by April Lust
He stood up from the couch, using the arm for support. The sudden rise in elevation made his head pound furiously. He squinted and raised a hand to keep the light out of his eyes. Sunlight really was just the worst.
“Mornin’, Li,” Ace said, passing Lianna in the hallway.
Ace walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, pulling out a beer. He held it to his head for a few seconds, relishing the cool relief. Cracking it open, he gulped down half, hoping that would take the edge off of his crippling hangover.
“I do anything stupid last night?” he asked, seeing Lucky and Riley walk down the stairs.
“I was outside Fiona’s door all night,” Riley reminded him.
“Right, right.” Ace nodded as much as his headache would allow. “Who’s with her right now?”
“Diego,” Lucky answered.
“Don’t leave him too long, or he’ll get distracted by a pretty girl and wander off to follow her home,” Katie joked, walking into the kitchen to join them. “Where’s breakfast?” she asked, looking around for Smalls.
As though summoned, Smalls came hurrying into the kitchen. “Sorry,” he said, panting a little. “I was up late last night with Ace.”
“Did I do anything stupid?” he repeated.
“Besides how you treated Fiona?” Lucky muttered, low enough Ace couldn’t hear.
“No, nothin’,” Smalls said, though Ace noticed he didn’t seem to want to look his leader in the eye. “I’ll have breakfast in a jiff, everyone,” Smalls said loudly, beginning to pull out everything he needed.
“Okay, then,” Ace said slowly. He finished his beer and got up from the table. “I’ll be right back, so no one take all the hash browns before I get back.” He didn’t want to say it out loud, especially in front of Katie, but he had been restraining himself from going to see Fiona since he woke up, and he couldn’t contain the urge any longer.
“Wait!” Lucky cried, quickly moving to stand in front of him. “Where are you going?” She was supposed to keep Ace from finding out Fiona was missing for as long as she could, and she had a feeling Ace was going to go check on her now.
Ace, as well as everyone else, gave Lucky an odd look. “To the bathroom…” he lied.
“Oh, okay, then,” Lucky said lamely, stepping out of his way.
She watched him walk up the steps, her stomach sinking. She knew he wasn’t going to the bathroom, but there was nothing more she could do without raising suspicion. She sat down in between Smalls and Riley at the table, waiting for the inevitable.
“Where is she?” Ace roared, his voice reverberating through the house.
Lucky winced, hearing Ace’s heavy footsteps clatter down the steps.
“She’s gone!” he exclaimed.
“Who?” Smalls asked, bewildered.
“Fiona! Gone! How did this happen?” he asked when Diego came down the stairs. “Was she there when you checked on her when you two swapped?” Ace said, pointing at Riley and Diego.
The two men looked at each other. Neither of them wanted to tell their leader the truth: that Diego had seen Riley was missing from his post and had covered for him, only to catch Riley coming out of Lucky’s room an hour later.
“You didn’t check, did you?” Ace said flatly. “I can’t fucking believe this. Did you ever check on her?” he demanded, turning to Riley. “Through the whole night, did you ever open the door and see her?”
Riley shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Lucky spoke to her last night and said she was very tired. I did not want to disturb her.”
Lucky scrunched up her nose. She knew it would eventually roll around to her. She looked up to see Ace staring at her.
“Were you the last one to see her, then?” Ace asked.
Lucky glanced at Lianna, who was standing in the doorway just behind Ace. Technically, Lianna had been the last to see Fiona, but Lucky didn’t think Ace was looking for technicalities right now.
“Looks like,” Lucky said, a falsely bright smile on her face.
Ace continued to stare at her expectantly. “Well? Did something happen? Did she say anything?”
“Does it matter?” Katie muttered.
“What was that?” Ace said, turning to look at her.
“I said, does it matter? Wherever she is, you’re just going to go run off and get her, so does it really matter what happened or what she said?” Katie shrugged and flicked an invisible speck of lint off of her leg.
“Sorry, for a second there I thought you had something important to say,” Ace shot back. He looked at Lucky. He could tell she was holding something back. “Did something happen, or did she leave on her own?” he asked.
Lucky chewed her bottom lip. She figured enough time had passed that Fiona could have done what she needed to. “Both,” she admitted.
Ace’s brow gathered in confusion. “Both? What does that mean?”
“Fiona got a phone call from her brother, so she asked me to wait out in the hall, so I did, and then she came and got me and she told me that Alexei found her brother, and she was so scared,” Lucky blurted out, last night’s events spilling from her lips like a waterfall. “So I asked her what I could do and she…she wanted me to distract Riley so she could sneak out and go save her brother!” Tears began to form in Lucky’s eyes; she hated lying to everyone.
“What the fuck, Lucky?” Ace cried. “Why didn’t you come get me?”
