The Tempted Series: Collectors Edition

by Janine Infante Bosco

  “Lauren,” he interrupted.

  “No, I’m not done. Honor? Honor is having great respect for someone and that honor should be with me. I am the one giving you a son or a daughter,” I tipped my head back to the reaper on the wall. “He won’t give you a family. I know you think he already has, that these men are your brothers, and that’s all that matters but your brotherhood won’t keep you warm at night. Your brotherhood won’t give you the joy you’ll be missing out on by throwing your child away. So, fuck you, Riggs. Fuck your club and seriously fuck your patch.”

  “Shut up,” he growled. “You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about, Lauren. You have no idea how fucking loyal and honorable I am. And that’s okay, you don’t need to. You just need to stay away from me,” he hollered.

  I took a step closer to him, the anger that consumed me faded and was replaced with determination.

  I may have fallen, but I needed to get back up.

  I need to fight.

  A part of me wonders if he realizes how much of a fighter I truly am. Doesn’t he understand I would’ve fought for him too? But he lost that right. I won’t fight for him but I’ll fight against him. I’ll fight for Pea because someone had to.

  “I can’t even say I’m sorry I ever met you because without you there is no Pea. I will always have Pea. So, thank you for that. Thank you for giving me something you’ll never enjoy. You’re the one who loses. You’re the one who has to live every day knowing you walked away from something great, something bigger and better and more rewarding than some pathetic patch.”

  I walked to the bar, grabbed the empty bottle of liquor and turned on my heel as I wailed it across the room and it crashed against the reaper on the wall.

  “Hope it was worth it,” I called over my shoulder, as I stalked out of the club.

  I walked away from Riggs that night, chin up, head high but my heart shattered like all the pieces of glass that decorated the floor of the Dog Pound.

  I stared at the reaper on the wall, the glass of the bottle crunching under my boots as I made my way to the wall. I ran my fingers over the paint that declared this the home of Satan’s Knights and then I reared my fist back and screamed as it connected with the wall.

  I heard the door open behind me but I was too engrossed in demolishing the reaper, an image of something I thought I was supposed to live for. So why did it feel like the reason I was living just walked out the door and straight out of my life?

  I felt strong hands wrap around my arms and pull me back, pulling me away from wreaking havoc on the devil that stole everything from me.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” Blackie hollered, as he slammed my back against the wall.

  “Let me go,” I seethed.

  “Like you let her go?” Bones added, walking up behind Blackie. “What is wrong with you, man?”

  I pushed Blackie’s hands off me causing him to stumble backward and scowled at Bones.

  “You’re an asshole, you know that?” Bones taunted. “You just threw away the best fucking thing that’s ever happened to you and for what? Because you’re a pussy!”

  I charged at him, rearing back my fist and letting it connect with the side of his jaw.

  He gripped my cut, and slammed me back against the wall, his fist pounding against my ribs.

  “Truth hurts, brother,” he hissed, as I pushed him off me and punched him again, aiming for his nose this time.

  “Thought you’d be happy, me out of the way you’re free to claim her for yourself. That’s what you want isn’t it? Been dying to stick your dick in my girl since the moment you laid eyes on her,” I roared, as I threw him onto the pool table.

  He kicked off the table, charging his head into my stomach and pummeled me to the floor.

  “Someone will claim her, douche bag,” he clipped. “Girls like that will bounce back, move on and fall in love. Some other man will gladly grab what you threw away, only he’ll hang on tight, and that kid of yours? He’ll call someone else daddy,” he barked.

  I lifted my head from the floor and drilled him with a cold stare.

  “Looks like you’re applying for the job,” I spoke through clenched teeth.

  “I would in a fucking heartbeat but you’re my brother, and that shit means something to me,” he said, releasing his grip on me. “Wake up, man. Whatever it is you think you’re doing, I’m telling you you’re doing it all wrong. Don’t do this, don’t let them go.”

  “I’m no good for them,” I growled, trying to sit up.

