Family-Does-Matter- to load

by K. J. Dahlen

  “Dad?” Quinn answered softly.

  “Quinn,” Sam gasped. “Where are you? Are you ok?”

  “Yeah, Dad I’m fine.” She tried to lick her dry lips but she didn’t have any saliva to do much.

  Ripper snatched the phone away from her and began speaking to a man he’d learned to hate over the last two decades. “Hey Sam, how you doing?”

  They waited for what seemed like forever until Sam broke the silence, “You dirty motherfucker. Where are you? You’d better not hurt my kid or I will rip your arms off and beat you to death with them.”

  “Tisk, tisk, tisk, Bones.” Ripper chuckled. “Don’t you know any better than to threaten the man in control of your kid? Her life hangs in the balance here. I haven’t hurt her yet, but you keep this shit up and I may not have a choice.” He paused for a moment then added, “Now you listen to me Tory, you aren’t in charge here, I am. I’m holding all the cards this time and you got no say in how this goes down.”

  “What the fuck do you want from me?” Sam hissed.

  “I want you, Bones. It’s time for you to face me man to man. You ratted me and my brother out to the fucking cops twenty years ago and helped send us to prison. Pitch died in that hellhole and I spent twenty years behind bars. You got to pay for that.”

  “Your own actions put you and Pitch in prison,” Sam commented calmly. “That was on him and you. I had nothing to do with that. All you had to do was stand up to him and say enough. But you never did that, did you? He put you in that prison not me.”

  “We were supposed to be brothers.” Ripper growled menacingly. “You turned us in to the cops, instead of standing behind us. You let them put us away. You did nothing to stop them. Now it’s your turn to pay the piper and I got your kid.”

  Sam nearly growled over the phone. “You hurt her in any way, shape or form and there won’t be a rock you can hide under that I won’t find you. And when I do, you’ll finally know what pain is really like.”

  “You don’t scare me old man.” Ripper snorted. “I’m still younger and smarter than you’ll ever be. I’ve spent the last twenty years learning to protect myself.”

  “You hurt my kid and you’ll need all those lessons cuz I’ll bury you where no one will ever find you,” Sam threatened.

  Ripper cut off the call and a moment later texted Sam an address.

  ~* * *~

  Ripper smiled evilly when he heard the sound of Sam’s bike coming toward the park. Now it was time to make the bastard pay for what he’d done to his brother.

  The early morning light was barely chasing the shadows of the night away and soon the early morning sun and Quinn would be the only witnesses the destruction of Sam Tory.

  He grabbed Quinn and dragged her out in front of him and they both watched as Sam stopped his bike and stared at them.

  Ripper searched the area but didn’t see anyone but Sam there.

  Sam’s eyes went to his daughter. She didn’t look too bad. He could see she was scared, a little grimy and bruised but she was still alive. Then he turned his attention to the man he hadn’t seen for twenty years.

  John “Ripper” Turner. Sam decided he hadn’t changed much in the last twenty years, he was still hiding behind someone else. “Well John,” Sam drawled. “I can’t say this is a happy reunion.”

  “The name is Ripper, fool.” The man snarled at Sam. He grabbed Quinn by the hair and reaching down he grabbed the knife in his boot. Putting it to her neck, he smiled at Sam. “Now what have you got to say? Maybe you’ll give me a little respect now, huh?”

  Sam shook his head. “I only give respect when a person has earned it.” His eyes narrowed. “You were a punk twenty years ago and you’re still a punk. A real man doesn’t need to hide behind a woman’s skirt. You apparently, haven’t learned to stand on your own two feet yet and face me like a real man.”

  “You bastard!” Ripper growled. “I’ll show you what a real man would do. I’ll slit her throat. Then you’ll call me a real man.”

  “The hell I will.” Sam’s eyes narrowed until they were slits. “All that makes you is a god damn killer, just like that punk ass brother of yours was twenty years ago. You hurt her and I’ll kill you myself. Only I won’t go to jail like you fucking did. My case will be self-defense not premeditated murder.”

