Inflamed: A Shadow Riders MC (25 page)

River shot his eyes over to Wolf and glared. He hated going against the grain, even more than that he hated agreeing with his best friend that Tiny of all people actually had a valid point this time. Why the hell would a motherfucker like Fontaine try and fuck his way into learning some info about a low ranking club? The shit didn’t sound right and usually what didn’t sound right to him, wasn’t.

“Is there somethin’ else about this shit that you’re not tellin’ us?” he asked Wolf. He crossed his arms and swallowed hard while keeping his eyes directly on his face.

Wolf shifted his jaw left to right and reached for the gavel; he wrapped his hands around the head of it and rested the tip on the table as if he were in possession of the world’s smallest cane. “I’m tellin’ you every goddamn fuckin’ thing that was told to me by Chino himself, son. Motherfucker and his crew are supposed to head out here this weekend ahead of Miami and Orlando, who are comin’ in on Sunday, to make this shit official between us; so when he gets here, you can ask him yourself about this shit. See if he blinks, and if he does, he bleeds and we cut all ties.”

He and River kept their eyes locked on one another. Once again he was in the position of believing his president was full of nothing but absolute shit and on the verge of dragging them down even further than they already were. But this shit wasn’t just about him anymore and he knew that, it wasn’t even about the club. It was about Avery, and making sure that a rancid motherfucker like Fontaine never got his hands on Mia’s little girl. And it was about Mia, and making sure she’d never have to feel unsafe because of that slick asshole again.

“He gets here this weekend,” said River. “I wanna talk to him about this shit myself.”

“Jesus
Christ
. For fuck’s sake, asshole,” Tiny called out.

“I’m hopin’ to sell off Mia’s shit at the house this Saturday. Figure I’d turn it into a neighborhood thing with a barbeque, beer, old ladies, and kids, the goddamn works in the hope we get this shit taken off her hands, and mine. The Dragons come out here for it in good faith and I’ll talk about this shit with Chino and his VP,
alone
. Make sure we’re on the same goddamn page about everything to do with Fontaine--”

“And what if you’re
not
on the same page, motherfucker? What if you’re not even readin’ in the same goddamn book?! What if this asshole starts playin’ you the second he shows up in the same way that he’s clearly playin’ Prez ‘cause he’s still on Fontaine’s payroll? Or fuck, maybe even in bed with him himself this time. What
the fuck
are you gonna do about that shit, huh? You really willin’ to risk your life and the future of this club on the account of some bitch who’s more than likely not even gonna give you the same pussy you been practically beggin’ for since the first goddamn moment she walked back in here?”

“It’s not about pussy, asshole.”

“The fuck it ain’t about that bitch’s pussy for you, motherfucker. You wantin’ to shove your dick all up inside that bitch is the reason why we’re in this goddamn mess to fuckin’ begin with, and mixed back up in with Fontaine and his lowlife clan of cock suckin’ fuckers. Maybe once you fuckin’ realize that shit and finally cop to it--”

“Alright,” yelled out Blue. “Curb the cock and pussy talk for the time bein’. For what it’s worth, we get the Dragons here and we get this shit officially discussed and settled once Riv’s had his time with Chino. If any motherfucker in this room can get the truth out of an asshole, it’s him.”

“Yeah,” said Tiny. “Motherfucker’s got eyes as wide as yours, right? And a nose that can sniff out any goddamn thing like a motherfuckin’ bloodhound. That’s why you made him your V fuckin’ P over more
qualified
and less inept motherfuckers.”

The room went deathly silent until Wolf slammed his gavel onto the table. “Get the fuck outta here.” As they all stood up from the table, Wolf pointed across the room. “’Cept for you, asshole,” he said to Tiny. He turned to River. “Get everybody set up and we’ll be out there when we can.”

“Yeah.” He rounded the table and went for the door after each prospect had left the room.

“You gonna tell Mia about any of this shit?” asked Wolf.

He turned back to him and soured. “I’ll tell her enough so that she’s aware of what the fuck’s goin’ on,” he replied.

