Locke (Aces MC Series Book 4)

by Foster, Aimee-Louise

  "I can stay. Let's have that chat and figure it out together once and for all."

  I shook my head, "No! Duke blames me for Vipers death, I don't want you getting into trouble for not being there when he needs you because of me."

  CJ let out a loud sigh and glanced between the activity in the yard and back towards me, "As long as you're sure?"

  "Yeah." I said trying to sound convincing.

  "I'll try and see you before you take off tomorrow afternoon."

  CJ wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in for a hug, "You're more than just a club brother remember that."

  I patted him on the back, "Stay safe."

  I watched as the guys left the yard as I sat on a bench, the fresh air was helping to clear my head a little although I was still pissed and knew that I needed to keep it together.

  Chloe had walked outside to watch the guys leave the yard. "You okay sweetness?" I shouted across the yard.

  She smiled and walked slowly in my direction hugging her arms to keep herself warm. "Yeah, I'm good. What about you Locke, have you calmed down?"

  "I'm sorry about that, I hope I didn't ruin it for your mum?" I hadn't meant for everyone to see my outburst but I was impulsive when I was home as my other life needed so much more restraint. "I just had some bad news that's all."

  "Do you wanna talk about it? The party's kinda finished now that the majority of people have left."

  "Thanks all the same but I'll just call a cab it's about time I went home." I stood and stumbled a little.

  Chloe sniggered, "You'll end up hurting yourself Locke." Chloe said in jest.

  "So will you if you don't tell your dad first."

  "What do you mean?"

  "You and Woods. You better tell your dad before he finds out from someone else."

  Chloe shuffled uncomfortably, "I still don't know what you mean. There's nothing going on between me and Woods."

  "Whatever sweetness but remember life's too short." I stumbled through the yard with my words ringing in my ears, life was too short I knew that from my own experience and I was going to do something about it.

  Chapter 13

  Saviour

  "The wanderer returns." I strolled into the clubhouse to be greeted by Onyx with his arms held wide.

  I nodded my head in his direction and walked towards the bar, after everything that had gone on with April I really didn't want to be here but that event had spurred me on.

  Onyx patted me on the back as he joined me, "Do you feel better for your time away?"

  I nodded as I accepted a drink from Wes and took a swig of my beer.

  "Good because I don't want any more beef between you and Polar. We've enough going on with rival clubs trying to muscle in on our shit, I don't need problems within the club especially tonight as I've got a lot of money riding on this fight. You got me?"

  I nodded again trying to refrain from beating the shit out of him, he'd get it but I owed it to April to get Polar first.

  "Drink up, I want you outside in five." Onyx slapped me on the back and grabbed his keys from the bar before making his way from the building.

  I downed my beer and slammed the empty bottle on the bar, I wasn't in any mood to be sociable. Before I removed my hand Wes grabbed it, "They buried her yesterday." I yanked my hand from his and glared at him, I wasn't ready to talk about April. I stomped through the bar heading for the door with thoughts of her running through my head. She wouldn't want me acting like a twat, in fact she'd pull me up on my shit which made me snigger. I turned back towards Wes, "Where is she?" I asked.

  Wes smiled, "The cemetery down the road but because of the circumstances they've put her in with Yvonne."

  "Polar's mum!"

  "Yeah, ironic isn't it. He made a big song and dance about her being buried in his family plot."

  "So why didn't he take her as his fucking old lady in the first place if he cared for her so much then none of this would have fucking happened." I stomped from the bar needing to calm down before I faced Polar.

  I arrived outside as Onyx was giving a quick speech to the rest of the group but I got the gist as I joined the guys and got into the van. Polar glared at me but his vision was blocked when Onyx purposely stood in his way.

  "Okay, Slick will lead the way." Onyx said waiting for Polar to get into the van before he moved.

  An hour later we pulled up in front of what looked to be a derelict building. If it wasn't for the noise of the revellers I wouldn't have known that it was occupied.

