by J. C. Allen
I had waited until everyone arrived so they would know that Maggie was now family. My parents had seen it coming, and Dustin had even seen the rock just hours after I’d bought it, but “family” extended outside the Knight household—it included everyone in the Savage Saviors, from Roost, the flamboyant bodyguard of my father to Tyler, the newest recruit who had all the rambunctiousness of Rambo but the brains of a dog in heat.
And now that they were all here, I cleared my throat.
People looked at me. If members of the club and their SO’s had not known what was about to go down, they likely did now.
But then, just before I began my big, grand, loving speech to my dearly beloved Maggie, I froze.
Where’s Dad and Dustin?
“Sorry, sorry,” I said. “Bad cough, I’ll be right back.”
The only reason I didn’t feel even more embarrassed about this was that only about a fifth of the actual attendees had noticed my ridiculous behavior—the rest were too far back for the weird silence to have reached them. I excused myself and went inside, shutting the glass door behind me.
Well, there was no one in the kitchen, which wasn’t that big of a surprise since Mom was cooking all of the food outside. But Dustin and Dad also weren’t in the living room, either.
The work room?
That seemed like as good of a place as any. Down in the basement, away from the family life, my Mom had long made my father promise that any club-related work would happen downstairs, away from the prying, curious eyes of Dustin and me. Even when we had come of age and we knew that Dad didn’t just deliver packages on his bike anymore, Mom had strongly preferred for the work to remain downstairs. I suspected it had as much to do with her own sanity as it did ours.
Sure enough, I heard them at the top of the stairs, but as I heard the first words, I paused. Their words did not sound like one of excited news or of encouragement, but closer to dangerous—almost warning.
“… has no mercy, but not the kind that you are thinking of,” I heard my father say. “This man will resort to violence, of course, but he prefers to break the spirit of his enemies.”
“So?” I heard Dustin say. Dustin, even more than me, had a tendency to be a bit rebellious. My father had always warned that such a trait, left unchecked, would spell bad—fatal—consequences, but that hadn’t shown up yet. “I know plenty of bad dudes in The Black Falcons. Some of our former men, who like to do that.”
“You don’t understand,” my father said. “The Falcon does not break people’s spirits like a man would break an enemy’s arm. Instead, he wins by letting spirits break themselves.”
“What do you mean?”
A pause came. Now I was tense and on edge.
“They say that the greatest victory comes when the enemy doesn’t even know that you’re fighting,” my father said. “If a Black Falcon comes to you and says that we are all liars and have fooled you, he’s trying to break your spirit. But you know he’s trying to break your spirit. The Falcon is much, much worse. He will make everything around you a living hell. He will ruin the lives of your loved ones, your workplace, and everything you know, leaving you no choice but to crumble alongside. And the whole time, you will never even know that The Falcon was there.”
An even longer pause came. I’d never heard of this “Falcon” guy. I supposed that he was the head honcho of The Black Falcons, but if that was the case, why had I never heard of him before?
Probably just some legend my dad is using to warn Dustin. Keep him on his toes since he’ll be running this shindig soon.
“You’re serious?”
“Absolutely,” my father said. “You will probably never meet The Falcon. I have not, and God knows I’ve been in this line of work for a long, long time. But I know his effects and his work, and I know it takes some extraordinarily strong men to resist. Why do you think he chose to poach our ranks instead of just finding thugs on the street?”
“I see,” Dustin said, but I suspected he didn’t.
“No, you don’t,” my father said, calling out my exact thoughts. “You can’t see it because The Falcon hides himself so well. But, listen, we need to finish this later. I think Derek is going to propose to Maggie today, and I can’t have water cooler talk ruining it. OK?”
I pretended that I was coming down the stairs at that moment, oblivious to what they were saying. The truth was, though, while I wasn’t oblivious, I wasn’t even that worried about the talk of this Falcon guy. For one, I knew that my father liked to use scare tactics from time to time, especially on my brother. Secondly, it was important to keep things in check, especially in the relative and absolute sense. Relatively speaking, this guy might be the greatest threat the Savage Saviors had ever faced.
But absolutely speaking? We were entrenched into the city, we had connections, and we were not easily threatened. Whoever this “Falcon” guy was, he was unlikely to be a truly real problem for us.
And besides, even if he was… it wasn’t my problem. It was Dustin’s.
My only problem right now was getting those two over to witness my full removal from the Saviors.
“Where the hell have you guys been?” I said. “I’m about to have the greatest moment of my life and you won’t even witness it!”
“Work, son,” Dad said with a smile. “But even urgent matters can wait for love. Come, let’s go.”
Eighteen Months Before
* * *
Maybe I was a fool, but I really, really, really had high hopes for this guy.
Jack was a senior already having a job lined up with my dream firm. He was tall, well over six feet tall, and sported handsome long hair that always seemed perfectly well-suited. He had a smooth manner about him, and most importantly, we’d already gone on a few dates.
