people are. We do patdowns, make sure no one has a camera, but it's easy enough to hide something if you're motivated."
"When does he need it?" I still wasn't sure I wanted to get involved, however tangentially it was, in any more club bullshit. Even if it was more of Benicio's thing and less of a club thing.
And even if it involved this fighting shit. Especially if it involved this fighting shit. I needed to stay far, far away from that. I could feel it in my bones.
"As soon as you can do it," Blaze said. "It's Benicio, so you know he's not exactly stingy. He'll pay you fair. Cash. You have to keep it separate from anything else you're doing, that goes without saying."
I tossed Blaze a dark look. If that fucker thought something had changed with me, that retirement had somehow made me disloyal, then maybe I fucking needed to remind him of how loyal I'd been to this goddamned club.
"I thought you might be interested, since this is your area," Blaze said, interrupting my thoughts. "Easy cash, in and out, no questions. Figure I'd rather give the job to someone I trust, a brother, than outsource it somewhere else. Benicio's on board with it, didn't have a guy of his own that came to mind right away, so I told him you might be willing."
I felt my hands relax as he talked, unfurl from their tight clench. Blaze didn't think I was disloyal after all. He still counted me as a brother.
"You head ing back to Vegas tonight?" he asked. Then, before I could answer that I was, he said, "You should stay. Prospects are going to grill, got a party going on, some low-key shit though, nothing crazy. But those guys are gonna go at it. For practice."
I nodded. "All right," I said. "I'll stay."
I t was fucking strange being at a club party after being away for two years. Strange and familiar all at the same time. I didn't know some of these guys, but most of them were old friends. People I'd considered friends a long time ago.
A bro ther named Gunner clapped me on the shoulder. "Hammer!" he said, stopping when I looked at him the way I did. "Oh shit, is that not cool? I thought you knew that's what everybody's been calling you."
I took a drag on my beer. "No, you fuckstick," I said. "I didn't know."
He laughed, a sound that came from deep in his belly. Truth be told, I guess I did miss this guy. Just a little. And maybe I missed the club a little bit too. All of this, the chaos and din of the clubhouse, the friendships I'd had...I hadn't had any of that in well over two years. My life was quiet now. Too quiet sometimes. But all of this had been tainted by April's death.
I felt someone beside me, and the sensation jolted me out of my thoughts. Gunner was still talking about something, but I hadn't heard a word of it. Then he laughed, and I looked beside me at the topless girl who had attached herself to my arm, her bare tits pressed up against me. She leaned in and purred, her voice close to my ear, "Hey, baby, you want to play?"
"Hey man," Gunner said. "Have at it. You're retired, not dead."
I felt the familiar stirring of arousal, and slid my hand over one of her tits. Shit. I hadn't been laid in a long time. That part of me had been dead for a while. "What's your name, darlin'?"
"April," she said, leaning into me as she slid her hand down the front of my shirt toward my pants. I caught her by the wrist, pulled her away from me, filled with anger.
"Is this some kind of fucking joke?" I asked, looking from her to Gunner, whose face was chalk white.
"No, man, I don't know what the fuck," he said.
Her wrist felt tiny in my grip, and when I squeezed it harder, she yelped, her face contorting in pain. "What the fuck?" she screamed. "Let go of me, you psycho!"
I couldn't. "What the fuck do you mean, your name is April?" I heard my voice, loud even to my own ears, and I was aware that people were starting to stare at