It feels as though someone just slammed their fist into my gut. Tears threaten to fall and I’m caught off guard. “Dusty’s behind it all?” I question, trying to replay everything in my mind. How she left. When she left. Yet I don’t think any of it looked out of the ordinary. She was around and then she left. That happens a lot of times with clubwhores.
“That’s what it seems like. I won’t know more until church. Can you do me a favor and watch over the bar while I go upstairs?” Fury’s always been kind to me. He’s a real decent guy, and so is his brother, Agony.
“Yeah. I think I can manage.”
“You’re sure, right?” He asks.
“Fury, I can do this. I’ve handled a few parties when clubs came into LA for the rallies. I can handle the ten people in here,” I say.
“Thanks. I won’t be long, and you can keep the tips you earn while you’re down here.” Fury says while he walks around to the front of the bar and heads back toward the doorway that leads into the club. Within a minute he’s gone.
I survey the club and figure within five minutes every brother in a five-mile radius will be here, have passed me and be on their way upstairs. There are only two entry points, in through the bar or going in the back alley to come in through the back door.
“Hey, sweetheart. Can I get a refill down here?” A customer at the end of the bar asks. Immediately I walk down to where he’s sitting and pick up his glass. “Sure thing. What’re you drinking?”
“Budweiser,” He states.
I head over to the draft and fill his beer back up, take it over to him and check in with the couple sitting a few feet away, but they’re alright as well. There are some other customers around the bar sitting in tables and booths, but they know if they need anything to come straight up here.
The door opens and I’m shocked at who I see.
He stops dead in his tracks and blinks for what I assume is a few times before he walks up to me. “Didn’t know you were gonna be here,” My father states coolly.
“Last minute trip.” I explain, keeping our conversation short on purpose.
“Ah. How you likin’ it up in bumfuck nowhere?” He asks. Given the way our last face-to-face interaction went, I’m more than shocked he’s making small talk with me.
“It’s nicer than I thought it would be. The Reapers are good people.” I say. I don’t know why I’m doing this, but I glance over his features and get a really good look at him. Maybe it’s because I don’t know when I’ll see him again and even though we fight hard, we love hard too. He might be a dick, but he’s still my father.
His beard has grown another inch at least since our last meeting, and it appears he got his right sleeve completed. It was merely outlined last time. He has a koi fish and some words written in Chinese on his shoulder cap. His right forearm shifts into a beautifully covered dragon, ready to cast his flames on whomever it is that opposes him.
“Good, I’m glad . . . you’re happy there.” He shifts his glance down and gnaws on his bottom lip. It’s a nervous tick I picked up from him.
“Dad, is everything okay?” I know I don’t have to ask him, but I will ‘cause it’s the right thing to do.
He nods once, “Yeah, just feelin’ sorry for myself, for the way I spoke to you that day. I’m sorry, O’ . . . but I didn’t have a choice. You know we needed this alliance or the club would fall and I ain’t ever been very good at havin’ a family, but I’m damn good at this.”
As much as I don’t want to agree with him. He isn’t wrong. He was never the type of dad to show up to my soccer games, but he was there for the things that were more important in a sense. Like the time Betty Grotto tried to beat me up after school when I was twelve. He showed up with all the clubwhores on the back of bikes, decked out with spikey boots and bats in their hands. Betty ended up transferring to a different school. Even now I can still smile from it.
“I know.” I keep my reply short and sweet, because I do know he didn’t have a choice. I know about the things he tried to keep a secret from me, about the Guatemalan gangs fucking things up for us for the last year. I know about the threats their leader has thrown our way, but I never let anyone in the club know of the knowledge I had. I learned from a young age that as a woman sometimes one of the smartest things we could do is sit back and be quiet, to not show everyone the cards you held in your hand.
“Yeah well, I’d better get in there. Your brother said he had some news.” He mutters.
“News? What kind of news? Fury only said they were having church.” I have no problem playing the part of the dumb woman.
“Not sure yet. I’ll come talk to ya after.”
