Aiden: The Lost Breed MC #8

by Ali Parker

  Aiden growled and tried to pry himself free form Vince’s grasp. It was futile. Aiden looked exhausted.

  I shook my head. “We can’t leave together, Vince. You’re too drunk to drive.”

  “I’m not—”

  “Yes. You are,” I said. “Let Aiden go. You need to leave. We can talk all about this after everyone has calmed down and you’re sober.”

  I wasn’t going to tell him that he was likely going to be arrested. If he knew that he’d fly even further off the handle. He’d have nothing to lose.

  Vince shook his head. “I don’t want to talk.”

  “Then why did you come here?” I asked.

  “To bring you home!” He roared.

  “No,” I said softly. “I can’t go back to that place, Vince. Not with you. You trapped me there. You isolated me. I lost all my friends because of you.”

  “Typical Cheryl. Blaming me for all your problems.”

  I shrugged. “I don’t care if you agree, Vince. You and I are through. We should have ended things ages ago. But I was weak. And scared. And desperately afraid to be alone. But being alone is so much better than being with you.”

  Vince’s face contorted with rage. “I’m glad we’re finally being honest with each other.”

  Then, before I could even scream at him to stop, he wound back and drove his fist right into Aiden’s nose.

  Vince released the front of Aiden’s shirt and he went down in a heap at my ex’s feet.

  Vince turned his back on Aiden and faced me. “Someone has to teach you a fucking lesson, Cheryl. You miserable, entitled, insufferable woman. I’m the one who wasted my time with you. I could have had any woman I wanted—”

  “You did have them, Vince,” I hissed. “Don’t pretend we were something we weren’t.”

  Vince took a step toward me. Aiden stirred on the ground behind him.

  I backed up. “The cops are going to be here any minute.”

  “I don’t give a damn,” Vince said.

  I needed to buy some time. Aiden had managed to get himself up onto his hands and knees. Blood dripped from his nose to pool on the cement beneath him. He wiped it away but it kept on coming as he lifted one knee and tried to push himself to his feet. He was unsteady. The blow had been hard and I was pretty sure his nose was broken.

  Vince caught me looking past him at Aiden. He started chuckling and then turned around slowly as Aiden stood, using the side of the Mercedes to keep himself upright.

  Vince’s chuckle morphed into laughter. “I’m so glad you’re not done yet, shit stain. I was just starting to enjoy myself.”

  Vince went after Aiden.

  I yelled out a warning but it was too late.

  He slammed Aiden up against the car. Aiden let out a pained grunt before his face screwed up with anger. He reached over Vince’s head, gathered the back of his jacket in his hands, and pulled him forward, sliding out of the way to pull Vince’s head into the side of the car.

  But Vince was too angry and too drunk to be slowed. He tackled Aiden to the ground and they both went down, writhing and kicking and trying to make the other suffer as much as possible with each hit they landed.

  Then Vince landed a blow to Aiden’s ear.

  I could see it disoriented him, and he let his defenses down for a split second, allowing Vince the chance to strike him across the jaw.

  “Stop!” I screamed, rushing forward.

  Vince was on top of Aiden now. He wound back. I grabbed his arm and pulled back, trying to pry him off of Aiden, but it was no use. Vince shrugged me off like I was a rag doll.

  I tried again, this time driving my knee into the space between his shoulder blades as I pulled back on his arm.

  Vince let out a furious bellow and twisted around to take a swipe at me. He missed, and I scurried out of the way as he cursed at me and got to his feet, leaving Aiden on the ground beneath him clutching his ear.

  Chapter 25

  Aiden

  My vision was blurred, but not badly enough that I couldn’t make out Vince taking slow steps toward Cheryl, who had herself pinned between him and my work bench. She had no exit available to her, and if I didn’t get to my feet soon, she was going to be in big trouble.

  And if he laid a hand on her I’d have to kill him, and I was pretty sure that wasn’t the ending either me or Cheryl wanted for our relationship.

