The chill down my spine tells me there isn’t a word of a lie coming out of him.
I just didn’t really see it coming.
The clubhouse is fucking writhing with bodies.
I knew from the parking lot it was going to be bad but I have to force my way through the crowd just to get out to the hallway and into my room. I have a private bathroom, thank fuck, and I take my time to wash the dirt and gore off of my skin. It’s fucking everywhere, even with me wearing gloves I can still see flecks of black under my fingernails which is a sure sign I’ll be smelling corpse stank until I’ve scrubbed myself raw.
There are some downsides to the one percent-er life.
I’m scrubbing my hair down for the third time when my phone starts buzzing like crazy on the countertop. It’s never a good sign when it blows up and I open the shower door to grab it.
Have you seen the new girl?
It’s from Law and I curse him through my fucking teeth.
You’re seventeen. Get your ass outta my fucking strip club before someone sees you and we get raided.
I drop it back on the countertop and finish washing up. It takes him a minute but he does eventually reply.
I’m leaving now, King sent me for more booze and the club is the only place that never runs out. But man, you gotta see this girl.
I don’t have time for a stripper right now, no matter how badly I wanna bend one over and fuck her into tomorrow. It’s been about a week since I last shot my load down a woman’s throat and that is at least six days too long. Fucking Vic and his bullshit has taken up too much of my time.
That and Rue going off the fucking rails over King coming home.
I mean, he’s only been waiting for this night every second of the day since he was twelve and his pops got pinned for shit he didn’t do. Problem was he wasn’t expecting the man King has become, the one who has just lost twelve years of his life and now he’s got a club riddled with rats who are trying to take our fucking business out from underneath us. To take away everything we’ve fought and killed and fucking died for.
The club my grandfather started, the brotherhood he built and bled for, these rats want to fucking spit on.
Over my dead fucking body.
Whatever it takes, I’ll burn them all out like a shot of penicillin straight into the bloodstream. Whatever it fucking takes.
Send me a photo of her.
I get dry and dressed, checking one last time that there isn’t any evidence of my night’s work as I pull my shit on. I slip my phone into my pocket and then forget all about this new girl as I get my head together before heading out.
My mom and my sister are going to be out there. My mom doesn’t need to be fretting about a goddamn thing and if Trink knew about shit going on… I don’t need that sort of fucking headache.
When I slip out of my room Rue’s getting out of his too, a frown still on his face but he’s clean and freshly shaved, the shadows on his face cleared up just a little.
“What’s the face for?”
He grunts. “Diego came in for the party with Luis and Poe just got back from her summer fucking holiday so she’s here with Trink. It’s a fucking mess waiting to happen.”
I cuss the whole world out and rub a palm over my face. “Are you sure you can’t get Thorn to budge and just give her your fucking patch already? Mom was pregnant with me at seventeen, it’s not that fucking bad.”
He glares at me and I shrug. “I’m not saying knock her up, I’m saying protect her from that asshole and all the other ones coming out of the fucking woodwork now she’s grown tits.”
I walk away before that comment gets me knocked the fuck out because there’s no doubt in my mind he’s about to start swinging.
He catches up to me before I make it out of the hallway and says, “It’s not that fucking easy. There’s too much happening in the club right now to just say fuck it, and have her. What if a fucking war breaks out? That’s where we’re heading with the Demons.”
I can’t help but say it. “If a war breaks out and she’s not yours, that means she’s fair game. If you think for a second Grimm might come knocking to call his kid home then you need to fucking patch her.”
He doesn’t have the chance to argue as we get to the bar, the crowd already fucking rowdy as hell, and there’s too many ears around to keep this going. I head to the bar and get us both drinks, walking over to where Keely is fussing over Poe like she’s a fucking toddler.
“You’re so tiny, did they not feed you while you were gone?”
She laughs and shrugs. “I did some self-defense classes with my sister, learned eight ways to kill a man with my bare hands so I don’t think I’ve worked out so hard in my damn life.”
Rue’s eyebrows get all low and pissy so I cut the fuck in before he starts his shit. “So now you’re a badass and don’t need us watching out for you? Good to know, we’ll stop hanging around.”
She laughs, all sunshine and fucking rainbows, and nudges Trink. “No need for that, just letting you boys know I could kill you all in your sleep.”
Rue huffs out a breath and drains his glass. “Duly noted. You two stay outta trouble. The Shreveport charter are here and I don’t need to be starting a fucking war tonight.”
Keely frowns a little, casts me a look and I give her the slightest shake of my head. Nothing has happened just yet but Diego would do fucking anything to piss Rue off.
Unfortunately, he’s figured out Poe is exactly that something.
“Ugh, he’s looking over here. I need a drink to get me through this. Is my ban over or do I need to go sweet talk Speck?” Poe says with a cheeky grin and a flirty look at Rue.
I would rather fucking clean corpses up than stand around listening to this shit.
“Trink, don’t be an asshole. Just for tonight, sit your ass down and do nothing,” I say and walk away from them all, stopping long enough to kiss Keely’s cheek.
I don’t hang around to hear Trink’s reply because I know for sure she’s going to do whatever she can to fuck with me and the rest of the club tonight.
Growing up the only girl has made her intent on stirring up shit.
King and Hawk are already setting up for the night in their booth at the back of the bar, a sight I haven’t seen for so fucking long but it just feels goddamn right. Hellion is busy joking and talking shit with the Shreveport guys, the alliance he built with them the only thing stopping the war at the moment.
Luis has been trying to reach an agreement with Grimm for fucking years. Their borders run up against each other and there’s a helluva lot of overlap in how the heat treats them.
He’s spent some time in lock up with Demons and that just makes him suspect to me.
Axe tips his head at me when I get up to the bar, calling an order out to Speck for us both on his account. I take a seat with him, ready to get fucking wasted and forget all about Vic and his fucking bullshit.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad the asshole is dead.
But this opens up a whole new era of the Unseen Originals, one that means everyone needs to prove their fucking loyalty. I for one think we’ll be lucky to keep half the members.
Axe gets a look at me and nods. “Yup. This ain’t gonna be a good time so we better fucking drink while we can.”