Hostile Saint (Steel Stallions MC Book 1)

by India R. Adams

  Dagger tilted his head. “Have you not been washing your ears in those long ‘I’m not whacking off’ showers? I just told you. It is time you learn to drink coffee.” He set a cup in front of me. “And can you please clean up your drool?” He gestured to a puddle in front of me.

  Lynx’s voice was low and edgy as he warned, “Leave him alone.”

  “No!” snapped Dagger. He pointed at our Prez. “I know you have mad love for this kid. Trust me, I do, too. But I also have mad love for you, ya dumb shit.” Now, he pointed to me while telling him, “He’s joining an illegal club. Not some fuckin’ rump-a-room playground. What? You and Elle gonna stick him in a crib when he gets home?”

  Lynx was on his feet so fast I barely registered movement. “I will fucking punch you—”

  Vice jumped to his feet.

  Stunned, I stood. “Wait—”

  “Good!” replied VP, who didn’t appear scared in the slightest. “Maybe then the kid will learn somethin’ to protect himself with. Either how to throw a punch or take one and not fall to the ground—”

  Clueless to Dagger’s meaning, I grabbed the coffee. “I’ll drink it. I’ll drink it.”

  “Because that’s where he’s gonna end up if you don’t get to training him.”

  I took a sip of the hot beverage—then gagged, coffee dripping from my mouth, joining the slobber already on the table. “Damn, you guys drink some horrid shit.”

  Three men stared at me…

  Then they burst into laughter.

  Relieved I had done something to break the tension that felt like colliding dump trucks, I grinned and rubbed my long sleeve across the table to clean my mess. “So, we good?”

  Dagger’s smile fell as his shoulders softened. “Lynx, ya gotta at least stop the coddling if you ain’t gonna teach the pup some skills.”

  “He’s exhausted,” Lynx protested. “And I’m not the only guilty party here.”

  Dagger raised his hands. “I am guilty as charged.” He chuckled. “I can’t say I ain’t gonna make him more waffles, but…” He peered over his shoulder and did a chin lift to Vice.

  As if totally knowing what was coming, Vice pulled his large knife from its holder and laid it on the table in front of me. Instantly, cold sweats broke out over my whole body as I leaned back. I even felt lightheaded, my vision changing.

  When Lynx took a step toward me, Dagger reverted to a slam on the table. “No, Lynx!” I jolted. “Kid, look at me!” My blurry eyes found him. He pointed to the blade. “This metal has never cut you and never will. Repeat.”

  Lynx rubbed a palm down his face as I stood there, staring.

  The last time I had touched a knife was when I almost used it to cut Lacey’s throat. Knives had been nothing but a symbol of horrid times for me.

  That is why Dagger needed me to now see them differently.

  Standing there, I suddenly remembered seeing this very same knife on the rental’s kitchen counter and turning away from it. I had also seen it on the coffee table and walked away from it. The guns were fine, but every time I saw a knife lying about, I avoided it at all costs.

  Had Dagger noticed?

  “Repeat!” demanded my VP.

  I stuttered, “T-This metal has never cut you—m-me and never will.”

  He angrily insisted, “It wasn’t the blade that betrayed you. It was the wielder. It’s not the weapon that is deadly. It’s who is holding it. A gun don’t fire unless someone pulls the trigger.” He gestured to the knife that I wanted to run from. “How about it, kid? You willin’?”

  My heart was pounding, so many memories flooding me. “I…” I couldn’t seem to force my hand to move and pick it up.

  Dagger challenged, “What if they come for her?”

  No names were needed. I understood Dagger’s meaning.

  My hand twitched. My fingers contracted.

  “What if they are headed to her right now?”

  The blade was in my hand.

  Eye locked to mine, Dagger slowly nodded. “Let your fingers tighten on that handle. Make that handle feel your heat.”

  My fingers tightened and relaxed as I transferred my heat in a claiming manner.

  “Let it become your heat. That fire that drives you.”

  I lifted the knife to linger in front of me.

  Now smirking, Dagger slowly nodded again. “Feel the weight. Feel the power you have just been given.”

  Power given… My head tilted as that power dawned on me.

