by Bella Knight
“Asshole on the crotch-rocket took a shot at Lily when we were coming out the side door of the gym. She saw him first, was bending down to get her clutch piece when he took the shot. Would have gone right through her head. Her ear is from a chip from the shot. I took him out.”
Ace relaxed his hands, “Good. Why aren’t you in jail?”
“The whole thing was on camera, and there was a witness. Lily complained about the guy to the cops before, and they got a still of him off a camera, but no license plate. The cop she talked to, had them let me go. They never even cuffed me. They had angry MMA fighters around them. Figured it would cause a riot.”
Ace nodded, “I owe Lily yet another apology. If she hadn’t gone to the cops and they hadn’t gotten a pic of the guy on the video, you’d be in jail right now. Definitely, have to do the New Orleans thing now.”
“Henry said something about a rally.”
“It’s really what Lily wants.”
“Then we’ll make it happen.”
“I have to go after Daniel,” said Ace, “that iron bitch tried to take out my girl.” He sat down on the couch and bent forward, hands over his eyes.
Gregory patted his shoulder, “He didn’t succeed, dude. Tito taught her to shoot yesterday. She winged him. I took him out. If he had succeeded and I’d missed, the MMA fighters would have taken him out.”
“I owe Tito…”
“Yeah,” said Gregory, “So, do I. He could have taken me out too, you know.”
“Nah,” said Ace, “You’re too fucking awesome for that,” he looked down at the baseball bat at Gregory’s feet, “that my Louisville Slugger?”
“Got my other piece, too!” said Gregory.
Ace took a deep breath, trying to cut the live-wire tension in his gut, “I got my Glock and my Sig Sauer,” he said.
“One for each hand,” said Gregory, “they took my Desert Eagle. I’ve got my HK .45 now, though.”
“Good gun,” said Ace.
“So, how are we going to take that bitch down?” asked Ace.
“Wait twenty-four hours. If the police haven’t picked her up, then we take her down. Think we should watch the house. Lily says she has a boyfriend. He may be involved. Think we should wait until the two are together, and get them on tape.”
“Or, we can just shoot her!” said Ace.
“No go said Gregory, “You’ll end up in jail, and Keiran needs you, even more now that his whole fucking family will be gone except for you. No… let one of us do it if it has to be done. Me, maybe.”
“I’m right here, you know,” said Lily, glaring at them, “I’m taking her down. Now shut up and let me sleep.”
Ace went over, kissed her tenderly, and covered her with a light blanket, “We’ll plan New Orleans tomorrow.”
“Promise?” said Lily.
“Promise,” said Ace. He kissed her head, and her eyes fluttered closed again.
“Go home, Gregory,” said Ace, “I’ve got this.”
“I ain’t leaving,” said Gregory, “until your evil mama is in jail, or someone puts a bullet in that bitch’s fucking brain!”
“Fine,” said Ace.
When Gregory went into protection mode, there was no stopping him. He went to get some sheets and a pillowcase to make up the couch as a bed, because he wanted to guard the door.
Showdown
Lily woke up to the smell of cinnamon. She got up off the recliner and stretched, “Morning, sunshine,” said Ace, “apple-cinnamon pancakes and bacon, in a few minutes.”
“Mmm,” said Lily, and she toddled off to the bathroom.
She took a quick bath, then washed her hair separately in the sink, careful not to get water on the bandage on her ear. She dried her hair and put on shorts and a Van Halen T-shirt.
“Iced chocolate,” he said, handing her a tall glass.
She sipped, “Oh. My. God. You could sell this for a lot of money, Ace.”
“Made with good old Las Vegas —really Henderson-made Ethel M chocolates. Made a cherry-chocolate one for me.” He flipped the pancakes, then the bacon.
Lily sipped her chocolate, “I want to go to work tonight,” she said.
“No can do,” said Ace.
“It’s Friday night! You need me!” He handed her a plate, and she savagely tore a piece of bacon off and chewed it.
“People who get shot at get a day off from work. It’s a rule. Besides, Raven is almost as good as you, and she needs the money.”
“Fine,” said Lily, “what the fuck do I do all day?”
