by Carmen Faye
Neil pointed the gun at the big guy, "Leave John. I like you, I owe you, but I'll kill you."
"I didn't know he was going to rough her up Neil. I only hit Syd, because it was that or let her brain me with a bat. But I didn't come here for this. I'll be outside," John told him, and walked toward the door.
"Where the fuck are you going? Get the fuck back here!" Anton yelled at John's back.
"We don't go to member's homes and beat up their women Anton. We don't do that. You're on your own," John told him.
"John?" Neil said.
"Yeah?"
"I'm retired. Spread the word."
"Right," John nodded, and then left the apartment.
"Retired? I ain't letting you retire!" Anton told him.
"You don't have a choice and I don't need your permission. It's in our by-laws," Neal told him.
Shayla's eye widened, and she started to shake. He was her husband, but something more, something dark and frightening. His voice sounded calm as he stepped further into the apartment talking to Anton.
"I have over ten years good standing and my dues is paid for the next two years. I can retire anytime I want. I'm done with you, and all your little warped games. Sending Imperial Gangsters to ambush me is one thing. Setting up the girls to get robbed, that's kind of the same thing. Coming here and slapping them around? That’s a death wish Anton," Neil said and lifted the gun to his head.
"What? Wait a fucking minute—"
Neil stepped forward with unreal speed and clubbed the gun barrel across Anton's face. The power of the blow split the skin across the cheek bone, and sprayed blood across the wall. Anton's body spun in a wild dance, then lost balance sending him motley to the floor.
"Get up," Neil told him. His voice the same flat-line calm. The dread inside his voice felt so intense it scratch its nails down Shayla's spine. Her hands trembled, and she gripped Sydney, wishing she would wake up.
Anton struggled to his right hand and knees, "You're going to pay—"
Neil kicked him hard in the gut. Air exploded from Anton's lungs as the blow lifted his body and flipped him.
"I said, get up," Neil repeated, his voice no louder than before, but carrying far more dread. "You don't talk anymore. Just get up, and get out. Next time, I'll kill you. I won't talk, listen or hesitate. I'll just kill you. Now get up, don't talk, and leave."
"You better do what he says Anton," John said from the doorway. "According to our laws, he has every right kill you, and not many legal reasons not to. Consider yourself fucking lucky and get the fuck out there. A member can defend his home."
Anton glared at him, but then got to his feet, still holding his left hand, and walked to the door.
At the door Anton turned and said, "You're a fucking dead—"
Neil shot him. The bullet took him high in the left shoulder and spun him out, hitting the rail, and nearly sent him over the side.
"John, get him to his bike before I kill him," Neil told the large man.
"Right," John said, and grabbed Anton and hurried him down the stairs.
The sound of the gunshot woke Sydney with a start, but she relaxed when she looked into Shayla's eyes.
"It's alright baby," Shayla told her, trying to get her trembling body under control. She wasn't afraid that Neil would hurt her -- just afraid. Just like any sane person would be if Death walked into their house.
Neil walked past her, and she felt the temperature around him was several degrees colder as he past. He closed the door and locked the bolts. His hands did something with the gun, then he put it into a holster on his side. He didn't move then. He just stood there, like a dark statue, looking at the floor.
She waited. After he didn’t move for more than a minute she bit her lip, and then asked, "Will they come back Neil?"
She kept her eyes down, trying to radiate as much submissiveness as possible. Hoping her submissive posture would calm him.
"No," he told her.
"Why?"
"Because John's right. A member can defend his home. It's one of our laws. I could have killed him without fear of reprisal. No one will take the job of coming here to even the score for him. How many bags of food do you have in the car?"
"A few," she said.
"I'll go down and get them. Need to cool down first."
That was an odd expression for him to use, because he seemed cold as the grave right now.
"Why didn't you kill him?" she asked.
"I missed.”
"Oh."
Chapter 18
The next morning they put together a list of everything that the new place needed. Shayla's plan was to only move clothing, and personal items; no furniture, kitchenware or appliances. Neil told her he had a truck they could use, and she wanted to make sure they could do the move in one trip.
"I don't want to take the chance of being followed to our new place," she told them.
Both of them agreed.
Sydney and Shayla had matching black-eyes from their encounter yesterday, which pissed them off.
"Are we still going to deliver to our stables this week, as planned?" Sydney asked.
"Yes. That gets rid of the last of our cocaine and we can use the money right now."
"We're walking away with four-hundred-plus Shayla. I think that'll hold us for three years," Sydney suggested.
That evening they saw on the news that the club was raided and Anton was arrested for being in possession of a gram of cocaine.
