THARNISHED HEARTS

by Allen, J. C

  “Wow,” I said. “I just felt… it was almost out of body, you know? Like… fuck.”

  Derek finally let out the laugh that he finally had the energy for.

  “Yep,” he said. “That’s why last night was so intense for me. Probably for you too. Post-combat sex can be rough or it can be really emotional. It’s rarely normal, either way.”

  “No kidding.”

  I eventually rose, though I’m pretty sure several minutes had passed, and Derek for his part had not moved either. I sat on his lap, looked at his still recovering dick, and gave it a little pat.

  “That thing, I swear,” I said. “That thing is going to knock me out one day.”

  “Like you’d complain.”

  “Not in the slightest.”

  I leaned my head into Derek’s shoulder, the two of us breathing in synchronization. Again, I just wanted to sit here for the rest of my life, for nothing could ever have been better.

  “We should get to sleep,” Derek said. “We’re going to go to the last place tomorrow, and I don’t want us tired. This could be the battle that ends it all.”

  “Yeah,” I said, still trying to catch my breath. “Luckily for us…”

  “Hmm?”

  “There is a bed here. Would you really trust yourself to drive us home after that?”

  “I wouldn’t trust myself to walk to that cot,” Derek said with a laugh. “But it’ll beat having to explain to Roost us being here. So, I suppose we could do that.”

  I smiled, leaned in to kiss him, and then rose.

  “C’mon, pretty boy,” I said. “We need another good fight so we can do this again.”

  9

  Derek

  I woke up early enough the next day that I didn’t have to explain to Roost what we had done in the bedroom.

  Unfortunately, no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t get rid of the stench of sex in there. Some things, I just had to live with, and now Roost would have to live with them too. Karma, motherfucker, for all your stories about your hookups. Ya wanna hear them? Ya gotta smell it now too.

  At least Roost was the only one who would come in there without permission. When he arrived, he went wide-eyed at the sight of me behind the desk, going through intel on the fourth place.

  “Yer up early,” he said. “Or should I say yer up late?”

  “Early, believe it or not,” I said. “This could be the one that decides it all, so I better do all the research I can.”

  “Well, ya leadin’ by example now too, and ya got the club in the best place it’s been since ya started. I’d say things are lookin’ pretty good for ya.”

  “Oh, couldn’t agree more,” I said, trying not to laugh.

  I was amazed Roost hadn’t smelled anything yet. But, then again, he hadn’t come near the desk, which was far more likely to smell like Eve and I. He hadn’t lingered near the door anyways, reducing the chances.

  It was kind of funny how I kept evaluating the chances that he would smell anything. It was almost like I wanted to get caught, like I wanted Roost to know how good I had had it the night before.

  “Anythin’ new?” Roost said.

  “Come on over and find out,” I said, smirking.

  “The hell’s so…”

  Roost’s voice trailed off and he went deliberately silent. I had to pull myself up to look at him to realize he had folded his arms and was sniffing the air. Much as I thought I could have kept a straight face in that moment, that idea was fading as quickly as the cover we had.

  “Boy, I swear…” Roost began, to which I just laughed so loudly that any subtlety we had faded.

  “I’m sorry!” I said, even though I really wasn’t. “You know how it is. Tension is high. Adrenaline is high. You just gotta get it out of your system, and—”

  “And ya did it in the office?!?”

  “Well… she kind of attacked me, you know. Wasn’t really gonna say no.”

  Roost cast a very suspicious eye at me, as if he couldn’t believe that it wasn’t my idea to have sex in the office. I could only hope that in the conversations he’d had with her, he had caught glimpses of that primal, wild side that would make her do something like this. She clearly wasn’t going to show him everything for obvious reasons, but that kind of a personality side tended to slip out in unexpected moments.

  “Ya better have at least enjoyed it,” Roost said with a long sigh. “I ever catch ya in here doin’ somethin’ like that, I’m joinin’ in.”

