Break Free

by Jackson Kane

  All the gunfire outside had stopped. Not that I cared. All that mattered was that I got to Remy, gunfire be damned! I ran through the throng of bikers, the Steel Veins, the dead and the dying Lobos, to get inside the clubhouse.

  Right before I reached the door it was kicked open by a bloodied, and beaten up Spyder wielding a shotgun. He wore the fearful expression of a man trying to run. Seeing the army of Veins waiting just outside, the angry, vindictive Lobo knew it was the end, and switched gears to take as many people down with him as possible.

  And I was running right at him.

  Spyder looked at me with hate boiling out of his sunken eyes and leveled his shotgun. He had me dead to rights. I raised my gun, but Roughneck’s revolver was heavy and clunky. I’d never get him in time.

  Just before the shotgun went off, a massive hand clamp down on my arm and jerked me so hard to the side that I lifted off the ground. My arm immediately popped out of its socket and I slapped against the pavement like a slab of beef knocked off a meat hook.

  A gigantic form that stood over me while I cowered, covering my ears to protect my slowly returning hearing from all the gunfire. Glancing up I saw that it was Remy’s brother, Top that saved me.

  Top started at the Spyder’s groin, and walked his gunshots up the Lobo’s midsection. Then the rest of the Veins with a clear shot opened up on the poor bastard as well. Bits and chunks were blown off the man as he was torn to shreds.

  It was too gruesome even for me—I had to look away.

  The giant loomed over me until Spyder’s corpse finally fell. I prayed Top didn’t recognize me. But how could he not? If I could have melted into the asphalt I would’ve. Top terrified me since the second he forced himself into my life.

  “You all right, Star?” He looked down at me through his massive beard and extended a hand to help me up.

  I recoiled at the sound of my name, then again at his movement toward me. This time when he said my name there was no sarcasm or malice in his voice. It sounded like genuine concern.

  “Don’t be afraid, I won’t hurt you.” His features softened considerably from what I remembered back at the gas station and at Muse’s. He grabbed my waist and helped me up gently.

  I pulled away reflexively. This was the man who killed my aunt and uncle, tried to rape me, and then have me killed. Yes, he had just saved my life, but I couldn’t shake all the other stuff he did to nearly end it.

  “Your arm needs settin’, will you let me?” Top asked, deep lines of guilt and shame across his face. He knew what he’d done to me as well.

  “Remy!” My laser focus snapped back on. He was still in there!

  “Easy, I got good men in there. They’ll pull him out. You goin’ let me set that arm?” Top extended his massive hand again.

  Hesitantly, I nodded through the agony shooting up my arm. What else could I do? I was no use to Remy like this. I needed help. I just hated that I needed help from him.

  With a quick jerk, Top popped my shoulder back in. It hurt like hell, but I was able to stifle the scream. Top stepped back to give me some space. He even looked impressed at how I was able to deal with the pain.

  “I know it don’t change anything, but I want you to know. I am sorry. I’m sorry about everything that went down at the gas station. About what I did to you at Muse’s… My brother’s death fucked me all up and I was out of my mind. I don’t expect forgiveness, but I just needed you to know that.” Top struggled through the words, but the real remorse was there, as plain as day.

  This was never a conversation I imagined would ever happen! I was dumbfounded.

  “I…don’t think I’ll ever be able to forgive you.” I frowned and averted my gaze a moment before meeting his eyes again. It was a harsh realization, but some bridges were burned so badly that they could never be rebuilt. I could deal with damn near anything these days, but this.

  Top exhaled, and nodded solemnly.

  The door swung open again. Several Veins dragged Deadeye out. I was surprised to see him still alive. Between the Lobos and Remy, I was sure he’d be dead, but there he was, beaten and with a few holes in him, but still alive.

  A few seconds later Remy walked out too. He was covered in blood, but I didn’t think much of it was his.

  I dashed over and wrapped my arms around him. I pressed my lips into his. His mouth was bloody from a hit he must have taken, but I didn’t care about the rusty, metallic taste on his teeth.