Ace pulled out his phone, and pulled up a document, “Here’s my notes on the New Orleans rally. I’ll email them to you. We need a poster to email to all the clubs from here to Florida. We also need to pick a weekend there isn’t some other convention. It’s for Wounded Warriors. You can find flyers for rallies like it online.”
“What are you going to be doing? Hmmm?”
Her face took on a look of extreme pleasure. She chewed, swallowed, and immediately put another bite in her mouth.
“And you like the pancakes,” said Ace, “Nestor will be so jealous. He says his pancakes are better than anyone, bar none.”
“God, it’s perfection.”
He ate a piece of bacon, then ate a slice of pancake, “It’s beating the egg whites separately,” he said after he swallowed, “makes fluffy pancakes.”
“You never answered my question,” said Lily, coming up for air after inhaling the bacon, “what will you be doing?”
“Henry needs help at the clubhouse.”
“Take me to get a god-damned laptop, and I’ll do the freaking flyer there.”
Ace sighed, “Jannie doesn’t like them. Never understood why.”
“You can’t upgrade them?” said Lily, “gotta like a girl who likes to upgrade.”
Ace finished his food and took Lily’s empty plate. He rinsed them and put them in the dishwasher. He went to the breakfast bar, and kissed Lily, careful to touch her cheeks and not her ears. The kiss was deep, sweet, with a little fear in it.
“I could have lost you,” he said.
She smiled up at him, “That would really suck because I’d have to haunt you, do some woo-woo stuff with pennies!”
He laughed, “Been watching chick movies?”
“‘Ghost’ is not a chick movie,” said Lily, indignantly.
“Clay,” he said, “they had their hands on clay.”
“Yep!”
He moved his hands down her arms, to her hips, “I like my hands here.”
They kissed more deeply. He carefully took off her shirt and removed her bra. He took off his own Harley shirt. He held her close, stroking her back. She bit his ear, kissed his neck. He reached into the back of his shorts for a condom, slid it on, dropping his shorts. She slid off her own shorts and panties.
She stood on the rung of the barstool. He picked her up, settling her on him. He groaned. She moved up and down, wrapping her legs around him. He moved to the wall so he could support her back. He fell into a slow, deep rhythm. They came at the same time, looking into each other’s eyes. He took her back to the bar stool, and put her down, taking himself out. He went to the bathroom to dispose of the condom and came back with a warm rag for her.
He helped her dress, then he put his shorts back on. They went to the couch, and she curled up in his arms. He turned on the TV and the game console, put on Netflix, and looked for a TV show.
“Sons of Anarchy!” She hit his shoulder.
“Ow!” he said.
There was a knock on the door. Ace went to answer it, picking up the gun in its holster on the table by the door. Gregory came in, toting two plastic bags.
“Got some more clothes,” he said, “a gun and holster for the lady. Hi, Lily, are you doing okay?”
“Yeah,” she said, “what gun?”
“The gun club sold me the one you liked shooting, same as the new one the police confiscated.” He reached in and drew out a Glock 42.
“Swee
t,” said Lily, taking the proffered gun, “love the feel.”
She put it under the pillow on the end of the couch.
“Sit down. We were going to watch some television.”
“How about Road to Paloma? Good bike movie.”
“Works,” said Ace.
He loaded it up while Gregory unloaded his saddlebags. Ace brought out some Mountain Dew, and they relaxed. Ace and Lily dressed in leathers and strapped on some weaponry, and they all took a ride to the club. On the way, they stopped at a computer repair shop that had an I7 gaming laptop for sale on Craigslist.
“Works like a dream,” said the computer guy, a Hispanic man half Ace’s size, “idiot never paid me.”
The motorcycle jackets didn’t phase him a bit. They packed the laptop in Gregory’s huge saddlebags, and they went to the club.
Soon, Lily and Numa were hashing out the flyers and calling the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce, Henry had Ace and Gregory assemble chairs for the homeschool, and Nestor showed up to fire up the grill. They ate barbecue, macaroni salad, and strawberries.
“Oh, my god,” said Lily, “this sauce is amazing!”
Tito laughed, “Won two barbecue contests with it.”
They discussed the shooting, “Gregory is a fucking hero,” said Lily, “he took the guy down.”
“He has that habit,” said Ace. Numa, Gregory, and Henry all laughed.
