by K E Osborn
“Urgh, pa-lease! You guys are disgusting,” Lunar calls out as she comes over to sit next to Willow and me.
“Just ‘cause you’re not Steel’s number one anymore Lunar doesn’t mean you have to show your bitch,” Ryder calls out.
“Oooh,” the other guys all murmur.
“Shut up, dickwad. I’m fine with that. I’m finding my time’s better spent with more… Dangerous men.”
I furrow my brows and look at her. She smirks at me. Then it clicks, Danger, the musician from Strapless. She must still be seeing him. “How is our little American musician?” I ask wanting to let her know I’m in on her code, and her attempt at jealousy isn’t working.
She scowls and then takes a deep breath and smiles, but her smile is actually genuine. It shocks me slightly. “He’s great. I’ve seen him a couple of times. His band is awesome by the way. Good job at getting them to perform here in Oz.”
“Well, hopefully, Techie can get them sorted into something a bit bigger than our clubs. I’m glad you’ve found someone, Lunar. It’s nice when you find someone, isn’t it?” I ask and then look at Willow and caress her cheek. She smiles at me and leans into my hand. She’s so adorable, she doesn’t even realise Lunar and I are bickering right now.
“Yeah, it sucks though when you think you’ve already found that someone and he finds someone else.” She stands up and walks back inside the clubhouse, and Willow furrows her brows as the guys all raise their eyebrows and subtly go back to drinking their beers.
“What was that about?” Willow asks.
I shake my head. “Nothing babe, just Lunar being Lunar.”
She chews on her lip and cuddles down into my chest. I wrap my arms around her and hold her to me. It sucks that Lunar is obviously hurting. I know she was trying to make me jealous, but if she’s with Danger then she should see where that goes. But then again, he was pretty fucked up when I met him, so he’s probably not in the right head space nor the right guy for her either?
“Hey Willow, you want a drink?” Crash asks and she looks up at him and smiles.
“Sure, thanks.”
He rushes off and I smile that the guys seem to be accepting of her. Well, except for Dad, Chops, and The Penetrator, who are all sitting at the other end of the compound away from us.
“A bird sings heavenly like an angel,” Jigsaw says as he comes over to see Willow. She furrows her brow and looks back at me as he takes her hand and kisses the back of it gently. She giggles and shrugs.
“Umm… thank you?”
We all laugh as he nods and smiles at me widely. “Tio, fortfarande en tio.”
Willow looks at me raising her eyebrow as Jigsaw walks off while I chuckle shaking my head.
“What does that mean?” she asks her voice a higher pitch than normal.
“You don’t want to know, babe.”
She frowns and pouts. “Is it bad?”
I smirk and shake my head. “No, it’s good.” I just don’t want to tell her that Jigsaw said, “Ten, still a ten,” because last time he rated her she didn’t take it too well. I don’t want her to get upset by him rating her again.
She yawns and I smooth her hair back behind her ear. “You wanna go to bed, babe?”
She smiles and nods. I move my hand under her legs and stand up lifting her in my arms. She squeals as I lift her. “I can walk you know?”
“I know.” I smile and start moving with her back inside the clubroom. Crash comes running out with a drink and frowns.
“I got your drink, Willow.”
“Sorry Crash, I’m takin’ my woman to bed.”
He groans throwing his hand in the air and bobbing his head around like he’s annoyed. “I was having fun, she’s awesome to talk to.”
She giggles. “It was nice meeting you too, Crash. Have a good night!” she calls out as I carry her inside and through the clubroom toward the hall.
“I think you have a fan.”
She smiles and cuddles into me. “Maybe it isn’t so bad here after all. Just a couple of bad eggs but the rest of the guys are actually quite nice.”
I smile and hold her tighter as I head to my room with ‘Locked Away’ by R. City playing over the stereo in the clubroom. I guess the club girls got to the sound system this time. But the words sink in as I carry her away.
I wonder if worst came to worst and I got locked away would Willow still be by my side? I hope I never have to find out!
