Heart Ripper - Coffin Nails MC (gay biker M/M romance) (Sex & Mayhem Book 9) (9 page)

There was dust on Raja’s goggles when he pulled
into the driveway to the temporary Coffin Nails MC Toledo clubhouse. Even
having to maneuver the bike between the holes in the asphalt was better than
struggling with bills for a place the former Rabid Hogs-turned Coffin Nails MC
could no longer afford after business went to shit.

Having been away for a month, Raja welcomed the
familiar scenery, even the rusty sheets of metal covering the awning over the
forecourt of what used to be a service station looked homely and welcoming
after weeks on the road. It still resembled a gas station, and cars had occasionally
stopped by to ask for fuel before the club invested in a fence.

The guys knew he was coming, and the sight of
their polished bikes standing in the shadow at the front of the small building
brought a smile to Raja’s face. Finally home. He couldn’t wait to rest his
bones in his own bed after the talking was over. And there was a lot to
discuss, because as much as he enjoyed the relative freedom of being a guest at
other chapters and fucking his way through America, he was mostly focused on
establishing his club. He was the president now, and he wanted the chapter to
thrive. It was his responsibility to his brothers. With time, they would be
able to leave the rust and dust of this place behind and move somewhere more
suitable.

The four members poured out of the building when
he drove into the forecourt, and it was a true relief to finally greet them in
person. Only now it hit him that he hadn’t been home for far too long.

Pete was starting to grow a beard, and Smurf,
nicknamed because of his shortness, got a new tattoo on his hand.

“Get the man a beer,” Spin said with a big grin,
and Raja wished they had a prospect already so things like that could be taken
care of.

He walked up to the sofa they set up in the
makeshift lounge and sat in it, relieved to have the worn leather cushion him.
“Damn right. A nomadic life’s not for me,” he said as his brothers took seats around
the beat-up coffee table. Pete passed him the open beer, and Raja accepted the
cool, familiar taste with a groan.

“Same here,” said Spin, glancing at Raja with
curiosity in his bright eyes. They had talked on the phone earlier, but for
obvious reasons, they hadn’t discussed business in depth.

“Anything changed while I was gone?” asked Raja,
greedy for a bit of warm-up before moving on to the serious stuff.

Pete gave him a wide smile. “My son’s getting
married next month.” He raised his beer. “And has a baby on the way. I wanted
to invite you in person.”

Raja smiled and patted Pete’s back. The poor bastard
had been itching for the next generation of his name for long enough.
“Congratulations! I will be there, of course. If there’s anything the two of
them need, tell me.”

Blade leaned back and put three wads of cash on
the table to the whistles of the other men. “The operation with the Coffin
Nails has been going well. Soon enough, we’ll get a real clubhouse. And
prospects and bitches. It’s all down to money.”

Raja sighed. That was quick progress to real talk.
“I have an idea how to make that happen,” he said, straightening up and looking
around to make sure he acknowledged all of his men. “It could bring just the
revenue we need.”

Smurf looked at the money on the table with a
smile. “I can’t wait to throw a party. It’s been so dead around here.”

Spin nodded. “Whatcha got?”

Raja leaned forward and propped his elbows on his
thighs. He put down the beer, knowing he needed his brain working with as much
attention to detail as possible. The pitch he had for his brothers was not
without disadvantages, but he believed it could work for them and finally
establish them as a separate entity, independent from the chapter in Detroit.

“I’ve been in many places and talked to a lot of
people, so you can imagine all that information buzz. Most of the Southern
chapters do arms or drugs, but up here, we do have a bit of an oversaturation
with this kind of cargo, especially with the Detroit guys so established.”

Smurf raised his eyebrows and leaned back. “What
are you saying?”

“Exactly. Moving stuff for Detroit has been
working well and bringing cold hard cash,” said Blade.

Raja glanced at Spin, who rolled his eyes. “We’re
their brothers, not underlings. As it is, we are just that, because we can’t
possibly keep ourselves afloat without their support.”

“That’s right,” said Raja, “It was a good
temporary solution to get back on our feet after Head’s death, but we can’t
afford to have it last much longer. With the proximity of Detroit, the goods
need to be something the guys up there don’t deal with. It doesn’t make any
sense to make enemies among brothers.”

