I put the bottles in the special bag I have for the ice cream that keeps it frozen so at least the wine gets chilled on the way back home. I’m not a fan of warm wine, though I know some people prefer it. I’ve never been one of them though, and honestly, I think those people are monsters for doing that to a great bottle of wine. But hey, that’s just me. And as for the rum, I put it in there so I don’t have to worry about dropping the damn bottle once I get home. Putting them both into the same bag works, even if I’ll be heating the rum up as soon as I’m ready to drink it.
On my way back home, I take the back roads because they are faster. I want to get home so I can dig into my ice cream.
When I’m driving up the mountain road, my phone rings. Reaching into my purse in the passenger seat, I grab it out, but I drop it in between my seat and the center console. Pinching my hand in there, I’m able to get to it but not before the caller hangs up. Shit.
Looking down to see who it was, I see Ice Man’s name light up on my screen. I’m so shocked that he’s called me and the feelings it has running through my system, that I don’t pay attention to the road. And that was a big mistake. Because the next thing I know, the mountainside is coming down around me. Rocks, mud, and trees slide down and head straight for me. The massive amounts of rain we had this past weekend must have loosened up the earth and caused a mudslide.
I have no time to react, not like there was anything I could do about it anyway. I’m on a mountain road, which means on one side of the road is the mountain and on the other is a steep cliff that goes down thousands of feet.
The force of everything coming down and hitting my car causes me to spin briefly. I scream as a tree crushes my hood. And then in slow motion, the front of my car tips over the cliff and suddenly I’m toppling over the mountainside, moving at the speed of light. I hear metal crushing and crunching, glass breaking, and the loud whooshing of air as I continue down sideways.
One of my tires catches on something, causing my car to flip on its side, which starts almost a somersault motion and there is nothing I can do but try to hold on as shrieking screams leave me, penetrating everything around me. I wonder if I’ll make it out of this alive or if someone will find me at the bottom of this mountain and have to call all of my loved ones and tell them of my demise.
Through all of this, I see all the people I’ve met in my life cross my mind. My parents, old teachers, people I knew from my childhood, customers, my friends at work, Angel, Torq, Bear, the other members of the Rough Riders. And finally, Ice Man.
Something crashes through the back of my car, lodging into the back of my seat. The impact causes me to fly forward, hitting my head on the steering wheel so hard, I can literally feel my brain hit the front of my skull. And then there is nothing. No pain, no thoughts, just nothing. I’m dead.
***
Ice Man
I look at the phone again, wondering if she’s ignoring my call on purpose, or if she’s out doing something with someone. Angel or Bear maybe? Or she could be working. No, that can’t be it. It’s too early for her to be working. Maybe she’s in the shower, or sleeping.
Torq comes walking out of the clubhouse with Rack and Reefer following behind him. It’s about time for us to leave. We set everything in motion last night, and if we don’t leave soon, we won’t have enough time to get all the things in order that we need to before shit goes down. But I was really hoping I’d get to talk to Amy before I left. I was up half the night thinking over everything that happened. And even though I don’t regret what happened, I do regret how it happened. I should have stayed and explained things to her in a calm manner so she understood I wasn’t rejecting her. I’m just not ready for a relationship. I’m not even certain I ever will be. But I enjoyed the time we spent together and I didn’t want that to end. At least not in a permanent sense.
Holding up my finger to let them know I’ll be just another minute, I dial her number again, hoping that she answers this time. But it goes straight to voice mail. She must have rejected the call. Fuck. This is worse than I thought.
I listen to her whole greeting, smiling when she cracks a joke about possibly not returning my call, it all depends on who I am or what I’m selling. And when the beep sounds, instead of hanging up, I figure I might as well leave her a message. Maybe hearing the sincerity in my voice will help her forgive me or at least give me the change to explain further.
