Free Ride

by M. N. Forgy

  “I wouldn’t say I would be one to appear in dreams, but by the looks of this place I guess you could think that.”

  He palms my face and tears fill my eyes. His hand is warm, the small pound of his heart in his veins telling me he is real.

  “I’m here now, Harley,” his voice raspy.

  Biting my bottom lip, I nod.

  He’s real. I’m not crazy.

  I’m getting out of here.

  Benji

  Looking down at Harley I barely recognize her. She’s lost weight and is frail. Her ocean colored eyes seem dull, like they haven’t seen sun in days. Seeing her restrained to this bed has me ready to kill every person working here.

  “I’m here, and I’m getting you out,” I explain with a shaky voice. I wasn’t sure I found the right place when we got here, in a way I was hoping I didn’t when I pulled up to this hell hole, but June was right, Harley is here. Grudge had her locked away, which means he knocked Viper out.

  Quickly, I unbuckle the belts around her wrist and ankles. They’re tight as hell leaving dark markings on her beautiful skin. I look up, noticing for the first time she has a blue cast on her arm. My jaw ticks as I run my fingers over the cast.

  “What the fuck did they do to you?” I sigh. Seeing my club princess in such bad shape has me gritting my teeth until they nearly crack. Grudge will pay for this. I’ll fucking kill him.

  Looking over my shoulder Bud is standing guard by the door.

  “Hold my rifle.” I toss him my gun, and he catches it midair. With my hands now free, I scoop my arms under her and lift her. The hospital gown she’s wearing shifts showing her bruised polka dotted thigh.

  My chest constricts with a burning sensation as I take in the dark purple and yellow splotches marring her beautiful skin.

  “Benji,” she slurs.

  “I’m not letting go.” I put her arms around my neck, and turn toward the hallway Viper and Bud stand in with guns raised.

  Boots stomping into the dirty floor, I head down the narrow exit. Lights flicker above and the flash from that bitch hitting the alarm.

  “Let’s go,” I instruct the boys. Viper looks over his shoulder, his eyes widening at Harley’s state.

  “Jesus, is that her?”

  My brows furrow with worry. “Yeah, let’s get her home,” I mutter.

  “Wait!” A female voice has us stop and turn our heads.

  A skinny blonde in a hospital gown stands on a table. She’s pale with bright pink lips and doesn’t seem afraid of us. Bud points the rifle at her, but she seems unfazed by it.

  “Take me with you.” She lifts her chin.

  Viper laughs, and I shake my head. That ain’t happening.

  Harley tries to raise her head to look at the girl.

  “Easy, baby,” I warn her.

  “Take. Her.” Harley wheezes, her beautiful eyes flicking to mine. She must know this girl.

  Leaning my head down, I run my nose up her cheek, the smell of her not recognizable. I don’t smell her cheap bubblegum, the smell of leather and weed vacant. It kills me.

  “Who knows why she’s in here, we can’t risk it,” Bud states in a near whisper. This is the most I’ve heard him talk in one day, and it’s fucking surprising.

  “Come the fuck on.” Viper waves her on, taking command.

  I grit my teeth at him making the decision without me, but I got what I came for and shouldn’t be taking on any more.

  “She’s your fucking problem,” I inform him.

  I step over the charge nurse I blew away with my rifle, and a bodyguard looking fucker that tried to play hero. Blood pools around their dead bodies as we exit caged door after caged door.

  “Wait, my ring,” Harley groans. I stop in my tracks, my eyes falling to her hand. My ring is missing. She looks up at me with desperate eyes, if the ocean could cry Harley’s eyes would be the perfect example. We ain’t leaving without that damn ring.

  Turning where I stand, alarms blaring I head into the main office. If anyone has it, I bet it’s in there. The nurse that helped us is hiding in the corner and shrieks when she sees me stomp inside.

  “Where is her ring,” I bark. Quickly she opens a cabinet and flips through some colored files.

  “H-here,” she displays a baggie with Harley’s skull ring.

  “Take it,” I whisper. Harley reaches out and clutches the bag as if it contained her heart. My ring really means something to her.

