by S. Nelson
“Always a fun time around here,” Hawke mumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets and leaning against the bar. “I miss this shit.”
20
“Everybody back in Chambers,” Marek shouted, and while he didn’t sound angry about what just went down, his tone was filled with impatience.
“Can I check on Maddie quick to make sure she’s okay?” I asked as I walked up in front of him, hoping he would at least let me see how she was doing.
“Hurry up.”
I rushed off without another word. If anything, I wanted to tell her I’d be in a meeting and for her not to worry. I hated that I had to be separated from her for who only knew how long. She’d consumed my thoughts, my worry for her physical and emotional well-being something I wasn’t used to.
That’s not to say I was a self-centered person. If anything, people who knew me would say I cared about others as much as the next compassionate person, but to worry so much about a relative stranger was new for me.
My knuckle hit the wood of the door once before I entered. Maddie lay in the middle of the bed with her eyes closed and her arm thrown over her face. When she heard me enter, though, she scrambled to sit up but didn’t quite make it. She clutched her head and eased back down, blowing out several quick puffs of air.
“Are you okay?” I was next to her two steps later.
“Just dizzy.” She averted her eyes, looking everywhere else but at me until I cleared my throat. Only then did her gaze land back on me. “Your mom… she said I might have a bladder infection or a…” She shrugged, looking puzzled, clearly not remembering what the other option was, but I wasn’t gonna fill in the blank because I didn’t want her to think my mom said anything to me about her possible situation. “She said dizziness could also be a symptom.”
“Well, she should know what’s wrong soon. Then she can give you some meds.” Silence ensued after I spoke. I wanted to ask her what she was thinking, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer. If she mentioned the Reapers, I’d be pissed off. Not because I didn’t want her to be able to confide in me more about her awful time with them, but because I wanted to kill every last one of them as it was, I couldn’t imagine how much more furious I’d become if she elaborated on her time there with them.
“Can I take a nap? I’m not feeling very well.” She tucked her dark hair behind her ear and looked up at me with such innocence all I wanted to do was wrap her in my arms and promise her the world.
“Of course. I actually came in here to tell you that I have to go to a meeting. If you change your mind about the nap, you can either hang out in here, or if you get hungry, you can always go to the kitchen to fix yourself something to eat. I think there’s stuff for sandwiches.”
“Okay” was all she said, pulling on the bottom of her T-shirt.
I stood next to her for another ten seconds without speaking. Out loud, that was. Internally, each of my questions mixed with the next until I didn’t believe I was even forming coherent thoughts.
“Lincoln!” Ace shouted from down the hall. “Let’s go, brother!”
“That’s my cue.” I smiled at Maddie before slowly turning around, leaving the bedroom and wondering if she’d ever get to a place where she trusted me implicitly. There was no time to dwell on such things now, however. Marek had called us all back into Chambers.
Dropping my phone on the table outside the room, I walked in and took my seat. I was the last one to sit, and both Prez and my ol’ man didn’t seem to appreciate it much.
“Now that we’re all here,” Marek started, “there’s some stuff we need to discuss, and although I never intended on bringing this up ever again, I now see it’s a necessary evil.” I heard the older guys grumblin’ under their breath, but their words weren’t coherent enough for me to understand.
Leaning toward Brick, I whispered, “Have any idea what he’s talkin’ about?”
He shook his head, replying, “I’m as confused as you are.” We were far enough down the table, Marek couldn’t hear what we said, but when his eyes landed on me, I straightened in my seat and acted like I wasn’t having a side conversation, no matter how brief it was. Whatever reason he called us all back in here, I was smart enough to know it was important.
Our leader rubbed his hand over his bearded jawline, his expression flattening. He appeared to be conflicted over whatever was about to come out of his mouth, but he continued regardless.
