I reached for Oz’ hand and squeezed it warmly.
“Okay,” I said and his eyes immediately brightened up.
“Because, you know, sis, I never wanted the kind of job you want for me. I don’t want to lead a boring life at a desk, pushing numbers and taking orders from rich fat bastards,” he said, and I could hear the passion in his voice. I smiled at him warmly.
“Yes, I know, Oz, and I’m sorry that I’ve been trying to push you in the other direction. I shouldn’t have done that,” I said and he finally smiled. I could see that he was happy we were finally on the same page.
“You’ve changed your mind?” he asked and I shrugged my shoulders.
“I’m not excited about it, but I also know that I can’t realistically stop you from doing what you want to do…what you will do,” I replied and Oz smiled more fully.
“I promise you, sis, I won’t do anything to make you sad. I’ll do everything to make you proud of me. I want to give you the life you deserve and this is the only way I know how,” he continued, before he stood up from his chair and came over to give me a hug.
We held each other tightly, and I was so relieved to be on talking terms with him again, that I felt my eyes water up.
“I just want you to be safe, that is all, and now I know that the Marked Skulls are your best bet,” I told him.
Oz went back to his chair and emptied the rest of the coffee down his throat.
“They’re good men, sis. They live by a set of rules and a moral code of conduct. They’re not like some of the other MCs around here, like the Dark Legion and the Hell’s Drifters. Like people in the neighborhood actually like the Marked Skulls guys. They rely on them for their own safety, even though they’re just a small MC right now,” Oz was talking enthusiastically, like he was gushing about getting into the college of his dreams. I felt a lump in my throat at the thought that he would never go to college, he wouldn’t fulfill my dream.
But it was wrong of me to try and live vicariously through him. I shouldn’t have expected my brother to fulfill my dreams. I shouldn’t have burdened him with that responsibility.
“Okay, I’m glad to hear that. As long as you’re safe and you’re leading a life with a clear conscience, that’s all I really care about. Most of all, I want you to be happy,” I said. Oz was grinning from ear to ear.
“I’m happy now, sis. I wouldn’t be happy if I didn’t have you on my side,” he said. I dusted my hands and stood up from the kitchen table.
“You need to wash up after yourself though, mister, I’m not going to be mothering you any longer—now that you’ve declared yourself a grown man,” I said and placed my hands on my hips. Oz laughed and started taking the mugs and the cookie plate to the sink.
I watched him as he tried to haphazardly wash the dishes. I was happy that he was happy. I knew he was a smart kid, and that he wouldn’t do something stupid like our dad. He wouldn’t get himself killed.
Oz turned to me, catching me looking at him.
“Should I be thanking Abe for your change of heart?” he asked with a grin, and I crossed my brows. It made me sick to even hear his name. I didn’t want any more reminders.
“I don’t know what you mean,” I said, and I knew that Oz could see the anxiety on my face.
He turned to me, drying his hands on the kitchen towel. He was watching me curiously.
“What’s going on between the two of you?” he asked and I gulped, holding my head up so he wouldn’t doubt that I was miserable.
“Nothing. We’ve called it quits. You have nothing to worry about,” I said, and turning from him, I walked out of the kitchen.
Oz followed me, as I made my way towards the bedroom.
“What happened? I thought things were going smooth between you guys,” he asked. I stopped at my bedroom door and looked at my brother, trying to put on a show for him.
“Yeah, I guess, it wasn’t anything serious. We decided that it wouldn’t be appropriate for us to be sleeping together, now that you’re going to be working with him. He thought it would be unprofessional and I agreed,” I said, gave him a forced smile and opened the door.
“Sis, are you okay?” Abe asked, blocking me from shutting the door on his face.
“Yeah, of course, why wouldn’t I be? Don’t worry, Oz, it’s not like I fell for him or anything. He’s just a guy,” I said.
Oz looked at me, with a worried expression on his face and stepped away so I could shut the door.
