The Biker and the Loner (Oil and Water #3)- S. Ann Cole Page 0,51

food joint and bought us lunch. But all he's been doing so far is stuffing his face and ribbing me. Dickwad.

"Enough with the death glare," he says, wiping his mouth with a napkin. "I'm just kneeing you. Obviously, I'm all for you taking the offer with Red Cage."

"What about your beef with Tripp?"

"You mean the beef we had when I was fifteen over some bony bitch whose name I can’t even remember?" he asks with a hiked brow. "Don't know about Tripp, but I'm living my best life right now. If he's still beefing, it's with himself."

Crossing my arms, I challenge him, "Oh, yeah? What if we become 'bros'?"

Now it’s his turn to glare. "Go ahead, be a disloyal sonuvabitch. Just know that if we divorce, I'm getting Kenny. She rolls the best joints in Denver."

A few weeks ago, I would've fought him on that, but Leyana’s rolling my joints now. They might not be on par with Kendra’s yet, but she’s getting there. Not to mention the bonus of watching her roll them while wearing nothing but one of her sexy lace panties. Makes it even sweeter.

Grunt drops his napkin and leans back, sobering. "Take the offer. Leave the club. They’re never gonna go legit. They’re being swallowed up with each dumb alliance they make because of greed, and it's only a matter of time before they start two-timing and killing each other. Mark my words, DOH is gonna disintegrate from the inside out. You wanna be going up, not down. Red Cage’s been going up, consistently. Those bastard brothers are winners, straight up. DOH is going down. I’m giving them a year tops."

No lies spoken. I knew it before I left, and after getting back and seeing that things have only gotten worse instead of better, my sentiments remain the same.

I idly twist my beer bottle between my palms, thinking about the one person I truly give a damn about from the club. A pure soul and a true, loyal friend. "Onyx..."

"He's been a pussy manager from day one," Grunt says, reminding me of what I already know. "When everyone else was in charge of guns or drugs, he was in charge of pussy. He’s never been interested in the other shit. Never been on a road drop or a meetup. Plus managing Cookie’s businesses keeps him busy. He just might be the safest one there.”

"Or the one in the most danger. He’s Judge's son," I remind him.

"Yeah, well. Onyx isn’t stupid, we just gotta trust that." He takes a swig from his bottle before shooting me a grin. "You're getting out."

"Seems so."

"I'll flat-out deny it if you ever tell anyone I said this, but Toni and I prayed for this shit," he confesses, shocking me. "We prayed you’d get back home safe, and when you did, we prayed you'd get the hell outta DOH."

I jerk my chin in amusement. "You believe in God now?"

"He's Toni's God, actually. She forces me to pray with her. It's either that or no head. And my woman’s the shit with her mouth, so..." He shrugs unapologetically. "Plus, I get a lotta free shit from Him just by asking, so, eh, what the heck. Why not?"

This clown. Chuckling, I throw a fry across the table at him. "Well, I guess your God is legit then, ‘cause everything seems to be going in my favor so far. Even Judge's supporting me getting out. And that's nothing short of a miracle if you believe in those things."

“At this point, you don’t even need Judge’s support. They hear you’re leaving for Red Cage and they’ll think twice about putting a bullet in you.” He holds up his bottle and I clink it with mine. Beer to Coco-Cola. "You'll be alright."

We both take swigs.

"Got something else I gotta tell you..."

"You're hooking up with Ley," he states, not a question.

Of course, he knows. Why am I not surprised? "Cookie?"

He nods in affirmation. "She told Toni, and Toni tried to get me to talk to you."

"Talk to me?"

"You've got a rep." He offers an apologetic shrug. "They're worried you'll mess her up."

"It's not like that with her."

"I know."

"I'm serious about her."

"I know."

"I might even love her."

"Did I 'talk' to you?" he asks rhetorically. "No, I didn't. Because I know you. No way you’d have her all up in that house, going furniture and grocery shopping and all that shit if you weren't serious about her."

I rub my palm across my thickening beard. "She's...I dunno, but she's like fucking