Broken & Burned

by A. J. Downey

  “We do this and we’re square?” Griz asked.

  “And then some. We might be able to even call you ‘friend’ for reals.” My pops grinned.

  “A moment.” Sparks said and they retreated towards their bikes, heads bent. They talked it over, a minute then two going by before finally coming to some sort of agreement. They stepped back towards us.

  “You got yourself a deal on one minor condition.” Sparks said and sniffed.

  “Oh? What’s that?” my pops asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “I wanna meet your girl. See with my own eyes what kind of shape she’s in. If she’s as you say she is then Spaz’ll be Out Bad like she wants.” He crossed his arms. It was well played, we insulted him, told him how to run his club in not so many words and he comes back calling us liars in not so many words. My pops looked to me. She was my girl.

  Everett probably wasn’t going to be too happy with this, that and it gives these yahoo’s a chance to scope us out, see what our numbers look like unless…

  “Fine. You can accompany us out to our club house. Has to be now or never.” My pops eyebrows went up but I had this in the bag. Sparks mouth turned down at the corners. It was the middle of the week, if he came now, we’d have a few MC members at the club house but people gotta work for a living, I was betting most of his club was at their nine to five’s now too.

  “Deal. We ride together under a banner of truce.” He put out his arm. My pops looked at it for a moment then clasped it.

  “Follow us.” He said simply and we went for our bikes.

  Sparks and my pops rode even, I fell in beside Griz… About a mile up the road Trigger fell in behind us as our tail gunner. Griz shot a surprised look into his side view and I gave him a feral grin.

  “The fuck he come from!?” he shouted over the wind.

  “There’s a reason why we have the rep we do!” I shouted back, and it was true. We were the boy scouts of the outlaw biker world. Always fucking prepared come Hell or high water. Griz shot me a look of solid respect and I counted it as a small victory.

  The gate was open when we got back to the club house and we pulled up the steep drive. Trig, my pops and myself backed into our customary spots while Sparks and Griz backed into some vacant places left by some of the Sacred Hearts brothers.

  Zander’s chopper and Squicks Beemer were absent as was Ashton’s Jeep. I saw Reaver, Doc’s and Loyal’s bikes but my girl’s BFF’s ride was gone. Shelly’s car was parked in the far reaches of the lot and Data’s bike was missing. I know Gypsy was at the garage… somebody needed to keep us going on that front. That pretty much accounted for everybody. Shit we were in a sorry state membership wise.

  Sparks and Griz wandered over and unabashedly eye fucked Matilda. She was beautiful, I’d worked my ass off to make her that way.

  “Who’s Tilly?” Griz asked softly.

  “My wife.”

  “My mother.” My pops and I simultaneously answered. Sparks and Griz exchanged looks.

  “Sorry for your loss.” Sparks said.

  “Did a damned fine memorial to her son.” Griz said. I nodded.

  “Thanks man.”

  My dad led the two men into the club house, I followed and Trigger followed me, his soft case containing his disassembled rifle slung over his shoulder. Shelly sat at a table with text books and notebook paper scattered in front of her, pencil moving across the page. Loyal sat across from her, a semi-automatic pistol in pieces in front of him as he cleaned it. Sparks let his eyes linger on Shelly a little too long and my pops grunted.

  “Shells c’mere an’ give yer old man some sugar.” He called. She looked up sharply and smiled. Her cool blue eyes, so much like Reaver’s skated over our guests and she smiled brightly. Loyal tried very hard not to watch her sashay across the common room and into my father’s arms. It was for her own good. She kissed my father long and slow and deep and put on an amazing show of it. Sparks and Griz looked both impressed and a little jealous, as well they should be. We had some damned fine women associated with this club.

  “Hey Prospect, where’s my girl?” I asked.

  “Pain was getting’ to her. She’s in your room layin’ down. We couldn’t get her to take any more of the strong stuff, she’s tryin’ to cope on Tylenol.” He slid the barrel back into the gun and let his eyes rove our guests. They were mostly curious with an undertone of hostility but he earned himself some serious points by not commenting.