  Polar stretched as he got out of the front cab and strolled over to the other van where some of the guys had congregated. He opened the back doors and the Pit Bull barked excitedly when it saw its owner.

  "Hello Bruce, you gonna win us some money tonight?"

  The dog moved around agitated in its cage by the chants and cheers from the group of the mention of money. The dog had a glint in its eye and a crazed look similar to that of its owner, his fucking deranged owner. Polar placed a lead on the dog and led it from the van, Bruce moved his head back and forth aggressively like he knew what he was about to do.

  The guys followed Polar up the path towards the building, I could feel the low buzz of excitement as we entered the main room and people turned to see the star attraction.

  "Come on boys hurry up and gather round." A large ginger haired man in his early fifties shouted as he encouraged the group to gather around the fighting pit. "Get your dogs cleaned and weighed quickly." Polar and the man holding the other dog walked over to an area at the back of the room and I watched as the dogs were cleaned with a milky liquid.

  "Why are they being washed?" I asked Slick intrigued as this was my first dog fight.

  "Poison!" I must have looked at him confused, "They have to clean the dogs in milk and alcohol. It's known that some owners have previously rubbed substances into the fur of their dogs. When the other dog bites it, it gets a mouth full of poison. Polar lost a dog a couple of years ago because of it."

  I let out a low whistle, "I bet that pissed him off."

  "The owner's now dead." He said dryly.

  I didn't know if he was joking or serious but it showed just how much was at stake in a fight such as this. The purse stood at £10,000 and I'd heard whispers that Onyx had put £5,000 down on Bruce to win. That was high stakes on something that was totally out of his control.

  I witnessed a flurry of activity as various guys placed money on the dogs. There were three fights on tonight but Bruce was up first. He was a mean looking thing but his opponent wasn't much different in size, I suppose that's why they'd been selected to fight each other, similar to that of boxing but this fight was to the death.

  The room was filling up, what originally started as an excited buzz was now becoming mounting tension as the fight was about to begin.

  Polar held Bruce his prized possession, he was one win away from becoming a champion and then he could retire from the ring and be used for breeding. He was fighting an equally sized Pit Bull called Rocky and was being held in the opposite corner of the pit.

  "What are the lines for on the ground?" I asked Slick.

  He rolled his eyes and you could see that he was pissed with the questions I was asking but I was new to all this, I didn't know what to expect.

  "When they're released they need to cross the line themselves with no help from their owners. If they don't and have to be coerced then they forfeit the match."

  I nodded my head and followed Slick as we pushed our way to the front to get a closer look. I didn't want to be here to witness this shit, this really wasn't my scene but it was my first night back after a week at home so I couldn't cry off early.

  "Okay gentleman, all bets have been placed so enjoy the fight." The crowd grew quiet waiting for the referee to give the signal. "Gentlemen are you ready?" He glanced at Polar then at the other man across the pit who also nodded. "Okay then three, two, one!" He shouted as the dogs were released.

  They charged at each other like
raging bulls to the roar of the crowd. Bruce was crazed going straight for Rambo's neck, he clung on tightly and scrambled so that he was on top of the other dog and tried to shake Rambo around but he was too large.

  I glanced around the room to see the enjoyment on the faces of the group as these two dogs ripped the shit out of each other, I needed to get out of here and get some fresh air I couldn't watch these two dogs kill each other. I strolled across the room and made my way out of the building through a side door. The old house used to be a mental hospital in the nineteenth century and I was surprised that it hadn't been snapped up by property developers to transform into apartments. I leant against the building and sparked up a fag, I knew that the fight was still going on from the noise the crowd were making and knew that I could enjoy at least five minutes of peace before I had to go back in. I placed my hand on my knife attached to my belt, and knew that I needed to use it soon but how was I going to be able to get Polar on his own and not raise suspicion. He fucking hated me as much as I hated him so why would we ever be alone? I took another drag of my fag and flicked the butt onto the ground as something caught my eye further in the distance. I kept my head still but looked from side to side observing at least twenty people slowly making their way towards the building spread across the field and further in the distance there were several vehicles making their way down the track with their lights off. I needed to get out of here and fast, and knew what I needed to do.

