“Where are our women?” Aleck asks Sanders, looking very uneasy.
“Told you, in a motel outside of town.”
“Why won’t you tell me where?” Aleck says, clearly not happy.
“After all I’ve done for you, you still don’t trust me.” Sanders faces him off.
“It’s not that I don’t trust you, I wanna know where my woman is. Is someone staying with my daughter?”
“Someone is watching over Josie and the kids, don’t worry. Ayden and Line are with her too. They are at New Orleans Motel outside of town by the 401. Call her if you don’t believe me.” Sanders dares him to call.
“Was it so hard to fucking say it in the first place?” Aleck glares at him.
“No, but it’s fun to rile you up and it works every time.” Sanders smirks, wrong thing to say. Aleck wipes the smirk off of Sanders’ face with one single blow to the jaw.
“Motherfucker!” Aleck yells.
“Okay, I deserved that. How about we work together and fight later. We need to move now if we wanna take them down.” Sanders holds his hand out for Aleck to shake.
“Deal.” Aleck shakes it and I’m proud of him. He’s hot headed like me but he’s just proven that he can swallow his pride for a moment and work along with someone who just pissed him off and whose profession he despises.
We all get ready and gather everyone inside the compound, letting them know what’s going to happen and how we’re finally going to take them down. Aleck, Ant, Sanders and myself all excuse ourselves to go call our women before we head out.
I get nervous when Viv doesn’t answer on the first ring. “Hey Handsome.”
“How are you?”
“I’m alright, kinda nervous about this sudden change of location. What’s going on?”
“We’ve received some threats targeting you, Nicole and Jenny, Sanders’ wife.”
“Fuck, I didn’t expect that. What’s going to happen? How long do we have to stay here?” she asks trying to play it cool but I can tell she’s nervous.
“I don’t know Doll. Hopefully, it’ll all be over very soon. Just be careful and only trust our men and the girls, alright?”
“Okay, the cops are staying outside, Bennett and Ryan are in here with us. Please, no matter what you do, stay safe.” she says softly.
“I will, Viv. Don’t worry, I’ll be with you in no time.”
“You better be. I know you don’t do the three words thing but I do. I love you, Gabe.”
I sigh, fuck she knows how to fucking get to me. “I don’t, but I feel them nonetheless.”
“You do?” she asks surprised.
“Of course I do.” I smile softly.
“Thank God! Please, stay safe.”
I chuckle. “I will Doll. You too.”
“See you later.”
“Later.” I hang up, not wanting to, but knowing we have things to do.
We are on our way to the Kings’ compound, all three clubs taking a different road as to not wake any suspicions, and if they try to stop us, they only have the number to go after one club. It takes us quite some time to get to their compound. We came up with a great idea after Sanders got some new intel. Apparently, they don’t keep the women they’re holding captive at the compound, so at least only those motherfucking Kings will be there and we won’t be killing any innocents. We don’t plan on going easy on them, it’ll be fucking chaos. We know Jared won’t be there, but at least most of his club will be there and will be gone within a few seconds. Never liked working with cops, but this time has proven different. Sanders isn’t like the other cops, I don’t know what his story is, but he had no problem turning his back to his badge and his acceptance speech about respecting the law and shit.
After two hours we arrive at their compound. We park our bikes far enough away so they don’t hear or see us coming and quickly get into position, all three clubs surrounding them. We see movement in and around the compound, looks like we’ve been spotted, finally. Can’t wait to take some of those fuckers down. The Angels shoot at the first couple of guys who come rushing out and we follow suit, shooting at anyone that comes out. They still outnumber us by a long shot, looks like they had some of their other charters step in, hopefully we don’t have another fucking rat who gave them a heads up. We’re relentless and keep shooting and the noise is deafening. All of us forming an arc around them, blocking any escape route they could use.
Too soon we run out of ammunition and have to retreat and take cover to avoid their shots.
