by K E Osborn
My hand flies to my mouth as I let out a gasp. “Oh God, what does that mean?”
Nycto puffs out a smoke ring and places his cigarette in the ashtray. “Means the kid’s got a pretty shitty case of concussion. Might knock him about for a week or two.”
“But he’ll be okay, right?”
“Don’t worry, he’ll still be the same smart-mouthed little shithead he always is.”
My lips pull up in the corner, and I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. “He understands why I’m not there with him, right?”
Nycto sits forward, his hands coming together to form a fist on the table in front of him. “Shadow, Dash cares about your kid more than you realize. If you went to be with him and didn’t stay here to help the kid off to sleep, he would have been angry as shit at you. He knows, and he would have done the exact same thing.”
I pull my lips in together to stop them from trembling. I needed to hear that so much more than I even comprehended. “Thank you.” I sniffle, clearing my throat to stop the emotion from seeping through.
“Actually, speaking of the kid, you’ve just reminded me of something.” He stands, sending a whistle through the room, gaining everyone’s attention.
“Now, listen up.” Everyone turns to look at the club president, focusing in on him. “The events that led to Cruz’s kidnapping were a fucking disgrace. We should have done better. This club knows how to do better. We failed not only Shadow but that little kid, and now we all have to deal with the consequences of that. Not only that, but this fucking disaster can’t go unpunished. West,” he calls out to the prospect, who takes a step forward, bobbing his chin in acknowledgment. “You were manning the gate, you left it open when Scorn rode in. I know you’re new to all this shit, but gate duties are strict for a fucking reason.”
West drops his chin to his chest. “Sorry, Prez.”
“Sorry doesn’t cut it, West. As punishment, I’m adding another six months to your prospecting detail, and as of right now, you’re the official gatekeeper of the club. The only way for you to learn how to do the job properly is to be the only asshole doing it.”
West rubs the back of his neck like he’s uncomfortable at what he’s hearing while Nycto glares at him. “Do you understand me, prospect?”
“Yes, Prez!” West’s voice is weak.
“Now get to your station!” Nycto raises his voice as we all watch West turn and exit the clubhouse.
“Now for the other punishment that needs dishing out. Trixie…. you’re the biggest disappointment of them all.”
Trixie’s eyes well as she glances at me, then back to Nycto. “I know I fucked up. I left Cruz outside just for a moment—”
“A moment is all it took, Trix. You dropped the fucking ball. You’re supposed to be the responsible one, the head club girl. If you can’t focus and do the job to the best of your ability, then I have no choice but to demote you.” His head flicks around until he finds who he’s searching for. “Stacey, you’re the new head club girl, Trixie will have to earn her way back.”
Trixie’s eyes overflow with tears. Turning, she runs out of the main room letting out a loud sob as she goes.
No one says anything.
“Do we all understand what’s just been said?”
“Yes, Prez,” everyone calls back.
“Good, I don’t need anyone else fucking shit up around here. Now, go back to whatever the fuck it was you were doing!” He slumps back in his seat, taking another drag of his cigarette.
Letting out a heavy exhale, I take a step closer to Nycto. I’m not sure if I should even be talking to him now after his beating down of his club members, but I just have to know.
Hesitating, I tap my foot anxiously. “Nycto, can I ask… where’s Tyler?”
Nycto glances over at Toxin, tilting his head at her. “I think you may want to talk to Toxin… she has something in mind for him.” A slow grin crosses his face.
“Okay, thanks. And I know through some missteps Cruz was taken, but honestly, without your club, I couldn’t have protected Cruz from Tyler, not on my own. I don’t know how to repay you.”
He takes in a long drag of his cigarette, sitting back in his chair, kicking his feet up on the table looking completely relaxed, even with his outburst from seconds ago. “You can thank me by making Justice happy. Fucker deserves something to go right in his life for a change.”
Warmth floods me, filling me like rays of sunshine. The idea of making Dash happy only makes me feel good. Because making him happy will only make Cruz and I happy too. “I’ll do my best.”