  Not that it was officially a relationship. But I wanted it to be. And that wouldn’t be possible if I was in prison for murder.

  I grimaced as I planted my foot and raised my knee. I pushed myself up with my hand on top of my knee, steadied myself with the Mercedes, and watched as the garage tilted and tipped and spun all around me.

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

  I didn’t have much steam left in me. If I was going to take him down I would have to do it quickly. Another blow to my head and I might not be able to get back up, and then Cheryl would be royally fucked.

  The cops were coming. There was no doubt about that. But there was no telling how many more minutes we would have to wait and one minute alone with Vince was too many seconds for Cheryl. If he decided to hurt her, which he very well might, based on his insane behavior so far, he could do a lot of damage in sixty seconds.

  I spat a mouthful of blood on the pavement and dragged the sleeve of my jacket across my mouth. “I’m not fucking finished,” I said. My voice sounded far away in my own ears; probably because my right ear was still ringing from when he hit me.

  Vince stopped walking toward Cheryl.

  Her eyes widened and she leaned to the side to look past Vince’s massive frame and at me. She shook her head in warning.

  I forced myself to stand up straight. “Come on Princess. Is that all you’ve got?”

  Vince’s shoulders hunched up like the hackles of a wolf. “This time you’re not getting up.”

  I didn’t say anything. I didn’t have the energy for it. Instead I braced myself for whatever it was that was about to come. Either he’d come in hard and low, or he’d go for the head again. Either way I would have to avoid a hit and land one of my own, followed by as many as it took to knock him out.

  Or, if I was lucky, I could hit him once. Hard and fast. And take him down.

  That was my best option.

  Then I could get Cheryl the hell away from here and get somewhere safe. Then I could have a drink. A real stiff drink.

  Vince rushed me. Cheryl yelled my name.

  And I sidestepped, grabbed him from behind, and used his own momentum to throw him into the Mercedes. He left another dent in the side of it and righted himself, shaking his head in either anger or confusion, and I took advantage of having the upper hand.

  I kicked him in the side of the leg. He collapsed to his knees.

  Cheryl rushed forward.

  Vince opened his mouth to speak. I didn’t want to hear it, whatever it was.

  So I wound back and slammed my knuckles into the side of his head.

  He toppled sideways where he stayed, lying on the cement, completely motionless.

  Cheryl skidded to a stop and stared down at him with her hands over her mouth.

  I straightened and shook out my aching hand. If I didn’t have at least one broken knuckle I would be shocked.

  Cheryl looked up at me. She still had her hands over her mouth. Her eyes were brimming with tears and one of them escaped as she stared at me shaking out my hand and clutching my aching side with my other hand.

  “I’m alright,” I said.

  She shook her head. “You are so not alright.”

  I wiped my hand under my nose, which seemed to have finally stopped bleeding. “It could be worse.”

  “Yeah. He could have killed you,” she breathed.

  “Nah. I wouldn’t have let it come to that.” I tried to smile but it stretched the split on my lip.

  Cheryl’s bottom lip trembled.

  I held open my arms and stepped over Vince who was breathing loudly t
hrough his mouth in his unconscious stupor. “Come here.”

  She dropped her head and stepped into my embrace. Her arms wrapped around my waist and held on tight as she pressed her cheek to my chest and held on for dear life.

  I stroked her hair and her back and planted a kiss on top of her head. “Everything is fine. I’m fine. You’re fine.”

  She nodded but didn’t say anything. Her breathing was shaky and her grip didn’t loosen. I didn’t tell her my ribs were aching. It was worth the pain to hold her like this. For a while there I thought things might have gone sideways.

  “I’m so sorry,” Cheryl whispered.

  “Sorry?”

  She nodded and held me tighter. “If I’d handled things better he never would have come after you like this. I should have seen it coming. I shouldn’t have gotten you involved. And I—”

  “Cheryl,” I said firmly, taking her by the shoulders and holding her at arm’s length so I could look her in the eyes. “I got myself involved. Not the other way around. I was the one who showed up uninvited to your party, remember? I was the one who asked you to have coffee even though I knew you were with Vince. I was the one who pushed. Not the other way around. Don’t get it twisted now that Vince has gone and done something stupid. It’s all on him.”

