Heart Ripper

by K. A. Merikan

  Raja nodded but didn’t try to immediately get into David’s pants. Instead he pulled him toward the corridor in the back of the main room. “You know what else turns you on? Knowing the truth. You told me you want to know more, and I will give you just that.”

  “Oh, okay…” David squeezed Raja’s hand and walked on, still a bit dazed from the rush of arousal.

  Raja squeezed him under his thick arm and led the way to a solid-looking staircase with a broken banister. They started walking up the stairs, and David’s mind kept roaming through all the possibilities. He already got Raja’s name and the truth about the bet, so what awaited him next?

  “Do you want to show me more of this place?” he asked with a smile, but then something hit him. “Hey, you said this place wasn’t yours. How’d you get the keys?”

  Raja’s laugh told David everything he needed to know, but he still followed him upstairs without a moment’s hesitation. “It’s an old lock. Getting a copy of the key was easy peasy.”

  “What if someone finds us here?” David’s heart sped up. As soon as Raja was back, his life was exciting and colorful again.

  Raja shrugged as they stepped on the landing, and Raja looked out through a large window, which opened into a big garden overgrown with weeds. “No one cares. We’re safe as long as we don’t alarm the police ourselves. There’s enough space here for a garage and at least one more building. Maybe a parking lot as well.”

  David’s heart raced, and he grinned, squeezing Raja’s hand as he was slowly realizing that Raja wouldn’t show this to just anyone. “And you guys would own the bar, too? Like a company?”

  “Profit margins would be low at first, but we could work with that. Also, there’s many ways to put money in your own pocket under the table when you own a bar,” said Raja

  “Were you always this business minded?” David walked alongside Raja, looking around the area, but in his mind, he could already imagine this place thriving.

  Raja shrugged. “Not really, but the way the patchover originally went... it was a blow we hardly came back from, and as the new president, I really need to make sure the club picks itself up from its knees.”

  “Please don’t laugh, but it makes me think of gardening. Like it’s not something that’s just there, but you need to give it care and attention if you want it to blossom.”

  Raja stopped and turned around to look at David. His eyes were invisible in the shadows, but David had no doubt he was being watched. In the end, Raja sighed. “Yes, exactly like that. I know not all my men have the same faith in me that they had in the previous prez, even though he’d been a right bastard. I need to prove myself. Build something on my own terms.”

  “What did he do?” Truth be told, David had heard about ‘the previous prez’ of the Toledo chapter before. Head had been his uncle. He had been the one to take Hunter in when Hunter no longer wanted to be a part of their family and their religion. Mom didn’t like to talk about her brother, and tried not to keep in touch with him. “The one time I met him, he was so drunk I could have probably gotten intoxicated from standing next to him and breathing the same air.”

  Raja smirked and pulled David under his arm, continuing down the corridor, to one of several open doors. “I know. He was a fucking disgrace as a human being, but for the most part, he was good at his job. But then both he and the VP died, and that was that. No one really mourns them.”

  They entered the large room, and David was shocked to see stacks of cardboard boxes filling most of the space and even covering the window at the back. Raja went on, pulling David toward the boxes. “I suppose the guys that didn’t want the patchover just left. The club is so small right now it’s pathetic, and we don’t have much to show for as it is. We need this kind of place and a proper business of our own.”

  “Have you been in the motorcycle club for a long time? I’m guessing it’s a yes if you’re the new club president.” David looked around in the darkness, once again unsure if they should even be here, yet he found it too exciting to back out. The boxes didn’t seem dusty like the other trash he’d seen around the building so far. Had someone left them here on purpose?

  Raja petted one of the boxes and smirked at David.

  “Nine years now. High time I make adjustments to our new, improved club,” said Raja.

  David wasn’t sure what he was looking at. “Did they always know you’re gay? Hunter told me some of the guys in your old club were very homophobic.”

