Vengeance: MMA/Ink Romance (KO Ink Book 1)
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Vengeance
KO Ink
Book One
by Harley McRide
Carson Mackenzie
Published by JK Publishing, Inc.
© Copyright December 2015 JK Publishing, Inc.
All cover art and logo © Copyright December 2015 by JK Publishing, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Cover by JK Publishing, Inc.
ISBN #978-1-311-99329-8
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Dedication
Vengeance
I cannot tolerate the ones with haloed head
Who boast of their achievements, put on an act instead.
I cannot tolerate the perfect, always right
Who claim their humbleness is their plight.
I cannot tolerate the ones who share your pack
Pretending to be helpful then stab you in the back.
I cannot tolerate the friends who pick your brain
Intent on infiltration determined to make gain.
I cannot tolerate the types who wish you well
They swear to loyal virtue, but then they tell.
I cannot tolerate the false and double-faced
They are the parasitic, their tongue with poison laced.
I cannot tolerate the guys who look for fights
They cause much harm while pleading the law to back their rights.
I cannot tolerate the tempters with their faith
They are the instigators, the ones who love to hate.
They cannot tolerate my face, but I’m alright
My aim is to expose them, oppose them with all my might.
Table of Contents
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Epilogue
Books by Harley McRide
Books by Carson Mackenzie
Excerpt from Speed
Excerpt from Broken Wings
Prologue
Fin
“Seriously, man. This is the place you are looking to purchase. What the hell? Why didn’t you tell me before we got into the fucking car, I would have told you no fucking way then, instead we wasted our time. This is like a hell to the no.”
Yeah, I am the oldest and my brother has no fucking vision. Which I find quite funny considering the man is a tattoo artist. Christ, if he and the rest of my brothers didn’t look similar, I would accuse our ma and dad of adoption.
“Mike, this is the building that housed the gym we fucking trained in growing up, it is part of our history. We spent a lot of time growing up in this place. Mic was one of the best trainers around along with being a role model for the delinquent youth of Woodland and the surrounding neighborhoods,” as I spoke, I watched my brother’s eyes, yeah he was starting to remember how the O’Malley brothers grew up. We had always been fighters so our parents placed us in the local gym with the hopes to curtail our energy and keep us on the straight and narrow. And I get how he would forget some of it, hell even I do, until the moment I walked back into our parents’ living room and the memories all came back. Seriously, looking at it now, I wish my parents would have allowed me to purchase a new home for them like I wanted to. Somewhere in a quiet suburban neighborhood where you didn’t hear the police sirens go off every night. But they insisted this was their home, where they fell in love, where they had a family, and where they raised us and taught us how to be honest and loyal. Family was everything, in that we all still agreed.
Our parents had done a good job on a steel worker’s paycheck with a stay-at-home wife and seven kids. Money was tight, but they made it work.
“Fin, I get it, but that is you, why would I want to come back from out west, working in an established shop to damn, a building that has seen a hell of a better day.”
Again, no vision, tat artist. My brother’s problem was change, he hated it. I know this and so does everyone close to him. At least the ones he lets get that close. So yeah, I’m getting our buddy and his business partner to help me out.
“Kink, help me out here. I am retired. I went as far in the MMA as I could go. I’ve had my shot within the Mixed Martial Arts and I want to come back to the area and help the next generation move forward in life. Give them goals to reach for. You are all about family and brothers just like me. Am I wrong wanting to bring mine back together?
” Kink rubbed his hand down his face and turned to Michael.
“Fuck, I get where Fin is coming from. Michael, I don’t want to lose your talent, man, nor my partner, but I see what you can have here too, if you want it. Your brother wants to bring his wayward family back together and plant you in the area where you started the brother bonds to begin with. You been around me and my brothers in the MC long enough to know family is everything. Think, this would at least put you close to your aging parents, the ones you and your other brothers bitch about not seeing enough.”
“Yeah.”