  I kiss her forehead, as her shaky hands slide the ring back on her thumb.

  Finally making it to my El Camino, the blonde bitch and Viper crawl in, and I slip in next with Harley close to my chest. My fingers tangle in her hair, it’s dry and matted. Her heartbeat slow against my chest, and it scares me to think what she went through in there.

  “Where to?” Bud asks sliding in behind the steering wheel.

  “Home,” Harley moans, snuggling up to me.

  God, it feels good to have her in my arms again. I was scared I’d never see her again. Though, I’d never give up looking for her until I did find her.

  “What the fuck are we going to say to Grudge when we roll up to the clubhouse with his daughter in the car?” Viper scoffs. “He nearly killed me trying to hide her.”

  Harley’s fingers pull into my cut hearing that her dad did this to her. She may be crazy, and may qualify to be in a mental institute, but when my feet are above ground and air in my lungs. She will never be in one of those places again.

  “He’s not going to be saying much.” My tone cocky. “His mouth will be too full with the barrel of my gun shoved between his teeth.”

  26

  Benji

  Pulling up to the clubhouse, the car is silent, the tension so thick you can bite it. Viper cocks his gun in the back seat, as does Bud. They know what’s about to go down and have my back.

  Once the club hears the transgressions of Grudge, they will all have my back. A new chain of command will reign over the club tonight.

  Stopping in the middle of the courtyard, Harley slips off my lap and I open the door and step out. I look to the strange blonde bitch in the back seat and point at her.

  “Keep Harley in this car.” My tone not to be questioned. She nods with eyes the size of saucers.

  I grab Harley by the chin, my touch soft and caring.

  “Whatever happens here tonight, I want you to know I love you. If I die, you climb in that seat,” I point to the driver seat, “and you run until you reach the border, do you understand?”

  “Benji, you’re scaring me. What are you going to do?” Her eyes look at me more innocent than ever. I hope she doesn’t hate me when this is over.

  “What I need to do to protect my girl and my club.”

  Taking a deep breath, I stand straight and pull my gun from my waistband. Twisting my neck back and forth, it cracks; loosening up for what’s to come.

  “You sure this is what you want to do, brother?” Viper gives me a concerned look.

  “He turned his back on the brotherhood when he took our princess away. I’m taking the gavel, and nobody is standing in my way.” I give him a pointed look.

  “I got your back.” His tone serious.

  “Me too,” Bud responds with a joint hanging out of his mouth, muffling his response.

  We stomp toward the front doors of the club but before we can open them, Grudge and a few of his loyal goons stand behind him.

  “Benji, where have you been?” he asks with a condescending tone. His arms stretched out wide. He’s shirtless under his cut, and his jeans are unbuttoned. He looks like a slob, not a president or role model of our club

  “Me?” I point my gun to my chest with a crooked smile. “Finding your daughter,” I inform with a dead tone.

  His face falls as his eyes sweep to my car. I step in front of it, blocking his view of Harley. He will never look at her again.

  “You lied to us all,” Viper chimes in. “What other lies do you have under that cut?”

  I
raise my gun, pointing it at Grudge. Bold green eyes stare into the barrel of my gun, his shoulders rising.

  “What? You think you’re going to kill me and take my club, son?” He laughs, the men behind him chuckling as well. They think it’s a joke that I’m defending my colors.

  “Oh yes, that is exactly what I plan to do.” I tilt my head to the side. “You know why?”

  “Entertain me,” he grins.

  “You locked our princess away, you killed Harley’s mother, and you killed Buddy and Totty,” I whisper that last part. The secret of Buddy and Totty that Harley and I had to live with for years is finally revealed. Everyone freezes, curious eyes looking at their president with disbelief.

  “Is that true?” Viper looks at me with a blank stare.

  “Don’t listen to him.” Grudge points to Viper.

  Viper raises his gun, his face pale. “You knocked me out. You made it look like Harley did it, but you were the weak motherfucker that hit me from behind.” Viper is very salty about being knocked out, as he should be. He looked up to Grudge like I did. He taught us a lot about being a man.

