The fire alarm sounds, and the guards come rushing in as all cells are rolling open. More shouting ensues and chaos is unleashed among the inmate population when they are freed from their cells. “Watch your back,” Loco warns me one last time before he stealthily hunts his prey from the shadows. Following closely behind, I anxiously wait for Loco’s signal.
Guards try to subdue the riot that has broken out. Old grudges that have been pent up come forward, and inmates start fighting each other to death. They’re choking and stabbing who they can while they are free from the confines of their cells. The stench of blood and scorched flesh assaults my senses the closer we get.
The madness, like a virus, seeps into every man on this floor. Kill or be killed. A perfect playground for what is to come next as a guard approaches and yells for us to get back into our cells. Loco charges him and, with three fast punches to his neck, the guard falls to the ground, choking on his own blood.
I scan the floor until the man, who I want dead more than any of them, comes into view. Across the room, I find the head guard that always ordered my beatdowns and torture from day one. All sanity flies out the window, snarling I charge forward. Sprinting, I catch up to him and tackle him to the floor.
He struggles under me with his face on the floor. I pin him down and jab the shank into his neck as hard as I can, then again and again until he’s lying still underneath me. My hands are coated red and I roar holding the weapon with all my strength. Releasing my revenge and a warning for who I find next. But it’s not enough, I want and need more. I jump up and follow suit, killing the guards that started this war as they cross my path. I kill two more before I find Loco on top of an inmate, choking him to death.
Before it is too late, I run the distance and take a guard down, who’s raising a gun to aim for Loco’s life, standing right behind him. A shot goes off, but it’s high. Loco, done with his victim, watches me as I struggle to gain the upper hand, choking the guard since I lost my weapon. He finds it and drives it into the guard’s skull right after the piece of shit managed to get two good hits to my stomach.
His death I will never forget. The feeling of his life leaving his body as he twitches under me, convulsing, can be felt in my hands. In a trance I freeze to the spot. Loco grabs the back of my shirt, bringing me back and drags me up from my grip around his throat. Once we are back into our cell, he orders me to hit him.
“What the fuck? Are you crazy?” I shout back.
Loco charges me and lands a hard hit to my nose and blood sprays. He backs up and I finally get it, we need to cover up the blood painted on us. I go for his face, slamming my fist into his nose. We don’t stop. Blow after blow, the fight feels as real as the others. Except, we aren’t aiming to kill. We are wrestling each other down to the floor before more guard’s storm in and pull us apart. We are cuffed and hauled to the middle of the floor.
The crazy motherfucker pulled off the impossible, and my mind is blown. He managed to take out the inmates and the guards that Stryker and Blade asked for. And it looks like we are covered in our own blood. It took a long time to get here, and a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I’m not completely safe from everything that happens inside these walls, but I am a lot better off than I was, say, just hours ago.
I don’t see Loco again for a few days after we are pulled apart. Luckily enough, I’m not charged with the murder of the four guards I killed or any of the other inmates that died. For once, life is starting to get a little easier.
I am on the countdown of when I will get out of this place.
Blade
I called an emergency Church in the early hours of the morning. As soon as our blackbird, or guard, that’s been keeping eyes on Pawn for us and relaying messages to Loco called with an update of the riot, I called everyone in to update them.
“Blackbird confirmed that, with the death of the guards and the riot, he’s able to move on to the next phase.” My hands run through my hair, helping to relieve the stress. “He’s collected enough evidence from those assholes to file a report of them harassing Pawn.”
“What’s next?” Tank questions.
“We use it as leverage to get Pawn out early, or the information will be filed as a lawsuit. Stryker is working on a deal with the DA as we speak. He’s requesting that they reopen his case and subpoena the records to prove his innocence, or a lot of people are going down. It took us a lot longer than I wanted. But we had to allow the guards to do what they did to get to this point. Unfortunately, Pawn had to deal with it. It will take some time still, but we are hoping we can shave six months off the original two-year sentence.”
