by Jade Kuzma
“What happened?” Roman said.
“Nobody knows for sure. Only the people involved anyway. Last I heard, the Spades had a hideout and the place got all shot up. Every last one was shot to death. Nobody really gave a shit. Not even when the feds were in town. Nobody’d miss ‘em.”
“But they’re here,” I said. “There are Spades in Ivory.”
Sebastian shook his head.
“The Spades got wiped out completely. The Iron Spades are a different group. Maybe they took up the mantle after what happened.”
“Maybe they wanna find out what happened to the old Spades,” Roman said. “Maybe they’re out for revenge.”
“I doubt they give a shit about something like that. The Spades was just a label. They didn’t come to Ivory just to put their lives on the line for a group they probably never gave a shit about.”
“It doesn’t matter why they’re here,” I said. “They’re here.”
“And you’ve got beef with them.”
Sebastian looked at me with a subtle smile on his lips. The other two Devils were eyeballing me just the same.
“Ivory’s a small town,” Sebastian said. “When some shit goes down, especially a brawl in the middle of a place like Finn’s where everybody is watching, shit spreads like wildfire.”
“You started a brawl at Finn’s?” Roman said.
“I didn’t start a brawl,” I said, gritting my teeth. “I was trying to finish it.”
“Well, whatever the fuck it was you were trying to do, the Iron Spades aren’t gonna be your friend anytime soon.”
“That’s fine. I got the information I needed. I’ll finish what they started.”
“What exactly did they start?” Hunter asked, an eyebrow raised at me.
I thought twice about it. But there was no reason for me not to trust them. If anything, I’d be stupid to refuse their support. Even I knew I couldn’t go up against an entire MC by myself.
So I told them the story. I told them about the street fights behind the building in Old Town. I told them about Isaac and how he was still in the hospital.
“Damn,” Roman said. “That shit’s rough.”
“Revenge,” Hunter said. “Is that what you want?”
“Revenge jobs are never simple,” Sebastian said. “You get caught up in your emotions and shit can go wrong.”
“You can call it whatever the fuck you want,” I said. “I’m just trying to make things right.”
“Isaac’s an adult,” Hunter said. “He knew what kind of trouble he was getting himself into.”
“Nah,” I said, shaking my head. “You should’ve seen him. He knew that he was in trouble. But if he backed away, the Spades would’ve made life even worse for him. He didn’t have a choice at all.”
Sebastian sighed a deep breath and straightened up in his seat.
“All right,” he said. “This isn’t shit we do every day but it comes with the territory. You patch in and we’ll go to war with the Spades.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head.
“No? Isn’t that what you want?”
“There’s another way.”
“Enlighten me.”
I’d been thinking about it long enough. If I was gonna fuck with the Spades, I was gonna do it on my terms. There was no other option.
“I’ll settle this shit,” I said. “Hawk is the leader of their group. It’ll be between me and him.”
“And what exactly do you want us to do then?” Hunter said.
“I just need you to get my back.”
The three Devils all looked at one another. They were all thinking the same thing even though they hadn’t spoken a word. Sebastian turned to me and gave me a nod.
“All right,” he said. “We got your back. But… Only if you’re a Devil. You patch in, no need to prospect. Wear the patch and you won’t have to worry about the rest of the Spades trying to fuck with you while you settle whatever beef you got with Hawk.”
“I’m in,” I said it without hesitating.
If this was what I needed to do to put this shit to an end then I’d do it.
“That was quick,” Hunter said.
“You said it yourself,” Roman said to him. “Having a guy like Aden Mercer in the club will only help us.”
“Right now we’ve gotta help our brother,” Sebastian said. “This is your beef, Mercer, but we’ve got your back. What’s the next move?”
“The next move is obvious,” I said. “I get to Hawk and the Spades.”
“Do you know where they are?” Hunter said.
“They’re probably hanging around Finn’s,” Roman said. “Group like that, new in town, without a clubhouse. They’d be able to have a good time and cause trouble.”
“Nah,” Sebastian said. “They just got arrested. There’s too much heat on them. Even if it was just for a brawl. They’re probably gonna lay back for a good minute.”
“Then how the fuck are we gonna get to them?” Hunter said.
How could I get my message to the Spades?
I only had to think about it for a second before it hit me.
“I know,” I said.
Everybody turned toward me.
“Tonight. We’re going to Finn’s.”
“But Sebastian just said—”
“They’ll be at Finn’s tonight,” I interrupted Hunter. “I’ll make sure of it.”
Chapter 16
DANICA
Lauren was as pretty as any woman you’d ever meet in town. Long, curly brown hair. Fair skin with these cute little freckles on her cheeks from the Ivory sun. Round brown eyes and a cheerful smile that was the perfect combination of seductive and friendly. She was a few years younger than me, so there was no question that it’d only be a matter of time until she’d be the woman at Finn’s everybody was checking out.
Right now, seeing Lauren go to work was the only thing that kept me in a good mood.
