Thief: Devil's Own MC

by West, Heather

  I scowled at him. “Drop the shit, man,” I said. “I’m tired, I want to get out of here.”

  Johnson nodded. “I get that,” he said. “But we need to talk first. You want some coffee?”

  I was about to refuse but the thought of hot coffee warmed my insides. I could almost feel the caffeine soothing my bruises. “Yeah,” I said. “Sure. Black.”

  Johnson nodded. He got up and told me that he’d be right back. As soon as he was gone, I laid my head down on the desk and closed my eyes. As much fun as I’d had fantasizing about Sarah a few minutes prior, now I was so tired that I instantly fell asleep. My body started to get that floating sensation that you have when you’re in a falling dream, and I jerked awake with a rough start. Just as I came to, Johnson opened the door. He handed a mug—a real mug, none of that Styrofoam shit—filled to the brim with hot coffee. I held it in both hands and inhaled deeply, savoring the way it filled my senses. Already, I felt more awake.

  ‘Thanks,” I said, taking a swallow. The liquid was hot and it burned my tongue but I took another swallow all the same. Johnson blew on his mug and set it down. I watched as the steam curled into lazy spirals.

  “So, Blake,” Johnson said, spreading his hands out over the table. He reached down to his side and picked up a folder. “I have to tell you some things before you leave today. I think your lawyer might have prepped you, but he probably didn’t tell you all of this.”

  A shiver of fear ran down my spine but I kept my face neutral. After taking another swig of coffee, I looked at Johnson. “Okay,” I said plainly. “Shoot. What’s going on?”

  “The fact is,” Johnson began with a sigh, “you’re looking at a pretty long prison sentence. I know that last night we could only get you for second degree assault, but combined with your other charges from the past few years, well, that’s enough to get a felony charge.”

  “What?” I frowned and set my cup down on the table hard enough to make coffee slop out around the edges. “What the fuck, man? How is that even possible?”

  Johnson looked at me warily. “Calm down,” he said. “I’m telling you this so you can stay out of trouble, not get yourself in another bad situation as soon as you’re gone. Do you understand?”

  I nodded. “Whatever, man,” I said. “Just give it to me straight.”

  “Well, the fact is you’d probably be fine, except a lot of the assault victims have wound up in the hospital,” Johnson said. He pulled out several sheets of papers and handed them to me; they were all old booking reports, mostly Aztecs but a couple from another rival MC, the City Diablitos. “And none of these guys have pressed charges against you, but there’s enough for the state to wind up with a pretty substantial case.”

  I nodded again. “Right,” I said slowly. “So why get me now? Why not before? What’s the big fucking deal?”

  Johnson slid the papers back to his side of the table and folded them into the envelope. “Here’s the thing,” he said. “We’ve been watching Devil’s Own for a long time, and we know that you guys have some pretty bad patterns of violence. And I know that y’all used to get away with that, but lately things have gotten really out of hand. I don’t want to send the wrong message to the community. It takes a lot to go after guys we used to work with, but I’m afraid that everything is starting to change.”

  I blinked at him. “You sound like my lawyer,” I said slowly. “Are you telling me that you know I’m not really a bad dude, and you want to lock me up to send a message?”

  Johnson’s gaze dropped. “No one wants to send you away,” he said evenly. I watched his heartbeat pulse on his neck and it occurred to me how easy it would be to kill him. I’d probably even be able to do it before someone knew what was happening inside the little room. Hell, I could probably do it and leave without anyone noticing. “But we’re being cautious, that’s all. If the violence doesn’t stop, there are going to be serious repercussions for everyone involved.”

  I looked at him and narrowed my eyes. “So you’re saying I’m fine as long as I don’t get in another smash?”

  Johnson sighed. “I’m not saying that, either,” he said. “After what happened last night, I’m not sure that you’ll be able to get away without serving any kind of time.”

  Panic rose through me and I fought hard to keep it down. “So what now? I just go home and wait for you to pick me up again?”