“Well, after what you said to her, can you really blame her for thinking you didn’t want to get involved?” Lucky indignantly replied on Fiona’s behalf. “I tried to tell her you would do something, but she didn’t believe me.”
“So you just let her leave? I can’t even…” Ace took a deep breath and closed his eyes, trying to calm his fury. “Okay, where did she go?” he asked once he had control of himself.
“I don’t know,” Lucky said, biting her lip again. “Bobby came and picked her up.”
“What is this? The underground fuckin’ railroad?” Ace said exasperatedly. “Riley, go get the kid and bring him here.”
Riley nodded once and left, the sound of his motorcycle roaring down the road could be heard a few minutes later.
“If she’s gone to see Alexei, then I think it’s time we get our plan together,” Ace said.
“We don’t have the manpower for it,” Katie said.
“We can get it,” Ace fired at her.
“We are not going barreling into Alexei’s all because you’ve got a crush!” Katie said, staring Ace down as she leaned forward to rest her palms on the table. “We decided; we go in when we’re ready, and not a minute before.”
“Goddammit, Katie,” Ace snarled. “Are you really that jealous that you’re willing to let the girl die?”
Katie laughed in his face. “My god, get over yourself.”
“Enough!” Smalls shouted, standing up and flipping the long, heavy table on its side. Plates and silverware clattered sharply as they fell to the floor. “I have had it with the arguing in this gang! We’re supposed to be a family, for fuck’s sake! That’s why I joined,” Smalls said, emotion choking his voice. “I joined for my brother, and after he died, I stayed because this was his family, and now it’s mine. And you people are tearing it apart.” Smalls sniffled. He turned the table right side up and sat down, Diego gently patting his back.
No one said anything for several minutes. Finally, Ace cleared his throat. “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice raspy. “You’re right, Smalls. I haven’t been a good leader lately. But I gave Fiona my word, and I can’t go back on that—you deserve a leader whose word can be trusted.”
Ace was speaking to more than The Hell Brothers now. His words were also meant for Fiona. He had promised her he would keep her safe, and what had he done? Broken her heart and, likely, gotten her kidnapped and killed.
“But when I gave my word, I didn’t give it for all of us. I only gave it for me,” Ace continued, looking at his boots. “I can’t order you to help me with this as your lea
der. Instead, I’m asking for your help as your friend.” He raised his head to look at the members of The Hell Brothers.
“Of course we will help!” Smalls said passionately, several of the people in the kitchen nodding their agreement. Ace couldn’t help but notice Katie was not among them. “But we want to be together on it!”
“Sí,” Diego emphatically agreed. “Alexei killed Blake; he needs to pay. But we will be slaughtered if we cannot be together on this.”
A chorus of agreement rose up from the group.
“Katie?” Ace said, turning to her. “We could really use you.”
“Well, that much is obvious,” Katie drawled. “And I already told you, I have no problem going against Alexei. I’ve been bugging you about him since day one. I just want us to be prepared when we go in. You get the men and the plan together, and I’m down.”
Ace shot her a grateful smile. “Okay, then,” he said, clapping his hands together. “Lucky, when did Fiona leave?”
“About three hours ago.”
“And you have no idea where she went?”
Lucky shook her head, her pigtails flapping side to side. Just then the back door opened, and Riley appeared, one hand weighing heavily on Bobby’s shoulder.
“I brought the boy,” Riley said.
Bobby shifted from one foot to the other as he nervously looked around.
“Hey, Bobby,” Ace said. Bobby jerked his head up to look at Ace. “Look, I’m not mad, okay? I promise.”
Bobby didn’t look convinced.
“I just want to know where you took her,” Ace said, trying to make his voice as soothing as possible. He liked Bobby, but if he didn’t start talking of his own will, and soon, Ace was going to have to provide some motivation.
Lucky stood up, jostling Ace out of the way. He had to take a step back to avoid falling and he wondered why everyone seemed so pushy lately.
“It’s okay, honey. No one is going to hurt you here, I promise,” Lucky said, shooting a glare at Ace.
She had sensed Ace’s irritation and felt the need to take matters into her own hands before he did. It was a good thing, too, because with Lucky’s arms around him, Bobby suddenly felt much more at ease.
“She wanted to go home,” he said finally.
“Home?” Ace echoed. “Why would she want to go there?”
“If I was going to choose a place for my last stand, it’d be here,” Katie said from the corner.
“What? Why?” Ace asked.
“You wouldn’t pick here?” Katie said disbelievingly. “This is your home. You know it better than anyone else does. It’s where you belong. Why would you go anywhere else?”
Ace thought he would choose a military bunker for his last stand, but he supposed that wasn’t the point. Katie was right. Fiona had struggled her whole life to be able to afford a meager one-bedroom townhome. It was her proudest achievement, to be making it on her own, in spite of her past. She hadn’t let her family drag her down—not like he had.