“That’s better than two years, and a lot better than those assholes who were trying to frame him for more. And those cops? They could be problems for us in the future,” Axl, the VP, states.
Tank smiles, “Don’t worry, brother. I have a plan.”
Chapter 7
Tami
“What is going on here?”
I can feel the strong, heavy hand of a man sliding across my back, and the deep baritone of his voice sends tingles up my spine. I’m not sure why that is, but it’s freaking me out. I jump back from the boxes on the floor of the storage room. Turning around quickly, my heart is hammering in my chest.
“Hey,” Snake speaks softly and holds his hands up, “Kat said you were back here cleaning and organizing. Just thought you would maybe need these hands?” He tilts his head to the side and shrugs a shoulder, laying on a real sweet smile to top off his look.
My body releases some of its tension but I’m still uncomfortable being crammed in this small space with another man. “I just need to place that box up on the top shelf, and then I’m done. That’s all I needed to do.”
Snake, Vegas’s brother who is part of the California chapter, bends over and picks the case of Jameson up, lifting it effortlessly and sliding it back onto the shelf. “You sure that’s all you need, sweet girl?” He steps forward, crowding me against the shelves behind me.
Naturally, my eyes fall to the floor and my cheeks start burning, “No, I- ah– am good here.” I clutch my hands in front of me and twist my fingers together.
His calloused fingertips run along my forearm before they lightly touch my chin to raise my face up to him. A few awkward seconds pass as his gaze sweeps over my eyes, cheeks, then land on my mouth. My lips curl in and I rub them together, trying to think of something to say or do.
I eternally scream at myself to do something. Why am I being such a coward? I’ve lived through so much worse. Wake the fuck up, Tami.
“Why are you here?” I finally force myself to ask coolly.
Snake’s gaze comes back up to look me in the eyes. His hand drops but, quickly, he leans further in when he places his hands on either side of me on the shelf behind. “Is it not obvious, Tami?”
“To me? No. It’s not. Why are you here, in Reno?” I duck under his arm and add some space between us. I know he’s just looking for an easy hook-up. Not here and not this girl. He follows me out and I shut the door behind us, then lock it with my set of keys. When I turn around, he is right behind me, I cross my arms over my chest and stand my ground.
His lips are so close to my ear this time that I can feel the heat coming off him, and my body reacts. My cheeks heat all over again and my breathing grows labored. “Work. Doesn’t mean I wasn’t happy to come back to check on things though.” He pulls himself back and allows his gaze to peruse my body before he winks, then struts away from me.
I feel frozen to the spot staring at his retreating back. Doubt runs through my mind in a vicious cycle, I thought that I was ready to go back to work and making some positive progress by moving on in some way. But this thing with Snake has me crawling back inside of myself and missing Solo. He taught me to be braver and to always protect myself. Things I already knew, but he wanted me to be bolder. Open my wings and fly in this world.
I didn’t want to have to think any more about how to deal with the
se kinds of things. Just the thought of him causes my heart to shatter all over again. I’m sure it will never completely heal, because each time the cracks begin to mend something destroys it. The continued breaking hurts just as bad as the original damage. How am I supposed to move on? I don’t want to be alone. Snake doesn’t mean to hurt anyone with his actions. He doesn’t want a girlfriend. I know that he is a big-time flirt. This just makes me realize how much of life I am missing. Love.
I breeze through the bar area and find Kat pouring a beer. “Taking a break,” I call out on my way out the door. I don’t dare chance a look at her or give her the opportunity to ask me questions. Hastily, I walk around the side of the parking lot and rest my back against the building. The sun feels comforting as it’s warming my body. I close my eyes when I feel the heat being picked up by a gust of wind and swirled around the few loose strands of hair that have escaped my ponytail.
I’m not sure what, why, or how to explain it, but I pull the hair tie away and release my hair into the wind, allowing the gusts to whip it around. Solo loved my hair down and wild. Slowly, I start to crack and fall apart.
