by Sam Crescent
Secrets were the thing that ruined every single relationship as far as he was concerned.
“I know, Knife. I wasn’t trying to say anything about her,” Pipe held his hands up.
Knife shook his head. “Sorry, everything is just, I don’t know. Does Elena know everything that you do?”
“She knows what the club does, and if she asks questions I answer them. She’s my life, Knife. I’m not going to risk my life with her. I’ve got too much to lose.”
“We’re not starting a family yet.”
“Does Sarah know you’re going to propose?”
Knife shook his head. “I was waiting for the right time, you know? Every time I think it’s the right moment, something happens.”
“You’ve got to realize that timing has nothing to do with it. When you’re ready, you’ll ask her and nothing will stop you.”
“What are you two losers doing?” Egg asked, coming to stand with them.
The fight was getting bloody, and neither was going down.
Knife watched as Shawl looked toward Pipe. In very rare occasions a tie was called, and unless they wanted a dead body, a tie needed to be called.
While Shawl handled the fight, Knife watched as several Saints and Sinners made their way over to the bleachers. Saint took a seat in front of them. Was he taunting them by showing off his back? “So, the club is having a barbeque and I wanted to extend the invitation to my latest bunch of BFFs.”
“Are you joking?” Pipe asked. “If so, you’re not funny.”
“Come on, Pipe, you and I both know we’re pretty much family. I’m not going to risk losing my sister, so that makes us family. Two rival clubs joined by love and kids. It’s a fucking television drama waiting to happen.” Saint turned around. “Are you coming?”
“Yeah, count me in.”
“I’m extending the invitation to Sarah and to you.”
“Have you been keeping an eye on Ralf?” Knife asked.
“Yes.”
“What about the early hours of the morning?” Knife looked for any sign that his words bothered Saint. Not one single movement occurred from his face.
“The morning?”
“Your boy Ralf, he go for long walks in the morning?”
“No. Why?”
“Because someone is watching our apartment, and he’s the first person I think of. If so, tell him to back the fuck off. I mean it, Saint, I won’t have him hurting Sarah.”
“You do realize she belonged to Ralf first?” Rage said.
“Do you realize that I don’t give a fuck? Penny wasn’t always yours. Would you accept an old boyfriend if he came on the scene demanding that she belonged to him?” Knife asked. He looked at all of the Saints and Sinners. He got it. They were loyal to their boy. If it was the other way around he’d be the same. “Let’s just get something into perspective. Ralf left her, okay? I was friends with her. I gave him plenty of time to win her back, and all he did was fucking kidnap her. He lost his chance, and I’m not going to have you giving me the fucking stink eye because I love a woman that your boy let get away.”
“I’ve got no issue with you, Knife,” Saint said. “I’ll keep an eye on Ralf.”
“I think that is more than handled. I will go and see Shawl, and see what your winnings are.”
The fights had come to an end, and Knife stayed in his seat, refusing to leave. The Saints and Sinners stayed where they were, and Saint moved up to sit next to him.
“Do you know who is watching you in the morning?” Saint asked.
“I think you and I both know who is watching me, Saint. I’m not a fucking idiot.”
“You think it’s Ralf.”
“Can you tell me it’s not him?” Knife asked.
Saint remained silent.
“I heard what you did about Councilman Wallace. He stopped giving you a hard time.”
“I see Sarah likes to talk club business.”
“Nope. She wouldn’t shut up about Melissa, and she happened to see Wallace in town, and she got her answer. I believe her words were, ‘Pea knows how to work his fists, or at least he knows how to work something’.” Knife shrugged.
Saint chuckled. “I see why you both stuck together. I warned Ralf when he left the club to become a deputy. Sarah, she’s a good girl. She was friends with Elena for a long time, and she’s the kind of woman that gives you everything or nothing at all.”
“Ralf broke her heart, and she repaired the damage. He’s not got a shot with her.”
“I get that, believe me. I’ll deal with Ralf.”
“And if he doesn’t back down?”
“Don’t take him out. Ralf steps out of line, it’s a club matter.” Saint got up to walk away.
“If he hurts my woman in any way, it’ll be my matter, and the club won’t have a say.”
The Prez of the Saints and Sinners MC turned toward him. “Don’t start a war.”
“Tell me, Saint, would it be a war if one of my brothers took out a woman you called your own?”
He watched as Saint tensed. It was the first real sign of emotion from the other man, which he found interesting.
Saint was an enigma. He was a hard nut to crack, and there was no way to read him, but for the first time ever, Knife was convinced there was a lot of pain inside the other man, which he kept buried.
“I’ll handle Ralf.”
“You do that.”
****
Saint knocked on Ralf’s apartment door. He’d left the warehouse and come straight here. The way Knife had spoken, he knew the other man was concerned, not for his own safety but for that of Sarah.
Over the past couple of weeks Ralf had been withdrawing from the club, and whenever he put an appearance the man wasn’t there. Out of the whole club, Ralf had been the most unstable. When he got the job as a deputy it had seemed to put him right, as had Sarah. Now, something was going wrong, and Saint didn’t like it.