“Cover me.” Sanders yells and runs to the side of the house, behind our line. I don't know what the fuck he’s doing but he better not get himself killed, I don’t want to be the one to tell his wife that he was shot because he decided to help us take out Kings.
After a few minutes, Sanders comes running back and motions for us to move backwards. “Get out of the fucking way.” he yells and not ten seconds later, we hear this loud bang and watch the Kings’ compound explode, sending debris everywhere. Bodies are shredded into pieces, parts of the compound and bikes are flying everywhere. It’s fucking chaos. Most of us had the time to jump for cover but some of us didn’t quite make it and have either been burnt or badly cut.
I get up and grab my gun, walking towards the two remaining Kings who are still standing and end them without regret. I try to check the bodies that are on the ground, seeing if any belong to any of our three clubs. Unfortunately, one guy from the Angels was crushed by a bike engine and didn’t make it. I cut off his patches and put them in my pocket.
Slowly, we all gather ourselves and go back to our bikes, I spot Ric and walk over to him. “I’m sorry, man.” I say as I hand over his fallen comrade’s patches.
He sighs sadly. “Thank you. I appreciate you doing this.”
“Don’t mention it.” I nod my head to him and go to my bike.
We start the long journey back to the compound, feeling happy with ourselves despite our losses. We know there are still others and their other charters are still up and running. This is not over, no, this is just the beginning.
We’ve just declared war on one of the biggest clubs in Louisiana.
They will rally their charters and will come after us for revenge, but in the meantime, we’re going to enjoy the fact that we’ve made a huge dent in their operation. It’s only temporary, but hopefully it’ll give us enough time to rally our own charters and prepare for retaliation.
When Ant mentioned an alliance with the Bastards and Angels, I didn’t think it’d work. We’re all pig headed and want things to go our way. With the shit we’ve all been through because of those two clubs, it was hard at first, but things changed in the past twelve years. Things worked out pretty well with this alliance, which surprised everybody. Everybody worked well with each other, things went smoothly for us. Over these past couple of years, we had to face a lot of betrayal coming from within, but with the right people by your side, you can overcome everything. It’ll show those other clubs out there who want to take us down that we are strong and they shouldn’t mess with us.
Our alliance worked well and in our favor. We came out of this stronger. Things ran smoothly. We managed to work with some of our past enemies. It surprised everybody, and will show other clubs out there that want to mess with us, that we are stronger than ever. This alliance was the best thing that could happen to our club. Not only did it help us get rid of some of those Kings bastards, but also gave us the confidence we had been lacking since we faced a lot of betrayal coming from within.
Despite the inevitable attack from the Kings, things can only get better from now, well at least, I hope so.
CHAPTER 19
Viv
I can’t believe Sanders had Nic, myself, and his wife, Jenny, moved into a motel with cops watching over us. Bennett and Ryan are on ladysitting duty all over again. Not that I mind, those two are hilarious, but this fucking blows.
I hate feeling trapped and to make things worse, they won’t tell u
s what the hell is going on. Sure Gabe called me before they left but for fuck’s sake, we could’ve just stayed at Line’s. If they really want to find us, then they would have done so already. I’m pretty sure the kings’ have had someone watching all of us anyway so they’ll know we’re here, they either want to scare us or don’t need me yet. I shudder at the thought of being taken by them.
This is the part I hate about the motorcycle club lifestyle. No matter what you do, there will always be rival clubs trying to fuck us over or use us as bait and leverage.
When we were living in New Orleans and hanging out with the Last Hangman, things were good. We weren’t exposed to the illegal shit that took place. That all changed though, when we were handed over to Trent. The members of the Kings couldn’t give a shit what we witnessed. From such a young age it was a daily occurrence for us to see people taking drugs, drinking extensively, fucking each other in front of us, we even were witnesses to murders.