I leaned up against the bar while I waited for my next drink order. She rushed up next to me and put her order in.
“Ugh,” she sighed. “I’m exhausted.”
“Looks like you’re getting a lot of attention tonight.”
“I took your advice. A little more ass and a little more sass have the boys looking my way.”
“That’s the spirit. Just make sure you don’t forget who you really are.”
“Oh, I won’t. Not in a place like this.”
“It’s all a bunch of macho bullshit. Guys coming out here with their dicks out trying to prove they’re the biggest. It gets old.”
I sighed and shook my head. Aden had been on my mind the entire night. I couldn’t get him out of my thoughts even with the chaos of Finn’s surrounding me.
“Danica?”
I wondered what Aden was up to now. I knew better than to get attached to a man, especially one that I barely knew, but bad judgment was getting the best of me.
“Danica!”
Lauren yelled at me. I jerked my head and turned to her.
“What’s wrong?” she said with a frown on her lips.
“Nothing,” I said with a shrug. “I’m fine.”
“Don’t give me that. It’s obvious something is up.”
“…Yeah,” I sighed. “But I don’t think it’s something I can talk about.”
“What is it? Is it the job?”
“The job’s fine.”
“What else could it be? Is it a man?”
I didn’t say anything for a second. That was all Lauren needed to grin at me.
“It is a man,” she said. “You were always telling me to love ‘em and leave ‘em. I never figured you would be the one to be fretting over a boy.”
“I’m not fretting over him. Not in the way you’re thinking. I’m just… I’m worried about him.”
“What’s wrong? He sick?”
“No. I just… I just want to make sure that he’s all right.”
I scoffed at the thought of it. I barely knew Aden and here I was,
worried that something was going on with him.
“Why don’t you talk to him?” she asked.
“That’s just it. He said he needed some space. Wanted to figure things out. I just want to figure out what his story is. It’s like he’s hiding something from me and I don’t know what it is.”
“Did you look him up?”
“…What?”
“Look him up. You have a phone, don’t you? Why don’t you search for him on the Internet?”
Lauren gave me a blank stare, her lips twisted. It was so obvious that I wondered why I hadn’t thought of it before.
“Your order’s up,” she said.
She snapped me out of my daydream. I grabbed my drink order and brought it over to the table. The drunken bikers all littered my tray with tips and I helped the next table with another order.
As soon as I jotted it down, the front doors to the club swung open. I looked up and saw the last people I wanted to see.
“Shit…”
I whispered to myself and put my head down, hoping that they would avoid me.
“Just a second,” I said to the table. “Someone else will be with you.”
I headed to the far end of the bar so that Hawk and the others wouldn’t see me. Even though security was already keeping an eye on them, there was still no telling what they were up to.
One of the perks of working at a place like Finn’s was that I could take breaks when I needed to. Most of the money I made was from tips. That was all the motivation every woman needed to work hard. If you didn’t keep glasses filled, you didn’t make any money.
While Hawk and his gang made their way to their booth at the side of the bar, I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone. I figured there was no better time than to do what Lauren told me to do.
I started typing in Aden’s name when my phone vibrated with a message.
“Hey.”
It was Aden.
“Are you at Finn’s?”
I told him I was.
“Are the Spades there?”
I looked up and saw that they were just getting the party started.
I told Aden they were but there was no response. I kept trying to get through to him but he still didn’t say anything to me.
“Dammit…”
I muttered to myself. I immediately started to fear the worst.
The anxiety built inside of my stomach. All of the wrong kinds of thoughts started racing around in my head. Just last night, Aden started a near brawl in the middle of Finn’s. Most people took things outside. It’d been so long that I couldn’t even remember the last time that it actually happened inside of Finn’s.
Before my nerves could get the best of me, I looked up at the entrance and saw Aden walk in.
“Shit…”
I rushed up to him as quickly as I could. When I got to him, I noticed that he looked a little different. It took me a second to realize what he was wearing. A leather vest with a club patch on the front. Around him were three guys who were wearing the same patch.
I blinked my eyes in confusion to make sure that I was looking at things right.
“Aden… Aden, what’s going on? Why are you wearing a kutte?”
Aden looked down at me and gave me a straight-faced stare I’d seen too many times before. He was always serious and this time was no different.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll take care of this.”
“Don’t worry? Aden, you just got arrested last night. The club you just messed with is here. Security has their eyes on you. Now you’re here with three other guys to start trouble.”
“I’m not here to start trouble. I’m here to put an end to it.”
“But—”
“Don’t worry.”
Aden’s stare was so intense that I found myself losing my train of thought. The truth was I couldn’t stop him no matter how hard I tried.
I sighed knowing that there was no way I could stop him from doing whatever it was he was doing.
“Just be careful, okay? I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“I promise you that nothing will happen.”
I stepped aside and he marched forward with the other three bikers with him in tow. I followed closely behind them. They didn’t bother trying to hide their intentions. All four men headed right toward Hawk and the others.