Ralf opened the door, and Saint just knew he’d been the one spying on Knife. The stench coming from him turned Saint’s stomach, and entering the apartment, he growled. There were several images of Sarah, then some of Knife and Sarah.
“What the fuck?” Saint said.
“She belongs to me.”
The sight of Ralf was the worst. He looked like he hadn’t taken a shower in weeks, or shaved, but what really made Saint nervous was the crazy look in his eyes.
“Sarah moved on, Ralf.”
“No, she hasn’t. She’s mine.”
Saint shook his head. “No, she’s not, Ralf.”
“Look at her.” Ralf grabbed a picture. It was one taken as she entered Dirty Deeds. Saint gritted his teeth to stop himself from speaking out. He wanted to know the extent of Ralf’s mind. “She doesn’t want to be with him. He’s plagued her mind. She’s mine, Saint. She always has been.” Saint moved around the apartment that had seen much better days. Pulling out his cell phone, he took pictures of the chaos that surrounded him.
“The club is changing you, and you don’t even see it.”
“Saint, this man you’re becoming, he’s dangerous. I don’t trust you anymore. You don’t even see what you’re doing is wrong. I’ve got to go before you hurt me as well.”
This was one of the decisions he had to make.
“All of the Hell’s Wolves are trying to take what belongs to us, Saint. If we don’t act now, they’re going to overrun the club. First Elena, now Sarah, we’ve got to stop them.”
“Stop them how?” Saint asked.
“Kill them, every last one of them. I believe we can get it so they’re at one of their fights. We blow the fucking place up.”
“You’ve lost your mind, Ralf.”
“I’m going to do it. If you can’t see what needs to be done, then I’m going to fucking deal with it.”
Saint watched as he reached for a gun, and he moved forward, gripping his arm. “Okay, fine, that’s what we’re going to do. We’ll take care of the Wolves. I should have listened.�
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Ralf nodded, and Saint hugged the man. Raising his arms up, he placed his arm across Ralf’s neck, and closing his eyes, he counted to ten.
“We’ve got to take care of them.”
“Yes, we’ve got to take care of them.”
“How long has it been since you’ve felt for the person you’ve killed, Saint?”
“You’re gone, aren’t you?”
Tightening his hold, Saint squeezed on Ralf’s neck at the same time he covered the man’s mouth, stopping him from breathing.
There was no choice. Ralf was off the rails, and it was only a matter of time before he was going to bring the club down.
“Son, when you’re in charge, you’re going to have to make decisions you’re not going to like. It’s going to grieve you, and it’s going to tear you down, but you’ve got to deal with it.”
He should have run when he had the chance.
Ralf tried to hit out, but Saint simply stared at his reflection, seeing two of himself. He drained the life out of Ralf, and as he did, Saint saw his old self as if he was a second entity. The young man who had been in love, and prepared to run away until that night where he went out with his father, taking the first life of many.
“Come with me, Saint, you don’t have to be here anymore. They have no control over you.”
“I should have run when I had the chance.”
Ralf started to kick, and tears fell from Saint’s eyes as the last bit of life left inside him. When he stopped jerking, Saint let him go, and Ralf dropped to the floor.
Grabbing his cell phone, he put a call through to Rage.
“I need you at Ralf’s apartment.” Before anyone could ask a question, Saint hung up.
Chapter Ten
Saint stood in Ralf’s apartment as he waited for the rest of the club to get there. He walked into the shower room and pulled out the curtain. Wrapping the body up, he started to gather up all the pictures and shit.
Minutes passed until there was a knock at the door. Going to the door, he opened it to see Rage and Willy waiting.
“Pea, Zeus, and Vanilla are heading up,” Willy said.
Saint moved to stand at the body.
“What the fuck happened?” Rage asked.
Handing over the pictures, Saint went about grabbing up the evidence of Ralf’s craziness.
“What the fuck?”
Saint finished gathering everything and looked at his brothers. They all filled the room, and the door was finally closed.
“Knife told me that he was convinced someone was watching his apartment. He was concerned for Sarah’s life. I came here, and Ralf wanted to kill all of the Hell’s Wolves. He was fucking crazy.”
“So you killed him?” Pea asked.
“Fucking think about it. Ralf had lost his bastard mind. He was always fucking unstable, but we did fuck all about it. We have a code. We live by the rules of the road. We all agreed to it, and that’s what I did. I wasn’t going to risk the club because Ralf couldn’t handle his woman moving on.”
“Fucking hell,” Vanilla said.
“It’s done.” He gathered up the body and lifted him. Saint struggled, but he wouldn’t allow one of the brothers to take over.
“Where are you taking him?” Pea asked.
“To be buried out in the fields.”
“Let me help,” Rage asked.
Saint didn’t say anything. “Clean up the apartment, and make a note. I want it to look like he just left. Leave his jacket as well.”
He would leave the apartment, so when he didn’t pay rent, the landlord would find an empty apartment.
Dumping Ralf into the back of the car, he climbed behind the wheel, ready to take off.
“You didn’t use a weapon to kill him.”
“Weapons create mess. I learned my lesson the hard way.” Saint had learned it was easier and cleaner to simply use his hands. He didn’t like the cleanup afterward.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“No.”