  Johnson rifled through the folder. He handed me a series of mug shots, all members of the MC. “We’re also watching these guys,” he said. “Your friends Jimmy and Red, we know what they’ve been up to. It’s not a good idea for your gang to keep running guns with this kind of pressure on you.”

  I let out a brittle laugh. “So you’re hoping that I’ll leave here and just tell my club to quit business? And then let the Aztecs fuck us up and sell dope on your streets? Yeah, man, that sounds pretty good to me, too.”

  Johnson’s face darkened and I could tell he was getting pissed. Instead of feeling irritated, I felt the urge to punch him return stronger than ever before. “That’s the opposite of what I’m saying,” he said slowly. “Just watch your fucking back, okay?” For the first time, I heard a hint of menace creep into his voice. “You don’t want to fuck with us, and you don’t want to keep trying to manage things yourselves.”

  “Can I go?” I shot him a pointed look. “I need to talk to my club. What time is it?”

  Johnson scowled. He checked his phone. “It’s a little after two in the morning,” he said. “You’d better wait until tomorrow. Blake, I beg you to take what I said into consideration. Help us help you, okay? We don’t wanna send you away for years and years. But if you and the club keep acting like this, I’m afraid we don’t have a choice.”

  I got up from the table and pushed my chair back with a wooden squeak against the tiled floor. “Fine,” I snapped. “Just let me go, man. I’m fucking sick of being here.”

  Johnson stood up and let me out of the tiny room without saying another word. Jimmy was waiting for me in the lobby, and I could feel him sizing up my wounds as we leaned in for a half-hug.

  “Man, you’re looking pretty brutal!” Jimmy said with a long whistle. “They fucked you up real good!”

  “What do you think, it was fucking three on one,” I said sourly. Jimmy laughed and clapped me on the back. Pain rang through my body but I grinned; it felt so good to be leaving the jail that I didn’t mind. “Thanks for grabbing me, man,” I added. “I appreciate it.”

  “No sweat, brother,” Jimmy said. “You’d do the same for me. You have many times.”

  We cracked up. Jimmy pushed open the doors to the police station and led me out into the cool, dark night. “Man, you goin’ home?” he asked. “You need a shower? You wanna hit the clubhouse?”

  “Yeah, actually,” I said. Already the events of the previous night seemed like a dream. “My bike is there.”

  Jimmy started his truck and the headlights bounced over the parking lot as we drove away. When the police station was a couple of miles behind us, I took a deep breath.

  “It feels fuckin’ good to be outside,” I said, letting the air out of my lungs. “I was starting to feel pretty fuckin’ claustrophobic in there with those Aztec fuckers. Why the fuck did they show up tonight, anyway? Didn’t we have a vote? We should have all been at the club!”

  “Abel’s sick,” Jimmy said solemnly. “I think he had a stroke, but he won’t go to the doctor. He’s been in bed all night, moaning and whining.”

  I frowned. “He’s getting’ old, man,” I said carefully. “He should at least go to the fuckin’ hospital or something.”

  Jimmy shook his head. “You know my old man,” he said. “He won’t take any answer that he didn’t come up with first. Besides, he’ll be alright in a day or two. He’s stronger than a fucking ox, you know?”

  I nodded. “He’s a tough old fucker,” I agreed. “And seriously, fuck you guys for not calling me. If y’all had been there, we could have taken out those Aztec sh
itheads by ourselves. No need to involve the cops.”

  Jimmy laughed. “I know,” he said. “But then you wouldn’t have that great shiner on your face.”

  I pulled the mirror down from the ceiling of the cab and turned the light on. My face was so swollen that I barely recognized myself. My nose had been broken and it was swollen in colors I didn’t imagine existed in the human body. My lower lip was fat and swollen, plus it was split in two places. I could see a goose egg on my right temple, and when I touched it, I winced. My right cheek was swollen and I could tell that I’d have a black eye in the morning from all the blood pooling around my eyeball.