“You going after your mom?” Numa asked Ace.
“I’m giving it twenty-four hours,” said Ace, “if the police don’t nail her…”
“I will!” said Lily.
“I’m in,” said Henry.
“I’m down,” said Gregory.
“I’ll hide the bodies,” said Tito, “and cook us all a barbecue afterwards.”
They all hashed out plans for the New Orleans trip, now that Lily had found a date. It was going to be in June when it was getting hot in the desert. They planned the route, picking up old Route 66 from Kingman; Arizona to Amarillo, Texas. They decided to take six days riding there and three days in New Orleans, then a fast ride back for those with jobs, and a slow one for those without. They talked about possible stopping points, and getting cooling jackets to combat the summer heat for their newest member, Ghost.
“Woman’s a twig,” said Numa, “anybody in charge of fattening her up?”
“Bonnie’s on it,” said Nestor, “I taught her how to add calories to any dish. She’ll get that little bit straightened out.”
“Where are they?” asked Ace.
“Garage,” said Nestor, “I brought them both plates. Bonnie has her memorizing every tool. The girl says the letters jump when she reads.”
“Dyslexia,” said Henry, “I’ll work with her, get her some colored lenses. Apparently, some colors trick the dyslexic’s brain into seeing normally.”
“What’s her story?” asked Ace.
“Long story short, she was attacked by a rival gang,” said Tito, “Leticia took out the guys who did it, but the girl’s a mouse, jumping at everything. She wouldn’t have lasted long in Leticia’s world.”
Ace thought a minute, “Think Adam and I better let Leticia know if she had other girls like that, we’d take them.”
Gregory nodded, “In a heartbeat.”
Ace headed off to send a message to Leticia, and then work. Gregory took Lily back to Ace’s condo. They watched another movie, then Lily slept while Gregory found a ball game after getting into Ace’s stash of chips and salsa.
Lily woke to the buzzing of her phone. It was dark in the condo. She wedged it out of her pocket, “Is Ace with you?” asked Ivy.
“Nope,” said Lily, moving the lever on the recliner so she could sit up, “should he be?”
“He took off like a bat out of hell during a rush. Bella says he picked up a call, and his face went blank, then all hard, like a stone. He asked her to call me to take over the bar.” Lily could hear driving rock music and the clink of glasses in the background.
“If you don’t hear from me in two hours,” said Lily, lurching towards her computers, “call the cops. Or call Tito; he said he’d help us bury the bodies.”
“Shit,” said Ivy, “I’ll call the Nighthawks. We’ll handle it.”
The laptop booted up fast. She got the address of Casa Dolan. She rattled off the address to Ivy, “Whoever you send, send them to this address.” Ivy wrote it down.
“Don’t get dead!” said Ivy.
“I’ve got Gregory the Doberman,” said Lily, “and I’ll make some more calls.”
“So, will I,” said Ivy. She hung up.
Gregory came out of the bedroom, in full leathers. She could see one of his guns in a side holster.
“Ace just texted me, said Mama Evil just called him, threatened to kill him and you if he didn’t back off,” said Gregory.
“I have the address,” said Lily, strapping on her ankle holster, then pulling on her boots. She rattled it off to Gregory as she ran out the door, locking it behind Gregory.
“That’s Green Valley, in one hell of an upscale neighborhood. They tend to lock their gates,” he said, as they both clomped down the stairs, unwilling to wait for the elevator, “we may have to scale a wall to get in.”
“Don’t care,” said Lily, heading for the bikes, “fucking bitch goes down tonight.”
Gregory led the way, moving like hell on wheels, riding down any back street that was faster. He let them into a neighborhood rife with palm trees. Lily looked up the address and found the street on the other side of the wall. Gregory leaped up and straddled the wall, then pulled Lily up.
The backyard was dark. It had a pool in a wavy shape, with tan adobe walls, a Jacuzzi, and a little changing cabana. They crept around the side of the house, walking on square concrete blocks surrounded by gravel. They came out a little gate to the front.
Lily recognized Daniela. She was in ‘come fuck-me heels’ and a red pantsuit that clashed with her brown hair, and had her business partner, Ciaran, on her arm. Ciaran was in a shiny suit and wore a white shirt without a tie.
