by K. J. Dahlen
“I don’t know,” I said with a shrug. “I still can’t help but think that Antonio will destroy him.”
“Chloe, Jax knows what he’s doing. He’s my best friend and my brother. If I didn’t think he had the chops to handle Antonio, I would have gone with him,” Dino said, trying to reassure me. “I’ve never seen a brother like Jax. He’s smart, determined, and yeah, he will kill if he has no other choice, but he has honor. Honor, I’ve rarely seen in an MC. Bruno chose right. Yeah, I know the Boss is a killer and can be heartless, but he knows Jax is like a better version of him. I have been with Jax for a long time. I would follow him to hell if I had to. So would a few other brothers. You gotta trust him.”
Everything I had observed of Dino told me one thing…he had a profound admiration for Jax. Now, I knew it to be true.
Dino’s phone buzzed, interrupting our discussion. He became preoccupied with his phone as he stood up from the couch and walked in the other room, typing furiously.
MC business. I rolled my eyes.
I sat alone in the lounge. It had been one hell of a rough day. I felt numb, completely exhausted and drained.
A couple of minutes later, when Dino didn’t return, I stood up and headed for the bathroom. When I turned on the tap to wash my hands, I caught my reflection in the mirror opposite me. I looked as shitty as I felt. And my expression was severe, with no sign of the smile that would usually be plastered across my face.
When I returned, Dino sat on the couch. His face was serious, his eyes sympathetic. “Chloe, there’s something I need to tell you—”
“Dino!” I interrupted as I sat down. “You see. I told you Jax would get hurt. I told you—”
“Roy has been killed,” he stated bluntly.
“Killed?” I stared at him in stunned shock.
He reached out and put a hand on my arm to offer some comfort. “Yes, he’s dead, Chloe. Jax just forwarded a message he was sent from your mother.”
I slammed my hands together in front of my face. My mother must be devastated. She’d had two long-term relationships her whole life, and both ended in tragedy. At least, she hasn’t lost me too.
When I sat up, Dino held out his mobile. “Give her a call.” He got up and walked to the kitchen to give me some privacy.
I tapped in my mom’s number and waited….
“Chloe? Is that you? Are you ok?” she asked, frantically when she answered.
“Yes. I’m fine, mom. Don’t worry. I’m safe with Jax and Dino. Dino just told me about Roy. Are you ok?”
“Yes. I’m OK. I’m OK,” she said rather loudly, as though she was trying to convince herself. She was clearly in shock.
“I’ll come and see you first thing tomorrow morning and—”
“Chloe?” She cut me off mid-sentence. “I’m worried about Jax.”
“Jax is fine.”
“No. Jax went over to Roy’s repair shop to find out where you were.”
“Oh?” My eyes widened in surprise.
“Now, Roy’s place is burned to the ground, and Roy is dead!” she exclaimed.
I heard mom start to sob.
My curiosity gave way to shock. My first thought was, Jax had killed Roy! My second thought was, the destruction my kidnapping had caused was quite unbelievable.
“Do the cops know how he was killed?” I asked. My eyes darted from left to right in a panic—if the cops connected Jax to Roy’s murder, I could lose him forever.
“The fire killed him most likely. That’s what the investigators are saying. I got a call from the cops asking me if I knew anybody who was in there with Roy at the time. I lied through my teeth, but I don’t think it will help if the police find hard evidence. They’re going to have detectives around that place for weeks. I’m not quite sure how bad things are for Jax right now. But it doesn’t look good.”
“I can’t believe it! Did Jax ignore all logic when he needed it the most?” I yelled into the phone. Dropping my voice to a whisper, I said, “He could go down for murder if they link him to this!”
Sounding terrified she cried, “He’s got to go. He’s got to leave town – somewhere the cops won’t find him, he’s got to go,” she repeated between gasps for air. “He’s got to go.” That was all she could say.
Panic had set in for both of us, and it couldn’t be reasoned with. The both of us were simultaneously confused and terrified. The one thing I knew for sure was that Jax was in deep shit.
