by Meadow Rayne
“They took off just when I came around the corner. I don’t think they saw me.”
Rose moved toward the doorway. The neighborhood was eerily quiet.
“I think they were pros,” she said.
“Hitmen?”
“Tab, what are you and Ty into this time?”
He turned away from her, his left hand on the back of his neck.
“I think you’d better ask Ty that.”
***
Ty had been moved out of the ICU by the time they arrived at the hospital. His new private room was on the fifth floor.
The scent of oxygen no longer surrounded him as he sat up in the bed. He was surfing channels on the TV, his right arm in a sling.
“Looks like I’ll be out of this hole tomorrow,” he said as they entered. “All I’ve got is this broken arm and that can’t keep me here.”
“Good to hear,” Tab said gripping his brother’s hand.
“What happened?” Ty said, turning the hand palm up.
“Occupational hazard.” He grinned. “But Rose took care of it.”
“Good to have the college girl around.” He kept his eyes averted from her.
“I think you’d better tell Rose what’s up,” he said grimly. “They were at Dixie’s today.”
Ty’s emerald eyes hardened. “Anything happen?”
“I got there before anything did, but I’m sure they’ll be back tonight.”
Ty threw the blankets aside. “Get me my pants.”
“You can’t leave yet. You’re barely out of the ICU.” Dixie objected.
“I’m checking myself out. Rosie can take care of me.”
“Ty, have you forgotten that I’m studying to be a Vet. I haven’t even finished the course yet.”
“Being here is like wearing a target on my back, Rosie. I have to get out.”
“Dad’s place? Up in the mountains?” Tab suggested.
Ty nodded.
“What about Dixie?”
“She can stay with her sister in Yuma.”
“Oh, no. I’m not going.”
“You are going. Tab, get somebody trustworthy to take her, someone who won’t report to Bear.”
“Bear’s part of this?” Tab exclaimed.
Ty nodded.
“Jesus. That explains a lot. I thought it was an accident when he cut me last night.”
“He cut you?” A pang of anger poked at Rose’s stomach. “You didn’t tell me it was Bear who did that. What’s going on here?”
“Tell them, Ty.” Tab said.
Ty looked up at both her and Dixie, his eyes lingering on Dixie the longest. “The Devils didn’t kill Dad.”
Rose’s eyes widened. “Then who did?”
“A dead man. We were in the ICU together, until he flat-lined around noon.”
Chapter 8
A short, muscular man entered the room just as they fell silent, trying to absorb what Ty had said. The man wore leather chaps and black cowboy boots, his head covered by a blue bandana. His chest was bare under the denim Kutte.
“Rex,” Tab said shaking his hand. “You got out.”
“Archie got me out of County this morning. He said I might want to swing by the hospital.”
“You’re just in time.” Ty rose to his feet. “I’m about to blow this joint.”
“You need a little muscle where you’re going? Just point the way, Chief.”
“Are you up for Yuma?”
Rex shrugged. “What’s in Yuma?”
Ty nodded toward Dixie.
“You got it.”
“Ty, I said I’m not going.”
“No, Mom, you are.” Rose slipped an arm around her. “We need to do as Ty says.”
“You’ve got to keep it on the down-low, Rex.” Tab said. “We’ve got pros on our tail. Not even Bear can know.”
Rex placed two fingers above his right eye and saluted.
“Stay with Dixie until we call. Do you have your bike or your truck?”
“Truck.”
“Good. You can take Dixie now. Don’t even stop by her house.”
Dixie embraced them all and left the room with Rex in tow.
“Tab, go get my Jeep. We’ll need it. Rosie, go with him.”
Rose shook her head as she crossed to the closet. “You can’t dress yourself with one arm, and you can’t sign your way out either. I’m staying.”
Tab watched her from across the room as she set Ty’s jeans on the bed.
“Might as well do as she says,” he told his twin. “She usually gets what she wants.”
***
Later that evening, Rose found herself on an old jeep trail within Mt. Diablo State Park, just north of Black Hawk Ridge Road. Hidden deep in the woods was a cabin once used as a hideout by Wolf Mason. They had visited the place many times as kids.
Tab was reasonably sure that they had not been followed. He had been watching the rearview mirror during most of the trip. Nonetheless, Rose’s stomach unclenched only when they arrived at the old cabin.
The sky was a smoky pink verging on purple when they stepped out of the Jeep. Ty refused her help, preferring to pull himself out of the vehicle. He stood tall and stretched.
The cabin looked run down on the outside, but the inside was a different story. The three-room building was well-kept. There was a police scanner, refrigerator, television, CD player and indoor plumbing. A generator housed in an outdoor shed powered the entire place.
“Never know when you might need a place to lay low.” Ty explained.
They had purchased supplies in the town of Clayton and Tab carried them inside. Rose walked around the cabin, inspecting the rooms. When she reached the bedroom, she cocked an eyebrow, then returned to the living room where Ty was sitting.
“There’s only one bed.”
“And you’re going to sleep in it.”
“Not me. You’re the one with the broken arm.”