  Raja licked his lips. “They were among the ones who left. But no, I never shared this with them before I was suggested as the new president. Then, I felt they needed to know. They decided to trust me with this, and I’m not gonna disappoint them.”

  “It’s… stressful to come out, isn’t it?” David hooked his finger with Raja’s.

  Raja swallowed hard and nodded as he opened the untaped top of the box with one hand. “It does get better with time.”

  David frowned at a stack of cartons that seemed to contain some kind of medicine. “What is this? What are we doing here?”

  Raja pulled one of the little cardboard packets out of the container. “Cheap medicine from South America.” He pulled back the flaps of another box. “Experimental antiviral medicine. Could be used by HIV-positive patients. There is a lot of good stuff here that so many people don’t have access to.”

  David’s brain refused to compute. “But… what is it doing here?” He grabbed one of the packets, unwilling to acknowledge that he knew exactly what it was doing here. He just didn’t want to say it out loud.

  Raja stretched and crossed his arms on his chest. “You wanted me to be real with you, so I’m gonna go against my better judgment and show this to you. This is all illegal cargo, and my c— I am distributing it. There is obviously gonna be profit, but many of those drugs are not accessible otherwise, whether because of the price of legal medicine, or because the particular drug hasn’t been approved yet,” he said on a single breath.

  As messed up as it was, it hit David like a boulder. Raja wanted to show him he trusted him with information that was incriminating. And this was as real as it got. Raja was baring himself and saying take me or leave me.

  David entangled their fingers and squeezed Raja’s hand. The drugs were illegal, but they were helping people, not hurting them like heroin or the other illegal substances, at least that was what he was telling himself. He wasn’t stupid. He knew it was in Raja’s best interest to present his criminal activity as harmless, or even beneficial, but David loved him enough to just go with it.

  “I will always keep your secrets,” he whispered. There was no turning back now. If Raja was whom David wanted, he would learn to navigate the world Raja lived in.

  Raja exhaled and blinked, squeezing David’s hands. “Okay... wow, that went unexpectedly well,” he muttered, staring into David’s eyes.

  David was a bit breathless from all the anxiety twisting inside of him. “I mean… I’ve never seen anything like this, but I’m not a ‘church boy’ anymore.”

  Raja snorted and dropped the medicines into their respective boxes. “I’m afraid you’d have to show me for me to believe it.”

  David’s mind was throbbing with all the new information, but everything was slowly slotting into place again. He leaned closer to Raja, unable to resist the pull anymore. “I missed your touch…”

  Raja kissed David gently, pulling him against that firm, wide chest, and held him so close that when Raja leaned back, David’s feet left the floor for a moment. “It’s good we have an agreement. Just... you know, this is a secret. No one can know about those boxes. Not Hunter, not even the guys at my club should know I told you about this.”

  David nodded and wrapped his arms around Raja’s neck. As silly as it was, sharing a secret this big, made David feel like they truly belonged to each other now. Like somehow their relationship became more equal through this. “You can trust me. Can I trust you?” He nuzzled Raja’s beard.

  “In what
?” asked Raja, grinning as he pulled David toward the door.

  David swallowed, slightly embarrassed over what he was about to ask for. “That it will be only you and me? I need to know I can depend on you.”

  Raja stopped in the corridor and looked down at David, his face serious. “If that’s what you need.”

  David’s broken heart was slowly growing back together, and he leaned in for another kiss, overwhelmed by the closeness he felt with Raja.

  Raja smirked into the kiss and pulled his fingers along David’s head, only to clutch at the tiny ponytail. “I think I can do that if I have such a pretty twink waiting for my cock,” he said and led David to the next room, which smelled of aftershave and mold.

  David only had eyes for Raja, mesmerized and excited. He was ready to kneel in front of him and give Raja’s cock the attention it needed. “I think about you all the time,” he blurted out.

