Page 9 of Devil's Queen
On your knees or get the fuck out.His order to my mother and me is still fresh in my mind.
“Rumor on the street is that their new president wants to take them legit.”
“That’s going to cost them,” Tinley remarks. “They’re going to need more money to make that happen. After their last attempt to take Remy’s business, they have to be broke.”
“If there’s any stock in the rumors, we need to be on high alert. After what they did with the shop the last time, I wouldn’t put it past them to try again with someone new in charge.”
“Do you know who it is?” Cheyenne asks.
“Rex.”
Fuck. My heart stops beating in my chest. No. It’s not possible. He couldn’t be their president. When they’d kicked us out, he’d barely been a prospect. To rise to the head of the table, he’d have had to bypass all my father’s former officers and some of the older patches. Shit like that doesn’t happen.
“How sure are you?” I blurt out.
Maya shrugs. “Seventy-five percent. I’m trying to get confirmation. Nothing yet, but I’m close.”
“That motherfucker,” I mutter under my breath. “That’s why he called.” Every set of eyes swings toward me with concern on their faces.
“I take it you might know this guy.”
Tinley‘s voice pierces through my thoughts, and I can feel my face heat up.
“Yeah, I know him.” What makes matters worse is that he knows me better than most people, which makes him dangerous. If the Zulu Kings are considering taking another swipe at the shop, Rex would be their best bet at succeeding. “He was a prospect when my dad died.”
“That’s unusual,” Cheyenne remarks. “There are still a couple of the old guard in it.”
“Well, maybe this could be a good thing. We could mend the fences with them with the old guard out and put this issue to bed,” Harlow adds. I shoot a glare at her. Her shoulders slump. “Just a suggestion, Remy.”
I shake my head. My history with the Zulu Kings is the least of my worries right now. With Rex at the helm, they had the potential to wreck everything I’d built. I can’t let that happen.
“You good, Remy?” Cheyenne places her hand on my arm from her seat to my left.
“We’ll take it under advisement. But for now, let’s keep our eyes open and our ears to the ground. If it is Rex, I’ll be sure to handle it myself.”
I adjourn the meeting, and the rest of the club makes their way out of the room, heading off to their day jobs. I stay in my chair and look out the window, considering the rumor. I must hope that if it’s really him, there was enough of a code of respect between us for him to keep them away from my business, but even I know I’m lying to myself. Rex was never good at staying away. He’d defied my father time and time again after he’d ordered him to stay away from me. Though, I was a part of that equation too.
If I knew Rex at all, he wouldn’t stop at a phone call.
I take a deep breath and close my eyes, willing myself to be calm. It’s been years since I’ve seen Rex, and just the thought of him sends shivers down my spine. He was always unpredictable and dangerous, and I know I am in serious trouble if he has set his sights on me again.
REMY
I couldn’t shakethe news about Rex taking Dad’s seat with the Zulu Kings and had barely gotten anything done at the shop. I tried to distract myself by focusing on my work, but it was useless. My mind kept wandering back to Rex and the Kings.
How did Rex manage to take my father’s place?
The boy I knew all those years ago didn’t have an ambitious bone in his body. The Kings had been his last resort—a refuge from his abusive father and absent mom when they kicked him out of their house. Rex prospected to put a roof over his head and for the safety net the cut brought with it. He was oil and water with the patches, but he’d found his footing because he truly had nowhere else to go.
The fact that we’d fallen in together was by sheer coincidence. I’d been running around behind my dad’s back with an older guy from one of the other clubs in town. He’d never wanted me to end up with a biker, but there’s something about a leather-clad bad boy I couldn’t resist at that age. After my dad found out about my little dalliance, he put Rex on my tail to ensure I abided by his rules.
Little did he know that he’d put us on the path to each other. It didn’t take long for me to realize that Rex was different from the other prospects. There was something in the way he carried himself. He was quiet but not shy, reserved but not distant. He had a way of looking at you like he saw right through to your soul.
All it had taken was a kiss in the back alley behind the clubhouse, and I’d been lost to him. Funny how quickly love like that fizzles away when betrayal sinks its claws into the relationship.
Giving up paperwork, I head home. Our small house sits nestled between two others of similar size. The only difference between ours and the neighbors is the size of the backyard. Mama and I found it about a year after Dad died. It’s not much, but it is home. Pulling my bike into the covered porch, I dismount, leaving my helmet on the back of it before heading inside.
“Dinner will be ready in about an hour,” Mama mutters the second I step inside. “Beaux’s up in his room working on his homework.” Her gaze doesn’t lift to meet mine. In front of her is a spread of peeled fresh veggies with the peels scattered all over the tabletop.