Daniela kissed Ciaran deeply, “Come on in, baby,” she said.
“Hey, Daniela, you fucken bitch,” said Lily, stepping out into the light. There was no sign of Ace, not yet, “your little, killer boy is dead. Were you going to kill me yourself after he missed? You threatened to do that. I think you also told Ace, your own son, that you would shoot him full of holes and leave him in the desert for the coyotes.”
Ciaran looked down his nose at Lily, “And who the hell are you?” he asked.
“The tramp stamps my son is fucking!” said Daniela.
“Your son is worth twenty of you,” said Lily, “I notice your little lover boy doesn’t seem surprised that you win the ‘Worst Mom Ever’ award.”
“Don’t listen to her,” said Daniela, “won’t you come inside? It’s chilly out here and my feet are killing me.”
“Fuck you,” said Lily, “what did she tell you?” said Lily to Ciaran, “that her husband beat her? They tuned up each other, and her husband beat up his —and her own son at sixteen and threw him out. He should have gone to jail. Why didn’t he, Daniela? Do you like fucking child abusers?”
“Shut up,” said Daniela, “the neighbors will hear you.”
“DANIELA DONAL LIKED FUCKING A CHILD ABUSER AND HIRED A HIT MAN TO KILL HER HUSBAND!” shouted Lily.
She wasn’t surprised to hear boots hit the ground, covered up by her yelling. Nor was she surprised to see the little snub nose revolver in Daniela's hand.
“You fucken monster,” said Ace, coming around the corner of the house, “you dare to threaten Lily?”
Ivy walked up behind Ciaran, a nasty little stiletto in one hand and a Glock in the other. She looked absolutely… deadly.
“You fucked with the Nighthawks,” said Lily.
Daniela looked shocked.
She looked past Daniela at Ace, “You want I kill her or the boyfriend?”
“Daniela!” said Ciaran, as his
girlfriend pulled the trigger.
Ivy leaped behind Ciaran, and the bullet hit him on the right side. Ciaran folded himself over and fell, groaning, as if he had been hit by a tree.
Lily crouched, and grabbed the gun out of her ankle holster, and pointed it at Daniela. Ace stepped forward and brought the butt of his gun down on his mother’s shoulder. She screamed and dropped the gun. Gregory went to Ciaran; he had to put his second gun back in its ankle holster to help the man with blood staining his white, silk shirt.
Lily walked up to Ivy, and wordlessly held out her hand. Ivy smiled as she put the knife into her hand.
Lily walked up to Daniela, and held the knife to her right eye, “Ace, Sweetie, I think there is something your mother needs to do.”
Ace kicked his mother’s gun away and dug around in his own pocket, “Now, you stone cold bitch, there is something you need to know about prison. It seems that a very dangerous gangbanger named Leticia owes Ace a favor. If you don’t sign the piece of paper he gives you right now, he will call in that favor. Someone will come up when you’re in the shower, or in line for lunch, or working in the laundry, and she’ll stab you with a shiv made out of a toothbrush. Ever been stabbed with a toothbrush? I guarantee, it’ll hurt for the rest of your fucking life.”
Ace held out a pen, “What…” asked Daniela. She licked her lips.
Lily smiled, “Why should you care?”
Ace pressed the pen into her hand and held the paper between his hands, “Sign here, bitch.”
“I suppose this is for the company,” said Daniela.
Ace laughed bitterly, “You obviously know nothing about me or what I want. You threw one son away. Why not throw another?”
She signed. Ace pocketed the paper, while Lily punched her in the gut with the hand holding the gun when Daniela tried to use the pen as a weapon. Daniela dropped the pen with a grunt and doubled over.
“Stupid bitch,” said Lily, “I could have put your eye out.”
She handed the dagger back to Ivy, and the gun Gregory had given her. Ivy made both weapons disappear.
When they heard sirens, Ace gestured for Ivy and Gregory to go, and they disappeared into the night. The cops showed up, and this time the FBI was right behind. Since no one fired a gun except Daniela, and Ciaran kept babbling about how Daniela shot him and how he didn’t know she was a killer and tried to kill his son and his tramp stamp girlfriend, no one bothered to cuff them. An ambulance took Ciaran away, and an FBI car took Daniela.