Unthinkable: The Blazers MC

by Paula Cox

  Tommy tilts his meaty head to the side as he asks, “He didn’t tell you?”

  “Tell me about what, Tommy? He said something about making a deal, but he didn’t give me the details.” My heart races as it comes together. I tug at Tommy’s arm until he stops walking. “Tell me he didn’t sell himself up to the Blazers. Please tell me he didn’t do that for me.”

  Tommy pulls himself away and looks back toward the ring. The fight, somehow, was still going on. I have no idea how Rev has kept it together this long, but he didn’t have much more time to go. Still, I need to know what deal with the devil he made to get to me.

  “Rev is a lone rider, Jenna. It’s all well and good until it isn’t anymore. Rev knew that he was going to eventually have to pay the price for not wearing a patch or some club’s colors. That kind of freedom comes with a price when you want something from the clubs.” He turns back to me, studying my face as he adds, “I don’t know what kind of deal he made with Vic or the Blazers, but when I got that message, it was clear that Vic was holding his end of the bargain. And if I didn’t help, he would end up dead. I’m not about to let that happen, even if it means helping that son-of-a-bitch out.”

  “Can we trust Vic?” I ask, “When we met him earlier, Rev said we couldn’t trust a guy like him.”

  “I know you’re new to this shit, but you can’t be joking with me right now. You should know by now that you don’t trust no one but yourself. Rev knew that. That’s why he rode alone to begin with. But if it was between Enrique beating the shit out of him until he skull was cracked in and Vic owning him in return for saving him, I’m gonna go with trusting Vic. For now.”

  We start out again, heading towards the men. Tommy calls out to one of them, but I interrupt him, “What should I... “ I struggle for the words. “What should I be doing? How can I help?” If I had to do what Tommy said and trust Vic, I was at least going to be part of the rescue mission.

  “You stay the fuck out of the way. Let the men do the real work. They don’t need you to distract them.” I nod and gulp back the lump in my throat. Tommy heads off towards the men as he points anxiously over at Rev’s flailing figure. I too try to see what was happening. The Red Dukes were screaming out Enrique’s name, chanting it like some cult worshipping their sick leader. Their feet were slamming on the ground so loudly I could feel it from here.

  For whatever reason, this all seems to make the small army in the parking lot even more eager to get in. They weren’t much to look at—about twenty or thirty guys sitting on various red, black, and silver motorcycles. They wore the one percenter patches on their vests and jackets. On the back of some bikes flew mini-flags in the Blazer colors of heather green and fire red. Their rags and bandanas tied around their faces all matched, giving them a look of tribal warriors.

  In their clutched hands are a variety of weapons. Some held long, old school style bats in both hands. Others stuck to planks of wood covered in jagged, dangling nails and screws—spikes pointed out. The men in the front have the deadlier stuff— spiked tire chains, bowing knives, metal pipe pieces, and the occasional unholstered gun.

  Vic himself was covered in a small arsenal. Over his shoulder is a sawed-off shotgun while he clutches what appears to be a vintage pistol. Of course, the Blazers wouldn’t want to risk him. It’s almost like he’s a general for an army in the 1700s. He’s here to lead the cavalry in the attack, but he isn’t going to be getting blood on his hands unless he made it to the end.

  A few minutes pass before Vic is ready to move on. After having heated words with Tommy out in the corner of the lot, he comes pounding towards the men and myself. They dismount and gather around him in a tight circle. I can’t see anything but boots, leather shoulders, and ducked heads. But over the roar of the crowd cheering Rev’s death, I can make out Vic’s instructions:

  “If you’re here, I picked you because I knew you could handle a job of this size. From Tommy’s count, there’s about fifty of them watching and maybe another ten in the shop. Some of those guys aren’t Red Dukes, so make sure you watch affiliations. The last thing we want is to start a turf war over civilian attacks. If they aren’t going after you, you don’t go after them.”

  “You don’t want us to kill these motherfuckers?” a man asks from the back. They all turn their heads toward Vic for clarification.

  “I want you to murder them. I want you to take them out without any mercy. But that’s not what we’re here for. When we take out Enrique, those guys are gonna have a shot of joining up with us. If they know what’s good for them, they’ll put down whatever weapons they’ve got and get behind us. For those guys, you don’t touch. The rest of them, the ones that try to mess with you, they’re fair game.”

  He sighs heavily, “What matters most is getting Rev out and taking down Enrique. For the Blazer who brings the rat bastard to me, I’m offering a bounty and a promotion.” That works. The men whisper amongst themselves as Vic tries to regain composure.

  “Are you ready? Are you ready to bring on some hell?” The men shout a loud, guttural yell that vibrates in my chest and sends chills down my spine. It’s the kind of yell that men must have given for years and years before—when they are off to war. All that’s missing is the drums and cannon fire. Instead, it’s replaced by the roar of motorcycles firing on all cylinders as a group of bikes stream towards the crowd still gathered around the ring. Their weapons are lifted high in the air, casting a strange shadow on the parking lot.