“That’s all I ask.”
I dip my chin, then spin, heading toward Toxin.
Our relationship so far has been tumultuous at best.
I have no idea how this is going to go, so all I can do is put one foot in front of the other.
Chapter Twenty-Four
SHADOW
Toxin spots me, cracking her neck to the side imposingly as I approach. “Shadow.”
“Toxin.”
“How’s Cruz doing?” she asks, picking up her drink. Whatever it is, it looks like hard liquor.
“Finally asleep. He doesn’t know what today was about, just that there were bad men, and he didn’t like it. Hopefully, it doesn’t scar him too much.”
“Kids are resilient, and yours is a great little guy. He has an amazing support system around him. He’ll be fine.”
“I sure hope so.”
She throws back her drink, then slams the glass on the bar. “I’m guessing you want to know where Tyler is?”
“I just want to make sure he can’t break out and get to Cruz again.”
She swipes the back of her mouth with her arm, then stands. “Come with me.”
Toxin takes off toward the stairs.
My eyes widen. I’ve always wondered what she does down here, but I have never been game enough to venture into its depths. She takes the stairs with ease as I hesitate, but then taking a deep breath, I step one foot after the other and follow her.
The room is a hell of a lot bigger than I was anticipating. It stretches almost the entire length of the clubhouse and is broken into three sections. The main area, a room at the back that looks like a hotel suite, and then what looks like a drug lab to the right of the suite. As I take this all in, I let out a small laugh, more in shock than anything. “This was not what I expected down here.”
“For there to be a brick cell like a mini hotel room down here and a drug lab in the same place we torture people?”
My eyes widen. “Torture people?” My voice comes out more like a squeak.
“Shadow, if you wanna be a part of this club, you’re gonna have to get used to the shit we do around here. The shit Dash sometimes has to do too.”
Nerves roll through my body, and it unsettles me. “Is that why you brought me down here? To tell me how bad the club can be?”
“No, I brought you down here to show you how bad the club can be.”
My eyes widen as I take a step back from her.
She lets out a scoff. “Oh, relax, you should see yourself right now. I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to show you what we do to those who wrong the club.” She waves her hand through the air gesturing for me to follow her.
Toxin makes her way down to the end of the room toward the lab. Every part of me screams not to follow but not enough to stop me. As I approach, a muffled moaning invades my ears as she steps in front of what looks like a newly built brick wall, but there’s a section missing near the top, which I find odd. She points to it, a menacing smile lighting her face. “Well… have a look inside.”
A chill flows through my body, but for some reason, I step forward—the sight inside the wall almost knocks me off my feet. Tyler is strapped to the back of the bricks, barbed wire wrapped all around him holding him in place as he zones in and out of consciousness. My head shoots to Toxin as a small shiver of excitement runs through me seeing him captive and in pain like this.
<
br /> What the hell does that make me?
“You bricked him up behind a wall. He’s trapped in there, with just enough room for his face to peer out?”
Toxin folds her arms over her chest. “Yep!” She does a little pop on the ‘p’ sounding proud as punch.
“And the barbed wire?”
“Also, my idea.”
I let out a small laugh. “You’re kinda crazy.”
She throws her chestnut hair over her shoulder. “Thank you.”
“But… seeing him like this… bound and helpless—” I stop my line of talking for fear of what I might say next.
She reaches out placing her hand on my shoulder. “You like it?”
My eyes meet hers and I simply nod once.
She lets out a long exhale. “It doesn’t make you a bad person, Shadow. That makes you human. This cabrón
It’s like she’s flipped something inside me.
She’s right.
I know she is.
Tyler has had me on the run for four years thinking he had the upper hand.
Well, not anymore.
“Can you wake him up?”
Toxin chuckles. “Oh yeah!”