“Hey, sweetheart. It’s me,” I say, pausing for a few seconds, then sighing. “I really fucked up and I’m sorry. I’d really like the chance to explain, and I’m really hoping you don’t delete this message before even listening to it…which I guess is a real possibility, but on the off chance that you’re still listening, let me just make a few things clear. First, I didn’t mean what I said to you. You are not and have never been a random woman to me. You are so much more. I feel like myself when I’m with you and I truly treasure that. You have become such a good friend to me, and I never want to lose you. And you were right, we do have something more going on between us. I feel everything that you feel, but I’m just not sure seeing where it leads is the right thing to do. Maybe I’m just being a pussy and afraid to get hurt again, or maybe I’m afraid I’ll hurt you unintentionally, I don’t know. But I never should have said those things to you and pushed you away. I owe you more than that and I really hope you call me back so we can talk.”
Turning to look at the guys, I know I need to end this. They are all waiting for me, so I end my message with this, “I’m getting ready to deal with some club business, so I won’t be able to answer for the next couple of hours or so, but when I’m done, I’m going to give you a call again and I really hope you pick up this time.” Before I can say anymore, but then again, not sure if there is any more I could say, the phone beeps at me telling me I’m out of time and my message is cut off. At least I got the main thing on there, and fuck, I hope she hears what I had to say and that she gives me the chance to fix this between us. One way or another, I need her in my life.
Stuffing the phone in my pocket, I head over to one of the vans. We’re going in quiet as to not sound an alarm that we’re there.
We aren’t one hundred percent sure how things are going to go, but we think we are prepared for all possibilities.
“You ready to do this?” Torq asks as I get into the van beside him.
“Yeah. Let’s get this shit done.”
It takes us a while to get there but that’s because we drove around for a bit, split up, and then each took a different route to an empty building near their clubhouse. I think it used to be a garage once upon a time, but it’s been long deserted now, and will work just fine for what we need. Especially hiding our vehicles from their eyes.
I send a quick text off to Bear to let him know we’re in place and will text again when we’re ready. He’s going to be on stand by and relaying any information we need to and from the cartel. Well, the people in the cartel who know what is actually going down.
Next, I send a message to G-spot to let him know we’re here. He’s staying back at our clubhouse to keep an ear on what is going on inside and will let us know if we have any problems. But the plan is to lure them out with the fake meeting and pick them off then. Thankfully, their clubhouse isn’t near anything populated.
We have some sticky bombs that will be attached to their bikes and vans. And Reefer will be set up on top of our building with a rifle, while one of the guys from the Arizona chapter will be set up on another. From what I hear, he’s almost as good a shot as Reefer, but as long as he doesn’t miss his mark, I don’t even care.
And the rest of us will be armed to the nines with guns, grenade launchers, and some even have throwing knives.
My phone pings, and for a second I wonder if it’s Amy, but that hope dies when I see G-spot’s name.
G: There has been no movement or talk since before you left. Not sure if that’s a good sign or not, but I’ll let you know as soon as they make a move.
&
nbsp; I start to get a bad feeling about this. It can’t be good that they’ve gone silent all of a sudden. They should be making last minute adjustments or getting ready to put their plan into action. So why aren’t they?
Of course, they could be doing all of that away from the room we have the bug in, but that doesn’t make much sense either. Not when all this time they’ve been talking where we can hear them. No, something isn’t right.
“Hey, guys, something’s going on,” I say to the guys.
“What do you mean?” One of the support club guys asks.
“I mean, we haven’t heard anything from them since right after the fake plan was planted. They’re up to something, I can feel it.”
And as if I conjured it all with my words, chaos breaks loose. It all happens so fast, yet in slow motion.
A window breaks in the main room off where we are and a minor explosion rattles the building.
“Fuck! They know we’re here,” Reefer yells, grabbing his rifle and heading out the door.
Another explosion hits outside, and another toward the back, but I’m not sure if it hit its mark on the building or not. Doesn’t matter. We need to get out of here before they bring it down on top of us. But when we start to move, bullets litter the walls, causing us all to drop down onto the floor.