  “Then make yourself better,” he demanded, holding out his hand toward me.

  I took his hand and pulled him down beside me, wedging my forearm against his throat as I leaned over him.

  “Mind your fucking business, Bones. And do yourself a fucking favor and don’t bring this shit up again, because so help me God, next time you do I’ll cut you, brother,” I promised, as I dropped him onto the ground and stepped over his body.

  I know why Blackie tries to numb himself from the hell he lives.

  The pain is unbearable.

  The dull ache in my chest that had been haunting me, turned into a sharp spear, twisting and turning a hundred times over.

  I lost my Kitten.

  I’ll never know Pea.

  And I just pissed on some twenty odd years of friendship with Bones.

  I was on a roll.

  I had walked away from a lot of people in my life, gave up my birth right, but none of it hurt the way walking away from Lauren and our baby did.

  I hadn’t lied when I said I never wanted to be someone’s man, or someone’s father. Now that I held those two titles, even for a short while, was everything to me.

  Everything I no longer had.

  But losing them, kissing goodbye my rights to my child and Lauren, would be worth it because they’d be safe.

  Safe from me.

  Safe from my enemies.

  Safe from the reaper.

  Chapter Thirty

  Jack slammed the gavel repeatedly against the wooden table trying to reign us in but we were congratulating the nomad’s that had just patched into our charter. After the Red Dragons attacked Pop’s shooting range, Jack sent Pipe and Wolf back into the field, ordering them not to come back to the Dog Pound without nomads worthy to wear the Brooklyn patch on their cut. Deuce, Stryker, Linc and Cobra were officially voted to sit at our table, and not a moment too soon because aside from the vote on whether they should wear our patch or not, Jack called Church to discuss how he planned to retaliate against the Chinese.

  “For the love of God, would you bitches shut the fuck up so we can discuss business,” Jack grunted, throwing the gavel across the table and rubbing his temples.

  That got our attention, and we fell silent as we gave our pissed off president our undivided attention.

  “I swear to God, I question if you jerk offs even have dicks,” he muttered.

  Wolf grabbed his crotch in defense.

  “Want me to whip out the old anaconda?”

  “You do that and I’ll shoot it off,” Jack hissed, before glancing at our new members. “Pipe and this clown…” he pointed his thumb toward Wolf as he spoke “…have filled you guys in on the war we have going on with the Red Dragons, so no need for me to rehash the reason behind what we’re about to do.”

  He reached into his cut for his pack of Marlboros and picked one out with his teeth as Blackie slid a lighter across the table.

  “Been working on a way to retaliate against them for the guns they stole and the bullets they pumped into Pops place. Rienzi, who’s a longshoreman, one of Vic’s guys, came through with a tip. Seems like our friend Wu is receiving a shipment tonight from Beijing,” he clarified, flicking his ashes into the ashtray. “Saddle up, boys because we’re going to intercept their shipment.”

  “Do we know what it is?” I asked, as I took the toothpick I was chewing on out of my mouth.

  “It don’t matter what the cargo is, I don’t want t
heir shit. I want to hit Wu were it really hurts—his wallet. We’ll unload the container and dump that shit right into the river, sending a message back to our friends. They fucked with us, now it’s our turn to fuck them ten times harder,” he growled.

  “Ay,” Pipe agreed.

  “It’s about time those Lo Mein eating motherfuckers get a dose of my cock,” Wolf added.

  We all turned our eyes to Wolf, and he shrugged his shoulders.

  “What?” he asked innocently. “You said fuck them hard, only trying to do my part for the cause,” he claimed.

  “You’re a sick fuck,” Bones added.

  “Welcome to the club, boys,” Jack said sarcastically, earning a few laughs from our new additions.

  “Nothing we haven’t seen before, Bulldog,” Stryker replied, his lips curving slightly.