I don’t think the others have any idea of how ruthless and heartless the Kings can be, but I’ve witnessed it first-hand so many times. They didn’t have a problem beating people up in front of us, abusing women, killing people who wouldn’t do what they were ordering them to do. They were letting us roam around the place not caring about how what we were seeing would be affecting us. As the years went by, I became immune to it all. It still grosses me out, but it doesn’t affect me how it used to. It used to give me nightmares for days on end. A part of me hates that I stopped feeling after witnessing so much fucked up shit. I started to feel less human. I want to feel again. I deserve to feel again.
The only thing I feel bad about is that Nicole and Jenny, Sanders’ wife, have been thrown into this fucking mess because of me. I’m sure Jared would have taken an interest in Nicole sooner or later, but I hate that her being with me brought his unwanted attention to her sooner. I hope the cops outside know what they are doing and will be able to protect us properly if Jared or his men strike. I don’t even know how long we have to stay here but this is driving me crazy already and it’s only been an hour.
I wish we had something to do, but we were rushed out of the house before we had a chance to pick anything up. Even Bennett and Ryan aren’t their usual cheery selves. They can’t get a hold of the others so they’re in the same boat as us. All we can do is sit here and wait, I hope no one’s been hurt today. So many innocent people are going to be involved, I’d rather have Jared just get it over with and take me and leave the others alone.
I think back to the day Annie was killed. It started a lot like today and turned to shit in no time. Thinking about her always puts me in a weird mood, I cherish the memories I have of her, but I’m also haunted by the sight of her being killed. A part of me died that day and I wasn’t the same person anymore, even after I killed Trent.
He was responsible for all the shit that went wrong in my life. From taking us into a fucked up environment to making our lives a living hell. When we turned sixteen, things went south quickly and he started to use us to create alliances. Even with Trent gone, it didn’t make it better. I knew Jared and his men would be after me and I’d be on the run for the rest of my life. What I didn’t expect was the feeling of being truly alone and realize it, it was hard. I had no one left. All the people I loved were gone. I could have stayed for Gabe, but I couldn’t, not when he could only look at me with so much hate.
I don’t regret running away. I needed to get away so I could find and rebuild myself. Staying in the place that brought me so much heartache wasn’t going to help me. Coming back to New Orleans and the Last Hangman wasn’t an option back then, I couldn’t bring myself to be in the place where my parents died. It would only bring more heartache. I know Cabe would have accepted me back with arms wide open, but I just couldn’t face them, not at the time. I was really on my own and it was fucking horrible.
“What are you thinking about?” Nic asks me, sitting next to me on the ground.
“The past.” I sigh.
“What happened to you?” she asks softly.
“You don’t wanna know.”
“You might think that, but I do. Not because I’m really nosey but because I wanna help you. My brother obviously loves you and there’s a reason for that. I don’t know exactly what happened but I know it was bad enough that he changed completely that day. He wasn’t the same Gabe who would read me stories or play the same game over and over with me. He never wanted to tell me what happened because he didn’t want to expose me to the MC world, when in reality I grew up in it, as much as he wanted to keep me away from it, and I fucking love it.” She shrugs and I smile softly. She really is a female version of Gabe, it’s actually scary.
“The guy we saw the other day is responsible for my sister’s death. My uncle was a twat who wanted to marry me and my sister off to other clubs and we didn’t want that. We rebelled but it meant that Annie lost her life and I my freedom. Gabe saved my life one night and that’s when Jared started targeting him. Things wouldn’t have ended so badly or gone on for this long if he and my sister could have stayed away from each other. Instead they fell in love and Gabe joined the Last Hangman. They thought they were being careful, but my uncle - who was the Prez - and Jared knew all about it. One day, they took all three of us and tortured, raped and killed my sister in front of us. If I had let my Uncle sell me off to Jared, none of this would have happened and Annie would still be alive and probably married to Gabe by now. However, I fought tooth and nail, killed my uncle and ran away. Jared is president of the Kings now and is out for revenge against Gabe and the Last Hangman and is still trying to take me. I’m sorry you’ve all been brought into this mess because I came back.” I sigh.
