It’s too late to turn back now. Even if I wanted to.
Fuck.
Do I?
When we get past the biker guard at the door, inside there are four more, and behind them sits the king himself. I don't even know his name, but that doesn't matter. To me his name is Life or Death, because that's what he represents to me. And he's the ugliest son-of-a-bitch I've ever laid eyes on. Below an eye patch, that appears to be sans said eyeball, runs a long jagged scar down the side of his face. The other half is devoid of anything human other than flesh and bones. His one eye is cold and his smile is leering. The man’s soulless. Standing right next to him is the dog who got me into this shit with a smug smirk on his face. Deuce.
I clench my fists at my sides restraining myself from stabbing the lapdog in the eye to match his master.
Fuck you.
"Is this her?" his highness asks the rabid dog he has for a soldier, the bastard who tried to fuck me over.
"Yeah, that's the whore," Deuce grunts as he stares at me.
I can feel the fury resonating from Snake as his hand lands on my shoulder and gives me a squeeze. The simple touch anchors me and calms me. Lucky, too. In my mind I've already carved out his tongue and have got it stabbed into his chest. That wouldn't have been the best way to start this little pow wow.
"A whore, huh?" Snake asks amused. "You said she was a junkie too." He glances over at me making a show of looking me up and down. "She doesn't look like a junkie to me," he turns his attention back to the man in charge. "What about you, Prez? She look like a junkie to you?"
Snake told me not to look at any of them. But I'm not going to let anyone judge me unless I'm staring straight into their eyes, even if they’ve only got one. Let them see me for who and what I am. I may be a product of the streets, a drug dealer, a petty criminal, I might have gotten revenge when I rid the world of two filthy bastards, but I'm the farthest thing from a whore or a drug addict.
Fuck him.
Fuck them.
Fuck that.
The ugly bastard sitting there doesn't comment, doesn't budge, doesn't do anything but keep staring at me with his bloody fucking one eye. I've seen a lot of bad people in my life, ruthless son-of-a-bitches, but I've never seen anyone as vile as the president of the Steel Brothers. He's got nothing in his veins but ice. I don't flinch, he doesn't intimidate me, the evil mother fucker, but I'm not stupid.
If he doesn't take Snakes bait, shit's about to get real ugly.
Finally, he asks me, "What did you actually think you could do with my merchandise, Raven?”
I want to scrub myself with bleach to get the filth off of me from him having my name on his tongue. Just breathing the same air he does makes me feel contaminated. It’s as if every single drop of blood on his hands is coating me with its horror and degradation. I can’t escape it.
Snake’s grip tightens on my shoulder. It’s not a calming touch any longer. He’s holding me back.
“You should ask him what HE’D planned on doing with those plates. That’s a more interesting question. I know I’d like to know what the hell he was doing with them in a shit hole miles away from your…establishment.” I realize I’m challenging the Steel Brothers president. Screw it. He already wants me dead. I might as well give him a real reason, not some lie this asshole fabricated.
The president’s expression doesn’t change. But there is a sign my comment hit a nerve, it’s the slight twitch in his lonely eye.
“You filthy whore! I should have slit your throat before I raped you,” the lapdog, Deuce, spits out.
Blood red rage fills my vision and I don’t even think as I pull my leg up and slip my hand in to wrap around the handle of my dagger. I’m going to put it right in the middle of his fucking heart.
Snake’s faster.
He’s got me restrained before anyone in the room had a chance to move. But he didn’t take my knife.
“I knocked you out after I shoved your balls up your ass. That was before you could get that worthless little dick of yours out. Just so we’re clear, asshole, you were the one who got fucked.”
“Keep calm, hellion, don’t fuck this up,” Snake whispers in my ear. His voice is nice. I like it. I fucking need it. Because it is keeping me calm. “You’ve got this, just don’t do anything stupid. Like kill him.”
Snake does perform magic, because he’s just cleared the rage from enveloping me and stopped me from turning this place into a blood bath. No doubt my own.
The lapdog takes a step toward us. He’s furious, his face is contorted in rage.
“You little bitch. We’re all going to fuck you now. While your little boyfriend watches,” Deuce sneers.
Snake laughs.
I’m really beginning to love that sound.
“If you take one more step, I’m going to make sure you stop,” there is no anger and no hesitation in Snake’s voice.
Prez has not said a word. He’s sat back and observed the back and forth, let his guy come toward me, and didn’t shut me up when I gave it right back to him.
With another step, the dog pulls out his gun and aims it at Snakes forehead.
“You’re really starting to get on my nerves,” he grits out.
“That’s too bad,” Snake drawls.
I don’t know what happens, it’s all too fast. One second Snake’s behind me, then there’s a blur, then a loud crack, and a man’s wail of agony. Finally, there’s a loud, heavy thud. Deuce, the lapdog, is lying in an unconscious heap on the floor with his hand jutting out in a very unnatural position.
“You broke his wrist,” Prez murmurs.
“Yeah, well, that was for Raven,” Snake shrugs his shoulder.
“Don’t fight my battles, I don’t need you,” because, fuck that, I wanted to do it.
