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Mik
Spew rises in my throat at the view in front of me, but I force it back down. I can't let my feelings show, or this whole plan’s gonna blow up in my fucking face. I've risked too much for it to fail.
“Do you like that, Mad Dog?” Sherri asks me in her stupid, put-on voice. She's grating on my last nerve, her naked gyrations on my lap making me sick. Shadow seems to think she's fucking irresistible, and he likes to share. I've avoided fucking her so far, thank fuck. Timber took one for the team last night, but I know crunch time’s closing in on me.
The sheer depth of treachery we’ve uncovered has blown our minds. If I'm to avoid fucking her to prove I'm loyal to Shadow and done with Lainey and her family, I need to put an end to this tonight. It's now or never.
“Oh yeah, baby, you're so hot,” I tell her, even though the exact opposite is the truth. She presses her over-inflated chest into my face, her sickly perfume making me feel sicker, and rubs herself over my groin. Nothing so much as twitches since there's no fucking way this whore’ll be able to get me up. I'm not interested in any snatch except my woman’s. No one holds a candle to my woman. The woman I sent away over two weeks ago and haven't seen or spoken to since.
I fucking hate doing this to Lainey, but Sherri and Shadow are my only way in. I need to find all the rats and unravel the plan that Shadow and some of my supposed brothers are hatching. We have two of Shadow’s supporters here with us tonight, but I know there has to be more than these three. Putting an end to their schemes is the only way I can protect my woman and keep the Shamrocks intact.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Timber roars, pulling me out of my fucked-up thoughts.
I push Sherri off my lap and onto the floor, jumping to my feet to find that Timber has Shadow pinned face first against the wall. Timber rips his mobile phone from his hand and examines it.
“Who’d you send the photos to?” he questions Shadow.
“My boss needs collateral, brother. I know you two are on our side, but he wanted proof of your loyalty.” Shadow shrugs, dismissive of Timber’s angry questions.
He’s high as a fucking kite because he's been smoking meth all night. I've bided my time, gaining Shadow’s confidence, and I think tonight is the night he will talk. He's already filled us in about the meth he deals secretly in the Club—we now know where Benji gets it from, despite our best efforts to keep the little fucker clean. Now, we’re waiting to hear the rest of their plot.
“He wanted pictures of Mad Dog and a whore. He said it is so he can send them to Beast and Maddi if he thinks you're fucking with him or his plans.”
"There’ll be no fucking need for that since I'm done with her and Beast’s shit,” I tell him, acting as if my heart isn't about to pound out of my goddamned chest at the mere thought of Lainey ever seeing those photos. I'll never be done with Lainey, but I can't tell this conniving fucker that.
Once Shadow appears to accept my answer, Timber lets him go and returns to his seat, where he was pretending to be enthralled with the lap dance he was receiving from a Club whore. I can tell he’s just about over this shit, close to blowing his top. It was a big ask, getting him to help me. He loves Lainey and this Club and pretending that he doesn't give a shit about either goes against everything he stands for. His preferred method of fixing things is banging heads together and torture, not deception and lies.
"When are you gonna introduce us to this boss of yours?” I ask.
It's time to get to the point.
“He doesn't want to meet you two until this takeover is over and fucking done with. We need you guys to win over any holdouts. You fuckers need to make the transition go smooth before he'll trust you enough to show his face.”
I can't believe this shit. I'm not waiting around until my Club’s fucked for answers.
“At least tell me who the fuck I'm dealing with? Keeping us in the dark isn't achieving fuck all, Shadow.” I’m betting everything on the chance that he’s high enough tonight to be more talkative than he usually is.
“The Mavericks, man. That's who we’re dealing with. Fuck, you're thicker than I thought.” He laughs at me. It takes everything I have in me not to lose my shit and throttle the bastard.
“Think about it, Mad Dog. We let the Mavericks patch us over, and we’ll be fucking drowning in cash and guns and pussy.”
Sherri rubs herself against me at his words, having finally picked her stoned ass up from the floor. “Don't worry. I'll make the transition smooth for you, Mad Dog. I'll treat you how a man like you should be.”
She unzips me, forcing her hand into my pants. I couldn't be more flaccid. Unhappiness clouds her features when she realises she has no effect on me. Fucking dumb bitch is dreaming if she thinks she compares to Lainey. I'd rather stick my dick in a blender than her overused cum catcher. Probably have the same outcome.
“As if Beast’s gonna let that happen.” Timber interjects as I pull Sherri’s hand from my cock.
He’s had enough—it's written all over his face as he pushes to his feet and crosses his arms over his chest, glaring at an oblivious Shadow.
