by London Casey
Gaige lit a smoke and took a deep drag with his eyes shut. All he could see were Emily’s eyes. There was so much mystery hidden in them, and it was getting to him. As he exhaled, Gaige opened his eyes and pushed from the wall and went to the bar. He sat for a minute and called for a shot.
The first one stung like a bitch.
The second tasted better.
The third tasted like water.
His nerves started to relax.
Gaige got a beer and found Blaine sitting on a pool table with two relievers. Relievers were women who hung around Back Down Devil MC, hoping to eventually be picked up as an old lady by one of the club members. Until they were picked up, the relievers were to do as their name indicated. They relieved when asked. That meant cooking, cleaning, sucking, fucking, and anything else they were asked.
Blaine was with a blonde and brunette. In a sick way, the two women resembled Emily and Rachel. Gaige shook his head, knowing Blaine wouldn’t let his threesome fantasy rest until he had it. The blondie had her head on Blaine’s shoulder and her hand between his legs. She was rubbing fast, helping to relieve Blaine of the problem that started when Emily attacked him. The brunette had her mouth over Blaine’s ear, sucking on it.
“Yeah, baby,” Blaine whispered in his rough voice. A cigarette hung from his mouth and he had his eyes closed. “Make my ear feel better, baby.”
Gaige took the smoke from Blaine’s lips, dropped it, and stepped on it.
“Hey, bro,” Blaine said. He opened his eyes and they were bloodshot and wild.
“You’re high as a fucking kite,” Gaige said.
“Make that a jumbo jet, brother,” Blaine said.
“You two,” Gaige said, nodding to the relievers, “take a fucking break.”
“Oh, come on…” the blondie said. She gripped Blaine tighter. “He’s so close.”
Gaige wasn’t in the mood. He grabbed the blondie by the hair and threw her from the table. “Did I fucking stutter?”
She looked up at him, her eyes wide. “I’m sorry.”
“Get the fuck out of here,” Gaige ordered.
The two women hurried away.
“Wait for me,” Blaine called out and laughed.
“Christ, Blaine, you can’t wait a minute, can you?”
“What? I’m relaxing. Unwinding. It was a rough workday today, brother. And you stole my smoke.”
“Here,” Gaige said and gave Blaine his smoke.
Blaine inhaled deep and laughed as he exhaled.
“What the fuck is so funny?”
“Your girl, man,” Blaine said. “She ripped that fucking ring right outta my ear. Fuck. She’s wild, bro.”
“She’s hurting right now. Because of us.”
Blaine slapped Gaige in the face. “It’s all good. It’ll all be good. Now can I go fuck those women?”
“Yeah, go,” Gaige said. “I’ll need your proxy vote though.”
Blaine nodded. “I’m all in on this. We find the assholes that pulled the triggers and fucking gut them. No questions asked.”
“You realize it was retaliation because of something Nate and I did, right?”
“I don’t care,” Blaine said. “Nobody takes a shot at one of us. And nobody kills pussy I planned on fucking.”
“You’re fucking sick,” Gaige said.
Blaine jumped from the pool table. “Yeah, I am. So sick, bro.”
Blaine walked away, and a second later, Nate whistled and motioned for Gaige. He pointed to the hallway. It was time for the meeting to begin.
Only the members of Back Down Devil MC could vote at the meetings. The actual MC had hundreds of members spread across dozens of charters. From California up through Washington state and even into Canada. Spread south and east, the MC had charters in Arizona and up through Colorado. There was even a few lost men charters in the Dakotas. They were inhibited by guys who were ousted, voted out, or voluntarily left the main MC charters to survive on their own. They were still bound by the laws of the MC, but they weren’t given the same resources.
Down the hall and to the left, there was a steel door. Nate opened the door and Gaige walked in. The musky scent of cigarettes and weed filtered throughout the air. Each member had a beer and a shot glass in front of them. Handguns were placed on the table, facing the middle of the table where the ashes of the founding member of Back Down Devil MC sat. All the guns were pointed to the urn as a symbol of protection. To honor the club. To honor the purpose. To honor each other.
