Inflamed: A Shadow Riders MC (58 page)

He placed his knife back down on top of the bar and bolted from the club before a single member could stop him. As he hopped onto his bike and sped from the parking lot, River brought his hands together, clasped his fingers around each other and knocked them against his forehead.

"SHIT!" he screamed out. "Shit, motherFUCKIN' SHIT!" He dropped his hands and looked over at Wolf. "You realize we just lost one of the most goddamn loyal motherfuckers that this club has GOT and maybe ever fuckin’ had?!"

"He'll be back," said Tiny, carelessly wiping drops of blood from his neck and waving his hand. "Motherfucker knows we ain't never been legit in that sense."

"Legit?" asked River. He walked over to him and stared him straight in the face. "It ain't about bein' legit, you stupid fuck. You got his old man killed all 'cause of some BULLSHIT that had NOTHIN' to do with his ass, asshole! Son of a bitch didn't die 'cause of what the fuck HE did, he died 'cause of what YOU TWO DID!" He pointed between Tiny and Wolf, then turned back to the former. "What the fuck kinda shit do you have over this old man's head? I'm guessin' it must be some
real good
fuckin' shit -- I'm talkin' good as a sweet fuckin' pussy--"

"Like yours?" He peeked up at River and took another drag from his joint, then blew the smoke out in his face and sat back.

River grinned while shaking his head. "No, motherfucker, like yours. Or maybe even your goddamn, motherfuckin' prospect. When’s the last time you even heard from that sick fucker, brother?”

"River," Wolf called out, but he paid him no attention.

Tiny scowled through his smoke and pulled the joint from between his lips. "What the fuck are you talkin' about, asshole?"

“Your ‘Eightball’, motherfucker.” He chuckled. “You wanna know where the fuck your prospect really ‘skipped’ off to, asshole? Try hittin' up Tank’ll in the goddamn graveyard downtown and maybe if you beg a little fuckin’ bit, he just might let you bury that motherfucker’s ashes--"

Tiny jumped up from the pool table and dropped his joint to the floor. He got in River's face and growled. "You better be fuckin' shittin' me boy--"

"Or what, asshole?"

He ground his teeth. "You put that boy to ground?"

"Gleefully, motherfucker," said River. "Fuckin’ gleefully. With a goddamn smile on my face so motherfuckin’ bright, even the sun couldn’t compete with that shit.”

“Why even try it, Riv?” asked Blue.

“‘Cause he’s a goddamn asshole who deserves to hear this shit, that’s why,” he answered. “I put his boy to ground, and he deserves to fuckin’ know it.”

Tiny eyes wiggled wildly inside his skull and he fell back. "When?"

"Last month when he came into my goddamn home and went after my goddamn woman with only one motherfuckin' thing on his piece of shit mind. He musta been crazy as horse shit to think I'd let him get away with that shit once she told me about it. Needless to fuckin' say, he didn't. And like a goddamn flea and tick ridden mutt, the son of a bitch was put down. Single bullet to the goddamn head." River cocked his thumb like a trigger and slammed his index against his temple. "POW! Blew out that motherfucker's brains all over my goddamn wall. Might still be some of ‘em in there if you wanna take a few pieces home as souvenirs.”

"Son of a fuckin' BITCH!" As Tiny jumped at him, Blue leapt forward and dragged him back into the wall.

He threw a finger into his face and leaned his head to block Tiny’s vision of River. "Not today, motherfucker. Not to-fuckin'-day."

"Get the fuck off me, asshole!" Tiny shouted, shoving Blue in the chest and nearly knocking him back to the floor. "Not everybody SUCKS that fucker's cock like you do!" He moved away from the wall and stomped forward, getting as close to River's face as he could. They were damn near nose to nose at this point and neither had made any sudden moves in showcasing that they were willing to back down. "I see you're just as smart as the motherfucker who raised you," said Tiny. "Which means you AIN'T too goddamn smart at all." He glanced over at Blue and Snake, then Wolf before slinking his eyes back over to River. He rattled his head and turned his eyes down to get a better look at him from his head straight down to his goddamn feet. "Since you were a goddamn, little fuckin' kid, you've been nothin' but a piece of fuckin' shit. I told Prez it was never a good idea to let a BOY do a goddamn man's job when it came to this club, but het let you in anyway--"

"Yeah, motherfucker and you know just how in the fuck it happened. You know how the fuck I came into this club and more importantly, you know that it’s what made me into your goddamn VP despite you tryin' hard like a bitch anglin' for dick or a motherfucker keen on lickin' fuckin' pussy, asshole, to make the position your own. So keep tryin' me and see if the same shit that I did back then won't happen to you now, just like it didn't happen to your boy... or Slim."