  I know I should stay back, or even run if I’m following Rev’s advice, but I can’t miss this. I follow Tommy as he runs towards the action. He looks over his shoulder at me as the first screams are heard, “Go back, Jenna! Don’t fucking get yourself killed!”

  “No! I’m not going back! I’m not leaving Rev behind.” I’m as firm as I can be. Rev has become my entire reason for... anything. He has lit a fire within me that I never even knew was there. Whether it was fate or just shit luck that brought us together, it didn’t matter now. I’m going with my gut, and I’m going to get my man.

  Tommy watches as I lap him in my heels and dress. I run head first into the chaotic scene of blood and carnage. The men on the motorcycles dominate. They chase after the few that dare to get in their way. Bats are thrown, and knives are stabbed into jackets and t-shirts. One of the riders is flipped backward off his bike that continues to spin and jerk forward until it falls into the crowd of men pummeling one another.

  The small group of women who stayed behind with their men are ducking behind a storage shed as they scream in horror. I should probably do the same, but instead, I take the long way around the back where there’s no one to see me. Around the corner, I’m better able to see the ring. Enrique’s gone, but Rev is there—laid out flat on the ground. His hand clutches his stab wound, still oozing a river of scarlet red.

  I slip my shoes off and hike up my already short skirt. Nothing is going to get in my way. In my head, I count to ten. It’s the only way I can force myself to go. At one, my bare feet take off like lightning shooting from the sky. I step on shards of broken glass, beer cans, and thrown food while I attempt to make a running leap onto the platform ring. I just make it, my legs dangling below me.

  The world stops for a second when I see him. There’s no sound, no smell, no danger. It’s just us two in the ring. His pale face slowly turns to mine—his green eyes fixating on me as I crawl to him in what feels like slow motion.

  “Rev... please don’t be... please...” I sob.

  “Jenna,” he somehow manages to growl through the pain, “I told you to get the hell out of here.”

  I place his head on my lap as I bend to kiss his purple lips. A drop of blood lingers in the corner, and I can taste the metallic bitterness of it as I press down. I whisper to him, “I’m not leaving you—not like this.”

  “They’ll kill you.”

  “No, Rev. No. The Blazers... they’re here. And it’s going to be okay. They’re going to win.” I look around for con
firmation, but I honestly can’t tell who is who in the fighting. I count the motorcycles still upright. It’s less than half, but that has to be a good sign. The Blazers have to be weeding out the ones on the ground.

  Suddenly, Rev yanks on my hand as hard as he can manage. “Jenna! Duck!”

  I press myself into his chest just in time to avoid Enrique’s tackle. He flies over us towards the other end of the ring. In his hand, he clutches the small knife he used earlier to gut Rev. He gears up to go again, but this time, I have no idea if it’s Rev or me he’s after.

  Either way, I’m not going to let him take Rev from me. I cover Rev with my entire body, forming a shield around him.

  I close my eyes and wait for the pain...

  Chapter Sixteen

  Rev

  Dammit! It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. I mean, I always imagined myself dying because of the shit I did for a living, but I figured I would go down in a blaze of glory, not because some bitch couldn’t get the courage to fight me like a man. Even as the light is fading and the whole world around me glows in a white, fuzzy haze, I still have the energy to be pissed off at Enrique for taking the easy way out.

  He’s all I can think about outside of her. Jenna comes to me as a vision at first. I see her the moment she walks through her brother’s apartment with her hair pulled back in a ponytail and an exhausted look on her face. I see her being pushed down on the couch in front of me by that asshole boyfriend who I decked out. I watch her dog on the back of my bike as she trembles on the way to my apartment, and my mouth waters remembering our first kiss and the first time I took her body on top of my dresser.

  Every moment with her flashes in an instant, each coming at me like a polaroid in front of me. The first time I saw her. Our first kiss. The first time I fucked her. And as they go by, one by one but somehow simultaneously, I see our last goodbye.

  My mind races. I ordered her to get the hell out of here. I wonder if she listened to me this time. I think she did. I think that’s what she was telling me moments ago—before I was sliced and diced in the gut. At least she won’t be here to see me like this—bleeding out in front of a crowd of fucking posers who have no idea what their fearless leader did to get the win.

  The men around me are loud. I honestly can’t believe that these guys are this excited for me to die. Whenever I’ve brought a guy to the brink or delivered him to my clients, I didn’t cheer. Even when they were the most obnoxious fuckers, I still didn’t celebrate them being handed off like that. While it didn’t eat me up much, I have some kind of morals.

  I force my eyes open. I want to see the sky again. I remember riding with Tommy a few years after I got my bike. We went on this camping trip in Wisconsin’s North Woods. I was still getting my feet wet then with what I could do on my bike, but there was nothing I loved more than whipping my head back to watch the sky from its highest point and race the clouds over the line of the winding highway. That is what heaven is for me.

  I must be close. My mouth has gone dry. My fingers are getting numb. Everything seems louder, yet softer all at the same time. And then there’s Jenna. She appears like an angel crawling towards me. She’s still wearing that dress... that black dress a size too small for her. God, I’d love to have her just one more time in that thing.