  Hearing how he’s turned his back on us all, it makes you question everything he’s ever done.

  “Son?” My dad’s voice sounds behind Grudge, the crowd splitting to let my dad through. I inhale a shaky breath as my old man looks at me in distraught. “Wh-what are you doing?” He looks between me and Grudge. “Put down your weapons,” Dad’s voice shakes with age.

  “Telling the truth, Dad.”

  “Your son called me a liar—” Grudge huffs, looking to my dad as if he should handle me. My dad and Grudge go way back, and it scares me whose side my father will take.

  “You broke the creed of our brotherhood!” My rage rattles my voice.

  “Is that true?” Dad looks to Grudge with old eyes.

  “He killed my dad,” Bud whispers, and everyone looks to him. The hat conceals his face lowered to where you can’t see his eyes, but you can’t miss the tear sliding down his smooth cheek.

  “He had Harley locked away, told me she ran away again,” I explain.

  Dad’s gray brows frown as he looks at Grudge with disrespect heavy in his tired eyes. It wasn’t my intention to do this to my ol’ man, to reveal the blood under the rug, but the club needs a man to step up, and I am.

  “You turned your back on your own flesh and blood, how the fuck do you expect us to trust you?”

  “Roadie… Who are you going to believe, eh? I mean—” Grudge tries to explain his actions but Dad raises his hand, cutting him off.

  “You killed Buddy, and then had the nuts not to let his son take over his crops?” Dad asks with disbelief. It’s no secret Bud has wanted to take over the growing of our weed business, he’s good at what he does. But Grudge wouldn’t have it for some reason. Now everyone knows why… too close to home after he killed Buddy. I rub the back of my head with my gun, the shit hitting the fan making me uncomfortable. Dad shakes his head at Grudge before slowly stepping away, tucking himself behind my back. It feels good to know Dad has my back. A couple of the men behind Grudge do the same as they take my side, leaving only two prospects behind Grudge. Two dumb ones.

  The club is falling into my hands.

  “Harley’s sick, Benji!” Grudge tries to defend his actions of his daughter, but not of the patched-in brother he murdered.

  “We’re all a little twisted here, but we take care of our own,” I recite our creed. Our new law.

  That will be my first rule as president.

  I raise my gun, my finger heavy on the trigger. Viper and Bud doing the same.

  Grudge laughs silently, looking down as if he’s about to do the right thing and handle this like we should. Burning out his colors on his back and kicking him out.

  He looks up at me, green eyes fusing with mine own. His hand darting under his cut reaching for his gun in his leather holster. I grit my teeth, ignore the clutch in my chest as my .45 throws a bullet into his head. His skull cracking from the bullet sends chills up my spine and I breathe in the smell of his blood with the warm summer air. I just killed my president, a man I’ve looked up to like my own father since I was a kid.

  I knew he wouldn’t go about losing the gavel like a man is supposed to. A Shadow Keeper fights to the death.

  Grudge falls to the ground, his eyes wide but lifeless. His head looking like someone dropped a watermelon on the ground. It’s split, showing brain matter and veins.

  Some club bitches scream, one dropping to her knees at the gruesome scene.

  Viper and Bud fire their guns, taking out the two dipshit prospects behind him.

  Stepping up to Grudge, I fire two more rounds into his chest just to make sure the Devil is dead. It hurts to see him like this, but it had to be done.

  He broke our club, he took one of ours and locked them away, he killed our own and hid it. He couldn’t be trusted anymore.

  “DAD!” Harley screams, the pitter patter of her bare feet on the pavement. Looking up, I watch her as if she’s in slow motion. Her hair blowing in the wind, tears down her cheeks, and her hospital gown flowing in the breeze.

  I hold my right arm out and grab her before she makes contact with him. I fold her into my arms as she cries her pain into my chest. She falls to the ground and I go with her, holding her close

  “It had to be done,” I whisper into the top of her head. My own eyes stinging with the urge to cry. She loved the dad from when she was a little girl, not the dad that owned her as a woman.