  “And that’s more than enough reason to make sure I never do it again here,” I said with wide eyes, though I was still laughing. “Sorry. Things are just going so well, you know? Had to have a celebration of some kind.”

  I really couldn’t be happier, long as I was being honest with myself—and, frankly, how could I not be?

  “We’re doin’ real well, that is true,” Roost said. “Just don’t get yer head too far up yer ass. Or Eve’s. Whatever. Falcon is still out there.”

  That, unfortunately, was very true. Even with all the new recruits and all the issues seeming to be resolved, even with his ominous phone call, even with one location left, we still had no clue on Falcon’s whereabouts. That was a mystery upon a mystery.

  The fourth location was our last hope at finding anything remotely related to where Falcon was. This location had had the most activity, from what Roost’s sources had said and what I was reading. I had to hope that this would be the place where we’d find what we were looking for—perhaps it even had Falcon itself, but knowing how he worked, he was probably well hidden by now.

  “Yeah, I’m looking through everything here right now for real,” I said. “My guess is everything is going to be concentrated here. We’re going to need as many men as possible.”

  “Save a few for the shop?”

  “Yeah, maybe like a dozen. And keep the defectors home. Tell ‘em if they show up, my men have permission to shoot them. We don’t have their trust yet, and until we have that, I’m not going to let them here without one of us here.”

  “For sure,” Roost said. “Well, in that case then, nothin’ to do but sit, wait, n’ get ready for tonight.”

  It seemed so simple when Roost put it that way. And yet, he was absolutely right. There really was nothing left to do but wait for the evening to come so we could launch our attack. Sure, we could dig even further into our reports, but I’d already read everything twice. Probably ninety eight percent of how we were going to approach this was set, and Roost could handle the remaining two percent.

  “Go see yer girl,” Roost said. “Just, ya know, keep the workplace a workplace.”

  “Hah, don’t worry, she can’t possibly be nearly as horny as she was last night.”

  The look Roost shot me was one that seemed to think I had said the dumbest thing in my life.

  “Do ya even know yer girl?”

  “OK, fair. But for real, she was on something else yesterday. I don’t know how to describe it.”

  “Post-combat sex, best kind out there,” Roost said wistfully. “Ya know my request. See ya later tonight.”

  I hurried out of the room, returning to the bunk to find Eve still asleep. It was just as well. I had woken up early to beat Roost, but now that that was done, I could slide back in, catch a couple more hours, and then relax with Eve before our biggest mission yet.

  * * *

  I was standing in a church, all by myself. I was wearing a sharp tuxedo, perfectly fitted to my body, and had a flower on it.

  “Oh, shit,” I said in pleasant surprise.

  And then, without warning, the music began. The music that ever engaged couple knows, the music that every teenage girl knows, the music that every boy would never admit to knowing but may secretly have inside them.

  “Here Comes the Bride.”

  I looked out to a bright white light, waiting for Eve to appear.

  And then, she did.

  But not quite in the way most people would.

  She didn’t come wit
h her father. She obviously didn’t come with her brother. Instead, she came with…

  A motorcycle?

  She roared forward, drawing cheers from the now-suddenly seated Savage Saviors, and parked right in front of me. She got off the bike with ease.

  “Anything you can do,” she said, taking my hand, “I can do better.”

  “No, you can’t,” I teased back with a wink.

  “Yes, I can,” she said. “Remember shooting? Now it’s riding. How do you feel about that?”

  I smiled back.

  “I feel wonderful and lucky.”

  Her face melted before me, and she leaned in to kiss me.

  And then, a booming voice announced that we were now husband and wife.

  That quick, huh? No vows, no words from the Bible, nothing. Just… just like that, married.

  It felt… perfect. We didn’t need formalities, the approval of normal society, or anything like that to show our love. We just had our shared interests, our love, and the witnesses to our love. Nothing else mattered.