***
Willow stayed overnight at the club and it was nice to sleep with her in my bed. This cuddling thing really is unique with her. She’s just gone home because she needs to feed Petunia. I must admit I smiled thinking of her pet pig. And now I’m walking back inside the clubhouse after seeing her off. Making my way back inside Dad looks over at me and waves me down. I walk over to him expecting to get an earful about bringing Willow to the club overnight. I know he was watching me with her all night, along with Chops. He doesn’t like her being here, but he’s not going to stop me from being with her.
Taking a deep breath as I reach him, I get on the defensive straight away. “Dad, look, I know you don’t like Flame bein’ here, but I don’t give a fuck. I’m gonna—”
“Oh, shut up kid. I don’t wanna talk about your bitch right now. We need to head to the gun shop to speak to Frankie about getting some decent ammo for target practice. The shit we get from the streets is weak and works well for bodies as they break apart on impact, but for target practice we want precise holes so we can see what we’re hitting.”
I furrow my brows and rest my hand on my waist in confusion. “You don’t wanna yell at me about Flame?”
He huffs and pushes past me. “No, I wanna go visit Frankie, our Virginia First 7 Original, who I haven’t seen in a long time at the fucking gun shop. I thought you might like a ride. Don’t bother coming if you’re gonna bitch and moan.”
I shake my head and huff. “Okay, I’ll gather some brothers for a ride.”
“Good, I thought that pussy was going to your head.”
I roll my eyes. “Oh, here we go.”
“Here we go nothing. Get the boys and meet me in the compound. We leave in five…” He trails off and turns stomping away leaving me wondering what the hell is going on with him.
Shaking my head, I walk over to the table where my brothers are sitting. “Ryder, Techie, Behemoth, Jigsaw, Penetrator, wanna go for a joy ride?” I ask and they all look up and nod.
“Where we headed, VP?” Ryder asks.
“Just in to the city to the gun shop. The Prez needs some ammo, wants us to join him.”
“I’m in.” Techie stands up along with Ryder and Behemoth.
“I love the gun shop. Gives me a hard on,” The Penetrator says.
I shake my head and look at Jigsaw, who rolls his eyes.
“Right, c’mon guys, we leave now.” We all traipse out leaving Lookout and the prospects to watch the clubhouse with the others. I’m pretty sure Chops will be tagging along, and will be waiting outside with Dad. Walking up to our Hogs, and as I thought Chops is there standing with Dad.
I pull on my lid, getting on my bike ready for a ride into the city. Starting my engine, the roar of the motor kicks into gear and vibrates through my body. I love the feeling of the Hog between my legs. I feel so powerful behind the handlebars knowing I’m in full control of this beast. We pull out with Ryder riding front door—he’s our Road Captain. He always rides first when we’re in a group. Chops pulls up the back door, being one of our most experienced riders.
Riding in formation down the highway always gives me a thrill. The wind bellowing in my face, the sun shining down on me with my brothers at my flank.
Life doesn’t get better than this!
We ride up to the dark dingy back alley where the gun shop is located and all duck walk our Hogs reversing them back to the side of the curb. Pulling off my lid, I jump off my bike along with my brothers as Dad and Chops walk inside the shop. There’s no need for all of us to go i
n there. The shop itself is small, tucked away in the back streets, so having eight burly bikers in there would crowd the joint.
“Want a durry?” The Penetrator asks lighting up a smoke.
I shake my head as we all walk to the side of the building and lean against the bricks looking out into the litter filled, dank, graffiti-riddled and deserted street.
“Why don’t you smoke? You a fag or something?”
“Shut up cunt. I’ve had enough of you and your bullshit!” I’m still pissed at him for frightening Willow in the gym. He had no right to even look at her, let alone advance toward her the way he did.
“What?”
I huff and shake my head. “Nothin’.”
“No, seriously, fuckface, if you have a problem talk to me about it—”
“D’ya think it’s okay to talk to your VP like that?” Ryder asks as he steps up next to me and so does Jigsaw, Techie, and Behemoth.
“He doesn’t deserve to be the VP. He only got the position ‘cause he’s Mad Dogs little lap dog. Surprised you got the road name Steel, and not Chihuahua.”
I step forward gritting my teeth as Jigsaw places his hand on my chest stopping me from reaching the cretin.
“One who is smaller than the King, throws the biggest stones,” Jigsaw says in his Swedish accent, and we all look at him and furrow our brows at his riddle.