He took a look around the room. "So you offed that motherfucker too?"

River grinned at him, but didn't respond.

Once Blue gathered his bearings, he dropped his head. "
Jesus, Riv
--"

"YOU SEE?" hollered Tiny. "See all the shit this asshole is willin' to go through for his bitch but not for the rest of us? You see that shit? Gets rid of my prospect, then kills his own. All for the taste of some brown pussy--"

River closed his fist and slammed it into the side of Tiny's jaw so hard that the motherfucker literally went flying across the room and into the goddamn wall on the other side. Blue ran up and slammed his hands into his best friend's chest to keep him from going after him again. But River shoved him off and removed his jacket, throwing it across the bar.

"You wanna go, old man? 'Cause I been waitin' a long goddamn time to fuck you up again and you've just given me yet another goddamn excuse to make it fuckin' happen."

Tiny wrapped his hand around the edge of a chair and dragged himself up from the floor again. He clutched his jaw to realign it, then spit out drops of blood to the floor that had come from both his gums and teeth, and started removing his own jacket. He threw it across the pool table and glared at River with the eyes of a man who was ready to kill him for what he had just done to him; though both of them knew that River knocking him in the jaw and essentially throwing him into a wall was just the icing that had topped a very large and spiteful cake. "Okay, motherfucker," said Tiny. He rolled up his sleeves and dropped his shoulders. "All's well that ends well with this shit. Let's go."

He charged at River like a revved up engine and before River could move out of the way or take a stand against him, he bounded into his chest and wrapped his arms around his waist, locking his wrists. They went flying across the room and into the edge of the bar, knocking the chairs and remaining bottles of liquor to the floor. River hollered out in both anger and pain as they fell to the floor and rolled to his side to smash his foot into Tiny's face. Tiny yelled out, spewing hatred and 'motherfuckers' at him left and right. But River kept kicking, he just kept kicking until his legs finally gave out and until he could see nothing but blood spewing from Tiny's nose, and spit and teeth flying from his mouth.

As he tried getting up, Tiny latched onto his knee and swung a fist into the back of his leg, forcing him to drop back down to the ground. As River landed on his knees, Tiny jumped on top of him and snapped his arm around his neck, squeezing so tight that he felt his own goddamn arms going numb. River, who could feel himself turning blue as the air clogged in his lungs, jammed an elbow into Tiny's stomach, then balled his fist and jammed it straight into Tiny's bloody nose. Tiny fell back grabbing his face and rolled over to his back. River jumped to his feet and as Tiny tried getting up again, he dropped the heel of his boot in the center of his throat, and pushed down as hard as he could until he heard something snap, though he wasn't sure if it was something inside his heel, or inside of Tiny's neck.

As Tiny gasped for air and started turning colors, River pulled his foot back and jammed his heel into the ground to get rid of the tiny bits of skin that had been imbedded from Tiny's throat. But River felt no sympathy for what he had done, absolutely no remorse for nearly destroying the man who had spent nearly half his entire lifetime attempting to do the same to him. When Tiny rolled to his side again and grabbed his throat, River dropped down to a squat and rolled him over on his back and stared straight into his callous eyes and blood soaked face. He bent down to make sure he could be seen, grit his teeth and swallowed hard, stopping himself from doing what he really wanted, which was spitting directly into his face or his mouth and making that motherfucker swallow every drop in sufferance.

"I don't give a goddamn flyin' fuck what that old man says," River told him, referring to Wolf. "You are the goddamn motherfuckin' enemy and always half been, long before I joined up. And you don't deserve this club any more than we deserve you bein' part of it and continuin' to fuck things up with your bullshit and flat out hatred, motherfucker. So I'm here to tell you that you are fuckin'
out
," he said. "Every goddamn fuckin' thing you ever stood for is done."

