bar.
"Too badass to be worried about walking around drunk this time of night?" the last voice I wanted to hear asked just as I rounded the next corner away from the bar.
"Jesus Christ. Stalker, much?" I griped, shooting him a nasty look over where he was standing next to his bike.
"Don't flatter yourself," he said, throwing my words from earlier back at me. "My bike crapped out on me," he admitted, shaking his head at it.
"It is paralyzed at the idea of having you touch it," I said, shrugging. "I can't blame it."
We were just snapping at each other.
Like usual.
Everything was normal.
You know, until the bullets rang out.
Chapter Two
Fallon
It would jinx it to say it out loud, but we all felt it.
Things were too quiet.
It was making everyone antsy.
Hell, Dezi had rolled in the clubhouse three times that week alone bloodied and bruised. Because, apparently, if you didn't keep that crazy fucker busy enough, he went to look for some fists to slam his face into.
In lieu of some problem to keep our minds occupied, we needed to get the hell out of the clubhouse to chase another kind of action.
"Anyone up for Chaz's?" I asked, walking into the common room to find Finn, Seth, Dezi, Cary, Brooks, and Slash hanging around, looking bored.
Some of the OG guys were around somewhere too. Sometimes they would drop in for a beer before heading home, but it wasn't often either. It was probably just going to be the six of us. Which was fine. It was the group that made the most sense since we were all single.
Our club had never been big on clubwhores. Mostly because it would piss off our moms and aunts. So if we wanted to get some women, we typically had to go out and find them.
Besides, we were still trying to get to know Slash, who we were eyeing up to open a new Henchmen chapter. It would give us all a better idea of who the man was if we saw him in an environment outside of the clubhouse. And with a few drinks in him.
"Dezi, don't even bother bringing your bike," I said, shaking my head, knowing the man thought if one drink was good, a half a bottle was better.
"Self-control hasn't ever been my strong suit. Any other irresponsible fuckers hoofing it with me?" he asked, eventually getting the others to walk to the bar with him, while I decided to take my bike, only planning to have a couple beers.
I didn't trust the calm.
I guess I got that from Roan, who I remembered spending a good chunk of his time in the glass room on the roof, looking for trouble because he could just feel it coming.
It was something in the air, a frazzled, electric sizzling sensation up and down my arms.
Something was coming.
I wanted to have my wits about me if it happened to show up while we were out on the town.
"You coming?" Finn asked, holding the door open for me.
"Yeah," I agreed, falling into step with him.
"You're distracted."
"Got a lot on my mind."
"Oh, right. Your spidey senses," Finn teased, shooting me a smirk. "You know what would help them? Alcohol," he said, slapping a hand hard enough on my shoulder that he made me stumble forward. The smart asshole rushed forward before I could retaliate, though.
I don't know if it was just part of growing up, or his proximity to Dezi, but Finn had turned into a shit-starter lately. He and Seth came to blows a few times a month over stupid shit. I'd needed to drag him off of one of the Mallick kids a couple months back.
I always figured he had a bone to pick with me because we knew Dad was grooming me to take over the club one day. But time was proving that he just liked to start shit, get under people's skin, and throw hands if it came to that.
He was far from the quiet, standoffish, soft teenager he'd once been.
Which I guess was good for the club.
As much as it was a pain in the ass to keep track and control over men like Dezi, they also tended to be the best assets under pressure. Which was my hope for Finn. All the fucking around was going to help mold and harden him into the kind of brother the rest of us could really count on.
"Not walking?" I asked as Brooks climbed on his bike beside mine.
Where Finn and Dezi were becoming