“What the fuck?!” The other guy yells. I look and they are looking toward the meeting room. Good, they don’t know it came from my direction. I see Abe try and reach for the knife. Perfect timing. I throw another one and hit his hand. He hollers in more pain. I’m pretty good at this. I make a mental note to buy ninja stars. Ha. Quickly living down my high, I remember we are still in danger. I see Tech wave his phone at me and point to me.
I see Rufus moving to the meeting room with his gun drawn. I hurry back to the kitchen and lie back down, hiding the knives. I hear his heavy footsteps enter and leave just as fast. I grab my phone and see messages from Ford and Tech. Ford can’t help, I know he is worried but I need to protect them. Skipping over his, I read Tech’s message.
Tech: Nice throwing. Keep up on Abe. I’m going to sneak to the back room. Watch my back. Then, I’ll take out one at a time.
Me: Be safe!
*******************************************
Ford
Two days later, after Rider’s... Disposal
The group text from Tech has us all going ninety miles an hour towards the club. More of us should have stayed behind. I knew these jackasses wouldn’t take this lying down. After taking out three of them, there are three left. Rufus, Poodle, and Abe. Abe is the enforcer. I know he will use all means necessary to get Avery. My mind is racing. I know Tech can’t take on three of them. It’s possible. But there is a reason he never comes to ‘play.’ He’s the genius of the group. Ruthless? Yes... Damn it. How could I not see it? “Fuck!” I scream to the sky. My bike isn’t going fast enough. I pull the throttle and hit one hundred and twenty miles an hour. I’m very aware the motor could blow. Fuck it. I need to get there. I hear my brothers catching up to me. Going one hundred and twenty, we would make it there in an hour. It’s already been half an hour since Tech sent the message. Shit. I can’t think straight, my heart is racing. I can’t lose them after just getting them back.
We reach the club in just over an hour and a half. I jump off my bike, not caring that it falls to the ground. I run in and see Abe on the ground, barely coherent. I step over him and rush to the infirmary, bursting through the door. My heart stops, drops and gets stomped on. Avery is gone. She never leaves this room. It’s like her safe haven. I scream. “Fuck!” Colt is hot on my heels, pushing past me. “FUCK!” he yells to the ceiling and punches the walls. “I’ll kill them. I’ll fucking skin ‘em! Their all dead! Dead!” He yells to himself.
I push past him and run to my room. All the brothers are piling in the club now. Colt and I were about five minutes ahead of them. I hear “shit” and “fuck.” from them and I don’t turn to look at them. But I know they have the same feeling I do.
I reach for my room and it’s locked. I don’t know if it’s a good thing or not. I kick it open anyways. It’s empty. I turn to walk out and I hear a sound from the bathroom.
“Harley?” I say.
“Grandpa!” I hear Caleb. He sounds so scared. I burst through the door. He’s sitting in water. Evidently he was in the middle of a bath when it happened. He’s shaking, his little body is so cold. No doubt the water is freezing; all of the heat gone. I grab a towel and get him out, holding him close, thankful that he’s okay.
“I want my mommy.”
“I know, little man.” I walk to the guys and hand him to Eli.
“Go with Uncle Eli. He’ll get you dressed and warm, okay?” He nods to me, not questioning me. I know he is scared, but I got to find Tech, Harley and Avery.
I walk back to the hall and hear my name.
“Chevy.” I know it’s Tech. Harley uses my real name. Damn it. I’m thankful to hear him. But I want Harley and Avery.
Tech is lying on the floor behind the bar, blood all over him. He’s got a gunshot wound to his side. Fuck. I walk closer and see Harley. Next to Tech. FUCK!
She is not awake. She has blood all over her pants. Towel tied to her leg. She looks pale; too much blood loss. “Fuck!” My brothers come to help me with them. Lifting Tech and dragging him to the couch, I pick up Harley and carry her to the other couch, facing Tech. Shit.
“Call the Doc!” Prez yells. “Now!” Jester goes to the meeting room with his cell.
