by K. J. Dahlen
“What it is… is none of your damn business.”
Before I knew it, Roy stood over me.
It was a moment of…Holy shit! At about six foot four and 250 pounds, he was freakishly large. He only thought he was tough though, I knew I could take this bastard. He thought his size scared me but it didn’t.
“Careful, son,” he warned. “I think I’m bigger than you are and I know I’m a hell of a lot meaner.”
“You are the scum of the earth asshole. Do me a favor and stay well away from her.”
Roy sneered and backed up a bit. “Who the hell do you think you are coming in here and threatening me?”
Jax shrugged. “Me, I’m nobody, just a friend.”
Roy jabbed me in the chest. “Well then, friend, I suggest you get the fuck out of my shop and leave me the hell alone.” He ambled back to his chair and plopped his ass down. Staring at me he asked, “What the fuck are you really doing here?”
“Nothing questionable, if that’s your concern,” I replied, although I could tell he wasn’t buying it for a second. “I came here to give you a message and I’ve done that.”
“You do realize you’re a long way from home, don’t you?” he threatened.
I smiled. I could see where he was going with this. “Yeah, I know that but I ain’t pushing drugs. I’m not here to cause trouble just to pass on a message.”
Roy snorted. “All I gotta do is make a phone call to the clubhouse and tell them I saw you pushing drugs on the street. They won’t care if it’s true or not, they’ll just stomp your ass into the ground.”
I shrugged. “Then I guess I’ll have to tell them like I’m telling you. We sell booze, not drugs.”
He huffed at me like that was a lie.
I shot him a look. “Just stay well away from Chloe. Understood.”
“Get out of here.” His eyes filled with rage and he put both hands on my chest and shoved me toward the office door.
I swallowed my fury and turned away. Not today. I’ll behave myself today.
“What? Don’t you got any balls little boy?”
I turned to see Roy, hackles raising. Fists clenching. He paused for one nerve jangling beat then he stormed towards me.
Fuck, if he wanted to push this, I’d push back.
I held up my hand and he paused. “I didn’t come here to fight with you. Asshole.”
“Oh. I’m so sorry! Let me get the kettle on and we’ll have a nice cup of tea and talk things through like a pair of women. How about that? Is that what you want?” Roy said with derisive laughter.
“Didn’t know you knew how to work a kettle,” I cut in.
He beckoned me over. “Shut the fuckin door and come say that to my face. Come on. Don’t be shy. Unless you really are a pussy.”
I locked the door to the entrance, so nobody could come in and approach him. “You fucking piece of shit! You think I’m afraid of you? You just aren’t worth the trouble.”
“That’s was pretty ballsy for a little guy like you.” He was unsteady on his feet and was a bit bigger than I was.
Roy didn’t wait for a response. He reached for his empty alcohol bottle.
I wasn’t afraid of him and he knew it. I stood my ground and he came closer ready to swing that damn bottle. “At least I don’t have to rely on a prop,” I told him motioning toward the bottle.
“You fuckin little shit.” Roy swung the bottle at my head but missed when I ducked. My fist slammed into his soft belly and he gasped for breath. I slammed my fist into his face and he went down. “Who’s the pussy now asshole?” I growled.
“Get the fuck out of here before I call the Bloods,” he grunted.
I nodded. “I’ll leave as long as you leave Chloe and her mom alone. You go near either of them again, and I’ll come back for you.”
“We’ll see about that, won’t we?” He got to his feet and took a deep breath.
“I suppose we will.”
Roy didn’t care for my comment and he took a step toward me. Then he took another and another until he was only a step away from where I stood. He tried to look intimidating but he wasn’t, not really.
My mind flashed to how Chloe reacted in this situation and I smiled a bit. I reared back my foot and I kicked him in the balls.
Roy’s eyes rolled back into his head and he crumpled to his knees, clutching his crotch, then he collapsed on the floor.
Just then, I heard the door behind me open and Roy’s mechanic walked in the office with a huge wrench in his hand. “You just made a bad mistake amigo.”
“You’d stand up for a man like him?” I asked, as I scoped out the situation.
The man shrugged. “He’s not so bad. I’ve dealt with worse men than Roy.”
I could hear more footsteps entering the garage and I knew it was gonna be bad.
Five guys were coming in through the back entrance. Voices could be heard from the hallway. The commotion was moving closer. Anticipating their arrival, I quickly looked around the office but there was no other way out except through the door the mechanic was standing in front of.
“Are we alive in there?” the leader called as they approached, walking down the hallway. “Roy, you there?”
“What are you doing here?” one of the bikers asked.
I stared at the five young men as they circle around me. Shit. “Relax boys. I’m not causing any trouble. I’m just here to talk to old Roy.” I nodded at the man lying on the floor.
One man leaned back against the doorjamb. He inhaled a deep draw of his cigarette. He removed the cigarette-butt from between his lips and smoke dribbled from his mouth as he dropped the butt to the already dirty floor. Then he stepped on the cigarette. “You shouldn’t be here. You know that right?”