“I’ll sleep here.” He pushed back in the chair revealing it to be a recliner.
She looked him straight in the eye. “Why don’t we sleep together?”
He paused. “I don’t think you want that.”
“Do you want it?”
He stared at her, his eyes revealing something more than longing. The gaze was primal. She took a step back.
“It looks like the time has come,” he said. “for that talk.”
“I-I’ll give you…,” she stopped and took a deep breath before continuing. “I’ll give you whatever you want, if you do one thing for me.”
He leaned forward. “Name it.”
“Quit this life.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s killing you. It’s your Dad’s life, not yours. You could have been anything, done anything. You’re young, you could change it all around.”
“I’ve killed,” he said. “And more will die before I’m done.”
“If you keep walking down this road, you’re going to die. Do I have to sit and watch you do it?”
“No, Rosie, you can go back to college. You’re already out.”
“I’m in it as long as you are. Don’t you know what it would—how I’d feel if you died? I can save—“
“Don’t try to save me. I’m already on the road to Hell. There’s no going back.”
She turned her back on him and hurried out into the dark. Tab was walking up from the Jeep. She passed him, tears blurring her eyes. He grasped her by the arm.
“What’s wrong?”
She pulled herself free and rushed blindly forward. She couldn’t breathe and her lungs burned.
Rose didn’t stop running until she reached the Jeep. Once there, she took a deep breath and stifled the sobs behind her hand.
There had to be a way to make them see.
Chapter 9
Rose didn’t know how long she’d been out by the Jeep, trying to calm herself, but when she had returned to the cabin, neither Ty nor Tab were around—a fact that she was grateful for. She headed strai
ght to the bedroom, not wanting to face either of them. She stripped off her clothes and collapsed onto the welcoming mattress, exhausted from the fallout of emotion.
When she awoke the next morning, her burning eyes focused on a man standing in the doorway. In the dim, dawn-light, she thought it was Tab, but the bruised eye told her otherwise.
“You’re prettier than I remember.”
Rose made no effort to hide her naked body and began to spread her legs a little wider. His eyes were appreciative. Then, the desire cooled.
“Cover up for a minute.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s distracting and I need to tell you something.”
She pulled the sheet up and he entered the room.
“I think you should go back as soon as I feel well enough.”
“When will that be?”
“A couple weeks.”
“What if I say no? You could get a fever or a blood clot. Who will get you the medications you need? Tab won’t know what to get.”
“You don’t belong here.”
“Am I little sister again? I’m a big girl. I can make my own decisions.”
“She’s right,” Tab said from the doorway. “She’s right about a lot of things.”
“What is she right about, Tab?”
“This life. What it’s doing to us. What it did to Dad.”
“Did she give you the same opportunity?”
“Maybe we should listen.”
“Is she going to fuck you if you quit?”
Tab’s eyes found the floor.
Ty pointed to his cast. “You’re leaving as soon as I can get this off. In the meantime, lock this door.”
“You don’t trust me?” she said harshly.
“No…I don’t trust me.”
***
Rose did not speak to Ty for the rest of the day. She spoke to Tab, but his interactions with her were strained to say the least. By the time the cool of evening came, she knew a wedge had been driven between them.
After dinner, Tab announced that he was going to refuel the generator and promptly left through the screen door. The air was heavy with humidity and Rose wiped an arm across her brow as she began to clear the table. Ty sat quietly as he lit a cigarette. The silence between them was uncomfortable and she hated it.
“What happened that day in the elevator?” she asked.
He breathed smoke into the air and took another draw. The way his eyes glittered in the half-light, one could easily imagine him as a great dragon contemplating the next virgin meal.
“Two men walked in ahead of me. They were wearing suits, so I didn’t think much of it. If I had, I would never have turned my back on them.”
Rose sat at the table. “Mom said they had batons.”
“Yup.” He took another draw. “One of them hit me and knocked me to my knees. They took turns after that while I tried to get up.”
“They weren’t cops?”
He shook his head and snuffed the cigarette in the plate before him. It burned a little hole in the paper before it went out. “Cops don’t wear five-hundred dollar suits.”
“The ones I saw also had expensive suits…and Gucci shoes.”
“Sounds right.”
“Then what happened?”
“The one on my right said that I was easier to kill than my old man. That he wondered if I would beg for my life like he did. I grabbed the guy’s nuts and squeezed ‘em. He screamed and then he was the one begging. The other guy started beating my arm with the baton, but I kept my grip until we hit the first floor.”
The room had grown darker during their exchange. He lit another cigarette and the flame revealed his calm face for a mere second.
“Tab said that Bear was the one who beat the man up, that he got the first shot in. If he’s involved, why did he do that?”
“The last thing I saw when the elevator doors opened was old Bear. He talked to the second guy before letting him escape. I’m pretty sure he knew the kid. In fact, I’d swear they were related.”
“Oh my God. It was Rory.”
Ty’s nod was almost imperceptible. “I think Bear just wanted to shut the other guy up. That’s why he beat him. He probably would have snuffed me too if Tab hadn’t come along with the others. I’m surprised Bear didn’t try to get at me in the hospital.”
