by London Casey
Jordyn swallowed again and walked to the bed. Her face and body were both burning. Just because Jace said her body was sweet.
“You work for Strokner?” Jace asked.
“Yes.”
“Is it legit?”
“Meaning?”
“What do you do?”
“I work for him. I had to interview along with a bunch of other people. A lot of people want to work for Mr. Strokner’s company. Most get internships and nothing more. A few maybe get hired. But for me, to get a call directly from him to work for him… it’s a dream come true.”
“A dream? That’s your dream?”
“It matters to me. To my grandmother. She wanted to see me on my own two feet. She raised me ever since my parents were killed.”
“Your parents are dead?” Jace asked.
Jordyn saw something in his eyes. Pain? A memory? Both?
“Yes,” Jordyn said. “They’re gone. My grandmother struggled to raise me. I got into a good school and now I’m supposed to be starting my career. I really thought I was by getting this job. But look at me.”
Jace touched Jordyn’s chin. “You look damn good to me, babe.”
“I don’t even know you. I told you to fuck me and you did. Mr. Strokner wanted to have sex with me and then he hit me.”
“Tell me more about that shit,” Jace said.
Jordyn hung her head. Going through it was bad enough.
“It just started to happen, I don’t know,” Jordyn whispered. “He made comments and little passes. At first, maybe it was kind of flattering to have a rich man coming on to me. But then it got more serious. Then he started talking about his daughter. Rachel.”
“Yeah, I know. I was there.”
“You saw her get killed?”
“Yeah. We were at a fight.”
“A fight?”
Jace smiled. “Club’s got to earn one way or another. We were at a fight and shit got out of hand. Bullets started to fly and Rachel was killed. Her best friend, Emily, is shacked up with Gaige though. Kind of a sick twist in things around here. But ever since then, Strokner thinks he has a foot in this clubhouse. And if I’m being honest, it pisses me the fuck off.”
Jordyn shook her head. “I can’t believe that.”
“Yeah. Well, whatever. Keep talking.”
“He started to make more demands. Like telling me not to wear panties. He asked to see. He wanted to touch. He made me touch myself.”
“Is that so?” Jace asked.
Jordyn felt her face burning again. “This is serious…”
“Serious? If it was that serious, you wouldn’t be doing it.”
Jordyn stood up. “You don’t know what I’m going through.”
“Being pushed around? Fucked?”
Jordyn slapped Jace before she knew what she was doing. She jumped back, fearing his reaction. Jace simply touched his cheek.
“That was a good one,” Jace said. “Did I make you angry? You let him touch you, so why didn't you just fuck him? Why did you come in here and let me fuck you?”
“Stop.”
“No. Tell me. What was it? You too afraid to fuck him?”
Jordyn slapped Jace again. But this time he grabbed her wrist and smiled. “I’ll give you two, babe. There won't be a third..."
“I’m sorry. I don’t know why, okay? I just really needed this job to work out." Jordyn felt her eyes fill with tears. “Fuck, I’m a mess right now. And in front of you.”
“Don’t worry about me,” Jace said. He wiped away a tear from Jordyn’s cheek. “Don’t even fucking worry about me. I’ll be dead in no time out there, babe.”
“Why? Why murder? Why this life?”
Jace stared deep into Jordyn’s eyes. “Why not? Look at you right now. You went down the 'right' path and look where that got you," Jace laughed. “I was pushed off that path a long time ago. You’re not the only one with a painful past, Jordyn. This is my life. I live every day and there’s nothing else to it.”
“I don’t know what to do right now,” Jordyn admitted. “I don’t even know if I still have a job.”
“You better get that job back,” Jace said. “I could use your help.”
Help? He wants me to help…
“I don’t understand.”
“You will,” Jace said. “Strokner needs to be kept happy. If he’s happy, he’s stupid. He fucking gave you a folder and sent you here to piss me off. And it worked. But I need him to be stupid a little longer. Can you do that?”
“You want me to go back to him? You want me to let him..."
Jace put his hands to Jordyn’s shoulders. He held her tight. “Choose you life, Jordyn. If you want to go out there and follow the straight path, then go. Or you can get back at that fucking prick for all those times he touched you. For fucking hitting you. You don’t want me to storm into his office and put a bullet between his eyes, right?”
“No.”
“So then help me. And by doing that, I’ll help you.”
Jordyn was shocked. “You would hurt him? For me?”
Jace touched her cheek again. “I don’t know why, but I would.”
“Okay then. I, uh, don’t have a ride. One of his drivers brought me here.”
Jace smiled. “I’ll take you wherever you have to go.”
Jordyn heard the words and just like that, she crossed that line in her mind that had been keeping her safe.
She was on the dark side now.
eight.
Jace couldn’t get her out of his mind. How many days had it been now? Two? Three? Fuck, maybe even more. The days and nights had been so damn busy. They had table meetings every day to discuss Strokner, the legal case against Jace, and random nonsense with Eight Under and Coast Road. And even with all that going on, Jace thought about Jordyn. He wondered if she had managed to get her job back. And if so, how did she do it? What was she doing right now? Was she bent over letting Strokner fuck her?