Oh, I could see Michael’s resolve slipping. Now to reel him in.
“Michael, the others will follow you if you open up a shop here beside me. Come on, you, me, them, the O’Malley boys back in the neighborhood, giving back. Close to our parents and our little sister, Mia, who at twenty-three, needs us. Dad will have all our asses if she ends up with some shithead from here that none of us like. He won’t take the excuse of “sorry we weren’t there to protect her”. He will hold each of us responsible, you and I both know that. Plus, hounding her as a grown woman should be incentive enough. The spitfire made our lives a living hell growing up, she was everywhere, and the freakin’ tattle telling alone when we were teenagers should definitely be worth it.
“You remember her telling Ma and Dad when you popped Cathy Francis’ cherry at fifteen?” I watched Michael’s eyes narrow. Yep, he was coming around.
“Dude, your sister ratted you out on the first time you had sex? How come I never knew about this?”
I smiled ‘cause Kink was going to give him shit for the rest of his life for that little info drop. Kink had grown up with us. Left for the military, got out, joined the Warriors and opened up his tat shop. Michael and he had stayed in touch and then Michael moved out west to go into business with Kink, ultimately recruiting our other brothers to follow. I had given them each shit about being the artistic types and afraid to get in the ring and hurt their hands. Those were the days, I got as good as I gave. Between Kink, Tony, Reese, and my brothers, they made me the best at my skill. I may have improved over time on my fighting skill, but the bruises and injures they dished on me, toughened me. I wouldn’t have made it through the ranks of the MMA if they hadn’t pushed me.
“You know, with the special ink you have been honing, it would help with the security business Tony is going to run alongside with my gym. Going to give my boys jobs so they can concentrate on training and moving up the ranks without having to worry about finding the time for it all. Tony said he would love to use the ink to keep track of the guys when out on jobs. Tony’s training from the military, your ink, and his knowledge to teach you and the others how to monitor, is a goldmine waiting to be tapped.
“Think, all of us from the neighborhood, back from wherever we’ve been, together again. The old folks still here are going to remember us; the younger ones will learn really quick about family, responsibility, and what it means to belong. Well, with exception of Kink here. Don’t think we can talk him into giving up the west coast to come back home. I think there is still some of the cops on the force that would remember him from his youth. The fuckers threw a party the day the bus pulled out with him on it, headed toward Fort Dix and the military future he was ordered by the judge to be a part of,” I busted out laughing and so did Kink and Michael. They had to be remembering the same as me about Kink beating the crap out of the police captain’s son. Little prick had it coming, shouldn’t have made fun of Kink, calling him a pussy for always working on that first piece of shit bike he bought and rebuilt.
“You still got that bike, Kink?”
“Fuck yeah. Keep it stored in back of the shop. Uncover it when I’m missing home. Best memories, man. But you are right, my home is out west. Though I come to visit a couple times a year, I can’t imagine giving up my life with the MC to move back. And brothers, my brothers would never make a club move to the east. Face it, no way cops could deal with them and you guys all in one area.
“Mike, I have a proposition for you?”.”
I eyed Kink, ‘cause with him, you never knew what that phrase could entail. But with his next words, I should have known. He may have moved on from the area, made his home somewhere else but it didn’t mean the neighborhood wasn’t a part of him anymore.
“Join your brother, Mike. We can still be partners out west and here too. Let’s branch out Slinging Ink. One on the west coast and one on the east coast. I want in on this one too. Will make me feel like I’m still part of the old neighborhood even when I am not here. Whatcha say?” Kink looked at him and so did I. I watched his facial expressions change with the thoughts that were evidently running through his mind.
“Going to depend if the others want to make the move back here too.”
Oh fuck yeah, one brother almost there. The others I knew would follow because they wouldn’t want to be left out. Brothers who like nothing better than to compete against one another. Never even mattered who won, it’s about the thrill of competing.