  “There is just one more thing I want to discuss before we get our asses in gear.” His eyes drifted toward me then to Bones who sat across from me. “For the last month you two have been acting like a bunch of bitches in a cat fight,” he ranted. “Time for this lover’s quarrel, or whatever the fuck it is between you two, be put to rest.”

  I averted my eyes to Bones who met my blank stare with one of his own. It was true, since Kitten stormed into the clubhouse, handing me my ass and walking out of my life, Bones and I haven’t been the same. I know him well enough and long enough to realize he gave me a pass. No one gets away with putting their hands on Bones. They don’t live to tell about it, but here I was breathing.

  I also know that he’d never disrespect me and go after Lauren. His interference came from a good place, a place where he knew what I was sacrificing and had remorse for my decision. I wasn’t ready to hear him say what I felt in my heart. I didn’t want to face facts that walking away from Lauren and the baby was a shit thing to do and Bones wasn’t about to let me forget it.

  “We’re all brothers here but you two are in a class of your own, one of you gets wounded the other one bleeds, so bury that shit and bury it deep,” Jack emphasized.

  “Yeah girls, why don’t you kiss and make up,” Wolf pleaded.

  Bones uncrossed his arms, keeping his eyes steady on me as he reached across the table and offered me his hand. I took a deep breath, apologizing to my best friend with my eyes instead of my words as I took his hand and shook on it solidifying our brotherhood.

  “Can I get an Amen?” Pipe quipped.

  “Amen,” preached Wolf.

  “Amen,” chanted Stryker.

  “Praise be to God,” Linc added.

  “Hallelujah,” Blackie mused.

  “All right, all right, go in peace my brothers,” Jack said, bowing his head and making the sign of the cross.

  God was going to strike us all dead, luckily, we weren’t relying on him to welcome us at the pearly gates. We were destined for the flames and the only one waiting for us in the end would be Satan.

  We pulled our bikes into the shipping yard, locked and loaded, ready for mayhem, thirsty for blood. We weren’t the weak ass motherfuckers the Red Dragons assumed we were. We had Blackie back, and as fucked as he was he was crazy too, and now we had four more men, ready to make names for themselves within the club.

  Cutting our engines, we dismounted our bikes before pulling our weapons and crouching down as we ran up the pier where the vessel docked. Sun Wu and the Dragons were nowhere in sight, not scheduled to unload their shipment for another hour. Jack led the pack, pausing at the container and forking over an envelope to Rienzi before he snapped the plastic seal off the doors giving us access to Wu’s merchandise.

  Wooden crates stacked from the floor to the ceiling, filled the entire container. It would take more than an hour to unload this thing.

  Stryker and Deuce charged in first, tucking their guns away before Stryker got down on one knee, placing one palm over the other while Deuce put his boot clad foot onto Stryker’s hands before he hoisted him up. Deuce pulled a crate from the top and dropped it onto the floor beside us. Together Stryker and Deuce demolished the first row of crates.

  The last crate fell onto the others, busting open and Wolf, the nosey fuck he was, sifted through it.

  “Well, well, looks like Wu wanted to get fucked after all,” he mocked, as he held up a pink dildo.

  I walked over to the crate, pushing around the contents, and sure enough it was full of sex toys.

  “I bet this one is labeled butt plugs,” Pipe said, prying open the top of another crate.

  “Dump it,” Jack ordered.

  Pipe raised an eyebrow, questioning Jack.

  “You sure about that, boss? Bet we can turn this shit for a pretty penny,” he countered.

  “Dump the fucking shit,” Jack barked, as he lifted a crate over his head and threw it into the water.

  Sweat poured from our bodies as we hustled to empty the container, finally hauling the last crate into the river, creating a sea of vibrators. The Hudson River looked like a goddamn nympho’s paradise.

  What a fucking sight.

  “Pack it up,” Jack demanded, as he reached into his back pocket and produced a can of spray paint. I turned to Bones, my eyes questioning his, but he merely shrugged his shoulders and we both turned back to watch as Jack nodded toward Rienzi.