I heard a scuffle on the phone as it changed hands and now her best friend from work, Rebecca, spoke, “Don’t worry, Chloe. I’m here for her. You get some rest, ok?”
At the sound of her voice, I let out a sigh of relief. I trusted Rebecca. She was mom’s only real friend and even lent her the $2,000 it cost us to move to Coronado from Tijuana when my father died. Rebecca was only a waitress herself, and she had also only just met mom and I. Still, she was there for us when we needed it most.
I agreed, “Ok. Thanks, Rebecca.”
After I had hung up, Dino came back into the living room to see what he could do to help. He sat down on the sofa and took my hand in his. “Why don’t you have some food, Chloe?” he asked, motioning his head toward the kitchen. I suppose he hoped the food and company would calm me.
“I’ve lost my appetite.” I knew I had to be hungry. I hadn’t eaten since the evening before, but I felt too physically drained, and emotionally scarred from what I’d seen today, to eat. But I did feel a twinge of guilt – I should be grateful just to be alive.
“I understand.” Dino nodded.
“No I don’t think you do. I have to ask you a question…did you and Jax kill Roy this morning?”
Dino stared at me for a moment. “Normally, I would tell you not to ask but I think you need to know the truth. We went to see the scumbag but he was alive and cursing us out when we left. You see, he accidently set his shop on fire and he chose to blame us for something he did himself. The man was a real dumbass.” He looked at me for a moment then asked, “Does that answer your question?”
“If that’s true how did he end up dead?” I asked.
“Don’t know, don’t care,” Dino stated. “Can I eat my supper now? I’m hungry.”
Dino ate in silence, while I thought about mine and Jax’s predicament. When I’d come to my senses and gathered my thoughts, I started to quiz Dino about Jax again…“Has Jax texted yet?” I asked, a bit stupidly. I’d known that Dino’s phone buzzed when he got a message and it was sitting on the coffee table in front of both of us.
“Not yet,” he replied sympathetically.
“Well, how long do you think he is going to be?” I asked.
“I don’t know. I may have to meet him at the clubhouse if he isn’t back in time to leave here for the vote.”
We had no idea whether Jax was still alive; we could only wait until he communicated with us.
As Dino forked noodles from his own bowl of food, his face looked solemn. “Are you sure you’re ok, Chloe? You seem distracted.”
“Yeah, fine,” I lied.
“Is there anything else I can do?” Dino asked.
I thought again how lucky I was to be alive. And then to how easily a man like Jumper could take my life away, as he had done to Lucy. “Jumper want’s me dead, right?” I asked.
Dino pursed his lips and then said, “He wants to see Jax suffer, it’s not you necessarily that he wants to hurt,” he tried to reassure me.
“But he wanted to shoot me,” I added, staring at a small splattering of what could only be Lucy’s blood the bottom of Dino’s shirt.
He nodded. “Yes. You’re right. But I know you’re going to be ok. You’ve got me, and you’ve got Jax.”
I shook my head. “He’ll be coming for me, I know it and blame me for him having shot Lucy, or try to get back at Jax again. Either way, he wants my blood. If the worst should happen…” I took a breath and cleared my throat. “…If the worst is going to happ
en, then I want to talk to my father. I have to tell him I understand now about how he died. I have to tell him how I feel.”
Dino stared at me, puzzled. “Jessie? He’s dead.”
“My father’s grave. I mean, it’s only ten minutes from here. I saw the sign to the cemetery as we drove to your place. Mom didn’t want him to be buried in Tijuana where the Bloods or his enemies could find him. I want to talk to him, Dino. Twenty minutes, that’s all I ask.”
Eventually, I convinced Dino to escort me to the graveyard.
“Ok, but twenty minutes is all I can do,” Dino said.
We left Dino’s apartment. We breezed down the clear highway and pulled into the cemetery just five minutes later. As we approached the imposing steel gates to the place, the enormity of the graveyard became rather intimidating. Beyond the gates, a sea of tombstones spread out over a very large expanse of smooth lawn. I wondered how many deceased lives – or how many ghosts – wound up in this place, trapped here on this earthly plane forever.