It was sometimes hard to find a guy who actually gave a shit in college, especially given how easily men seemed to have it here. But this guy had always spoken to me with honesty and sincerity, and while I had fallen for the fake kind as a freshman, I was not so stupid now two years later. I would not fall for a guy charming me and saying I was beautiful.
I put on the nicest dress that I had, the classiest sequins that I had, and wore my nice high heels. Jack had asked me to join him at The Scarlet’s House, one of the nicer restaurants near campus. It was the kind of place guys desperate to seal the deal went—but only if they had money. I had not yet slept with Jack, but boy had I fantasized about it.
On the Uber over, I couldn’t help myself. I imagined what that taut body underneath that light clothing must have felt like. I imagined going back to my place—no, us going back to his place, given the privacy of his home, and tumbling onto the bed. I imagined zipping those jeans down, pulling on the belt, reaching my hand down—oh, and just before I got there, he’d flip the script and have me on my back, working his way down on my body, so wet—
“We’re here, ma’am.”
I looked up, embarrassed, realizing that my hand had gone just a little too close between my legs, and smiled.
“Thanks, sir,” I said meekly as I got out of the car.
Smiling, I saw Jack walking out the front door to meet me.
But he looked… upset?
“Jack?”
“Eve, why did you lie to me?”
I paused, looking at him. What the hell did he mean? As I opened my mouth, I contemplated everything I could—I had not lied about my sexual history, being clean, or any past pregnancies. I hadn’t lied about any previous boyfriends. Maybe I had half-fibbed about how long one lasted, but…
“What do you mean?” I said in concurrence with my thoughts.
“What do you mean, what do you mean? You know what I mean. I just got told that you were only using me to get a job at Schmidt’s Banking? Really, Eve?”
“What?!?” I said, perplexed. The earliest I’d get such a job was another year out—what did he think… why… what? “I don’t understand what—”
“Someone who knows you well sp
illed the beans,” Jack said. “I’m just glad he told me now before I dropped a couple hundred on tonight. Would’ve been a waste of time.”
“Jack, please, calm down—”
To his credit, Jack did appear to take a deep breath. I suppose that’s part of why I liked him, really—he wasn’t going to panic and lose his temper like some of my exes had. It was why they’d become exes.
“I’m sorry, Eve, but he was quite convincing and knew you well. I… I’m sorry. It made too much sense.”
“Jack.”
But he had already turned.
“Jack!”
This couldn’t be happening… not again… not again, someone else walking out on my life like this… someone genuine and someone real…
“Jack!”
But he got into a car and drove off. He looked pained, as if he didn’t want to believe what he had heard, but he felt no reason to not.
What the hell had he heard?
I was on the verge of tears, but since I was already here, I decided I might as well head inside and—
Oh, no.
As soon as I opened the door, it’s like my eyes were magnetically drawn to the bar. Because there, with the curly hair that defined that… asshole, sat my brother, Chuck.
It all came together so quickly. Chuck never wanted me to do well. He tried to break me at every opportunity he got, no matter what. The only explanation I could figure was that as the older brother, he felt entitled to success—and it must have hurt him to see me do well when he had fallen to a life of crime, drinking, and wild one-night stands that meant nothing to him.
I walked up, crossed my arms, and did my best to make it so I wasn’t on the verge of having a tsunami of tears.
“What did you do?” I growled.
“And a hello to you too, sis,” Chuck said as he sipped on a rum and coke with a wicked smile. “Or should I say, a hello to you too, you manipulative liar.”
“Don’t even fucking…” I said, but my voice was weak.
I hated that my will was so weak for anyone in my family. In a normal world, with loving parents and stable siblings, it would have made my life much better. But in the world I lived in, it was like a curse, destined to allow my brother to take advantage of me, my distant mother, and my deceased father’s inheritance.
“What?” he said with a shrug. “I’m just the deliverer of honesty. You know you’ve wanted to work there. He has a job there. I know you would do whatever it took to get a job there because you’re a manipulator, Eve. All women are. Just because you’re my sister doesn’t make you any different.”
How… how could a man—no, a boy—have such hatred in his heart? It didn’t surprise me that he felt scorned by women on the whole, but this… I couldn’t fathom it. I really couldn’t.
“You look like you’re about to cry,” Chuck said. “Why don’t you? Maybe you can manipulate our bartender into a free drink with a literal sob story.”
“Why did you do this?” I said. “Seriously. Why? I liked that guy. Why?”
Chuck just shrugged his shoulders, as if being asked why he liked to breathe air.
“I recognized him from your previous dates. He sat next to me at the bar for an early round. He mentioned your name and I knew how women were. So I told him the truth.”
Every ounce of my body wanted to slap him. I didn’t care how big of a scene it created, because Chuck may have sometimes been just sheer evil, but he wasn’t stupid. He wouldn’t hit me in public and go to jail—I didn’t think. I just…
But I couldn’t. He was family. Even if he acted more like my mortal enemy than he did family, I could not bring myself to pull the damn trigger.
Chuck could see this, and after a few moments, he just started laughing, literally getting closer to my face and laughing in it.
