Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 114819 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 574(@200wpm)___ 459(@250wpm)___ 383(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114819 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 574(@200wpm)___ 459(@250wpm)___ 383(@300wpm)
The Disciples of Havoc’s central hub, their heartbeat.
That made the silence that greeted him all the more profound. An old jukebox in the corner was quiet, no hard-core music looped and played overhead. Ace would never be behind the bar again. Only the smell of stale cigarettes, engine oil, and a hard day’s manual labor filled the air in greeting.
Dev reached for the light switch, flipping all three up with a single hand movement. It took a few seconds before both the fluorescent and mood lighting lit. The music on the jukebox powered up, dropping a record into place. Dev stepped fully inside.
He stopped in the middle of the room. The brief moment of reminiscing had come to a hard end. He glanced back to the door to see Con-man, holding it open as the brothers came through in a single file line.
“It smells like a shit hole in here, Con.” He waited until the prospect made eye contact to finish. “Get the prospects together to clean the entire fuckin’ place out. Leave my old man’s, Mack’s, and Ace’s rooms until tomorrow when I’m here. Don’t throw any of their shit away. I wanna go through it all. All the rooms need to be properly outfitted for the masses of clubs headin’ our way. Pull the cots out of storage. Get someone to mow out back. I’m sure they’ll be bringin’ tents. And for the devil’s sake, air this bitch out. This place smells like a bunch of filthy heathens live here.”
“Not too far from the truth,” Ray-Ray said.
The brothers had filed into the clubhouse around Dev but waited for him to enter church first. Thankfully not forcing his hand to prove his status. He shoved his key in the deadbolt then pushed open the door. He kept his forward motion into the meeting room, casting a direct stare toward the outlet on the back wall that held the camera Cash and his crew were currently watching from. He winked at his agent before the rest of the brothers filled the room.
He went to stand at the head of the table, kicking his old man’s chair out of the way, standing there as he pulled up then read Shanna’s text messages.
“Did you see the details,” Diesel asked, scooting past him, taking the second’s designated spot at the long conference room table. A place Diesel had sat for years now. Dev gave a single nod of confirmation as he had to start at the top of the message, reading everything Shanna and Cash had scheduled.
It was fucking scary how disconnected he was to this whole deal.
His body went numb.
He had to fucking focus.
Man, he didn’t want to have to do any of this. Fuck funerals. No one needed to sainthood his old man, and he knew all that bullshit was coming.
Memories of how he and Keyes used to hit the open road and ride and ride together surfaced. They’d skipped school, taking off for days at a time, just letting the road guide their way for as far as the money in their pockets allowed them to go.
Keyes should be with him right now.
Fuck the world that kept his best friend from him.
In all the planning they’d done as children, Keyes had always planned to stand as Dev’s second until his son grew into the ranks...
Actually, the person who should be handling this shit was his shitty old man. These men had worshipped his ass while he used each and every one of them for his perverse games. Fucking dick. They all could have died for his lies, manipulations, and sins.
Goddammit, ass. Pay attention.
Instead of trying to read the message another time, he glanced up at his brothers, scanning the group of them. The room was too small to hold them all properly. All the chairs were filled, the newer brothers stood around the walls.
And based on what he was seeing, his brothers had grieved hard last night by way of the bottle and too many drugs. They looked like they had crawled out of hell to attend this meeting. A deep-seated disgust filled his soul. He’d once been these men. Might have even found his way back there again if Cash hadn’t arrived into his life.
Stop judging and start the meeting, dumbass.
“I’m callin’ the meetin’,” Dev barked with more strength of purpose than he felt.
“Second,” Diesel backed.
Dev let go of a breath and swiped at his phone’s screen as it dimmed. “I’m divin’ in. Shanna stepped up to help organize the funerals and get the word out between the clubs. She’s heard back from the medical examiner which is pretty damn extraordinary. They’ll release the bodies in about forty hours. She’s planned the funeral for four days from now at Little Bethel. They have room for everything headed our way. That gives anybody who wants to be here time to get here.” Dev paraphrased Shanna’s words.