Page 54 of Cash

SIXTEEN - Cash

The tremendous amountof horsepower that Ghost had extracted from the five hundred and fifty-seven cubic inch engine was obvious. The rump RUMP rump RUMP rump from the Mustang’s exhaust shook everything that wasn’t bolted down.

He revved the engine once, sending an eardrum-shattering roar throughout the garage. I loved horsepower as much as anyone, but the sheer force belting out of the exhaust was pounding my eardrum deeper into my skull with each rotation of the car’s camshaft.

Ghost sauntered to the driver’s door, reached inside, and shut off the ignition. The hair on my arms continued to crawl for a few seconds afterward, nonetheless.

He pulled earplugs from his ears and shook his head. “That should to do it. With ninety-three octane, this ought to hit the dyno at eight hundred horsepower. Maybe a little more.”

“What good is eight hundred horsepower in this little fucker?” I shouted. “All it’s going to do is spin the tires.”

“Your focus is being mean, and mine is making shit run like a top. With that four-link suspension in the rear, it’ll snap your neck when it takes off,” he said. “Hop in and I’ll show you.”

“I don’t need my neck snapped,” I said.

“That’s a matter of opinion,” Goose said from behind me.

Half deaf from the Mustang’s tuning session, I hadn’t realized Ghost was behind me. I turned toward his voice. “What the fuck’s that mean?”

He stepped around me and looked the car over. “Means there might be a few of the fellas that’d like to see you get your neck snapped for once.”

“You still pissed about me smacking the midget?”

“You didn’t smack him Cash. You broke his fucking jaw with a sucker punch.” He turned to face me. “It was a punk move on your part.”

I glared back at him. “You calling me a punk?”

“I’m saying it was a punk move. I didn’t mention it in front of those women, because it’s none of their business, but Tito didn’t deserve that.” He faced the car. “You’re wrong on this one, Cash.”

“Matter of opinion,” I huffed.

Goose’s lifted his head out of the car’s engine bay and looked at Ghost. “Care to give an opinion, big man?”

After a moment’s thought, Ghost looked at me and cleared his throat. “I understand your reasoning.”

“See,” I blurted. “Brother Ghost agrees.”

“You interrupted me before I had a chance to finish,” he growled.

“Oh.”

“I understand your reasoning. But Goose wants an opinion, and I’m going to give one.” He folded his massive arms over his chest and looked at me with serious eyes. “Tito stuck his dick in a girl you had a crush on, and when he did it, he was wrong. We all knew you liked her, including Tito. No two ways about it. But, he was a kid, and fifteen-year-old kids make decisions with their dicks, not their brains. We grow older, and we learn from our experiences, and from our mistakes. He hasn’t done anything but support us and the club since then. He’s done nothing but respect all of us. Tito’s good people. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t be here.”

“He was at that chick’s house trying to get his dick wet, and he had no idea which one of those girls I’d been fucking with,” I said through my teeth. “In Wednesday’s meeting, I said – specifically – where she lived, and that little braniac remembers everything. He knew whose house he was at, what he was doing, and that there was a fifty-fifty chance that the chick he was fucking with might have been her. He got what he deserved.”

Ghost coughed out a laugh. “You’re a stubborn prick. So fucking stubborn that you’re blind. Either that, or you’re just plain stupid.”

I gave him a side-eyed look. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“In that same meeting when you’re saying you said specifically where this chick lives, Baker asked you a question.” He raised his index finger and cleared his throat. “‘A girl sucks a dick like that, and you’re telling me you’re done with her?’ That’s what he asked you. In case you forgot, your answer was ‘yes’. That response made her free game. You’re wrong on this, Cash. Be man enough to admit it.”

I hated being wrong.

The fact that I wasn’t right sank into the pit of my stomach like a hot stone, burning the entire way down. If I was being honest with myself, I had to admit that my response to Baker’s question about Kimberly was inaccurate. I said it because I felt I needed to be done with her. Obviously, I hadn’t walked away from her emotionally, and punching Tito was proof.

I gazed blankly at my two brothers for a moment, and then swallowed heavily. I narrowed my eyes, tightened my jaw, and alternated glances between them.

“Fuck you, and fuck you,” I said.