by Sam Crescent
The trailer was empty, though, thank God.
I was only here to get what few belongings I had, if they had even kept any of them.
On the way to being dropped off at the trailer, when I opened up my backpack, I’d found an envelope from Venom tucked away inside. It had held cash, a lot of it. I tried to give it back to Rooney but he refused, saying it was mine and that Venom had wanted me to use it start my life, to get out of that shit hole.
The tears had come instantly.
Venom was a biker, big and mean, dangerous and violent. But he’d woken me up in the most elemental of ways. He’d shown me that beneath that cold, hard exterior lay a loving man.
I knew my crying had made Rooney uncomfortable, maybe never seeing a female in tears before. Either way, I had a chance, a shot to really make something of myself again. And I would.
I headed toward the back to where my dresser was, the one I had to share with my mother. It was decades old, the top scarred and dented, the handles barely hanging on. I pulled open the bottom drawer and saw my shirts and pants still there. I took everything that was there and shoved it in my backpack.
I’d never miss this place, wouldn’t miss the people that were an egg and sperm donor.
They weren’t a mom or dad, not loving or supportive, nothing more than selfish assholes who saw me as nothing more than a burden.
Fuck them.
I started grabbing my socks and underwear and shoved those into my backpack just as I heard the front door open. Everything in me tightened as I turned and looked down the hall, seeing my father stumbling in. He braced his hand on the wall and let out a loud belch.
He was drunk.
No surprise.
There was no other exit aside from the one he currently blocked.
He moved away from the front door without closing it and that made me feel relatively better about the situation. I didn’t want a confrontation with him, especially not with him being drunk. He stumbled over to the Formica table, one that had cigarette burns on the top, the yellow and gold flecked table looking like it had come straight out of the seventies.
I zipped up my bag and put it on, quietly walking down the short hall and toward the front. He still had his back toward me, and I prayed that I wouldn’t have to talk to him, that he would never even know I was here.
My heart was in my throat, my hands shaking.
I was about to turn and head out the front door when a creak under my foot echoed through the air, so deafening in the small trailer confines that I actually froze. My father looked over his shoulder at me, his eyes narrowing as if he were confused that I was there. He turned around and looked me up and down, his lip curling in disgust.
I knew in that moment that he wouldn’t make this easy, wouldn’t let me go without a fight.
I set my bag on the ground beside me and straightened.
If a fight was what he wanted then so be it. I was ready.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Venom
I watched. It was all I could do, all I allowed myself to do.
Seeing Rebekah get out of that damn car tore my heart out. No doubt about it.
I inhaled from my cigarette in the hope of distracting myself. The truth was, I was a grown man and for the first time in my life, I really wanted to fucking cry. I’m not the kind of man who got sentimental. Hell, I didn’t even care about any of the other women I’d fucked in the past.
Rebekah, she was fucking different.
She’d ruined me.
I wasn’t going to cry.
I made that vow right now.
Rooney pulled out of the trailer park and left her alone. I was far enough away that Rebekah couldn’t see me. Yesterday when she decided she wanted to leave, I pretended I couldn’t give two fucks about what she was doing. Why should I care? She was the one leaving me, not the other way around.
Yeah, I’m a selfish fuck.
She was the first woman I gave my heart to and she still wanted to leave.
I got it.
But it still pissed me off immensely.
I didn’t deserve to have her in my life, if I were being honest. Being in the MC wasn’t easy. At least, I doubted it was easy for the club girls. Young, new pussy constantly begging for some biker cock.
Rebekah.
I loved her.
I loved her so fucking much.
“You know, you’re behaving like a pussy right now,” Rooney said as he pulled the SUV to a stop beside me.
“I didn’t tell you to stop and talk to me.”
“You don’t want to talk about your feelings, that’s all right with me. That girl was broken hearted because you didn’t take her back home, because you didn’t say goodbye.”
“She wanted to leave me. Not the other way around.”
“You sound like a petulant teenage boy. Grow up, Venom. She’s young. She has never had a life away from her bullshit parents. Give her a fucking break already. We’re killers. We’re part of a life that is not safe for our women. We can’t force them to be here.”
I simply stared at him. I didn’t need Rooney to tell me shit. I knew exactly why the fuck I stood here hiding from her, why I was letting Rebekah have a different life.
“Fuck off, Rooney,” I said.
Rooney held his hands up. “Fine. Fine. Clearly, you know what you’re doing.”
“Of course, I know what I’m fucking doing.” I took another long drag of my cigarette and waited as Rooney finally got the hint and left me the fuck alone.
I didn’t need to talk to that ugly bastard about what was right and what wasn’t. I knew the moment I took Rebekah it was wrong. I was wrong when I fucked her. A sweet young virgin. I was even wrong in falling in love with her.
The only right thing I’d done when it came to her was allowing her to leave me.
This pain, I deserved it.
I hoped Rebekah lived a good life. A long one.
One filled with so much fucking love and happiness that she forgot all about me.