  “Cool, thanks.” I jerked my head at Sparks to follow me and led him back into the private quarters.

  I took a deep breath outside my door and motioned for him to wait a sec and opened it. Everett was laying on her back in the night gown I’d bought her. Her hair was clean and dry and brushed out in a silky wash over the pillows behind her head. The girls must have helped her clean up some. She stared sightless at the ceiling, tears tracking down to damp the hair at her temples. She didn’t look over right away. I think she was ashamed I caught her crying. Her eyes slipped shut and she took in one of those hitching breaths and my heart broke for her. I went to her, not even giving two shits that the President of what could turn out to be a rival club looked on.

  “Hey Baby, what’s this?” I asked her. I sat down on the edge of the bed and picked up her hand between both of my own, laying a kiss on the backs of her knuckles.

  “I know Doc said I would dance again but I’m scared. I don’t know what kind of person I would be if I couldn’t dance anymore.” She said and the brutal honesty, the face of her fear made me want to rip the little douche nozzle’s guts out. I scowled and it was a fierce one.

  “Baby try not to think about that right now.” I pleaded.

  “It’s all I can think about Dray, I close my eyes and all I can see is that man. All I hear is that God awful sound and my leg it hurts and I’m swallowed by the fear and the pain and the noise and the blood all over again!” I pulled her tight against me and rubbed her back as she sobbed into the shoulder of my cut.

  “I don’t want to be this weak paralyzed thing Dray! My father didn’t raise a weak daughter! I don’t come from a weak people!” she cried and I pulled back and speared her with my gaze.

  “You’re not weak Baby, you’ve had a lot of really horrible shit happen in a real short amount of time. You’re tired, you’re hurt and you’re in pain, meltdown was imminent. It doesn’t make you weak. Just makes you human.” I kissed her forehead and held her tight, strands of her silky smooth hair tangling in my fingers. Sparks cleared his throat from the doorway and I looked over.

  “You got your wish Sweetheart. Spaz is Out Bad as soon as he makes bail or gets out of jail, whichever comes first.” He looked murderous and my respect went up for him a notch or two. Everett drew back from me and looked over at him confused.

  “Who’re you?” she asked.

  “Baby this is Sparks, he’s President of the Suicide Kings MC.” I told her and her steel blue eyes roved his cut, she shuddered in my grasp and I held my breath. A war was going on all over her face and finally it fell.

  “I wish I could say I was pleased to meet you and mean it… but honestly I don’t really know how I feel.” She said and it was probably the most graceful and perfect thing she could have said under the circumstances.

  “I get you.” Sparks said and smiled.

  “Baby.” I said but her eyes were far away for a second too long. “Em.” I tried again. She looked at me.

  “Yeah?” she looked exhausted, deep lines of pain engraved around her mouth and eyes.

  “Fuck Baby, I know you don’t like ‘em but take a pain pill for me? Sleep some?” I asked her.

  “For you.” She said, nodding.

  I got one out of the little orange pill bottle and handed her a glass of water from the night stand. She drank the pill down obediently and handed me back the glass. I eased her down so she was reclining, stuffing some pillows behind her to make her comfortable.

  “Thank you.” She said and I smiled, smoothing back some
of her hair. Sparks looked on but said nothing.

  “I’ll be back soon Baby.” I murmured and kissed her lightly. Her fingertips grazed my face as she returned the kiss and when I drew back, her steely blue eyes were filled with a vulnerability and practically begged me not to go.

  “Just escort me back out to your common area and I’ll let you get back to your girl.” Sparks said.

  “Thanks man.” I said and got up. I took him out and nodded to my pops and let them do whatever they wanted. Right now Everett needed me and damn it. I needed her too.

  Chapter 19

  Everett…

  Dray left the room with the scarred biker president from the club whose member shot me and I swallowed hard. I scrubbed at my face with my hands and let out a shuddering sigh. I hadn’t meant for anyone to catch me mid-meltdown. I tried to keep things like that under wraps and to myself.