“What in God’s name are you three delinquents standing out in front of this dump for? Aren’t you a little old to be loitering on the street? And I don’t see any chicks walking around or should I say the O’Malley brothers’ feast of free pussy.”
The woman who spoke gave Kink a hug and sneered at Michael and me. Damn, I even forgot what a pain in the ass she was. But from the narrowed-eyed look Mike was giving her, I could have kissed our sister for her appearance.
“Alright, Fin, I am in. Let’s do this.”
“Do what?” Mia looked at each of us. She hadn’t changed, always had to know what was going on. And I wouldn’t be the big brother if I didn’t share our good news with her.
I looked at Mike; he nodded. I looked toward Kink; he rolled his eyes. Then I looked back at Mia, who I might add stood there tapping her foot. Huh, made me want to test how smart our sister had gotten.
“Well, if you must know, Mia. The O’Malley brothers are heading home.” Kink, Mike, and I waited for it. And it didn’t take her long as her eyes went wide and the frown came in place, which caused us to smile at her.
“Fuck. Me.” It was her response before she turned and stomped off in the direction she came from, causing our smiles to turn into full out laughter.
Yeah, it was going to be great being back.
Chapter One
Tony
“Anthony Roark,” I heard my loud Italian mother yell into the receiver. Fuck, I had moved home three years ago to go into business for myself, but right now, I was seriously considering telling my mother that I was moving again. She’s driving me crazy trying to set me up with women every fucking week. Inviting nice Italian girls over for dinner and surprising me. Not cool. “Are you listening to me?” my mother snapped, bringing me back from the place I go in my mind to shut out the non-stop jabbering she seemed to think I have time for each day to hear her say, “Regina will be here at five, make sure you stop for red wine on the way here. We’re having my mussels with spaghetti, it is your favorite.”
Of course it was, my mother cooked like no other, but her dishes came at a price, and damn it, I seriously was not going to sit through another dinner again with one of my mother’s friend’s daughters. Or niece. Or whoever else she deemed worthy to be her grandbabies mama and be bored to tears. My mother told me often that men had biological clocks too and mine evidently was ticking fast. Translated into my mother’s language, was that she and her best friend who happened to be the mother of my best friend, Fin, had been talking. They wanted grandchildren, and so they were making both of our lives hell in order to get them. Lucky, fucking us.
“Ma,” I sighed and ran a hand down my face, then looked at the monitors on my desk. All the while I filled out the schedule for the next few months, trying to make sure all of the jobs I had coming in actually had guys to fill them. Shit, business was booming, which should be a good thing, but right now, with all the crap going on in the Bronx, made it a crapshoot.
Over the last year, the violence had gone through the roof, and the police could no longer keep up with it, so business owners had resorted to seeking out private security to patrol and watch their businesses, which would normally be cool, but my business had also taken off in a big way. I serviced the rich and the famous as well. And right now, I was spread pretty thin. I already was going to need Fin and his brothers to help me find some more guys to work the local shit for now.
“I am not promising anything. I told you to stop arranging these dinners because right now, I don’t have the time. I am working my ass off trying to cover all these jobs, and seriously, I can’t just drop everything. As of right now, it looks like I will be covering a shift tonight.” Okay I was lying and I would probably be struck dead by lightening when I walked outside but at this point in my life—death by lightning would be quicker than bleeding to death from my ears.
“Anthony!” my mother screeched in the phone. “I don’t ask for much, all I ask is for my only son to come to dinner one night a week. You know how your father looks forward to it.”
Yeah, he did, I couldn’t argue with that, but it was because I was their only son, I have three sisters, and all of them are single. Why couldn’t she give them the baby bug? Maria, the oldest, was more interested in her career at the moment. My two younger sisters, hell, I spent half my time sending out my guys to watch them when they went out clubbing. Both were in their wild independent phase since they moved out from home six months ago at twenty-five and twenty-six, which left my mother going through the empty nest thingy a bit late, and driving me fucking crazy.