“Sounds good.” I reply, just as a customer starts to call me over. They give me the perfect opportunity to get away from my father and refill their drink. By the time I’m done, no one else has come through the front door and I think I’m in the clear.
I rap my knuckles against the bar, making sure everyone in here has their attention on me. “Listen up, folks. I have an errand to run so anything you need is on the house, courtesy of the Raiders MC. You don’t have to do anything except tell your friends what a great time you had here at The Clubhouse today.” I state, pulling Fury’s keys to his bike from the cubby he always keeps them in back here. Once they’re in my hand I walk around the end of the bar and head straight for the front door, exit the building, and approach his flaming red Harley Davidson.
Before I know it, I’ve started up this mean beast and I’m long gone. I’m sure they’ve figured out what I’m doing by now but there’s no way my brother or the guys know where Dusty’s been holing up.
After the talk with Inc I was scrolling around on my phone. Dusty follows me on Instagram and I peeked at her profile. She has a house in Compton, it’s one she’s had for quite a while. I think it was her mother’s place, but I’m not too sure. All I know is it should only take me about twenty minutes, depending on our horrific traffic.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible and when I leave, you will finally understand why storms are named after people.
~ PhuckYouQuote
Zane
My ears can’t be deceiving me right now. I’m standin’ on the sidelines of this room, starin’ at every motherfucker part of the Raiders MC, plus one. Ice is even here, sitting next to his son. Breaker is mid-way through his sentence when I interject.
“Please tell me you sent one of your boys out for somethin’,” I grumble with my arms crossed, waitin’ to hear the answer I know is gonna come outta his mouth.
Breaker shuts his mouth and looks right at me. “No. Everyone’s here.”
I teeter a couple ideas in my mind about what that bike skiddin’ off could’ve been . . . but I’m not an idiot. “Did anyone say shit to Octavia about this?” I question, lookin’ to everyone in the room.
Ice clears his throat, “She didn’t say nothin’ to me outta the ordinary. Told her we were havin’ church and she asked what the news was. I lied to her and told her I didn’t know.”
“Oh, fuck.” One of the identical twins says from the other end of the table. I can’t figure out which one it is, Fury or Agony.
“What?” The other brother asks.
“I let Dusty’s name slip. Fuck, I screwed up.”
“Dammit, Fury!” Breaker roars, slammin’ his hand down on the table.
“Anyone know where Dusty is, have her on social media or anythin’ like that?” I question, hopin’ one of these guys can tell me something useful. It’s a wonder how this club even got this far. One thing I’ve learned about women is they’ll do anythin’ to protect their family. Especially Reapers women. Hell, between Camila, Kat, and Ashley . . . all I can do is roll my eyes at their antics.
“I’m still in shock Dusty was behind this,” Ice says. I wanted to knock him the fuck out the first day I met him, but now I really wanna land his ass against the pavement.
“Why would she do thi
s?” Inc speaks up from where he’s sitting.
Ice sucks in a breath and we all watch as his chest rises. “Shit, I never wanted to let anyone know this. Dusty got pregnant. Long story short, we went to that appointment where we find out the gender. Everythin’ was fine, the baby’s heart was beatin’ perfectly and then it just stopped. The ultrasound lady couldn’t find a heartbeat. We were sent off to the hospital and a doctor told us the baby died.”
Jesus fuckin’ Christ this is all makin’ more sense now. This was an eye for an eye taken overboard. “What was the baby?” I ask, makin’ sure he can hear me.
“I’m sorry?” Ice replies, drawing his brows together.
“What gender was the baby, Ice?”
His face immediately falters, “A girl.”
“Please tell me one of you has found somethin’ on that old crazy bitch by now,” Breaker seethes, fists balled on his table.
“Where would she have gone after she left?” Inc asks Ice.
“I dunno. She wasn’t someone who had too many people in her life. Her ma had this shitty little place up in Compton, though.”
“I just found her on Instagram. This looks like Compton, doesn’t it?” Chains asks, showin’ us a picture of a woman in front of a house.
