by London Casey
I felt a crunching explosion from inside my face. I gasped and had no air. Blood sprayed everywhere as my head snapped back so hard I swore the back of my head hit the middle of my back.
I fell back and tried to set my feet, but another fist hit me. Then another, and another. Each one harder than the previous.
Killer Kidd attacked me with right after fucking right.
All I could think about was the gunman. About Endo getting shot. About what it meant for Aldo.
My eyes were watery and I blinked fast. I turned my head, needing to get this fight back in my favor. That’s when I saw Killer Kidd in the air. Jumping with his fist flying at me. He cracked me in the jaw and I spun around.
I saw Aldo and that was it.
I didn’t even see the ground before I hit it.
And when I hit the ground, I was out. Done. Finished.
I’d lost a fucking fight.
Which was impossible… because if you lost a fight and you were one of Aldo’s guys, the punishment was simple - you were killed.
4.
(Winter)
I wore all black. I had black mascara on, a light shade of red lipstick, and big, black sunglasses. I rode in a hearse, Harlan driving, Rocky’s body in the back in the casket. The escort consisted of almost a hundred motorcycles. Guys in front of the hearse, behind the hearse, and on each side of the hearse. We took up both lanes of the road and nobody dared to honk a horn or try and stop the procession.
The cemetery was up on a small hill.
The ride took thirty minutes from the clubhouse.
Once we were there, four prospects were given the orders to carry the casket to the grave.
Stoney stood there with his hands in front of him. Black sunglasses on his face, a stray tear rolling down his cheek. He swallowed hard and let everyone get set up. The patched in members of the local charter were allowed off their motorcycles. The guys who rode in from other towns stayed on their rides.
The table members were allowed to stand on one side of the casket.
There was even a priest, the only one dressed in white, standing at the head of the casket, hands out, looking around.
It freaked me out to wonder if the MC had their hands in the church too.
“There’s not much to say,” the priest began, “as we begin the journey of goodbye deep within ourselves. We pay our last respects to Rocky standing - and sitting - together. The only family he knew. While we understand that death is the end of this life, it doesn’t mean it’s all the end.” The priest put his bible down behind him. “I could read for hours, quote scripture, sing a song even. But I know how Rocky would really want this. A few kind words from his best friend and then everyone celebrate his honor by surviving.”
The priest blessed himself. He stepped forward and blessed the casket. Bowing his head, his muttered something in a different language. He touched the casket, nodded, and stepped back.
Stoney took his sunglasses off. He blinked and swallowed again. “We can say a lot about Rocky. He was a miserable son of a bitch, wasn’t he?”
Everyone chuckled.
“Yeah, it’s okay to say that now. He can’t light us up now.”
A couple guys clapped.
“Bullshit aside, Rocky was one of our brothers. He stood beside me as VP of this MC, but also as my best friend. He’s taking secrets to the grave that nobody else here will ever know. That’s true friendship. That’s real brotherhood.” Stoney touched his leather cut. “That’s why we wear the cut. And we know what’s going to happen next. We say goodbye to Rocky but we don’t forget. Our memories won’t let him slip, and the reason why we’re here won’t ever slip.”
That was a pretty clear call for revenge, which was common. If you shot at the MC, they shot back. And whoever killed Rocky…
Just as long as they didn’t get to me first.
I shivered in the California sun and hugged myself. Sarah then appeared and put an arm around me.
“Now, let’s say goodbye to our brother and honor him,” Stoney said.
He put a hand to the casket. The table members did the same. I had to step forward and put my hand to the casket. It was then lowered into the ground. I stood there and watched it all. A man I didn’t love. A man I didn’t exactly care for. But he was the man who saved me from my dark past. That’s why I stuck it out with him.
I felt suddenly alone. Even with a hundred bikers around me, I felt vulnerable. I would never feel safe again, no matter what.
That’s when I started to cry.
Stoney walked to me and hugged me. He was tall, thin, and very strong. He held me for a few seconds and then started to turn. His fingers dug into my shoulder, his way of telling me to walk with him. So I did.
We got a little bit away from the scene and Stoney started to talk, his arm around me.
“I know you’re terrified,” he said. “Rightfully so.”
“Who did it?” I asked.
“I don’t know yet. We’re not the most peaceful of people. You know that, Winter.”
“I’m next, aren’t I?”
“Depends on the purpose of the hit,” Stoney said. “Do you feel you’re in danger? Anything you’ve done I need to know about?”
I looked at Stoney. “I think we all have demons.”
“Yeah.”
Stoney stopped and turned to face me. He held me at his shoulders. I feared he was going to make a move on me. He’d done it once before and we came close to doing something crazy. Not that I wanted him at all. But he was the President of the MC. What could I do? Especially now… I had nobody to protect me.
“Winter, look at me.”
I did.
“I made a call.”
“A call?” I asked.
Stoney nodded. “There’s protection coming for you.”
“What kind of protection?”
“Trust me, this guy will be able to protect you. He’s a fighter. He’s ruthless. He’s not part of the MC or any MC. He’s a direct guy. You don’t want to fuck with him.”