Pete gave a silent nod and stroked his scruffy
chin. “What do you have in mind?”

Raja smiled. “Many people don’t have access to the
drugs they need, because the FDA hasn’t approved them as safe enough or because
of lobbying, and some that are legally available are simply too expensive. The
guys I met in California told me some groups are turning a huge profit on this
kind of stuff.”

Spin lit himself a cigarette and nodded.
“Interesting.”

Pete jumped right in. “So fucking true. My gran
got cancer a few years back and had to sell her house to afford the treatment.
Scum. Taking the clothes off our backs for health. The government's no better
than the dealers they try to put behind bars.”

Raja was afraid it would soon develop into one of
Pete’s conspiracy theory rants, so he spoke.

“Damn right. With the demand, we will turn it into
a profitable business without any trouble, but it would also improve the
situation of the community. Borg from the California chapter is ready to assist
us on this. He knows of suppliers that ship the drugs across the border. We
will be distributing this shit here, but we can keep our hands relatively clean
if we sell it to local distributors. Little risk in comparison with arms
dealing.”

Spin took a long drag of smoke. “Not bad. There’s
always much more heat on pills and guns. Closing down that kind of operation
always gets the cops more brownie points, so they fall over themselves for
intel. This is also illegal but should be less risky.”

Blade bristled. “Really? We’ll be turning down a
good thing going with Detroit for an operation we’d need to set up from
scratch? We don’t even know how much it will make us, how much we’ll need to
invest. Do we want a setback like that right now?”

Raja frowned at Blade. “Don’t you think staying in
this limbo
is
a setback? If we play our cards right, we’d be expanding
our territory, with the blessing of the other chapters in the region. They’d
have our back if other groups wanted a piece of the business, and this could
carry us from being a tiny chapter no one cares about to a player that needs to
be reckoned with. Isn’t that what we all want?” He looked at Pete, eager to
appeal to his family spirit. He’d be that much more susceptible to it with his
grandson on the way. “To improve the conditions for our families and serve the
community by supplying them with the stuff they can’t get for a reasonable
price. It’s a win-win that will get us prospects. Didn’t you say your son was
on the fence about guns?”

Pete nodded with a deepening frown. “True, true.”

Smurf huffed. “We should have a vote, because I’m
not up for two years of all work and no pay. I’ve got enough of that at the
warehouse. I want a clubhouse. I want a fucking party on the weekends, and I
want pussy on tap.”

Blade scowled as well. “Guess our prez doesn’t
care about pussy.”

Raja’s head snapped up, and while he kept his
poker face, having Blade, who had been a close friend for years, burn him like
this was as unexpected as it was painful. “What’s that supposed to mean? Are
you implying I’m not thinking about all of you first?”

Pete sighed. “To be fair, we didn’t party on our
own. It’s always when we visit Detroit.”

“And it’s likely to stay that way if we don’t
become independent,” said Spin.

Blade groaned. “Sorry, I’m a bit twitchy ‘cause of
the situation. And Hunter’s peacocking around there, as if he wasn’t just a
Rabid Hogs prospect a year ago.”

Smurf nodded. “What is he? Twenty-five? And he
acts like he knows it all because he’s the Detroit president’s son-in-law. Not
really an achievement to get a leg up by fucking the right pussy. But with all
the metal in that girl’s face, I wouldn’t swap places with him.” He laughed,
but Raja could feel how bitter his voice was.

Shit. Hunter looking down on old friends? That
wasn’t the impression Raja got when the two of them last talked. “What did he
do?” he asked Blade, reaching for the beer he suddenly needed. Being reminded
of Hunter made him think of David by proxy, and the sour taste left after their
last texts was back. He hated being ditched. Not that he should be thinking
about David’s cocksucking lips for that matter.

“He’s acting like he’s gonna be seargeant-at-arms
there soon, and he barely joined them what? Half a year ago? At parties you can
almost feel as if he’s watching over us. Like what we do is his responsibility.
The poor, ugly cousins from Ohio. Fucker gets me so riled up.” Blade squeezed
his hands into fists. “They had a bunch of strippers over, and he told me not
to grab their asses. What the fuck, man? Why’d you have strippers over then?”