“PREZ!!” Jester yells from the meeting room. Prez and Colt are the first ones through the doors. I walk past them. Praying it’s not Avery.
All I see is blood all over the table and floor. I look up at the walls. “Took back what’s mine.” is written in blood. Motherfucker! I peer around Colt and see the unthinkable. Melissa. Fuck! She’s lying naked on the table.—obvious to all of us that she was raped and tortured.
“No, No, No!” I hear Jack’s voice from behind me. It’s cracking with every word.
He rushes over to her and picks her up, placing her in his lap as he slides down the wall, unable to stand. He cradles her, rocking her back and forth.
“Baby, please wake up! Wake up, Melissa! God damn it! This isn’t funny! Wake up baby! Please don’t leave me!” I can hear the sobs coming from him as he talks into her neck.
Fuck! This is bad. If this shit happened to a non-associate, what the fuck will they do to my girl? I can’t stomach it.
“Baby, please don’t leave me! I love you, god damn it!” We all stand and watch as Jack grieves for Melissa. We are speechless. I can’t bring myself to move. I know I need to be by my woman’s side. But shit, she is alive. Jack needs me. Fuck! I feel torn. Jinx is out there with Tech and Harley. It’s okay.
We all watch Jack lose the love of his life. Who fucking knew? He said it was casual. It’s only been a few months. I never would have pegged him for a one woman guy. But, clearly we were all wrong.
“SHE’S BREATHING! CALL 911, NOW!” He screams at anyone willing to listen. Colt dials as we watch in shock as to how she is still alive. Stab wounds and deep cuts to her stomach and thighs. Miracles happen, thank fuck!
“Get me a blanket!” Coin hands him a blanket and he wraps it around her. “It’s okay baby girl, I got you. I’m not going anywhere.”
I can’t take it. I walk into the room and kneel next to my girl. My girl for all of two fucking days and she is already in this bloody mess. “Ford.” she mumbles almost a whisper.
“I’m here baby. I’m here. Shhh.” I tell her. She needs to save her strength.
“Brother, Poodle and Rufus took Avery.” I hear Tech from behind me as he gasps between each word. I figured they had her. Fuck! He just confirmed it.
Abe is on the floor. We need him moved to the basement before the paramedics get here and try to whisk him away. Fuck that. I will make sure his demise is unbearable until he tells me where she is.
“Jinx! Colt!” I holler.
They step up to me. Jester is still with Tech. I’m not taking him away from him or Jack from Melissa.
“Get that trash and take it to the lower level. Get answers. Now!” I bark at them. They comply and as soon as they are through the hallway to the door of the basement, paramedics rush in—two coming to Harley and Tech and two going to Melissa. I know Melissa is in way deeper than my girl and Tech. I’m just glad she isn’t dead or as close as Melissa. I feel my brother’s pain. I swear to it. But deep down, I’m thankful it wasn’t her on that table. They immediately take Melissa to the truck with lights and sirens blaring as they speed to the hospital. Jack rode with her. No doubt he wouldn’t leave her side. This isn’t something any of us are used to. We haven’t had any old ladies in this generation. All of us are hard asses and use club whores. No love, no worry, no weakness. This weakness is new to us—a foreign emotion that sucks dick. It pisses me off. Coin is the last of his generation and his old lady passed thirteen years ago from cancer. We saw what it had done to him. No old ladies was a good choice. But now, I don’t care. I wouldn’t trade my woman for any damn thing. I will make them pay for this and get my baby girl back. They whisk Harley up and take in the same ambulance with Tech—side by side. I see Tech grab Harley’s hand and nod to me. I nod back. After al
l of this, she needs the comfort and I can’t fit in the ambulance with them. Besides, I have shit to handle in the basement. After they clear out, we all stand for a moment, catching our breaths.
“This shit is bad, Brothers.” Prez says, pulling a beer from behind the bar. He tosses all of us one as we close in to stand in a circle.