“Fucking hell!” Nic whispers loudly.
“You could say that. I don’t know how or when they are going to strike. All I know is that no matter where we hide, they will find us.” I say sadly.
“They are going after the entire club today.” Jenny says softly.
“What do you mean?” Nic and I look at her confused. Bennett and Ryan join us. “What do you know that we don’t?”
“I overheard Jason, my husband, talking on the phone last night, talking about taking down the Kings today. I don’t know how, but that’s where they are right now. Hopefully, they will get there in time to take out the bastard who did that to you and your sister. I’m so sorry that happened to you.” Jenny squeezes my hand.
I squeeze hers back. “Thanks. I need to focus on the present and the future. Whatever happens, don’t go without a fight.”
“Usually I wouldn’t agree with that but she’s right, from what we’ve heard about what’s going on with the Kings’, the less they put up a fight, the more they are enjoying it. They want people to fear them. We’ll do all we can to protect you three,” Bennett says rubbing Jenny’s back. She flinches and sighs.
“They are the good guys, even if you don’t believe it or trust them, they will put their lives on the line to protect you. That’s what the Last Hangman is all about. We love each other, protect each other and party with each other. You don’t have to agree with that lifestyle, but know that whatever happens, they will risk their life to protect you and your husband and so will I.”
“Why?” She looks confused.
“Because that’s how we were brought up. It’s one massive dysfunctional family, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. They might do illegal shit but they are great guys.” I smile at her.
“That’s nice.” She smiles softly back.
“It really is, except when they are all acting like badass alpha males at the same time. That shit is headache guaranteed.” I roll my eyes making Nic and Jenny laugh whilst Bennett and Ryan pout. “What? Don’t look at me like that, you know it’s true. You go around gloating and flexing your muscles and all that bollocks, trying to get the ladies to notice you. It’s fucking hilarious to see and when they’re drunk it’s even better. I’ll always remember when I was younger, one of the guys was so hammere
d that he was hitting on one of the pillars supporting the compound thinking it was a woman.” I burst out laughing when thinking about that.
“What the fuck?” Nicole laughs with Jenny.
“Must have been one hell of a pillar.” Bennett says as he and Ryan join us laughing. It feels good to be able to relax and joke around, even though staying here is doing my head in.
“I remember when they made me a prospect, they would have me do fucking crazy things, I’m not sure I’m supposed to say any of this but it’s too fucking funny to pass up. We were doing a couple of deals with another club when one of them made a deal fall through, stealing some of our drugs. We had to come up with a plan to get back what they had taken. And we found out that they were having a big party in an empty field. So everyone had this great idea to send me to the party. So there’s eighteen year old bearded me dressed to the nines in a mini leather skirt, a low cut top and fucking heels, trying to snoop on the enemies. It was fucking embarrassing, to make matters worse Ant dubbed it the perfect plan and made sure pictures were taken so they could all remember what a perfect plan looked like. Fuckers!” We all burst out laughing as we imagine 6 foot 2 Ryan dressed in heels. Fucking priceless.
“And no one noticed anything wrong?” Nicole manages through her tears.
“Nope, they were all too high or drunk to notice, thank fuck.” He chuckles.
“I so wanna see them!” I grin innocently.
“Nah, they were deleted.” He waves me off.
“I’ll ask Ant.” I smirk evilly.
“Do that and I’ll share your baby pictures where you are lifting your skirt and mooning everyone.” He glares at me playfully.
“What? I had a nice ass.” I shrug not caring.
“You still do.” Ryan smirks at me.
“I’m so telling Gabe you said that.” I grin innocently.
“Ah fuck, please don’t, I still need my balls.” We all burst out laughing again as he covers his balls with his hands.
We keep telling funny stories from the club which lifts our spirits and helps us relax. It stops me from going crazy, but it’s not helping the uneasy feeling I’m getting.
Healing Gabe (Last Hangman MC Book 3) Page 15