  “Daaaaad,” she continues to cry, her body wracking within my own.

  “Shhh, you’re safe now, Harley.” I coax her.

  The blonde woman I told to watch Harley stands above us, her arms crossed and gown flapping around her legs. She looks over the bloody scene without blinking an eye. I wonder how fucking crazy she is?

  “What’s your name?” I ask her, rocking Harley back and forth to try and soothe her loss.

  “Jessilynn,” she replies with a sweet tone of voice.

  “Well, Jessilynn you’re ours now, you belong to the Shadow Keepers.” She’s seen too much to let her run with freedom.

  “Viper, get her.” He walks over to her, his boots sounding loud as he takes the crazy bitch away from the scene. I don’t know who this chick is or where she comes from other than the asylum. Who knows if she will speak of what’s happened here tonight. So, until we know more about her and if she can be trusted. She’s going to have eyes on her ass all the time.

  Harley twists in my lap, looking up at me with tear-filled eyes. She’s so broken, but she’s never looked more beautiful than she does right now. I look forward to putting her back together again, adding my pieces with hers.

  Tucking my thumb under her chin I focus on her.

  “He locked you away, lied to the club. He killed your mother, Harley. He went rogue and needed to be taken care of the Shadow Keepers’ way. The memories you have of your dad are from when you were a kid, not the man that lays over there now.”

  Her tongue sweeps out, taking in a salty tear. Her head shaking back and forth as she looks away from the building.

  “I knew he killed my mother, I just… I didn’t want to believe it.” Her words catch in her throat. I knew because I heard him talking about it with my dad when I was younger, but how does she know?

  “How did you know?”

  “I came too once and was sitting on a metal frame, with ash all around me. It took me a minute to figure out where I was, but it wasn’t long before I realized… it was my old home. It had been burnt to the ground, and in my chest, I could feel that my father did it,” she whispers.

  “The Shadows have him now,” I mutter. They will punish him for his sins against the club and make him walk the path of hell. She looks up to me, a smirk pulling her dry lips into a smile.

  “You think?”

  “I know.”

  Some people believe in God, others don’t. We believe our kind go to the land of bikers. Our god
one that reigns the streets of outlaws, and takes them when it’s their time.

  Standing, I pull her to her feet and I look to the group.

  “I am your president now, does anyone object to that?” I ask the crowd, knowing my ways of taking the gavel are not ethical. There should be a vote and probably a chapter meeting, but I have my way of doing things.

  Everyone nods in agreement, and I pull Harley up close to my side.

  “This is your club queen now and you will respect her as she stands behind me at every meeting. Rides with me on every run, and I will seek her advice on many club transactions. Is this a problem?”

  I wait for someone to disagree as having a woman’s view on club business is outlawed in our club.

  “No,” everyone answers, agreeing to let our princess in. Bud gives a curt nod, his arms crossed in front of his chest as he doesn’t fucking speak.

  “My first ruling as your president is Bud is now our grower.”

  Everyone looks to Bud and he looks around as if there might be another Bud amongst the group. I laugh.

  Slowly, Bud grabs the bill of his hat and pulls it off. Gray wavy hair falls down his shoulders, and beautiful soulless eyes meet mine.

  My eyes widen and everyone gasps.

  He slides off his leather jacket and the gray Rolling Stones shirt from underneath show lines around his chest. Lines I’ve never seen until now. He lifts his shirt and a belly jewel dangles from his perfect navel. Duct tape wrapped around the breasts has me suck in a tight breath as he tears it off and a black sports bra is revealed to everyone.

  Holy. Shit.

  Harley giggles like she knew the whole time, and I’m floored. I’m speechless.

  Bud is a chick. Walking around with a fucking pussy the whole time I thought he was a dude.

  “About time,” Bud smiles, tilting her head to the side. I snap my eyes to Harley. “You knew about this?”

  She shrugs.

  “I knew someone here killed my father if I had tits I’d never get on the inside.” Bud talks more now than I’ve ever heard before. She’s a looker, beautiful even.

  I groan in irritation and look to Viper.