  I casually made my way into the building to not rouse suspicion from the police that I'd seen them and weaved my way through the crowd towards Polar.

  I tapped him on the shoulder but he ignored me as he was in the zone watching his dog get the better of the other. I tapped him again and he spun around, eyes lit with fury, "What the fuck do you want?" he asked clearly annoyed that I'd interrupted his viewing.

  I leaned towards him making sure that I was close to his ear, "Police are going to raid this place in the next five minutes." He leaned back looking at me confused but I simply nodded.

  Polar glanced at the dog and back at me and I could see the frustration on his face. The dog had sustained some injuries during the fight and although it was going to win it probably had another ten minutes or so left of the fight. If he stopped it he would forfeit and lose the money so instead he would need to leave his beloved dog behind.

  "Polar you need to make a decision and quick, I'm going."

  He nodded, "Yeah I'm coming, have you told Onyx?"

  "Not yet, we'll do it on the way out." I jogged to the back of the room and stood on a crate to see if I could see Onyx but the room was too busy.

  I took my phone from my pocket, "What you doing?" Polar asked as I tapped away speedily.

  "Texting Onyx, hopefully he'll get this. Come on we need to make a move." We entered a door at the rear of the room and jogged towards an archway that led into the next room when we heard all hell break loose in the room we'd just come from. The police had obviously just stormed the place and would be now rounding everyone up.

  "And where do you suggest we go now?" I asked pointing to the floor of the next room. The roof tiles had been striped back at some time leaving the building open to the elements over the years. Water had seeped through resulting in the floor rotting away. What was still there looked unstable and I wasn't risking my life trying to walk over the few wooden beams that were left.

  "What are you a pussy?" Polar flashed me a smile, "No don't answer that coz I already know the answer." He sniggered to himself as he pushed past me and shimmied across a small beam before jumping over a large hole in the floor to land at the bottom of a set of concrete stairs. As he landed debris from under his boot fell into the hole and I waited to see if I could hear it land. It took a while but I calculated that it possibly went down two levels.

  "That's a long way down." I stated as I edged along the same beam that Polar had just used.

  "It's only a long way down if you fall," he turned and slowly made his way up the narrow staircase.

  I didn't let on but I was scared of heights and this was taking a lot out of me to pluck up the courage to jump the vast hole. I stood still and composed myself, taking in one last breath before I leapt over the gap.

  I landed hard and quickly flung my hands out in front of me to stop the momentum as dust blew up around me.

  "Are you coming or what?" Polar shouted clearly agitated by how long I was taking. "If you get lost it's not my problem, I'll just tell Onyx that you were too slow."

  I rolled my eyes he was such a prick, he didn't realise that he'd never see Onyx again I just needed to work out how I was going to do it.

  I followed him up the stairs to the next level which led to an eerie corridor, visibility was poor because it was so dark and the only light we had was from the moon.

  "Come on this way." Polar stepped on various floorboards trying to judge what was stable under his weight. I was quite happy letting him take the lead as I'd then know where to stand to support my weight.

  I could still hear shouting and barking in the distance but we weren't in any threat of being caught by the police. They wouldn't come up here as it was unsafe and they'd deem it a health and safety risk, and I thought so to as I stepped hesitantly on the squeaky boards.

  I heard the splitting of wood and turned towards the noise, "Saviour!"