  “You fucking turned the club against Pitch and me that night!” Ripper screamed as he pressed the tip of the knife into Quinn’s throat. A drop of blood dripped down her neck.

  Quinn quivered but didn’t move a muscle.

  “I didn’t turn them against you, fool. Pitch did that all on his own. Him and that fucking mouth he had.”

  Ripper frowned. “How do you figure that?”

  Sam shook his head. “Don’t you remember that night? You two were wasted and spending money like there was no tomorrow. Pitch was bragging to anyone and everyone about how easy it was to pull the trigger on that kid. He was showing everyone how that kid fell back after the bullet ripped through his chest. I told him to shut up about that but he kept right on being mouthy. He just couldn’t leave it alone. He made sure everybody and anybody knew what he’d done.”

  Ripper sneered. “You all were jealous of him.”

  Sam snorted. “Jealous? Of Pitch? You must have been really drunk if that’s what you thought. Bender had the TV on behind the bar and they showed the police bringing that boy’s body out of the store. They flashed his picture up on the news.” Sam shook his head. “That boy was only seventeen years old, hell he hadn’t even graduated from high school yet. It made us all sick, the way he died and for what? Your brother shot him in cold blood for no other reason than just because he could. On top of that, we had to listen to Pitch bragging about it. I finally had enough and hit him to shut his fucking mouth.”

  “Pitch earned his one percent badge that night,” Ripper yelled. “He finally joined the rest of you old bastards and you were jealous of him.”

  Sam shook his head again. “Pitch never earned anything that night. One percent badges are earned in battle not for cold blooded murder. There’s a certain honor in battle but there was no honor in what your brother did.”

  “Bull shit!” Ripper swore. “Spider would have given him his patch if you hadn’t driven us to the cop shop that night.”

  Sam shook his head looking disgusted. “I didn’t fucking drive you two anywhere that night. Spider and a couple other brothers drove you there.”

  “You’re a fucking liar!” Ripper screamed like a maniac. The knife in his hand trembled and the steel bit into Quinn’s neck.

  She held as still as she could and sweat popped out along her forehead.

  “Nope. If I had driven you there I would’ve owned it but I didn’t.” He nodded at Quinn. “Let my daughter go and we can do this just the two of us. Man to man.”

  Ripper’s eyes darted to search behind Sam then he turned to look behind him and Quinn. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing up. “Who else is out there Bones? Who else is waiting for me to let her go?”

  One by one, the other men in the Sin’s Bastards MC came out of the shadows.

  Ripper could see they were all armed but their weapons weren’t in their hands, instead they were holstered but each man stood ready to fight. Fear began to crawl up his back. Sweat formed along his upper lip and a bead of sweat rolled down his neck as he watched the men come forward to stand at Sam’s back.

  Ripper’s hand tightened on Quinn’s hair and the knife at her throat. He glared at Sam. “You brought the whole fucking MC? You couldn’t face me man to man? Who’s a coward now Sam?”

  “If you threaten one of us you threaten all of us,” Deke called out. “Sam didn’t have to call us out. We came on our own.”

  “You took my daughter you fuckhead.” Sam snarled. “You’re holding a member of my family hostage and the men I care about don’t like it. What did you expect them to do?”

  “This doesn’t concern them.” Ripper grunted as he fidgeted while starin
g at all the armed bikers.

  “She’s not just Sam’s daughter,” Chance called out. “She’s also my woman. If she’s in danger then I’m right here with him. If you hurt her, you’ll deal with me as well as him.”

  Black Jack took a step closer but only one step. “Listen Ripper. I think you got this all wrong. I was there that night twenty years ago and I can verify what Bones told you was the truth. It was Spider himself not him that drove you and Pitch to the cops. The MC may stand for a lot but they would have never condoned the senseless murder of a boy that hadn’t reached becoming a man yet.”

  “Who the fuck are you, old man?” Ripper sneered.

  “Name is Black Jack Moore. And I was there. In fact, I helped them load you and your sorry ass brother in the back of Spider’s truck. Spider himself drove you two to the cops. We didn’t even have to call them outside. We just dumped you guys on the ground and when we took off, the boys in blue came running outside.”

