Chapter 17
Widow
I won’t lie. I was pretty shaken by the fact that the asshole who had his gun to my president’s head knew my name, but I didn’t have time to think about that. I needed to end this motherfucker before he had a chance to pull that trigger. I stepped over to him, and as I placed the barrel of my gun at the back of his head, I commanded, “Drop it.”
“I see some things never change.” There was something eerily familiar about his voice, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t seem to place it. “You’re still trying to control things beyond your capabilities.”
I turned and looked at the two-way mirror, and my blood ran cold when I saw those piercing green eyes staring back at me. I couldn’t believe it. I hadn’t seen him in over ten years, but he looked exactly the same. I was still trying to make sense of what I was seeing when Shotgun asked, “You remember Talan, don’t ya?”
“Yeah, I remember him. I remember him well.”
Talan had prospected for the Sinners, and not only that, I was his fucking sponsor. He was ex-military, strong and determined, and a man we thought had a real future with the club. I’d busted my ass trying to get him through prospecting, but the guy ended up being a loose cannon. Dude was unpredictable and lost his shit at the drop of a fucking hat. He’d fight anyone at any time, but that wasn’t the issue. We wanted brothers who could hold their own, but Talan had a bad habit of taking shit too far. Almost killed a teenage kid for cutting him off at a red light, knocked a guy’s teeth out with a beer bottle when he’d accidently bumped into Viper, and that was just the beginning. The outbursts started piling up, and I soon realized he didn’t just have an issue with his temper. The guy was off—like killing kittens kind of off. When he beat the hell out of his pregnant girlfriend and kicked her so hard he killed their unborn child, we all knew he had to go. The club cut him and never looked back. Certainly, never thought he’d come back after ten fucking years.
“Nice to know I made such a strong impression on you.” I didn’t respond. I had nothing to say to the crazy motherfucker, so I just stood there with my gun to his head, waiting on the moment when I’d finally pull the trigger—ending this bullshit once and for all. “I know your finger is just itching to pull that trigger, but you gotta remember, it only takes a fraction of a second for me to do the same and your precious president’s brains will go flying all over this fucking room.”
“Just tell us what you fucking want, Talan.”
“The name’s Skitz, and you aren’t in a position to be dishing out orders, now are you?” He didn’t wait for my response. Instead, he pressed his gun harder against Viper’s head and snarled, “You know there was a time when I would’ve given my left nut to be a part of this club of yours. I thought it was my only shot of something real but turned out I was wrong. I was never meant to be a Sinner. I found my place with my own boys. Never needed yours.”
“A group of boys you have to intimidate and threaten to stay by your side? Sounds like a hell of a group you got there, Skitz,” Viper scoffed.
“I see Grant was mouthing off.” Skitz shook his head. “He was always such a fucking pussy.”
“You know what they say, ‘you’re only as strong as your weakest link’.”
“Well, as you can see, that’s no longer an issue.”
I was done listening to his bullshit. “You gotta know, you can’t win here. You’ve got two guns pointed at your thick fucking head. No matter how this goes, you’re dead.”
“Don’t you see?” he snickered. “I’ve already won. I’m standing here with a gun to the almighty Ruthless Sinners’ president’s head. Your precious club is a shambles, your brothers are wounded, others are dead, and you, the infamous Widow, couldn’t do a damn thing to stop me. None of you could.”
“You haven’t won a damn thing,” Viper snarled. “The clubhouse will be repaired. We’ll add on and make it better than ever. Our wounded will heal, and even if you are stupid enough to pull that trigger, there’s not a brother in this club who couldn’t step up and fill my shoes. That’s the kind of loyalty we have, so you’re wrong. You haven’t left the Ruthless Sinners in ruin. You’ve only helped make us stronger.”
“Always such the blowhard. I could’ve been an asset to this club. I could’ve shown you what war is really all about...”