Butchered Beasts 1: Darren & EJ

Chapter 10

Darren POV

Sitting here in this 'neutral' coffee shop with Prez, Lippy, and Sean, waiting for our meeting, I just knew we look out of place as fuck! I mean, we're bikers. Motherfucking bikers, wearing our cuts, drinking black coffee, waiting for more bikers, wearing their cuts. We look like a bunch of girls having a sorority meeting. Or a club waiting for more members to show up, which was true. But I was picturing more, 'book club' than 'motorcycle club'. Fucking stupid. That's what we looked like. Big ass men. Sitting around these tiny ass tables. We had four of them pulled together because they're so damn tiny. They're the kind that's made for two. Because, 'it's romantic', according to the barista, Tim.

The bell over the coffee shop chimed and in walked the Sinners' president, VP, top two enforcers, and their lawyer. They all looked tough, and every bit as big as us. Even the lawyer. Wow. Bringing out the big guns. Let's get this shit fucking over with! Ugh.

I'm frustrated. Trying to keep it together, because, honestly, I'd rather be at the house, possibly running into EJ. I want to go over all the little details in the plans for the prints she and Ed 1 finalized. I want to see her face light up as she talks about her new home. I wanted to see that blindingly bright smile that made me feel warm inside. I felt myself smile at the thought.

That made me pause. I quite literally fucking paused. Everything in me fucking froze, except for the smile vanishing off my face. I've never thought this hard about a woman before. Woah. Calm the fuck down! Feelings don't happen this intense...ever. I didn't even feel like this longing to get to know Ashley like this. I liked Ashley. She was fun. She was easy. She didn't make my fucking palms sweat though. And I did not get nervous thinking about her. I could feel the frown etching my face now.

"You good, Ice?" Sean asked. My road name. I was Darren 'IceMan' Woods. I don't show emotions to anyone unless absolutely necessary. I keep that shit to myself. It's been that way since before Ashley. Crew saw her bring a little bit out of me when we were in the Corps together, but I'd never thought about her this early on and fucking smiled. What the fuck is wrong with me?!

I looked at my president, knowing I'd just fucking missed whatever the fuck they were talking about because I was too caught up in my fucking feelings for a woman who saw another woman flirting with me. I could fucking face-palm myself. How many more times can I work 'fuck' into my vocabulary? It's pretty much become a fucking comma in my head.

Fuck.

"Nah. What are we talking about? My mind got distracted for a minute."

"Uh-huh," I heard Sean snicker. Fucking snickered?! Shooting him a look I held up my fists to him. He smirked and nodded. I'd kick his fucking ass after this fucking shit is done. Fuck!

After explaining, again, we went over the finer details of the alliance. There were many. The main point is that we helped the other either rehabilitate the Snipers or eliminate them. The next point was that we'd get legal services at a better rate than those not affiliated with the Sinners, which was a win for us. And, frankly speaking, we'd never been at odds with the Sinners, but we'd never had a reason or need to join up with them. However, they have a hacker who is way more experienced than Sean. Sean's learning, but he's got a long way to go if he wants to be on the same level as their guy.

"Would you consider letting our tech guy learn from your tech guy?" I asked, pointing at Sean when I mentioned our tech guy. Worst they're going to say is 'no'. They all looked between themselves, whispering. Their president shook his head.

Damn.

"I can't promise that. I'll ask him and shout at you." I raised an eyebrow. I knew some tech guys were real recluses who steered clear of pretty much everyone, and it seems that theirs might be one of those people. Shit. He's one of the best out there. Never leaves a fucking trace when he's been somewhere. He's like...a level of his own. And from what I hear, self-taught. If I was into dudes, he'd definitely be someone I'd want to at least take out once or twice.

"Maybe they could work with each other remotely? Like working on hacking each other's systems or whatever? And your guy can show our guy what he's fuckin up and how to be better." The president seemed to perk up at this, and I could see a twinkle of hope in Sean's eyes. He'd always wanted to learn from someone, but the type of IT they taught in college was not what he wanted to learn. He'd learned a decent amount on his own, but that would only get him so far in life. Hopefully, this other tech guy went to school and can talk Sean into it. It'd be great if he could start his own company or security company or something. He'd be fucking perfect for that role.

"That might be something we could work with. I'll ask and call you guys with an answer." I shook his hand on it before we continued the meeting.

Once everything is signed, we all shake hands and get down to the real business. How we're going to be handling the fucking Snipers. These dipshits. Que the eye roll on those dumbasses. And they really were. They were the military's rejects. This dishonorably discharged. Those were 'The Snipers'. They made me wanna punch babies. Not really, but it's pretty descriptive of how much they're disliked. Their reputation is shit. Has been for quite a few years. Their president is apparently trying to make something of it, but there's someone on the inside who doesn't want that to happen. They're also trying to frame us for something we've never done. We're not the one percenters.

The Sinners let us know they have a meeting on the books for six weeks from now. That's not a long time, but it's long enough for Sean to start learning about more in-depth stuff, which would help us in the long run.

"We need a plan for if they decide to play dirty." I said, looking around the table, "Anyone here besides us have military experience?" I asked.

"I do," One guy raised his hand. He was bald and looked squared away, "Sniper. Marine Corps."

"Us too," I said. Prez hadn't said a single word this whole fucking time. Leaving me to be his mouthpiece. "Sharpshooters. What's your name?"

"Bullet."

"I'm Iceman, that's Prez."

"Can, uh," he rubbed his bald head, "Can I ask why you guys are called the Butchered Beasts?" I looked a Prez and he nodded.

"We're called that because most of us look like we've been butchered. Either by the war or abuse going up. And, the beasts because...well, we've done some shit people say only monsters do. That's why we're called that. Prez and I had the nickname 'Butcher Boys' in the corps. We took out most of the enemy quietly. With knives."

"Like butchers..." Bullet said softly, eyes wide.

Prez gave a nod and stood. I followed suit.

"I'll be in contact within the next couple of weeks," I said as we walked out of that coffee shop with a rough outline of what we were going to do. Either rehab them.

Or...well...we'll be planting lots of trees.