“He won't be a problem. He's gonna be dealt with. Everyone's gonna be dealt with tonight.” Shadow grins at me as if he knows a secret that I don't. Lighting up, he takes another pull on his glass pipe, eyes rolling back in his head as it hits him.
“What?” I ask.
I'm missing something here. None of this makes sense.
"Fuck, Mad Dog, don't you see yet? Your sexy woman is the key. The takeover was funded for the Mavericks on the provision she's part of the deal. I was gonna have to take you out, but you came to your fucking senses and joined us.” Shadow laughs like a lunatic at me. He's higher than I thought he was if he thinks he's gonna get away with this.
Eyeing Timber, I incline my head subtly, so he knows it's time and in one swift movement I push Sherri to the floor. Pulling my handgun from my waistband, I pin Shadow against the wall with my forearm across his throat. Shoving the barrel of my gun against his temple, I click the safety off.
Sherri starts shrieking. “Shut the fuck up,” I tell her. Bitch is smarter than she looks, shutting her mouth immediately.
As I'm making my move, Timber shoves the bitch who was dancing for him out of the way and charges at Elijah and Brick, two of our former brothers who’ve been part of Shadow’s plan with the Mavericks. They try to push the whore they’re double teaming off them, but Timber’s shot them both in the head with his silenced pistol before they have a chance to move. Both whores cower on the ground with their hands above their head, so he moves to subdue Sherri, pointing his gun at her head.
“I should’ve guessed it was too good to be true when you said you’re over how this Club’s run,” Shadow muses, acting as if we are all sitting around sharing a beer and a few stories. I don't know if he even realises that I have my gun to his fried head. “It never sat right with my boss, so he told me to keep you two occupied tonight, so it could all go down without you fucking it up.”
“Is that right?” I growl at him.
He shakes his head in pity at me.
“What exactly went down?” I ask him, knowing I'm probably not going to get a straight answer from him. I hate being played, and this asshole has played me like a violin. My only consolation is that I have two brothers I trust protecting Lainey. I've hidden her right under their noses at our house when everyone else thinks she's gone to Emerald with her brothers and Wendy.
“I guess, since there's nothing you can fuck up now, it’d be wrong of me not to share.” Shadow smirks, winking at me like we’re good mates. I push my forearm harder across his throat, making him wheeze and cough. “You see, right about now, Connor’ll be dealing with Murray’s dead body, and my boss’ll be tucked up somewhere safe with your Old Lady. It was smart of you to not send her to Emerald, but you fucked up thinking you could trust Connor. Sherri, here, has a golden snatch, and she's been using it to woo Connor for months.”
I shake my head to clear it. Everything makes sense now. Fucking Brendan is the boss that Shadow keeps going on about. Lainey told me months ago that she didn't trust Shadow or Connor, and I brushed her off. I thought she was judging them for sharing Sherri. If I'd listened, I might’ve been able to avoid this.
“You fucking bitch,” Timber rasps, bringing his gun down on the back of Sherri’s head, rendering her unconscious. She hits the floor and stays there. I've never hit a woman before, but I’d make an exception for her so I'm not holding his violence against him. She's an evil bitch who played a vital part in this plan.
“We need to get out of here, Mad Dog. Get to your house and stop him.”
“Don’t you two fuckwits get it? She'll be long gone. Beast and anyone stupid enough to put up a fight against the Mavericks at the Emerald Clubhouse will be dead, and they'll be on their way here to deal with you two. You've lost! It's already over, fuckers.”
Tears of rage and sorrow prick behind my eyelids at his words, but I blink them away. Fucking Benji, Beast, and most of my Club went to Emerald for the weekend, walking right into a fucking trap. It's our smallest and least protected clubhouse since most of the brothers moved back here when Beast relocated four years ago.
It's the perfect spot for an ambush.
Shaking my head, I put my growing grief on the back burner. I can't blindly settle for this rat’s word. I need to get out of here and find the truth for myself. I'll call our other Chapters in to fight if needed.
“It's not over until I say it's over!” I tell Shadow, taking my arm off his throat and walking away from him. My voice is strangled, and it's hard to get the words out past the lump that's taken up residence in my throat, but he appears to understand where I'm heading with my statement since his eyes widen in shock. “Come on, Timber. Let's get the fuck out of here.”
I beckon him to follow me. We reach the door before he nudges me. “What’re we gonna do with the rat?”
“I’m gonna give him what he fucking deserves,” I grunt matter-of-fact as I turn back to Shadow, who’s clumsily pulling his handgun from his holster, so he can shoot me in the back.
I shoot him straight between the eyes. He hits the ground next to his unconscious whore as the door slams shut behind us.
It's time to find my Old Lady and fix this shit.
