Never Kiss an Outlaw(11)

Bastard thought he was hot shit since he'd got the club's books in orders as Treasurer the last couple months. 'Course, that rich girl he'd claimed as his probably had a lot to do with it.

I'd be grinning ear-to-ear too if I was getting my cock sucked every fucking night by pussy that sweet on my balls.

“Didn't ask for your opinion. I'm talking to the Prez!” My fist slammed the table so hard I could feel my bones rattling in my wrists.

Next to me, Joker looked over, a savage warning in his cold, dark eyes. Shit, that boy had nothing but death glares to hand out. I counted myself the only man here who the Veep didn't intimidate.

“Forget it,” Dust said to his right hand man. “He deserves to know. This whole club deserves an answer. An old friend of mine cashed in a favor before he decided to blow his fucking brains out.” Prez stared past all of us.

Guess he had every reason to be bitter after failing to stop the selfish, drunken prick from offing himself.

Some friend. The fuck wouldn't even listen when the Prez tried to save his life, and now he'd sent himself and his daughter to hell.

Crawl, Sixty, and a couple other guys looked on at our chief. Their eyes demanded answers. Every man at this table wanted to know why this shit involved the club.

Whatever the fuck was going on, it roped us all in. Knew that much. Dust wouldn't fuck us up like this over any personal biz. Not even black and bloody shit that only mattered to him.

“Jimmy used to be a smart man. Mister Upright Citizen, had himself a badge, a babe, and the nice little daughter who's now playing guest in our clubhouse.” Prez looked at us, folded his hands, his gray eyes going cold. “That's the way he sold himself to John Q. Public, anyway. Behind the scenes, he was dirty as hell, taking kickbacks from my old man, Early. He pulled this club's sack outta boiling water dozens of times on the force, covering up our loose ends before any Feds came sniffing. We paid him well for it. Everybody was happy. The boy put his pay to good use, too, raising a family. Did everything there by the book 'til his woman got slammed by the Big C.”

A couple guys coughed. Half the boys in this room had lost somebody to cancer at one time or another. I hated that fucking shit. It didn't give a fuck about good or bad, patch or civilian, man or woman.

Jimmy still didn't deserve a shred of sympathy. Too damned bad I started to feel it anyway, pathetic and screwed up as he'd been.

“Don't give me that look, boys. He checked out like a coward, and I know it. Nobody at this table needs to pretend my buddy was a martyr,” Dust said, pulling out his lighter. “I ain't blind. He died a fucking idiot. Went off the rails after his wife died. Started to do every sin in the book just to escape being lonely. Poor bastard took up gambling when he wasn't hitting the bottle. Damned fool almost lost his house on gambling debt. That should've been his warning. He didn't listen.”#p#分页标题#e#

“So, what?” I growled. “Where do the Torches come in? I know they're a part of this, or you wouldn't be talking about this dead asshole here in church.”

“They've got legacy money. Fuckers used to pass out loans like candy, especially to crooked cops across Dixie. Jimmy lapped it up to feed his demon. Bastard made a lot of trips to Atlanta – some Homeland security shit he had to go to after the planes hit the towers – as if any goddamned terrorist would ever go after Knoxville or the Tri Cities.”

Sixty snorted, smiled, and then wiped the stupid grin off his face when Dust gave him an ugly look. The Prez leaned back in his chair, fished out his pipe, and lit it before he continued.

“They gave him more than he really needed. Thought it'd do 'em good to stay on the good side of a Tennessee sheriff, right before the Deads rolled in and fucked up their city, giving them something more important to worry about.”

Shit. I could see where this was going before the Prez got there, and I balled my fists underneath the table, ready to turn the fucking thing over.

I didn't feel bad anymore for the dead, dumbshit who'd caught his own bullet. He'd walked into the hornet's nest and got chewed up bad.

“War costs a lot of money. Lord knows this club's still learning that lesson, getting back on our feet after my old man ran us dry and the Deads caught up to us.” Dust looked at Skin, remembering all the shit the club had gone through to get his old lady free from her dirty pimp, plus the even dirtier debt she owed to our biggest rival, the Deadhands MC. “Well, the Torches came calling for every dime. Told him he'd better raid the police department's accounts if he had to, deliver some goods on the side, whatever the fuck it took to dig him almost two hundred-K out of the hole. Jimmy was stupid, but he wasn't a total fuckin' moron. He wouldn't do it. Resigned instead of raiding county funds.”