He hopped back up to his feet and went over to Tiny's jacket, then reached into the back pocket of his jeans and ripped out his knife. He flipped Tiny's jacket over and with complete ease, slammed the tip of the knife against the leather and ripped it along the rim of the Shadow Riders insignia, which was a bike that had been set on fire. After making a complete circle, he ripped the insignia from the jacket and tossed it on the floor. Then he flipped the jacket back over, and with his fingers this time, tore into the leather and ripped off the
SHADOW RIDERS, CBC
label, tossing it to the floor as well. He stuffed his knife back into his pocket and with the jacket in his hand, walked back over to Tiny, who was still struggling to catch his breath.

"You are fuckin' done, asshole," River said again. He wiped his hands of Tiny's blood with the jacket and looked between Blue and Snake, and nodded. "Get over here and stand him up." Blue and Snake looked over at each other, then looked over at Wolf, who nodded in reluctant approval. They each walked over and dragged Tiny up to his feet and forced him to stand in front of River. He held up the jacket for him to see the holes, then draped it around his shoulders. "These motherfuckers are gonna make sure that there's not a single goddamn trace of you left inside this place, or any trace of this place left inside of you," he said. "Right along with the rest of these dead assholes."

"VP?" asked Blue. "I love and respect the shit outta you, brother. I always fuckin' have and you know that shit. But I can't be part of takin' this motherfucker out like that. Even if he is who the fuck he is and always has been--"

"You ain't takin' him out like nothin', asshole," snapped River. "But you ARE takin’ him the fuck outta this goddamn club, you’re gonna strip him the fuck down to nothin' but a fuckin’ skirt in the same way we did Styx's old man, and you’re gonna make fuckin’ sure that all this
shit
on his body is gonna be removed. ‘Cause he don’t represent us, and never fuckin’ did. I don't give a fuck if you burn the shit off -- I don't give a fuck if it's fuckin’ tased." He moved further into Tiny's space. "And you’re gonna make good and goddamn sure that when he’s found by some random motherfucker in his own piss, blood and shit, he fuckin’ knows it. Killin’ him sure as fuck doesn’t satisfy me as much as knowin’ that you snatched his balls from his cock, tied ‘em up tight in a glass jar and set ‘em up in a place that he’ll never be able to find again.” He grinned. “Normally I’d be the one doin’ the snippin’, but I got more important shit to get to tonight, like that sweet, sweet brown pussy, asshole. Sweetest goddamn pussy you’d ever fuckin’ know, or you wouldn’t. ‘Cause it’s the kind your piece of shit goddamn tongue would never be good enough to fuckin' taste; the kind that shriveled up old cock of yours would never be good enough to feel, or fuck."

"As if I'd touch that bitch with a goddamn ten foot pole, asshole," he spat.

River grinned knowingly and bobbed his head. "Yeah... Yeah the fuck you would. Smack an age on her that'd get your ass sent to prison for the rest of your goddamn, piece of shit, worthless life and yeah, the fuck you would." He glanced over at Blue, who nodded at him, then shuffled over to the bar and grabbed his jacket. "We align with the Stark Bastards in takin' that asshole Ricky down for good. We don't bring anybody else into this shit outside of them, Miami and Orlando."

"You sure you can really trust this motherfucker again?" asked Blue as he nodded over at Laz. "He rolled with us tonight, but he was still your own goddamn prospect who bailed out before we could even patch him in."

"Don't matter," snapped River. "I trust him a helluva lot more than the sick fuck you got holdin' up in your goddamn arms. And unlike the load of these dead assholes currently takin' up space around here, I trust that he's with us, even if it's just for the sake of his own bitch's pussy--"

"I ain't approved of this shit," said Wolf. "Any of it. That goddamn gavel--"

"
Fuck
that goddamn gavel, old man." River turned to Wolf and leaned his head. He made a face and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't really give a fuck WHAT you approve of anymore or the way in which you choose to fuckin' approve it. It's clear as shit that you ain't got the club's best interest at heart, or any of the rest of us that ain't that asshole bastard" -- he pointed back at Tiny -- "and it's been that fuckin' way for years. So until the fuck you do, and realize that he ain't the only motherfucker you should be carin' about,
I'm
takin' over. Save for that patch on the front of your goddamn cut, you ain't acted like a leader of this club since long before that goddamn fire broke out eight years ago. The only way the Shadow Riders are gonna be salvaged even remotely is if somebody else takes the fuckin' reigns and as VP, guess that shit's just gonna have to fall to my shoulders now."