“Jester, Tech say anything?” Eli asks, holding little man in his arms. Caleb is holding on for dear life. I can see the pain and fear in his eyes. He wants Avery. Hell, I want Avery. My baby girl is out there somewhere, having those sick fucks doing God knows what to her. I feel like a failure as a father. It’s not an easy pill to swallow, to admit that emotion is getting the best of me. Jack laid his all out on the table when he held Melissa—not second guessing his feelings or that his brothers were in the same room.
Eli hands Caleb to Ruckus and tells him to take him to my room. Stay with him. Ruckus nods in agreement. “Come on, man, want some chocolate milk?” Caleb has a faint smile and nods.
We wait to talk until they are out of the room.
“Jester?” Eli says, nodding to him, telling him to proceed with what Tech said. Jester nods back and speaks.
“Rufus, Poodle, and Abe blew the gate and shot at the club. Apparently, waiting to see if anyone was going to shoot back—Tech didn’t shoot so they came in. Spotting Harley first. Her and Rufus had words. He back handed her. She took off to the kitchen and Abe shot her in the leg.” He takes a deep breath. “Chevy, your girl went full on ‘lioness protecting her cubs’ on Abe. She is the reason he’s down and out.”
Taking in all that he’s saying, I feel pride well in my heart. My girl is a fighter. A straight up survivor. We all nod for him to continue.
“After Abe was down, Tech got off a shot in Rufus’s leg and another shot to Poodle’s shoulder. Rufus shot him in the side as he went running to the hall. Falling behind the bar, he was in and out of it. He said he heard Harley gasp as they walked around to finish the job. She stabbed Poodle in his gunshot wound and he fell against the wall. Rufus then punched her in the face. Knocking her out cold and she fell behind Tech. They both were out cold. Tech still came in and out to the screams of Melissa, asking her where Avery was and was she ready to die for her, Melissa replied ‘fuck you, they will kill you for this and yes I’m ready to die for my family’.”
He takes a deep breath and leans against the bar, taking a long drag of his cigarette. Melissa was a wild one, spitting shit like that to them. But she protected what’s mine and in a sense, what’s hers. Harley and Melissa are like sisters. Have been for years. Of course she would call our family, her family. Her parents died in a car crash after she went to college. And she’s only ever had Harley. Melissa and I have never been on the same page. Running into each other at diners and gas stations over the last eighteen years, she had nothing but venom to spit at me. And I know she had a right. I hurt her ‘sister’. If someone hurt my brothers, they’d be taking a dirt nap. I finally get it. Melissa isn’t a bitch with a mouth on her like a sailor. She... She is family. Pride suddenly wells in my heart again. These women are braver than us. More strength than us all put together. My family may fight, and bitch about shit, but at the end of the day if it’s them or family, they will die for family without a second thought.
“Let’s get to the lower level and ‘play’. We need answers now.” Prez says, placing his beer on the bar. Walking down the steps, we swap thoughts.
“If they are hurt, which they are, they could hit the hospital. If they see Tech and Harley, they’ll want to finish the job.” Jester points out.
“Jester, Coin, get to the hospital. Both of you stand watch on their doors. Make them move them to the same room—easier to protect. Make them have Melissa next door, if not in the same room. Jack is in no condition to stand guard. He’s vulnerable.” We wait for a moment.
“GO!” Prez yells. They move faster than I’ve seen them chase pussy and that is lightning speed. I’ll join at the hospital as soon as I get my answers from dipshit.
I have every fiber in me pulling to be next to my girl, but if I want Avery, I need answers. Harley would want me to get our girl back first. Fighting the craving to be beside her, I know I got to do this. Stepping to the bottom of the step of the basement, the ‘lower level’, I see Abe tied to a chair. Simple, yet effective. Colt is breathing hard, guessing he used him as a punching bag. He wants Avery back, fuck, we all do. But we got to have this mother fucker alive. Jinx is watching how Colt lets his emotions out with each hit.
“Where the fuck is she?” Colt bellows and punches him in his face, again. Blood rushed from his nose.
“Colt, take a breather.” Prez says. Colt holds a stare to him and then nods and steps back.