“I love you and miss you so much, Solo.” My left hand comes up to run over my tattoo, whispering the words out loud, “Consume my heart, thoughts and world with you. Always & Forever.” The exact words he said to me that are etched into my skin permanently. “That’s exactly I how I feel,” I croak into the silence alone. “That you will always be a part of me, consuming my thoughts. I know I need to let you go, but I don’t know how to do it, and I don’t want to either.” I don't want to feel love anymore. When will something so normal, not send me spiraling and I’ll be okay again? The loneliness creeps inside. I miss his arms and soft touches. Missing him something fierce.
I’ve been doing really well not crying for a while, so this is taking me by surprise. It’s the small moments that creep up and haunt me the most. The ones that I don’t see coming. I slide down the wall and the tears escape slowly along with my descent to the ground. I rest on the hard sidewalk, sitting cross legged, and watch the sun starting to set. “I need you,” I rasp into the wind, hoping that he hears me. My hope falling with me to the ground.
I’m not saying that I don’t want to live this life anymore. Just wishing I was stronger and resilient to live with what I have been given. Cash needs me, and I need him. My love for him is the only thing keeping me going.
The only thing I struggle with is how I will live without Solo. Will I be able to deal with the loneliness or the guilt of being alive? Anything I do, I question if he would be okay with it. I live as if he is still alive, just stuck in this state between heaven and earth, but there is no such thing.
I hear footsteps approaching. I don’t look up as the person slides down and sits next to me on the ground. “I used to drink and pop pills to take the pain away. Watching you reminds me of the girl I was then. Except, you are stronger than her, Tami.”
“No, I am not. I wanted to die. It was only Cash who kept me alive.” I refuse to believe Jenn. She’s been through so much more and worse than me.
“That’s just it. I had James to love me and I chose the drugs first. No one or nothing will stop you from what you want if that’s what you choose.” She pauses and looks down at the ground then back up. “It doesn’t matter if our stories are different. I’m not ever going to compare lives. We all go through shit, that’s a fact,” she huffs a breath. “I can go get Cuervo if you want to drink?”
“No! God no, he is too much for me,” I confess, and I am okay with that. I’m thankful for her. I love that she is trying for me and cares.
“Tami, when you are ready to accept the life you have now and embrace the woman you really are deep inside, all that doubt will evaporate. That is when you will truly be able to move on. You’ll remember the man you loved with so much respect and reverence that you will know that he supports and loves you. Solo wants you to be happy. Whatever that is. You are the one holding you back. It’s normal, though, what you are feeling. That is my point. You are perfectly normal. All your feelings, accept them.”
Jenn is telling me all this while looking out at the setting sun as it peeks just barely over the horizon. She pats my knee and gets up, walking back into the building, giving me space to think.
Out of everything we said, a couple stick out the most. I am normal and Be confident in who you are as a woman. A smile grows because Solo tried to teach me that, too. For today, I will accept that every stage of my grief is okay and allow myself the grace to feel a little broken. A small little seed is planted and, hopefully, it will grow.
I smile at the sun, something I haven’t done in a long time. Something that’s so simple. I see the beauty of the world and the world sees me back.
Chapter 8
Tank
“Alrighty, ladies. I need you to line up,” I stand with my arms folded across my chest and survey the inventory. Axl is standing next to me holding a clipboard and a pencil. I don’t need him to jot any notes down. It’s just fun as fuck that I got him to do it. I try really hard to hide my grin, but Kat is standing across the room with one arched brow, and the woman is testing me.
Ignoring her, I go back to my task at hand and raise one hand to rub my chin and pretend that I’m thinking over the options in front of me. My plan is simple. I’m getting those dirty pigs the same way they got Pawn. Framed by a bitch. Unfortunately, the girls could get a charge for prostitution. I’m about fifty-fifty on this. The other downside is that we are going to have to ship them out on a trade for new girls. Because the guys here won’t fuck them after this is over.