  All I cared about was that he was alive.

  He laid both arms over my shoulders and embraced me like he hadn’t seen me in years. I never wanted him to let me go. If this was a fairy tale, all the Steel Veins would’ve been clapping and cheering.

  But this wasn’t a Disney movie. Over Remy’s shoulder, I saw only the aftermath of bloody, violent carnage. Friends had been killed, bad injuries would destroy a few lives, and occasionally, gunfire would ring out to finish off wounded Lobos. This was Saving Private Ryan.

  “Rem,” Top cried, approaching with his arms extended. “Brother, it’s damn good to see—”

  “Lawrence!” Remy called out to his brother, but it wasn’t a cry of reunion or even one of anger over everything he’d done. There was terror in Remy’s voice. He threw me to the ground and lunged for his brother, but it was too late. “Down!”

  A bullet jerked the big man toward us slightly. There was a look of confusion on Top’s face like he wasn’t sure what had happened.

  Bones had been hiding behind a car in the back of the parking lot this whole time. Knowing he’d be spotted eventually, Bones stood up when no one was paying attention and fired at Remy, hoping to finish what he started in his clubhouse so many weeks ago. Top had walked in the way at the last second and taken the round.

  Seeing that he’d missed, Bones unloaded the rest of his handgun at us

  Despite Remy’s warning, Top refused to move or fall; instead he just spread his arms out to cover more area. The confusion on his face was replaced with resignation, then rigid determination. He might as well have been bolted to the ground. Top wasn’t going anywhere.

  His massive form was the only thing standing between us and Bones’ vengeance. Bullet after bullet slammed into Top, but the big man held his ground, protecting his brother the only way he could now. Maybe even attempting to make amends for all that he’d done.

  The last bullet caught Top just above the ear, racking his head to the side, and even then—he stubbornly stood for a moment before finally collapsing.

  “No!” Remy screamed, unbridled rage became him. He ran through the hail of return fire that peppered the car Bones was reloading behind. “He’s mine!”

  The Veins stayed their hands and let this play itself out.

  Bones reloaded as fast as he could. He slammed the magazine in and fired at Remy.

  My whole body cringed as I watched a bullet punch right through Remy’s shoulder. The bullet didn’t slow Remy in the slightest as he dove over the car and crashed into Bones. They disappeared behind the car and I heard Bones’ gun fired several more times.

  “No...” I disregarded the gunfire and ran around the side of the car as fast as my scraped and bruised legs would carry me. I had to help Remy if I could!

  If it wasn’t already too late.

  “¡Hablo español, pedazo de mierda!” Remy screamed the words into the face of an unresponsive Bones. The parking lot had quieted enough for me to clearly make out the sickening crack of blow after vicious, raining blow. “I understood everything you said! Every fucking word!”

  One glance at Bones’ mangled face was enough to know that he wouldn’t last long. I reached out to Remy to stop him, but then stopped myself and looked away. I could’ve stopped and pulled him from the dark path he spiraled down, but I knew deep down that he needed this. To finally expend all that rage he’d bottled up over the years.

  Every violent, punishing strike was for Maria, for Top, and for all the bullets and pain he’d endured at the hands of this man and his wre
tched club.

  I could’ve stopped Remy, but honestly? I didn’t want to.

  In my heart, I knew Bones deserved it, just like Roughneck deserved it. All the Lobos deserved what they got. The part of me that protested, that said this kind of brutality no matter how justified was wrong, that part quieted a little more each time Remy’s fist landed.

  Remy’s path would always be one of violence. I didn’t see that changing any time soon, and I realized fully that I was all right with that. I accepted it. I was a part of it now. No guilt, no remorse, and no mercy.

  This was a hard world, but then so was I.

  I turned my eyes back and watched.

  Finally, Remy’s scarred fists lifted from the sanguinary pulp of what was once Bones’ face, gore slid from his chiseled arms. It was over. All of it.