Walking over to the lab, she brings back a black object. Not being able to get a good look at what it is, I have no idea what she has as she reaches inside the small opening and presses it to his neck. Suddenly, the dark is lit up, and I realize what she’s doing.
Sending a mass of voltage into Tyler’s neck, he vibrates causing all the barbed wire to cut into his flesh making him bleed as he convulses. She lets go. He pants, breathing heavily, then his eyes meet mine. “You’re a fucking dog, Nova. I’ll gut you for this!”
“You think you can come at me with threats when you’re so clearly contained?”
“You don’t have it in you to take out revenge. You were always so meek and mild. Why do you think I chose you to create my child?”
My entire body flames in undeniable anger as I surge forward. “He is my child, not yours. He may have your DNA, but in no way does he belong to you!”
“Without me, you wouldn’t even have him, you ungrateful bitch.”
“That child is the most amazing miracle to come out of all this. How we could have created something so perfect is a miracle. He certainly didn’t get anything from you because he is nothing like you, Tyler.”
He stifles a laugh. “You think you won this, Nova, just because you have me hostage? My men will come get me.”
“Your men are all dead. Our men took care of them back at the warehouse,” Toxin chimes sweetly.
Tyler’s expression falls as he looks at Toxin for confirmation. “Every. Single. One of them. D… E… A… D.”
He hesitates like he’s running through a thousand scenarios in his mind. Then, like a light switch has been flipped, his face softens. “Nova, honey. The Order had control of me. Now that I’m free of them, how can I make this right with us?”
I snort out a laugh, but Toxin tilts her head. “I know a way.”
I glare, but she narrows her eyes on me as if to say follow my lead. So I shut up and let her speak.
“Tell me. Anything,” Tyler begs.
“Tell us how you found Shadow and Cruz. How you found the club?” she asks.
Good question!
A giant grin overtakes his face. “Your club tech… Voltage, his name is, right? He was able to hack into our servers, into our systems, and he thought his line was untraceable. Bouncing IP addresses here and there, using all sorts of tools to evade us. He thought he was good. And he is, but the Order, we’re fucking better.” That didn’t take long for his façade to flip.
“So, you knew where the hack came from?” Toxin asks.
“We knew. And we hacked back to see who the fuck was interested in us. We hacked your surveillance cameras, and you’ll never guess who we saw in the footage.”
“So, you waited for the perfect time to snatch Cruz,” Toxin states.
“Exactly. That brother from another chapter rode in and then the prospect, West, left the gate open and the girl looking after Cruz disappeared as well. Man, bad move on their behalf, don’t you think?”
“Don’t shift the blame to other people here, Tyler. You took Cruz. You planned all this. You’re the one who is at fault here. You’re the reason I’ve been running for four years and for what? Some fucking ritual that’s so fucking crazy… I can’t… I just can’t.”
“You don’t understand because you were a puppet, a pawn, simply an egg donor for the child who was meant to bring me my ticket to the big leagues. You’re the reason this is all happening, you’re the reason Cruz is in this mess, not me. You’re the one putting him in danger. You think I’m the bad parent, you’re the one who gave birth to him. Who’s the mother of the year now?”
My skin flushes red hot as my hands clench into fists so tight my nails dig into my skin. Anger fuels me as I step right up in front of him, staring into his eyes. “You saying this is my fault?”
“You’re a bad mother, Nova. And the kid is about as useless and worthless as you are.”
All I see is red.
Come at me, but don’t you dare trash talk my son.
“Cruz is worth so much fucking more than you ever were. Oh, and my name isn’t Nova, it’s Shadow. You think blood is so fucking important, let me take the one thing that is most important to you, see how you like that.”
His eyes open wide as I reach down onto Toxin’s belt grabbing her knife. She doesn’t try to stop me as I slam the blade straight into Tyler’s neck, hitting his jugular vein. Blood instantly spurts out into the wall cavity with every beat of his frantic heart. He gasps for breath. I take a step back, my hands shaking as I drop the bloody knife, looking at the mess I’ve made in front of me.
