Shameless Read Online Free Page B

as Gunner stood up from the table and closed the distance between himself and Layla.
    “What I want,” he began in a low, even tone that scared her a hell of a lot more than his yelling did. “Is to act like we’re a fuckin’ motorcycle club and not some little bitches playin’ house.” He breathed against her face, and Layla could smell not just smoke on his breath, but a touch of whiskey, too. “I wanna go after the fuckers who disrespected us at the Bottle Cap. I wanna teach ‘em that you don’t fuck with the Marauders.”
    “And how the fuck d’ya wanna do that?” Bear growled from across the room. Apparently, he’d taken exception to the “playin’ house” comment that Gunner had made.
    “Easy,” he answered, though he didn’t look away from Layla. “We hit ‘em where it hurts.” Briefly, he raised his coppery eyes to Jesse. “That fucker was Los Muertos, right?”
    “Yeah,” Jesse said.
    Gunner turned over his shoulder. “Gordo—don’t they got a warehouse near the Bottle Cap somewhere?”
    “Well, yeah,” Gordo said, frowning. “But you can’t just—”
    “The hell I can’t,” Gunner hissed before he could finish. He turned his attention back to Layla. “We ride there. Tonight. And we burn the fuckin’ place to the ground.” Once again, he looked at Jesse. “Unless you’re scared?”
    “What’re you, twelve?” Jesse asked, narrowing his eyes. “I’m not fuckin’ scared of Los Muertos. I went to juvie over that shit, remember?”
    “Yeah, but this ain’t gonna be like juvie,” Gunner said. “This is real shit—if you get caught, you’re goin’ away for a long time. I hear that fucker Arpaio don’t too kindly to arsonists burnin’ up his state.” He cocked his head. “Can you handle that? ‘Cause if you can’t, then it’s time that somebody else stepped up.”
    Jesse ran his fingers through his hair and gripped the short strands at the nape of his neck, sighing hard through his nose. He didn’t look like he wanted to do it, but he didn’t look like he wanted to step down, either.
    Layla watched a myriad of emotions play out across his face, most of them some variation of reluctance and anger. The rest of the club all stared at him, awaiting his final say as Gunner lit another cigarette.
    “C’mon, Jess,” he said, and the flame from his lighter flickered violently. “What’s it gonna be?”
    “Fine,” he said at last, though Layla could tell from his tone that it wasn’t. “Lemme just take her home first.”
    “Go ahead,” Gunner replied, sitting back down in his chair. “Take your bitch home.”
    In the time it took for Layla to blink, Jesse was on top of Gunner on the floor, pounding his head into the concrete.
    They writhed lake a pair of serpents, twisting and turning against one another, each getting in a single blow before the other momentarily overpowered them. Layla stared at their violent dance, her jaw loose and her eyes wide. Were they really fighting over her?
    Blood spurted suddenly from Gunner’s nose, and as he recoiled to bring his knee up into Jesse’s face, Bear stepped in and yanked both of them into the air.
    “Goddammit, stop!” he roared, suspending each boy off the ground as if they weighed nothing at all. “I’m tired of this high school bullshit! You boys are far too old to still be at each other’s throats like this. What’s done is done, and all that matters now is the welfare of the Marauders.”
    Once they stopped moving, Bear set them back down and clutched his stomach, grunting as he stumbled backward into his seat. Camel was on his feet in a flash, lifting up Bear’s wifebeater to take a look at the old incision running across his abdomen.
    “It’s fine,” Bear assured him as he pulled Jesse’s half-eaten bowl of beef stew toward him. “Just phantom pains, is all.” He took a mouthful of potato, then glared at the two of them again.
    “Gunner’s right,” he said, then added: “In part. We gotta do