by Bella Jewel
Alarick flinches. “Peter thinks you’re gone, probably dead. Peter don’t need to know where you are. That’s openin’ up somethin’ I’m not entirely sure you can deal with right now. He’s fuckin’ dangerous, and if he knows you’re alive ...”
“What?” I challenge. “What will he do if he knows I’m alive, Alarick? Why don’t you tell me?”
Alarick’s jaw tightens. “He’s a dangerous man. You want away from danger? Goin’ back to him ain’t goin’ to give you that.”
“I’m not going anywhere near him, Alarick. No, I’m going to be the one who takes him down.”
Alarick stares at me, his face twisting slightly. “You’re goin’ to kill him?”
I nod, my face stony. “I’m going to take him out because he ruined my life, my family and now he’s running this shit show. I want him gone, and I want to be the one who does that. I have that right.”
“That’s fuckin’ dangerous, and you’d have to think I was nuts to let you do somethin’ so incredibly stupid.”
“You either agree, or I don’t spill. What’s it going to be?”
Briella gives me a look that is half shocked, half horrified. She would never dare stand up the way I am, but I’m sure if she had something worth fighting for, she would. I know what happened to Magnolia, I know it broke her, I also know she went hunting for justice. She, out of everyone, should understand why I’m doing this.
I have to.
It’s simply how it is.
“That’s fuckin’ blackmail.”
“Call it what you will.” I shrug. “I’m doing what needs to be done. You either let me or you waste even more time trying to find them when I know exactly where they are.”
“If that’s all you fuckin’ wanted, why not just go there and do it yourself?”
I glare at him. “You and I both know that me going there alone isn’t an option. Are you going to do as I ask, or not?”
Alarick’s face is angry, like a god damned scowling dog, but he nods. Small and sharp. I win. It’s about damned time I started calling the shots around here.
If only they knew what would be waiting for them when we arrive.
I’ll kill Peter, no doubt about it.
But Cohen and that club ... They’re not leaving either.
No.
The only one walking away from that place when we’re done will be me.
Finally free.
Finally.
“WHAT IS WRONG WITH you?”
I’m walking toward the clubhouse when Briella’s voice calls out over the wind which is currently sending dirt up and all over my damned clothes. I turn to stare at her and see she’s rushing after me, hair whipping across her face. She has some weird haircut—I don’t know why, but it looks like she has a scar on her head. I wonder what happened to her. Once, I would have cared.
Now, I simply do not.
“Hello, Briella ...”
“Seriously, Aviana, who are you?”
I stop and exhale. I’m sick of the questions and the demands. They all want to know what happened to me, why I am the way I am, why I’m being so cold and so heartless. Well, that’s simple ... I’m doing it because it’s who I was created to be. When Cohen sent me away, my life went from being somewhat easy to hell on fucking earth. I was sent with a man that was cruel, and then I had to fend for myself when I tried to escape, ending up on the streets, on drugs, in horrible places, and ended back with the only person I knew could keep a roof over my head.
Who could keep me alive even if it meant living the hardest life I could imagine.
God, she has no fucking idea what life was like for me.
No idea whatsoever.
“I’m not sure I get what you’re asking,” I mutter, crossing my arms. “I’m Aviana, you just don’t like the version of me that you’re seeing.”
“You were my best friend, Avi. We told each other everything. I loved you like a sister. Now ... it’s like I don’t even know you. You’re ... cruel. Empty.”
“And?” I prompt.
“What happened to you?”
“This club happened to me. Monsters happened to me. I’m not the same person you used to know, Briella. Accept that. I’m here to do what I have to do, then you’ll never see me again.”
She looks sad, her eyes narrowing. “That’s not what I want. We can help you, Avi. I know things were bad, I know ...”
“You know nothing,” I cut her off. “God, you couldn’t even begin to imagine how my life went after Cohen killed my family. You have no idea the kind of person he sent me to live with so I wouldn’t show my face around here again. If you want to point fingers, Briella, point them in your own backyard.”
Her cheeks grow flushed. “Firstly, I’m not sure why you didn’t just come to Alarick. When your family died, when things went south, you know he would have helped you. Instead, you blame them.”
I step closer, face tight. “I didn’t get a fucking chance. I was shipped away before I even got to make a fucking choice. Don’t you tell me I had options, Briella. I had none. Those options were taken away from me by the people you call family. So back the fuck off unless you actually know what you’re talking about.”
“If you hurt my family, Aviana, I will come for you,” she growls, showing the fire I always knew she had buried deep. “I swear to god, I will make you suffer. I know you’re not here to do good, so I’m warning you ... Back off.”
I grin at her. “Message received. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have business to attend to.”
I spin on my heel and disappear toward the clubhouse. I hear Briella curse behind me and, somewhere, deep down in my broken black heart, I feel a tug. It’s a tug I quickly stuff back down into the depths. I don’t have time to feel anything, not for her, not for anyone. I’m here to do what needs to be done, and then I’ll be gone.
Starting my life anew.
“Mornin’.”
I reach the top step and look to my left to see Cohen and Samson sitting on a few old stools, clearly deep in conversation before I stomped up and interrupted them. I give them a sharp nod, avoiding eye contact with Cohen.
