Railed (Courage MC #2)

by Kara Hart

  I pushed her onto her side and wrapped my arms around her. I wanted to feel her completely. I wanted to consume her. That night I did everything with her.

  She became mine. All mine. I couldn’t believe it. When I first met her, she was nothing to me. No one was, really. The only thing I wanted from the world was recognition from my brothers. The only thing I valued was my damn pride. Now there was something to live for. Now I saw something bigger than myself.

  “You complete me.” she whispered in my arms. I ran my fingers through her wild hair. We looked like two crazy animals. Scratch marks swiped across my back. My handprint was firmly against her ass.

  I cupped her tits and smiled, “Freckles, you mean the world to me now. I’m gonna make a life for you. That I promise.” I didn’t know how, but I was going to do it. I had to.

  It was times like these that made me feel a bit nostalgic and crazy. The things I had seen, the pain I had experienced, those were the things that made me act the way I did. I isolated myself because no one could have possibly understood the shit I had gone through. Hell, I was a killer. Who was going to be on my side?

  But Hope was. Hope was always there for me. She knew a little about pain. Her family life wasn’t exactly picture perfect. After holding her for hours, I decided I needed to get some fresh air. “I gotta piss.” I told her, climbing out of bed.

  “Well, hurry. I think I’m ready for round 3…” she moaned, licking her lips.

  I gave her a sly glance and lit up a cigarette. “Sure you can handle it?” I asked, laughing through a cloud of smoke. She kicked at me as I walked out of the room.

  I closed the front door and sat down on my porch. Damn, these past few days have been hard on me. I thought to myself. Couldn’t a biker relax at all? I looked up at the night sky and saw a full moon staring back at me. Hello, cruel world. All the pain, all the hurt, all the bodies that have built a kingdom around Courage, weren’t all for nothing. They served their purpose as a lesson, maybe. They pushed me towards Hope.

  As I took another drag, I heard something crash upstairs. Then a sharp, blood-curdling scream rang out. “AVERY!” Hope? I turned around and ran upstairs, slamming my body into the wall at the top. “I’m coming!” I yelled, grabbing at my pistol. Only, my pistol wasn’t on my hip. I took my holster off earlier. What the fuck was wrong with me? How in the world could I think things were safe right now?

  My blade was gone too. I had nothing, spare my fists, to protect her. Still, I kicked through the door and found myself face to face with Luke. He was holding Hope, with my pistol in his hands. I stopped myself immediately and held my hands up.

  “Take it easy, Luke.” I said. “You don’t wanna be doin’ this.”

  He pointed the gun upwards and shot at the ceiling. Hope screamed. “Don’t tell me what the fuck to do.” he said. “Pretty girl you got here.” He ran his tongue across her smooth cheek. I could have killed him then and there if he didn’t have an advantage over me. Fucking bastard.

  “Let her go, Luke.” I said. Hope was shaking uncontrollably. Her eyes were shut and soaked with tears. I had to do something. But what?

  “I seem to remember you owe me some money. You’ve got all these nice things, Avery. A beautiful girl, big house, and a big screen TV. The way I see it, this is all interest for your late payment.”

  “You were gone, Luke. You left. You betrayed the Courage. Shit man, don’t you remember your oath?” He had no shame bustin’ in here like this, at this time. We were at odds, but there were still rules to these things. You don’t go charging in someone’s home when they’re with their girl. There’s nothing manly about that.

  “NO!” he screamed, eyes watering. Truth was, I felt his pain too. We had gone way back. But now we were stuck at a hard transition. It had been decided by him days ago: our days of brotherhood were now over. “YOU betrayed ME! I got sent to prison because of you! The thing is, I didn’t blame you at first. You did what you had to do. You followed the rules. Why should I be mad? But when I got sent to the hole for 40 days straight, all I thought about was you. All I could picture was our crew and how, when I got out, things would be normal again.” A single tear came from his eye.

  “Give her up, Luke.” I said again. He ignored my pleas.