Prez approaches him, smiling—God that smile may look comforting, if only they knew what makes him smile. They’d piss their fucking selves.
“Abel, Abe? Whatever. Look, we can either play a game, my new favorite thanks to my Brother, Jinx over there. ‘Scientist’, or we could make this fast with a bullet between the eyes. I’d rather play, but I’m in a hurry.” Prez speaks with such confidence. I wonder if his soul is intact, he doesn’t look quite at peace unless he’s got blood on his hands.
“Fuck you! Kill me! I’m not telling you shit, mutt.” Funny, we have the same nickname for them as they do us. Ha. Real original they are.
“Oh, I’m going to kill you either way, but let’s save some time and pain, shall we? Each question you don’t answer. I’ll...” I know that look, Prez is getting creative.
“I’ll yank each tooth out, but I’ll break them first, with pliers. Then I’ll take a file to the broken ones, and then, cut your gums and pull them out.”
That’s new. Just thinking about it makes me run my tongue along my teeth, making sure their all there. It sounds so painful, I find my nerves in my teeth flinching at his words. I look at my brothers and they all have their jaws clenched. No doubt they are thinking the same thing as me.
“Fuck... You... Mutt!” Abe spits venom at him. He is either stupid as a house plant or this motherfucker wants a slow and very painful death. Neither is smart.
“Okay, mongrel. Let’s play.” Merriment washes across his face as he grabs the pliers from the table along the wall where Colt is leaning. Colt just smiles and shakes his head. Prez shrugs and walks back to Abe.
Abe’s eyes go wide. What? Did he really think he was kidding? That is funny. Underestimating ‘Exe the Executioner’ is the worst thing you could have ever done. Underestimating leads to balls, balls to take him on. Big mistake.
Of course, he didn’t see Rider’s or the others bodies. Turns out it was a shit for brains prospect, taking and burying them in the woods by their club.
So they didn’t see how much fun Prez is actually having bringing these dumb fucks to ground.
“W-w-wait!” Abe yells, just as Prez had the pliers on his front tooth. Prez looks at him, and stops for a moment, staring at him. Soon as Abe relaxes, Prez jerks the pliers breaking his front tooth off. We all flinch, that is just wrong. Plain wrong. Ouch. I’d rather have my knee caps broken, hell, shatter them bitches. Just don’t touch my teeth. Fuck, I’m thinking of getting them pulled now, just so this shit can’t even have a possibility of happening.
Abe screams like a girl, mildly funny until you think of why he is screaming.
“I’m sorry, what were you going to say?” Prez asks, placing the piece of tooth on the table.
“I was gonna talk. Why did you do that?” Abe spits at Prez. Clearly not having as much fun as him. Poor guy.
“Because, I said you don’t answer a question. I break and pull.”
“You didn’t ask any questions!” He growls.
“Why, sure as shit I did, Bud. I asked where Rufus was. What did you say? ‘Fuck you mutt?’ Yea, that’s it. So I owed you that. And I’m a man of my word.”
We all laugh around them. Only Prez could seriously make this sort of situation bearably funny.
�
��Okay, I get it. Want to know where he is or you gonna play D.D.S. on my face?”
“Okay, kid, talk or I pull.” Prez stares down Abe. It’s ironic that he talks as if he’s older than all of us, when he is one of the youngest among us.
“He is at our second club location. But I saw him take hits with Poodle. They would go to the town over from ours to our doc on call.” He looks relieved that no more pain is coming his way.
“Where is the second location?” Abe sighs, he knows he’s dead either way. May as well answer and meet your maker.
“Six hours out. Outskirts of Lennywill. Small town.” After he finishes the word ‘town’ his brains are all over the wall behind him. I look over and see Colt holding his .45. Well that takes care of that. We all head up stairs and to our bikes. Standing in a circle, we devise a plan of attack.
Chapter Ten
Harley
I hear voices, but I can’t move. Why can’t I move? I try to open my eyes but they feel so heavy. I can’t even move my fingers. My whole body hurts.
Delayed Love Page 13