Wolf nodded. “She doesn’t need to know any more than her fair share of it, alright?”

“Yeah.” River nodded at him, then turned to Tiny before leaving them alone to talk.

Chapter Fifteen

After returning to the front of the club, River found Mia and Avery sitting around what amounted to a small, square picnic table at the front of the room right alongside his own daughter and mother, Jolene. He stopped in his tracks when he got a good look at all of them talking and laughing together and something inside of him shifted, rocked him straight down to the center of his goddamn core. Something he couldn’t quite explain to himself even if he fucking tried.

Blue walked up and stood beside him, grinning. “Looks like your bitch is fittin’ right the fuck in with 'em already, motherfucker,” he said. “Ebony and ivory, yeah? You should be proud.”

River's eyes shifted across the room and he frowned when they landed on a familiar woman sitting all by her lonesome at a table in the corner. "
Shit
. She’s fittin’ in better than the bitch you've been tryin' to wife up since yesterday, asshole," he said. "What the fuck is she even doin' here? I told you that this shit was supposed to be about the old ladies and the kids
only
so that Mia and her kid could get to know the 'classier' bitches of the bunch. Club bitches are reserved for after hours. Motherfuckers ain’t even had their goddamn eggs yet.”

"Chill, Riv. I heard what the fuck you said, all thirty-somethin’ goddamn words of it. But this one's on her way to bein' Old Lady material soon enough too," he said. "Soon enough. 'Sides, she promised me a goddamn lap dance and a good, long and hearty fuck with her and another bitch of my choosin' if I let her come up here. No way in fuck was I passin' that shit up, brother. One of us has gotta keep gettin’ laid for the sake and integrity of the club." He looked over at the girl and waved. She tossed her flaming red hair behind herself, spit the gum in her mouth out onto an empty plate, and smiled. "Jesus, look at those tits. Bitch is fuckin’ ripe like a pair of fresh melons in the goddamn produce department at Sacks.”

River rolled his eyes so far up into his goddamn head, he was hoping they’d get stuck, and grinded his teeth. "How'd the fuck she even find out about this thing today anyhow?"

"Said somethin' about Courtney tellin' her last night."

His shoulders dropped and he groaned. "Christ." He jammed his fingers into the corners of his eyes and scrunched his face to relieve himself of an impending, raging headache. "I forgot I mentioned it to that bitch last night so that she wouldn't think about comin' up here today and startin' a scene."

"You were with her last night?" he asked.

"Yeah. She came by after I got home and we--"

"Fucked." He smirked. “How’d she find out where the fuck you live?”

Just then, Styx passed them both and headed over to the table to greet Mia and Avery, who seemed to take more of a liking to him than she had to River; or so he had assumed.

Blue could practically see the steam coming out of River’s ears as he glared at them; from the look of life in Mia’s eyes to the smile on her face as she stared up at him, nothing about this shit was going to end well for anybody. And Blue knew that truth better than most.

“Yo, uh… you think Styx’ll ever be ready to become an actual member of the club, brother?” asked Blue.

“I don’t fuckin’ know,” replied River, his eyes hard on Mia; he kept them there for so goddamn long, it was almost as if she could feel him burning two small holes into the back of her neck as she ran her fingers through her hair. “The shit that went down with his old man is the only reason Wolf even bothers keepin’ him around.”

“His old man was a goddamn rat who betrayed the club. Motherfucker went against every goddamn rule and regulation he himself helped to set in place when he turned ‘em over to the fuckin’ Feds. I get Wolf wantin’ to help him out and his mother too, ‘cause they didn’t have a goddamn thing to do with that shit. But who’s to say this motherfucker ain’t in fact cut from the same goddamned cloth?”

“Who’s to say?” River forced himself to turn away from Mia and stared down at Blue. He arched a brow and crossed his arms. “Sure as fuck didn’t used to be you, motherfucker. Why the sudden flip?”

