Machete brings out his favorite form of torture, his machete, which is how he earned his road name in the first place. He walks up toward Jason and swipes the side of it up his inner thigh until it rests on his pathetic excuse for a dick. “The stench of your urine is offending me,” he says, as he brings it up and slices down, removing the appendage from Jason’s body.
Blood squirts in several different directions, and I watch with a grin on my face knowing life is leaving his body. “Here, let me cauterize that for you,” Blaze says as he fires up the torch. I see Reaper over messing with the levers to get the right amount of oxygen into the tank. Jason screams before they get near him.
“What’s that?” I cup my ear with my hand. “Can’t hear you. Why so distressed? You were the toughest son of a bitch earlier. Not feeling so tough now?” I feign sympathy. “All the guys are doing is trying to help you out there, so you don’t bleed to death. No, you won’t feel the freedom death will bring you until I say so.” The second they come near him he passes out. “Well, what’s the fun in that?” I state, and the men begin laughing.
“What a pussy,” Kong announces. Shifting his head back and forth, he examines a now dickless Jason. “Suppose he does look more feminine now. A pussy for a pussy, eh? What about you, Stewie boy, think you can handle a little stick and tickle?”
Stewart begins wiggling his body which causes him to sway back and forth on the chains. “Nuh-uh-uh,” Cobra waves his finger side to side as he speaks to him. “There’s nowhere for you to go, you’re chained up at the moment,” he jokes around, causing Stewart’s body to go taut. He’s as still as a statue as his eyes scan the room landing on each one of us. “No one’s gonna save you,” Cobra sing-songs.
“Did you really think Lorenzo would stick his neck out for you? If he gave one fuck about the two of you, he would’ve never picked you idiots in the first place,” Knuckles informs him.
“True dat,” Malice agrees.
“The ancestors would be honored for a sacrifice,” Bowie states. “I would like it if you’d allow me to take their scalps.”
“This I’ve gotta see,” Machete gets ecstatic. “Please Pres, please let him do it,” he begins bouncing on the balls of his feet like an excited child on Christmas morning.
“Sure, I’ve always wanted to see a good scalping.” I pull out my pack and light up. I blow smoke right in Stewart’s face. “What’cha think?” I ask him, “are you curious to see what it looks like when your scalp’s removed?”
“What do you say we have a little show and tell? Jason could go first so Stewie boy here has the opportunity to see what he’s in for,” Blaze questions Bowie.
Instead of answering, Bowie walks over and takes his knife from its sheath. He grabs a hold of the top of Jason’s head and pulls it back tightly. You can see his forehead stretched as he places his knife at the top of his forehead where his hairline begins.
“Get me a front row seat for this,” Knuckles says, walking slowly over toward the chair. Reaper gets it for him and moves it so he has a better view. We all stand around him, some of us smoking and some walking up closer to Bowie.
When Bowie begins slicing, the blood drips down Jason’s face and over his eyes which immediately pop open. He starts withering and writhing and Bowie has a hard time holding him still. “Reaper, go hold the fucker still,” I command which he nods in my direction before walking to Jason’s side, grabbing a hold of him.
“Go ahead,” Reaper says to Bowie who nods and continues slicing. It’s messy and he has to saw back and forth to get the scalp to move from the head. Jason screams out and tries kicking his feet back and forth. Reaper having had enough, stabs him in the side with his hunting knife. He then again passes out from either blood loss or pain. I’m just glad I’m not having to listen to whining. Bowie begins chanting as he finally reaches the back of Jason’s head.
When he finally gets it removed, he starts dancing around Jason’s motionless body and steadily chants. I’m not sure what he’s saying, but whatever it is has amped up the brothers. There is a sense of pride exuding from him as he harmonizes in his native tongue. I didn’t realize it would take so long to scalp someone, but it isn’t as easy as the movies make it out to be.
When he’s done, we arouse Jason by slapping his face. When he comes to, we each have our own round of taunting him, punching him and either stabbing him or torching him. When Blaze and Reaper play with the torch and begin melting his skin, the smell alone nearly makes me puke. But I hold my stomach contents not wanting to look weak in front of my men. The smell of his burnt flesh is especially repugnant.
* * *
Two hours later, and two dead prospects lay at our feet. We each take a turn standing under the shower head in the middle of the room to clean the blood from our clothes. Bowie left with Cobra and Dawg taking the bodies with him to complete his sacrifice. We’ve already bleached down the room and I’m ready to end this night.