Hawk immediately recognized them and jumped out of his seat. The raucous celebration had suddenly quieted. Even some of the other patrons knew that something was up. Security was on alert and ready to shut things down as soon as they got started. I could hear the police sirens in the distance despite how loud all of the other conversations were inside of the club.
“Well, well, well,” Hawk said. “Look who it is. The man who sucker punched my guy.”
“Your guy should’ve known better,” Aden replied. “He picked on the wrong man.”
“Is that so?”
Hawk took a step forward. The knot in my stomach twisted even tighter.
“That was a cheap shot last night,” Hawk said. “I don’t think you’d do as well with a man who knows what’s coming.”
“I’d beat the shit out of every man in your crew and you know it,” Aden said.
Aden…
I was so nervous that a few beads of sweat dripped down from my brow. I swallowed to clear my throat, desperately waiting for the moment to pass.
“I don’t know who you are,” Aden said. “I don’t know where you came from. But you’re not welcome in Ivory.”
“Really?” Hawk said. “And I suppose you’re the Ivory welcoming committee? You’re the man who makes the decisions around here?”
“No. But I’m making the decision for you.”
“You don’t make decisions for me or my crew. Nobody does. We do whatever the fuck we want. And just because you brought three guys with you won’t make a difference. They could get their shit pushed in right along with you.”
Hawk took a seat back on his chair and took another big gulp.
“Now fuck off,” he said. “I’ve got better shit to do. I’m waiting for someone.”
“He’s not coming,” Aden said.
“What?”
“Yates isn’t coming. I’m the one you’re waiting for.”
Hawk chuckled to himself and shook his head, his yellow teeth bright behind his bushy beard.
“That fuckin’ rat bastard,” he said. “I should’ve known.”
Hawk got back up from his seat. He confronted Aden, who had been standing defiantly this entire time.
“It was you,” Hawk said. “You put him up to it. You think you’re trying to trap me and my boys? You’ve got another thing coming.”
“This isn’t a set-up,” Aden said. “I’ve got a proposal for you.”
“A proposal?”
“Yates said you run the fights. You love those street fights so much, why don’t we have one to settle things?”
Hawk raised an eyebrow and scratched his chin through his beard.
“You hear that boys,” he said. “This punk here has a proposal for us. And do tell, what is this proposal?”
“You versus me. One on one.”
“Interesting… The stakes?”
“If you I beat you, you and the rest of your crew get the fuck out of Ivory.”
“And if you lose?”
I already knew what was coming but I still didn’t want to hear it.
“I’ll leave,” Aden said.
Hawk looked at his gang. They were all silent, just waiting for their leader to respond. Aden and the men he’d brought with him were all standing there like they’d been this entire time.
“Tell me why I shouldn’t just make you fuck off?” Hawk said. “I have no reason to agree to this shit.”
“Because you’ll benefit from this,” Aden said. “Think about it. Aden Mercer in a street fight. It’ll be bigger than anything you’ve ever seen.”
Hawk’s eyes lit-up as soon as Aden mentioned his whole name
.
“Aden Mercer? That name… You’re not—”
“I’m Aden Mercer,” Aden said.
Hawk took a step forward and looked Aden up and down. He was still skeptical but there was a glimmer in his eyes like he wanted to believe. The grin on Hawk’s lips grew.
“People will be betting on me,” Aden said. “You put a bet on yourself, think about how much money you’ll make. The odds will be in your favor.”
Hawk nodded slowly in understanding. From what I could tell, everything was going Aden’s way even though it still wasn’t what I wanted to hear.
“All right,” Hawk said. “I accept your terms. Whoever loses has to get the fuck out of Ivory. On one condition.”
“What?”
“You don’t fight me. You know that I wouldn’t have much of a chance against you.”
“Pussy.”
“Call me whatever names you want. But we’ll see who’s the real pussy if you don’t let me choose my own fighter.”
“I don’t give a shit who I fight. I’ll knock out anybody you put in front of me.”
“I like that. Pride comes before the fall. I accept your terms, Mercer. Now get the fuck out of here so I can enjoy myself. You can’t tell me where to go.”
“Not yet.”
Hawk backed away and sat down. The tension between the two groups slowly started to disappear. Security stopped keeping a watchful eye on them. Aden took a step back and the men who accompanied him headed back toward the bar. I exhaled a deep breath, not realizing my heart was beating so fast until now.
Aden and the rest of his new crew all headed to the bar to get themselves a drink. I moved close to Aden and he smiled as soon as he saw me.
“It’s nice to see you at work again,” he said.
“What’s going on? Who are these guys? Did you… Did you just patch into an MC?”
“I did.”
“And now you’re challenging that guy to a fight.”
“I can beat anybody he puts in front of me.”
If Aden were anybody else, I would’ve doubted him.
“Hawk mentioned your name… Aden Mercer. It’s like he already knew who you are. I… I feel stupid for even asking this but…”