
“Fuck that. I’ll go to him. Get me an address. He dies tonight by my bare hands.” He’s not my old man in this moment, he’s Viking, Royal Bastard President. A merciless killer.
“I’ll come,” I tell him, the dried blood flaking off my trembling hands. He rattles his head no, placing his palms on my shoulders. “Get Jimmy inside, then send Rage and Jameson out to burn that fucking car so there’s no trace of it.”
“You don’t want me with you?”
“I need you here. You’re VP now.”
I look around the brothers who have gathered outside, all nodding their heads in agreement.
I’m VP now.
Fourteen
Drew
Twenty-five years old
One year later…
I’ve heard the saying “of all the bars, why did you have to walk into mine,” but I never thought I’d be thinking it until this moment. My eyes clash with Kai’s, and my feet halt.
Shit.
“You okay?” Willa, my boss and friend, asks.
She’s also running from something, but hasn’t told me what. I think it’s her teen son’s father. When I rolled into this town, I hadn’t planned on staying, but she recognized the broken parts inside me and took me in—gave me a job and a room to rent. Now, my head is exploding looking over at the familiar face. “It’s fine,” I lie. She grabs her purse and waves goodbye, off to the suppliers.
This is a hick town in the middle of nowhere. How the hell does this shit happen? “Been a long time,” Kai drawls, peering around the small bar before slipping onto a stool.
“Not long enough.” I smile tightly. My heart races, causing my hands to tremor, I busy myself by wiping down the bar so he can’t see how unnerved I am.
He gazes down at my hand, a tilt to his crooked smile. “So, this is where you ran away to, huh?”
“Here…” I shrug. “There,” I add, picking up a glass from the bar. I fill it, then slide it across the bar to a regular. He looks between Kai and me, frowning. His eyes drop to Kai’s cut, and for the first time since the doors opened four hours ago, he gets up and moves to another stool.
“Something I said?” Kai quirks a brow.
“Something you wear.” I glare at his patch.
“Bitch, that’s ignorant.”
“No, it’s cautious,” I correct.
“I’m just here meeting an old friend. I don’t want trouble.”
My guts churn, my eyes tracking the door and the windows to see if he’s alone. “He’s not here,” he informs me, placing his arms on the bar.
“Why are you?”
“Like I said, I’m meeting someone.” The moment the words leave his lips, Riley waltzes in. Oversized sunglasses cover half her face, but I recognize her immediately. She hasn’t changed a bit. “Speaking of, she’s here. I’ll tell Prez you said hi.” He winks, the side of his mouth curling into a sinister smirk. Bastard.
Thud.
“Drew?” Riley gasps, slipping her glasses off and gaping at me. “It is you. You work here?” she asks dumbly.
“Nah, just pouring drinks for something to do,” I say, expressionless.
Sneering, she says, “Still a little bitch, I see.”
“Ouch,” Kai barks. “I can stick around if you girls want to fuck that aggression out? Pay a pretty penny to see you fist each other’s cunts.”
“Over my dead body,” I hiss. His eyes ignite with fire, his tongue swiping out to lick his lips. My eyes flash to his road name patch above his right pocket: Killer. His steel gaze follows my eyes, a smirk creeping up his face.
“I told you it was her. Can’t believe I drove four hours for this,” Riley huffs.
“What? How did you know I was here?” I ask, confused to see them both so far from home. I’ve only been in this town a few months. Dad left money to keep me going for a while, but money runs out. Especially when your bitch aunt steals half of it.
Riley pulls her cellphone out of the large purse slung over her arm.
Holding the phone out, she shows me the bar’s website. In the banner, there’s a picture of me slinging drinks. Shit. That’s sloppy of me. I didn’t even know they had a website.
“I’m looking for an investment property. This one is for sale. Not that I’d put my money anywhere near this dump.” She wrinkles her nose.
“Still the snobby princess I see,” I remark.
“Satisfied?” Riley asks Kai. He offers her a curt chin lift and a dismissive flick of his wrist to get rid of her. What a fucking bitch. What does she get from giving up my location? Does Willa know this place is for sale?
“What now?” I fold my arms over my chest, staring at him as Riley disappears the same way she came in. “You going to drag me home kicking and screaming or just take me out back like a dog and put me down?”
“I’m going to have a drink.” He taps the bar.
Narrowing my eyes on him, I grab a shot glass, fill it, slide it over to him, then fill one for myself. “He hasn’t mentioned you in a long time, but you’re a hard girl to forget.”
“Stop playing fucking games with me, Kai. Are you going to tell Viking where I am or not?” He pauses his movements, the glass mid-air toward his mouth. “Shit. You don’t know, do you?”
“Know what?” My insides churn.
“Prez died six months ago.”
Thud. Thud. Thud.
He’s dead? My thoughts flicker to Alec. Pain accompanies the memory of him.
“How?”
“Fucking heart attack, of all things. Mid-fuck, if you can believe it. What a way to go. Jackie was stuck under his body for two hours before someone went looking for him.” He shudders.
“So, Jimmy is Prez now?” I breathe, my thoughts racing.
He grimaces. “Jimmy died last year. Fucking gunshot to the stomach perforated something important—lights out.” He clicks his fingers so nonchalant, it causes me to flinch. I liked Jimmy…