“Shit,” Axe grunts. “I’m hit, but I’m good,” he says, and when I look over, I see a bullet grazed his arm. It’s bleeding, but not too bad.
I look around, doing inventory on everyone else, but I don’t know where everyone was when they hit us. Fuck, this is not good. But at least the men I can see are fine: Torq, Reefer, Axe, Crusher, and a few of the other guys that came with Torq.
“I need to get to the roof,” Reefer whispers loud enough I can hear him over the shit going on around us, but hopefully no one else can.
Nodding, I point to the back door, and then I look to Torq and Axe, and point to the front. They all nod, seeming to understand what we need to do.
We all aim our weapons and start to fire toward the front while Reefer crawls to a ladder that will take him up to the roof. I just hope they don’t have eyes up there or if they do, he can eliminate them before they take care of him.
As soon as he’s gone, we wait a few moments. And when we hear shouts from outside, yelling to get down, I know Reefer made it and he’s putting cover fire down.
“Let’s move,” I say, crawling toward the van where we have the explosives stashed. Crusher and Torq grab the box of explosives while I grab more ammo and the grenade launcher.
“You ready,” Torq asks, smiling. Sick bastard. He’s probably getting off on this. Not like I care, as long as we all make it out of this shit alive.
“Let’s do this shit,” I reply.
After that, a whole shitstorm ensues. But I don’t stop and think, I just act. We all bust out of the building, blowing shit up and shooting anyone who isn’t ours. Bullets fly past us, pieces of the earth and building fly, some hitting us, but we continue one.
Minutes tick by, men drop, and blood falls. Until everything goes quiet.
I stand in the middle of a war zone. The building we were in an hour ago is now a pile of rubble. Looking across the bricks, I search for Reefer. Last I knew, he was on the roof, and I don’t know if he made it down before the building fell.
Rushing over, I start to search, lifting bricks and wood, sifting through the carnage for my brother. And when I find him, I drop to my knees, pulling him free and scrambling to rouse him.
“Reefer, man. Wake up,” I say urgently.
Torq rushes over. I don’t know where he came from but that doesn’t matter. He’s alive.
“He all right?” Torq asks, standing over me and looking down at my fallen friend.
I search for a pulse when I get no answer from Reefer, and my head falls when I don’t find one. He’s gone. I don’t know if it happened before the building fell or after, but that’s not relevant. My brother is dead. Another friend killed by some pieces of shit and there was nothing I could do to save him.
“God dammit!” I yell, throwing bricks and anything I can get my hands on until I can no longer lift anything.
Rack appears by my side and puts his hand on my shoulder, but I shrug him off. Standing, I take one last look at my fallen brother before looking away. I can’t look at him anymore. I don’t want to see the proof staring me in the face, screaming my failure.
“Did we lose anyone else?” Rack asks, his voice quiet.
I hate that I don’t know the answer to that question, and I’m not even sure I have the strength to check. But somehow, I power through, searching and tallying up who we lost. It takes almost an hour to sort through the bodies scattered around the area.
We were able to find all of the bodies of our enemies. That’s the good news. The bad is that we lost more than a few of our own.
Out of the Lone Wolves, the only one who made it out alive was Tip. We lost both Joker and Chewy. Tip removes their cuts and folds them neatly and puts them into the van that G-spot brought for us since our others are useless.
From the Arizona chapter of the Rough Riders, we lost Rico. Chubs, Niner, and Smiley are injured, but they’ll live. Buzz removed Rico’s cut and put it with the others.
From the Reno chapter of the Rough Riders, we lost Deuce. And even though Torq disliked him and they fought all the time, I see his body shake with grief. Not only for his brother, but for everyone we lost today. And the burden of those losses weighs heavy on us all.
After loading up our dead, a few of the guys stay behind to clean up the mess. G-spot said he called in some favors and had two other vans brought in. And when they pull in, I’m both saddened and happy to see Ripper driving one and Cornroll in the other.
