21. Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-One

Aleko

T his motherfucker again?

There are two things wrong with that comment, the least of which is the nickname Ryan the Fireman has for my wife.

“Uh, yeah.” Mackenzie is squeezing my hand like she can feel my control dwindling by the second. “Me, too.”

“Y’all are still a thing, huh?” It’s official, this guy wants to die. Not that it’s the first time he’s asked for a beating. Way back when I had my sights set on my Cherry, he made his crush on her and disdain for me known loud and clear. He even went so far as to call the cops on me, thinking I beat her to a pulp. The only reason he didn’t get punched in the face back then was because I was still trying to impress my girl.

“Well, yes, obviously.” She lets out a nervous laugh and I know for a fact she’s trying to downplay this whole situation because she knows I’m about two degrees north of Smacktown and he’s the pin on my GPS.

“Hey, asshole.” Okay so maybe I’m a little closer than I thought, but I'm past that, now. Anyone who thinks they can disrespect my wife with their underhanded comments hasn’t properly met me. So, allow me to introduce myself. Raising our joint hands, I make sure he can see Cherry’s platinum wedding band and smirk. “It’s definitely a thing.”

“Jesus Christ, Kenz.”

Okay, I have reached my destination.

“Hold my rats, baby.” I reach back and take our precious pets out of my hoodie and place them on her shoulders knowing damn well, this won’t end pretty.

Blocking Mackenzie with my body, I step up to Ryan, leaving just enough distance for my fist to rear back, only to spring forward and land on his cheekbone, rewarding me with a satisfying crunching sound.

Contrary to Spencer all those months ago on the beach when I thought he was making a move on Cherry, this asshole doesn’t choose to take the high road. He swings right back at me and the grin I feel spreading across my face is bound to make normal, law abiding citizens fear for their children.

Not missing his mark, my head snaps to the side as he hits my jaw, but I’m not drugged up on my own adrenaline as I grab him by the lapels of his aviator jacket and slam him against the outside of the diner.

“Aleko, let him go!” I almost chuckle at my sweet Cherry Pie’s resigned tone. It’s like she’s just saying that because it’s the appropriate thing to say but deep inside, she knows it’s useless.

Slamming his head back against the brick wall, I press my forearm to his throat and, seething, I give him a choice. “You either apologize for your disrespect or you lose a couple of teeth. Your choice, man.”

Using his shoulders to dislodge me and the wall behind him for leverage, he pushes me straight into a parked car, the alarm sounding almost immediately.

“Option two, then.” I crack my neck left then right before stalking him as he brings his fists to his face like we’re about to have a clear boxing fight. Yeah, I don’t think so.

Crouching down, I ram my shoulder into his gut and lift him up and over until he lands on the hood of the same car that’s still wailing like a fucking air raid.

As Ryan snaps around, his anger reaching the levels that make you do stupid shit, the police sirens ring out, but unlike him—civil worker and all that—I don’t fucking care. So, when he stands to his full height, thinking I’d stop as well to avoid getting arrested, I punch him one last time and I fucking know he’s lost a tooth.

“Motherfucker!” As he spits blood, I look down and see his tooth. Score.

Twenty minutes later, we’re both in county and I’ve left instructions with Cherry to call our lawyer, Veronica Luna.

Fucking worth it.

“Fancy meeting you here.” A smile creeps onto my lips as I lie on the old, wooden bench set on the far back wall of the county jail.

“Well, if it isn’t my favorite deputy.” Rising to my full height, I walk over to the steel bars and greet Celia Shipman, who, for all intents and purposes, has been good to the club.

“I wanted to present my condolences for Griffin. He was a good man, albeit a criminal.” We both chuckle but there’s no real joy to it. Prez was a good man who chose to live a life on the fringe of what society deems proper behavior. Hell, we all do. “How is Vanessa holding up?”

I shrug because there’s no simple answer to that question.

“Shade said something about waves. She’s okay one minute then something will set her off and bring her back down.” I don’t remember feeling like this when I thought Mackenzie was dead because the only thing I felt was the need for vengeance, knowing that once all that was over, I’d join her.

“Yeah, I get it. Emotions are a tricky thing and never the same for two people.” We nod, allowing the brief silence to act as a segway to whatever it is she really wants to talk to me about. I don’t know much, but I know Celia isn’t the chit chat type of person.

“So, I was wondering.” Here we go. “You wouldn’t know anything about a shoot out down at the Beaufort House, would you?”

I frown like I’m really thinking hard about that.