Jealousy fucks with a person's mind, and in the club life, any distraction can get someone killed. So after the meetings, Jace would take a few shots of whiskey and pick a random reliever to join him in his room. The task was always simple. On her knees, in the dark, and she had five minutes to make him come. The entire time Jace thought of Jordyn and that damn body of hers.
“Fuck,” Jace whispered.
He finished his smoke and threw it to the ground. Embers scattered and he put his helmet on. Blaine was next to him on his own motorcycle, getting ready to make a little visit to the judge’s son. It wasn’t quite approved by Miller and the rest of the club, but with Blaine on his side, Jace had enough respect that everyone shut their mouths about it. Which was good, considering the fact that Shay had lied about his brother trying to kill everyone in the club, and Erik had brought a potential fucking rat into the clubhouse. That all worked out so it didn't matter.
And this would work out too.
Jace started his motorcycle. Blaine did the same. He looked at Blaine and offered his fist. They bumped fists and then they took off. Blaine was there to keep Jace from doing something really stupid. Jace understood that. But he needed to send a clear message to everyone in Frelen. It was time that the town was reminded of how important Back Down Devil MC is. If it weren’t for Back Down Devil, the town would have been overrun by Eight Under and Coast Road. Drugs would be at every street corner and no one would be safe from the bloodshed that always accompanies drug dealing.
Back Down Devil kept everything in balance. And in order to do that, sometimes they had to send messages.
Blaine led the way to a private school near the southern tip of Frelen. The campus was as big as some university campuses. The buildings were old and massive. There was definitely some old money and hush money flowing through the place.
They parked their motorcycles across from the school.
"Doesn't seem to be much security," Blaine said, looking around the grounds.
"Why would there be? These kids are privileged.
They've been sucking off a golden set of nipples and fed from a silver spoon their whole lives. Their version of a bad day would be when Daddy didn’t leave the keys to his expensive car while he went on a weekend business trip to Vegas to fuck anything with a slit."
"Damn man. Daddy issues?" Blaine laughed.
Jace threw Blaine the finger and kept his eyes on the building, waiting for the judge’s son to come out.
“It’s that one there,” Blaine said. “Should be any minute now.”
“Does he get a ride or anything?” Jace asked.
“No,” Blaine said. “He walks. It's a nice neighborhood. No crime here, man.”
Jace smiled. “For now.”
There was silence for a few seconds and then Blaine said, “Man, don’t kill him.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.”
“Starting a war with another crew is one thing. Starting a war outside the MC… you saw what happened with Caius. And not to mention Strokner.”
“Don’t say that fucking name,” Jace growled.
“Sorry. Hey, whatever happened with that little thing in your room the other day? She was fucking perfect.”
Jace looked at Blaine. “I haven’t seen her since. Take that for what it’s worth.”
“Ah, come on,” Blaine said. “Something that tight is worth chasing. At least until you stretch it out.”
“Man, how can you be so fucking… just… sick…”
“I know,” Blaine said. He put a hand to his heart. “I’m cursed. I swear on it. My head is wrong.”
Jace shook his head and watched a smile creep across Blaine’s face. The man had no remorse to anything but his cock. If Blaine had the choice between keeping his hands, legs, eyes or his cock, he’d keep his cock.
A bell rang out and Jace gripped the handlebars of his ride. He couldn’t do anything there in the open. Too many people. Too many witnesses. The last thing he needed was more fucking evidence against him.
Kids started to flood the doors, desperate to get out of school. When Jace saw how old the kids were, he started to get nervous. They were too young. He told himself to just wait it out. Older kids would be coming out soon.
The kids got older, but not by much. Then Blaine pointed to a kid with moppy blonde hair, running down the main walkway to the sidewalk.
“Right there,” Blaine said. “That’s the one. Name’s Jacob.”
“Jacob?”
“Yeah. Just like his father.”
Jace stared at the kid. He was young. For a second Jace thought about hightailing it out of there. But he couldn’t. They’d come down here for a reason. That judge let Jace sit in prison for weeks. Day in and day out Jace’s life was at risk for no good reason.
Jacob ran down the sidewalk like someone was chasing him. He paused at the corner and then hung a left. Jace looked at Blaine and nodded.
It was time to send a message.
The motorcycles moved out onto the street. Jace knew they stuck out like sore thumbs in this part of Frelen, but that didn’t matter. Once they were beyond the school, they would be in the mix of things. The houses were huge and spaced out pretty far so that everyone had a large lot of land.
Jace had his eyes on Jacob. He was still running. It intrigued Jace, making him wonder if the kid didn’t know Back Down Devil was out to get him.
When Jacob started to run faster, moving toward a set of trees, Jace eased off the throttle to see what was going to happen. What Jace expected and what happened were two different things. Jace figured Jacob would disappear into the trees and be gone, but as Jacob got near the trees, a group of kids emerged. Five of them. All dressed in the private school uniform suits. The leader of the group was smoking a cigarette, holding it uncomfortably like it was a joint. Obviously trying to looking tough. It must have worked on Jacob, because he backed up and fell to his ass.
The five kids circled Jacob.
“Holy shit,” Blaine yelled. “They’re going to fuck that kid up.”