  Dray slipped back into the room and shut the door behind him. He slipped off his jacket and cut with a sigh and it was like he stripped the burden of his Vice Presidency that came with it off too. He hung it on the hook by the door and turned to look me over. He looked as tired as I felt, anxiety radiating off of him like heat from a summer sidewalk. I swallowed hard, my throat squeezing tight with guilt at being the cause of his discomfort.

  “Don’t.” he said and his voice was hard… “Don’t do that Em, don’t cry.” He said and he trudged the few short steps across the carpet to sit down beside me on the bed.

  “I love you and it kills me to see you cry.” He said and I sniffed back the threatening tears nodding a little too rapidly. He pulled his shirt over his head and let it drop to the floor before bending to pull off his boots.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “Getting into bed with my woman.” He answered back succinctly. He dropped his pants and lifted the blankets and spent several minutes getting the pillows out from under my leg and both of us tucked in. He held me close and let me find a position that was comfortable, or as close as I was going to get to it with my leg the way it was.

  “I’m not going anywhere or doing anything else Baby so just relax.” He said into my hair. I closed my eyes and held close to him.

  “I missed you.” I said thickly. The pain medicine was starting to severely blur the edges of my consciousness.

  “I’m here now.” He said and it was true. He was, and I drew strength from having his hard body up against mine.

  I fell asleep, much more fitfully that when I’d tried to on my own, wrapped up warm and safe against Dray’s chest, his hands playing along my body, rubbing up and down my arms, my back, through my hair, just anywhere he could reach. It had been a long time since a masculine presence had comforted me. Probably since before my da’ had died. Jerry hadn’t really tried to understand the depth of the hit I’d taken losing the only parent I had ever really known.

  Dray, even though he still had his da’, he understood. We connected on a sublevel, the very fibers of our being weaving together into a beautiful tapestry… Two broken halves made whole. I knew it, deep down where it counted, that we were somehow meant for each other. I think he did too. He didn’t say it, he didn’t have to… he telegraphed it just as surely with every look, every touch and with every little nuanced thing he did for me. From opening doors to carrying my bag, to holding me close and smoothing away my tears.

  Draven loved me just as surely as I loved him and that, in and of its self, would go a long way in healing my hurts. Jerry and life in general may have burned me but good in recent memory but meeting and loving Dray was a soothing balm to my soul and made all the nasty bits bearable. I was vaguely aware of the bedroom door opening.

  “Go away. I’m with my girl.” He said, without even opening his eyes and I smiled. The door shut and we slept some more and I felt much better for it. We woke sometime in the evening. A light rap at the door and it opened. We turned to look and Ashton poked her head inside.

  “I fixed a late dinner. You should both eat.” She said gently. I smiled.

  “Thank you.” I said. She nodded and ducked back out.

  “I take it that means you’re hungry?” Dray asked with a vague smile in the dark. I nodded.

  “How’s your pain?” he asked, expression darkening.

  “Okay. I should probably take something more.” I sighed.

  “Yeah well, let’s get you some food.” He extracted himself from beneath me and I nodded. He found my crutches and switched on the bedroom’s lamp on the back of the headboard. The little clock radio glowed that it was after eleven thirty. I yawned and he helped me get up.

  “Hey, look who’s up.” Doc said as we went into the common room. Dragon was sitting at a table with Doc and they were eating. Ashton brought two plates to their table and set them down. I sat by Doc, Dray across from me by his dad.

  “So what’s the word?” Dray asked.

  “Sparks and Griz left out of here right after you brought him back out.” Dragon took a drink of his beer before going on.

  “Said they’d be in touch as soon as they had their house in order.” He shrugged.

  I tucked into warm mac and cheese and sighed in pure bliss. Ashton knew how to cook! I smiled at her when she and Trigger set down plates beside mine and Drays and pulled over another table. They joined us and we ate in relative silence for a time.