“Beaufort, Beaufort, Beaufort…doesn't ring a bell. What happened?” And the Oscar goes to…

“Hmmhmmm. Well, I can’t really talk about it since we’re still investigating, but there were several dead bodies we had to deal with, which is never fun.” The deputy watches me closely, looking for any hints or chinks in my armor. She can look all damn day.

“Yeah, sounds like a hassle I wouldn’t want.” Cocking my head to the side, I figure I could ask some questions too while she’s here. “How is your investigation going with the smiley pills? I hear the body count is dropping…”

“Again, ongoing investigation that may or may not have something to do with the Beaufort shooting. That being said, since his wife took over Risus Pharmaceuticals, we’re seeing death numbers going down. It could also be about the antidote that’s hit the market.” It’s obvious she suspects us in some way but we went in clean, no way she’ll find evidence against us. But the last part of what she says gets my hackles up even though I’m not really sure why. Something about this doesn’t sit well with me. Then again, what the fuck do I know?

“Um, hello! Shouldn’t you be processing him for assault and charging him or something? He broke my tooth.” Celia shakes her head at me and whispers.

“Why you gotta make my life hell?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” My grin is sincere because this woman is pretty fucking cool, but it’s also cocky because that’s who I am.

“Ma’am, Aleko Kas…Kastel…um…” I growl at the rookie deputy destroying my name. It ain’t that fucking difficult.

“Kastellanos.” My tone is harsh so I add on a toothy grin to ease the blow.

“Right. Sorry. Um, his bail has been paid.” Celia thanks him then turns to me.

“Listen to me,” she speaks in hushed tones so Ryan the Fireman with one less tooth can’t hear us. “Let us do our jobs and tell the club to stop being mercenaries.” We stare at each other for just a second before I smirk and shake my head from side to side.

“No idea what you mean, Deputy. We’re just going about our days repairing vehicles and mourning the death of our beloved club president. By the way, any leads on that?” Raising a brow at her to let her know she should be doing her job a little better, I back away from the steel door as she opens it and gives me space to step out.

“We’re working very hard on our leads but it’s hard to get the job done with all the interference happening at the same time, if you know what I mean.” Yeah, we both know what she means. We need to stay out of her way, except there’s no fucking world where we don’t avenge Prez’s assassination.

“Sounds like you’ve got your work cut out for ya.”

Celia grunts at my understatement.

“Get out of here before your brothers cause another scene.”

“Good luck on your tooth, Ryan.” That last jab couldn’t be helped. Fuck that guy.

“Goddammit!” I ruffle Grinder’s overgrown mop as I pass him by on my way back from the lane where I just hit a strike.

“Don’t be jealous, Brother. You gotta eat your soup so you can get big and strong then maybe one day, you too, can get a strike.” I fucking love bowling.

“I hope your nutsack gets caught in the toilet seat when you’ve got the shits.” The entire fucking corner we’ve designated as ours erupts in laughter and I’m tempted to knock my bowling ball over his skull. Pretty sure that would make my Cherry angry though.

“That’s rough, mate. Now every time I hit the loo I’ll have that fucking image in my head.”

I grin when everyone groans.

“Good. You knuckleheads are fucking nuts, man.” And yeah, I get the irony of my words but my fucks flew out the window years ago.

Bash gets a seven-ten split and we all groan. Instead of at least aiming for one pin, he ends up in the gutter. Tough luck for team Grinder.

“Boner, you’re up! Come on, let’s goooo!” My Cherry is way too excited about this game, but watching her ass bounce up and down every time she claps and cheers us on is my only goal in life. For that, I’d play all the fucking games in the world.

“Sit down, Mac. You’re making me seasick with your bouncing.” Grinder grins, flinching when I throw a sucker at him then get another one out to suck on.

“Your head’s gonna bounce down that lane, motherfucker, if you speak to her like that again.”

Cherry growls at my over-the-top attitude. Meanwhile, Grinder sucks on his middle finger then kisses the pad in my direction, giving me a wink for good measure. Fucking asswipe.

“I can take care of myself, babe.” Leaning down, she wraps her lips around my sucker, and in this position, I’ve got the perfect view of her full tits, just right there.

“Maybe, but it’s always better when I take care of you.” I grab her by the ass cheeks and sink my teeth into the swell of her cleavage, reveling in that tiny gasp she gifts me. “Mine.”

“Yours, baby.”