“When most of us weren’t much older than you guys,” he said, jerking his chin in the general vicinity of us younger members, “our club was run completely different.” Oh… more generalities. “We were involved with running drugs for the Los Zappas cartel.” I wasn’t gonna lie. I almost choked on my spit when I heard him say that, not used to him giving specifics, other than the small bit he spewed in the basement about Tag’s father and what he did to Sully. “At one point, we were responsible for two-thirds of the cocaine supply smuggled into central Cali. And even though we had many people in our pockets to help keep the profits high and the risk low, there was still a risk, which came back to bite us every now and again. The stress of it all became too much, too many of our lives at risk to justify continuing for much longer. The head of the cartel, Rafael Carrillo, owed me a favor for saving his life once, so after some negotiation, he allowed us to walk away without repercussion. But it wasn’t easy to cut ties and go legit. We had to take care of some stuff before everything finally fell into place.”
I saw Tripp and Hawke shift in their seats, seemingly uncomfortable with Marek’s retelling of the past. Or was I reading them wrong?
“The war between us and the Savage Reapers dated back to when Stone and I were kids, when our fathers were in charge, and it seemed to all come to a head a few years before we finally ended it for good.”
“What happened?” Ace asked, and at first, I wasn’t sure if Marek was gonna take offense to the question or not, but I had to admit that I was just as curious. Thankfully, our prez answered without reservation.
“Those fuckers were gettin’ greedier and more careless. They’d show up at our establishments and threaten to take us out one by one. They wanted to replace us and take top position with the cartel, but what they didn’t know, and what we would never tell them, was that we planned on exiting anyway. And while we dealt with them here and there…” He stopped speaking, blew out a breath, and elaborated. “And by dealt with, I mean killed. We ended them before they could end us, although sometimes we weren’t as lucky.” His eyes found Cutter briefly before continuing. “The breaking point for us, the moment we knew we’d have to end as many of them as we could, came when they left Tripp for dead outside our gates. Shot four times and clinging to life.”
“Seems like only yesterday,” Tripp said, a half-smirk appearing on his face. “Thank God Addy was there to watch over me.” He looked to Stone, and his grin widened, but instead of my ol’ man barking at him because of his comment, he simply shook his head.
“Mom helped?” I asked, looking at my dad before Marek. I’d heard comments here and there, but no one ever went into any details, and because I knew they’d never elaborate, I figured it was pointless to ask, after the first ten times, anyway. Come to think of it, it did seem like my mom and Tripp had a special relationship, nothing inappropriate, but if she was the reason Tripp didn’t die, then I could see why they appeared to care for each other.
“Your mother helped us out a lot back then, patching up these bastards whenever shit went down,” Prez responded, looking surprisingly comfortable in revealing all sorts of details now. “She was a godsend for sure.” I leaned forward in my seat, eager for more information, every question I ever had about what our club dealt with before I came along on the precipice of being sated. “When we finally decided to hit back, and hard, we raided their club, killing whoever we could before kidnapping Psych’s daughter.” Marek looked at Kaden. “Your mother. Then I married her the next day, essentially sending the biggest ‘fuck you’ I could to t
he Reapers. Integrating one of their own was one of the worst kinds of insults between clubs, so to wed the rival president’s daughter was highly offensive.”
I couldn’t help but think about the similarities between what happened with Sully and what I’d done by taking Maddie from the same club, albeit different members. It was only then that Tripp’s comment of “just don’t marry her,” made a lick of sense.
“I can imagine that didn’t go over well,” Brick said, eager to hear more, just like me, Kaden, and Ace.
“Not at all,” Cutter responded, something that took me off guard because the man didn’t say much. But the look on his face told me whatever happened next, he wasn’t opposed to. Maybe even enjoyed? I remembered the coldness in his eyes when he stood over Tag.
“While Sully adjusted quickly to our club, and to me, her father wanted her back. Most likely so he could kill her. I wasn’t gonna let that happen, especially after I’d fallen in love with her, and she with me.” Marek lowered his eyes to the table, gripping the edge so tightly he lost most of the color in his hands. “The things they did to her while she lived with them….”