  Adrenalin pumped quickly around my body as I rushed to Polar's aid, he'd stepped on a rotten beam and had fallen through the floor. The lower part of his body dangled in the air as he managed to hold his body weight to prevent himself from falling further. At first my initial reaction was to save him but as I evaluated the situation, this was the opportunity I'd been waiting for. I casually sat beside him as he scrambled to get himself out of the hole frantically scratching around in front of me to find something that he could hold on to and pull him up. This could've been made easier but I'd positioned myself directly in front of him so he couldn't get the leverage he needed to swing himself up onto the platform.

  "This is no time for games Saviour, help me up." I could see the panic rise as Polar became uncertain of what his fate may hold.

  "Well I could help you but then again I could sit back and watch you die." I said coldly.

  Polar looked at me confused. "Is this about April again? I explained it was a mistake, I didn't mean to take it so far but I was angry." He looked almost humble and for the first time in seven years I was able to see a brief flash of goodness. Maybe April had seen this more than others and that's why she'd fallen in love with him.

  I let out a long sigh that I didn't even know I was holding and shook my head at the situation, "You haven't got a fucking clue, have you?"

  "Get me up Saviour and then we'll talk about it, I can't hold on for much longer." Polar's arms were leaning on the floorboard supporting his weight as his legs dangled beneath him, I quickly glanced behind Polar and saw that the drop would take him straight down to the basement and most certainly hell.

  "The thing is Polar, this is where it all ends. You aren't going home, I'm not giving you the opportunity to hurt anyone ever again." I saw the panic in his eyes at the realisation of what was about to happen.

  "What you're not getting, is that you killed my entire family." I saw his puzzled expression so I explained further, "What's the matter Polar have you killed so many families that you can't remember?" He slipped a little and quickly regained his composure by holding firmly to a splintered piece of wood. "I was thirteen years old when I watched my family die in a house fire that the Satan's started and for that I want revenge. I murdered Priest and now I'll watch you come to the same end." I placed my hands on his wrists and saw the look of a man that knew he was about to die.

  "Saviour, this isn't you man. You're not a murderer you have a heart, you won't be able to live with yourself if you do this." Polar tried to plead to my better nature.

  I sniggered, "I wasn't when I first joined the Satan's but I've learned from the best." I pushed his arms so that he c
ouldn't support his weight any longer and watched as he fell to his death.

  I sat contemplating what had just happened. Polar was right, I wasn't a murderer but I needed to do this to seek revenge and retribution for my family but did it make me feel any better?

  I heard a noise further down the corridor in the direction we'd just came from and sat still listening to try and work out who or what it was. I heard another noise, a shuffle as if someone was hiding in the shadows. "Who's there?" I shouted as my voice echoed down the corridor. I waited to see if there was a response but no one answered. I broke out in hot sweats concerned that I may have been seen and decided to get out of there quickly, I needed to put some distance between myself and Polar and just prayed that no one had seen the altercation.

  I cautiously made my way from the building bumping into various people along the way but ignoring them as I weaved through the tight corridors and stairwells. I found an external door that was hanging off its hinges and peered through the gap. There didn't seem to be anyone around and I couldn't hear anything apart from the thumping from my heart as it pumped in my chest. I squeezed through the gap not wanting to open the door completely through fear of making a noise, and jogged across the gravel path into the bushes to conceal myself. I could see flickers of light in the distance indicating that there were several police vehicles at the front of the building. The area was too big for the police to surround completely so they'd known that some of us would eventually get away but I was surprised that there weren't squad cars travelling up and down the paths trying to scoop us up.

  "You managed to get away then?"

  I turned around startled by the question and grabbed for my knife. "Show yourself," I stated aggressively as I held out my blade in front of me sweeping the area.

  "Chill, it's Slick." He stepped forward so that I could see him among the thick undergrowth,

  "Are you on your own?" I asked still pointing my blade in his direction.

  "Yeah, a patrol car went up there about five minutes ago so I dived in here. If my calculations are right we need to head in that direction." Slick pointed behind us, we'd need to walk through at least two fields before we hit the road but it was the most direct route and off the beaten track.