“It was part for me too. I didn’t like the guy,” Snake comments.
“Jesus fuck, Priest,” Prez laughs, His name is Priest? How ironic, the Queen Of Hell is going to destroy the Priest, “you can’t do that to my guys.”
“Seems like you should be doing a hell of a lot more than that to him, Prez. Let’s cut the shit. This fuckwad stole your plates, was trying to cut you out of a deal, and he tried to rape Raven. Hell, he probably already had a buyer lined up for both the counterfeiting plates and the drugs,” Snake is pissed and it seems he’s done playing nice.
Every cell in my body cringes when the word rape comes out of Snake’s mouth, especially with my name in the same sentence. My skin crawls and I want to break every bone in the dog’s body. Because, yeah, some nightmares never fade.
“It’s all speculative,” Prez runs a finger over his jaw, his eyes fixed on me.
“I’m not going to pretend I know something I don’t,” I finally speak to the man who has my fate in his hands. “But I do know the facts. They are: this guy who’s supposed to be loyal to you and your club made a deal with me he said was on behalf of the Steel Brothers. He asked to meet me at some out of the way place in a back room. He told me to come alone. He had the most important thing you own in his possession. And not a fucking dime to his name. Believe me, I checked.” My chest is rising and falling, I’m breathing so hard. I’m furious recalling that day. “Every instinct had told me it was a set up, but he made the deal sound too good. I would never have agreed to any of his demands, but Deuce told me if this went down well, we’d continue to do business.” I stare right into his one cold eye. “Me and the Steel Brothers.” I cross my arms over my chest. “I took the plates as a bargaining chip. I wasn’t foolish enough to think I could sell them.” I kick the unmoving body on the floor. “Obviously like he was going to do.”
“Batman came to me and said that’s exactly why you contacted him. To see if his people wanted to buy them,” the president answers coldly.
“Batman’s a fucking liar. A million dollars will make a person do that,” I reply.
“Then why did you take them…Ms. Winters?” Prez asks me ominously.
A shiver runs t
hrough my body. I don’t like the sound of that, him saying my full name. I don’t answer right away. Our gaze battles, me with my two eyes and him with his one eye filled with the promise of every pain I can imagine.
“If I didn’t, we both know you’d never have seen them again.”
He doesn’t respond. He knows I’m right, but he’s not going to admit it. If he did, he’d be admitting there’s weakness in his club. If that got out, all of the vultures would be out to pick them dry, attacking them to take over at the top.
He can’t afford weakness.
I’m fucked either way.
“Where are they?” he finally asks.
“I’ve got them,” Snake answers for me.
“Not smart,” Prez’s one eye moves to Snake.
Here’s the part where I’m going to use him.
“He said it would be better if I came to you with him. He’s going to make the deal for me.”
There it is. I’m handing Snake complete control to get me what I want, to take all of the heat, and bargain with this asshole.
I’m such a piece of shit.
“You want to make a deal?” the president has now given Snake his complete attention.
Now it’s time for me to sit back and listen, to shut my mouth, so I don’t fuck this up.
Snake finally is no longer holding me back from going psycho on anyone. That time has passed. At least until the douche wakes up.
“Raven wants to return them to you.” Snake’s trying to make me sound like a girl scout.
That’s funny.
The president’s eye flicks back to meet mine. He believes Snake as much as he’d believe I’m a nun. I’m holding my breath waiting to hear what Snake says next.
“For retrieving them and getting them back to you, she should get a reward.”
Prez drops his hand and looks back and forth between me and Snake. “You’re fucking with me, right?”
“No.” Snake’s cool, still that I-couldn’t-give-two-shits kind of guy.
He’s good, he sounds like he really couldn’t give a fuck.
The king laughs, so do his other henchmen. The room is filled with raucous laughter. Snake laughs with them, he’s calm and relaxed. Me on the other hand, I still don’t move or say a word.
“I’ll tell you what I’m going to do,” the president finally says something. “I’m not going to kill you. Today,” he’s speaking to me. Arrogant prick. “I know you’re not stupid,” his attention is back on Snake. “I also know about the contracts.”
A long moment passes as Snake and Prez have a stare off. I still don’t move or utter a word.
He’s obviously referring to Snake and Rock’s and Summer’s cluster fuck.
Snake said someone might die this weekend. That’s why, there’s a contract out on them.
“That has nothing to do with Raven,” Snake finally replies. Mr. Hyde is now speaking.
“That’s where you’re wrong, Snake. You claimed her. Her problems are now yours, and vice versa. Stupid move. I thought you were smarter than that,” the president tells him.
He’s enjoying this, getting some sick satisfaction imagining us, all of us, in the middle of a war with both the Steel Brothers and whoever’s out for Snake.
“Let’s finish this, Prez. She saved your merchandise. You know that, she knows that. Whatever you do with him,” he glances down at the crumpled body that’s now beginning to stir, “is your business. She doesn’t want much, ten grand, for retrieving them and bringing them back to you. You save the mil, and you can get back to business.”