  Raja’s nostrils flared, and he pulled his teeth over the tip of David’s nose. “That’s how it should be. And now we can do more than think about each other, huh?” he asked and reached out to turn David’s attention back to the room. This one was much smaller than the one next door, but also cozier, with even some old flower-printed wallpaper remaining on one of the walls. There was a mattress in the corner, with a pile of blankets and pillows on top, along with a few containers of nonperishable food and beer. David imagined the wood blocking the only window worked as well as shutters in this impromptu bedroom.

  “Yes, yes, I want that,” he said breathlessly, already reaching under Raja’s tank top, his movements fervent even before his brain could decide that he was in a hurry. He’d never wanted anything as much in his life.

  Raja flicked his tongue over the front of David’s lips and tossed him on the makeshift bed. The mattress dipped under David, and he rolled off the pile of pillows, breathlessly watching Raja approach. He unbuckled his belt never looking away from David. “I’ll show you who else missed you.”

  David bit his lip, and a tiny whimper escaped his lips as he finally uncurled his left hand from around the bouquet and dropped the flowers. “Did he?” It felt like forever since the last time he tasted Raja’s cock, and he couldn’t wait to feel it inside him again.

  “You bet. It’s still missing you,” whispered Raja, falling to his knees in a way that had him straddle David’s chest. He rolled his hips back and forth over David’s torso.

  “Oh, God…” David gasped and ran his hands over Raja’s thighs. They were just as thick as he remembered. “I will cherish it. Suck on it so well.” Heat already engulfed his face, and yet again he realized just how much he’d missed Raja. So big and heavy on top of him, a real man.

  Raja put his large hand on top of David’s head and pressed the front of his hips against David’s ribcage. “You didn’t rebound with anyone, did you?”

  David swallowed, struggling to focus. “N-no. I’m all yours and only yours.”

  Raja’s face relaxed into a bright smile, and he leaned down toward him, opening his mouth already when a sudden metallic clang came from the corridor, tearing through the silence. Raja froze, turning his head toward the open door, listening.

  David went silent as well, no matter how much he wanted to plead for Raja’s cock. It couldn’t be the police, could it?

  Something screeched, but it was the thumping that followed that told David they were most definitely not alone anymore. His heart galloped, and his stomach tightened as he watched Raja put his index finger against his lips. David gave a fervent nod and remained motionless when Raja slowly rolled off the mattress and crouched next to a travel bag.

  Blood drained from David’s face when Raja pulled out a gun and a holster. The steps were getting closer, but at some point diverted from the way that would lead to their bedroom. David heard a soft popping noise from afar, as Raja was taking off his boots. Were they in trouble? What if it was one of the current owners, and he’d call the police to chase away the intruders. Would this constitute burglary? David didn’t want to be arrested!

  In just socks on his feet, Raja rose almost soundlessly while the noises close by became less rhythmical, coming in random moments, as if the person was looking for something. Raja raised the gun in both hands and approached the door in painfully slow steps. David watched him go with a fluttering deep in his chest. He didn’t know what would happen now, and for once, he absolutely hated that feeling.

  Raja looked over his shoulder as he reached the door and mouthed something soundlessly. David didn’t need to hear it to know that he was being asked to stay where he was.

  Chapter 25

  Raja’s temples pulsed, turning his vision into grainy Technicolor as he took careful steps down the corridor. His feet carried him toward the faint white glow coming from the room where they stored all the cargo. The flashlight stayed still, which meant that whoever was in there wouldn’t just rush outside at any moment. He was busy with tossing about the tiny boxes that Raja could hear softly clattering against the wooden floor. The thief was looking for something, but what had Raja on the edge was that the intruder knew exactly what he was searching for. He’d gone straight upstairs and into the right room. Did one of his brothers overshare in some bar after too many drinks?

  Step after step, Raja made sure the floor didn’t creak beneath his feet. He could only hope David took his instructions to heart and wouldn’t decide to follow him in some misguided attempt at courage. Raja frowned at the sound of liquid being poured out of a bottle. Gasoline? Was someone trying to burn their cargo? But the faint smell that came from the room was more like that of a thoroughly cleaned public restroom. Not gasoline then. Bleach?

