by Jade Kuzma
“Why the fuck did he lock us up for a week then?”
“Probably just wanted to cover all his bases,” Hunter said. “They don’t got anything on us though.”
“Drug money might seem nice but it’s not worth the risk,” Roman said. “There are better ways to make some cash. We learned from the best. Maybe we’ll teach you a thing or two, Mercer.”
Everything seemed to be in order. The Spades were locked up and we were out. More important than that, I’d gotten my revenge on Hawk and his gang. Isaac could be at peace knowing that the men who put him in the hospital were taken care of.
“It doesn’t sound like the Spades will be a problem anymore,” I said. “I guess that settles it.”
“Not quite,” Sebastian said.
He walked back over to the table at the center of the meeting room.
It was early in the morning. The sun was shining bright outside but it was still dim inside of the room. It was mostly empty outside of some photos on the walls. I couldn’t describe the feeling I had sitting there with the other three club members. There was a strange comfort in knowing that nothing that was said would leave the room.
“The Spades are getting locked up,” Sebastian said. “I’m sure Hawk and his boys will gladly take prison over the alternative. But your business with them, Mercer, isn’t settled until you say it is.”
“What the hell does that mean?” I said.
“I know people. People on the inside. I could finish them for good. Put an end to whatever beef you have with them. All you have to do is give me the word and I’ll make it happen.”
Sebastian stared at me with a seriousness that was clear. Hunter and Roman were all waiting for my response. I didn’t need to them to explain to me what I was being asked.
I thought about it for a few seconds. I couldn’t lie that there was a part of me that wanted to put Hawk on ice. But it wasn’t big enough for me to know what was right.
“Ever since it happened, people always gave me shit,” I said. “There were people close to me that told me that it wasn’t my fault, what happened in the ring that night. I tell myself that every single fuckin’ day. But that’s not enough. There are people who still call me a killer and a murderer…”
I shook my head at Sebastian.
“…I might have some blood on my hands but I’m not a killer. I’m not gonna keep walking down the path someone else put me on because of a mistake I made.”
Sebastian nodded in understanding. Roman was eyeballing me, a slight smile on his lips. Hunter sighed a deep breath then grinned at me.
“So much for No Mercy, huh?” he said. “I guess you’re just… Mercy.”
“Yeah,” I said with a laugh. “I guess so.”
“I left that decision up to you because you’re wearing the patch,” Sebastian said. “You’re a Devil now, Mercer. We’ve all got your back.”
“I’ve got yours, too,” I said. “All of you.”
“We know. No matter what happens, rep that patch and you’ll always have a place with us.”
“I know exactly where my place is.”
The club was in a good mood. After a week in jail, things had settled down back to normal. The men around me were still serious about what we’d gone through but for now, we could all rest easy.
My phone vibrated in my pocket suddenly. Everybody had their eyes on me. I read the message then looked back up at all of them.
“The meeting over?” I said. “There’s somewhere I gotta be.”
Chapter 26
DANICA
My apartment was a mess. I never had much company over, so I never bothered cleaning the place up for guests. It was the small, quaint, living space that I needed. It was comfortable enough that I could spend all of my energy on more important things.
I never realized just how messy it was until this moment though. Sitting on my couch and staring at the wall in front of me, I clutched my phone in my hand and waited for a response.
Working late nights at Finn’s meant that I slept in most of the time. Waiting in the morning was finally starting to get to me. My eyes started to close and my head dropped. Just when I felt myself drifting off, I heard a knock at my door. I jerked my head up and jumped out of my seat. I couldn’t get to the door fast enough.
When I opened it up, I saw him standing there.
It was hard to take him all in at once. Leather vest. Hair a little longer than usual. Dark bruises and red stitches on his face even though most of the swelling had gone down.
His eyes though… The way he stared at me reminded me of just how much I’d missed seeing him. The longest week of my life was over.
“Aden.”
I reached out and hugged him as hard as I could.
“Ow!”
I pulled away from him and immediately remembered the injuries underneath his shirt.
“Oh… Sorry…”
“It’s all right,” he said, a slight smile on his face.
Aden stepped into my apartment and started looking around.
“Sorry about the mess,” I said. “I don’t usually have people over.”
“Have you ever been in jail?”
“Can’t say that I have…”
“Compared to sitting behind bars, anywhere else is paradise.”
It was a relief just to see that he was out.
I took a seat on my couch next to him, struggling to find the words to say.
“How did you know?” he asked.
“I’ve been calling the police department every day, checking in on you. Sheriff Sutton told me to try again tomorrow. I kept calling until this morning…”
I put a hand up to his cheek. I caressed his skin softly, wanting to make sure that he was really right there in front of me.
“Are you sure you’re all right?” I asked.
“Danica, there’s nothing good about having your freedom taken away like that. I couldn’t be better now. How are you doing?”
“I… I’m good. Good as I can be, anyway.”
“What have you been up to?”