  She calls my name, begging me not to go. I can’t tell if she’s alive or real. She’s just a shadowy figure with a face that glows and hands that reach towards me. But when she touches me, when she places her hands on my body, I know she’s real. There’s no mistaking that electric sensation that shoots up through me and past the place where I was stabbed. She’s here. She’s back.

  With the last bit of strength I have, I growl at her for coming back. It’s shitty of me to do, but what was she doing here? Who let her back? Suddenly, it comes to me. I see a familiar face in the crowd, and I hear the roar of motorcycles closer than they should be. The fight was over, but a new one has started without me. Vic—it has to be him. It’s the only way that Jenna could be here with me without someone noticing her.

  Wait just a goddamn minute. If Vic’s here, where the fuck is Enrique? He couldn’t be dead. The guy is a fucking cockroach who could outlast just about anything. He survived me. He’ll always have that over me. I’m shocked he’s not back here, finishing me off in case Vic survives, but there’s no sign of him from the limited view I’ve got. Even with Jenna placing my head in her lap, I can’t see past the ropes along the boxing ring.

  As I stare out, I see Jenna’s shadow coming down over me. Goddammit, I told her... Her hair dangles and tickles along my neck and bare shoulders... But holy fuck am I glad to see her... She plants a kiss on me, one I really can’t give back to her... Even if I should be pissed...My lips part and I suck in the taste of her, but I struggle with making my mouth close down on hers—it’s the worst kiss I’ve ever had... It’s the last kiss I’ll ever have... But at least I can take this with me to the grave. I’m going to die in someone’s arms that actually fucking cares about me.

  I’m surprised to find a sudden need to get through to her how much I care about her, how my life has been transformed by her. I owe her that. This would be for nothing if I can’t be honest in the few moments I’ve got left. I go to say those three words that have been stuck in the back of my throat since I caught her serving drinks. But my eyes flash to the corner of the ring.

  Enrique.

  Fuck!

  I should’ve known this wasn’t over. It’s never over with him. I brace for it—for him to launch on me and finish the job—but instead of Enrique, it’s Jenna who tackles me. She presses her thin body around me, protecting my chest and head with her body. I can feel her scream better than I can hear it before Enrique charges.

  This is it. This is the moment I’ve been waiting for since I met her and made the decision to take her with me. Looking back to that day, I should’ve known that I would be stuck with her for better or for worse and that I’d be responsible for her. I’m not about to let her down now. She deserves much more than to die because of a piece of scum like me. Jenna has her whole life ahead of her, and I’m not about to let her waste it.

  With all of my strength, every last ounce of it, I push her away. My hips rise into the air followed by my chest. The pain races through me, causing my spine to tingle and throb. The side where Enrique got his little toy dagger in me feels as if it weighs the amount of a sack of bricks, but I tumble her off of me while Enrique rolls to avoid her. The knife in his hand reaches high in the air at my neck, but he misses me by inches.

  He lands hard on his shoulder, crying out in pain. Someone must have gotten him before now because he looks worse for wear than ever. His bruised body has small cuts and a bruise the size of a two-by-four. I’m going to take advantage of that. Using my legs, I hoist myself up and over to him, pinning the bad shoulder into the ground. Enrique screams and curses at me in Spanish. God, I’d love to know what he’s saying to me.

  The second arm is easier. He makes the mistake of trying to hit my wounded side with his fist, but I’m there faster. I use my knee to crush his wrist down, so he won’t be moving at all. That hand holds the knife, still pointed out in hopes of connecting with me again. I’m not going to let him make that mistake again.

  “Jenna!” I shout, but I’m not exactly sure if I’m actually speaking. The blood running through my mouth is stronger than ever. “Get it... Get the...” I’m seconds away from falling on him.

  “Tommy!” Jenna shouts as she crawls towards me on her hands. She reaches over Enrique’s hips towards the knife and manages to yank it out of his dirty claws. Like magic, Tommy, my cousin, appears. Where’d he come from? What was he doing with Vic’s guys?

  Without any instruction, he takes over for me by placing his weight on Enrique’s knees and using his bandana to quickly tie his wrists together above his head. Jenna holds the knife to his neck; her hands shake so much that the blade continues to vibrate into his skin. Still, she doesn’t flinch
as Tommy lands blow after blow to Enrique’s face. She keeps her dazzling blue eyes on him as his eyes roll back in his head and his face falls limp to the side. Tommy wipes his face with the sleeve of his flannel shirt and turns to her, nodding that it’s done. She places the knife in his hand and finally looks back at me, satisfied.

  For her, this was over. For me, it was ending. Taking Enrique out like that has spent the last life of me. But to save her was all worth it. My head grows heavy, and my eyes lose the ability to focus. Everything fades except for Jenna’s and Tommy’s shouts. Hands are placed on my body, but it’s hers I remember. Jenna’s fingers scan my face and trace my jaw. They run over my cheeks and along my closed eyes. And as everything goes black, one small tear drips on my lips.

  ***

  “Is he up yet?” Vic’s voice seems a million miles away from me, but yet, clear as ever. While I can’t see a thing, I can sense him leaning over my bed, staring at the beeping monitors that have annoyed me to death for the last few hours.