Kings of Chaos (Dirty Broken Savages #1)(51)

But it sends a much more pointed message to have him go staggering back to his people. To have to show them the marks on his body. I didn’t see Derrek/Reggie when Knox was done with him, but I know the way my friend works. There’s no way that asshole from the Diamond Devils would be able to explain away his injuries as anything other than what they were.

“It’s still risky, though,” I point out. “They might decide to come after us for torturing one of their members.”

Priest shrugs a shoulder. “If they do that, then they’ve decided they don’t want to do business with us after all. It’s not like we started this. If they still want a shot, then they’ll take the message and get their shit in order, and they won’t try to go behind your or any of our backs again.”

“Let’s hope they’re using their heads, then.”

“If they do decide to come after us, then we’ll deal with it.” His sharp features shift just a little, a micro-expression that anybody who didn’t know him well would probably miss. “The way we always do.”

“We will. If it comes to that. But I’ve got my sights set on bigger things for us than petty feuds with biker gangs, so I fucking hope it doesn’t.”

He nods. Priest has a violent side just like the rest of us, but it manifests differently than with Knox, or even Ash or me. Knox would be happy to fight almost anybody, and to torture them too, if there was a good reason to do it. Priest doesn’t seek out violence, but he’s one of the most protective people I know. If someone threatens the few people my friend has chosen to love, well… they might as well say their fucking prayers, because they’re as good as dead already.

“Either way,” I continue. “Letting Knox do some work on that guy was the right call. We have to keep tight control of our shit, and if it got out that some fucker came in and tried to undercut us with no consequences, it’d be bad for business all around.”

Priest’s mouth turns downward just a little, and I arch an eyebrow at him, waiting for whatever he’s going to say to that.

“There’s one thing we don’t have control over,” he grinds out, showing more anger than he usually does. “That fucking woman. I don’t want her here, Gage. She’s a mess, and she’s going to end up fucking things up.”

I sigh and run my fingers through my hair. Priest talks to me more than he talks to anyone else, and that makes sense, I guess. Ash is too jokey, and Knox isn’t really clued into certain emotional things. He’s more of a physical person. With everyone else, Priest is closed off and unemotional, blank faced and neutral. But around me, he’ll show a little emotion from time to time. It’s ironic, since Knox is Priest’s cousin, but… Knox is the way Knox is.

We all have each other’s backs, but Priest is more similar in temperament to me than the others. He doesn’t fly off the handle or leap into the first thing that seems like a good idea. Without the two of us to balance out the other two, this wouldn’t work as well.

It makes it easier for Priest and me to talk about things that matter, and I can tell he really is pissed off about River.

“What did she do this time?” I ask him.

“She doesn’t take anything seriously,” he says, his nostrils flaring in and out in a quick motion. “She struts around here like she owns the place with her damn dog. Making jokes and working Knox and Ash up. She’s going to start something she can’t finish one of these days, and we’re going to be left holding the pieces. I don’t know why we even have her here in the first fucking place.”

“Yes, you do. She’s here so we can keep an eye on her. She’s supposed to kill Ivan, but I don’t want her to fuck up the things we have in the works in the process. She was already at our club by chance. I don’t want her stumbling on anything else and causing trouble.”

“So have someone tail her,” Priest says. “Ash would probably fucking leap at the chance.”

“I need Ash to focus,” I insist. “And you and I both know if I sent Ash to watch her, he’d just end up fucking her and that wouldn’t accomplish shit.”

“How do you know he hasn’t already fucked her?”

I shrug. “I don’t. If that’s what they’re doing, it doesn’t matter.” I don’t mention that River and I have already had a run in like that because it’ll just piss Priest off even more. “I trust her to want to kill Ivan enough to not let anything distract her. I don’t trust Ash to be as focused.”

Priest makes a face like he hates that. “Never thought I’d see the day that you said you trust some random woman over one of us.”

“You know what I mean. You’d do the same thing in my position.”

“No, I would have killed her when she refused to talk the first time. She’s a liability, Gage.”

“That’s the whole point of keeping her here,” I remind him. “Because she’s a liability. At least this way, we’re minimizing the damage.”

“Yeah, the damage out there,” he insists, pointing as if to encompass the world outside this house. The muscles in his neck are tense, standing out in corded lines. “Not the damage she can do while she’s here. She’s already distracting Ash and Knox. She’s trying to work her way through us.”