waiting for you to tell me what you want me to do.”
“How should I know? That’s your call.”
“Dealing with petty female shit is your job when you’re at the clubhouse.”
I scowled. “Says who?”
“Buddha. You’re at the top of the lady food chain now.” He chuckled. “Welcome to the family, darlin’. For better or for worse, right?”
And from the pan to the fire, apparently. “You’re kidding.”
“Nope. Hurry up, this one bites.”
I sighed and shook my head. “I really don’t have time for this, but fine… Sadie, stay and do whatever it is you do around here. Lulu, go home. You can come back tomorrow after you apologize to Sadie and promise not to start dumb shit again.”
Lulu whined, “But she—”
Biff covered her mouth. “You heard her, right?” He waited for her to nod before letting go.
I got off Sadie and helped her up. “Don’t lower yourself to this shit,” I implored. “Save your battles for when they actually mean something. If you have a problem, walk away and come talk to me since it’s apparently”—I rolled my eyes at Biff—“my job.”
He smiled and guided Lulu to the door. “Come on, Lu. Time to go.”
She shot a snotty look back over her shoulder.
“Hey,” Biff snapped, “that better not have been meant for Livia. You show her some fucking respect.”
“It was for the other one,” she snarled.
“Make it the day after tomorrow,” I told her.
Ugh. Crazy bitches, all of them. Buddha and I would be having a discussion about this when they got back from their run.
And great, now I was even more late. I texted Milo, grabbed my shit, and jogged out of the clubhouse before getting held up by some other pointless foolery.
: 8 :
| TORCH |
A waitress carrying beer and tequila shots appeared at their table on the patio of a bar in Albuquerque. Torch was tired as shit, hot as shit, and annoyed as shit for not taking Liv up on her offer of floating the club some cash. As much as he loved long rides, following a slow flatbed down a not-so-scenic highway pretty much took the thrill out of it.
Overdoing it the night before hadn’t helped much either, looking around he could tell he wasn’t the only one dragging ass. The fact that they were at a bar next to their motel instead of riding two blocks up to a titty bar spoke for itself. The only one who didn’t seem to mind was Gauge, which was probably because he’d driven the truck in air-conditioned comfort. Or maybe he was just happy to get away from his woman for a night, she seemed to be stressing him out a lot lately.
Gauge slid him a shot and leaned back in his chair with a content sigh. “Enjoy the nonstop pussy and happy household while you can, brother. Trust me, one of these days you’ll live for these runs.”
Torch slammed the tequila back and smirked. “Dana’s nipping at your balls again, huh?”
“Man, she’s been driving me up the fucking wall. I have no clue what crawled up her ass this time.”
“You’re obviously doing something wrong, dude,” Mace chimed in. “Torch’s old lady fucks him up against walls, the way it should be.” He looked back at Torch and grinned. “Speaking of, I heard Grimm caught you two in the act. How’s your ass, brother? I saw you squirming on the ride.”
Gauge groaned. “Oh, come on, he’s fine. Liv probably held ice on it all night.”
Torch lit a cigarette and chuckled. “She totally fucking did.”
“Like I said, enjoy it.”
“I plan to.” He looked over at Buddha, who was being way too quiet for comfort. The man looked like he was having a hard time keeping his eyes open. “You good, man?”
“Yeah,” he replied. “It’s just been too long of a day running on a couple hours of sleep. Think I’m gonna call it a night, boys. Gauge, you can head back with the truck whenever you feel like it in the morning. I was gonna swing by Santa Fe on the way back if the rest of you don’t mind. Just a quick stop. I’ve got a buddy there I haven’t seen in a while.”
“Yeah, sure,” Torch agreed. “It’s what, sixty miles? Let’s take off around nine, we’ll grab some food while you go see your friend.”
Buddha stood up and nodded. “Sounds good. Good night, brothers.”
“Night,” they all answered.
“Alright… What the fuck’s going on with him?” Gauge asked, as soon as the boss was out of earshot.
Mace frowned. “No idea