As Gaige walked along the table, he patted shoulders and shook hands with the crew that sat at the table. At the head of the table sat the president, Miller. He had the gavel as long as Gaige could remember. He was secretive yet loud. He could be a father figure and a dictator at the same time. His connections were deep and spanned many years, which is how the MC had a lot of the relationships it had.
Gaige hugged Miller and then took his seat directly to the left of Miller.
Next to Gaige sat Griffin. He was the brains and money behind the MC. An accountant who was caught stealing and then busted for insider trading, Griffin came to the table wearing a tie and traded it in for the open road and a leather cut to match. Then there was Landon. The opposite to the head of the table sat Nate and Shay. The last three seats were for Erik, Jace, and Blaine. The only empty seat was Blaine’s.
Gaige lit a fresh smoke and deferred to Miller.
“Where’s Blaine?”
“Three knuckles deep in pussy,” Nate said.
The table broke out in laughter.
“He gave me his proxy vote,” Gaige said.
“Fuck,” Miller said and shook his head. “He’s lucky he’s fucked enough in the head that we need him.”
“Hear, hear,” Shay called out and lifted his shot glass.
“Yeah,” Miller said. “Lift ’em.”
Everyone at the table lifted their shot glass. Gaige lifted his beer bottle.
“I’m not going to say shit,” Miller said. “Let’s drink and let’s figure this out.”
Everyone drank and the shot glasses slammed against the table. Everyone kept smoking, staring at Miller, waiting for the next orders to come.
“What happened out there?” Miller asked.
He didn’t need to look at Gaige for Gaige to know the question was meant for him.
Gaige said, “I sent a message. My call to do it.”
“Message?” Miller said. “Thought the message would be the dead bodies they’d find in the morning.”
“Vultures ripping their eyes out, right?” Jace asked. His eyes were icy.
Gaige stared back at Jace. “I did what I had to do.”
“Which was what?” Miller asked.
“Three showed up,” Gaige said. “We took care of two and I sent one back with a clear message.”
“He did the right thing,” Nate said. “Eight Under has been sneaking around our backs for a while now. They needed the message.”
Miller made a fist and slammed it on the table. “And that fucking message came back to us. With bullets. At a fucking fight. You realize the heat I’m going to take for this? You want to step into that circle, Nate, and swing your big dick around, that’s fine. But bullets?”
“They need to be reminded of who we are again,” Gaige said.
“So the dead bodies weren’t the message?” Jace asked. “Did you… actually do anything to them?”
“Fuck you,” Gaige said.
“Come on,” Jace said. “Come on over and talk.”
Gaige slapped his beer bottle at Jace. The bottle spilled and Jace grabbed it. He smashed it off the table and held it toward Gaige, who grabbed his gun and pointed it at Jace.
“Jesus Christ,” Shay yelled.
“Cut the fucking shit,” Miller bellowed.
Gaige held his gun out until Jace dropped the broken bottle. Gaige put his gun down and shook his head.
“They almost took out Blaine, myself, and Nate,” Gaige said. “They had automatic weapons. They went rig
ht into the circle, shot the two fighting, and then looked for us. This was a blatant attack on Back Down Devil. There’s no fucking way that the guy we messed up was able to go back to his shithole club and have them send guys out for us.”
“So this was an attack before they knew of our attack?” Miller asked.
“Sounds right to me,” Nate said. “They want to rattle us. Shake us up.”
“They’re moving then,” Griffin said. “It’s a diversion. They want us to look at this while they do something else.”
“Then we spread wide,” Miller said. “We stop this before it becomes something.”
“It might already have become something,” Nate said. He looked at Gaige and nodded.
All eyes were on Gaige.
“What now?” Miller asked.
“Blaine had two women with him,” Gaige said.
“Shit,” Shay said.
“One of them was shot and killed,” Gaige said.
“Fuck,” Miller said. “The other?”
“She’s in my room,” Gaige said.
The table starting whistling and clapping.
“Whoa!” Landon called out. “Soothing the friend…”
“Hey,” Gaige called out. “Fuck off. All of you. Fuck off.”