“Look. Whoever you think I am, you’ve got the wrong guy.”
“You’re a Black Devil. I could smell you as soon as you rode into town.” The leader of the pack laughed loudly.
The other four jeered in agreement.
His icy gaze remained unwavering.
The four were young guys, prospects most likely, so they didn’t know who I was.
A second later, they swarmed me. Shit. All hell broke loose and the guys began to viciously attack me. A tall guy ran at me and knocked me down pinning me to the ground. I drew my gun and pistol whipped him, knocking him to the ground. When he went down, another guy took his place and we were off again.
These guys were damn inexperienced, each of them were eager enough raging into a melee but they were hurting each other more than they were hurting me. I fought back the best I could but they got in some pretty good hits. At least I was trained in this shit. I could hold my own one on one but not five on one.
The leader just stood there watching his men come at me. When three of them finally took me down to the floor, their leader pushed off the door and walked over to where I was struggling.
I glared up at him.
He spat in my face. “This is my town not yours. I’ll let you live today. You can consider this a warning. Go home kid and don’t come back here or next time, you won’t leave alive.” Then he nodded to his men and they let me go.
They all backed away except the leader as he turned his back on me.
I got up slowly. My mouth full of blood and I spat it out on the floor. “I thought you guys were honorable.” I hissed out at them as I wiped the blood off my chin.
The leader stopped and turned around to face me. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” he growled.
“You approve of men trying to rape women? Isn’t there enough free pussy out there for you guys? Or do you believe some women just like it rough?”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
I looked down at Roy who was still passed out on the floor. “The message I came to give Roy was to stay away from a friend of mine. Yesterday, he damn near raped her. She’s half his age and she didn’t ask for him to do that
. That’s all I was doing here.”
The leader glared at me for a moment then turned icy eyes to Roy. “He went after Chloe?”
“You know Chloe?”
“Yeah, I fuckin know Chloe,” he admitted.
I nodded. “She got away from him by kicking him in the balls. He told her not to come back to her own house or he would kill her.” I paused then sneered. “Nice friends you got there. At least in my club, we don’t have to rape our women or threaten them.”
The leader tightened his lips and growled, “Get out.”
I shrugged. Then I looked at him and asked, “Are we done here yet?”
“Get the fuckin hell out of my town.” He growled.
I nodded and watched as they all filed out of the room. I gave Roy one more kick in the ribs and then I got the hell out of there.
My bike screeched round the corner and I raced up the street. When I left the interstate, I vowed never to go back to that glowing hellhole of a town if I could help it.
I had won against him—but then I didn’t account for the hornet’s nest I’d just kicked.
Chapter Seven
(Chloe)
The following morning, I awoke abruptly to a ray of sunlight slanting in my face and the sound of bashing on the front door.
What the fuck is that?
My heart rate immediately quickened. I looked at the alarm clock. It was quarter past ten! I rose in the bed but I didn’t dare move. Jax would get it, whoever it was.
Two more loud bashing sounds came from the door.
This scared me, so I got up and peeked out of the bedroom door.
Jax weakly pushed the front door open and lugged his body through as he struggled to get in. He lumbered breathlessly into the apartment looking injured and unsteady on his feet.
This was unbelievable. I knew then what he’d done. He’d gone after Roy.
I stood in shock at the blood on the side his face that also stained the white cotton of his t-shirt. “What hell Jax? What happened to you?” My eyes bored into Jaxson, waiting for a response. “Well?” I asked.
“I had to make sure Roy wouldn’t come near you again. He had it coming.”
“What did I tell you Jax?”
“I fixed it Chloe. That’s all that matters.”
“You’re lucky you didn’t get yourself killed. You need to get to the hospital.” I took his Jacket, pulled out his cell and tapped the keypad furiously.
“Chloe. No. That’s not how we do things,” Jax protested.
“Let me handle this.” I put the phone to my ear. “Hello. I need an ambulance, please.”
Jax grabbed the phone and closed it.
“For Christ’s sake, he could have killed you!” I yelled at him.
He tossed the phone down on the counter. “I don’t expect you to understand.” He stumbled away, going toward the sofa and flopping down on it. Groaning loudly, he reached for the bottle of water on the coffee table. “Can you get me some aspirin, please?”
I went into the bathroom and came out with four tablets. Handing him the pills, I had to say something, “Those injuries weren’t caused by an aspirin deficiency, Jax. Pills aren’t going to cut it. You need professional help; someone to fix you up. Someone like a doctor. You could have broken ribs.”
“I’ve got this,” he insisted.
“We need to get you cleaned up or at least wash off the blood.” Getting a washcloth and a bowl of water, I began bathing the blood from his face and neck. I could finally see the bruises he had and they looked bad. Had Roy beaten the shit out of him or had he run into someone else? I didn’t know if I wanted to find out or not, so I kept my mouth shut.
“You need any more pillows?” I asked when I was finally done.
“Nah, I’m good.”
“How about some water?”
“I’m fine... Thank you, Chloe.”