“I’m out,” I announce once I’m clean enough to leave the room. My clothes are soaking wet, along with my boots and cut, but I know that I need another shower when I get back to the room and dispose of my clothes. Miracle will get my cut cleaned with whatever it is she uses to remove the blood stains and trace.
I leave the ice house with my clothes sticking to my body. But that doesn’t stop the smile that’s plastered on my face. Two down, an organization to go. I whistle as I head back ready to crawl into bed and hold my Miracle.
Once I’m nice and clean, I bag up my clothes in the trash bag we keep under the sink, where I then store them until the next morning. I walk into the room, go over and kiss my kids’ foreheads and then place my hands upon their chests feeling them move up and down as their hearts steadily beat.
I lift the sheet from my bed and crawl beneath them. As I lay on my back, I roll Miracle on top of me where she snuggles in. She cracks her eye open and asks, “Is it done?”
“Yeah, baby. They’ll never hurt anyone again,” I say, hoping to ease her mind.
“Good. May they rot in hell,” she buries her head in my neck.
“They’ll burn for eternity,” I promise her.
“Do you think our kids will continue to be a target?”
“I can’t answer that with clarity. I’m just not sure, I never thought they’d touch our kids in the first place. I can’t make any promises Miracle.”
“I’ll kill them myself if they ever lay a finger on one of my babies again,” she vows.
“I’ll supply the gun and hold them while you do your damage.” I squeeze her close to me and hear her breathing begin to even out. Swear to God, I’ll never allow this shit to touch my family again. I’ll die before it ever happens. Lorenzo doesn’t know what can of worms he’s opened, but he will once I bury him beneath the ground with them. They can spend eternity together—himself, the worms, Jason and Stewart.
“Goodnight, Jasper,” she says, surprising me because I thought she’d already fallen asleep.
I pull her closer and respond, “Goodnight, my Miracle.”
An hour later, I finally succumb to sleep and dream of a future of love, loyalty, honor and respect. I see our club thriving and growing stronger in numbers. It’s a dream I hope I live long enough to come to fruition.
Epilogue
Kobe
We’ve been at war with Lorenzo for the last fifteen years. We’ve lost lives, they’ve lost lives. The hardest one to overcome was when Knuckles was captured, tortured and murdered. They dropped his body off in the dead of the night while we all slept.
Our prospect at the time, Gavin, was manning the gate. When he pulled his piece, they fired automatic weapons out the side of the door and he died that night as well. Those gunshots are what woke us all up. I’ll never forget the devastation that my father and Libby suffered not only on that day, but each day since.
Libby left the club six months after his murder. It was too hard for her to stay where all of her memories with her old man were at. She’s kep
t in touch with Dad, but we haven’t seen them since the day they pulled out.
Sasha and Shelby started contacting Milly when they were sixteen. They’ve become close throughout the years. Not a day goes by that they don’t talk on the phone, facetime each other or text one another. Now that they’re older, they want to come back to the club. We’ve opened our arms and an invitation to them any time they choose to reunite with us.
Today’s a big day for me. I’m being passed the President patch. My father has decided to step down and pass the reins to me. Things aren’t the same for him after losing brothers and allies. The events have taken a toll on him and his health has started to decline.
Mom and he had a long talk, and decided that he’ll stay in the club, but that he needed to take care of himself before he wasn’t around to help me find my way. He’s not only my father, but he’s my best friend. I confide everything in him and can’t imagine a world without him guiding me through life.
Milly is in college two states away. She’s going to school so that she can counsel those who’ve been sold and survived human trafficking. She wants to help victims rebuild their lives. She had nightmares for years until Mom finally put her foot down and demanded she get therapy.
Her therapist is who turned her life around and changed it for the better. She’s the reason Milly is confident enough to take this road. The therapist also helped a lot of my family members move on from their grief.
We’ve lost so many. Prospects—new and old, Knuckles, Kong, Malice and Bella. Bowie’s old lady, Bella, happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and paid with her life. We hadn’t been informed by our informant that Lorenzo was making a move on us that day. She’d been out with Malice helping him pick out a nineteen-year wedding anniversary gift for his old lady, Sissy. They were gunned down in the streets walking out of the store.
I didn’t think Bowie would ever recover from that loss. Ten years later, he met and then later married Kylie. She’s an amazing stepmother to Garrett, Grayson and Gaston. They love her to pieces and call her Stêponas, which somehow relates to the word stepmother in their father’s native tongue.
