“I'll be fine on my own,” Cain said coldly, heading for the door. “Like Nostril said, let's just fucking get this over with.”
Missy watched Cain go, frowning.
“Who the hell is Nostril?” she called after him before moving to catch up with him.
She could already tell this would be a long night.
Chapter 6
Missy
Missy stepped out of the Lost Knife to find Cain already leaning against the unassuming white sedan she shared with Hunter. Cain was tapping his foot impatiently. “Hey, take your time,” he sneered. “It's not like I'm standing here bleeding like a motherfucker or anything.”
“Take it easy,” Missy said, unlocking the car. “I thought you didn't even want to go.”
“Well, since it doesn't look like I'm being given much choice about it, I'd rather not waste time dicking around waiting for my ride.”
Missy rolled her eyes. “Do you need help getting in?”
“I already told you, I'm fine on my own,” Cain said. He opened the passenger's-side door and slowly started to lower himself in, grunting and letting out sharp gasps of pain every few moments.
Missy got behind the wheel and slammed her door, raising her eyebrows at Cain. “Hey, take your time,” she smirked.
Cain scowled at her, then finished settling into the seat and shut his door. Missy turned the key and backed out of the space carefully, driving toward the hospital. She switched on the radio and a pop station started to play. Cain reached over and switched it off a few seconds later. “I can't stand that Top 40 shit,” he muttered. “Don't you have any Johnny Cash?”
“Let me guess,” Missy said. “You want to hear him sing 'Hurt?'”
Cain shot her another withering look. “Any song of his will do,” he said through clenched teeth.
“Well, you're out of luck,” Missy replied. “I don't happen to have the All-Johnny-Cash-All-The-Time, Yodeling Country Shitkicker station programmed on my radio. If you want to turn the dial and find something you like, be my guest.”
“Fuck it, never mind,” Cain sighed.
They rode in silence for a while. Finally, Missy asked, “So, what happened to you, anyway?”
“My parachute didn't open,” Cain answered.
“Look, you don't need to treat me like I'm some kind of moron, okay?” Missy snapped. “I can see you got seven shades of shit kicked out of you. I'm just asking for details. You don't want to give any, fine. We can sit here quietly.”
“I was shaking down some new dealer who hadn't paid up yet,” Cain said. “We finished up, Keith stayed behind to take a leak, and I got jumped. End of story.”
“Were these guys working for the dealer as bodyguards or something like that?”
Cain thought for a moment, then shook his head. “Nah, that doesn't figure. If they were working for Nostril directly, he wouldn't have been so eager to hand over the cash before it happened, and he wouldn't have tried to run away during. I figure someone knew we would show up, waited for us to let our guard down, and then made their play.”
So it was a trap, Missy thought. “Who'd want to set you up like that?” she asked.
Cain shrugged. “Dunno. There's plenty of people who could have done it, but no one obvious. We haven't had a serious beef with anyone in about five years. Gaspar Hernandez controls the drug trade just south of here in Whitechapel, but he's never had any reason to cross the border and fuck with us. Could be another Ohio MC, like the Blacktop Devils in Columbus or the Monster Boys in Cleveland, trying to establish themselves here. Could even be some organized crime family from Youngstown, for all we know. Hopefully, Nostril will spill his guts before Hunter spills them for him.”
“Ahh, the sweet tranquility of life as a biker,” Missy smirked.
“It ain't like I joined the Eagles for the peace and quiet,” Cain answered.
“I doubt you joined the Eagles to get stomped like a bucket of wine grapes, either.”
“Hey, it was a lucky shot, all right?” Cain said defensively.
“Looks like it was a lot more than one.”
“They snuck up on me like a bunch of cowardly bitches,” Cain growled. “If it'd been a fair fight, shit would have gone down very differently.”
Before Missy could answer, another car veered into their lane less than two feet ahead without signaling, cutting them off. Missy had to brake quickly, and hit the horn hard.
“Jesus, learn to drive, would you?” Cain yelled. “Even without the signal, it was obvious that guy was about to change lanes!”