“Sure,” I replied, forcing a smile. I looked over in sympathy from as Jax struggled in pain. I passed the time by watching over him while he slept. I didn’t know what happened but it couldn’t have been good.
Jax blinked to consciousness to the sound of me lifting the lid to an aluminium container, revealing an Italian meal.
“Ordered take-out. Hope you don’t mind but I took a twenty out of your wallet to pay for the food.”
“Ah….nice,” he said and winced. With some effort, he leaned out of bed to reach for it. “I’ll get it.”
“You like spaghetti?”
“You know I love spaghetti.”
“I know you always used to order it before you stopped coming around the diner,” I reminded him.
Jax sat up and started to spoon the contents into his mouth. “I only stopped coming around when you left for college.”
I squeezed his hand then turned to go, disappearing through the door.
“I’d risk everything to be sure that I can save you. As long as I live I’ll never forgive myself.”
“Well, how can you expect me to trust you to look after me when you can’t even look after yourself?” I stared brazenly back at Jax.
“All I’ve ever wanted was to make it right somehow.” His emotional dam seemed to break.
“Jax...” I frowned not exactly sure what he was talking about.
“I want to give you a great life. The life your dad should have been able to give you. I want to do something good with my life. For myself. For your dad. And for you.” Jax’s eyes shone with purpose. “Anyway. The point is…” He took a breath.
“The point is what?” I asked.
“The point is, I won’t let you have another disappointment. Or another let down.”
“Why is that so important to you?” I asked.
Jax sighed heavily. “I can’t tell you that. Not without telling you everything and I’m not ready to do that yet.”
I wish I knew what he was trying to protect me from.
“I need for you to believe me when I say that I will keep you safe. I couldn’t do what Roy did to you. I couldn’t do something like that.” Jax finally threw the near empty container on the table and laid back down to rest. Closing his eyes, he was asleep again within minutes.
I watched over him for a while longer then I went into the bedroom and walked over to the window. I used to think Coronado as a first rate town. Now all I saw was a dirty, ugly, crime-ridden city I would rather see the back of.
The past 24 hours had been tough on us both; but I refused to get depressed. Jax rested much of the rest of the day and the night went by without any more drama. Things could only get better. Right?
Chapter Eight
(Jax)
“But, right now, I just really need to go home. Can you understand that?” Chloe asked me for the hundredth time a few hours later when Jax finally woke up.
“Completely.”
“Thank you.”
“So, let’s go for a ride,” I said with a devilish grin.
“Home?”
“You tell me.” In one swift motion, I grabbed her arm and my helmet then pulled her out of the front door before she could object.
With the wind in our faces, we rode up to the foothills of the national park. My ribs and face still hurt like the devil but I knew Chloe was going stir crazy in the house. We both needed the fresh air.
I found an out of the way parking place. We got off the bike and decided to go for a walk.
After a few minutes, Chloe turned to me and asked, “Do I want to know how you got the shit beat out of you?”
“Probably not.” I shrugged.
“Is Roy still alive?’
“As far as I know yeah, but I can guarantee he won’t be using his balls anytime soon.”
Chloe paused and closed her eyes. Then she whispered, “He’s got ties to the Blood and Bones MC.”
“Yeah, I found that out the hard way.” I snickered.
“This isn’t funny!” she exclaimed harshly.
“Then why did you do it? Why did you risk your life going after a piece of shit like Roy?”
“Because you matter to me,” I told her simply.
She stopped and turned to me. “What does that mean?”
I shrugged. “I’ve been looking out for you for ten years now. I can’t just stop. Roy hurt you and I went today to give him fair warning.”
“But he hurt you instead.”
I shook my head. “No, Roy didn’t do this to me, the Bloods did this but I gave them as good as they gave me. Of course, five to one odds aren’t that great, so I came out looking the worse for wear.”
She raised her hand to her mouth in horror. “Five to one?”
“They weren’t very good at what they were doing but even still—”
“You could have been killed you damn fool!” Chloe scolded.
We continued our walk. After a few minutes, I asked her, “Do you know who the leader of the Blood’s is?”
Chloe nodded. “He’s a man they call Jumper. I don’t know his real name for sure but I think it’s Giovani Domani. I know I’ve heard him called Mr. Domani, just not sure it’s his real last name.”
I filed the information for later. I would have to ask Bruno about him the next time I saw him. For some reason the man reminded me of Antonio and I wasn’t comfortable with that.
We found a nice place to sit for a while, so we sat down and watched the afternoon turn to dusk. I turned to watch her in the fading light of the day and I couldn’t believe how beautiful she was.
She turned to me and blushed at my stare. “What?” she asked softly.
“You’ve grown up to be a beautiful woman,” I told her, then watched as her blush deepened.
Chloe ducked her head and her hair fell to hide her face.
I reached out to brush the hair away, so I could see her face. “Surely, someone else has told you that before?” I asked her gently.
She wouldn’t look in my direction and shook her head quickly. “No not really. I’ve been too busy at school to date much. I had to study hard to get through the classes and there was never much money to waste on other things. I had to get a job to help make ends meet.”