Raja sighed and chewed on the inside of his cheek.
He hadn’t noticed that personally, but maybe Hunter simply didn’t behave this
way toward him? “Anyone else?”

Pete waved his hand and had more beer. “He’s just
being an ass, fuck that.”

“Are we voting or what?” Smurf groaned.

Raja massaged his eyes. “You need some time to
think? This would be a big commitment. There would be no time for the guns if
we start this, but no gain comes without risks.”

Spin released a puff of smoke. “How urgent is
this, prez?” It always felt strange for a man twice his age to call Raja that,
but it gave Raja a little nod to his ego. “You just came back. Let’s give it a
week or two for the vote. What do you think?” He looked around the table and
everyone nodded.

Raja felt his muscles go lax with relief. He
really did believe in this plan, and that meant that he’d spend the next week
trying to convince his men to vote yes. It was going to be a challenge, but
once he slept off the journey, he would be ready to tackle it head-on.

“Let’s do that. We’ll have a vote in seven days at
noon. Everyone agrees?”

Pete even gave him a little salute and passed him
another beer.

*

The desire to lie in bed passed as the afternoon
turned into a lazy time with the people Raja trusted most. He relaxed talking
about life, watching a game on TV, and playing cards, with bottles of beer
steadily passing through all their hands. They ended up getting some pizza, and
with serious matters out of the way for the time being, Raja finally felt that
he’d come home.

When he went behind the station to the desolated
restroom to take a piss, it was Blade he found outside, smelling of beer and
smiling.

“Raja, I need to know, are you still fucking
Hunter’s brother? I mean, I know you were away, but is that still a thing?”

Raja zipped up his pants, walking out into the
fresh air. “What? Why?” he asked, hating how thick his tongue felt in his
mouth.

“I mean, wouldn’t that be the perfect little
revenge on the arrogant fucker? So smug with his Detroit buddies but doesn’t
even know the Toledo prez is fucking his little brother.” Blade swayed a bit
from side to side and had to prop himself up against the wall.

Raja smirked and stretched, watching Blade as his
mind tried to weigh this option. He wouldn’t mind fucking those slick, tight
lips again. “I already did.”

“But he just gave you head, didn’t he? And you
said he was easy. Listen to this.” Blade laughed and crossed his arms on his
chest. “If you actually fuck him and bring me his underwear as proof, I’ll vote
in favor of your new plan, how about that?”

Raja frowned, confused by his clearly straight
friend spending time on thinking about gay sex. What was Blade’s deal? “That’s
how much you want to kick Hunter’s ass, huh?”

“Hell yes! Nobody tells me where I can and cannot
put my hands on a stripper. Thinks he’s all that,” Blade spat, and Raja chose
to shift a bit farther away from him. “Fuck that!”

Raja didn’t know what sleeping with Hunter’s
brother would prove to Blade in the context of the business opportunity they
were to vote about. Was this because fucking a lot of people was seen as
such a masculine thing? Maybe Raja having many partners... somehow made him
look more legit as a leader in Blade’s eyes? Whatever Blade’s reasoning was,
Raja knew beforehand that he’d do whatever was necessary to convince the
members to go with his plan. He was their prez, and he wouldn’t allow anyone to
undermine the club’s success, even the members themselves.

And the thing with David had broken off so rapidly
that it was still an itch under Raja’s skin, tiny yet impossible to scratch.
Maybe if he fucked the little Bible basher, he could finally move on? And David
would get a hot first time bottoming, something not everyone got. Raja sure
hadn’t. No matter how Raja looked at it, there were benefits for them both in
that plan.

“Yeah, I’ll do it.”

Blade broke into an even louder laugh and patted
Raja’s back. “Do it, and you’ve got my vote, man. And no fucking cheating. I’ll
know.”

Raja laughed and combed back his hair, already
wishing for another beer. There was heat simmering underneath his skin at the
thought of touching David again. He was a juicy little piece of meat that Raja
would gladly chew on.

“Don’t worry. I don’t need to cheat.”