  I raised her hand, triumphantly, and walked toward the light which suddenly grew brighter.

  “Goddamn, that’s bright.”

  I suddenly realized I was no longer dreaming. I was very much in the real world, with Eve standing over me, her body blocking the too-bright light. And I had just had…

  A pleasant dream?

  A real, honest to goodness, happy dream?

  I guess I really did love Eve. I guess I really did want…

  Yeah. I guess I really did want to marry her.

  Not yet, though. Not until we get rid of Falcon. We can’t be putting her through that until we know we’re both alive.

  “Morning, sexy,” she said, planting a kiss on my lips. “You did a number on me last night. I can barely walk, I feel so good!”

  “You’re welcome,” I mumbled. “I was actually up before you. Had to make sure Roost didn’t realize what we’d done to his special office.”

  “And?”

  “He’s fine,” I said, unable to hide the smile that told Eve he knew.

  “Oh my God, he’s gonna kill me,” Eve said, but even she was smiling and laughing. “You told him sorry, right?”

  “Mmm… technically, yes?”

  Eve just rolled her eyes as I fell back onto my pillow, laughing. I knew no matter how much Eve protested, she wouldn’t have traded what happened in there for a night of normalcy. Roost would give both of us grief, but that wasn’t going to stop us from relishing it.

  “Lovely. So what now?”

  “Well, we can do whatever you want. We roll out at 9 p.m. Everyone but a few of us who will remain at the shop.”

  “Tara, even?”

  I hadn’t planned on inviting Tara, and in fact had not talked to her since that day.

  “You know she’ll kill you if she finds out you went on this kind of mission without her. We expect it to be violent and action-packed, right?”

  “Yeah. Not nearly as stealthy as the last one. I’d expect to be fired upon as soon as we drive in. Don’t think Falcon’s gonna take any more chances with us.”

  “So then invite her.”

  I sighed.

  “OK, but only if we spend all day here in bed,” I said. “Someone sapped me of my energy like a vampire last night.”

  “Wow, what a bitch,” Eve said. “I bet she attacked you too, didn’t give you a chance to fight back.”

  “Nope, not in the slightest. She sucked me dry and then forced me to fuck her. It was so bad. So terrible.”

  “Awful. Horrible.”

  “The worst.”

  We laughed as our sarcasm dropped simultaneously, and I even kept laughing as I begrudgingly picked up the phone and called Tara. By the time the second ring hit, my smile had mostly faded, although I was still in a good mood. Just be polite, courteous, and then you can move on with your day.

  “You got a lot of nerve calling me, Mr. Knight,” Tara said. “After the lip you gave me two nights ago. Whatcha need?”

  “Wanna go on another mission?”

  I figured there was no point in dilly-dallying, most especially since I wanted to get the hell off the phone and hang with Eve.

  “Uhh, is the pope Catholic? Yes I’d like to go on another mission! Did you even need to ask me that? Lord!”

  “Ok, let me rephrase that; we’re going on another mission tonight at 9 p.m., leaving from the shop. Hope to see you there. You’re obviously invited.”

  “Finally! I knew Eve was right about you, you do see the light, even if you are a dim-witted fool. Toodles!”

  Before I could say another word, she’d hung up. Mostly, I was just relieved that that call had gone by quickly and was not as bad as I was thinking.

  “Now then,” Eve said. “Where were we?”

  * * *

  Even though we had all day to each other, we only had sex once more, and that was right after Tara’s call. I think both of us were genuinely sexually exhausted, and the idea of going at it again on such short notice was cause for enough excitement to go at it, but not enough for a second round. So, instead, throughout the day, we caught up on something that we had both desperately needed.

  Sleep.

  I didn’t have any more dreams, nothing like the pleasant one from earlier, but that one was enough to keep me going. The more I thought about it, the more I realized yes, I did want to marry Eve Kellerman. I debated between asking her as soon as right then and as late as a year after we defeated the Falcons, but the consensus among the many voices in my head was after Falcon had been defeated.