I just stabbed Tyler.
He’s bleeding out at a rapid rate.
He’s going to die.
“Oh God,” I murmur as Toxin wraps her arm around me. I turn my head away, but Toxin shifts me back.
“Shadow, you need to watch this. See him take his final breath. You need to know he is gone, or you will always wonder.”
My body visibly shakes, my stomach rolling in unease as his face pales, his eyes bulging out of his face as he gasps frantically for breath. Blood squirts out everywhere as his eyes meet mine, and I see the glassiness in them, the way they’re fogging over. All he wanted was blood, now it’s all draining from him—a fitting end for an asshole.
He gasps one final time, then his eyes flutter closed, and his chin falls to his chest.
The blood stops squirting from his neck.
His heart stops beating.
I let out a loud sob as I fall into the arms of Toxin. “Oh, fuck! I killed him.”
She wraps her arms around me, tightly. Soothing me as I hold her back. “It had to be done.”
I want to be sick.
As I turn back to look at him, somehow, someway, seeing him wrapped up in barbed wire, trapped in a brick casket, blood everywhere soothes my emotional state. My tears dry up, and I take a deep centering breath. Standing taller, I step closer to examine his corpse. I don’t know why, but just staring at him brings me some kind of peace.
Maybe closure.
Maybe a sense of freedom.
I turn back to Toxin, and she weakly smiles at me. “You doing okay in there?” she asks, tapping my head.
“I actually think I am. I don’t know how to explain it. I mean, my hands are still shaking, I have blood all over me, and yet…”
“You feel free.”
My watery eyes meet hers, and I exhale. “Exactly. But what does this mean? Do I go to jail now?”
Toxin laughs. “God, no honey. Tyler will stay behind that wall until we’re ready to get rid of his body. I’ll brick it up, completely covering him.”
Widening my eyes, I sniff the air. “Wait, is that why it smells
so funky down here?”
Toxin shrugs in confirmation as I glance around, seeing all the other brick alcoves just like the one Tyler is set up in, and I gasp. “Holy shit! This is a graveyard down here.”
“I like to call it… home.”
“Dash is right, you really are a little crazy.”
She gestures to the room that looks like a hotel suite. “C’mon, I’ll pour you a drink.” For the first time, I don’t feel anything but a friendship finally being forged between Toxin and me as she walks us over, and we take a seat on the small sofa.
She pulls up the beverage cart and pours us each a shot of vodka. “I think we need this.”
Taking the glass, it slips a little in my hand with the blood on my fingers, and I grimace but swallow the stiff drink down in one shot.
Toxin chuckles. “Want another?”
I hand her the glass. “Just to take the edge off, please.”
She pours the vodka, even though the glass is shaking. I throw it back with ease, then place the empty glass on the floor at my feet. She brings over some wet wipes for me to clean my hands, and I start scrubbing the blood away.
“Do you think Dash will see me differently now?” I ask.
She narrows her eyes on me. “Because you offed, Tyler?”
“When you say it like that, it sounds so final.”
She lets out a small laugh. “Shadow, he’s dead. It doesn’t get more final than that.”
“No, I know. I just, I mean… Dash likes me because I’m different. I’m not—”
“Shadow, Dash likes you because you’re a badass. That’s what he calls you, right?”
“True.”
“What’s more badass than getting revenge on the man who tried to kill your child? He’s going to be proud of you. Trust me. He won’t think any less of you if that’s what you’re wondering.”
“I really hope not. I just… I care about him so much. I wouldn’t want this to make him look at me differently.”
“It will, it will make him look at you differently…” I widen my eyes as I sit up taller, “… but in a good way! He will see you’re willing to fight for those you care about. To do what needs to be done. That you are club material, Shadow. If you can do this, if you can be down here for this long and have a conversation with me in the Bricking Room, knowing what goes on down here, then you’re ready. You’re ready for the club. You’re ready to accept him and everything he is and stands for.”