“Man, you’re such a freak!” The Penetrator states stepping forward into Jigsaw’s face.
I don’t pull him back deciding instead to let Jigsaw handle this egomaniac. He towers over him and glares down baring his teeth. I think I actually see The Penetrator look slightly uncomfortable.
“To quake in one's boots rattles the souls of the weak.”
I smirk as The Penetrator scowls up at Jigsaw, grabs his collar and pulls him to him. I tense up as this animosity between my brothers becomes more heated.
“If you didn’t talk in riddles all the fucking time people might actually like you, you fucking Neanderthal—”
“Look who it is. It’s those Savages. The scum of the fucking earth…” A voice calls out. We all turn around to view down the sidewalk and notice five men walking toward us with knives drawn. The Penetrator lets go of Jigsaw, as we all stand together staring at the men. They seem familiar, but I’m not sure who they are.
I glance to my left to see Dad and Chops still busy through the shop window. But I’m sure they’ll be out soon, then we’ll outnumber them. They stalk toward us and I smile as they raise their knives in the air and grin widely. I find it hard not to laugh at their tiny pocket knives. Compared to Wesley, their pieces look like Swiss Army blades.
“So Semi told us to let go of what happened with the deal that went south. But we don’t think it’s right to have so many of our men go to the ground without a little payback. You’re going down you Savage scum.”
I open my eyes wide as it finally clicks who these douchewads are—5113ers.
Gang members.
Shit!
Reaching around my back, I unhook Wesley from my back holder. Pulling him out, I grin as I watch their eyes open wide with shock.
“‘That’s not a knife… THAT’S a knife’,” I tease using the quote made popular by Paul Hogan in Crocodile Dundee. They swallow hard as I grit my teeth and prepare myself for the shit storm that’s going down right in front of me.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
The 5113ers all leer at us as we stand steadfast shoulders back and glaring at the scum right in front of us.
“This is for Chez,” they yell and race toward us. We all brace for the impact as I grip hold of Wesley tighter preparing to use him. Quickly glancing around to see if there are any witnesses—there’s not—I lunge forward to the main guy as he storms toward me. My fist connects with his face as his fist smashes forward into my stomach. I gasp slightly as my brothers all take on the other members. An all-out fist fight is taking place. The gang member swings and misses as I duck and bend over pushing my shoulders into his stomach running him backward into the wall. He exhales as all the wind is knocked from his body. He brings his hands down and his fists connect with my back, so I stand up and he pulls his pathetic excuse for a blade out and lunges at me, it swipes my arm cutting me slightly. I feel blood trickling down my arm as I shake my head and deflect his hand pushing him away from me. He lunges at me again and I bring my knee up into his groin and knacker him. He hunches over gasping for air. Turning to walk off, suddenly he jumps on my back and brings the knife down to stab into my shoulder. I swing around causing him to be unstable on my back, and his knife falls from his hand as I race backward and thrust him into the brick wall again. He moans as I smash his body hard against it. Turning quickly, I shove my fist into his gut and his head lunges forward head butting me. I stumble on the spot disorientated as my head pounds from the blow. His fist connects with my jaw and my head snaps to the side forcefully as I bend over getting my bearings.
I’ve had enough of this prick!
I stand back up straightening my stature and bring Wesley up with a smirk and thrust it into his side. The pull of his muscles as the blade slices through his body is enough to immobilize him, but not kill him. He moans out in agony and falls to the ground clutching at his side.
One down, four to go.
Wiping the sweat from my brow, I turn to see Jigsaw holding a member by his neck off the ground and tickling him as he chokes him. I chuckle to myself. He’s so weird. Behemoth is standing with his hand out holding a member by the throat as he swings and misses continuously. That makes me chuckle too. Penetrator is kicking the shit out of another one who’s on the ground cowering, and Techie is still fist fighting and looks like he might be in a bit of trouble. I stride over to Techie right as Dad and Chops exit the shop.
“What the fucking hell?” Dad calls out.
Chops pulls out his piece and the intense ringing of gunfire shocks me, as it catapults through the city street. I turn to see Chops shooting the 5113ers one by one.
“Brother, stop!” I call out, but he continues to slaughter them all like animals. They fall one by one as their brains burst from their skull or their chests splinter open with the ricocheting bullets through their bodies.
