Without Consequence

by Victoria L. James

  He was smart enough not to stay as close as we pulled up. I had slammed on my breaks only inches from the gates, my car skidding and kicking up dust as I threw her in park and twisted the keys from the ignition. He was still climbing from his bike when I slipped through the gate, my name sounding exasperated as it fell from him.

  Drew had kept my brother out of school without my permission.

  I’d only just hammered on the door when it was pulled open by a surprised looking whore. She was already moving in to try and stop me when I almost knocked her off her towering heels. I heard Deeks mumble to let me go as I rushed through the already inebriated crowd and around the back corridor to Drew’s bedroom door.

  I didn’t bother knocking. I burst inside and scared the shit out of a whore in the middle of a striptease, while my brother jumped from the bed like he’d been burned. Gripping the handle with every ounce of control I had, my eyes turned to Drew Tucker who remained lounged on his mattress, right beside where Tate had been.

  “Tate. Go and get in the fucking car. Now!” I said without so much as looking at him.

  He wasn’t about to argue. He knew me well enough to know I wasn’t fucking around, but Drew didn’t. He opened his mouth, his cocky smile worn with the confidence only he could exude. This was his house. His rules. I understood that and I still had enough sense to see that formidable side of him. The thing he was going to have to understand in that minute, however, was that Tate was my brother, and I was in a maternal mode that could move mountains. I flashed Drew a warning, begging him to not say something that would force me to contradict him. I didn’t want to undermine him in here, with these people. It would be disrespectful, but if he fucked with my family again, I would accept any consequence in order to defend them.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  Drew

  Ayda’s eyes held mine with a certainty that I hadn’t seen there before. Her body was tight, her arms looked like they were shaking with rage and I was pretty sure she was doing everything she could do to stop her chin from trembling beneath that big mouth of hers.

  The smile on my face just grew bigger while I stared back at her. There wasn’t much I loved more in life than a plan coming together. All day I’d spent around her snot nosed brother, taking him under my wing and telling him tales of the life that we lived around here. I was selling it to him like it was a damn cruise in the Caribbean. I’d filled his head with promises of topless women, endless beer and the chance to exert some of that power I knew he held in his shoulders over something other than a football game.

  And it had all been for this moment right here.

  Raising both brows at her as she stood in the doorway, I raised my beer bottle to my lips and took a slow, steady sip, even when the girl in front of me started to mark her territory by swinging her leg across my lap to take a seat. Her bare ass cheeks were brushing against the tops of my thighs, and no matter how much I kept my eyes on Ayda and continued to burn holes into her, this chick didn’t stop in her efforts to grab my full attention.

  When Hanagan started to shake her head and I knew she was only moments away from turning around and walking away, I flashed her a wink before looking up into the eyes of the woman in my lap. My hips bucked slowly beneath her in invitation, and just at the point where my chin was pushing forward to kiss her, I heard the stamping of familiar feet followed by the inevitable thudding of her slamming the door as she left.

  “How about you get rid of the others in here and me you and make this a party for two?” the girl whispered against my mouth.

  “I fucking heard that, Rosie,” another shrieked from behind her.

  Rosie. Rachel. Why did they all have to sound so alike? No wonder I got confused so fucking much around here.

  “Bite me, Gemma,” Rosie snapped back a little louder.

  If there was one sure-fire way to make a guy go limp, it was when bitches started bickering like schoolgirls around you. Dropping my hands to Rosie’s waist, I let them slide up to her ribs before trailing them all the way back down again, and squeezing tight.

  “How about I make this easy for all of you?” I grinned, my eyes narrowing as I bit down on my lip and made her silent promises I had zero intention of keeping.

  Gemma, Leona, Rosie, Michelle, Sara, fucking god knows what they were all called, all started to move closer as though I was inviting them all in for some giant orgy and my dick should have a cape attached to it cause it could fly all night long. Their faces were lit up brightly, each one with their own secret fantasy of sin shining from their eyes as they looked down on me and waited.

  With the kid brother gone, this party suddenly didn’t seem like it held much point at all. The shit with Ayda was weighing on my mind and driving me off-the-wall crazy, and I knew that if I stayed around here without anything else to do but fuck these women for a few hours, things would get messed up, and not in a good way. I still had to be careful how much time I spent too close to people. I still had to be aware of my reactions when someone approached me from behind or touched me at the wrong time. My body hadn’t adjusted and my mind was as fucked up as ever.

  I had to get out of there.

  “How about…” I whispered, glancing between them all and pausing to hold their attention. “You all get the fuck out of here, fast.

  “What?” one of them gasped.

  “You’ve let me down and I want you gone.”

  “Let you down?” Rosie repeated, her eyes falling wide as though I’d just slapped her around the face in front of her friends.

  My hands gripped her tighter, picking her up and literally tossing her to the side as I spoke. “You had one job today. One fucking job. To keep that kid here and get him off. You’re no use to me now. All of you, get the fuck out before I throw you out.”

  It didn’t take much more after that. The first two looked at each other and shrugged like they could just go get a ticket to another show in the next room, but Rosie, yeah… she looked wounded. I would probably have felt bad if I had one of those soul things people always went on about, but I hadn’t, so I didn’t.