  “But when I did get out, guess who came to visit me? No one. Not Bruce, not you, not no one. Fuck, the only person who did come was Angelo. And then there was Bobby. He told me what was up. He told me his people had heard you all were planning on demoting me once I got back out onto the street. I would have to make lower level drug deals until I proved to you that I wasn’t a liability.”

  “He was lying to you, Luke!” I screamed.

  “SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LISTEN!” Luke pushed Hope away and wildly aimed his gun at both of us. I kept my hands up in the air to make sure he wouldn’t accidentally blow my head right off. In the meantime, I had to let him know I wasn’t the one to blame for this. It was Bobby the whole time. How could he not see that?

  “God! You never fucking listen, Avery. That’s your problem. It’s your fuckin’ ego. Me, me, me. That’s all I hear from you. Well now it’s time for me to win.” He smiled, looking like an insane person, and wiped the hair out of his eyes, calming himself down. “I came to warn you. We know it was you who framed Bobby. We will get revenge. If you want your life, stay the fuck away from us. Got it?”

  “What makes you think I care about my life?” I asked him.

  “Well I see that you’ve been making quite a life for yourself. Do you really want to lose it so fast?”

  “I don’t give a damn about this world.” I said. It was kind of true, actually. The only thing I gave a damn about was Hope. It didn’t matter though. I knew Luke wasn’t going to be the one who took my life. Maybe Bobby or maybe Angelo. But not Luke. He was too insane to have a rational plan of execution.

  “Then I’ll kill her.” He said, aiming my pistol at her. If there was anything that got me going, it was a man with my pistol, pointing it at the one thing I loved.

  I lost control of myself. I lunged at him and everything seemed to slow down. “AVERY!” Hope screamed. It was useless to try and stop me now. The gun went off. The bullet launched at my face. All went black.

  26

  Hope

  BANG! I jumped back and hid my body as the sound from the gun ricocheted between the walls of the room. Avery fell forward, against Luke’s body. At first it looked as if Luke had gotten him right in the eye, but as soon as I saw him attempt to grab the pistol in his hand, I realized he was fine. Once again, Luke’s aim was a few millimeters off. Avery was one lucky devil.

  The two men wrestled each other onto the balcony outside. I couldn’t do anything but take cover. Avery took one glance at me and yelled, “Go back to Bruce’s! Get to safety and call for back up!” It was what I should have done, but I couldn’t move. I stood paralyzed by shock and fear.

  Luke took a swing at Avery and hit him square in the jaw. “Fuck!” he muttered through clenched teeth. Avery dove into his stomach causing Luke to fall into the banister. I almost thought they were about to fall off, but they held their balance, continuing to fight.

  Swing after swing, the men’s faces became bloodied and bruised. Avery’s main goal was to get the gun from him. He punched Luke in the nose, effectively stunning him and pushing him onto the ground. Luke attempted to aim the gun at him, but Avery jumped on top of him, grabbing his wrist and forcing it into the air. The gun went off again, shooting wildly into the air. “I’ll kill you, you son of a bitch.” Avery said.

  He knocked his wrist into the banister and the gun fell onto the ground below. It was out of reach for now and it seemed that Luke had lost the fight. “GO!” Avery screamed, turning to me again. But as soon as he said this, Luke grabbed a blade from his leg. He wound his arm back and sprang forward. What came next was the worst sound I had ever heard. “NO!!! FUUUUCK!” I tried to close my eyes, but I couldn’t help but see what happened.

  Ave
ry held his hands over his face in anguish. His beautiful cheek and forehead, all the way down to his lips, was slashed. The cut was deep and went all the way across. I grabbed the only thing I could, a potted cactus, and smashed the ceramic piece over Luke’s face. He fell backward, over the banister, and fell with a loud thud. In my mind, there was no way he could have lived through that fall, and I didn’t even have time to check whether or not he did. I ran to Avery who was screaming bloody murder and held him in my arms.

  “He cut me good!” he cried. “Fuck, he cut me…”

  “We need to get you to a doctor, Avery. Let’s go. NOW!” he wrapped his arms around my and limped his way to his bike.