  Like a gift to yourself!

  I had loved Eve for some time now, but the past twelve hours had really kicked it up to another level. I was consumed and enthralled by her. I didn’t just love her, I wanted to be one with her. Words failed me when it came to describing her; the best I could come up with was that it was as if we lived, breathed, ate, and fought as one.

  If she got hurt, I got hurt. If she looked hurt, I’d start to look hurt. All of these things coalesced into a love that had increased to a dangerously high level over the past half day, ever since Eve had joined us for the mission.

  It got bad enough I started planning my vows. Which I could barely believe myself, but that’s how I really felt.

  But I had to put those feelings behind me. We had to focus on what mattered for the next few hours.

  The final mission to end the reign of Falcon and the Black Falcons as a whole.

  We rolled out of the shop with the largest team assembled to date. I felt like a general commanding his army, with Roost by my side as my adviser. Anyone and everyone whom I had ever cared about or who had a role of significance was coming to knock out this base and hopefully kill Falcon.

  Roost. Eve. Tara. Eagle. Rucker. AK. Bones.

  And those were just the ones who would be near the front line with me.

  And when we roared into the parking lot of that church, with lights visible from within, we knew that they knew we were coming.

  And there was no one that I counted on more to protect and defend the honor and legacy my father had created than the Savage Saviors around me.

  As I slid off, stepping towards the rest of the group, we looked over at the building. An old church stood before us and I couldn’t help but shake my head, now that I saw it in person. Frank would be the type to use an old building that had been meant for worship and coming together as a base for selling drugs and weapons. The thought sickened me and the urge to stop them grew that much stronger.

  It was time to end this game he was playing on us.

  “Ready?” I asked the others as I made a show of preparing my gun.

  “Ready when you are,” Bones said.

  “Just waiting on your orders, boss,” Roost said.

  The rest fell into agreement and I nodded, stepping forward. I glanced around at the group and then back at the church. There was no way they weren’t expecting us, most especially with the lights, and it wo
uld be useless to try and be stealthy. But I didn’t care one bit.

  “Good,” I said. “They may have the base, but we have everything we need. Courage, love, and a sense of togetherness. Let’s not lose that, men.”

  I turned and stepped toward the church.

  “Let’s go kick some Falcon ass.”

  I opened the door, took one step forward, and already, the war began.

  The Black Falcons were certainly ready for our arrival, guns blazing and positioned. I expect nothing less from this, our final battle! I watched as we lost two of our own as the others scrambled to hide. I muttered a curse, seeing that Eve and I had been forced onto opposite side of the building. I hated being separated from her.

  I would make them pay. And it would come with the price of Falcon’s life.

  I began to shoot, taking out men left and right. But to my unbelievable shock, there seemed to be an endless stream of men. Whenever I thought that I had taken out a fortified position of men, a new one popped up. When I took him out, another one popped up.

  It was as if Falcon had deliberately decided that he would use as many lives as possible in this battle, and if it took a ninety percent casualty rate to ensure the death of us, that’s what he would do. It seemed… so very much like Falcon. Cold to a fault, calculating beyond all belief, and with little regard for ethics, his men, or normalcy.

  But the only thing that mattered to me was a single thought.

  Just how many are there here? It seriously seems unlimited.

  I watched with pride as the others took out Black Falcons with just as much ease, shooting them down. It felt like we were winning the battle of attrition, given that aside from the two Saviors who had fallen upon entry, we hadn’t lost any men. AK looked like he’d gotten struck by a bullet on the shoulder, but he was still firing. Eve and Tara were hunkered down and safe, spraying bullets when they could. Roost was shooting, crying out a battle roar every so often, as if reminding the Falcons that, yes, it was the Saviors who had come to town and kick their ass.

  To an outsider, the battle seemed to be going in our favor. And in casualties, it most certainly was. But…