  “That’s right, Pup. That power is yours now. What ‘cha wanna to do with it?”

  My shoulders eased. My heart settled.

  My ache for revenge replaced my fear. “I want to know how to use it.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Creating Gains

  Sun beat down on my shoulders as I stood in the backyard, listening to Vice instruct me about how to use a knife properly. And when I say properly, I mean how to efficiently kill someone.

  In a slow-motion example, he lifted my left arm with his, then swung in his right, to act as if he was going to stab me in the ribs a little under my armpit. Luckily, there was no knife in his hand because he said, “If your blade hits here, there is a high chance you will hit the heart. Fight over. Or, at least, at the tail end.”

  When we had been at the dining room table, I told them I wanted to learn how to use a blade, but actually, in the process, I now felt I was reliving a vortex of nightmares.

  Trying not to wince because I know how it feels to have steel sink into your flesh, I stared into his dark eyes that I sensed had seen much blood in their time. “How many lives?”

  Grabbing his aviator glasses from the front of his t-shirt, he dropped my arm and turned away to go back to his starting point for our pretend combat. “Better them than me.” Facing me again, his glasses were in place as he squatted, his unkept dirty blond hair sticking to the sweat on his forehead. “Ready?”

  Even though I said, “No,” I squatted as previously instructed and thought about how it was crucial I learn every way possible to protect Lacey, seeing how every family member I knew of, except my murderers, were dead. Knowing that as soon as the brothers found out she was alive, she would again be in danger, previously desired revenge dissipated. Now, surviving was back at the top of my list—

  “Stop overthinking this and focus, Pup. When facing hand-to-hand combat, your mind must not drift. Be focused or die.”

  “I’m just—”

  “Not right now. Not in a fight you need to live through. Right now, you are Saint; a Steel Stallion that’s calling on his steel heart to live through this battle so he can safely get back to his Pretty Girl.”

  Lacey… Nothing in the world could focus me like that girl.

  I exhaled. I am Saint…

  Heeding Vice’s advice, I did my best to push away all other thoughts.

  Fortunately, I had a teacher who was patient and wise. “That’s right. Just you and me.”

  I studied his stance. The way his gigantic biker boots adjusted his heavy weight. I studied his primed body. The aggression. The tension. How his hand gripped the wooden spoon that now looked deadly. His arms were spread and ready to capture his prey…

  Better him than me… My mind cleared and was completely present.

  Vice saw the moment I was ready and gestured to the wooden spoon in my grasp, taunting, “Show me what you got, kid.”

  As I lurched forward to attack, Vice moved to meet me halfway. As soon as he was close, I used his weight to my advantage and spun and snuck around his side, ending up behind him. I pretended to ram the spoon in his back. Tap!

  The six-foot-four man began to slowly turn around to face me. Me thinking I had made him mad, I took a cautious step back, but stopped when I saw a smirk shining from under his glasses. He asked, “How did you do that so fast?”

  Feeling somewhat proud of myself, I set my shoulders back. “Learned to move fast when attacked by four all the time.”

  Like Dagger would wh
enever I answered too honestly, he winced, “Damn, son.”

  My shoulders caved. “But I did good?”

  Deep in thought, he lightly smacked his wooden spoon against his monstrous, jeaned thigh. “Yeah, their cruelty may be your gain, kid.” His head tilted for a minute, then he mumbled to himself, “Don’t force a lesson if discovering a hidden talent.”

  “Huh?”

  Still a little distracted, he explained, “Something good ol’ Torque taught me.” He shook his head as if to clear it. “Being the Enforcer, my job is to protect. There is more than one way to do that. Not just by my fists. I need to make you stronger.”

  Completely missing his point, I asked, “Is that how you got your road name? Your big fists?”

  “No, by fists, I mean—” He took a stance, fist raised in front of him. Even with one fist holding a spoon, the way his upper body was expertly hunched, I didn’t need to be a boxing fanatic to instantly recognize this man was once a pro, or, at least, well on his way to being one.