“These days I’m not up to much. I went to work every night. It helped to get my mind off of you. It’s a little nicer now that the Spades aren’t around. Assholes are still showing up but they’re the usual type you get at Finn’s. Nothing I can’t handle.”
“That’s good to hear…”
We stared at one another in the silence of my apartment. All of the emotions building up in my stomach were working their way out of me. I swallowed to maintain my composure but I couldn’t hold back. I moved my face to his and he did the same to me.
A deep, wet kiss was the reminder I needed to know that he really was right here in front of me. Lips tugging and pulling. Tongues probing. The rough scruff on his face brushed against my skin. So rugged. So raw. Just a kiss brought back all of the feelings I had for him.
“I never thought I would see you again,” I whispered.
“I’m not going anywhere. You won’t have to worry about me again.”
“When you got arrested along with the Spades… I started to fear the worst.”
“You won’t have to worry about the Spades either.”
“What do you mean?”
“Hawk and his gang were up to no good in Ivory. Sutton only arrested us to keep both groups on lock. They didn’t have anything on us, so they let us go.”
“But what about the Spades?”
“The Spades… It’s just like I said. You won’t have to worry about them.”
I closed my eyes and sighed a deep breath of relief.
“It’s nice,” I whispered. “Knowing that a bunch of thugs like them are off the streets of Ivory… It… It feels like things are finally back to normal.”
“I don’t know if I’d call any of this normal. But… I don’t think things in Ivory were ever normal.”
He smiled softly at me. His face was usually so serious. There was always something to worry or stress me out these days. I’d never see
n him so calm as he was now.
There was something on the tip of my tongue. Something I’d been holding back the entire week. Now that he was here in front of me, I found myself having trouble saying it.
“Danica?”
He must’ve sensed it. I calmed myself the best I could and nodded.
“Aden… I… I don’t know what this is between us. I don’t know the words to describe it. It’s just a feeling I have about you. I…”
“What is it?”
“I… I want to be with you, Aden. No matter what. No matter where you go.”
He nodded softly. I kept waiting for a response but he didn’t say anything. Every second that went by made me more anxious. I almost felt stupid about saying it but he was still smiling at me.
“I had a lot of money back then,” he said. “I was a champion. Rich. Famous. Everybody, men and women, they all threw themselves at my feet. I had everything I could’ve ever wanted. At least, I thought I did.
“You’re not like them, Danica. They all wanted a piece of me because I was something amazing. You… You just want me—”
“You are amazing. I don’t care about the money. I don’t care about what you accomplished. I don’t care about the mistakes you made. My life in Ivory… I thought I’d spend the rest of my days here living out an ordinary existence. Now I know that you’re the reason I’m here in Ivory.”
“You’re the reason I’m here. I want to be here with you, Danica.”
It was like the weight of the world lifted from me when he said it. I closed my eyes to gather myself, trying not to let my emotions get the best of me.
“Are you sure this is what you want?” he asked.
“Yes… I want this… with you.”
“It won’t be easy.”
He glanced down at the patch on his chest. I couldn’t help but smile at the Devils logo on it.
“I’ve been around bikers for years now,” I said. “I never doubted the possibility that I’d be an old lady. I don’t care if it’s hard or it’s easy. As long as I’m with you, I’ll be by your side.”
“You’re all I need, Danica.”
He brought me close to him, wrapping his arms around me. I rested in his embrace and enjoyed the feeling of his strong arms around me. I’d never felt as free as I did right now.
I would’ve fallen asleep right then and there if I didn’t remember.
“Oh, there’s something else,” I said.
“There is?”
“I stopped by the gym every now and then to see if you were there and I might’ve missed you. Ran into someone. Said they wanted to talk to you.”
That soft smile was still on Aden’s face like it’d been this entire time.
“Right,” he said with a nod. “I’ll go see them now.”
Chapter 27
ADEN
Isaac rested in his hospital bed peacefully. Most of the swelling on his face had gone down to the point he looked like the young guy I was used to seeing.
He blinked his eyes open and slowly rolled his head in my direction.
“…Mercer?”
“Isaac. How are you feeling?”
“Like shit.”
He smiled when he said it.
“Doctors say you’ll be out of here in a few days,” I said. “Just wanna make sure there aren’t any complications.”
“Yeah…”
“What do you remember?”
“I remember… everything. I was in a daze but I still remember that shit clear as day. It fucking hurt.”
“That’s what a headbutt’ll do to you.”
“A headbutt. Piece of shit motherfucker fought dirty.”
“There aren’t any rules when you fight in the street.”
Isaac frowned and looked away from me.
“You don’t have to worry about them,” I said.
“What do you mean?”
“I took care of them. The guy who did it to you. His whole crew. They probably won’t be running any fights anytime soon.”
“Wait…”
He squinted at me and blinked.
“…What the hell happened to your face?”
A week in jail wasn’t enough to let the stitches heal completely. All I could do was laugh at Isaac’s reaction.
“Let’s just say I took care of business,” I said.