Well, I’m not going to lie, a part of me wished no other man would compare. If that memory was just about the orgasms, I’d be happy.
Yeah, wasn’t good.
Not even a little.
I was a selfish bastard and I wanted what I wanted, and who I wanted was Rebekah. I just couldn’t figure out exactly how to have her and it pissed me off.
My club was my life.
Rebekah was my life.
I wanted both.
Instead of going to Rebekah, I took one last lingering look at her piece of shit trailer and turned away.
Only, I saw him.
The stupid fuck I wanted to kill.
The moment I looked at him, I knew he was drunk. He was a piece of shit, evil fucking bastard and he was headed for the trailer.
Glancing back toward it, I knew Rebekah hadn’t left yet.
Shit.
Fuck.
Now my rage was coming in thick and strong.
I was pissed off.
I shouldn’t have left her alone.
I knew it and still I’d allowed her to go.
Stupid fuck that I was.
When some time had passed and there was still no sight of Rebekah, I started to head over there.
When I got a few feet from the trailer, I heard Rebekah scream.
It wasn’t fright.
She was in pain.
That son of a bitch was hurting her.
Running to the trailer, I opened the door just as her father brought down his fist, punching Rebekah in the face.
In the time it had taken me to get to her, she’d already gotten a busted lip and she was holding onto her side. From the state of the trailer, it looked like he’d been throwing her around as if she’d been a rag doll.
“Well, well, well, look what we have here. You think I don’t know about you, Venom? You think I don’t know that you took my girl? I hope you liked her. She’s a fucking waste but I figured a sister for a daughter. Wh
at do you say?”
“Venom, go,” Rebekah said. “He’s not worth it.”
When he drew his leg out and kicked her, right there in front of me, I snapped. I grabbed him around the throat, dragging him back until he hit the side of the trailer. Throwing him away from me, I was already picking him up by his throat again and drawing my fist up against his ribs.
I wanted to hear him howl in pain.
Letting go of his neck, I cupped his head and slammed his face against the dirty mirror. When that didn’t give me enough satisfaction, I did it again, and a third time just for show.
Gripping his hair, I pulled him across the unclean floor. Pushing his head into the sink, I turned the tap on. Cupping his mouth, I let the water fall into his nose.
“You think you can fuck with me? I was willing to let you live for my sister but seeing you on Rebekah today, hurting her, by the time I’m done with you, they’re not even going to be able to identify the body.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Rooney
I cursed under my breath when I saw Venom hauling ass to the trailer.
A moment later, I cursed out loud when I saw the trailer rock slightly, no doubt from the beating Venom was giving to Rebekah’s father.
I turned the SUV around and pulled it to a stop in front of the trailer. Throwing it into park, I cut the engine and climbed out, rushing inside to either grab Rebekah or stop the fight. But the truth was I had no intentions of stopping the beat-down.
I knew Venom wouldn’t want that. I knew Rebekah’s father deserved his ass getting handed to him more than anyone else.
Throwing open the front door, I saw Rebekah standing in the corner, her hands covering her mouth as she stared wide-eyed at Venom and her father by the sink. Venom had him bent over, his head under water, the sink completely filled. The man struggled, his arms flailing, trying to push Venom back.
Then Venom pulled his head back, her father’s mouth opening wide as he gasped for air. But Venom only allowed him a second before he plunged his head back in the sink, water splashing everywhere as her father struggled even harder.
Venom wore this cold, dead look.
“Get her the fuck out of here,” he said in such a deadly calm voice, I felt my entire body tightening.
I snapped my gaze to where Rebekah stood, and she slowly lifted her focus in my direction. Her eyes were wide and bloodshot, watery looking with unshed tears. She had a nasty looking bruise forming on the side of her face, and a cut above her eyebrow telling me her father had gotten her good before Venom had stepped in.
Inhaling deeply, I channeled every degraded part of me, every humane cell in my body. I had to because this was what our life was, this was how we lived. We killed those who wronged us, and Rebekah’s father needed to die. He would tonight.
But Rebekah didn’t need to see that.
I snapped to attention then, walking over to her and taking hold of her wrist, pulling her out of the trailer and toward the SUV. She didn’t fight me—thank fuck—and as I helped her in the passenger seat and shut the door, I turned and looked at the trailer.
I knew what Venom would do, knew he would kill the asshole without even thinking. It had been a long time coming and I was not about to take this away from my Prez.
Getting into the driver’s side, I peeled out of the trailer park. I didn’t know if anybody would call the cops, but I’d get a few of the guys over here to keep watch. And if the police did show up I’d have them get Venom the hell out of there.
I made the call quickly, making sure Pip and Anarchy were on their way over. But given the state of the trailer park, a run-down, rat’s nest piece of shit place, I had no doubt people would keep their mouths shut. It was one of those areas where drug deals were made on the corners, kids ran around barefoot and dirty, and drive-by shootings took place.