“How’s the head?” Samson asks.
I look to him. “It’s fine, why wouldn’t it be?”
“You had a big night.”
“Was that before or after you fucked me?”
Cohen visibly flinches, a reaction I certainly didn’t expect from him. He can’t stand me; he’s made that very clear. Why the hell should he care who I’m sleeping with? He likely doesn’t, it was probably just a shock. I shake it off and give Samson a smile, a small one that’s mostly sexy, mostly empty. “I’m up for round two any time. You just say the word.”
Then, I walk inside.
Not before I hear Cohen growl, “What the fuck do you think you’re doin’?”
I’ll let them sort that one out.
I walk down to Alarick’s office and step inside, not pausing. He looks up from a phone call he’s on and very quickly tells the person he has to go and hangs up. Then, he stares at me, his expression cold and mostly empty. “You here with the information we need?”
“Yeah, I’ve got what you need.”
“Spill it, then.”
“The man you’re looking for, his name is Benedict. Don’t know if that’s his first name, hell I don’t even know if that’s a nickname, but I do know that he is the person running all of this. I know exactly where you can find him, but I’m not telling you how I know that so don’t bother asking. My business is mine, as is yours. Once you have him, you have the upper hand. Without him, the whole show crashes. You take him down, you take the rest of them down, and you no longer have a problem on your hands. I will tell you this, though, don’t go in there without a good plan. You fail this, I promise you he’ll take down your entire club.”
Alarick stares at me. “Anything else?”
“That’s all. I will give you the location I know he frequents and, as for my uncle, Blanche and Dax, they’re
in a location that is quite a distance from here. I’ve been there once before, but I recall how to get there again. It’s well secured and hidden, it’s where I met Benedict a few years ago. I, ah, spent some time with him. Because of that, I can lead you to both locations.”
“You fuckin’ him?”
I glare at him, my rage expanding in my chest. “Don’t you fucking insult me, Alarick.”
“Was askin’ a question, Aviana.”
“I wasn’t fucking him. I was with him against my will when the monster I did live with took me there for business, but he took a liking to me, and being the incredible actress I am, I played along. That’s exactly how I walked out of there alive and not sold to someone else, though I’m starting to wonder if that might have been a better option. You don’t need to know the details; all you need to know is that I can get you there.”
Alarick nods. “You can be involved in coming up with a plan to get us there, you know the ins and outs, we need your input.”
Of course he does.
They’re helpless without me.
That’s exactly how I need it to get what I want.
They’re not going to know what’s hit them.
5
THEN – COHEN
“Hey, wait up.”
I turn to see Aviana jogging toward me on the sidewalk, backpack flying behind her, bright smile on her face. She’s always smiling, there isn’t a time I don’t see her making a joke and then laughing hysterically at it. She’s the most bubbly, happy person I’ve ever met and, considering the life she’s been given, that’s something.
She’s younger than me, god knows by how much, but that doesn’t mean I don’t notice how utterly fucking beautiful she is. Thick dark hair that frames the most incredible eyes I’ve ever seen. She’s got the skin of a fucking doll and the body of a goddess. She’s going to go places with looks like that.
Today she’s wearing a pair of jeans that fit a little too well, a tank that makes her tits bounce in ways not even I can ignore, and her hair is flowing around her, wild and untamed, much like her, really.
She’s fucking spectacular.
If I didn’t already have a woman, I’d be looking in her direction, no doubt about it.
“Aviana, what’s goin’ on?” I ask her, bringing a cigarette to my mouth and lighting it. I inhale deeply as she watches me with some sort of weird fascination.
“I didn’t know you smoked,” she says, falling into step beside me, puffing from her run toward me.
“I do what I gotta do to keep sane around here. Were you at school?”
She snorts. “How young do you think I am? No, I’m done with school. I was working.”
“Didn’t know you had a job.”
She laughs. “There are probably a lot of things you don’t know about me, Cohen. Where are you off to?”
“Lunch, then back to the club. King has got us on some fuckin’ mission. I don’t know, don’t really fuckin’ care right now, to be honest.”
“I thought you like being part of the club?”
She raises a hand up to shield her eyes from the sun as she stares at me. I take another long inhale of the cigarette smoke, slowly pushing it out once I’ve let it sit in my lungs for just a moment.
“I fuckin’ love the club, I’m just sick of doin’ the little crappy jobs. Be good to have somethin’ real good to be chasin’ after.”
Aviana rolls her eyes and grins at me. “Always chasing the danger. I don’t know why you’d want to risk your life like that.”
I shrug. “Why not, Avi?”
She laughs. “Why not, indeed. Can I come to lunch with you? I’m freaking starving.”
I nod. “Yeah, come on then.”
We walk to a nearby café. Aviana throws her backpack down and sits down with a huff, swiping the hair from her face. She looks to me and gives me the biggest damned smile I’ve ever seen come from something so small. She’s fucking beautiful. I can’t help but smile back, you’d have to be cold and fucking empty not to smile back at something that looks like her.
“What’re you havin’?” I ask her, glancing down at the menu.