“That’s a risky move, Gaige,” Miller said.
“No, it’s not,” Gaige said. “Blaine used her best friend as a fucking shield. Those bullets were meant to be in Blaine. He’s alive because of this woman’s friend. The least I can do… the least we can do… is make this right for her.”
“So what are we voting on?” Miller asked. “Settling this thing with Eight Under… or settling Gaige in bed with some girl?”
The table chuckled.
“We go after Eight Under,” Gaige said. “We stop the drugs. We find the two assholes that tried to take us out. And then send our message loud and clear.”
“Okay,” Miller said. “Let’s vote this then.”
“Blaine’s proxy vote… yes,” Gaige said. “As is mine.”
Miller nodded and looked at Griffin.
“Yeah,” Griffin said.
“Yup,” Landon said.
“Yes,” Nate said and tilted his beer bottle toward Gaige.
“Aye,” Shay said.
The other side of the table closed out with two more yes’s from Erik and Jace.
Finally, Miller raised the gavel and nodded. “Yes.” He slammed the gavel and then said, “We need to coordinate this properly. No running out there and just shooting. We need to find their next drug run and bust that up right there on the street.”
“I want the two guys who shot at us,” Gaige said.
“How are we going to know?” Jace asked.
“I don’t know,” Gaige said. “But I made a promise to someone.”
“A girl in your bed?”
“It’s a goddamn big deal,” Nate cut in. “She watched her best friend get lit up with bullets. And she had to deal with Blaine enjoying a dead body on him.”
“Oh, fuck,” Jace said.
“Yeah,” Gaige said. “Anyone finds any of the Eight Under assholes, they call me.”
“Agreed,” Miller said. “I wouldn’t mind saying my peace to these guys too.” Miller cracked his large knuckles.
The meeting broke up with a nod. The table cleared out except for Gaige and Griffin. Griffin turned and wheeled his chair to a desk in the corner. He turned on a lamp and opened a folder.
Gaige finished his smoke and looked at Miller.
“Life decisions based on women…,” Miller said. “I mean, you get that, right?”
“This isn’t based on women,” Gaige said. “This is bullshit. Those fights are about money and respect. Our club relies on those fights for income. When the next one rolls around, are we going to be invited?”
Miller didn’t answer. “Sending a message will help.”
“Exactly. And if I can find a way to make this up to that woman, I will. She’s not like us, Miller. She’s not meant to live each day knowing someone could be killed. Or that she could be killed. I saw the look on her face when she saw the bullet holes in her friend’s back. I can’t take that memory away, but I can damn sure try to kill it.”
“Kill something to kill something,” Miller said.
“Our only way of life,” Gaige said.
Gaige patted Miller on the shoulder and walked out of the meeting room. He instantly heard the sounds of cheers and started to run. When he turned the corner, he saw Nate holding Jace by his throat against the wall.
“I’ll fucking break your neck,” Nate threatened.
“Fuck you,” Jace said as his face burned red. He threw his head forward and smashed Nate in the face.
“Whoa, stop this!” Gaige yelled.
“No, no, no,” Shay called out. “Let ’em work it out. Come on boys.”
Nate let Jace go and stepped back. They slowly started to circle each other.
Fucking Nate.
The big guy had a big, broken heart and his bullshit bled into the club.
Jace took the first swing and connected with Nate’s chin. Nate spun and grabbed his face. Jace put his hands down and nodded. Nate made a fist, rings on, and slammed it against Jace. He went right down on his ass. Blood dripped down Nate’s face from his eye. Jace shook his head and blood sprayed on the floor.
“Done?” Nate asked.
“Are you?” Jace asked.
“I’m good,” Nate said. He offered his hand.
Jace took it and just like that, the fight was over. The two men went to opposite ends of the bar to soothe their wounds.
Gaige turned and walked away from the bar and club. He needed to check on Emily.