  She sniffled and wiped her nose. “I still feel bad. I think—I think he broke your nose.”

  I chuckled and nodded. “Yeah, I think he did too.”

  She blinked. “Oh God.”

  “Cheryl. I’ve broken my nose before. Twice, actually. It sort of comes with the job of running in the circles that I do. You know?”

  She gave me a weak nod and looked down at her feet. “I don’t know how to make it up to you.”

  “You can make it up to me by believing me. This is not your fault.”

  “If things were the other way around you’d feel the same as me.”

  I laughed. “You mean if I had a crazy ex-girlfriend who came after you? I don’t know. Might be a bit kinky—”

  “Watch it,” she warned, but I’d gotten what I was after. A smile. It was a small one, but it was a smile nonetheless. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

  “Yeah. Too bad I can’t say the same thing for my garage door,” I said. The door had been bent all the way up and dragged off its tracks by the Mercedes. Part of it had fallen off to rest on the floor while the other corner remained in place, creating an opening to step under to go out onto the driveway.

  “Or your bike,” Cheryl winced.

  I looked to my bike which was crushed between the front end of car and the back wall of the garage. I sighed. “Yeah. Poor girl.”

  Cheryl took my hand. “Come on. Let’s go wait outside. I’m sure the cops are on their way.”

  I gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. We were about to head to the opening in the side of the garage door when the space was filled with the tall frame of a familiar man. Axel.

  He ducked under the door and looked around wide eyed. Then his gaze fell on us and he whistled. “Damn. Looks like we missed all the fun, babe,” he called over his shoulder.

  Ellie came in behind him. “Holy shit. Are you guys okay? Aiden, your face! You need to get some ice on that.”

  I waved her off. “In a bit. I want to get out of here.”

  Axel walked around and stopped in front of Vince. “You think it’s wise to leave this jackass here?”

  “He won’t be moving for a while,” I said.

  “Should we rough him up a bit more? Give him some bruises for all the shit he’s pulled?”

  I shook my head. “Nah. He’s had enough. Besides I don’t want any bad karma on my record.”

  We made our way out of the garage. Axel brought up the rear and paused. When he ducked out under the garage to join us on the driveway he had a wary expression on his face. He rubbed the back of his neck. “Looks like you’re going to need a new ride, brother.”

  “Looks like it,” I said.

  “You can’t fix it in the shop?” Ellie asked hopefully.

  Axel scoffed. Then he shot me an apologetic look. “Did you see the thing babe? It’s a mangled mess. Ain’t nobody gonna take her for any spins anymore. I don’t think we could even use much of it for scrap parts. Sorry man. That hurts.”

  “It’s just a bike,” I said.

  Ellie went over to Cheryl who was staring at my garage door. “Are you okay, Cheryl? He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

  “I’m alright.”

  “You’re sure?” Ellie pressed.

  Cheryl nodded. “I’m sure. Aiden didn’t let him get anywhere near me.”

  “Thatta boy,” Axel grinned, slapping me gently in the ribs with the back of his hand.

  “Ouch,” I scowled, massaging the spot he’d hit.

  “Sorry,” Axel apologized. “He did a number on you, huh?”

  “He was hammered.”

  “And he still managed to land some good hits.” Axel clicked his tongue. “Better shape up, kid.”

  I rolled my eyes as Axel laughed at my expense, then I went over and wrapped an arm around Cheryl’s shoulders. “It’ll be a fun story to tell in a few weeks.”

  “Weeks?” She asked incredulously. “No. This won’t be fun to me ever. Do you hear me, Aiden? Ever.”

  “Don’t be like that. It’s not every day you narrowly miss being run over in your own garage. And we came out on top. What about that won’t make for a good story?”

  Cheryl bit her bottom lip. “Alright. Well. Maybe just wait until your face isn’t so—”

  “Fucked up,” Axel finished for her.