  “Is it bad?” he asked. I looked at him, as flesh hung like red drapes over the bones of his face. It was bad. Oh, God, it was bad. But I didn’t want to scare him. I had to stay strong for him like he did for me.

  “It’s all my fault, Avery. All of this. I’m so fucking sorry.” I cried.

  He grabbed my face. “Listen to me. None of this is your fault. I’m gonna kill the son of a bitch for what he’s done to us. You hear me?” It was hard to look at him. He looked like a…monster. And yet, I still loved him immensely. He leaned against his bike, blood dripping down his face, and asked, “Ever drive a bike before?”

  I shook my head nervously and said, “No. But what about my car?”

  “Fuck the car. You can move faster with the bike.” He said.

  “Fine. I’ll try.” I said, shaking.

  He nodded and waited for me to get on. This time he held onto me, barely even conscious. I had seen him start the bike before. I just had to remember the right order of things to do. I turned on the ignition switch and put the bike into neutral. Okay, so far so good. Next, I pulled in the clutch and pressed the starter button on. The engine fired up almost immediately. I released the button and put the bike into first gear.

  Avery, I’m going to keep you alive. I’m going to keep you alive. I’m going to. I promise.

  27

  Avery

  All is lost…

  I strained my eyes to see against the light. “Hope?” I called out. Where is she? She is the only real constant in my life.

  My face. It feels as if it were ripped into a thousand pieces. Will she ever love me again?

  “Lay down, sir. It’s going to be okay. Just lay down.” A woman said to me, adjusting a set of knobs in front of her. “We’re going to need an IV of morphine, stat!” she yelled.

  “What … what happened?” I asked, my voice sounding rough and groggy.

  “Sir. Just lay down. Please. Everything is going to be okay.” she said. Her face said it all. It was stressed and creased. She had been here all night. I could tell.

  “I’m not in good shape, am I?” I laughed, spitting blood out onto my clothes. “Shit…” Bandages rested across my face. Fuck. My face.

  Then it all came flooding back to me. Luke. Hope. My god damn blade. He destroyed my face. I would destroy his life.

  We could have settled things. If he just stuck around and trusted in me, we could have made things right. But now, it was all ruined. It was all brought to dust.

  Dust.

  My whole life, just dust floating in space. I’m nothing. I don’t deserve anything. And what about Hope? I sure as hell don’t deserve her. I used her for my own damn gain. And for what? This? Hell no. I deserve nothing. I deserve what I got. A knife to the face.

  “Hope!” I cried out. I picked my body up from the bed. All I could feel was dizziness and despair. I grabbed the tubes that were coming from my arms and chest. I ripped them clean out. “HOPE!”

  “Doctor! I need your help!” the woman yelled. I motioned for her to back off, but I immediately fell to the floor. Can’t see a damn thing. The lights are too bright. “Someone turn these fucking lights off!” I screamed. All I could see were flashbacks from last night. Luke, the knife, and the love of my life.

  He was dead right? I saw him fall. Hope pushed him off, right? He had to have hit his back. The desert floor ain’t too comforting on your body. But what if he wasn’t dead? He could be outside the room right now. I gotta get out of here.

  At that very moment, two doctors came running into the room. “Sir!” they yelled. “We need you to lay back down.” I swung at one of them and fell to the floor. What the fuck. One man had a syringe in his hand. He pressed the back end down and a stream of liquid shot out into the air. The bastard stuck me with it. I tried fighting him off, but whatever was in there knocked me back onto the floor.

  “Got him!” the bastard yelled. I felt the cool surface of the floor against my cheek.

  “Fuck all of you…” I moaned. All I cared about was Hope. All I needed in this life was her. Every single damn day. And as soon as I get out of here, I vow to hold her in my arms and appreciate her. I vowed to love her and treat her with respect. She deserved that much.

  The light was slowly going dim. All around me were nurses and doctors, and people looking through the window. I was a fucking spectacle. A part of their little circus. I didn’t mind it. Just wished my face looked a little better.

  All is lost. But I’ll find a way to get it all back.