The full moon shone down on the dark landscape. I stared at the lonely moon for a few seconds. The graveyard was empty at this time of night; nothing was moving. There was a damp, and dank smell in the air which I was sure had to be more than simply freshly dug soil. It was the smell of death. The graveyard itself was a clearing of sorts within a pine forest of tall, thick trees. No creatures appeared to live in the forest that surrounded the tombstones; there were never any sounds of birds in the trees, no matter what time of day it was. There was only silence. It was a silence like I’d never heard anywhere else – oppressive, constricting, and haunting.
I held onto Dino’s arm and led him to my father’s grave while he shone a flashlight on the path ahead of us. The light created eerie, haunting shadows as we walked through the dark, stillness.
I found myself praying that mine and Jax’s names would not end up on a plaque in this eerie graveyard. It was followed by an image of my mother and her despair at having to bury a husband, a fiancé, and a daughter in this place. I couldn’t let that happen.
Several minutes later, we reached my father’s place of rest. I walked over to a large marble memorial, which read:
JESSIE MARIANO.
DIED APRIL 12th 2009.
RIDE FREE RIDE HARD
My hand trembled slightly as I pressed it against my father’s tombstone.
Dino handed me the light and stepped away from the grave, giving me a moment.
I shone the light on the headstone. I closed my eyes and let out a long exhale before I spoke, “Dad, I want you to know that I am sorry. I am sorry for bitterness I felt in my heart towards you over the years. I know I’ve said to mom that I found it selfish how you pursued your passion for bikes to the extreme and left mom and me to pay a heavy price.”
“Achoo!” Shot a voice through the darkness ahead of me.
I jolted in surprise, thinking Dino must be allergic to the grass or something before carrying on, “I guess I want you to know that I don’t blame you for being in a coffin in the ground anymore. I know you tried to save Jax. You stepped into a death trap nearing its inevitable collapse just to save a stranger. Now I know what a good man you were, just like mom always told me. I know she loved you very much, and I do too.”
I cleared my throat and looked up at Dino, keeping the light shining on the headstone. In the near complete darkness, he was just a figure around 20 headstones away. He started to approach me slowly, and I wondered whether my time with my father was almost up.
Reverently, I dropped to my knees on the ground beside his six-foot grave and bowed my head in salute. “Wherever you are, Dad, I hope you know how much I love, admire and respect you. And how proud I am to call myself your daughter.”
Dino’s hand landed on my shoulder behind me. “We have to go, I’m sorry. I can’t be late for the vote at the club.”
I jumped up as he spoke and turned the light in his face to see who it was.
“Ahhhh. You trying to blind me?” He groaned, holding his hands up to his face.
“Shit Dino! Did you run over here or something?”
“What are you talking about?” he asked.
“You were far in the distance in the other direction thirty seconds ago. I didn’t even hear your footsteps.”
“I’ve been here behind you the whole time. I stepped back a few feet to give you privacy, that was all.”
We stared at each other, and I shone the light in the direction of the dark figure I had seen. I was sure it’d been watching me.
“What?” Dino asked.
“Hello? Hello?” I called. My voice echoed off into the eerie silence of the graveyard.
Dino snatched the flashlight and slashed it through the darkness, but the figure was nowhere to be seen.
Perhaps, it had gone? Maybe we’d scared them off.
Now suddenly, I wanted to get out of this place as soon as possible. “I think that’s our cue to get out of here,” I said, shakily.
“Yep, let’s go,” Dino replied abruptly.
We followed the same route we’d taken on the way to my father’s grave to leave the place. There was a bitter chill in the air as we walked out the graveyard that I hadn’t noticed on the way in. It was as if lost souls whirled around me as I walked.
As we rode back to Dino’s place, my mind started to wander. My thoughts stuck cruelly on the horrors of the day.
When we reached the parking lot of Dino’s apartment, I turned to Dino as I dismounted his bike. “Jax hasn’t been in touch yet. Do you think he’s okay?” I asked, feeling another sudden wave of nausea at the desperation of our situation.