  I jumped up from the bed before she did. I wasn’t there to wait around and console people like her. She knew what this place was like and she knew what her life would be like when she agreed to be a part of it. For her to lie there looking all sweet and innocent, like she’d only just realized I wouldn’t be proposing marriage anytime soon, was nothing short of bullshit. I was already wound up so tight that she didn't even have to say anything for me to snap when I turned around to see her still there.

  Charging forward, my fists sank into the mattress and I leaned over her, roaring in her face with all the power and aggression I could find to pour upon her. “GO!”

  She backed up, whimpering as she struggled to find her feet beneath her before she fled from the room, leaving nothing but the sound of her tears filling the air as she went.

  My hands flew to my head again, and I spun around in the bedroom, staring up at the ceiling like I was still waiting for those answers it kept promising me. But nothing ever came my way – not until I went to look at the one place I knew would give me some kind of motivation, even if it only made me even angrier than before.

  Pete’s picture.

  Scrubbing my face roughly, I stepped closer and kept my hands over my mouth as I stared at him and waited. It didn't take long for it to happen this time, either. There were no flashbacks of happier times, no hidden messages in what I was seeing, and I couldn't hear his voice for the other shit that was rattling around in my brain.

  In that picture, Pete was alive.

  In reality, he was dead.

  In that picture, I was happy.

  In reality, I was a mess.

  And the only connection I could seem to make was that one thing led to both those tragedies. One word that killed Pete and one word that turned me into what I was today when just a week ago, I'd promised myself I could be something more. Only one word standing in the way of what had
been, what was and what would be.

  Emperors.

  I took a few steps back before I really started to move. The decision was instant and I didn't waste any time waiting around to find a reason to pull myself away, think things through or worry for anyone else. This was all on me. This was what I had to do and it was the only thing that would make me feel better. I didn't even care if I got caught doing it.

  Grabbing my hoodie and my cut from the back of my bedroom door, I flung the door open and charged out of the hut without so much as looking at anyone I passed by. Their voices filled the air. Harry, Slater, Kenny, Jedd, those girls that I swore to Hades had to go by first thing tomorrow morning… I could hear them all. But I couldn’t see anything apart from the path that led to my bike.

  Stepping outside, I jumped down all the steps in one go, landing on the ground with a thud before jogging over to my bike and somehow managing to dress myself along the way. I was confident enough that the pack would stay behind and not follow me out. Considering Rosie was crying like she was giving birth, I knew they’d think this was about her and the stuff that had just gone down with Ayda. I guess it was in a way, but mainly this was about me needing to make the black turn to some kind of murky grey, just so I could see a little something a little more clearly for a single minute.

  I was so intent on moving, I didn’t even throw my helmet over my head before I kicked my feet along the ground to back up the bike and brought my baby to life. As soon as I felt those vibrations beneath me and the sound of her breathing filled my ears, that same old feeling of being indestructible came back to me in full force.

  Then I was gone.

  Every road I took was tackled with aggression and fuelled by anger. The pounding in my chest was almost as deafening as the roar of the Harley. I was so fucking pumped to do this for me. To do this for Pete. To do this for my pack.

  Tearing through town, I kept my face down and my eyes focused on the path in front of me, not stopping at any lights or for anyone as I weaved in and out of cars that were in my way and turned down smaller roads that I thought could get me there faster.

  The ‘Thank you for visiting Babylon’ sign flashed by me as I rode out of my safe zone and into the one place I knew I shouldn’t be more than any other place on the earth, considering that this time yesterday, I’d put everyone I knew and loved on lockdown. But there I was and once my tires had crossed that marker, I knew for damn fucking certain there was no going back. You don’t put one foot in the water and not dive in. Not in this world.

  The Emperors’ base wasn’t anything like what we had. There weren’t any yards, safety gates, cameras, business lots or parking bays in place. For them, there was an old bar off the road with a garage off to the side where they kept their bikes and some other stuff that I’d come across when crap had gotten real bad, right before Pete died. Back when we were forced to do jobs for this lot of scumbags under the pretense that we could all work together for a better tomorrow.

  Bullshit.

  Unlucky for them, I’d been let through every room they occupied so many times, I had the lot committed to memory like I’d built the place myself. I also knew their routines, and right now, those fat fucks would all be in the bar, smoking joints, feeling high and forgetting about the possibility of anyone turning up on their doorstep to cause trouble.

  Sorry, boys.

  I parked up a half a mile away and jogged the whole way down, moving along through the side of the trees in all black clothes so no one could see me. Every now and again, I’d stop to scan the streets, pausing if I heard a twig snap somewhere underneath an animal’s foot or take a second to make sure Harry hadn’t somehow managed to jump on my ass and follow me the whole way here. As soon as I saw the lights on, I ran around the back and charged straight for the building where the bikes were locked up for the night.

  The place was surrounded by empty beer crates, and after dragging a few over, I managed to create myself a stack that allowed me enough height to get up to the window at the back.