  28

  Hope

  “I want everyone to check the compound for Luke’s body! There’s a chance he’s still out there and, if he is, I want him dead!” Bruce announced. The crowd of bikers grabbed their guns and dispersed outside. They had a mission and they were excited to see it through. I, however, was praying to the dear lord above that I’d get my Avery back safely.

  We had already been through a lot, but just as we had gotten close, this happened? I could believe it. By now, I could believe anything. I just didn’t want to.

  Bruce walked up to me and sighed, “You okay?” he asked me.

  “Yeah, I’m fine, I think. Thank you, Bruce.” I said, wiping the tears from my eyes. It had been a long night and I was exhausted. It felt like there was a lot more for me to do.

  “You’re tired. You should go home and rest.” he said, putting his hand on my shoulder. “He’s going to be alright. I promise ya.”

  “I can’t sleep, Bruce. I just keep thinking about Luke. I keep thinking about him taking that shot at Avery. And then the knife…my God, I can’t believe it. I can’t believe he almost got him.” I began sobbing again uncontrollably. I couldn’t help it. My love.

  “The key word in that sentence is almost. He almost got him. You’re probably right though. You need to stay out of sight for a while. Better you with me than at Avery’s. I just feel for your state of mind right now. I don’t want you worryin’ too much.” he sighed, squeezing my shoulders.

  “It’s the worrying that will get him through this. He needs someone worrying about him. He needs all the thoughts and prayers he can get.” I found myself saying. I was in no way a religious woman, but I felt like what I said was true. Any good thought was important right now. He needed all the good he could get in this world.

  “You know,” Bruce began speaking thoughtfully, “when I first met you, I didn’t know you’d play such an important role in Avery’s life. I thought you were just some star. Some entertainment. You know, we get a lot of girls to host parties and such. But that night felt more important than usual. Not because Luke was let out of prison or nothing, but because the spirits were high. You get it?” I nodded my head. “I told Avery that he should find a good woman. I think he just shrugged it off. But I think that sentiment eventually got in the guy’s head. And then you two started talkin’. Look, I know we kind of met in weird circumstances, but I see that you’re a light in Avery’s life. You want to take care of him. And I s’ppose he wants to do the same for you. That’s a good thing, Hope. It’s important.” He looked away. Did I see tears forming in his eyes?

  “I know you two go way back.” I said. “He showed me the house. He showed me all the pictures he’s kept of you two and Adam. You’re important to him as well.” I smiled.

  “He kept those? No
w that brings a smile to my face. You know what? You need to meet Adam someday. He’s a good kid, when it comes down to it. A bit left of the path, but good nonetheless. He was here for a second. Helped us with old Bobby Farole. But as soon as he came back, he disappeared again. Yeah, Avery was sort of the son I never had. Don’t tell anyone I said that now. But he is and was. A damn fine soldier, he is.” He nodded in an almost dreamlike trance, to himself.

  I looked at the empty strip club. It looked hollow and desolate. There was no music, no dancing, just the sound of the wind coming in from the outside world. Silence used to be mildly comforting. Now it took on a new meaning for me. Evil was lurking in the darkness. On the horizon, the sun ducked its beautiful head under the mountains. What was there left to hold onto if love was punished?

  But they would not win. We would not give up. I would stay strong for my man. I had to now more than ever. The darkness is always conquered by the light. That much I knew. As long as we stood up and fought back, we would lead the way to a certain kind of victory: love. I was sure of it. I was positive it was the answer.

  “Bruce?” I looked at the man, a born leader now faced-to-face with a big dilemma.

  “Yeah, Hope?” He grabbed at a cigarette, but he lost it. It fell onto the hard wood floor.

  “Are we at war?” I asked him.

  He bent over and picked up the cigarette, carefully lighting the end. These were the times smoking felt the best. It felt right in heated moments such as these.

  “I believe we are.” He muttered, taking in a long hard drag.

  “What do we do?” I asked him. I needed to help in any way I could. For Avery. I missed his smell, I missed his touch. I missed the cold, hard way he viewed the world. But most of all I missed his presence and drive.