  By the time Raja reached the door, he wished himself all the best and peeked in, only to be punched in the gut by the sight in front of him. In the light of the large flashlight placed on the windowsill, a man was pouring something all over one of the boxes. Countless packages were already scattered all over the floor, some of them squashed or otherwise broken. But what struck Raja even more was the immediate sense of recognition at the back of his brain, before he could even think of the name.

  He stepped inside and raised his gun, ready to send lead straight into the traitor’s skull. “Blade!”

  Blade twitched and turned around, already reaching for his gun, but stilled with a look of utter panic and surprise on his face. White as a sheet, eyes wide as saucers. He dropped the bottle of whatever he’d been pouring over the pills. Raja could read his train of thought and knew exactly why Blade wasn’t saying anything yet. There was nothing to say. Blade got caught red-handed and would suffer the consequences.

  Raja’s fury poured out of his mouth. “You filthy piece of shit. We all invested in this. This is all we have!”

  Something must have clicked in Blade’s mind, because the stream of lies commenced. “Listen to me, brother. I had good intentions. I want us to make better money with Detroit. This little project is only pushing us off the right path. It will take months until we see any results.”

  “This is not for you to decide,” hissed Raja, wounded by yet another betrayal. It had been a month, and he’d been actually considering reaching out to Blade again. They’d been friends for such a long time that the man deserved another chance despite his petty revenge earlier. Not anymore.

  “We had a vote, and you were on the losing side of that vote. To the ground, hands at the back of your head!”

  Blade groaned, but when Raja raised the gun and steadied his arms to withstand the recoil, Blade followed the order. “You’re making a big mistake. I know that deep down, the other guys will support me on this.”

  Raja squinted. “We’ll see about that when they come over. Pray to not be on the losing side of that vote.”

  *

  “Aye,” said Spin, concluding their unanimous vote.

  All air left Raja’s lungs out of relief. The dirty green tiles of the old restroom at the back of the bar had most likely seen a lot of bodily fluids, but blood? They cer
tainly would tonight.

  “Hold him up,” said Raja, pulling out his trusty knife while Smurf and Pete grabbed Blade by the arms and pulled his unresisting body off the floor. In the light of Blade’s own flashlight, his lips and cheeks looked like slabs of tenderized meat, but Raja didn’t let his gaze linger and went straight for the patches at the front of Blade’s cut. They went off one after another, first from the front, then the back, and each cut thread felt as if Raja were sawing through his own muscle. He and Blade had known each other for years. They’d been friends, so what happened that someone formerly trustworthy changed into a traitor who’d stab in the back not only the club but also a friend? Was it because Raja came out? Was it jealousy over Raja’s new position in the club hierarchy?

  Spin took the patches out of Raja’s hand, silently supporting him with his presence.

  “Isn’t this enough?” Blade rasped. “Didn’t you take enough from me already?”

  Smurf smacked the back of Blade’s head before Pete could stop him. “Take it like a man. You’re lucky we’re letting you off so easily. Backstabbing motherfucker.”

  Pete spat to the floor without a word. None of the support Blade had hoped for was coming. It was over for him, and when the guys pushed him down again, with one hand twisted away from his body so that it would be level with the floor, Blade didn’t even try to fight.

  Raja scooted down next to him and grabbed the pinky and ring fingers of Blade’s hand, stretching them along the floor. “You have a week to leave town. If you’re seen here ever again, you’re dead meat, got it?”

  Blade groaned, but despite his stony expression, his breath was getting quicker. “One day you’ll see how it is to get everything taken from you, and you’ll regret this.”

  Raja looked Blade in the eyes and sawed his knife into Blade’s fingers, pressing down as hard as he could. He couldn’t believe this fucker’s nerve. To threaten him now of all times? Raja was never one for mindless violence, but for once Blade’s scream made him feel a sense of justice.