Page 57 of Saved


Font Size:

“Oi, Trent, put some of those fountain pens in the budget,” Monster said, drumming the table with his index finger. “Let’s see how those two fuckers feel having those thrown at them.”

“Really? A fountain pen? Dante,” Vienna gasped, gripping my arm. “Tell him no! Not the fountain pens!”

“Are we finished?” Crash asked, his elbows on the table, his chin resting on his linked hands as he looked at us with amusement.

Ordinarily, he would have shut this conversation down a while ago. But it was nice to see the club interacting with each other and having fun. It was nice to see the poison that was Macbeth hadn’t spread to distrust amongst the other members.

“Dante was stabbed with a self-defence keyring,” Chicken popped up. “Put one of those in the budget! He’ll be running for his life!”

I laughed, flicking my cigarette into the ashtray. “If Rachel’s the one wielding it, aye, I fucking will, and I’ve no shame in admitting it.”

“Pussy,” Chicken and Rooster said in unison.

“What the fuck is this? The poultry Shining twins?” Vienna scoffed, getting to his feet. “Hello, Dante,” he said in a high-pitched voice, dancing around my chair. “Come and play withus… Come and play with us, Dante… forever… and ever… and ever…”

“We really need to get you an old lady,” I laughed back, grabbing hold of his cut and hauling him back into his seat.

“No old lady could fix what’s wrong with him,” Crash muttered with disgust.

“But it might get him out of our hair once in a while.”

“He’s your friend, Dante. You brought him here.”

“Don’t blame me for that. You were friends with his dad!”

“I’m right here, guys. My feelings are only getting hurt, but don’t mind about that. You keep on slicing me with your words.”

“Cheers, pal.”

“Right.” Crash shook his head as Vienna rolled his sleeves up. “Before Dante and Vienna start wrestling on the floor like old times, let’s get things moving. Meeting begins. Shawn, James, the floor is yours.”

“You got so lucky,” Vienna hissed down my ear. “Daddy just saved your ass.”

I shook my head with a laugh, not bothering to reply.

“So, we were delivering the coke this morning,” Shawn began. “And we’re approached by this guy. He asks where Macbeth is, and we just said that Macbeth wouldn’t be doing the deals anymore. He said that was a shame, as Mac had always given him a bit extra on the top. That’s when James asked him what the extra was for. The guy shook his head and tried walking away. Long story short, James cut his finger off and he told us that he was hanging around the Riders, waiting for an offer to join up, and he gave information to Mac in return for extra.”

“Hang on,” Vienna chuckled. “I know you said long story short, but I feel like we’re missing several fucking steps here. James just casually goes around cutting people’s fingers off, does he?”

We all looked at James, but he just sat there with his arms folded, giving nothing away.

“Damn,” Vienna nodded his approval. “Ant, it looks like you may have competition for resident psycho.”

“He chops fingers off. I’d have chopped his dick off. This is why I don’t compete with prospects. They don’t compare.”

Silence filled the air as we let Ant’s words sink in.

And Rachel had the nerve to call me a fucking psycho!

“Anyway… Back to the bloke with the missing finger. He’s an official hang-around?” I asked, taking a draw of my smoke.

“Says so,” Shawn nodded, his face slightly paler than it had been a minute ago. Something tells me he wasn’t quite up to the biker life now that reality was setting in. He only had a few months left of his year as a prospect. The odds weren’t in his favour for passing the graduation vote. “He says the Riders aren’t looking for prospects right now, but he’s hanging around, just in case. Been there a few years, by all accounts.”

“So, what did he tell you about Mac?” Zach asked, his eyes briefly flicking to his president and lifelong best friend as he said Mac’s name.

“He said Macbeth turned up there last night asking for protection.”

“Did he say what time?” came from Crash.