Ice nods, “Yeah, that’s her ma’s place.”
“Alright, Fury, go make sure she isn’t still downstairs at the bar. If she’s not, you hold the fort while we head out.” Breaker commands, risin’ from the table. We all follow his lead and head out to the back alley.
Motherfucker, I’m realizin’ I don’t have a bike here. “You need a ride?” Ice asks. I give him a nod and before I know it he’s tossin’ a set of keys my way. “Go in the garage, I got an old Harley in there. It runs, but it ain’t anythin’ special.”
Ice points me in the direction of the garage and I see a bike that appears to be something custom built. It’s a real beauty in a combination of army green colors. I don’t have time to admire this shit, so I kick up the stand, slide the key in and start the engine. I meet up with Breaker and his guys where they park their bikes on the side of the buildin’.
“Listen up, this is our priority—” Breaker pauses for a moment while he meets eye contact with me. “We keep my sister safe. None of this matters without her. Dusty is a dead woman regardless, but we make sure Octavia is okay first and foremost.”
Breaker is the first one to leave the alleyway and fly down the road, but we all follow suit. I just hope his big ol’ speech wasn’t for show.
It takes about half an hour before we’re in the general vicinity of Dusty’s place. Breaker ended up tellin’ us as we entered the neighborhood to park on the side and cut our engines. He wanted to maintain the element of surprise and I can’t argue with wanting to keep everyone as safe as possible.
“Isn’t that Fury’s bike?” Agony questions, standin’ at the back of the group.
Inc turns to him and looks off to where he’s talkin’ about. “Yup. She must be close. How far away are we, Ice?”
“Maybe a block but be careful. The fuckers around here don’t have any problem puttin’ a piece of lead between your eyes.”
Groups of men are sittin’ out on porches as we walk down the block. It makes me really pissed I flew, ‘cause if we’d rode down here, I would at least have a gun on me. “That looks like the house in the photo.” Chains says,
Ice starts to walk across the street and we follow suit. “Hey, you friends of Dusty?” A man’s voice asks us from behind. The group of us turn almost at the same time and we’re faced with a group of gangsters.
“Depends who’s askin’,” Breaker comments, “You friends of Dusty?”
The man keeps his intimidating poker face up before he laughs, “Hell nah, bitch owes me cash. Now I know you leather bitches aren’t friends, I take it she’s done some shit to you.”
Ice grumbles walks in front of his son and goes chest to chest with this dude. “She killed my fuckin’ daughters, so unless you’re gonna help us out and keep an eye out for the bitch tryin’ to run, I suggest you let us be on our way.”
“Fuck, man. I don’t normally take shit from little pussies like yourself, but I got three lil’ girls myself. Name’s Jab and this is my crew. We gotchu man, now go do what you gotta do. We gonna split up, right brothers?” Jab looks back to his crew who’re already walkin’ in different directions around the house.
“Thank you, Jab.” Ice extends a hand to Jab and they shake.
“Us fathers gotta stick together. You know what I mean?” Jab states, walkin’ alongside us as we venture across the street.
“How we doin’ this, sneakin’ up on her, or chargin’ in?” I ask Breaker.
“Fuck no. We’re going in to get O’, then we’ll deal with Dusty.” He answers immediately.
Ice puts out an order for the rest of the guys to split up and enter the house in other directions. Essentially, we’re comin’ at them from all sides. We go in through the front when the crashing sound of glass breaking makes me charge right in.
I see Octavia hovering over this chick, with a piece of glass in her hand. Blood’s oozing down her forearm, meanin’ she cut herself tryin’ to break the vase that lays on the floor beside her. “Tell me why I shouldn’t do it. Give me one good fuckin’ reason why I shouldn’t do this.”
“‘Cause she shouldn’t go out the easy way, Cinnamon.” I state, causin’ her to look back for a second. She didn’t even know we were here. I believe she’s thinkin’ about what I said when I watch in slow motion as this woman grabs a big chunk of the vase and slams it against Octavia’s head. She’s knocked down to the floor and Dusty rises about to do somethin’ else to Octavia.