Ace mentally cursed himself once again. He’d been no better than her family. She had come to him in her hour of need, and he had taken advantage of her. Now she’s in love with me, and I…I can’t give her what she needs, what she deserves, he brooded.
“All right, then we go to her house,” Ace said. “Riley, Lianna, you’re with me for the initial perimeter check. Smalls and Diego, I want eyes on Alexei. Head to his headquarters and—”
Lucky cleared her throat and stepped forward. “Alexei won’t be there,” she told him, almost as nervous as Bobby now.
“Why wouldn’t he…” He stopped himself before he wasted more time on stupid questions. What else aren’t people telling me? “Where is he?”
“Fiona said Niko was in Boston, so I guess headed back from there. She figured Alexei would be getting back around…now,” Lucky said, checking the time. It was almost one.
Ace stared at her. “You should have told me this to begin with,” he said, his voice low and dangerous.
“I promised Fiona I would buy her as much time as I could,” Lucky said, her eyes cold. “You’re not the only one who values their word.”
Ace held her gaze until she looked away. “Okay, same idea,” he said, addressing everyone, “but I want one extra person in each group. Katie? Wanna jump in on this?” he asked her.
“I’ll head to Alexei’s with Smalls and Diego,” she offered.
“Thanks,” Ace said. “That means Lucky, you’re with us.”
Lucky did a mock salute and walked out to go get her gear ready. They would all ride separately for this.
“All right, everyone, remember: we’re just doing recon,” Ace cautioned. “We’ll meet back here in an hour and talk options, so no one go doing anything heroic.”
“No worries of that here,” Katie muttered to herself.
Ten minutes later, the two groups were starting their bikes. Smalls duck-walked up next to Ace. “How come you didn’t tell them?” he asked Ace as he fastened his helmet.
“Tell them what?” Ace replied, pulling on his gloves.
“Why you really want to save Fiona. That it’s about more than just your word.”
Ace paused, confused. “What do you mean?”
Smalls rolled his eyes. “You only spent half of last night going on and on about her to me. I’m a lover, not a fighter, but even I was like, ‘shut up, man! If you love her so much, go tell her! Not me.’ But you did tell me. So how come you didn’t tell them?” he asked, nodding to the other members.
“I don’t remember any of that,” Ace finally said.
“Not much of a surprise there. You were pretty hammered. From what it seemed like, though, you said some things to her you maybe regret?”
Ace finished pulling on his gloves. “Yeah, maybe. So what?”
“They can tell you’re not being real with them,” Smalls said with a bluntness that was unusual for his normally timid personality.
Then again, Ace thought, it’s been an unusual day for all of us.
“That’s why they’re so mad,” Smalls continued. “Maybe if you told them what was really going on in your head, y’know, how you feel about Fiona, maybe they wouldn’t be so reluctant to help.”
“Smalls,” Ace said, starting his bike. “Whatever I said, I said when I was drunk. Listen to what I say when I’m sober.” Ace revved his engine and pulled away, cutting off Smalls’ reply.
“Let’s go!” Ace shouted over the noise of the engines.
He drove down the road, leading the way for the small group to Fiona’s house. He looked in his rearview mirror to see Smalls’ enormous back growing smaller and smaller.
It doesn’t matter what I said, or how I feel. That doesn’t change the fact that Fiona and I belong to separate worlds. Ace knew Fiona could never join The Hell Brothers, and he could never leave the gang without a leader. Whatever chemistry or feelings there were between them had to be set aside.
Ace parked his bike on the street behind Fiona’s house, but this time he kept it on the road instead of in Fiona’s neighbor’s garden. Lianna, Lucky, and Riley all pulled in behind him a second later. Ace held his finger up to his lips and then waved for them to move forward.
The four of them quickly scanned the surrounding area as they moved towards the house. Not seeing anyone, they came back to the rear entrance of the house, not wanting to be spotted by nosy neighbors. Ace walked up to knock on the door.
That’s when he saw the blood. There were several smears of it near the already opened door.
“No,” Ace whispered. “No!” He threw the door open and bolted inside.
“Ace, don’t!” Riley yelled, running in after him. “They could still be inside!”
Ace didn’t care. He needed to know if she was okay or not. “Fiona!” He cried her name repeatedly, ripping open door after door.
Riley followed Ace as he ran from room to room. The place was small, but completely destroyed. There were blood spatters everywhere. Things didn’t lo
ok good for Fiona.
“It’s all clear!” Riley called over his shoulder to the girls outside.
“Yeah, we know,” Lucky said, her head popping out of the bedroom. “We came in, like, right after you.”
The three members of The Hell Brothers walked down the hallway and into Fiona’s living room, where Ace was kneeling in front of a large pool of blood.
“Oh fuck,” Lucky whimpered. “That does not look good.” Riley put a comforting arm around her narrow shoulders and she turned her face into his chest.