  My feet wobbled beneath me when I climbed up and straightened my back, glancing over both my shoulders one last time to check that no one was on lookout and that there were no boy scouts out here waiting to pop a bullet in my kneecaps, just for the thrill of it. Once I thought I was clear, I brought my elbow up and rested it against the bottom right hand corner, as far into the point of it as I could. The adrenaline was pumping through my bloodstream so much, it took all the power and control I had not to fuck this up and just smash it wide open.

  Patience. It was the first thing Pete taught me when we discussed enemies and tactics.

  Quiet.

  Count it in.

  Take your time.

  Go unheard.

  Closing my eyes, I kept my elbow in place and took a deep breath inwards. Then I tensed my fist, raised my other hand up high and smacked down on my knuckles hard, sending my opposing elbow into the window panel with enough force to cause it to dislodge, but not shatter completely. It stung like a fucker and the pain of having hit my own limb full force sent shockwaves up the bone in my forearm, but it was worth it the moment I saw that the panel had come loose and I knew I could shake the rest of it free.

  Sweat was trickling down my spine and my breaths were coming thicker, heavier and faster as I gritted my teeth and started to work the panel out of place. The bottom corner had split enough, but not shattered. I could pull pieces out and eventually, I’d manage to create enough of a gap for me to get through.

  Once I jumped down there, I was surrounded by the engines of my rivals.

  I was at the heart of my enemy’s MC. And I didn’t intend on leaving this place until I’d caused enough damage to put them all on a life support machine.

  Until I heard movement outside.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  Ayda

  “Ayda!”

  The hotdog was halfway to my mouth when I heard my name through the half time crowd. Tucking my soda under my arm and wiping my mouth off with a napkin, I turned to find Shane jogging up to me. Shane Odle was the Bulldogs’ number one fan and could read back any statistic from the last forty years of games. Considering he was thirty-two, I thought it was quite a feat. His favorite thing to do was beat his own predictions, so it wasn’t unusual for him to hunt me down and ask about what Tate was eating or why he was a tenth of a second slower than he had been a week earlier.

  “Hey, Shane. How’s it going?”

  “It’s good. I heard Tate’s missed a couple of practices. Everything okay?”

  I stumbled over my own feet at the words and tried not to look surprised. As far as I was concerned, he’d only missed one. That he’d skipped more than that was concerning. I’d worried every second of every day that he was being led astray by the very people he’d tried to rip off, and all behind my back. The irony of it wasn’t lost on me, but it didn’t make it any less disturbing.

  “Yeah, everything’s fine, Shane. He’s in good shape for tonight.”

  “I have no doubt. I see him running down the county road every night. He’s got power, and he could play receiver if he wanted to.” He gave me a grin, waiting for my usual response.

  “Ah, but he doesn’t want to. He’s happy where he is,” I said, leading the way back up to my seat. I waved my hotdog at Shane and laughed. “And stop putting ideas in his head. I get random calls from coach in the middle of the day asking why Tate’s asking all these questions about receiving and running times.”

  “He’s a good kid, and he’s eager. He actually asked me if I thought he could break the Bulldog record.”

  “To which you said?” I asked, raising an eyebrow as I found my seat and dropped into it.

  “I said yes. He’s fast, he’s driven and he’s focused.”

  I rolled my eyes and sucked some of my drink through the straw before setting it on the bench beside me. “Careful, or I’m gonna have to tell coach where to find all his answers.”

  I’d only just bitten in
to my hotdog when Shane’s eyes moved away and widened. When he met mine again, he smiled politely and took a step back, his pallor a little more white than it had been. “I’d better get back to my seat. Talk to you later?”

  “Sure. Okay,” I said, following his line of sight down the stairs and seeing the leather and patch. I almost choked on the hotdog bun, grappling for my drink as the rest of Drew Tucker came into view. Resigned to him being there, I slid across, giving him enough room to sit as I put my drink by my feet.

  I sucked in a breath and took another bite of hotdog, to stall. I knew why he was there. When I’d said I was taking my life back, I meant it. I’d very purposefully not gone into work for him that day, choosing instead to go back to my regular schedule at Rusty’s, after a heartfelt apology for my behavior the day before.

  Swallowing, I tapped my feet on the ground, ignoring my body’s response to his proximity. I couldn’t stop the reaction, but I could make sure he would never know about it, because nothing would ever come of it. He’d been more than clear about that.

  “Two games in as many weeks. People may start to think you like football, Drew.” I gave him a sideways glance and sucked in a breath. The line of his jaw was darkened with a vicious looking bruise, and his cheek was swollen making him look like he was storing nuts for the winter.

  His face was murderous as he stared back out to the field and brought his hands together between his legs. There wasn’t a hint of humor, not a drop of sarcasm or arrogance – just pure, heated, terrifying hatred for someone, something or maybe even everything around him. “You didn’t show in for work today,” he growled.

  “That’s not true,” I said quietly. “I was at work.”

  Having lost my appetite, I wrapped the leftovers of the hotdog in the paper and clasped it in my hand as I suddenly found the white tip of my shoes very interesting.