Sissy and Sunny stayed in their homes on the club’s compound. They wanted their children raised and protected by the club. I’m grateful for that because Branson, Sunny and Kong’s son, is to become my VP. He’s also holding out for Milly. They’ve been together for years, he loves her unconditionally and has been faithful to her while she’s been away. I couldn’t ask for a better future brother-in-law than him. I know he’ll treat her right and always have her back through any situation.
Most of us are staying within the club for relationships. We’ve grown up together and trust each other. We’ve been through thick and thin. We made vows after the loss of our loved ones that we’d stay together. We may not have started off in love, but we respect each other and as the years have dragged on, love has grown between those who’ve chosen each other. We also realize and know that we’re safe as long as we stick with one another. Don’t get me wrong, it’s no sacrifice on any of us. We want to keep the club strong and in order to do that, we need to keep those we trust close.
We’ve learned valuable lessons from our fathers. After tonight, once Branson and I are patched into our officer roles, I’m committing to Amberly. She will become my old lady. I will be faithful and respectful to her. She deserves monogamy as she ties her life to mine.
I’m aware the MC life isn’t glamorous or a life anyone would purposely choose for their women and children, but it’s what we’ve known and what we love. The club is, and will always, come first. That doesn't mean I have to sacrifice my relationship outside of that though.
Amberly and I have been together for two years. We care deeply for one another, and I hope love comes in the years to come. She has been my rock and my biggest supporter.
We have leapt over the crossroad and now we need to maintain it and keep owning it. My life hasn’t been full of sunshine and roses, but I wouldn’t trade it for all the treasure and gold in the world.
This was my father and mother’s story, mine has yet to be determined. But the cards have been laid on the table and I can’t wait to see the hand I deal Lorenzo and his thugs.
“Kobe! It’s time, boy!” My father yells. I look back at myself in the mirror and smile. This is my time, my day. The Crossroad Soldiers are moving forward with a new generation.
“Coming!” I call out as I leave my room. I close my eyes and say farewell to the boy I’ve been and welcome the man I’m going to become.
The End...for now
Dedication
This book is dedicated to my husband. He’s always making sure I’ve got what I need to keep working. Coffee - check, food - check…etc. He also plays PA for me at all of my book signings. He organizes my things, packs them, carries them, helps me set my table up and then tears it apart and puts everything back in its place.
He’s my best-friend and the love of my life.
Thank you for believing in me and my dreams. I love you to the moon and back.
Signed,
Your loving wife.
Liberty ~xoxo
Acknowledgments
I want to acknowledge our charity first. St. Jude’s is a heartwarming cause. I haven’t personally had a child in my family suffer the way these children are, but these people have a heart of gold. Who else could daily go in and see the grief of parents and the pain of children? Not me, I’d be huddled in a corner drowning in tears. Thank you for taking care of these beautiful souls.
To my support team, Liberty’s Luscious Ladies, for always supporting, and encouraging my quirkiness.
My PAs, thank you for always working as hard as you do. I wouldn’t be able to work as hard as I do if you weren’t taking care of all the behind the scenes things for me.
My editor, Darlene Tallman. You make my books flawless and always give me your honest opinion. I never have to wonder if you’ve paid attention to my words and errors. Love you lady.
To my family and friends…there are no words to express my gratitude and loyalty. Thank you for always having my back.
To the ladies of this anthology, thank you for including me. Your belief in me is astounding. I am honored to be able to work with you on this project.
About the Author
Liberty has been an avid reader for most of her life. When she was younger she used to sit and fill spiral notebooks full of stories for her grandmother. As she got older, she took the jobs needed for raising her boys as a single mom until she met her amazing husband. She has stopped working in the last few years and started off by promoting authors, then she took up blogging and reviewing for authors. This has led her down the path of writing and creating characters and telling their stories. She loves getting creative and working behind the scenes with her characters and bringing her imagination to life.
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Also by Liberty Parker
*Rage Ryders MC*
Taken by Lies
Taken by Rage
Taken by Vegas
Taken by Sadistic
Taken by Chaos
Taken by Temptation
Templeton Charter
Faithfully Devoted
*Current Standalones*
What Should’ve Been
Charlee’s Choices
Diva’s Ink Trilogy
Blank Canvas
Clean Slate
Beautiful Template
Crossroad
Walking The Crossroad Page 9