by Sadie Savage
“He’s doing this with muscle,” Arrow said, narrowing his eyes. “That means he knows he’s not welcome here.”
“No shit he knows,” Thatcher exclaimed. “But he’s trying to get as many people to buy heroin as he can. It’s not right.”
“I’m going to go check it out,” Arrow decided, standing up. “This is my fight.”
“It’s everybody’s fight,” Thatcher said. “And no offense or anything, but you need to talk this over with Marcus first. He’s the man in charge here. We don’t do shit without his go ahead, especially a guy on probation like you are. You get me?”
Arrow glowered. He was used to being able to come and go as he pleased, and having the acceptance and support of everybody around. In a word, it was trust that he missed. And trust that he had broken. It was clear, though, that the best way to earn the trust of Marcus, Killer, and the rest of the MC, was to take Hawk down once and for all.
“I get you, man,” Arrow said darkly.
“Look,” Rex said, pouring Arrow another drink. “I know this is shitty for you and all, but really, when you think about it, it’s for the best. We’re all just trying to look out for you, and we know how much Hawk has fucked with you. Marcus might think it’s better if someone else handles it.”
“Well,” Arrow said, downing the whisky and standing abruptly from the bar stool. “That’s up to Marcus. I’m going to go talk to him.”
Thatcher let out a low whistle and nodded. “All right, man. Good luck.”
Arrow turned away, his eyes flashing. He didn’t need luck. He needed trust.
Chapter 2
Ari laughed. “You always take yourself so seriously, Uncle Hawk.”
Her uncle was silent, looking over his shoulder. “Well, I’m kind of a big deal to some people.”
Ari nodded. She’d heard this before. But in her experience, her uncle was a man who kept to himself, had few close friends, and often relied on his family for support. In fact, he had lived with his mother until her death a few years back, and the people he did know rarely seemed to take a genuine interest in how he was doing or what he was up to. It was sad, really.
“All right, Uncle Hawk. If you say so.”
Right now, they were on the edge of the town, waiting before they crossed to go to the movies. Her uncle had offered to take her out to celebrate her birthday, but any time he offered to take her anywhere, it turned into a big game for him. He’d look over his shoulder, tread carefully, and hide behind her if he saw someone that he decided might “pose a threat.”
The poor man was mildly delusional, and she had been speaking with a doctor about how to go about diagnosing a family member with schizophrenia. Just in case.
There was also the possibility that he was right, and many people really were after him, though why she just couldn’t fathom. He’d been nothing but sweet to her when she was growing up, and after she had lost her parents, he had stepped in to look after her.
“It’s clear,” her uncle said finally, stepping briskly onto the street and crossing quickly.
Ari shook her head with a small laugh and followed her uncle into the cinema, where he bought tickets and popcorn quickly, as if it were the riskiest thing he’d ever done out in broad daylight. When they got into the darkness of the theater, she could sense her uncle visibly relaxing. The poor man seemed to always be on his guard. She wished there was some way she could make him feel safe.
The movie was action-packed and kept Ari on the edge of her seat, and when it was done, she smiled at her uncle, who smiled back warily.
“Thank you for this,” she said, hugging him. “It was a great birthday.”
He seemed pleased to hear this and stood from his seat once everybody else had filed out of the theater. “Let’s get out of here.”
Ari nodded, sighing inwardly. The poor man. He was so eager to get back home, in the isolation of their forested family acreage, where he felt safe.
“What the fuck?”
Ari’s uncle stopped abruptly at the deep man’s voice. It was coming from one of the local bikers, people her uncle had told her were the scum of the earth; Drug pushers and cruel men who wouldn’t hesitate to hurt others for their own enjoyment who were trigger-happy and eager for a good fight, no matter what it was about. Enemies of their family. The Pythons.
“Hawk?”
Her uncle continued to ignore the man, who was standing across the street, a half a block away, alone. He would have probably run across the street to get in Hawk’s face if there hadn’t been cars speeding along their way in front of him.