“You make it sound so simple,” he’s back to being composed. “I’m going to think about what I’m going to do about her. In the meantime, it’ll be fun watching all of you trying to stay alive.”
The sick bastard!
“You can go. I’ll let you know what I decide tomorrow.”
Snake takes hold of my arm and turns us to leave after his highness dismissed us.
“One more thing, Snake.” We stop and turn back to the man who’s now got both of our balls in a sling. “Remember I still have men watching your interests back home.”
“It never slipped my mind,” Snake responds coolly.
“How’s your step daddy, Raven? It’s Phil, isn’t it?” he asks me with a grin. All the air sucks from my lungs. “He was an associate of…what was his name?” He taps his finger on his chin like he’s thinking. “Sarcucci. That’s right.” He’s wearing the first real smile I’ve seen on him since we entered the room.
The man in the suit.
Not only can I not breathe, but I think all the blood has drained from my body.
I haven’t uttered those names in years. Have refused to think about them. Not since the last time I saw either one of them.
Snake leads me out of the room. I move on instinct, one foot in front of the other, and as we leave, I hear the dog has finally awakened. He’s not happy.
“Thank you,” I whisper to Snake. I’ve got to throw him a bone. Things are a lot worse than I thought they were. Way, way worse. “I really appreciate it.”
The president of the Steel Brothers knows about my past. The man I stole a net worth of a millions of dollars from.
There are people out to kill Snake and Rock and Summer and I just put him front and center as a target for the Steel Brothers. I didn’t ask him to do it, he offered. All while knowing they had their own set of problems. I used him. I used him knowing all of this, and I still did it. To all of them.
From the moment I first saw him at the coffee counter, he intrigued me. Everything about him, his Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, that smile that makes my knees weak, his ink, his attitude that went from possessing to I-got-this with a wicked gleam in his eye. His fucking kindness.
I suck.
I’m going to let him make this all go away, be my shield, then I’m going to disappear.
I’m going to run. From today and my past.
“Later you can show me how much.”
There's something he doesn't know.
Later’s not coming.
CHAPTER 20
Raven
TWELVE YEARS AGO
As soon as I turn the key in the lock of the front door, I know something is wrong.
“It’s about time you got your lazy ass home!” my mother’s boyfriend yells from the living room.
He’s not at work. He never works. My mother works two jobs, she’s a waitress during the day at the diner on Main Street, and at night she cleans the offices of the people she waits on all day long. She has to. Someone needs to pay the bills. Not just the ones to keep the electricity on and our rent paid, but his gambling debts.
“Get in here!” he bellows.
The hair at the back of my neck stands on end. Whatever he did this time, it’s worse than all the others. I can feel it.
I should turn and run and go find Joey, my best friend, my only friend. Because none of the girls at school want to be friends with the girl who dresses in rags and wears shoes with holes in them that are either too big or too small because she can’t afford to buy new ones. But I don’t run because I’m a good kid and I always listen, I always do what I’m told. Not because I want to. I know if I didn’t, things will get a lot worse. I’ve seen mama's face the morning after I heard her screaming and crying, her beautiful face covered in bruises, the cracked, swollen lips, and sometimes she can’t breathe because of the marks on her body I couldn’t see. Phil, her boyfriend, yells at her that I’m just a lazy kid that doesn’t do anything, that I’m worthless, that I’m just an extra mouth to feed that’s sucking them dry.
I hate him. What I hate more is that I have to pretend that I don’t so he won’t beat my mother until she’s dead.
With lead feet, I drag myself to the living room where I know he’s sitting in front of the television set in the old broken recliner, where he always is when he’s home. I can hear the Price Is Right is on. I love that show. I pretend it’s me and mama winning all of those
beautiful things, that we’re happy, that life is good. I’ve got my books clutched tightly against my chest. Maybe I’m hoping they’ll act as a shield. Something tells me I’m going to need it.
“Yes?” I ask quietly.
I know my voice is shaking because I’m scared to death. When I turn the corner from the hallway into the living room, I freeze. He’s not alone.
Phil’s not in the recliner but sitting on the couch. Sitting in the recliner is another man dressed in a suit and tie, an older man I’ve heard Joey talk about. A man even Joey’s afraid of. Joey said he's a really bad man.
“This her?” the man asks Phil, his eyes never leaving me.
“That’s her,” Phil replies with a laugh.
I clutch my books tighter. Why are they talking about me? Why are they waiting for me? I didn’t do anything wrong.
"We just may have deal," the man in the suit says to Phil.
The way he's looking at me, the way his eyes travel up and down my skinny body, makes my skin crawl like I've got bugs running all over me. It's gross and it makes me feel gross. He's gross and disgusting and I wish he'd just stop looking at me.
"I told you she'd be worth it," Phil snickers in that ugly way he does, kind of a snort and a honk.
He's disgusting too.
"Young lady," it's the man in the recliner. The important man. The bad man. He has to be really bad because Joey's afraid of him.
I don't even know him, but I'm afraid of him too.
"Please put your books down. Your father," He's NOT my father. He's ugly and disgusting and I hate him. Now I hate you too. "tells us what a good student you are. But you're home now, so you can relax with us."
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