“C’mon, man. Some of us are trying to fucking bowl, not play tittie waterboarding.” It’s my turn to give him the finger. “Your turn, Mrs. Psycho.” Grinder’s kidding, but holy shit, I kinda like it.

“Mr. and Mrs. Psycho, sittin’ in a tree…” Boner pipes in and I lose my shit because these guys are so far from mature it’s disturbing.

With a sweet kiss on my lips, Cherry tries three orange bowling balls before finding the one she’s been using. It was her idea to come here tonight so we could celebrate my being bailed out of jail for assault. Originally, the guys wanted to go to Rocks Off and watch half naked women dance on poles but she put a stop to that real quick. Oddly enough, her veto had nothing to do with the dancers’ state of dress and everything to do with it being too stuffy.

When she mentioned this place, the guys only paused for a half a second. We’re all too fucking competitive to refuse a healthy game of…anything, really. What we forgot was that Mackenzie is as competitive as the bunch of us put together. Hence her leading score with a nearly perfect performance.

“Bloody hell, Mac! Leave some of them strikes for us, will ya?” Sledge is at the end of his rope, walking up to Cherry with his fingers pointing to his eyes then to hers in the universal gesture for “I’m watching you”.

“What you do with your balls is all on you, Sledgy-Poo.” The boom of laughter gets us some side eyes from the family two lanes down and for the first time in my life, I wonder if we should tone it down. Be a better example for those kids playing with their parents.

Then I remember that there are plenty of reasons to judge someone in this world, but laughing too loudly should never be one of them.

“Sledgy-Poo…that shit is sticking forever and fucking ever.” Case in point…Grinder’s over use of the word “fuck.” To be fair, it’s a very versatile word.

“I’m not calling him Sledgy-Poo. He’s too crazy for that.” Bear is on their team and wishing he was on ours. The only reason we’re not crushing them is because he’s playing a good game. “Come on, man. Can’t you at least try?”

Sledge walks backward, watching the ball hit one, lone pin. Spinning around, he spreads his arms wide to the side and moans. “Something’s wrong with that lane. It ain’t me, it’s the slope in the floor.”

“Don’t be a sore loser. Your turn, baby!”

Smacking a noisy kiss on Mackenzie’s mouth—I love it when she calls me baby—I suck on her bottom lip before slapping her ass for good measure.

“Watch and learn, Sledgy Boy.” I pat my brother on the cheek and make a pouty face his way.

“That’s what your mummy said.” Fucking hell, I don’t need to look over to the family to know they’re glaring daggers at us. Okay, fine, they can judge for that, I guess.

I’m the only one with a red, sparkly ball. My fingers are nice and long and it’s the only one I could find that fit. Normally, I’d walk with a swagger to get my wife all hot and bothered, but it’s impossible in these fucking shoes so I don’t even try.

Raising my ball to my chest, I take three steps and throw, watching as it goes straight down the lane between the middle pin and the second line. The crash is so fucking satisfying until I realize I’ve got one pin still standing.

Asshole.

When I turn to wink at my Cherry, I see her talking to another woman with Bear. The way he stands it’s like he’s protecting her, but with his shoulder in the way, I can’t see her face.

“Where the fuck are you going?” The game forgotten, I ignore Grinder’s protests and make my way to Mackenzie. When Bear acts more grizzly than teddy, it means I need to have his back.

My molars begin to grind together when her face comes into view, catching the tail end of her statement.

“…my condolences. Also, I wanted to thank you for saving my life.” Harrison Beaufort’s wife is standing there all nice and gentle, but I’m not buying it.

“We have no idea what you’re talking about,” Bear answers before I can tell her to fuck herself and her husband right off.

“Oh. I thought it was you the other day at my house. I saw your bikes outside and wanted to come in and personally extend my gratitude.” No fucking way we’re copping to killing. I don’t give a fuck if she was a victim of that guy, we’re not admitting anything. Also, she can heli-fuck right off, just like her sociopath of a husband.

“Do we know you?” Grinder, sensing there’s a fucking problem, stands between Bear and me with Mackenzie at his front.

“I’m Emily Beaufort, the new CEO for Risus Pharmaceuticals, thanks to you…or at least, I thought.” Frowning, she looks down then back up again like she’s trying to figure out a complicated math formula.

“Why would we know anything about Risus Pharmaceuticals?” Grinder is very skilled at playing dumb, it’s a fucking art.

“Who’s this?” Sledge is up next and I don’t even try to tone down my venom.

“Meet Emily Beaufort, Harrison Beaufort’s wife.”