In the privacy of my room, I could finally do what I had been waiting to do all afternoon—to fall on my bed, cover my face with a pillow and just cry.
Chapter 21
Abe
It was the night of the first shipment from the Garcias, and to say that the atmosphere was tense—would have been an understatement. We didn’t really have backup. It was Girth, Rodeo, Oz and myself and it was our responsibility to collect the weapons at the dock and transport it safely to our warehouse.
Two other guys from our MC had been appointed to guard the warehouse, and they would stay on guard till the next day when we were ready for distribution.
I knew, as well as Rodeo and Girth, that four people was too little to take the handover of the weapons safely. If something went wrong, we could go belly-up pretty quickly.
With still half an hour to go before the ship’s arrival; Girth and Oz paced around the dock in the dark. Rodeo and I were standing guard at the other end, closer to the jetty. I could sense that Rodeo had a lot on his mind and if he could, he would have punched me in the face for getting all of us involved in this.
“You’re going to burst a vein,” I said and he stopped walking and charged towards me instead.
“Damn fucking right I am! And you’re responsible for that,” he hissed in the dark, trying to keep his voice low but failing at it.
I breathed in deeply and shook my head.
“When are you going to let this drop, brother? We haven’t even started and you’re already shitting bricks,” I retorted and Rodeo threw his head back, like he had enough of me.
“Look man, I’m all for ambition and looking out for the betterment of our MC, but this is too much and too fast. You were supposed to have the new prospects patched in first before we even got anywhere near shit like this!” Rodeo raged and I watched him.
“I’m working on it,” I said.
“He’s fucking working on it!” Rodeo threw his arms up in the air and whipped away from me.
“All you’ve done, since you made these promises, is find this kid from somewhere, push a gun in his hand and now you expect him to be our savior. We need more guys, Abe. We need many more guys!” he drawled on.
“And what have you done since then?” I snapped at him.
“It wasn’t my fucking idea!” Rodeo snapped back and we grunted at each other.
I heard Girth walking up to us, I was sure that he and Oz had both heard us arguing.
“I see them coming. We should take up our positions,” Girth said, in his usual formal commanding tone.
Rodeo and I threw each other warning looks before we walked up to the edge, to remain as close to the ship as possible. Girth and Oz remained at the back of the docks, making sure we weren’t interrupted.
“Here we go,” I heard Rodeo mumble beside me as he watched the ship pulling in towards us.
***
We worked in the dark, with the help of torchlights, helping the crew unload the shipment. These were heavy crates filled with weapons and ammunition, the likes of which we had never used or even seen before.
We hadn’t heard from Girth or Oz yet, which was definitely a good sign; meaning that nothing had gone wrong yet.
Once all the shipment had been neatly assembled on the side of the docks, we shook hands with the crew who stealthily got back on board and started to make there way back to where they had come from. No questions were asked on either side. That was the safest option for all parties involved.
Rodeo and I excha
nged looks as we watched the ship depart from the docks again. Things had gone smoothly and even in the dark; I could see the relief on his face.
“Time to carry this off into the truck,” Rodeo said and I nodded.
“I’m going to go get Girth and the kid to help us, or else we’re going to be stuck here till daylight trying to carry all this,” I told him.
I left Rodeo to watch the shipment and I walked towards where I knew Girth and Oz were standing guard. They heard me coming and both of them whipped around to me, with their guns pointed out.
“Good reflexes,” I told Oz with a grin and Girth grunted in agreement.
“We have the shipment, it all went smoothly. All quiet on your side?” I asked them and Girth nodded.
“Not a single movement,” Oz said and from his flushed face, I could see that he was pumped up. He’d been hoping for some action.
“Come with me, you boys have to help us transport the shipment into the truck,” I said, turning from them again and if I hadn’t moved, the bullet that whizzed past me, would have got the side of my cheek.
“Down!” Girth growled. The three of us ducked and I had my gun out in my hand before the next bullet sliced past us.