  My Remy looked up at me, slowly coming back to his senses. He realized that I’d been right there the whole time watching what he was doing. The rage on his features melted away in an instant and his eyes welled with years of spent anger, pain and anguish. He looked exhausted from so much vented emotion and ashamed at what I might think of him.

  “Star...” I knew he was trying to find the words to apologize for that dark, merciless side of him that I’d just witnessed.

  I could read it plainly on his face. His deep brown eyes shined with worry that he’d frightened me away by finally revealing his true self. I’d seen him face almost certain death on several occasions, seen him defy his family and turn his back on his whole life, but it was only right then with him looking at only me, that I’d ever seen Remy truly terrified.

  He as afraid that the only person he couldn’t save me from was himself.

  The only thing he couldn’t recover from—the only thing he was really scared of...was losing me.

  Any worry about him losing control on me, of him being more killer than man, vanished. Whatever depths of violence Remy was capable of, was dwarfed by his concern for me and what I thought of him. I knew without the shadow of a doubt that no matter what happened in this crazy life of ours, only I would ever be completely safe from Remy.

  I didn’t care if the world burned around us or what happened next, as long as I had him.

  “I...” Remy started, his features wracked with pain.

  “…did what was necessary,” I finished his sentence the way it was meant to be said, and hugged him with all of my strength. “You have nothing to apologize for. I’m with you until the end of the road.”

  “No,” he whispered. I could hear it in his voice and feel it in his embrace. He’d come to realize that I accepted him, completely accepted him, for all that he was. That he could show me anything, everything, and that I couldn’t be scared away. I was his. “I... Love you.”

  Chapter Ten

  …

  Remy

  My last brother was dead.

  As much as I wanted to hide in Star’s arms forever, I was drawn back to Top. I had to see him. I’d known him, in some capacity, my whole life. If I didn’t sit with him, or grab his hand, or fucking something, then I wouldn’t know for sure that it was real, and that he was really dead.

  My knees struck the black pavement, which was slick with my brother’s blood. Bones’ last bullet caught him in the side of the skull, and blew out the front of his right eyebrow.

  It was damn hard to look at.

  Top kept a bandana tied to his belt. I unknotted it, opened it up, and laid it over his face. He looked ridiculous with his giant beard sticking out the bottom. In my head, I could almost hear him complain that a tiny red bandanna was all he got.

  Lawrence was a hard man. I was at odds with him almost as much as I wasn’t. We’d been through a lot together and sometimes things got messy. Real messy. Like what he tried to do to Star. I never would’ve been able to fully forgive him for that.

  But in his typically fucked up way, Top was just trying to protect me from her, from jail, from Deadeye.

  “Goddammit.” I sharply drew in breath and fought back a sob that stuttered through my chest. In the end of it all, he did exactly that. Protected me. Protected us. I would never forget that. I looked over at Star, her sadness for me was also a painful sight.

  “Goddammit, Lawrence,” I breathed the words to him. The asphalt beneath us was beaten to shit by bullets and time. Top’s blood had flowed into a little patch that was worn down to gravel. I ran my fingers across a shrinking dry spot, scooping up the pulverized bits of pavement into my fist, and crushing it.

  I’d lost so much.

  Tee keeled down beside me and put a hand on my shoulder. I couldn’t look at him just yet. I let the gravel slip between my fingers. Watched it fall.

  Both my brothers were dead.

  When the gun barrel was pushed into the back of my head, it wasn’t a surprise. I couldn’t find it in me to move.

  “The fuck are you doing, Deadeye!” Tee slapped the gun away just as quick as I’d felt it then shoved the wounded president backwards.

  Fortunately, I still had some friends here.

  “Killing the traitorous shit that caused all this! Poet turned on us! He was working with the Lobos!” This statement by the national president turned every member’s head at us.

  I still hadn’t stood up, but I could hear the unrest through the ranks. No one wanted to believe it, but they had to take it extra seriously because of who said it. I didn’t have a lot of close friends in the extended club, but for whatever reason, most of them respected me, even beyond the SV patch that was supposed to set us all on even footing.