Blue shook his head and turned his eyes back to Styx. “No fuckin’ reason in particular. I’m just sayin’, maybe the issues you’ve always had with him regardin’ the club are valid. Maybe he should take a walk instead.”

“Motherfucker, why don’t
you
go and take a goddamn fuckin’ walk right over there to Mia’s table. Tell her I need to talk to her about somethin’ important,” he said.

“You’re not tellin’ her this shit about Fontaine--”

“Just do what the fuck I asked without givin’ me any goddamn lip about it, asshole. Thanks.”

Blue stood back and sighed heavily while nodding. “Alright, VP, yeah.” He pat River on the back and moved over to the table, just as Styx headed off to the opposite side of the room to sit with his own mother, Trucker and Eightball.

River’s eyes moved over to him, before sliding right back over to his own table, and in particular, Mia.

He watched as Blue greeted Jolene, or ‘Cher’ as she was often called by the brothers due to her long black hair, height and slim build, by giving her a warm hug and kissed the top of Madison's head while teasing her about the giant curls of her wild blond hair, which contrasted greatly with her muddy brown eyes. He smiled at a playful Avery, who seemed more than distracted with Madison’s cell phone, then directed his attention over to Mia and mumbled something to her while glancing over her head at River.

After a few seconds, she turned to look at him, said what looked like a 'thanks' to Blue, then got up and hurried across the room. River straightened his posture, held back his dick and sucked in air the second she approached him. Jesus, was this bitch beautiful; like a goddamn, motherfucking angel sent straight down to him from heaven itself. If God was in fact real, this bitch was more than the evidence he needed to prove it. The more people told him just how much he wanted to be all up inside her, so fucking deep until his brain completely slipped out of his goddamn head, the truer it became.

"Hi," she said, her soft voice as pure as a goddamn bowl of sugar cane.

He licked his lips, wondering if she tasted just as sweet as he imagined. "Hey." He nodded toward the table. "How'd the hell you two get stuck sittin' with Madison and my mother?"

"Verna introduced us. They seem really nice and your daughter is a hell of a lot smarter than I ever was at that age. I can see why she was accepted to an Ivy League school.”

"Like I said, she doesn't get any of the smarts from me."

She closed one eye and scrunched her face as she stared up at him. "You know, you really shouldn't do that."

"What's that, doll?"

"Put yourself down like that. I told you before that you don't give yourself enough credit for the type of person that you are and the kind of influence you have over people. Being able to convince someone of something that you believe in is a kind of power that not many people have, but one so many often wished they possessed."

"You one of 'em wishin' you possessed that kinda power for yourself, babe?" he asked her.

She dropped her head back and smiled. "No."

"Your old man?"

"He already has it," she said. "So I guess he wished for it and it came true for him. Or he prayed for it. Either way, I think his influence on the church is about as equal to your influence on this club and its members."

River leaned back from her and lifted his head. "You think so?"

“You’re the one who pointed out the similarities to me the other night.” She grinned. “Speaking of which, Blue mentioned that you wanted to talk to me, I'm assuming about Ricky?"

"Yeah, darlin'. Let's take a walk outside for a second." He wrapped a hand around her arm and turned her toward the door. Once they were outside and across the parking lot, River moved in front of her and folded his arms. "You ever hear of the Dragon Lairs MC?"

"Um... yeah, vaguely. When I was doing research on Ricky, their name popped up a few times in relation to his. Why?”

"They're a low level club out in Vegas that your boy used to have some tight connections to, mostly 'cause he could get 'em to do whatever the fuck he wanted, when and how, and railroad 'em at the same fuckin' time. Apparently, they want in on takin' him down after some bad blood got between 'em a few years ago, and now they're on their way here this weekend to work out the details of how they actually wanna fit into all of this. I'm not too sure about it, but I agreed to hear 'em out, and..." He let out a deep and heavy sigh. "I may be fuckin’ myself up the ass here by askin’ you this and liable to have my balls chopped off by the members of my own goddamn club.”

“What is it?” she asked, her voice faltering as she became nervous.