“Burger, fries, and a vanilla shake.”
She doesn’t glance at the page in front of her, she already knows what she wants. I imagine her life is like that, knowing what she wants all the time. She’s strong willed and determined. I can’t see there being a time where she hesitates.
“You goin’ to eat all that?”
She winks at me. “You’re shouting, so yeah.”
I chuckle and stand, going inside to make an order. When I return, Aviana is staring out at the cars, a look of peace on her pretty face. She turns to me when I sit down and leans forward with her hand under her chin. “Briella told me you’ve got a woman now; how’s that going?”
I snort. “You know what it’s like, nothin’ serious.”
She nods, mulling that over. “Well, I hope you’re being nice to her. Women don’t get treated right anymore.”
I laugh, leaning back in my chair. “Do tell me more.”
She giggles. “You know what I mean, there are so many players and broken men out there now, nobody has their mind right. They’re all treating each other badly and pushing their broken pieces around for everyone else to stand on. Not me, I’d rather glue my shit back together then toss it on someone.”
That’s what I like about this girl, fucking magic.
“Well, you find a man that doesn’t treat you right and we’ll make sure he doesn’t sit down for a week ...”
She laughs. “You bikers, so tough.”
“Gotta do what we gotta do.”
We sit and chat for an hour, so fucking easily it’s like I’ve known her for years. I have known her for a little while, being that she’s friends with Briella and spends a lot of time around all of us, but I’ve never spent a great deal of time actually getting to know her. She’s a good chick, and she’s going to make someone really fucking happy one day. I don’t doubt that for a second.
One thing is for certain, I just made a new fucking friend.
And I like her a lot.
“HOW’S BRIELLA’S WRIST?” I ask Aviana as we walk toward a bar after her shift has finished.
Briella fell out of the tree at her eighteenth birthday a week ago, and since then has been moping around miserable because she can’t do anything. After that night, Avi and I started to talk daily on the phone and through text. For whatever fucking reason, we have a connection I can’t understand.
I’m with Samantha, but having Aviana in my life seems to bring me the kind of internal freedom I didn’t think was possible while I was living on this earth.
She does something to my soul—she makes it feel that much better.
“She’s still sulking.” Avi laughs, walking up to a stool and sitting down. “She can’t do anything, which sucks. How is Samantha?”
I grunt and sit on the stool beside her. “Fuckin’ hard work. Gotta wonder why I do it?”
“Why do you do it?” she asks, glancing at me.
A strand of her hair falls across her forehead and down over her mouth and she blows it off with a quick puff of breath. Fuck, she makes even that look good.
“I don’t fuckin’ know, to get laid?”
She laughs. “A man with a face like yours could get laid anytime he wants.”
“Not without puttin’ in the hard yards.”
Rolling her eyes, Avi puts up two fingers to the bartender who immediately gets her two beers.
“You come here a lot?”
She nods. “Every day after work. I like it here; it helps me unwind.”
Honest.
Aviana is the most honest person I know. Nothing holds her back, she just tells it like it is.
“Where is Samantha today?” she asks, taking a sip of the beer when it’s placed down.
“She’s workin’, no doubt finishin’ soon and demandin’ I come on over there,” I mutter, letting the cool amber ale
roll down my throat.
“You ought to dump her, Cohen. That’s not nice. Remember what I said about men being nice ...”
I chuckle. “How could I fuckin’ forget?”
She looks to me. “If you don’t like her, you shouldn’t be with her.”
“Never said I didn’t like her ...”
“Do you?”
“What?”
“Like her?”
“Yeah, she’s okay.”
Aviana laughs. “If anyone ever refers to me as just ‘okay’ I’m going to flip a lid, seriously. You should be with a girl that you think of as more than just ‘okay.’”
“Show her to me, and I’ll take it.”
She smiles and then bumps my shoulder with hers. “Men, seriously.”
I grin and take another sip of beer.
“Does Briella know we’re hangin’ out?” I ask.
Aviana frowns. “No, but I don’t see why it would be a problem. She loves all you guys.”
“Nah, it wouldn’t be a problem. It’s nice, not sharin’ though.”
She laughs. “You’re right about that. I like not having to explain to anyone where I’m going and who I’m seeing. You’re like my secret friend. It’s a nice feeling.”
I snort. “Fuckin’ secret friend.”
“Don’t pretend you don’t like it.”
I do.
I do fucking like it.
More than she’ll ever know.
“You got a man?” I ask her, glancing at her reaction.
Part of me, deep fucking down, wants her to tell me no, she doesn’t have a man and has no intentions of getting one. But she’s eighteen and she’s fucking gorgeous, there must be men throwing themselves at her.
I hate that fucking idea, but I’m not entirely sure why.
I like our friendship; I like it just the way it is.
So why the fuck do I feel a certain way at the thought of her with another man?
“I’m sort of talking to someone, but it’s not serious or anything. We’re just chatting. He wants to take me out this weekend. I suppose I’ll go, see where it leads.”
“He a good man?” I ask her.
She laughs and gives me a sideways glance. “He’s not bad, Cohen. Not bad at all.”