“Axl, we got Cocoa, Sunday, Red—” I stall and Axl stops writing. Thankfully, K-Love helps a brother out.
“Crystal, Amber, Star, Cherry, and Diamond. Too bad Topaz isn’t here. I bet she could suck the cock off a cop for you.” Kat glares, looking disappointed that my ex fling isn’t in the lineup. Axl holds the board up to his face and uses it as a shield to laugh behind.
My arm flexes and I punch the back of the board, getting him in the nose. He flinches and cusses, and this time I laugh. “Fucker, who’s side are you on?” I then turn back to the task at hand. “Anyway, that’s awkward, Kat, no need for the claws. You know that I love your kitty.” She rolls her eyes and takes a seat at the bar, hopping up on a stool.
I point at Sunday and then Cherry. “You and you, let’s go to the garage to talk about a game plan.”
“Tank, why did you pick Sunday and Cherry?” Axl questions on our way.
“Because you can’t have a Sunday without a Cherry on top, or a threesome, potato, tomato,” I chuckle at my word play here.
“That’s not how you say it.”
“Get on the same team, Axl. Fuck, if you want to lead the special op Cops Takedown just say it, dude.”
“You’re an idiot and no I don’t want to. But seriously, why Cherry?” He scratches his head, looking confused.
“Ahhh,” I stop and shoo the girls along to the garage. “Because we are going to have to make a trade for more club pussy, and I am going to mention to Blade, off the record of course, to make a trade with Fuego’s club. Snake is going to flip his shit. He’s been doing her steady now and she is hooked on him. Serves that asshole right.”
“This has nothing to do with him hitting on Tami at the bar?” My best friend questions, knowing me better than almost everyone.
“We all know that shit was out of line,” I defend, Kat and I head into the garage with the decoys. I lay it out there that they have to solicit money in exchange for sex. Well, at least make it look like it, and we need to gather proof before I can move forward with the next phase. I am going to take the pictures to send to the D.A. a nice blackmail email to fire those assholes. Then, they will be mine.
“We all set here?” I ask the group.
“I want to get paid to do it,” Cherry states with no shame.
“Charge him, honey, it’s up to you. Plus, the club will throw a little extra on
top. The better you do, the more you’ll make.”
Kat shakes her head at me. She knows that they will get paid the same, no matter what. Can you blame a guy, though, for wanting them to feel special? Nope, I sure can’t.
The both of them take off with enthusiasm and Axl goes to do whatever he needs to do before we leave for our night out. Kat saunters over to me and wraps her arms around my neck, “Tank, the girls always trust a happy guy. What a scammer you are beneath the jokes is a pretty face.”
“Only you, K-Love, sees the truth.”
“You use your evil for good, baby, that’s why I love you.” She leans in and kisses up my neck, to my ear. Her teeth scrape across my lobe and she whispers, “I’ll be home waiting for you, naked, don’t be long.” Her hand reaches down and grips my stiff dick before walking away. I watch her hips swaying back and forth until she’s out the door. I groan and a new jolt of energy pushes me to hurry up and off these cops so I can get my Kat off.
Spider
“You have the photos and what I need to send to the D.A.?” I roll back from my computer and find Tank standing at the door. I’ve been anxiously waiting the last twenty-four hours for him to bring me the damaging evidence to take these motherfuckers down.
“God, it was a long night, but yeah, I’ll email you what I have now.” He taps on his phone and a ping pops up with a notification of the pictures he sent. “It got even better. He was pulled over for swerving by the highway patrol. When Sunday went down on one, he swerved the car and both guys were caught with their pants down, literally.”
“Where is Sunday and Cherry now?”
Tank’s boisterous laugh fills the air. I’m not sure what is so funny, but then he answers, “Snake has them. They’re on their way to Sacramento. They handed the officer fake ID’s so they should be okay and won’t be identified. No previous record. It worked out freaking perfect.”
Loving You Forever (Battle Born MC Book 7) Page 5