Breathing heavily as I look down at the carnage below me, my heart starts to race. The blood begins to run in rivulets down the footpath as the gang members bleed out on the dingy, litter-filled backwash street of Adelaide.
“We better move, the heat will be here soon,” Dad says and moves over to his bike.
“I’ve been stabbed,” The Penetrator announces, and we all turn to look at him as he moves his hand from his stomach and blood oozes out.
His face turns white and for a brief second I’m happy, but then I remember he’s a brother and I have to honour that pledge first.
“Shit, how deep is it?” Dad asks pulling up his shirt as we all assess his wound.
“Not sure. But we need to go.” That’s the most responsible thing I’ve ever heard Penetrator say.
I turn and take a deep breath, the blood on Behemoth’s arm catching my attention.
“Shit, are you cut too?”
He nods. “Yeah, but I’m fine. We need to go. We gotta move. Now.”
“Cuts off boys. Don’t need the heat knowing what club we’re from. Dirty your plates too,” Dad says and he’s right.
I nod taking off my cut as we all move quickly to our Hogs. Folding up my cut, I place it on my seat. Then spit in my hand and scrape up some dirt from the gutter, wiping it over my number plate and smearing it, so the numbers aren’t legible. Sitting on my cut on my seat, I start my engine. We need to get away from the slain bodies on the street. This shit—if we get caught—could mean serious time. And I’m not ready to lose Willow yet.
Fucking Chops!
The faint echo of police sirens filters in from the distance. I rev my bike and pull out onto the bitumen. We all ride fast, and pull out onto the main road, but the heat is at a distance behind us in no time. Need
ing to keep the range between them and us as much as possible, my heart races frantically in my chest as we all hammer down and race fast and furiously down the main road leading back to the clubhouse. We’re quite a distance away, at least half an hour, so we need to lose the heat or we’re in trouble. We don’t want to lead the heat back to the clubhouse either. Looking to my flank, I notice Dad nodding to the others and raising his hand in the air and splitting his two fingers apart. That’s the signal I’ve been waiting for. The roar of the Hogs all accentuate as we accelerate and come to an intersection where the red lights are evident and the flowing traffic from the opposite direction is alarming, but we gotta do what we can to lose the heat. So we all split off in different directions at the intersection. The three cop cars all take on differing directions, one follows after me as I weave through the oncoming traffic and dodge the cars. They honk and swerve to miss me, but I need to lose these guys or I’m done for.
I pull back the throttle speeding down the main highway, the cops right on my tail. The wind pulls at my face I’m riding so swiftly as I weave in and out of the cars on the road. My heart is hammering and all I can think of is Willow. All I picture is her beautiful face. I need to lose these guys, but they’re persistent and staying on my back. Accelerating so that everything is starting to blur, I chance a quick glance at my speedo and I’m clocking close to 140 km/h. I love riding fast, but I hate riding dangerous, and that’s what I’m doing right now because I have to keep that distance or increase it.
Knowing the cops, the more dangerous I ride, the more likely they are to call off the chase. I start weaving too close to the cars and making them hit their brakes. I hate the thought of causing an accident and especially if people are going to get hurt, I really don’t want to do that. Swerving in front of a bus, it rams on its brakes as I pull out in front of another car. Glancing in my mirror, the car swerves to the side and another car has to slam on its brakes to avoid the collision. The cops keep coming, but they are slowing down. Okay, I just have to keep doing what I’m doing. Seeing some dirt on the side up ahead I swerve off the road and flick the dirt and stones up onto the cars passing by. They honk and hurtle abuse at me as a dust cloud circles through the air giving me light coverage. I smile and move back on the road and hammer down even harder. The speedo clocks up to 160 km/h as I speed off leaving the cop car in my wake of dust and scattered cars behind me. He’s fighting his way through still trying to get to me, but this gives me some time to figure out a plan of action. Looking ahead I see a broken down semi carrying a bunch of cars, so I pull in skidding my Hog to a stop behind it then hide my bike up along the inside against the bushes. My heart beats rapidly as I watch down the road for the cop car. It comes past blaring its road sirens with lights flashing searching for me. Ducking down, as I watch it pass, a man sticks his head out of the truck and looks down at me.