Back at the clubhouse, Torq, Rack, Crusher, Wheels, Buzz, and myself file into the chapel. Rack dials up Carlos in the cartel and tells him it’s over and that the situation has been handled. It’s done.
After hanging up with him, Torq calls up Bear. Putting him on speaker, we tell him in detail what happened and how much we lost. And even though he’s not here, I can hear the grief in his voice. It was like he knew we had bad news when we called because it was there from the beginning, but now it’s doubled because we confirmed his fear.
“It’s going to take a while to get over this loss, but I hope you all know I’ll be here for you all through it. Whatever you need, you call on me, ya hear me?” Bear says solemnly.
When we’re done, but before Torq hangs up the phone, Bear asks to speak to him privately. I hope everything is all right with Angel. He doesn’t need any more shit right now. None of us do.
I shake Buzz’s hand before he leaves, saying he needs to get back to his club and get everything together to put his brothers to rest.
When Torq comes back, he seems different. He’s in a hurry to leave, but when I ask what’s wrong, he says Angel just needs him home. I figure she knows a little about what we were doing here today and that she just needs him home so she can see for herself he’s safe. I get it because I’d feel the same way too.
“Go, brother. We’ll take care of the rest. Go be with your woman,” I tell him.
He pulls me in for a hug, but it seems different. I don’t know if it’s because of what happened today and us almost losing our lives, but he seems to be clinging to me. I wish I had the words for him to make this better for him, but fuck, I don’t even know how to make this better for myself.
Stepping back, there’s turmoil in his eyes, so much so that I can’t stand to look at him. I squeeze his shoulder and tell him to text me when he gets home before I head out of the chapel and into my office. Locking the door, I drop down into my chair and put my head in my hands. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve cried because I only need one finger to count them. It was when Kane died.
He was my best friend, my brother. It went beyond the club. And when he died, a piece of me died with him. I cried at the loss of that. And today, I feel that l
oss again. So many lives were lost today, spread out between three clubs. We banded together to fight a war that shouldn’t have been ours in the first place. But we fought it because we honor our word and our business deals. And what did we gain from it? Nothing worth losing a brother, that’s for damn sure.
Again I feel lost and like maybe this isn’t the path I should be on anymore. It’s the same way I’ve felt since losing Kane, but now it seems more real. I love all of my brothers, but being here just isn’t the same anymore. And now after this, I’m just not sure I’m cut out for this. Or at the very least, being president. There is too much shit that falls on my shoulders. And I can’t help but think that if someone else was leading, maybe all of this death wouldn’t have happened in the first place.
I can’t change the past, but I sure as shit can do something about the future. I just need to decide what the right thing to do is. And that might take some time.
Needing a little good in my life right about now, I pull out my phone and call one of the only good things in my world. Even though I may have ruined that too.
Pulling up Amy’s number, I hit dial and hear it ring once before going to voice mail again. There is no way she’s ignoring me. There has to be another explanation. Like her phone being dead. Yeah, that must be it.
“Hey Amy. I think your phone died,” I say, then I’m silent. What do I even say to her aside from what I already said on my other voice mail? I can’t really tell her what happened today. At least, not in detail. But maybe I can give her just enough that she’ll understand.
“Some bad shit went down today. I guess I’m having a hard time dealing with it. I really wish you’d pick up. I know just hearing your voice would make things better. Please, just call me back as soon as you can. I really need you right now.”
Hanging up, I toss the phone on my desk and grab a bottle of whiskey that was there from before I left with her a few nights ago. I was sitting in my office, feeling less defeated but no less conflicted. And I drank until I could no longer feel or even think about the shit that was going on. And that’s exactly what I plan to do tonight. Drink until I’m numb. Until I can’t see the dead bodies of my brothers, of my friends.
The Biker's Religion (Rough Riders MC Book 2) Page 17