Chapter Eight
Emily sat on an old wooden desk chair and kept her hand closed tight around Rachel’s necklace. The room reminded her of a dorm room. But it was biker room, no doubt about it. Not the first one she ever saw, but definitely the most serious one. The logo for Back Down Devil MC appeared on one wall and pictures of Gaige and the crew hung randomly around the room. Most of the drawers of the two dressers were open and clothes hung out. The desk was the most organized part of the room. Gaige definitely conducted business in the room. That’s when Emily’s eyes came upon the bed. There was definitely more than one kind of business done in the room.
After sitting for a little while, trying to calm her mind (which was damn near impossible to actually do), there was a knock at the door. Emily froze and gripped the arms of the wooden chair. She wasn’t sure what her position was right then. Gaige had told her to stay put and just wait. He gave her his promise that he would return soon and they would then talk.
“Listen, baby, I know you’re in there,” a voice said. “I… I have to talk to you again.”
Emily swallowed, recognizing the voice as Blaine.
She slowly rose from the chair and walked to the door. Blaine began to gently tap on the door, humming, waiting for her to answer.
When Emily opened the door, Blaine put his hands up. “I just need to talk to you.”
“Where’s Gaige?”
“He’s in the meeting. I’m supposed to be there but fuck it. I’ve got other intentions for right now.”
“Okay.”
“I never meant to bring your friend into danger,” Blaine said. “It’s just swirling around my head. I can’t figure out why.”
“Maybe you feel guilty,” Emily said.
“No, I don’t feel guilty. I don’t think I’ve ever felt guilty.” Blaine blinked fast. It was obvious he was drunk or high. “I think I’m regretting not getting her pussy first.” He met eyes with Emily. “You know?”
Emily swallowed. She never met someone so disgusting in her life. “That’s what you wanted to say to me?”
“No,” Blaine said. “No. I’m sure Gaige has given you his word on things, and that’s good. His word is good. I’m going to give you mine, too, but I’m not as reliable. The only things I’m good at is fighting and fucki
ng.”
“Thanks,” Emily said. “Thanks for saying that.”
“Now before Gaige takes his claim, baby, any chance you and I…”
Blaine put his hands to his hips and smiled. Emily gritted her teeth and slapped him across the face. He groaned and then started to laugh.
“Baby, I don’t know if that’s a yes or no. I like it…”
Emily slammed the door and locked it. “Get it?” she called out.
“Yeah. I’ll get it… somewhere else. Sleep tight, baby.”
Emily went back to the chair and sat down. She put her hands to her face and felt the cool touch of the necklace in her hand. She could smell the metal, maybe even smell the blood on it. She didn’t know. Tears came to her eyes again and she let them flow this time.
She wept until the door opened. When she jumped up, the chair crashed back to the desk. Gaige closed the door and stared at her.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
Emily held out the necklace and shook her head.
“Shit,” Gaige said. He took the necklace from her hand. He placed it on the desk and pulled her in for a hug. “It’s okay, beautiful. It’s okay. We’re going to figure this out. The decision has been made.”
“It doesn’t bring her back,” Emily whispered. “Her father…”
“Look at me,” Gaige ordered.
Emily looked up. Gaige took her face into his hands. “You have to realize what’s happening around you. You can go. Right now. But if you do, we’re going to trail you. Find out who you talk to you and why. If you stay, you have to listen to me. We grieve by the actions of our hands. Okay? You need to wash your hands of this right now, beautiful.”
Emily stared into his powerful eyes and knew that she was going to be there with him until they found the guys who shot at them and then probably kill them. That’s how this world worked. Justice wasn’t sought out in front of a judge and jury. It was like living as an outlaw. Justice was dealt from the heart, and that was scary because the heart can easily cloud the mind.
“Go. Now.” Gaige backed away from Emily and pointed to a partially opened door.
Emily walked into the bathroom and went to the sink. She looked at her hands and saw they were shaking. The necklace had left an impression on Rachel’s blood rubbed off onto her hand. Under Emily’s nails was more blood, from Blaine’s face. Emily turned on the water and began to wash her hands. She looked down into the sink and scrubbed hard. She wanted it all washed away, but not just from her hands. She wanted it washed away from her mind, too. She just wanted to go back to her job, matching rich men with beautiful women for a paycheck to survive and hide.