Fortunately, it was enough of a break that Hawk could cross the street with Ari close on his heels and hop into his beat-up blue car.
“What the heck was that about?” Ari muttered, fastening her seatbelt as her uncle peeled out of there. “Some people just don’t have a life.”
Her uncle was silent for a moment before he sighed. “That’s true enough. You know how those bikers are always picking fights with innocent people. At least we got out of there in time.”
Ari nodded. All this time she thought her uncle had been exaggerating about bikers and bandits being after him, but maybe there was some point in the long forgotten past when he’d had a run in with the Pythons and it had left them on bad terms.
Ari glanced out the window at the biker. He was running after the car, his handsome, serious face contorted in fury. She looked away quickly, her heart hammering in her chest.
Whatever had happened between her uncle and the biker gang must have been pretty bad. At least the man’s legs couldn’t catch up to the engine in her uncle’s little car, and soon they were back on their family property, safe and sound.
***
That night, Ari couldn’t sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, she pictured the face of the angry biker. He would have been beautiful if not for the fury bubbling so close to the surface. In a way he was terrifying, but she couldn’t help but be intrigued. She had only seen a few members of the Pythons in her short twenty-three years of life, and had never actually heard them speak. All they ever did was ride around town looking sour, as if anybody who made the wrong move was going to pay dearly for it.
Now, she couldn’t get the voice of the biker out of her head. He was obviously older than she was, probably by a lot, but his voice had been so sure, so rich, that it rang in her ears for hours after they had gotten away from him.
“What did he want from you, uncle?” Ari asked.
She’d never seen anybody so angry before. It made her feel almost as if she herself had done something wrong, something that could justify that amount of hatred.
“You know how those damn Pythons can be,” her uncle said dismissively. “Always wanting to pick a fight.”
“Tell me the story again,” Ari had pleaded. “About why the Pythons hate our family so much?”
“It’s nothing interesting, really. My brothers and I had gone to school with one of their leaders, that’s all. And we just didn’t get along. It’s just how boys can be sometimes.”
But when Hawk turned away, Ari couldn’t help but wonder if there was more to the story than her uncle was letting on. It was hard to say. She’d always trusted her family. They were upstanding men and women who always did their best to take care of their own kin. You couldn’t find those kinds of deep-seated family values anywhere else. Now that she and her uncle were the only ones left alive in the family, he did everything possible to make sure that Ari was taken care of.
And yet, there were times, times that Ari couldn’t explain, when her uncle just gave her a chill. It could be in a look, when he was annoyed or upset, or if she interrupted him when he was having a conversation with somebody over the phone, that made her blood turn to ice. Her family was well-known for their quick tempers and ability to land on top in a fight, but somehow, in her uncle, those qualities didn’t seem very soothing if he was just an old toothless cat.
“Ari! You up?!”
Ari sat up, her
heart beating wildly. If her uncle had any idea what she was thinking, she would be kicked out of the family homestead faster than she could blink. She would have to keep her thoughts private.
“Yes, uncle,” she said quietly. “Is everything all right?”
“I just had a wicked hankering for some grilled cheese is all. What do you say?”
Ari slipped out of bed, sighing inwardly. Taking care of his niece seemed to have its own benefit too, she thought. He got to eat whatever he wanted, day or night. He was lucky that her mama had taught her how to cook.
“All right,” she said, mustering as cheerful a smile as she could.
She didn’t mind helping her uncle. She really didn’t. He had gone above and beyond for her, and cooking for him once in a while was hardly enough to repay him for that.
And so, she went out to the kitchen where her uncle was sitting, a smile plastered on her face, and began to cook.
Chapter 3
“You’re lucky you didn’t go after him yourself, Arrow.”
Arrow glowered. Nobody was taking him seriously anymore. He had seen the piece of shit right out in broad daylight, walking around like he owned the place. Fucking coward. And, as far as Arrow was concerned, nobody was lucky that he had lost sight of Hawk.