“You don’t have to rehash that, brother,” our VP said, placing his hand on Marek’s shoulder as a show of support.
“No, I have to. To make these guys understand why we did what we had to. Exacting justice for someone changes you, gives you purpose. To right the wrongs is the only outcome that’s acceptable.” I didn’t need to ask him what he meant because his words resonated deep in my soul, the image of Maddie infiltrating my brain. “That piece of shit Psych raped and abused his daughter before passing her off to Vex when she was fourteen. He took over making her life as miserable as possible. Sully bears the reminders of what they did to her, physically and emotionally. They burned her with cigarettes, stabbed her, raped her, passed her off to Carrillo’s righthand man, Yanez, as an offering. Everything horrible you can imagine… they did to her.” Marek looked at his son again. “Vex is the reason your mother could never have children of her own.” For a moment, Marek’s breathing became shallow, a pained look crashing over his face. The rest of the resident members hung their heads. “During one of his tirades, he violently raped her with a bat after he could no longer do it himself, leaving her tied up for a day to bleed out. There was too much damage afterward for her to ever bear a child of her own.”
My eyes flew to Kaden, wanting to say something, anything that might lessen the impact of what his dad just told him. The two of us knew Vex abused her, but we didn’t know the severity until now. Hearing what his mother went through made me want to hurt someone. I could only imagine how Kaden felt. His shoulders tensed right before he gripped his hair, leaned back in his chair, and briefly raised his head to the ceiling.
Oddly, Cutter was the one who placed his hand on Kaden’s shoulder, much like my ol’ man had done with Marek moments ago.
“She’s okay now,” the old guy said. “Sully is one tough broad.”
“That she is,” Jagger added. His lips thinned into a tight smile. There was a brief moment of silence, and I wasn’t sure if it was because the conversation was uncomfortable for everyone present, or if Marek tried to gather his next words. Maybe it was a combination of both. Either way, he soon continued with specifics from the past.
“We tortured and killed Yanez, Vex, and Psych, sending them to hell where they belonged, and each one of them knew exactly why. The one connection they had between them was what ended their lives in the end.” As if feeling his confession wasn’t enough, he rose from his seat and walked up behind Kaden. “I made them all pay, son.” He rested his hands on Kaden’s shoulders. “I made sure they suffered till they took their last breath.” Kaden’s eyes glassed over as did Marek’s.
His ol’ man cleared his throat before retaking his seat.
“After hiding this from us all these years, why now? Why is it okay we know everything that happened?” I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me.
“Because we didn’t want you guys,” he said, referring to me, Kaden, Ace, and Brick, “to be tainted with what we had to do back then. We did it because we wanted to end the war between us and the Reapers, to stop looking over our shoulders every time we left this compound, to stop losing members of our club at their hands. We wanted a better life for our kids, and whoever else came into the club well after that shit was done and over. The only things you had to worry about were school and girls. You didn’t have to wonder if at any point during the day your life would either be snatched from you or you’d be the one to end someone else’s. I now see we did a disservice by not telling you. If you’d been armed with the details, you would’ve known the detriment of what could happen if that war started back up.”
“Which we think it has,” Ryder grumbled.
“Because I took Maddie,” I said, a declaration and not a question.
“Yeah,” Marek answered. “After looking at her, I understand why you did it, but I have no doubt they will retaliate. They’ll either want her back or—”
“I can’t hand her back over to them,” I spit, my anger doing a shit job at staying hidden, erupting before I could control myself.
“No one is sayin’ that,” my ol’ man interrupted just as hurriedly. I relaxed, but only a fraction.
“If they were the ones who set the fire at Indulge because of a scuffle, what the fuck do you think they’re gonna do knowing we took their plaything from them?” Hawke asked, his reference to Maddie as a plaything fueling my anger even more.