“There were too many cops and Tab wouldn’t let him in.” She paused. “What do you think made them go after you?”
“I was going to get out.”
Rose’s jaw dropped. “But, you said—“
“I was going to quit that day when I went to see Archie. I’d mentioned it to a few of the Jesters.”
“Why were you quitting?”
“It’s not important now. What is important is that I can’t allow this to go unpunished.” His voice was calm and low. It sent a chill up her spine. “If I do, they’ll do it again.”
“So this isn’t about avenging Wolf. This is about you.”
“This is about more than me. It’s about keeping people safe. If I stay in, nobody gets hurt. Except Bear of course. I’m pretty sure of it now. He paid to have Dad killed. Probably so that he could take over the Jesters.”
“Why would he care if you quit?”
“I know too much. Too much about his operations. I do believe he thinks I’ve grown a conscience.”
Rose was trembling in the dark. Thunder rumbled in the distance and a strange electricity filled the air as the storm neared. She suddenly knew what she had to do.
“I guess I’ll have to join then.”
“What?”
“If you aren’t going to leave, then I’ll join. I can’t be apart from you anymore. If this is the life you’ve chosen, then I choose it too.”
“You don’t know what the hell you’re saying.”
“I do know. I’ve been thinking about it for a while. Now I’ve decided.”
“You wouldn’t last past—“
“The initiation? Well, we can do that right now, right here. The only thing we’re lacking is Tab.”
Lightning flashed in the windows behind him, illuminating his hair and shoulders, but leaving the rest of him in shadows. Rose counted silently to herself until the first roar of thunder sounded.
“No.”
“Is it your arm?”
“I wouldn’t need it.”
“Good.”
Lightning flashed again, Tab was running past the living room windows. He would be inside soon. Rose began to count again.
The thunder crashed overhead as Tab entered the house. “The generator is up and running. Why are you two sitting in the dark?”
“I want to join the Jesters.”
Tab switched the light on. “You what?”
“She’s not.” Ty’s expression was like granite.
“If I can complete the initiation, I’m in.” she rose from the table, removed her tank top and then threw it onto the table. It lay like a challenge gauntlet before Ty.
She shivered a little as she stood before them. It was not unlike the jitters she would get just before a performance.
Performance.
She hurried to the CD player and switched it on.
Rock music blared out of the speakers. It was classic rock, Ty and Tab never listened to anything else. The tune was by Boston.
She fell into the beat and turned until her back faced them. Smiling over her shoulder, she pulled the elastic band of her shorts down. They came off easily and revealed the panties beneath. She threw them at Tab who caught them.
“Stop it,” Ty ordered, his tone tense.
Rose ignored him as she swayed in time to the music. Licking her lips suggestively she raised her arms above her head. Her long hair swished about her as thunder rolled overhead, drowning out the music.
She removed her bra slowly, teasing them by unlatching the clasp first, then using her arms to cover the front. The straps slipped down and she allowed the bra to fall to the floor.
Their ey
es were on her and she felt a rush of warmth into her cotton panties. They would be soaked by the end of her dance.
The song was about to end. It was time for the coup d’grace.
Ty had ceased his attempt to stop her. He watched, arms crossed, as she slid her fingers down over her breasts and abdomen. They met the waistband of her panties and she peeled them off. They fell to the floor. She stepped out of them just as the song ended.
Thunder no longer crashed above and the CD player changed to another song. Rose stared at the twins, then walked through the bedroom door. Her heart thrummed loudly in her breast when she heard footsteps behind her.
Chapter 10
Tab was the first to follow. He watched as she reclined on the bed and then removed his shirt.
Ty came in next. He had already removed the sling and, when he came near the bed, she got up on her knees. She helped him undress.
She realized, then, that he too had a tattoo above his heart. It was a single, blood-red rose. There was no skull.
The bed shifted when Tab climbed up on it. Rose turned around so that her rear faced Ty. The skull on Tab’s breast stared blankly into her eyes and she considered it before dropping lower. An aroma of musk wafted toward her as her eyes fell upon his large and fully erect member. She covered it with her mouth and Tab groaned.
The ache of desire was strong within her, so much so that it had become a cramp which begged for release. Ty was about to grant her relief.
Ty grasped her from behind with his good hand and penetrated the very center of her. His hand moved from her hip and slid across to that fold of flesh that intensified all pleasure. When he touched it, the climax began to creep over her. She had never come so fast in her life.
It was a strong orgasm. She had to release Tab in order to breathe. He waited, body shaking, as she moaned beneath him. When the climax had passed, she gripped him with one hand and began to stroke the shaft. Her tongue darted over the soft, pink tip and into the little crevice at its center.
Ty panted behind her. He had halted after her orgasm. She backed up against him, moving back and forth until he groaned. He began his onslaught once more.
Tab’s fingers were entwined in her hair. He looked down into her face and inhaled sharply before pulling away.
“What’s the matter, Tab? Can’t take it?” his brother said.
