Page 126 of Indecent Lies

Asshole.

Motherfucker.

He was getting his insurance on Texas good and well.

Played.

“Rider, you’re right on time, thank you for coming, my friend.”

Texas kept his mouth shut but his eyes on his ex prez.

What the fuck could he say anyway?It’s not what it looks like, Rider. I’m not here colluding with the club’s enemy.

The evidence against him was damning.

“Looks cozy as fuck in here and I don’t mean the décor.” Rider remarked, dark and tight with his eyes on Texas before they slid back to Grigori who was standing behind his desk like the lorded fucker he was.

He’d set Texas up.

“Nice of you to come, Rider. Please, take a seat.” The Russian gestured. “I will have drinks brought in.”

“I’m not stopping. This ain’t a social call. I wanted to see this shitstorm with my own eyes and gotta say, you’re about as fucked up as I always thought you were. Some of those chicks out there don’t even fuckin’ look legal. You doping them up?”

Grigori smirked. Unrepentant. But then, the devil doesn’t have a conscience.

“Business, my friend, comes with costs,da? You know this. I think if we all help each other, put heads together, as you say, we will make Denver very profitable. We are smart men who want to own the world.”

Rider laughed. “De-fucking-lusional as always. Consider this place shut the fuck down as of now.”

Rider turned to leave, but not before he stared a hole through Texas’ head. A stare he felt as if Rider had gut punched him. “Nice company you’re keeping, man. From cops to the mafia, seriously fuckin’ nice.”

“It’s not…”

“Mr. Hunt and I have a good relationship. One you and I could have had, Rider, if you realized the potential for this state.”

Fucking hell.

Fire in Rider’s eyes meant he turned back around and started to advance on Grigori. “Told you before, you and I will never climb into bed, dickhead. I gave you leeway because of my Tracker and the state you left him in.”

Oh, that asshole would die twice as painful for the pleased grin on his face, Texas thought to himself.

“It was me who shut your smuggling down. It was me who stopped you peddling pills to kids. It was me who fucked up your relationship with the mayor.” With each confession, Rider’s grin turned smugger.

Grigori’s smirk dropped and his pale skin turned angry mottled red.

“Told you ample times, this ismyfuckin’ city. Nothing happens here that I don’t know about. No fucker earns a buck without my say so. Oh and the best.” Now he was directly in front of Grigori, their heights almost matched. “We drained nearly twenty big ones from every undertaking you ever tried to do. That was my favorite fuckin’ part, man. My club might take a cruise on your dime, thanks for that. Why do you think I haven’t drilled your body like swiss cheese with bullets? Now you know, we were making you fuckin’ poor first.”

The air in the tiny office changed, like all the oxygen was sucked out immediately.

Rider better know what the hell he was doing by goading him.

Outside, he heard a muffled scream again.

He turned away for one second, just one.

Russian was spewed out of Grigori’s mouth as if the man was so furious that he couldn’t think in English fast enough to translate his thoughts.

Before Texas knew it, two guns were drawn.