  After letting his fists fall in a manner that said there were some serious emotions attached to his once being a boxer, he repeated my question, “How did I get the name Vice?” He grinned. “That’s a whole other story.” He abandoned his boxer stance and widened his feet, then he tossed his spoon. “Let’s test Torque’s theory. Keep your weapon—” He chuckled when I held up my sorry excuse for a weapon. “Smart ass.” He pulled up on the material around his legs, then squatted again. “I’m going to try to get my hands on you. Don’t let me. Got it? Focus.”

  “Focus,” I repeated as if my new mantra. “Focus. I am Saint.” Preparing to give him all I had, I felt it important to be as loose as possible, so I let a shake ripple throughout my whole body. I even had each of my legs wobble after up in the air, in front of and beside me.

  Abandoning his attack, Vice suddenly stood up straight, his brows crunching. “What the hell are you doing?”

  Letting another tremor flow through me, I grinned, trying to appear badass-ish. “Getting ready to take the big guy down.”

  Apparently, I was far from a scary sight. The fucker grabbed his chest and stumbled backward, laughing his ass off.

  “What?”

  Just then, the sliding glass door opened. Lynx and Dagger waltzed out onto the porch, putting their boots almost eye level to Vice and me on the ground.

  Lynx asked Vice, “What has Pup done now?”

  Pfft! “What does that mean?”

  Vice laughed his way back to me, wrapping a very heavy arm around my shoulders. “My brothers, you have got to see his, er,” he gazed down at me, “warm-up?”

  Baffled to the hilarity of my actions, I replied, “Yes, me preparing for battle.” Then I grumbled, “It’s supposed to be intimidating.”

  After a bahahahahahaha burst from Vice, I shoved at him, which had me falling to the side because the laughing brick house didn’t budge.

  Amazed at his size, I asked, “Really, what the fuck are you made of?”

  Backing away from me, he proudly tapped his expansive chest. “Not that shit milk Elle has you on.” Which, of course, got the fucking peanut gallery involved.

  Lynx and Dagger both leaned elbows to the railing as VP suggested, “We should take Pup to that farm so he can suck straight from the source, that cow’s titty that’s not ‘pasteurized’.”

  I didn’t even know what ‘pasteurized’ meant but didn’t dare ask because Lynx was too busy laughing at that image in his head. “Oh God, stop. I’m picturing it!”

  Insulted, I peered up to them, curling my arms to impress the bystanders. “Oh yeah? Get a load of what that milk is doing for this strapping lad—” I snarled as they all started laughing harder. “Assholes.”

  When Vice reached out to tap me on the top of my head as if I were merely a child, I quickly smacked his elbow with my spoon. Tap!

  As my ‘instructor’ howled in pain, cursing about a ‘funny bone not being fucking funny’, the other two men stood up straight, taking notice of something. I didn’t have the time to figure it out, though. I was too busy now running from a King Kong who was out for revenge. Every time his huge hand tried to grab me, I spun, ducked, sprinted, but always ended up behind him. Tap! I was sure to let him know I just pretend-stabbed him in the back of his ribs again.

  Even if Vice managed to get a hold of me, I would twist so fast that he would lose his grip. “Shit!” he griped.

  Tap!

  “Little fucker!”

  Tap!

  My gloating ended quickly when seeing Dagger and Lynx coming down the set of wooden stairs, eyes locked to me, no longer wearing their cuts like Vice wasn’t.

  Alliances were made. And I wasn’t included.

  Three large bikers closing in on me was, to say the least, a bit intimidating. They were taller, wider, heavier, and definitely meaner. It took focus not to piss myself.

  I am Saint…

  No words needed to be spoken. These men had egos that liked to play ‘Who is the baddest of us all’? I could see the challenge in their eyes. These men wanted to see what I had in me.

  What I had was almost four years of avoiding being captured. It infuriated the brothers the faster I got, but that fury kept them focused on me. Not my Lacey.

  Focus… Okay. Let’s do this. Blowing out air, I did a body shake to get ready.

  Then I just stood there, watching these assholes fall all over each other as totally uncalled-for laughter overtook them.

  Lynx was choking… “What was that?”

  Vice was fighting for air. “His ‘warm-up’!”

  Dagger wiped laughter tears from under his watering eye. “Now I have seen everything.”

