“Seems we do,” Torch says.
“No, we don’t. I’ll remain President of the fucking club and if you lying assholes ever step foot on my property again, I’ll—”
“Might want to watch what you say, Tucker. Seeing as how you’ll never see your grandkids again if you don’t let me on your property,” Torch says.
“And I’m feeling offended. I could not worry about what Beth demands and just end you and the rest of your crew now. It is not like I care,” Skull answers.
“Damn, you’re a hard man, brother. But, I have a solution for everyone I think.” Torch smiles.
“What is that, hermano?” Skull asks Torch.
“I nominate Shaft to oversee the Chrome Saints.”
Motherfucker.
“Si. I think this could work. Shaft is a good man. Can’t take a punch worth a shit.”
“Well, to be fair he had a baseball bat to the knees right before your punch,” Torch defends.
“Eh…maybe so,” Skull says, and he’s almost grinning.
Me? My heart is hammering in my chest. What the fuck is going on here? What are they doing? Are they serious? They want me to take over my own club? Motherfucker, a club that is sunk so deep in shit I’d be smelling it for years.
“No fucking way!” Tucker growls. “I will not accept this! I don’t even know this asshole!” he yells and well that pisses me off. I stalk forward, without even realizing it.
“The way I see it gringo. Shaft here is the only way you and your men live to see another day,” Skull answers.
“We will fight. I will not accept someone who is not family and has not proven himself fit to lead my crew.”
Oh shit. I see the exact moment Skull and Torch are silently congratulating themselves, and I know what the fuckers are up to. The shit-kicker of it all is that it settles on my shoulders, and I don’t even mind. This is what Bree would want. Hell, if I’m honest, it’s even what I might want. The thought of my own crew, of building something to be proud of for me and my brothers, for the sons I could have…it feels good.
“Funny you should say that old man,” Skull answers, grabbing me by my shoulder. “Meet the man who your granddaughter claimed as hers in the middle of my club last night.” I hold my head down. Fucking hell, I’ve been played.
“What the fuck are you talking about? Bree isn’t even here! She’s in another fucking state.”
“But, she’s not. Seems she’s been shacking up with old Shaft here,” he says patting me on the back like he’s doing me some big motherfucking favor.
“I’ll kill you!” Tucker yells at me, and I swear I can see a blood vessel burst in his eye turning it red. Shit.
“Well you might, Tucker. I’m not going to say you can’t. But, he outlasted both me and Skull having a wail at him,” Torch says.
“Si, and at the same time,” Skull adds. “It was mostly impresionar,” Skull says, with a grin.
“Mostly?” I ask, my voice hoarse with emotion and thoughts of what is about to happen. Am I really going to agree to take my own club? Fuck it. It’s time to lay down the law if I’m going to be. There will be no room for second guessing me. I won’t allow it.
“Si, you had a few missteps, gilipolla.” He laughs.
“You touched my granddaughter! She’s a baby!”
“She’s not. She’s a woman and damn fine one, old man. And listen to me here, she’s mine, and I’ll kill any son of a bitch who tries to take her or touch her. What’s mine stays mine.”
“She claimed you?” His eyes tighten as he looks me over.
I stand proud. “She says she loves me, fuck if I know how that happened.”
“She’s obviously loco,” Torch says.
“If she is, she takes after her aunts,” I grumble back. All the while we’re talking Tucker still has his eyes trained on me, and I don’t back down.
“I’m going to fight you. It is my right as grandfather and President of this club.”
“Wouldn’t have it any other way,” I tell him, knowing this was coming.
“Why should I trust that you even know how to run this club?” Tucker asks.
“The way I look at it, Tucker, I can’t do any worse than you, or that shit for brains Viper did.”
I watch as the words hit home as sure any bullet would have.
“What would you do to the men who have betrayed me?” he asks, and shit, what is this? Am I applying for the fucking job now?
“I’d have made sure your VP was tied up and strung up out front of the club, and every fucker who helped him would be forced to watch me torture him for days, probably weeks. Then when I felt I had enough fun, I’d let him swallow a bullet and then turn my men loose on the others.”