“You don’t understand, Marcus. He’s manipulative! If it weren’t for him, none of this would have ever happened!”
Arrow slammed his fist onto Marcus’s desk, and Marcus frowned.
“Arrow, I know that of all the people that Hawk has hurt, he has hurt you the most. And I see why. You’ve been working hard to make amends around here, working to uphold your honor and try to stay clean. And you’ve been doing a great job. But…”
Arrow cringed. He knew it hadn’t been enough. No matter how hard he tried it would be impossible to redeem himself to the Pythons. He might as well leave now and just leave the city; go somewhere he could live the rest of his days alone like the pathetic loser that he was.
“But I just don’t want you to put yourself in a position that would make you vulnerable to your addiction. I know that you’ve been doing great. Even on that old clunker of yours you’ve managed to keep up with the best of us. And I appreciate that about you. If I let you deal with Hawk, would I be able to trust that you would come back from that unscathed? I can’t put one of my men in danger; even if that’s just because he is a danger to himself.”
Arrow was stunned by Marcus’s words, his genuine care for Arrow’s well-being. Though maybe it wasn’t about trust as much as it was about taking care of one of his own.
“I swear to you, Marcus. I would do anything to take care of Hawk and all of his little pushers. And if I lost myself again, then I would beg of you to shut me out. I wouldn’t deserve another chance.”
Marcus was quiet for a moment, and then sighed.
“Very well. But I can’t be responsible for putting you in a situation that could be harmful to you. Not unless I’m certain.”
“Marcus…the MC means more to me than my own life. I’d give everything I’ve got for this place. I have given everything I’ve got. You all are my brothers; my family. And I want to protect our turf and any unsuspecting person who could fall into the same trap I did.”
Marcus stood up and took a deep breath before facing Arrow directly.
“I think that’s a great idea,” Marcus said. “I’m going to put you in charge of surveillance. You and your team are going to scope the area out and get an idea of what that piece of shit thinks he’s doing on our turf. And once you have a good enough idea, you’re going to let me know. We’ll take it from there.”
Arrow gaped at Marcus, caught completely off-guard by the sudden position of power. It wasn’t quite the same as it used to be, but Marcus was trusting him with something. Something big. This could be his chance to prove himself.
“Thank you, Marcus,” Arrow said, looking the man in the eye and offering his hand. Marcus took it firmly and nodded. “I won’t let you down.”
“Well, you better not,” Marcus said. “Because if you do, you’re not going to be welcome back. You’ll be kicked out of the MC.”
Arrow’s stomach knotted, but he nodded. That was just the way it would have to be. But that was all right. He was going to make the MC proud, no matter what it took.
***
Arrow was up early the next morning. Getting ready, he ran a comb through his salt-and-pepper hair, studying his reflection in the mirror. He had aged quite a bit; he looked older than he was because of his drug use-at least he thought so. He combed the neatly trimmed goatee that he’d started growing and flexed in the mirror. He still looked tough, whether he looked old or not. Hawk was going to regret ever laying eyes on him.
When he reached the door of his tiny apartment – it was all he could afford on the meager salary he received from his low position in the MC – he slung his black leather vest over his shoulders and took a deep breath. It was going to be a good day.
The engine on his little hunk of junk had been sputtering lately, so he decided to go to the stakeout undercover and drove off in the car that had gotten him to and from his meetings. Every time he mounted that shitty trade-in of a bike, he was reminded of his shame. It was hard to live like that, especially when he was trying to make his life better and forgive himself for his weakness.
‘There you are, man,” said Thatcher when Arrow arrived at the diner just outside the theater where he had last spotted Hawk. “We weren’t sure if Marcus was serious about having you lead the group. It’s good to see you here.”
