Blinking rapidly to get his bearings in the gloomy clubhouse, he saw the room was already full, despite it being daylight and many of the brothers having spent most of the night partying. Glaring at the brothers to move, he made his way to the bar.
At his angry expression, Crush hurried over to wait on him.
“Give me a fucking beer,” he ordered the woman before rudely shoving KC over to make room for himself. “All you fuckers have nothing better to do than stand around and drink first thing in the morning?”
“It’s twelve o’clock. What’s it to you what we do?” Lizard mouthed off.
Stump rose his fist to smack the smirk off the fucker’s face but Jackal grabbed his fist before he could land a punch.
“You already have to buy a new helmet. Don’t spend more money you don’t have by wrecking the club. Ice said the next one who starts a fight inside is going to be the one paying for it.”
“Then tell the brothers to stay the fuck away from me until I cool down,” he snarled, jerking his hand from Jackal’s grip.
“Why would them standing around, drinking, piss you off? I can understand the helmet irritating you—it wasn’t big enough for your big head.”
“You trying to pick a fight with me?”
“I’m trying to keep the peace around here, at least until Penni comes and goes. She texted me that she needed to talk to me, so chill until she leaves. Cool?”
“I’m cool.” He swung back to pick up the beer that Crush placed on the bar.
“I’ll take one, too, Crush.” Jackal moved to stand next to him. “That is unless it’s going to piss you off that I’m standing around, drinking one, too.”
“Suit yourself.” He took a long pull from his drink before slamming it back down on the bar.
“You just said you were cool.” Jackal slid the beer Crush had set down closer to him.
“I am.”
“If you need to get something off your chest, do so. If not, lose the attitude before I lose it for you.”
“What’s wrong with Stump?” Ice asked, coming to stand on his other side and asking the question as if he wasn’t fucking there.
“Don’t know. He hasn’t said.”
“Stump?”
He started to ignore the question, then decided it was in his best interest to answer. He didn’t need to make the shitty day worse by nursing a broken jaw.
“I spent the night with Tilda. This morning, she broke up with me because Hannibal pissed on her purse that she left sitting on the floor. You know what it’s like for a bitch to wake you from a dead sleep screaming at you?”
“Yes,” both Ice and Jackal answered, grimacing.
“Then, before I could put the leash on Hannibal, she opened the door and let him out. When I asked her to help me look for him, she threw my jeans and boots out in the rain.”
“You should know by now when a bitch is on a rampage to put your jeans and boots on before your shirt,” Jackal advised unsympathetically.
“You find the dog?” Ice asked, drawing his attention before Stump could tell him where to shove his advice.
“No, I spent all morning looking for him, but he disappeared.”
“You call the shelters?” Ice asked, frowning.
“Yes, I left my number, so if he shows up, they’ll call me.”
“Grace is going to give me hell that you lost the dog. She makes me take pictures of it every day to make sure you’re taking care of it.”
“No shit! You think I don’t know that?” Downing the last of his beer, he was tempted to throw the bottle at the wall in frustration. “I was late for the job that Max set up for me because I was looking for the damn thing, and when I called in, Leroy fired me. Fucker never cared if I was late before. And to put the cherry on top of this clusterfuck sundae, some weirdo nearly rear-ended my bike and started yelling at me when I was stopped at a red light.”
“Why were they yelling at you?”
“Beats the fuck out of me. I would have gotten off my bike if the light hadn’t turned green and I wasn’t trying to find that mutt.”
Ice’s frown grew darker. “Don’t call it a mutt in front of Grace—”
“She here?”
“No.”
“Then I can call Hannibal anything I fucking want to.”
Despite his words, he spoiled the dog rotten. He even let him sleep in his bed, which was more than he could say about most of the bitches he had fucked.
“Shut up. Penni’s coming through the door.” Jackal elbowed him when he would have kept ranting.
“Crush, give me another beer,” Stump ordered to keep from elbowing the enforcer back harder.
Taking the beer that Crush gave him, he was about to move away from the bar and find a table, but Jackal’s wife blocked him with an angry glint in her eyes.