“We’re under fire!” Oz shouted.
“Stay fucking down!” Girth barked at us, while he crouched and moved forward; trying to go closer to the source of the shots. Girth started shooting, and we could hear his bullets bouncing off crates and walls and planks.
“Oz! Fuck!” I cursed, when I saw Oz following Girth in the dark. The more Girth fired, the more shots were being fired at us.
I’d promised Alexis that I would keep her brother safe, and now he was walking straight into a shootout.
I cursed some more under my breath before I followed them, hoping that Rodeo would have heard the shots too and he’d turn up here, giving us some much needed backup.
Girth and Oz were ahead of me, crouching and running ahead in the dark, shooting in the direction they thought the shots were coming from. None of us had located the source yet. It was obvious that the men shooting at us were on foot too and the closer we drew to them, the farther they backed from us.
“Oz, stay fucking down!” I shouted, but he wasn’t obeying my orders, he was following Girth but the difference between them was that Girth had several years of experience in shootouts and this was Oz’ first one.
Another bullet whizzed past me, narrowly missing my earlobe and I fired back with rage. I knew it was the Dark Legion, I could feel it in my bones. They’d got wind about this shipment and now they were here to fuck it up.
Oz and Girth kept running ahead of me, firing shots in the dark. We had no idea if we’d got anyone yet or not.
“Oz, stand down! Stand fucking down!” I raged at him. He was too close to getting himself fucking killed. Oz heard me this time, and he stopped in his tracks and turned to look in my direction. From the corner of my eye, I caught the movement.
I saw the silhouette of a man in the dark, several feet away from Oz, half hidden by a tower of fish crates. It was a split-second. I saw him aim his gun at Oz and I pulled the trigger. The bullet entered his left thigh and passed through and the fucker fell to the ground.
Oz looked more surprised rather than relieved. Girth growled, alerted by what had happened. He charged at the man who was now trying to drag himself away, still clutching his open wound.
“Dark Legion!” Girth shouted as he stood over him, with his gun pointed at the man’s head. Oz and I ran towards them. Behind us, I could hear Rodeo’s hurried footsteps.
“Let him go,” I said to Girth as I joined him. Girth was right, I recognized his patch.
“Get the fuck outta here, you filthy scum,” Girth growled at the guy, who started dragging himself away again.
“Why did you let him go?” Oz turned to me, his gun still dangling from his hand.
“Because I’m not ready to start a war yet,” I said, thumping Oz’ shoulder.
“What the fuck happened here?” Rodeo had run up to us, out of breath. He was looking at us, at the trail of blood on the ground in front of us. The Dark Legion fucker had disappeared into the dark by now, probably joined his group of pussy buddies who didn’t have it in them to keep up the fight they’d started.
“Nothing. Just some minor distraction. We should get back to the shipment,” I said, walking past Rodeo. I could hear him cursing under his breath but Girth and Oz joined me on either side now.
I could sense Oz looking at me. We both knew that I’d saved his life tonight.
“Abe, thanks man,” I heard him say. I looked at him and nodded.
“It was my pleasure,” I replied.
Chapter 22
Abe
Church was called early in the morning, so we could report with news. According to our brothers who were posted at the warehouse, there hadn’t been any trouble since we’d dropped off the shipment to them.
Oz looked tired as he stood behind me, we hadn’t slept all night. Girth and Rodeo were on either side while the rest of the MC were scattered around the bar. Lewis was at his usual spot, on a bar stool in front of the counter, shaking his head.
“There was trouble, of course there was,” he said.
“But we handled it and nobody got hurt,” I retorted and Lewis clucked his tongue.
“And what about the kid? How did he hold up?” Lewis asked and he was looking at Girth for his honest opinion.
“The kid did well, he is a better shot than we thought he would be. His reflexes are good and he didn’t hesitate,” Girth replied and Lewis nodded his head.