  I crossed my arms. “Are ya done?”

  They weren’t.

  I had to stand there, tapping my foot on the ground for another five minutes, all the while listening to their bouts of laughter and rude comments. “Did he have a seizure?”

  That’s okay. Revenge would soon be mine.

  Yes, that day in the backyard, I was to learn how to properly use a knife but ended up schooling old men about being flexible, young, practically toxin-free—thanks to Elle—and impressively fast.

  The four of us in the backyard looked like three giants trying to catch a scurrying mouse—who happened to have a wooden spoon. Tap!

  “That little fucker.”

  “Doesn’t that shit just piss you off?”

  Even if I fell to the ground to avoid all the thick arms trying to wrap me up, I would rapidly revert to an awkward crab-crawl to escape, then get far enough away to get back on my feet safely.

  Dagger grumbled, “If I could use my gun, this would be over by now.”

  My eyes widened. “But we’re sticking to spoons, right?”

  If these men weren’t pissed or truly ready to kill, out maneuvering them wasn’t impossible. That is until Lynx tired of me and caught me with a brutal clothesline grip to the neck, throwing me to the ground. On my back, I coughed out, “Ouch.”

  The ‘schooling’ had been reversed on me, and I laid there in awe of his brute strength, not even knowing that my Prez had totally held back his full power.

  Removing his hand from my fucking throat, Lynx chuckled as he pulled me up from the ground. “Pup, I must say, I’m impressed.”

  I rubbed at my throat. “Yeah, me too.”

  He yanked me in for a little noogie, ruffling my hair while walking us toward the stairs. “Oh, stop your bitching. That was a little love tap.”

  “For real, kid,” said Dagger. “I hate how you learned to be so elusive, but sure believe that is a weapon on its own. I may be strong enough to kick your skinny ass to the moon, but that don’t mean shit if I can’t catch it first.” He grumbled, “Or shoot it.”

  Still in Lynx’s stronghold, I felt like the runt of the litter, being dragged along by the alpha of the group. So, why was I smiling? That’s because this particular litter wanted every pup to grow into a powerful wolf.

  As soon as
I was through Lacey’s window and had set our milkshake on the floor, insecure little arms flew around my neck in a ferocious hug. I quickly reciprocated, wrapping my embrace around her waist and holding tight. “What’s wrong?”

  On her tippy toes, her angelic face nuzzled into my neck as she whispered, “I can’t shake this feeling that you may not come back. Like, I may never see you again. It-It… feels like I’ve had to say goodbye to you before—” She broke into a little sob before catching herself, “and it broke my heart.”

  Her words screamed of past memories that were fighting their way to her conscious state. Her words slain me. Yet, once again, there was nothing I could say without it being a lie, so I said nothing and just tried to bring her comfort with my silent hug.

  After a moment, she finally leaned back to see me but refused to let me go. “Do you think it happened? In our parallel life?”

  I thought back to her poem and fought to swallow down the truth. Not being permitted to say much didn’t stop me from trying to put her fragile mind at ease. “If it did happen, I can swear to you that I will do everything in my power to never let it happen again. Not one more goodbye between us.”

  Her breaths were choppy with fear. “But we have goodbyes every night.”

  I forced a smile. “That is only because I have to rest my eyes after staring at your beauty.” I playfully tightened my hold while teasing, “You’re simply too much to stare at for hours at a time.”

  That was a lie. Never would I tire of staring at her.

  She knew I was lying, too. But the real reason for me having to leave her every night was far too sad for either of us to discuss without feeling pain. So, we both stood there, staring, holding each other, allowing lies while knowing our hearts were shouting the truth.

  And when two hearts hear each other…

  Crying, she nodded. “I’m ready.”

  Confused, I asked, “For what?”

  “For you to fall madly in love with me.”

  There it was. The day I would finally get to kiss my wife.

  As my lips slowly descended to hers, I wondered how many married couples take these moments for granted. How many would have sorely missed such a tender touch as much as I had? That night, even before our lips caressed, I promised myself to truly appreciate every single kiss she would ever give me again. Whether I got a thousand more, or only this one, I would treat each one as the gift it was.