  “Your red headed friend came by why you was asleep. She said Dray told her to get lost and looked a little butt hurt about it. I told her I’d have you call her when you got up.” Dragon said.

  “Ah, so that’s who it was. I didn’t look.” Dray said. I smiled across the table at him but secretly feared Mandy’s feelings were really hurt. She was sensitive, God love her, and I had no clue how she managed to be as awesome as she was with her father the way he was around her given that sensitivity. Gravel crunched out front but no one seemed concerned. I guess they were used to people coming at all hours. All of our heads shot up when a light rap fell at the door.

  “Who the fuck is that?” Trigger asked no one in particular. Chairs scraped as he, Dragon Doc and Dray stood up as one. Dragon pulled a gun out of the back of his waist band and went for the door. Doc had a gun of his own in hand and Trigger went with Dragon. Dray stood, hands to his sides, held slightly away from his body in a fighter’s ready stance. Ashton looked surprised and we traded alarmed and helpless looks. Apparently knocking was something to be alarmed about?

  Trigger palmed the door handle and ticked off three fingers on three he jerked the door open and stood behind it, Dragon aiming his handgun out the open portal. He aimed the gun skyward.

  “The fuck you doin’ back here unannounced?” he asked. A throat cleared and a pair of meaty hands held skyward appeared inside the door frame.

  “Was hoping to talk to your VP and his girl. My club has a little present for ‘em.” The gun came back down and aimed at a great big bear of a man I didn’t know.

  “What kind of present?” Dray asked.

  “A peace offerin’, if you’d be so kind as to come with me. Bring who you want. I drove in my grocery getter so the girl can come too.” Trigger patted the man down while he spoke.

  “He’s clear.” The blonde Viking declared.

  “Trig, step out and keep an eye on him.” Dragon addressed his Sergeant At Arms then leveled the big man with his dark stare.

  “Can’t be too careful, you understand.” He said.

  “That I do. Not tryin’ nothin’, my lips to God’s ear. We want to make things right between us.” The man put one palm down and held the other in its place as if he were swearing on a bible and took a step back. Trigger followed him out and the door closed.

  “Lot of balls to come back here that quick.” Doc muttered.

  “Who is he?” I asked softly.

  “That’s Griz, he’s the Suicide King’s VP.” Dray answered.

  “Do you think he meant what he said?” Ashton asked softly, fear evident in her golden eyes as she stared at the closed door her
man had just gone through.

  “I think so.” Dragon said thoughtfully.

  “Been a minute since we’ve had to play inter-club politics.” Doc observed, then swore. I could swear I heard him mutter “I’m getting’ too old for this shit.”

  “What could they possibly have for us?” I asked.

  “Think along the lines of your dad’s friends for me Babe.” Dray said pointedly and I swallowed.

  “Nothing good then,” I stated dryly, “But not necessarily bad for us.” I mulled things over and looked up at Dray.

  “What will happen if we don’t go?” I asked.

  “Mmm maybe it’s an insult too big for these boys to swallow. Could start a war.” Dragon observed. I mulled things over further, Dray watching me, his face schooled into an undecipherable mask. Cool, appraising.

  “If it’s up to me I say we should go.” I said at last.

  “Why?” Dray asked.

  “If they are on the level then it’s nothing that will hurt us, and if we refuse its war and they’ll have a legitimate gripe and ability to vilify us. If they aren’t on the level, and its war as a result, it will be war on a wrong done to us. We’ll have the moral high ground and you can always recruit soldiers to your cause when you have the moral high ground.” I looked up at all the semi-stunned faces.

  “What? It’s nothing I haven’t heard before… I come from a land of martyr’s and cutthroats all in the name of freedom fighting. My fairy tales growing up were of Irish car bombs and foul English overlords.” I said, voice full of derision.

  It was a double edged sword growing up around the people I had. On the one hand I didn’t have any illusions about the way things were in situations like this… on the other hand… I didn’t have any blissful ignorance either. I sighed out. This was making me tired. I ate another bite of food.