“You’re so pathetic, Eve,” he said.
“No, Chuck…”
You’re pathetic. You’re the one who has to bring others down because of how bad your life is. You’re the one who has to lie because the truth hurts too much. You’re the one who needs to grow up.
But I said none of that.
“No, Chuck? That’s what you say?” Chuck said, shaking his head sadly, as if I’d just told him he’d lost all his money. “I’m afraid if that’s the best you can say, then you deserved to have John leave.”
“It was Jack, you bastard,” I snarled, but I was getting too emotional.
I stormed out, ignoring the last words that Chuck lobbed my way, and tearfully called an Uber.
Once again, Chuck had ruined something with such great potential for me. Once again, Chuck had left my life in ruins, finding something wonderful and tearing it down so I’d be on his level.
And once again, I didn’t have the courage to shut him out. I didn’t have the guts to tell him goodbye. I didn’t have the brain to realize that no amount of compassion and empathy would ever change him. He was Chuck Kellerman, a sociopath who had failed to function in society and was thus determined to take everything down with him.
And it was my own damn fault.
15
Derek
I had never felt so overjoyed to wake up just a little bit earlier than normal.
Because on this day, for the first time in a couple of years, I woke up next to someone that I relished seeing in the morning.
As my eyes fluttered awake, my body curled up to keep the heat of the covers, and the memories of the night before came rushing back, I could barely comprehend just all that had happened.
Rock, the thorn in my side, the murderer of all that I loved, was gone. Shot.
Roost, the man who had stood by my side through everything, who was like both a second father and a best friend to me depending on the situation, had died, if not from the gunshot wounds than certainly from the smoke inhalation from the meth lab exploding.
And Eve, bless her, had come and saved me.
I had probably consigned myself to the grave if her words had not reached me. I would have just passed out from the smoke, died, and then let someone else run the Savage Saviors. At least I would die knowing Eve was free, safe, and away from the demon Rock.
But she had not accepted such a fate. She had saved me.
I couldn’t say it enough. She had saved me.
For all that I’d done for her, I never expected anything like that.
But here I was, awake before noon, my throat scratchy and sore and my body in a bit of pain—when I moved my shoulder, I remembered I’d taken a bullet there—but alive. Alive because of her.
She had saved me.
Unbelievable.
I suppose the least I could do is get up and cook her some food.
Very gently, I leaned over, kissed her on the head, and moved away before she fully woke up. It took a great deal more effort to move than I wanted her to see, at least this early in the morning, as my entire body seemed to still have the smoke from last night bogging it down. No matter, I thought—I would get over it soon enough.
I decided this morning demanded a celebration and I cooked just about everything I had. Eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, waffles, milk, orange juice, biscuits—if I saw it and it was breakfast food, I began cooking it. A morning like this one, in which I’d just rescued the girl I’d loved—had finally, finally confessed to saying I loved—and overcome the greatest enemy of my life deserved to hold nothing back. I needed to spill everything and celebrate in every way possible.
And, frankly, I needed to honor Roost. As weird as it might have seemed to “celebrate” the man by eating as much as I could, a man of Roost’s size would approve. If anything, with that thick twang of his, he’d tell me I was a pussy for not putting even more food in—not that it would be possible to add any more food.
Roost, buddy, I thought. Whoever takes over for you just isn’t gonna be the same.
But I bet you’re guarding Mom and Dad now wherever you are. Say hi to Dustin for me. Tell him he owes me a burger when I get there.
&n
bsp; And tell my Dad I’m sorry I never took this job seriously enough until too many people died.
I didn’t let my mind stay too long in the darkness, though. Roost would’ve kicked my ass, and justifiably so, if I had let myself stay there too long.
I laid out all the plates on the table, eager to have Eve come to a sort of buffet of celebration, but then I realized that was asking her to do too much. She was the heroine of last night; I was just the idiot who had almost fulfilled Roost’s words by dying kamikaze style on the mission. She was the one who ensured the Savage Saviors didn’t burn down with The Black Falcons.
So, grabbing a tray from my closet, I carefully placed all of the plates on the tray—which weighed it down more than I expected and required a higher-than-expected degree of balance—and carried it into the bedroom. Eve looked like she was trying to go back to sleep, as I caught her rolling away from the light when I opened the door.
“You’re—”
I coughed. It was the first time I’d spoken all morning, and I realized that with all the smoke I’d inhaled, it might do me some good to clear out my throat.
“You’re gonna wanna wake up for this,” I finally said, my voice a bit hoarse but the message delivered.
I smiled at Eve as her eyes lit up at the food. I poured myself some water from the sink as I heard her gasp in awe and say how she couldn’t remember the last time she had gone to a buffet, if ever.
“No wonder you have such a nice body,” I said. “If you did go to the buffets like most people do, you’d look like Roost!”
Eve gave a nice laugh and I felt some degree of gratitude that it hadn’t hit her yet what had happened to Roost—or she had just chosen to ignore it. Either way, I knew Roost would have laughed and taken the joke in stride.