  I gave him a deadpan look. “Thanks.”

  Ellie nodded. “It is pretty bad, Aiden. You should get some ice on it right away. Should I go grab some and—”

  I held up a hand. “No need to mother me, Ellie. I’m a big boy. I can take care of this. But first things first. Let’s deal with the cops. Pretty sure I hear the sirens now.”

  Chapter 26

  Cheryl

  I couldn’t help wringing my sweaty hands together when two police cruisers turned down Aiden’s street and started coming toward the house. They had turned their sirens off as soon as they took the corner, but their lights still flashed, casting red and blue washes of color across the front of the houses along the street.

  Some of his neighbors had come to stand in their driveways or in their front doorways to watch the commotion.

  The neighbor right next door had wandered to the edge of his property and asked if we were all good here.

  I wanted to tell him he was a little too late.

  Had he not heard me screaming?

  Aiden just nodded. “We’re fine, Sam. Thanks. Nothing more to see here.”

  “What the hell happened?” The nosy neighbor, Sam, asked.

  I rolled my eyes. Ellie chuckled at me.

  But Aiden was nothing but polite. “Some drunk driver drove into my garage. Almost got me and Cheryl here, but we got out of the way in time.”

  Sam blinked and looked back and forth between all of us. “But—but what happened to your face?”

  Ellie nodded vigorously. “See? I told you it was bad, Aiden.”

  He waved her off. “It’s nothing Sam. Don’t worry yourself about it. We’ve got it covered now.”

  “Alright,” Sam mumbled, and then he turned and walked back up to his house, pausing once in the doorway to look back at us suspiciously.

  “I don’t like him,” I said.

  Aiden laughed. “Nobody likes him. He’s too nosy for his own good, but never at the right time.”

  “Everyone’s favorite kind of neighbor,” Axel said.

  The cops parked against the curb at the end of the driveway. There were four officers who got out of the cars and made their way up the drive to meet us.

  One of them was a woman. She looked very young and unsure, and I assumed she was a rookie.

  The tallest of the three men, a guy with a graying buzz cut, nodded around at the four of us. “Are
you folks all alright here?” When he spoke his gaze settled on Aiden, who by looking at him was most certainly not alright.

  Aiden did the talking. “Yes, officer. But the guy in my garage is out of commission for the moment.”

  “One of the neighbors reported that someone drove through your garage after you pulled in on your motorcycle. You are Aiden Jennings, I presume?”

  Aiden nodded. “Yeah. That’s me. And the neighbor was right. Cheryl and I were out for a ride. I noticed Vince—the guy who drove through my garage—was following us when we left a concert tonight. He tailed us home, but I thought I’d managed to lose him.”

  “It would seem you did not,” the cop stated.

  “No. Guess I didn’t.”

  “We’ll need a statement from you both,” the cop said, before waving two of the officers into the garage.

  “Careful,” Aiden warned. “There’s a lot of broken glass on the ground.”

  The cops slipped into the garage and one of them called over the radio for an ambulance for an unconscious male. The buzz cut cop, whose name tag read ‘Daniels,’ fetched a notepad out of the pocket of his shirt and flipped it open. He grabbed a pen from the same pocket and poised it over the paper before looking back and forth between Aiden and I. “Tell me what happened. From the beginning, please.”

  Aiden told the cop everything he could remember. He didn’t miss anything. When Daniels looked to me for confirmation I nodded every time. By the time Aiden had gone through everything Daniels only had a couple questions, and once they were asked he tucked his notepad back into his pocket. “The ambulance will be here shortly and we’ll get Mr. Price off your garage floor.”

  “That sounds great,” Aiden said.

  But it seemed that the paramedics wouldn’t have to roll the stretcher in to collect Vince’s unconscious body off the floor. He came out on his own with his hands cuffed behind his back. The two officers who’d gone in after him had him by each arm and they walked him out onto the driveway.

  The young female cop nodded at one of the cruisers. “We’ve got a nice comfortable spot for you in the back, Mr. Price.”