  “That’s a lie!” Ripper yelled.

  Black Jack shook his head. “No boy, it’s not a lie. You see they found the whole robbery on security film and they knew exactly who you were. While not cooperating with them directly, we kept the MC out of trouble, something you and Pitch should have thought about doing yourselves but Pitch wasn’t thinking about anything but his own glory that night. He forgot the rules. Rule number one…always protect the club. You guys didn’t protect the club when you shot that kid.”

  “But we were part of that club. You guys should have protected us.” Ripper’s fingers tightened on the handle of the knife.

  Black Jack shrugged. “Spider took a vote that night after you were laid out on the floor. He asked each and every one of us if we thought you two deserved club protection after what Pitch did. We all voted thumbs down. Like Sam said, there was no honor in what Pitch did that night. No honor at all.”

  “Then I have nothing left to lose if I slit her throat do I?” Ripper called out.

  Sam turned his head and saw Blazer standing there watching the drama. Blazer met his eyes and nodded at him. There was only one shot of getting Quinn away from Ripper now. He knew this and so did Blazer. Sam turned back to the man with the knife at his daughter’s throat. “Tell me something Ripper, do you know what you gave up that night, I mean besides twenty years of your life?”

  “What the fuck are you talking about?”

  “I know you had an old lady. Did you ever once think about her after you went to the pen?”

  “Now why would I do something stupid like that?” Ripper asked. “I knew if I ever fucked up, she’d leave me. She told me often enough.”

  Sam shrugged. “Maybe she did. Did you ever consider that she was trying to get you to drop your dumbass brother and grow up to be the kind of man she knew you could be if it weren’t for him. Maybe she had something to tell you that you might have been interested in hearing. Maybe, just maybe you missed out on a whole hell of lot you could have had, should have had if you’d been a different kind of man.”

  “Still talking in riddles?” Ripper rolled his eyes. “I’m tired of your bull shit, Bones.”

  Sam turned his head and stared at Blazer. “You see that guy over there?”

  Ripper turned his head and looked at the boy. “What about him?”

  “He’s what could have been in your life all those years ago.”

  Ripper frowned. “What the fuck are you on about? Who is he and what’s he fucking got to do with me? I ain’t never seen him before.”

  Blazer grinned sadly. “And you won’t ever see me again either old man, not if you hurt that girl. My name is Caden Benett. My mother’s name is Lisa Benett. She single handedly raised me because my father was in prison for murder.”

  Ripper’s jaw dropped. He took a step back and just stared at the boy. He dropped his tight hold on the knife and Quinn but she didn’t move. “What the fuck?”

  Blazer nodded. “Hello dad.”

  “You’re my son?” Ripper whispered. “How? I mean I know how but why? Why did Lisa not tell me?”

  Blazer tipped his head to one side still keeping contact with Ripper’s gaze. “I asked her that when you got out and she finally told me about you. When you went to prison with your brother instead of standing up for yourself, she feared you would never be the man she saw in you. She said you only had to do one thing and that was to tell them the truth but you wouldn’t do that. You gave up on her and took up for your brother again. She couldn’t trust you to know you had a son. She wanted me to grow up with the club and become the man she always hoped you would be.”

  ~* * * *~

  Ripper studied the young man in front of him and could see little bits and pieces of himself in the boy. It was then at that very moment, when finally he saw what Pitch had done all those years ago was wrong. He finally understood what Sam and the others were saying about honor.

  His son had honor as he stood tall and proud. The kid had courage and a determined look in his eyes. Ripper saw no fear, no stand down in him. He felt a little pride. He hadn’t done that though, raised the kid to be a man, no he’d let his brother ruin his life. He’d missed out on the kid’s upbringing and he’d missed out on living a life with Lisa.

  All for what? His brother had kept mouthing off and even got him beat up several times while in the joint. He could see everything that happened that night as clear as day in his mind’s eye.