As quick as lightning Ice pulls out his pistol and before any of us realize what he’s done, Dusty’s body drops to the floor. Her white shirt is turning crimson red. “No one else is gonna take more of my kids from me,” Ice growls out lookin’ at her.
I head over to Octavia who honestly seems to be just fine. She’s got a small cut on her cheek and a nasty one on her hand, but nothin’ else. Kneelin’ down, I pull her up to my chest. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just pissed.” She growls, glarin’ at Dusty.
Diabolical laughter fills the air and everyone looks to Dusty. “Y-you said you wouldn’t ever hurt my h-heart again. How i-ironic,” She begins to choke on her blood mid-way through her words until the life fades from her eyes and she leaves this world.
“Well, at least this is all over now.” I say to the room.
Jab makes his way past her body and turns back to us, “Don’t gimme that look. Bitch owes me three grand. Imma go search for whatever penny I can find up in here.”
“Really? Aren’t you worried about the cops?” Breaker asks.
“Hell nah. I control the streets in Compton. Cops don’t even bother coming out here no more. They’re too scared one of my boys will see ‘em and blow up their spot. You know what I mean?”
“Yeah. I’m Breaker, Prez of the Raiders. We appreciate your support today, Jab. I’ll be blunt. We’re always lookin’ for more friends. We run downtown LA.”
“Oh fuck!” Jab claps his hands together, “You’re them bikers those Guatemalan fuckers have a problem with, yeah?”
“That would be them.” Octavia replies in a snide manner.
“How the fuck do you know that?” Breaker quips.
“What’s your name ‘lil lady? Your pops was real concerned about this crazy bitch hurtin’ you.” Jab’s now speakin’ directly to Octavia.
“I’m Octavia, this jackass’ sister.”
Jab chuckles, “A spitfire. Gotta love it. You single or anythin’ sugar bear? ‘Cause damn girl . . . you look sweet.”
I clear my throat and help her rise to her feet. “She’s mine.”
“What’s your group?” Ice asks, gettin’ back to political shit, totally overstepping his son. I hold back my chuckle, but damn I wanna laugh.
“You haven’t heard of
us? Shit, we’re the Brotherhood, man!”
Now I can’t help but laugh. Jab glares from across the room, “Your pretty boy lookin’ fucker got a problem with that?”
“No, not in the least bit. Back where I’m from, we had friends called the Brotherhood. They ended up joinin’ our club, mergin’ together as one . . . so you see, this is some guardian angel shit over us today.” I’d put my money on it that my dad and Cracker were watchin’ over us today. While I’m grateful for the help he gave us, I’m still pissed for not having the answers I want.
More than anything, I’m grateful my Cinnamon is alright. I don’t know what I would’ve done if she wasn’t.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
You are free to choose, but you are not free from the consequences of your choice
~ Quotes and Sayings
Inc
“Where you off to?” Sarge, one of our fully patched members asks. I roll my eyes, sucking in a deep breath after pacin’ in my room the last hour debatin’ on whether or not I should be doing this.
“None of your god damned business. I’ll be back by the mornin’. Don’t bug me either,” I snarl, headin’ for the back door. With every step I take, I feel the chaos striking through me. Heat rises in my chest and shoots through every limb.
Every part of me wants to ride straight up to that fuckin’ hotel and tell this fucker Octavia has always been mine and it’ll never change, ‘cause I was the first man to own that heart, take her virginity and everything else. She and I have a connection that won’t fade until the day we die, if it even leaves us then. But I can’t. I can’t fuckin’ do that ‘cause the fucker who took O’ from me is the same one who gives our club the name drop we need. Breaker had to spell it out for me, tell me how the Reapers name gives us a level up, immunity, and safety.
Walkin’ around the corner of the buildin’ I head straight for my bike and sit on the seat. I stare for a good minute, debating if I’m really going to do this or not.
Mayhem: A Reapers MC Boxset Page 28