Twisted Pieces (Back Down Devil MC #5)(37)

Jace tucked his weapon away.

A very small sense of calm existed. Jace looked back and saw that Blaine was already back to his feet. He touched his left shoulder and groaned.

“Next time, aim better,” Blaine said. “Motherf*cker.”

“Let me take care of this,” the guy said.

“Do it,” Mutty said.

“Like a man,” Blaine said as he walked forward.

Before the guy could grab a gun, Blaine threw his head at the man’s face. It connected with a sickening thud. The man’s face damn near exploded. He stumbled one way and Blaine the other. Blaine went right down to his ass, looking like a fool. The big guy was barely standing. Slowly, he fell to one knee. Blaine scrambled to get to his feet, gritting through the pain in his shoulder. He ran at the guy one more time and lifted his knee at the last second, sending him to the ground.

“Stop this,” Mutty said.

Nate grabbed Blaine and brought him back to the crew.

“You’re dealing drugs,” Jace said.

Mutty laughed. “From what I’ve heard… let’s see… your crew has had some cunt rat in the club. A member's brother almost took you all down. Oh, and you have a nice murder charge pending.”

“Alleged,” Gaige said.

Jace looked at Gaige. He couldn’t remember the last time Gaige stuck up for him. Whether Gaige was being a smart ass or just standing his ground, it meant something to Jace.

“There’s no evidence,” Jace said. “Not that I give a f*ck. Took care of business inside.”

“While the outside falls apart,” Mutty said.

Jace stepped forward. Gaige grabbed him, but Jace smacked him away.

“Fuck you,” Jace said. “I know what I saw. You might not be dealing directly in Frelen, but we know.”

“You don’t know shit,” Mutty said. “The tough guy act won’t get you any cred with us, man. You know that. And if you think about just trampling into our territory again, you’ll go for a swim with the sharks out there. You might be able to make people disappear on that land of yours, but we have a goddamn ocean. We win.”

“You lost,” Gaige said. “Maybe we’ll take a ride down to those rocks and have a look around.”

“Do that,” Mutty warned, “and I won’t have one of my guys pop you in the shoulder. It’ll be between your f*cking eyes. Greasy f*cks.”

Jace gritted his teeth. Mutty kept looking between Gaige and Jace. His eyes were dark as hell. His pupils massive. Jace realized Mutty was high. But he wasn’t stupid high. There was a strange confidence in Mutty and the Coast Road MC guys that he had never seen before. They were getting their fake power from somewhere, and it wouldn't end well for them. It was almost as dumb as Eight Under trying to work with Shay’s brother. When that finally blew up, Caius was dead, Back Down Devil was alive, and Eight Under was decimated to the point where they were struggling to rebuild even a small crew.

“We’re not looking for trouble,” Jace said. “Just answers. Two bodies were found down near the backroads. You know where I'm talking about, right?"

“Good place to run some shit,” Gaige said.

“You don’t want trouble?” Mutty asked. “Fuck you.” Mutty turned and nodded. “Kill them all.”

Jace saw Gaige take a step back and brace himself. This was going to be a bloodbath. Blaine was barely standing, holding his bloody shoulder. Griffin looked ready to explode and Nate just stood like the towering man of anger he was.

But Jace had the key here. Slowly, he stepped forward and put his arms out.

“What the f*ck are you doing?” Mutty yelled.

“You’re not going to kill us. Not right now. You have your own problems to worry about. Us? We just wanted to pay you a visit and say hello. Watch the waves crash to the shore. Take a breath, you know?”

“I’m going to gut you,” Mutty said. “With a rusted knife.”

“Better yet,” Jace said as he stepped back, “you could do something better with that rusted knife.” Jace reached into his pocket and Mutty jumped back. “Whoa, whoa,” Jace said. “I’m not pulling a gun. It’s all good here.” Jace took out the small baggie he had taken from one of the bodies. He held it up and wiggled it. “Look what I found the other night.”

The look on Mutty’s face was simply priceless. His eyes went wide and his face turned white. He put his arms out to call off his guys.

“What is this?” he tried to ask in a shaky voice.

“Fuck you,” Jace said. “Like I said, we know.” Jace threw the small baggie at Mutty. Mutty caught it in midair and squeezed his hand tight. Jace smiled. “Next time we come, we’ll wipe you out, just like we did to Eight Under.”

Jace turned and Gaige looked at him with complete surprise. Jace pointed to the motorcycles. It was time to go.

Nate helped Blaine onto his ride and Blaine started it. He moved his shoulder and gave a thumbs up. It was such a badass move to take a bullet and then still get on motorcycle to take off. It sent a clear message to Coast Road MC and it made damn sure that whatever anyone thought Back Down Devil had lost in the war with Caius and Eight Under… was complete bullshit.

They didn’t lose.

They grew stronger.