KING(81)

“Thanks,” she said, looking up at Preppy. Preppy scrunched his nose as if he was confused by her thanks, then stepped around her. She looked back at him as she walked away.

“What the f*ck was that?” I asked.

“No f*cking clue,” Preppy said seriously, his usual humor nowhere in sight. “Let’s get this party started.”

“Doe, baby! You’re here!” Bear exclaimed, pulling Doe into a hug that lasted a beat too long. I clenched my fists. Bear didn’t seem to notice, and if he did, he didn’t seem to care. “Bump, get my friends a drink!”

A freckle-faced redheaded prospect I’d seen a few times before, filled three red cups from the keg and handed them to us.

“Got anything in a bottle for the lady?” I asked, emptying my cup in just a few swallows.

I needed something to take the edge off, but I wouldn’t put it past one of these little prospect f*ckers to try and slip Doe something. We were friends of the club, but some of these newbies may not know the extent of which we weren’t to be f*cked with. I was about to explode out of my skin. Why did we come here again? Oh yeah, because Doe wanted to.

I was turning into such a f*cking * over this girl.

“You heard the man. A bottle for the lady,” Bear ordered, taking the cup from Doe’s hands before she had a chance to lift it to her lips.

Bear chugged the contents of her cup while Bump handed her an unopened bottle of beer. I discarded my cup and used the buckle on one of the belts around my forearms to pop off the cap for her. “Overreacting much, buddy? Wouldn’t let anything happen to her. Not on my watch. Not at my place. You should know that.”

I shrugged, and Preppy chimed in before I could say anything. “Don’t get all f*cking butt hurt about it, Bear. King doesn’t even trust me around her, and I only wanted to take her out on a date, and maybe put the tip in a little, but noooooo.”

It was a lie. I hope Preppy knew that. I trusted him with my life, and I knew he wouldn’t do anything with Doe that meant upsetting me. But that didn’t mean I didn’t want to slit his throat every time he smiled at her. Especially when every single day since the day I decided I needed her in my life, I’d felt like my every move had to be thought out around her so I wouldn’t send her running scared.

Or worse, accidentally tell her the truth.

“You wanna get this shit started?” Bear asked, holding out his hand he pointed to an old nightstand where several lines of white powder were already cut. I shook my head. I hadn’t touched anything but alcohol and weed since I got out, but Preppy stepped up and did two lines. He knew me better than anyone, and he knew that a bump was the last thing I needed with all the adrenaline already coursing through my veins. But he also knew that doing coke with the bikers, especially Bear, was like their version of bringing a nice bottle of wine to a dinner party. A show of respect. Biker etiquette, if that makes any sense. I lit a cigarette and glanced over at Doe, who was looking around the place like she was discovering the lost city of Atlantis.

Another one of Bear’s crew popped his head into the room. I recognized him right away as a guy named Harris, who’d been voted in just before I went away. “Bear, your old man’s here. He wants to see you and said to bring King and his crew so he can say hi. He’s back in the office.”

Bear chugged his beer and let out a long belch. He threw his now empty cup at Bump. It bounced off his head and landed on the ground.

“Clean that shit up,” Bear ordered, leading us from the room. “Come on, kids. Let’s say hi to my old man and get it over with.”

Bear’s dad was the president of the Beach Bastards. One day, he would take the gavel from him and become the man in charge.

When we walked into the office, the door closed behind us and a clicking noise echoed in the room. Preppy turned back to the door and turned the handle, but it was already locked.

Shit. Bear swore.

Behind the desk, on the far side of the room, a chair sat, facing away from us. It slowly turned, and where I’d expected to see Bear’s dad, was Isaac.

“Motherf*cker,” Preppy swore.

Isaac’s feet were propped up on the top of the desk. He was caressing his long braided beard. A toothpick hung haphazardly from his bottom lip. His eyes immediately narrowed in on Doe.

Fuck.

His eyes darted from me to Doe as he spoke. “And who is this?”

I felt my face getting hot with rage. If I ever saw that cocksucker Harris again I was going to tear him limb from chubby limb.