"A gram? What the fuck?" Sydney asked, looking at Neil.
Neil smiled, "There's a tunnel under the bar, that goes from the office to a fake manhole in back. All the drugs are kept in there. To keep the dogs from sniffing it out, Anton makes a line of cocaine on his desk, puts out a baggie of a little less than a gram, and then waits for the door to get kicked in. When that happens, he acts surprised and wipes the line onto the floor where the trap door is."
"So the dogs smell cocaine there, but the cops all think it's because of the line he dusted off. I get it," Sydney said.
"But he still gets arrested," Shayla pointed out.
"Right, but then his lawyer contests the search warrant, which will be for searching the bar, but the office is rented out to Anton for his boat rental business, and not legally part of the bar."
"So, he walks on that charge too," she guesses.
"Exactly," Neil agrees.
Saturday morning at 3:00am they loaded up the truck and moved everything to the new house.
This was actually Neil's first time there, and both women were nervous about what he would think. They bought a powerful computer system for him with a large flat screen that mounted on the wall, for his studio. He would have to get any other components he wanted, since they had no idea what equipment he required. They decorated the room with a few vintage Harley pictures, and a calendar with sexy ladies.
Neil walked through the whole house before he finally went to the studio.
Once in there he turned on the computer and nodded his head, "Nice." But when he saw the calendar he took that down and trashed it, "Don't need that."
Two pictures of Shayla, and two of her and Sydney were placed in the living/dining areas, and high up on the wall of the open stairwell. One frame of the three of them hung in the upper hall and another in the bedroom, with a third in their office. Then a full nude of him from the back with his profile decorated a wall inside the bathroom where they could see it from the tub. He didn't object to any of these and stopped to admire them several times.
"You did good. Feels like home," he told them when he finally sat down in the large living-room chair.
Sydney gave her wife a high-five and they started unloading the truck.
* * *
On Sunday, Neil left the curb with his sisters on the back of the trike heading for the beach. There was no soccer game today. Sydney and Shayla remained at home to continue getting the house in order, and ready for dinner that night; the girls were going to visit them in t
heir new home. Amanda was happy with the opportunity for a night off, and they promised they would give her more on days like Friday and Saturday so she could get out for a little adult time.
After some sunbathing — and Neil noted, some extreme boy watching — they got smoothies together at one of the beach shops.
"Do you three have fights?" Sandy asked.
"We've had a couple, but not bad ones," he told her. "Mostly just high emotions."
"Do you remember their birthdays?" Sandy asked.
"Actually, now that you mention it, I don't know their birthdays," Neal admitted.
"You better find out," Jill told him with a laugh.
"You're probably right about that. I think I'll ask Sydney when Shayla's birthday is, and Shayla when Sydney's is, that way each will figure I already know theirs. What do you think?" Neil asked.
"I think you should just ask Shayla when both of theirs is and nix the sneaking. You're too big to sneak anyway," Sandy told him with a serious face.
"I don't see anything wrong with it," Jill told him, "but I don't think I could ever share a man with another woman, no matter how good a friend she was."
"They're not just friends, they're lovers," Sandy told her.
"I know that," Jill replied. "But if I was Sydney's lover I wouldn't share her with anyone either."
"But you aren't a lesbian," Sandy told her.
"How do you know?" Jill asked her. "I don't date anyone."
"That's because you're focused on soccer," Sandy fired back.
"That's true," Sandy admitted.
"I didn't notice any soccer balls in the hands of the boys you've been staring at today," Neil mused.
Jill opened her mouth in shock, and Sandy squealed with laughter.
"Neil!" Jill yelled.
"What? You're so obvious," Neil said blandly.
"Neil!" Jill screamed louder.
"You're so busted!" Sandy laughed.
"I saw you watching that volleyball game," he said to Sandy.
"I like volleyball," she snapped quickly.
"Yeah, but you weren't watching the ball," he told her.
"Meep!" Sandy squealed, and then put her hands over her mouth, blushing furiously.
They got back to the trike and got their pants back on over their bikinis and then their shirts and jackets. Set up to ride, helmets on, Neil pulled out of the parking area and into traffic, taking the coastline down for a while.
They were about six blocks away, and at a stoplight when he looked in his right mirror and saw a hand outside of the window, two cars back, holding a gun. The car was a blue Cougar, a classic he recognized. To the right was the parking lot entrance for a condo building. He turned and gunned the trike into the parking lot and half way through saw that the end was blocked with a brick wall. He spun the trike around and told the girls to get off and get behind the trike.