I nodded. “Okay. Thank you.”
Stoney didn’t look too confident.
I didn’t feel confident.
I had some stranger coming to protect me?
Just what I needed.
Someone else barging into the mess that was my life.
5.
(Tripp)
My apartment was shitty and small, but it had one amazing thing. The ocean wasn’t too far away. I had my bed in the corner of my bedroom - the only bedroom - and when I opened the window I could hear the beach. I couldn’t see it though. The view to see the beach came from the roof. But sitting in the corner of my room, window open, I listened. The distance slushing of the waves. The call of the seagulls. A crazy feeling that right there was the end of it all. The open sea. Some kind of wild freedom and unknown world.
I looked at my hands. They were swollen as hell. The back of my head still hurt to touch and I was probably concussed. I didn’t give a shit though. My job didn’t come with health insurance. You either suffered or died.
When I woke up in the circle, I figured Aldo would be standing there, waiting to shoot me. But he was gone. Long fucking gone. And so was Endo’s body. I was left with three guys, two of whom didn’t speak English. They gave me a couple shots to numb my head and face and patched me up. They then gave me a baggie of pills to take for pain and drove my ass home.
That was three nights ago.
I was down to the bare essentials in the fridge. Three eggs, four slices of bread, a couple frozen burgers in the freezer, and a six pack of lager. With my appetite, that would last me about two hours.
I knew they were coming for me. It was only a matter of time.
Aldo wasn’t a nice guy. He wasn’t made to be a nice guy. He wasn’t fair either. He was straight to the point. If you won your fight and won him money, he liked you enough not to kill you. If you lost your fight, you ate a bullet. That was it. I had no purpose in the world. I wasn’t
meant to do anything but what Aldo needed. I used the cash to pay for the shitty apartment, food, clothes, and booze. I had a little speedster car that I had paid for with cash after a really good fight a couple years ago.
My life was simple and everything was underground.
My apartment was on the top floor of the building. Under me were nothing but low life drug dealers and addicts. The place got raided on a weekly basis. I got to know the police that would bust in for two reasons. One - they were used to coming in to check on my place, just doing their job. Two - some of them would come to the fights and bet on me.
What a fucked up world.
There wasn’t a knock at the door but rather a thundering bang. Someone with a fist, punching it.
They’re here.
I moved from the bed and grabbed my leather jacket. I strutted through the apartment and looked around. It’d be the last time I’d see the place.
I opened the door and two of Aldo’s thugs were there.
“Let’s go,” one said.
“Yeah,” I said.
We went out back to a black car.
I had the backseat to myself as the two thugs took the front.
I figured we were going out to an open dessert. That’s where Aldo liked to do it. He’d take someone out to the middle of nowhere and kill them. Then bury them.
How did he not get caught?
Between him and the guys above him, they fucking owned everything. Buildings, land, people, power.
I was shocked when the car took a turn and we got closer to the beach. The ride was still another twenty minutes, passing by all the commercial stuff for the beach. We were going up into the hills, near the cliffs. That’s where the expensive beach houses were.
That’s where Aldo’s beach house was.
I couldn’t believe that’s where we stopped.
The two thugs pointed the direction for me where to go. I pictured me getting to the door and then having bullets rip through my back and kill me.
It didn’t happen.
I found Aldo standing outside, in a full suit. Sweat collected at his black hairline as he turned and looked at me.
It was just me and him.
The air was comfortable, breezy, the water down the cliff crashing into the rocks. The sight was serene. Way too beautiful for the darkness that was my life.
“You look like shit,” Aldo said.
“I feel it. How’s Endo?”
“Coma. The bullet was close to hitting his heart. Whoever pulled the trigger must have been nervous. They hesitated just enough for Endo to move.”
“Is he going to make it?”
“Don’t know yet. Doesn’t look good.”
“Jesus Christ, Aldo. I am…”
“Save it,” Aldo said, lifting a hand. “You yelled for him. That made him move. That saved him, for now.”
I nodded. “Any idea who did it?”
“That’s my business. Not yours.”
“Of course.” I looked around. So this was it. Not wanting to be a fucking pussy and take this like a man, I put my arms out. “Do it.”
“What the fuck are you doing?” Aldo asked.
“I lost the fight. I know what happens next.”
Aldo grinned. “You cost me a good paycheck, Tripp.”
“I shouldn’t have been distracted.”
“It was my son who was shot. I’ve been replaying it over and over for days. I could have squeezed the books and had the fight again, but that would have caused problems. There’s a lot of unhappy people with the outcome. But we have the reason.”
“Okay.”
Aldo stepped forward. He was at least six inches shorter than me. He had no muscle, no tone, nothing. But his power was greater than mine.
He reached up and touched my shoulders. His hands slid down to my arms and he put my arms at my sides.
“I’m not going to fucking shoot you, Tripp. You’re not going to die right now.”
The feeling was hard to explain. I thought about smiling. I was going to survive. Then again, Aldo didn’t do favors. Aldo didn’t give a fuck about loyalty. Everything and everyone had a price. There was always a payment.