“He’ll be fine. I know he will,” Dino insisted as we went up the elevator. He walked me to the door of the apartment and handed me his door key. “Nobody knows you’re here, so you’re safe. Jax and I will be back as soon as we can.”
“I’ll be ok.” I nodded. “Just hurry back.” As Dino walked away, I called to him. “Dino…?”
Dino spun around to face me. “Yes?”
With trepidation making me tremble and a nervous feeling in my stomach, I told him, “This vote—I know Jax is up for president. But—win or lose, just make sure you bring him back.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
(JAX)
Bruno can tell a liar by his eyes. I told myself, as I mounted my bike in the parking lot by the docks.
Bruno had kept me alive until now. I reasoned that maybe he didn’t fully blame me for the lost shipment of whiskey. But I couldn’t count on that. In any case, I had no idea what would unfold when I stepped into the Bullring – the Black Devil’s clubhouse. Perhaps, before I even got a chance to explain, Bruno would make an example of me in front of my brothers’ at the vote.
I needed to sit Bruno down and tell him about Antonio’s betrayal. I needed to tell him that I had forced Antonio to leave town. I only hoped that Bruno wouldn’t plant a bullet in my head before I had the chance. I had a deep seated belief that when I explained to Bruno, face-to-face what had happened, that his faith in me would be restored.
The light of day had died, and the docks behind the parking lot were calm and quiet, except for the distant sounds of generators running from inside the boat’s hulls, and the hum of a crane in the distance. I slid my key into the ignition of my Harley and fired up the engine; my headlights illuminated the car park and the road beyond. As I had expected, Antonio’s bike was gone.
Antonio had made a break for it the second I lowered my gun from his head. He had crumbled under my threat. It seemed ironic that Antonio had run from the barrel of my gun like a fucking coward, yet he’d spent his entire adult life starting wars and killing for blood like a machine with no feeling. Pathetic. In the face of death, Antonio trembled, sweated profusely, and looked up at me with wide, terrified eyes. He realized that he was afraid to die.
In what could’ve been the final moments of his life, I didn’t pity him. I did, however, grant him th
e respect I had promised all of my brothers, and gave him an ultimatum instead—leave forever, or die.
The vote for club president was at 9 pm that night. I knew the clubhouse was a fourteen minute ride away from the docks. Judging by the time on my watch, I had less than six minutes to reach the clubhouse in time. When I did arrive, I would be late, Antonio would be missing, and it would be the first time I would see Bruno since the fuck up with his Whiskey shipment.
I rolled out of the parking lot and flew down the highway. The road was clear and I tore through the tarmac at 70 mph. I closed my eyes for a few seconds to try to suppress the angst I felt inside. In that short time, I wanted the darkness to envelop me and suck up all my problems with it. Jumper still wanted my blood. Chloe’s life was at risk if we stayed together. Sheila still held Roy’s debts. I needed to stay alive to try to fix all of the shit that had been caused, and picturing Chloe’s face in my mind gave me the determination of an army to succeed. I wouldn’t—couldn’t lose her. I suppressed that gut wrenching thought.
As I passed through the center of town, the roads and pavements were busy. The nightlife threw light across the streets and music boomed from clubs and restaurants. When I stopped at a red light, I stared at the heavily pedestrianized pavement, and the people sitting in the windows of eateries. The main street was swarmed with regular people living out their unremarkable lives. I imagined what it would be like to live in a pleasant world that wasn’t drowned in hate and retribution. Just before the traffic light changed, I looked toward the road again. A large billboard, with an advertising campaign for women’s lipstick, featured a pair of pursed lips with the tagline, ‘Never give a sucker an even break.’ I wondered if that was what I’d done by letting Antonio loose.
As the green light flashed, I surged forward and weaved through the traffic to make it to the clubhouse in time. A few minutes later, I pulled up outside the place and parked my bike. I turned to my left and right to count the number of bikes. Everybody was present and already inside.