“Shit, Saint, you can’t bottle this up.”
“I’m not bottling anything up. I’m doing my job for my club, nothing more, nothing less.” Rubbing at his temple, they rode out to the clubhouse to get the necessary shovels. Once he was ready, they drove out to the far field in silence. Saint didn’t want to talk. Natasha was already plaguing him in ways he wasn’t happy about. He’d not thought about her in so long.
“Did he fight?” Rage asked.
“Of course he fought. They always fight. It’s what they do. They fight.” Parking the car, Saint grabbed his shovel, found a spot, and started digging.
“No one is going to blame you.”
“You clearly want to talk about your feelings. What the fuck is the problem, Rage? You got an issue.”
“We all take lives, okay? Some hurt more than others. Ralf wasn’t just some drugged up fucker. He was a brother. He was close to everyone, and that has to bother you.”
Resting his hand on the end of the shovel, Saint stared at the brother that he believed he was the closest to.
“Are you the same man who joined the club?”
“Fuck no.”
“I was going to leave the club. I wasn’t ever going to Prospect, and I had an out of Sinners’ Corner. Mom and Elena were gone. I didn’t know shit had hit the fan then. Life, it was good.”
“What happened?”
“I didn’t leave fast enough. Then, I just couldn’t leave.”
“Is this one of the reasons you’ve never taken an old lady?”
“Her name was Natasha, and she was all mine. We met in school and stayed together all the way up to high school. She was the one I was going to leave town for.”
“You never left.”
“I never left, and I’m never going to leave. No other woman will ever match her.” Saint stared at Rage. “I don’t talk about feelings because I have none. You ever tell anyone about what we talked about here tonight, I will kill you.”
“Fuck, Saint.”
He went back to digging. Ralf had got what was coming to him. He had protected the club, and he’d protected his sister’s best friend.
Once they were finished, patting the ground over the body, Saint said a little prayer for the fallen brother. When they were at home, he was aware of the whole club watching him, but he ignored them. Going to the incinerator, he started to burn all the evidence of Ralf’s madness. He was aware of the club brothers standing around him as he added to the fire.
“The club is changing you, and you don’t even see it.”
“Saint, this man you’re becoming, he’s dangerous. I don’t trust you anymore. You don’t even see what you’re doing is wrong. I’ve got to go before you hurt me as well.”
Pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind, he stared at the fire. There was no turning back now just like there was no turning back then. He was stuck.
****
Sarah glanced over at her man, and he was driving them toward the Saints and Sinners clubhouse. She had been to the clubhouse only a handful of times, and she’d never been called there before. Knife had woken her up this morning letting her know that they couldn’t stay in bed as Saint needed to see them.
“Are you okay?” Knife asked.
“Not really. Saint is fucking scary. He always has been.”
Knife chuckled. “We’ll handle it together, okay?” He grabbed her hand, and she was thankful for his comfort.
Leaning against his arm, she closed her eyes, and just basked in being close to him as he drove them toward the clubhouse.
The hum of the car and Knife’s presence were enough to calm her nerves.
“I love you,” she said, letting the words spill out.
She had been holding them back for some time now, and she opened her eyes, not knowing what to expect.
“That’s a relief, because I love you, too.” He kissed the top of her head. “I love you so much.”
They didn’t talk for the rest of the d
rive, and when they pulled into the parking lot of the Saints and Sinners, an air of foreboding settled around her.
It’s okay. Everything is okay.
“Pipe is here,” Knife said, parking the car.
Climbing out, Sarah wondered if Elena was at the clubhouse, or if this was something else.
She took hold of Knife’s hand, and they were met at the door by Rage. “Come in,” he said.
She started to shake a little.
Sarah didn’t know what to expect from the men she had once been comfortable with. Ralf had left the Saints and Sinners, but she had stayed friends with them, always being civil. Even though she and Ralf were no longer an item, she didn’t see the point in causing trouble.
All of the brothers were there, including Elena and Bluebell. The silence was deafening. “You’ve got to go through to Saint’s office.”
Nodding, she walked in the direction that Rage pointed. Knife squeezed her hand, and she was able to breathe again. Pipe was inside the office with Saint.
Rage closed the door behind them, and Sarah took the seat that Saint pointed at.
“Have I done something wrong?” she asked.
Saint chuckled. “You naturally believe you’re doing something wrong?”
“It’s not every day you get called to the Saints and Sinners’ clubhouse. Call me a pessimist.”
The smile dropped from Saint’s face, and he lost all humor.
“Oh, God, what happened?” she asked. Saint was a moody bastard at the best of times, but for this, she just knew something was wrong.
“What I’m about to tell you will not leave these four walls, and if they do, I’ll assume you’re the one who has spoken about it.”
Sarah shook her head. “I don’t want to hear anything.”
Knife put his hand on her knee. “Calm down, babe. Saint is being dramatic. Shit won’t happen to you. None of us will let it happen, will we?” Knife directed his question at Saint.
“No, nothing will happen, but you need to hear what I have to say. Last night, Knife approached me about a concern that he had over someone watching your apartment. What you said made me go to Ralf’s place, and there, I discovered that he had gone off the rails.”