In other words, the bullet to the head might have been better.
“What are you talking about?” I asked. “I lost the fight. I know the rules. No matter what.”
“I’ll get that money back,” Aldo said. “I thought about killing you, Tripp. I considered all my options. I tended to my son and found out you survived. Toughest guy I’ve ever met, Tripp. That’s you.”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
“I have another job for you.”
There it was… the price of my survival. The cost to not have a bullet tear through my skull and splatter my brains all over the back deck to his beach house.
I didn’t speak. I didn’t want to show thanks, need, regret, anything to Aldo. Because he collected emotions like a kid would collect toy cars. And then he’d pair them up, crush them, and enjoy it.
So I had to stand like a chunk of stone.
“You hear, Tripp?” Aldo asked.
“Yes.”
“It’s a protection job.”
“Protection? I’m a fighter, Aldo. I fight.”
“Oh, I’m sure you’ll have to fight,” Aldo said. He stepped even closer to me. I could smell his expensive cologne pouring from his sweaty pores. “This is your only chance. You fuck this up and you will die.”
“Okay,” I said.
“You’re protecting a woman. She’s recently a widow and there’s belief she’s the next to be killed. Your job is to make sure that doesn’t happen. She cannot die. Do you understand me?”
“Yes,” I said.
“You will protect her with your life. Because your life is on the line, Tripp. I know you’ve never done a protection job for me before, but it’s always good to learn something new. How many times can you get smacked in the head before your brain turns to mush, right?”
“I haven’t thought that far out in life.”
“Maybe you should,” Aldo said, his lip curling. “Now if you don’t mind I have to visit my son in the hospital. You’ll be taken to your apartment. You’ll be given an address. That’s where you’ll go.”
Aldo backed away. He turned and grabbed the railing, looking out to the ocean.
“Can I at least have her name?” I asked.
“Winter,” Aldo said.
Winter.
A woman named Winter.
And I have to protect her. I have to keep her alive.
~
The two thugs threw me into my apartment, literally. They cackled as they walked away. I was on the floor for a few seconds before I jumped up and dusted myself off. They left a piece of paper on the floor behind me.
I knew the general direction of the address.
It was a few miles south. There really wasn’t anything good about the area. It was a heavy crime area, some of it organized, some of it controlled by a motorcycle club through numbers and muscle. I couldn’t figure out what Aldo would have wanted down there though. He had more power than anyone. He had more muscle. Christ, if he needed a woman protected, he could have just given the orders to have her taken and hidden somewhere. He could put her up in a house, a cabin, fuck, a different goddamn country.
But he chose me.
Maybe a part of me wanted to be excited. I mean, a protection call from Aldo. That was something like a promotion in my line of business. I could handle this stuff. Keeping people alive. Fighting those who got in my way. But there was always a darker side of it.
Murder.
There was always murder. Everywhere.
I stood there, staring at the address.
This wasn’t a fucking promotion. This was a punishment. Aldo was sending me into this so I’d get killed. That’s what it was. That’s what my fate came down to. Any other guy who lost a fight would get a bullet to the head.
Me?
I was being pushed into a protection ru
n that made no fucking sense.
I grabbed my leather jacket, my keys, and left the apartment.
As I rode into a real shady part of the town, I looked for the address. To my complete shock, the address was a freaking coffeehouse. It was about a quarter mile from the real dark part of town. Right on the cusp of stepping from shit into true hell.
I parked my car and went into the coffeehouse. The smell was overwhelming. Everything in the place was mismatched and probably bought from yard sales and shit, but it actually worked. The vibe was a messy kind of chill place.
There were a handful of people sitting around. Some sipping coffee. Some reading books. A couple people just sitting there with earbuds in, listening to music, staring out the window. It made me wonder what world they lived in, you know? To throw on some tunes and disappear.
“Can I help you?”
I spun around and looked at the woman behind the counter. She was fucking beautiful. Naturally beautiful. Dirty blonde hair cheaply pulled back with a few chunks left dangling to the sides of her face. She wore not a spot of makeup, leaving her looking like she just rolled out of bed. I was a sucker for a woman like that. There was nothing like the pure beauty of woman. One who could just throw on some clothes and go for the day.
Her eyes were a crystal clear blue that took me back for a second. Her lips were a little thin, but had such a unique shape to them, I instantly pictured running my finger along them, tracing them. Better yet, using my tongue.
I snapped myself back to reality.
Christ, I needed to get laid. And soon.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
My eyes scanned down. I had no choice. Her breasts were perfect. Pressing against the black shirt she wore, leaving nothing for the imagination because it was easy to see she had been blessed in that department. Besides that, she had a name tag on.
Winter.
“Eyes up here,” she muttered.
“Yeah, sorry,” I said. “I’m actually looking for you.”
She put her hands to her hips. The subtle curves of her body made my fingers twitch.
“Excuse me?”
I put my hands on the counter and leaned forward. “I’m looking for you, darling.”
“Why?”
“I’m Tripp. I’m supposed to keep you alive.”