I could have taken her back to the MC, but instead I went in the opposite direction, taking her to a motel not far from the trailer park. She’d just left the clubhouse, and taking her back there seemed wrong. I didn’t know why I gave a shit, but something in me had me refusing to go back there.
I glanced over at her and saw that she was shaking, the side of her face black and blue, already swelling. It would be nasty come morning, nastier still in the next few days.
I parked in front of the motel, letting the SUV idle for a second, feeling the adrenaline still moving through me.
“Stay here,” I said and got out to get her a room. I’d call Venom when she was settled. I hadn’t gotten a call, so that was at least good news he hadn’t gotten picked up by the police. But I’d get a call soon, one where I’d hear the details about where to meet up to get rid of the body.
And there would be a body, one that would probably not be recognizable once Venom was through.
Rebekah
* * *
I wasn’t a fool. No matter how scared I was, how much the pain claimed me, I knew what was happening. I knew what would happen to my father.
I sat on the edge of the bed in this shitty little motel room. I didn’t know why Rooney didn’t take me back to the clubhouse, but I was thankful for small miracles. Standing, I looked over at him as he stood by the window. He kept checking his cell, as if he expected the dreaded call that would tell him my father was dead.
Maybe I should have felt sad about that. Maybe I should mourn the inevitable death of my father. But he’d never been anything more than a pain in my gut, a thorn in my side. He hadn’t been a parent. Neither of them had.
Turning away, I headed into the bathroom and shut the door. Tears threatened to spill, but it had nothing to do with being sad over his death, more because I felt this weight had been lifted off my shoulders, like now I had a future, more so than before, when I found the money in my backpack from Venom. My future looked brighter, clearer.
I stared at myself in the mirror, the side of my face so fucked up. I lifted my hand to the cut above my eye, wincing at how tender it was. My side hurt too, from my father kicking me when I’d been down.
Fuck him. I hoped he rotted, burned in hell. And my mother … well, she was no better than him, abandoning her daughter, letting her husband treat me like shit, hurt me, degrade me.
Fuck both of them.
I found myself grinning, laughing hysterically as emotions flooded into me.
Venom.
I loved him.
I wanted him.
I‘d run from him and everything he’d offered.
He’d been at the trailer park, watching me, saying his own goodbye. I knew that now, realized that’s how he’d been there, how he’d saved me.
The bathroom door opened and Rooney stood there looking concerned. I was still laughing, feeling like a floodgate had just opened.
“Are you okay?” he asked as he looked me up and down, maybe seeing if I had any new injuries, maybe thinking I’d lost my mind.
“I’m fine,” I finally answered. And I was.
Relief. That’s what I felt.
Relief right down to my very bones.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Venom
I stood back from the trailer, watching as it burned. No one was around. My club stood at my back as I took a deep breath, inhaling the smoke. Watching the flames, I felt this relief wash over me. The son of a bitch was gone. Dead. He’d never be recognized. The only reason I set fire to the trailer was because the mess I’d made would be impossible to clean up.
I didn’t give a fuck what I did, only that it was over now.
Only now I had to go and deal with Rebekah.
Rooney had taken her to a motel.
He’d already sent me the directions and he’d warned me he thought she was having a psychotic break or something. Finishing my cigarette, I turned on my heel and walked away. I didn’t need to see it burn to the ground.
The man in the trailer, he wasn’t coming back.
Going to my bike, which one of the boys had brought for me, I started up the engine and p
eeled out of there.
The open road was what I needed right now.
That and to feel Rebekah’s lips on mine. I’d rather her be riding my dick but I’d be happy with a kiss.
She wasn’t going to get rid of me. I loved her too much to leave her completely. In the inside of my jacket was the wad of cash I’d put to one side from one of our drug runs. We all got a pretty good cut of the pie, and this would be for Rebekah to start a new life. It was extra for her, a hell of a lot more than I’d shoved in that envelope for her before she left.
I’d known everything and she would know that as well. Turning off, I went down the bumpy road for a few moments before seeing the sign for the motel.
There were several cars parked and a couple of bikes.
I spotted Rooney’s SUV and pulled up beside him, turning off the ignition. Climbing off the bike, I headed up to the room, where he said she was staying, and tried to open it. It was locked. I knocked on the door.
Seconds later, he opened it and stepped aside.
“Where is she?” I asked before going inside.
“She’s asleep right now.” He pointed to the bed. “She was laughing and then crying. She finally passed out. I don’t know if it’s a good thing or not.” He shrugged. “I’ll leave her to you.”
“You ever thought about taking a chance?” I asked and looked at Rooney, who shook his head.
“I’m not willing to take that chance. Not with my girl. Call me a coward, I don’t give a fuck. I know what I’m capable of. I know that this life will get either me killed or her. It’s not the kind of life I want for her.”
“Some of the club whores are still around,” I said.
Rooney laughed. “Please, those bitches can suck their way out of any problem. You can’t compare our women to them. Take care of your old lady, Venom.”