The Iron Predators, Part VI [SAMPLE]

Chapter 4

ACID

When Bear told us that his niece, who's 20 years old, would move here, I didn't think about it much. I don't think any of us did. We just thought of a younger, female version of him. You know, a female ogre with a strong bone structure and brown, messy hair. His sister doesn't even look like him. She's a lot better looking than him.

Gunner, Beast's dad, surely noticed.

And his niece...she doesn't even seem to come from the same genepool. She's tiny with long, blonde hair, big, blue eyes and a cute, little nose...but she's fucking annoying.

We've just had Church. Bear and the other old timers that're retired often join us. They still ride with us from time to time and want to know what's going on even if we're running things now.

"What the hell is wrong with your niece?" I ask Bear a little too aggressively before we all get up and leave, making him turn to me and send me a death glare, but I think we all want to hear why she's so goddamn happy and smiling at everyone all the time. I've been trying so hard not to snap at her, but even if I'm rude to her, she's still smiling at me.

"There's nothing wrong with her," he says and crosses his arms over his chest.

"Hey, no need to get worked up," Beast says. "What Acid is so delicately trying to ask," he says and gives me an amused smirk, making me cross my arms over my chest and scoff, "is that Juniper doesn't seem to take social signals as well. She doesn't seem to care if someone's rude to her. She's just smiling. Is there something we should know regarding her?"

Bear sighs. "She just hasn't been socializing the way she should with her being homeschooled a lot, but she's always been like that, seeing the good in everything and thinking that everyone's nice deep inside. That's why I wanted them to move here too, so I can keep an eye on her. Boys are starting to notice her, and I don't want her to get into trouble because she's too naive. They need to stay away, and that goes for you too," he says sternly and points at me, then at Colt, Bane, Phoenix and Pyro. "Stay the fuck away from her."

They raise their hands up in surrender, and I just give him a look that he's mental if I would ever go there. Bear's son just joined the Army and is coming back as a Predator when he's done. I guess he needs someone else to look after.

"Colt, Acid and Phoenix," Beast says, "you three keep an eye on Juniper when you do your runs in Fort Abner. Make sure that no one at college bothers her."

"Yes, Prez," we say, but on the inside, I'm groaning. I know that it's a little slow right now, other than the usual gun shipments and keeping an eye on the drug dealers. Colt, Phoenix and I have Fort Abner as our usual run to make sure that everyone's behaving. The others have theirs in the other towns around here, but we're all riding through Fort Abner from time to time when we're going to the warehouse.

Colt wanted Fort Abner so he could keep an eye on his sister when she's at school, so I guess it won't be that much different anyway. I just need to suppress that feeling of wanting to grab Juniper and shake her to get her to realize that you can't be nice to everyone and expect them to be nice back. She needs to stop smiling so goddamn much and being so fucking naive.

I go to the gym to work out with the others. I hate that I can't punch the bag as hard as I want to right now because of my fucking shoulder that's hurting like a bitch, but I can't let Beast know that. I'm his Enforcer and I need to be able to handle shit, not sit on my bike and watch while others do it.

When we're done and walk into the living room, Juniper is in the kitchen with her mom and Ava. Her mom is sitting on a chair while Juniper is massaging her neck and back through her shirt. She looks like she's in pain.