Vicious Rebel (82 Street Vandals #2) - Heather Long Page 0,66

she promised him in a breathy voice, and I kicked out a chair, aiming it to hit him in the thigh right next to the obscene boner he sported.

Meeks grunted and glared at me.

“Pocket your dick and sit down, or fuck off. I’ve wasted enough time on your shit today.” I met his stare, unimpressed. “Three…”

Amusingly enough, I didn’t even have to hit two before he released her and waved her away before he sat. “Didn’t take you for such a cockblocker, O’Connell.”

“Don’t recall giving a fuck one way or the other,” I responded and ignored her look of gratitude as she hurried away. She probably shouldn’t be so happy that I helped. This dickhead would probably take it out on her later. I couldn’t afford to care.

Not right now.

He snorted a grunt of laughter like we were friends.

We were not.

His guys ranged out around the room, watching his back and the door. The paranoia was strong with this one. In fact, it was worse than it had ever been in the past.

Jasper had that effect on people.

“Well, I’m here,” Meeks said before he took a long drink of his beer. I didn’t bother sipping mine. One was enough, and I was working. “What did you want?”

“Stop starting shit with the Vandals.”

His bottle crashed to the tabletop. “Are you fucking with me right now, rich boy? You fucking cocksuckers deal in yachts and imported pussy. The Vandals are Harbor business and no concern of yours.”

I ignored all of that. What the Bay Ridge Royals did was not his concern. Nor where their interests lay. “Did I stutter? Gang war is bad for business.”

With a snort of derision, he flexed his hand around the bottle. The skull face tattoo he’d been adding to his scalp pulsed as though it was as pissed as he was. “What fucking business do you have with them? Is this about your retard brother?”

Ignoring the bait, I kept my expression bland. “You’re replaceable, Deuce, don’t forget that. Juan Ricardo needs this deal with us more than he needs you.”

The sudden flare of his nostrils confirmed that opinion.

“If you like, I can just set up the call with him. I’m doing you a courtesy. Stay out of Vandals’ business and stop picking fights with them.”

“Or what?” Meeks demanded, seeming to find his balls, or maybe he lost what was left of his marbles. It was debatable.

“Well, we’ll start with the three hundred percent tax that will be added to all your incoming shipments for the next three months.”

He paled.

I glanced around the club. “And this bar.”

“What about it?”

“I’ll take it too.” I hadn’t intended to, but fuck him. “You and your boys will leave, or you’ll pay the going rate plus three hundred percent.”

“Are you out of your fucking mind?” It came out edged in fear.

“We can take more.” For the most part, the Bay Ridge Royals used the Harbor as a launching point for businesses elsewhere. But they had a lot of resources—resources I had access to, and I was their fixer here. The 19 Diamonds needed fixing.

He slammed back the full beer, then set the bottle on the table. Raising a hand for the waitress, he snarled, “Fine. We’ll leave them alone. We only have one small piece of business left.”

“And what’s that?”

“It’s not your concern.”

I chuckled softly, and he shot me a look. The whites of his eyes were very visible. “You want to try that answer again.”

The waitress brought him another beer, and he reached out to grab her.

“Three hundred percent,” I reminded him, and his hand froze just inches from her. “And if she says no, I’ll cut your balls off if you keep reaching for her.”

The waitress jerked her eyes to me, and Meeks closed his hand into a fist. Had to hurt from the way the blood drained from his knuckles and his jaw clicked as he ground his teeth together.

“Fuck off,” he told the waitress and spun to face me fully. Well, well, it was about time the dick started paying attention.

I ignored her look of gratitude as she obeyed and kept my attention on Meeks.

“What’s that last piece of business?”

He really didn’t want to tell me, but he couldn’t find a way around it. What he had to say, I really didn’t like.

I’d deal with it.

After he was done and after he’d paid, Meeks and his people fucked off out of the bar. I leaned back in the seat and turned the idea around in my head. Bounties