“Makes sense. You’re fuckin’ Aden Mercer. World champion. Any punk trying to mess with you has got another thing coming.”
His throat shifted with a swallow. As confident as Isaac always was, the kid looked more vulnerable than usual, not that I gave a shit either way. I wasn’t judging him. I never did.
“What I said to you before,” he started. “About you being a has-been and all that. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.”
“You don’t have to apologize. You were right. I am a has-been. I did quit. I’m not the man I used to be.”
I leaned forward to make sure I got my point across.
“I didn’t tell you to go to those fights because I was jealous,” I said. “I did it because you’ve got talent. You will be a champion someday. You can be better than I ever was. But you’re not gonna fuckin’ get there fighting in back alleys.”
“I know that now. The money was nice though.”
“The money will come. Just keep your head down and keep grinding. Don’t fight for money. Fight for yourself. Fight for the people who care about you. Everything else will come and go. Trust me. I know.”
Isaac gave me a nod. I got up from my seat and patted him on the arm.
“I’ll be back in the gym as soon as I can get there,” he said.
“Take your time,” I said. “Get some rest.”
I stepped out of the hospital room and someone was already there waiting for me.
“He’s a strong kid,” Yates said.
The man looked as disheveled as he always did. Even though the motherfucker was probably up to something, I wasn’t worried. I could tell that he had Isaac’s best interests at heart. Just some dumb feeling I had.
“Isaac wouldn’t have gotten to where he was if he wasn’t,” I said. “I know what it’s like. No parents. Nobody believing in you. You make a little bit of progress and all of a sudden it makes you feel like you’re on top of the world.”
“You were on top of the world, Mercer.”
“I was. Everybody wanted a piece of me. Same thing happened with Isaac.”
I would never forget that Yates was partly responsible for what happened to Isaac. But he seemed sincere enough that I could forgive him.
“I’m gonna watch over the kid,” he said.
I raised an eyebrow at him. He raised his hands up in innocence.
“Not the way you’re thinkin’. I mean I’m gonna make sure that the kid is all right and nobody takes advantage of him.”
“He’s gonna need it.”
“I made a lot of money bettin’ on you with the Samson fight. Don’t worry. Isaac will be taken care of.”
“I’ll be watching you to make sure.”
“I did tell you that you’d get a piece of it if you won. You know that I take care of my fighters.”
Yates’s smile was as shrewd as it always was. I rolled my eyes and sighed, knowing that there wasn’t shit I could do to change him.
“I don’t need the money,” I said. “Just do your part to keep Isaac out of trouble. The kid’s going places.”
“You can count on that.”
I started to walk away when he called out to me.
“Yo, Mercer. Hold on a second…”
He walked up to me, that grin of his no longer on his face.
“…I just wanted to say thanks.”
“Thanks? I told you that you could keep the money—”
“Not that. Thanks for helpin’ me out. Helpin’ me realize that there’s more to this shit than tryin’ to make a buck. I never would’ve found that out if it wasn’t for you and spendin’ time watchin’ over the kid.”
He mo
ved closer to me and dug his index finger in my chest.
“I got Isaac’s back,” he said. “I got your back, too. You ever need me for anythin’, you let me know… Whatever it is. I owe you.”
If it was any other day, I wouldn’t have believed him. I could finally see it just by looking into his eyes that something, even the smallest part of him, had changed.
I gave him a nod and left the hospital.
Danica leaned up against my bike while she waited for me.
“How is he?” she asked.
“He’ll make a full recovery. Not surprising.”
“That’s great!”
I wrapped my arms around her. She squeezed me softly, kissing me on the cheek.
“Now what?” she asked.
“Now? I haven’t really thought about that. I was just waiting to get out of fucking jail that I didn’t even give a shit what happened after.”
“Well… I’m not working tonight and I’ve got the whole day to myself. And I don’t think you’re gonna be heading back to the gym, not in the state you’re in.”
Danica bit her lip. Her cheeks red, she was the devilish beauty that I always craved. I grinned back at her, all of the wrong kind of thoughts dancing around in my head.
“The whole day, huh?” I said. “What could we possibly do to pass the time?”
“Why don’t you give me a ride? I know a place that’s just right for… passing the time.”
Chapter 28
DANICA
The anticipation in my stomach forced an endless amount of laughs out of me. I was a kid on Christmas Eve waiting to open up her presents. Today, my present was wearing a leather vest and a pair of jeans that hid a cock I knew could satisfy me.
I fumbled with my keys and got my door open as quickly as I could. I didn’t even have a chance to get inside when Aden wrapped his arms around me and picked me up from the ground.
Tongues tangled. Lips biting. Mouths watering. Our kisses were loud along with the uncontrollable whimpers pouring out of me.
I wrapped my arms and legs around Aden as he carried me through my apartment. So strong and forceful, Aden held me effortlessly in his arms while he brought me over to my bedroom. A soft toss on my bed ended our kiss for the moment, giving me a moment to catch my breath. My heart was pounding so hard in my chest that my entire body was vibrating.