  Rienzi closed the container, locking it up with a new plastic seal before taking a step back and letting Jack do his thing. He pulled the cap off the bottle, throwing it into the water before putting his finger on the aerosol can and writing a message to Wu.

  Fuck you.

  In bright red letters across the door.

  Jack took a step back, admiring his handy work before dumping the can of paint into the water and turning around to face us.

  “Clear enough?”

  “Still think we should’ve fucked him with one of his toys,” Wolf clipped.

  “Message is clear,” Pipe confirmed, smacking Wolf upside the head.

  Jack slapped each of the newbies on the back, impressed with their efficiency as we strode down the dock, pretty fucking pleased with ourselves that we pulled it off with fifteen minutes to spare.

  We were half way down the dock when we heard the roar of the Red Dragons engines.

  “Shit, we’ve got company,” Blackie declared, reaching for his gun.

  Time stopped after he uttered those words and everything moved in slow motion. It didn’t matter we were running down the rickety wooden pier, guns drawn and lighting the shipping yard a blaze, to me we were just standing still.

  I glanced down at my feet then lifted my head and watched as my brothers ran forward, shooting their way back to their bikes and I remained still.

  They ran.

  They fought.

  I stayed still, taking it all in before something clicked inside of me and I took my other gun, crossed one arm over the other and fired both guns.

  One down, then another, and another. I didn’t know if they were dead or not but I told myself they were.

  It wasn’t enough.

  I needed more.

  I took my time, walking the rest of the pier, firing one gun then the other. Another two dropped to the ground.

  Still, not enough.

  I wanted Wu.

  I wanted to decorate my hands with his blood.

  I wouldn’t stop until I did, and I continued to pop any Dragon that stepped in my way, full of lead.

  I heard my brothers shout out to me.

  But I tuned them out.

  I didn’t give a fuck.

  Let them tell me I’m reckless.

  Let them tell me I have no heart.

  I don’t.

  This motherfucker was the reason I won’t see my kid being born, or hold Lauren’s hand as she brings him into this world. This son of a bitch took my family from me with his threats.

  I don’t make threats.

  I make promises.

  I promise to take that bastard’s blood.

  I solemnly swear to make it my mission in life.

  I
reached the end of the dock as another Dragon neared and I pulled the trigger, emptying my clip into his head. One of his brothers came up behind me, shouting in Mandarin as he watched the blood of his brother pour from his eyes and drop to the floor. I turned around, fired a shot and clipped him in the shoulder. I went to finish the job, but I ran out of bullets. He screamed, spewing Chinese bullshit as I tucked my guns away and rolled up my sleeves. My dick got hard from the look of fear in his eyes and it was all I needed to finish him. I grabbed him by the neck, smiled at him as I leaned into him and spit in his face before I snapped his neck and dropped his head to the ground.

  “Jesus Christ,” Bones hollered, pulling me to my feet. “C’mon, man, what the fuck are you doing?” he fumed, as he stared down at the slayed Dragon. I followed his eyes and looked at the man at my feet, feeling unsatisfied as I gasped for air. Bones looked at me, muttering something under his breath before he bent down and grabbed the guy’s feet, dragging his bloody ass to the end of the pier before he kicked him into the water.

  He grabbed the back of my cut and pushed me forward.

  “We gotta get the fuck out of here,” he ordered. “Now, Riggs.”

  I stared at him blankly before glancing down at my hands, recalling how Blackie lifted his hands and spoke of the bloodshed his hands were responsible for.

  My hands weren’t clean anymore.

  But they weren’t nearly as dirty as I wanted them to be.

  Not until I had Wu.

  I was going to get that motherfucker.

  Mark my words.

  I was six months pregnant, more than a month had passed since I had seen Riggs. The first few weeks were rough, I went from having so much hope to having nothing at all. I felt like I was crawling out of a hole, desperate to get above ground. I’m still not there yet, and I may never be, but I’m moving forward.