Jace reached out and grabbed Blaine. “Wait. Watch it.”
Jace watched as the leader of the group reached down and grabbed Jacob. He forced him to his feet. He held Jacob by his shirt, shaking him. The only words Jace could make out were fucking and pussy. The bigger kid was shaking Jacob on purpose to scare him and to look cool in front of his other buddies.
Then came the first punch. Right across Jacob’s face. Jacob yelled and stumbled back. Someone pushed Jacob back into the bigger kid, who punched him again. This time, Jacob fell.
“Stupid fucking kid,” Jace said.
All five then came at Jacob, kicking him while he was down.
“Jesus, man,” Blaine said, “Are we really letting this happen?”
“Since when do you have a conscience?”
“Good point. But still, it’s…”
“Let it go, Blaine. This is my battle.”
The onslaught continued for a minute before the leader called everyone off. He stood over Jacob, laughing. He reached into his own pants and that’s when Jace had seen enough. He wasn't going to let this prick piss on the kid too. That was crossing the line.
Jace whistled and everyone looked at him. The leader had the balls to raise a fist at Jace. So Jace did the only logical thing - he opened his leather cut to reveal his gun.
That changed the situation, fast. They all scattered back into the trees.
“Let me do this alone,” Jace said to Blaine. “I need to talk to the kid. It's better if you just wait. For legal reasons.”
“Just don’t kill him…”
“Again, Blaine, don’t fucking tell me what to do.”
Jace climbed off his motorcycle. He took his helmet off and then he slowly walked over to the kid and stood there, looking down at him. Jacob’s nose and lip were bloody. His shirt stretched from being pulled at. His perfect hair was messy too.
“Where’s your father?” Jace asked.
“I don’t know. Working. He always works.”
“Your name is Jacob, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Your father is a judge, right?”
“Yeah. Why do you think that just happened?”
“That was because your father’s a judge?”
Jacob nodded. He sat up and wiped blood off his lip. “That bigger guy is Dan. He was arrested for underage DUI last summer. My dad was the judge on his case. He had bad history with Dan's dad, so my dad took it out on Dan.”
“And now Dan takes it out on you.”
“Yeah.”
Jace laughed. Funny how justice worked for some.
Jace put a hand out and Jacob took it. He pulled the kid to his feet. “Do you know who I am?”
“No. Why?”
“Are you afraid of me?”
“Yeah. I’m afraid of everything.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t have a gavel and power. My father does. Nobody can touch him. And I get to suffer for it.”
“I came here to kill you,” Jace said.
Jacob's eyes widened and he tensed up. He tried to step back, but Jace was right there with him.
“What did I do to you?” Jacob asked.
“Nothing. That’s just part of the problem here.”
“My father…?”
“Yeah.”
“Fuck.”
Jace laughed. “That’s a powerful word for a young kid.”
“I don’t give a fuck,” Jacob said. “How’s that?”
Jace gritted his teeth. “You going to keep getting your ass kicked? Or are you going to eventually man up and fight back?”
“There were five of them.”
“I don’t care if there were ten. You fight the fuck back, kid. Goddammit. You ran from that school like a baby. And you ran right into their trap.”
“You were following me?”
Jace reached out and put his hand to Jacob’s shoulder. His original plan was to twist his neck, but nothing was going according to plan lately.
�
��I know everything, kid. Don’t fucking say stupid things. Tell me, do you want to be a bitch your entire life?”
“No.”
“Then fight back. That kid… Dan? He’s a pussy. You hit him once in the nose, he’d go down crying. Then watch the rest of his buddies help him.”
“And if I hit him and it does nothing?”
“Then you get your ass kicked. But you fight while it happens. You make damn sure to leave your mark on them. Do you know why?”
“Why?”
“Because the next time they want to fuck with you, they’ll stop and think about it. They’ll move on. I promise you.”
“And what if they kill me?”
Jace smiled. “Then you died fighting. And nothing matters more than that. It's always better to die with pride than to live like a pussy."
“Like my father?” Jacob asked and grinned.
“You don’t like him?”
“I hate him. I wish he was dead.”
Jace nodded. “Good answer, kid. That may have just saved your life.”
Jace pushed away from Jacob and backed up.
“Wait a second,” Jacob said. “Who are you? Why did you just let me go?”
“I don’t know,” Jace said. “I don’t know who I am right now or why I let you go. But I’m going to come back and check on you, kid. You better start fighting. Right now.”
“Are you going to kill my father?”
“I’ve thought about it.”
“If you do it, make sure you tell him I’m happy he’s dead. I’ve never hated someone as much as I hate him.”
“Sounds like a tough life, kid,” Jace said.
“Yeah, maybe. Guess it could be worse elsewhere.”
“I'll tell you something else, kid,” Jace said, “Don’t be an asshole. There are a lot of kids starving out there. But they have heart. They appreciate life beyond the bullshit life you have. Remember that. And start fighting. Because next time, I may not be in such a good mood.”
Jace turned and walked away. When he approached Blaine, Blaine put his hands up. “Everything okay?”
“No,” Jace said.
He put on his helmet and started his motorcycle.