  “Fuck, man,” I swore with a laugh. “I look fuckin’ awful!”

  “Yeah, your girl isn’t gonna think much of you now,” Jimmy said with a laugh. “You ever find out what kind of trouble she was in?”

  My mouth went dry; I vaguely remembered bragging about fucking Sarah to the other guys in the club, but now I wished I hadn’t said anything. I hoped that at least I hadn’t mentioned Roger; if they attacked him, I knew the cops would come straight for me. And then I was looking at ten to fifteen in the big house, alone, while Sarah married some douche and popped out his kids.

  “Nah,” I lied. “She’s chilled out, though. She’s cool. Hey, is Red still looking for a secretary?”

  “I think so,” Jimmy said. He rubbed his chin. “But you know he won’t hire anyone who doesn’t have huge tits,” he said with a laugh. “Red never changes.”

  Anger boiled under my skin at the thought of Red leering at Sarah. She wouldn’t take the job if she were going to be subjected to harassment all day. “He better not lay a fucking hand on her,” I warned. “She’s mine. Do I have to make that clear?”

  Jimmy laughed. “Hey, brother, it’s just looking,” he said. “There ain’t no harm in lookin’, right?”

  “Whatever,” I muttered. “I never look at your old lady like that. He needs to keep his fuckin’ hands off of her. If she even wants to work for a degenerate like Red, anyway.”

  Jimmy smiled again, but it was an odd look. I realized that his eyes were just as serious as ever, even though his lips were curled up. “You sure you’re okay, man? You seem real changed,” he said thoughtfully. “You havin’ some kind of beef with Red?”

  “Not at all, I just want to make sure he keeps his hands off my girl,” I snarled. “Ain’t nothing wrong with that.”

  We rode in silence for a few minutes. I looked at Jimmy’s face but he was as hard to read as ever.

  “They’re telling me I could face a lot of jail time,” I said after a moment. Jimmy’s head snapped around and he looked at me. Somehow, talking about it was making me feel worse, not better than before. “As if I deserve that.”

  “What the fuck for?” Jimmy demanded. “That Aztec scum broke onto our property and you defended yourself against three of them. How the fuck can they even think about locking you up for that?”

  I laughed humorlessly. “I know, it’s fucking ridiculous. But both Barney and this stupid cop tried to feed me shit about past offenses. I think they want the MC gone. I think they’re convinced they can rule the land themselves. But these assholes don’t know how bad things get when drugs are involved,” I said, raking a hand through my hair. My hand bumped up against a wound and I winced, pulling it back down. “They don’t fuckin’ get it, man,” I said, sighing. “And they told me to stay out of shit, but I feel like they’re just waiting for a situation where we fuck up again. I don’t want us all getting locked up, man. That ain’t fuckin’ fair.”

  Jimmy sighed. “It feels like a long time coming,” he drawled. He lit a cigarette and passed the pack to me. When I’d helped myself and passed the pack back to him, Jimmy turned in his seat and looked at me. “Abel is convinced that things are real different around here, that we need to find an alternate form of income. He thinks that guns aren’t gonna cut it for much longer. But I know that if we get wrapped up in anything worse, the cops will be on our ass faster than we can say boo.”

  I nodded. “You’re both right,” I said. “This is the kind of shit I wish that we could have talked about today. When do you think Abel can come back? Are we just gonna have to fuckin’ wait around until he’s better?”

  Jimmy shrugged. We pulled into the parking lot of the MC and I glared at the hole in the fence.

  “That’s gonna be a bitch to fix,” I commented. “I can’t believe those shitheads. It’s like they’re trying to piss us off as much as possible. How did they get so fucking cocky overnight?”

  Jimmy laughed. “That’s their fuckin’ end-game, ain’t it? To run us out of town. They’ll get their wish if we go to jail.”

  Slowly, something dawned on me. “Jim,” I said loudly. “Do you fuckin’ think they’re working with the cops? It’s the only fuckin’ thing that makes sense. I don’t see another reason why the cops would be so blind to logic. In any other case, there’s no way I could get time for defending myself on my property. They must have a fuckin’ bribery scheme going on.”