“Well, I’m glad to hear that we won’t have to kick him out just yet,” Lewis said and I could sense Oz holding his head up proudly behind me. It was all he aspired to be.
“We should speak to the Garcia Brothers and let them know that everything has gone smoothly,” I said and Lewis looked at me sharply.
“Except that it didn’t,” he retorted and I clenched my jaws.
“We were expecting some retaliation from the other MCs and our expectations were met, but we handled it too,” I stated, standing my ground, watching Lewis as he shook his head.
“Yes, you should speak to our contact in the Garcia group and let them know that we won’t be taking on this deal,” Lewis said and he tapped the counter for a drink.
“That won’t be the best step right now, we’ve got our hands dirty already and we have proven that we can handle the brunt,” I said.
“Yeah, that’s because the whole fucking Dark Legion wasn’t up our asses this time. The next time, they’re not going to be so lenient about how many men they send to disrupt our business,” Lewis shouted, to shut me up and I had to clench my fists to stop myself from picking a fight.
“We can handle it,” it was Rodeo who spoke up and Lewis was just as shocked to hear his voice, as I was.
“Look how the tables have turned,” Lewis remarked and Rodeo took a step forward towards the older man.
“I was there, Lewis, I’m confident that we can handle it. Last night was a minor hiccup. If Abe is able to recruit more guys like this kid here, we’ll be up and ready for business in no time,” Rodeo defended our cause and I watched him, confused. I didn’t expect him to be on my side. Lewis glared at Rodeo and then at me.
“Whatever you’ve snuck into his drink, is working,” he told me.
“Rodeo is right. By the time of the next shipment, Oz will be better trained and hopefully, I’ll be able to recruit some more new prospects to our team,” I countered and Lewis shook his head.
“We are taking risks with these new prospects, getting them involved in our shit. Like this kid here, he has no experience, he doesn’t know us…how do you expect him to have our fucking back? One of you is going to get yourselves killed and I just can’t fucking afford that!” Lewis was barking and he jumped off the stool, with a tall glass of beer in his hand and he walked towards us.
“It was a good run. You’ve proven yourself,
son, and now it’s time to just fucking let it go,” he said, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Ever since Fred died, you guys have all been acting up,” he mumbled under his breath and turned away from us.
“Call the Garcia brothers and tell them the deal is off!” he said, as he walked towards the office at the back of the bar. “I can’t afford to lose any more of my men!” he added.
Lewis banged the door of his office shut behind him, and the rest of us relaxed.
“The deal is off? What now?” Oz was jumpy with the questions.
“What happened to you, brother?” I asked Rodeo, who was rubbing his hand over his face.
“You were right, we need to grow. I’m tired of this bullshit sitting around, collecting protection money from grocery shops and waiting for the Dark Legion to take shots at us,” Rodeo said.
Girth grunted in response.
“So what will we do? Lewis said that the deal is off?” Oz barraged us with questions again and we looked at his shiny excitable face. “Does that mean that I have to go too? I thought I did well last night?” he continued and I reached for his shoulder and squeezed.
“What you are going to do is go home to your sister and let us deal with this. Go on, go!” I barked at him. Oz looked dejected as he turned from us, but he obeyed my order this time and we watched him dragging his feet out of the bar.
“It’s like having an excitable squirrel around all the time,” Rodeo said and Girth grinned.
“Yeah, a very excited squirrel,” I said.
“Has his sister forgiven you for getting him involved in this shit?” Rodeo asked and I jerked my head to look at him. I hadn’t told any of my brothers or even Lila, about what was going on between Alexis and me, or who she was.
“Don’t look so surprised, man. I’m your best fucking friend. I figured it out,” Rodeo said and thumped my back. Girth was grinning too and I clenched my jaws. I hadn’t thought about Alexis for most of the night and now he’d reminded me.
“Yeah, she’s forgiven me. Let’s go call the Garcias,” I said and the three of us walked out of the bar together.
Abe (Marked Skulls MC Book 3) Page 11