Arrow pursed his lips and nodded, knowing that Thatcher hadn’t meant any harm by what he said. They were both Pythons – loyal to each other until the death. Brothers. And that meant that they would look out for one another, even when one of them made bad choices.
Still, the words stung. He had betrayed the trust of his brothers, and now, they were still trying to figure out how to navigate their relationship from there.
“Yep, he let me have this one,” Arrow said with a grim nod. “I think he knows what it means to me.”
“It means a lot to all of us,” Boa said, eying Arrow skeptically. “Don’t go thinking you’re anything special.”
“Lay off him, man,” Thatcher said, his tone dark. “Marcus knows what he’s doing. Another word out of you over that will be perceived as an insult to the boss.”
Boa sneered but said nothing more, though Arrow could feel the man’s beady, resentful eyes following him as he crossed the diner to look out the window.
“Anybody see anything suspicious here yet?” Arrow asked quietly.
“Nah,” Thatcher replied. “Most of us just got here.”
Arrow nodded. There was a lot to be said about Thatcher. He was the eyes and the ears of the MC, and Arrow was certain that he was there to help Marcus to keep an eye on him. Still, he was going to do everything in his power to show the rest of the MC that it was time for bygones to be bygones. He was ready to move up in the club.
“Where was it that Hawk was seen last? When he was pushing with the muscle?” Arrow demanded.
A little guy, tough as nails, named Benny answered. “He was down by the mall. You know, targeting the people who look like they’ve got nothing left to lose.”
Arrow glowered. People like Hawk made him sick. It was one thing to be lured in by a beautiful woman as Arrow had been- he had been lonely after the loss of his wife, and Marcia had simply come at what seemed like the right time. But preying upon people’s vulnerability the way that Hawk did was unforgivable.
“All right. We should probably split up. I want two guys down by the mall, two guys near the train station, and Thatcher here with me.”
If he was going to play the game, he might as well do it right, while still making it easy on Marcus to get a feel for how he was managing the whole thing. He had been VP of the MC for a reason, after all. He wasn’t on drugs, and he certainly wasn’t going to be putting any of the others at risk. Even if they didn’
t trust him yet, they were still his brothers in blood, through thick and thin.
“Right,” Thatcher said. “Let’s get a move on.”
The others nodded and scattered in different directions.
“Meet back here in three hours!” he shouted after them. “If you can’t, call Thatcher’s phone.”
The truth was that Arrow himself didn’t have a cell phone at the moment. Money was tight, trying to put his life back together after his addiction. If he could land himself a better gig in the MC, then that was the kind of thing that would work itself out. That just made it even more important to prove to everybody that he could do this. And not only could he do it right, but he could do it better than most of the other guys around.
“Where to then, Arrow?” Thatcher asked once all the men had gone.
“I saw the direction the car went,” Arrow said quietly. “After they hit the theater over there. And I have a feeling that I know exactly where it was going.”
Thatcher’s eyes flashed, but he didn’t speak.
“Hawk was careful not to deal with me, or with anybody, too directly. But when he did, he wasn’t exactly careful. He never thought any of the people he got hooked would ever manage to get clean, you know?”
Thatcher nodded grimly.
“And there’s only one place out this way that happens to be habitable. And a little convenience store not too far away from there. I think that should be our base.”
“You mean Hawk lives on the old ranch?” Thatcher asked.
Arrow sighed. “Well, we won’t know that until we see him. But I just want to be there to watch him come and go. The guys have his stops covered, but he never works this early. I want to know this piece of shit’s every move before we strike. We’re going to do this clean, Thatch. Nothing dirty on my watch.”
“All right, Arrow,” Thatcher said with a slow nod. “Let’s do this.”
Chapter 4
Ari sighed quietly as she finished hanging the laundry. There was a strange car over at Mel’s; she could see it all the way down the street. Most people just walked there or popped in and out. But this car was parked outside and hadn’t moved for hours. Her uncle was always telling her to watch out for things like that. He was such a jumpy man.