  Jimmy nodded. “That makes a lot of sense, man. Ever since that new crew took over, we’ve have a lot of problems with them. I wonder if they’re in the pockets of the Aztecs.”

  I shuddered. “I hate cops,” I said. “I’d hate them even if they weren’t fucking pigs, but these guys are the worst. I can’t believe they’d rather cozy up to fuckin’ drug dealers than us. We’re not that bad!”

  Jimmy laughed. “You look so awful right now, man,” he said. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to laugh, but it’s so funny. You look like some fuckin’ villain in a horror movie. No wonder the cops didn’t fuckin’ listen to you!” He hooted with laughter. Irritation crossed my face but as he laughed, I felt it melt away. Before I knew it, I was laughing right alongside Jimmy.

  “Come on,” Jimmy said. He turned the key in the ignition and hopped out on the ground. “Let’s go fix that fucking hole in the fence, and then you can go see your girl.”

  Chapter Twenty One

  Sarah

  “I can’t believe how late he is,” I hissed under my breath to Julia. “This is the fucking worst!”

  She eyed me sympathetically and I felt a flash of anger and embarrassment. Of course he would be this late after I’d spent the whole day gushing about him to my best friend. It wasn’t fair; just when I thought life was starting to go my way, everything went wrong.

  Julia picked at her cuticle and yawned. “Do you mind if I go to bed?” she asked softly. “I have to be up at eight and it’s after midnight right now. I’m surprised Hailey was able to sleep through all of this.”

  “It’s fine,” I said, tears pricking my eyes. “Whatever. Can I sleep on the couch?”

  Julia nodded. “Of course,” she replied. “Make yourself at home. Just try not to make too much noise,” she added with a grimace. “And knock on wood that Hailey doesn’t wake up.”

  But instead of getting up, Julia just sat on the couch and stared moodily at the wall. I watched her tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. She frowned.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” she said with a sigh. “Just thinking about Derek, that’s all. And how much I wish things had turned out differently between the two of us. It’s crazy to think about how in love with him I was years ago, and now he basically feels like a stranger.”

  The same pang of acute self-awareness went through me. “I know,” I said. My mouth went dry and the words seemed like foreign objects lodged in my throat that I was about to choke on. “I know. It feels weird to think about the past like that.”

  Julia bit her lower lip and looked at me. Suddenly, she looked years older. In the dim light of her living room, I could see every single laugh line on her face. It made me wonder if I looked that old, too, but I didn’t want to say anything. She still looked beautiful, but it was in the odd way where you could tell that she had obviously been through a lot. Like every other woman I know, I thought sadly. Men are such assholes sometimes.
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  “I’m not trying to lecture you, but I think it’s worth listening to what I have to say. You don’t wanna wind up like me, Sarah,” she said. “I’ve been through a lot and I don’t even feel like I came out with my head on top. I feel like every day is a new challenge and I’m irrationally proud of myself for getting through everything. Derek doesn’t help, the child support barely helps, and his parents treat me like I’m some kind of alien bitch for wanting more than that. Like, I’m sorry your deadbeat son didn’t realize how hard being a dad would be. But can you at least not judge me for trying to provide your only grandchild with a decent life?” She rolled her eyes.

  I opened my mouth to argue but closed it quickly. When Julia was in one of her moods like this, I had no idea how she was going to respond. I felt like if I said anything at all, she could jump down my throat.

  “And, like, whenever they want to see Hailey and take her shopping, she comes home with hundreds of dollars worth of shit that she doesn’t even need,” Julia groused. “Would it be so fucking hard for them to pick out a pair of sneakers or hiking boots or something? I swear, Sarah, they sent her home with a pair of pink sequined snow boots. Hailey was obsessed with them, but they didn’t stay clean for five minutes. So then I had to pay for them to get cleaned. Can you fucking believe that?”