  He saw the two of them walking into that 7-11. With Pitch going to the back to grab some beer while he grabbed some snacks. Making their way to the counter laughing and joking, Pitch pulled his gun out and told the kid behind the counter to give him the money in the till. The boy’s eyes got wide and his hands were shaking as he opened the till and pulled out the money.

  He still had his hands raised over his head as Pitch and he turned to leave the store. Then at the last minute, Pitch turned around shot the kid.

  The poor kid’s eyes had widened in a brief moment of fear and then he flew back in slow motion and crashed into the shelves behind the counter. Blood poured from his chest and his mouth. He was dead almost before he hit the floor. His eyes were wide open and staring but he didn’t see anything anymore. His eyes wore the blank stare of death.

  Pitch had just laughed as he slung his arm around Ripper’s shoulder and ushered his brother out of the store. They both ran to their bikes and tore out of the parking lot. Ripper had forgotten that brief moment of stunned disbelief he felt back then. The utter shock of what had just happened.

  He’d forgotten the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach on the ride back to the club. He forgot a lot when Pitch pulled off the road and grabbed his shirt pulling him closer to him. He now remembered he sounds of his brother’s evil snarl when he told Ripper to keep his mouth shut about what happened back there. He hadn’t remembered the threat in his brother’s voice or the hate in his face until now. Seems he’d forgotten a lot that night. Remembering back to their childhood, all the time when Pitch had hurt him, all the times Pitch made him take the blame and take the beating for shit he didn’t even do. He remembered then everything Pitch had ever done to him. Pitch always claimed he was helping him become a man when the whole time Pitch was nothing more than a bully, a sadistic, mean bully. Pitch never loved him like a brother, he used him like the pawn he became.

  He stared at the boy who claimed he was his son and he knew it was true. Lisa had come to see him only once before the trial. She had begged and pleaded with him to let his brother go and to tell the truth before Pitch dragged him into a hell he would never escape from. But Ripper had been too stubborn.

  He’d been too filled with hate to see what she was saying. Pitch was the one who filled him with hate for Sam and the Club. He’d been the one who talked about being wronged and set up when in fact he was guilty as hell for the murder. He used Ripper to lay the blame at his brothers feet one more time and it had worked.

  The DA had tried to get him to tell the truth for a lighter sentence. The DA showed him
the security tapes, he had pointed out the evidence that would clear his name, but Ripper had stubbornly refused to speak up for his innocence. He stood proudly beside the man who had finally dragged him to hell. He’d been an idiot all these years.

  Tearing his eyes away from his son, he glanced down at the woman in front of him. There was no reason for her, like that kid from twenty years ago had no reason to be where she was right now. Other than his own stupidity. The kid had been in the wrong place at the wrong time but he had taken her against her will and dragged her into this showdown. Twenty years ago had been on Pitch for that crime but this—this was solely on him.

  He brought his knife up behind her and cut the ropes that held her arms. Quinn groaned as she brought her arms in front of her body. He still held the knife in his hands but he dropped it to his waist as he curled his arm around her throat.

  Pulling her back against his chest hew saw every man standing there tense and ready to kill him.“You tell your dad that I never hurt you, other than give you a headache. You tell him I never touched you wrong. Can you do that?” he whispered in her ear.

  Quinn nodded. “I can do that.”

  Before he could let her go, a woman stepped out of the shadows and walked up behind Blazer. She was older than Quinn but still very attractive. She put her arm around the young man and called out to him, “Well Rip, you got yourself into another fine mess didn’t you?”

  Ripper jerked his head over to stare at the woman. Finally, after a long moment he called back to her, “Lisa, what the fuck are you doing here?”

  “Protecting my son.” She shook her head. “I never wanted him to know about you.”

  “I understand that. And I don’t blame you for it. What I did twenty years ago was stupid but what I did here today was ever worse, wasn’t it?”

  Lisa dropped her arm and stepped away from her son. She locked her eyes with Ripper’s. “Not if this ends here. Let Quinn go. You don’t need to hurt her any more than you already have.”

  “Then what?” Ripper called out.