"Now! Don't argue! Move!" he snapped at them, and they bailed out and got down behind the back of the trike. Reaching between his legs he pressed both panels and took out the guns held inside. He didn't bring his other guns. He didn't think he would need them. He grabbed the four extra clips, stuffing them into his pockets.
Traffic moved on the street and the blue Cougar pulled into the parking lot heading straight for them. Neil got off the bike and started firing, focusing on the driver side first.
Bullets smashed into windshield and the Cougar came to a halt. The passenger opened his door and used it as a shield, popping up once to fire at Neil. Neil aimed for the door and sent his armor piercing bullets through the door. The man sprinted to the back of the car with a yell and a noticeable limp. Then he was running for the sidewalk still limping. Neil aimed carefully and fired. The man spun as the bullet took him in the left shoulder, but didn't fall and made the sidewalk heading for the corner.
* * *
Shayla ran for the front door the moment she heard the trike engine parking in front of their condo, followed closely by Sydney. They ran down the little wooden bridge to parking lot and then to the girls bringing them into protective hugs.
"Are you alright?" Shayla asked Sandy.
"Just scared," Sandy said quietly.
"Let's get you inside, both of you," and walked Sandy up the little wooden bridge to their front porch.
"I think Neil killed one of them," she heard Jill say behind her.
She looked back at Sydney, whose face was unreadable, but somehow she knew her wife was thinking the same thing she was, I wish he killed them both.
Once inside, Shayla got them to the kitchen, and up on the barstools at the counter. Then she fetched them each a coke, and some pie.
"I thought Neil was a Lord?" Sandy asked.
"He is," Jill told her.
"Then why was a Lord trying to shoot him?" Sandy asked.
"Those weren't Knights," Jill told her.
"Uh huh! I saw the back of the one that ran away. He was wearing a Knights patch," Sandy asserted.
Shayla shared a look with Sydney, and Jill didn't answer. Rubbing Sandy's shoulders and arms Shayla kiss her forehead.
"Where's Neil?" Sandy asked.
"He's outside on the phone," she answered. "He'll be in soon."
"Good," they both said together.
She got them both some ice cream. She didn't know what else to do. What did you do for kids after a gun battle?
Neil came in the door with his phone at his ear talking to someone, then he took it away and looked at his sisters, and said, "Mom wants to know if you want to go home."
"No," they said.
"We're alright," Jill told him.
"Yeah, we're alright," Sandy echoed.
"They say their fine mom," he said into the phone and then went back outside.
"Does he always talk on the phone outside?" Sandy asked.
"No," Sydney told her and rubbed Jill's arms and kissed her cheek. "I think he's talking to some of the club members, trying to find out who it was."
"Will he go after him when he finds out?" Sandy asked.
"I don't know sweetheart," Sydney told her.
"I hope he doesn't. At least not today," Sandy said and forked around her pie, not interested in eating it.
"Me too," Jill agreed.
They all were silent after that, and Shayla wasn't sure what to say or do. She supposed there was something she should be able to do, but couldn't bring anything to mind. She bought a Yahtzee and the Scrabble game today, but that didn't seem like the right choice of distractions. Movie? Music? Music sounded good so she went to the stereo and turned on the radio. Neil's song was playing and both of the girls made happy noises.
Soon both girls were talking about which songs on Neil's album they liked and which songs were alright, but not their favorites, and one they both agreed sucked — but don't tell Neil. And they were two teenage girls again, chatting away about their day at the beach, and the boys they saw, and Neil busting both of them so bad.
She shared a look with her wife and then just accepted it. They were fine now. It was over, and they were safe, and they felt safe.
Thank god for radio.
About fifteen minutes later, Neil came in saying, "Found him, he's at Doc Harry's," and then headed for the stairs.
"You aren't leaving are you Neil?" Sandy cried out, suddenly scared again.
"You aren't are you?" Jill called, and then they both left their stools and ran to him.
She never saw so many emotions on Neil's face before. They warred and fought, but as soon as the girls were hugging him, his face settled down into acceptance.
"No, not tonight. We have lasagna for dinner and I love lasagna."
"Me too."
"Me too."
Then they were fine once more and came back to their stools and continued chatting with her and Sydney.
Eventually the two of them began looking around and appraising the house and spotting the photos of her and Sydney together.
"Wow," Sandy said. "You're both so beautiful."<
br />
Jill didn't say anything, but she had an odd look of concentration in her eyes as she studied the images. She reminded Shayla of her big brother with those eyes.
Neil was sitting on the stairs making more phone calls, from the sound of it he was calling people back and telling them that he was needed here. Which he was, she decided. The violent change in the girls when they thought he was leaving, was proof enough.