“Exactly. And when I spoke with her, she mentioned Dutch,” Marek said. Jagger, Trigger, and Ryder groaned while Cutter and Hawke sported an odd grin I didn’t understand.
“That fucker’s nuts,” Tripp mumbled, but we all heard him loud and clear.
“Who’s Dutch?” Brick asked.
“He’s one of ’em, but from a different charter,” Marek replied. “Although he’s been spending more time here than back in Tucson. He rivals Psych in delusion and amusement with torturing women. If he hadn’t been mentioned, I wouldn’t be as worried but now… now we gotta prepare ourselves, which means making sure you four are carrying from now on.”
We all knew how to shoot, had been visiting our makeshift range behind the clubhouse for a couple years, but we never had a reason to carry before today. In fact, we were forbidden to have our guns on us whenever we left the clubhouse lot. To be honest, I didn’t mind because while I was a damn good shot, I didn’t care much for the weapon. I could give or take it, preferring to use my fists. But now I’d be sure to follow the change in instruction and be strapped from here on out.
Marek cleared his throat and sat up straighter. “On to the issue with Tag.” My ears perked up at the mention of the guy who could possibly be a Reaper. Last I knew he was still tied up in that basement, but things could’ve changed.
“We don’t believe he’s a Reaper, even though he comes from one.” Our leader spewed out the words as if they pained him, and after hearing the details of what Tag’s father, Vex, did to Sully, I could partially understand his distaste for Tag. But, like he just said, he wasn’t a Reaper.
“Are you sure?” Hawke asked, tucking his hair behind his ear and leaning forward. He looked pissed at the news, and from what I remembered of how he acted in that basement, I could guess the nomad wanted to revisit old wounds.
“Yeah. We had guys we trust dig into his past to see if the story he told Kaden and Linc was true. These same guys have been keeping an eye on the Reapers for years, and none of them have ever seen Tag before, indicating he hasn’t been around the rest of them. He did check out as having a job back in Boston, attending grade school, then high school there as well as college. We even went so far as to visit his mother, and while she didn’t know us personally, she knew who we were. She confirmed she wanted to get him as far away from his father because he was a bad man.”
“Did she wonder why you were there to see her?” Ace spoke that time.
“Yeah, she
did. We told her he wanted a job with us, and we liked to vet everyone who applied.”
“She didn’t think that was weird?” I asked.
“No, but then again she was high. She told us about the cancer and how she needs to smoke because of the chemo treatments. This actually works to our advantage because she doesn’t even realize her son hasn’t been around. She told us he came by the other day for a visit, which is obviously impossible since we have him.”
“Okay, then we can let him go,” Kaden rushed to say, glossing over everything Marek just said.
“Well… that’s where it gets tricky,” my ol’ man added. “We didn’t exactly treat him well, and we basically admitted to killing his father, so…”
“So… what?” I asked, hoping to God he didn’t suggest killing Tag because they fucked up.
“Read between the lines, man.” Jagger leaned forward and stared at me. “If we let him go, he can cause an issue for us.”
“So, you’re gonna kill him?” I looked to Jagger, then to my ol’ man, then to Marek, my pulse loud and thrumming in my ears.
“We don’t know yet.”
I ran my hand over the top of my head, releasing the air in my lungs before forgetting how to breathe for a moment. “Can you at least tell us if he’s still strapped to that table? He’s been there for days.”
“I’m fully aware how long he’s been there,” Marek answered, irritation pouring out of him and toward me, but I wasn’t the one who jumped to conclusions, and I certainly wasn’t the one who beat the poor guy before divulging our club had killed his father. Although, the latter part I doubted he’d care much about. But what the hell did I know? “Nash, Miles, and Rez are here. They’re taking turns making sure Tag doesn’t go anywhere until we decide what to do with him.” I didn’t need to ask if Tag had been released from his restraints because Marek’s statement answered my unasked question. My guess would be that they had him contained to one of the bedrooms.