  “That’s bullshit!” Tee reflexively came to my defense.

  “It’s ok, I got this.” I was in no shape to do this right now, this soon after everything had gone down. That’s the thing with the club lifestyle, it never slows down to let you be ready. When the pieces fall, you’re either ready or you’re not.

  I could let Top’s death cripple me, or use it to give me the strength I needed. The thought of letting Deadeye kill me flashed as a moment of weakness, but I’d come too far to let Star face this world alone. Top didn’t let himself get shot just so I could give up when it counted.

  If I didn’t fight now, none of it would’ve mattered.

  “Deadeye’s right.” I squeezed my fallen brother’s shoulder, then stood up to face everyone. “I brought the Lobos here. I even opened my clubhouse door for them.”

  “He admits it.” Deadeye raised his gun at me again.

  “We don’t kill our own. Not like this!” Again, Tee slapped it down.

  “And my son, Rio? He was a patch holder! Where’s his justice?”

  “That was self-defense! I was there! I saw what happened!” Tee was a good friend. Even after I shot him, he was willing to lie for me.

  “I don’t care. Killing brothers and helping our rivals to tear us apart is too far! I’m calling a vote for judgment. All in favor of killing Remy Daniels for crimes against the club?” Deadeye thundered.

  Everyone was hesitant at the sudden call for a vote, especially one involving the life and death of a member, when we still had the wounded and dead Veins to take care of. No one wanted to be rushed for a decision like this.

  Doing it this way was against the spirit of the club, and everyone knew it.

  “Let the kid speak for himself first!” one of the older members in the crowd cried out.

  Deadeye begrudgingly kept quiet and let me speak.

  “Let’s tend to the dead and hurt first,” I said. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  Star came over and we all helped the wounded into a few cars bound for the hospital. The dead Veins were laid along the side of the building; we’d lost five good men and four of Deadeye’s crew.

  I took some time to mourn over my brother.

  I thought the guys would be more pissed at me from for all the things I’d done, but each and every one of them came up and gave me their condolences. I don’t know what Tee told them all before bringing them over, but there was nothing but suppor
t and understanding coming from them over Lawrence’s death.

  All the Lobo bodies were tossed into a pile by the dumpster. As much as we’d have loved to leave them for the garbage truck, we’d have to call the cops and do it the right way. There were just too many bodies for anything else. Fortunately for us, this would be a clear case of us defending our house. We shouldn’t have any trouble selling it in court.

  With wounded and dead tended to, soon we’d have to call the cops and go through everything that came with that. If I was going to address the club, it had to be now.

  “Look around!” I spoke to the nearly ninety Steel Veins members that remained. “I look at you and I see a lot of new faces promoted to the big seats in your various chapters. Why is that? Where did the old timers go?”

  I paused and looked all around.

  “Guys that have been around since the club was formed. The men that made this club famous for the right reasons. The great men that opened Steel Veins chapters across the whole fucking world! They’re gone because their club is dead. The Steel Veins that I grew up with, that I’ve bled for, that I’ve killed for! It’s gone. The ideals that were our fucking foundation have been stolen from us. We all do things differently in our chapters, but I can go to any Veins clubhouse, anywhere in world, and there will be three words carved into the walls somewhere. Community. Loyalty. Honor. That is us! That is who we are! That’s the Steel Veins I remember! So why the fuck are we partnering up with the Knights, of all clubs, to cook doxa? Why are we opening channels through our communities for the H trade? So we can sell heroin to fucking high school kids? Jesus... Yeah, it’s not in our community, but so what? That doesn’t make it any less fucked up. Where’s the honor in that? When did the Veins become drug dealers?”

  Members mumbled with some intelligible words and some looked away

  “That’s why the originals are hanging up the colors, and I can’t fucking blame them! How’d this shift happen? From the Veins we were to the Veins we are now? Chig? Loose? I heard you guys put in for transfers from the parent chapter, that true?”