by London Casey
Miller nodded. “They might know something we don’t. Plus, we know they don’t like to get their nails dirty, right?”
Everyone laughed. Coast Road preferred to look tough and spend their days on the beach getting tans. It was odd to have a beach club, but they did have big guys and a way of earning cash.
“We tell them what happened at the fights,” Miller said. “They’ll spread it around. It’s no secret that Eight Under did what they did, but maybe the more they hear, the more they’ll get pissed off. We tell Coast Road to keep their eyes open and then we do our own research on the side.” Miller made a fist and slammed it against the table. “We will find these assholes and make sure they know not to fuck with us again.”
“Alive,” Gaige said. “I want the guy who did this alive.”
“Gaige,” Blaine said. “You can’t put that on us.”
“The best we fucking can,” Gaige said. “I made a promise to someone…”
“Pussy stays in the bedroom,” Shay said.
Gaige pointed to Shay. “If it wasn’t for that girl who took those bullets we would have been burying Blaine.” Gaige let that sink in and then slowly turned his head and looked at Blaine. “Get it?”
“Yeah, bro, yeah,” Blaine said. “Gaige is right. Those assholes had us pegged. Right in the middle of the fight like that. He shot that poor girl. Before I could even get to her and show her what it’s like to be with a real man.”
“Okay,” Miller said. “We approach the situation with a plan to kidnap. I don’t care right now how much blood we spill of others in Eight Under. But the shooters, take them alive.”
Miller looked around the table and then stood up.
The meeting was over.
The table cleared out and Gaige went to the bar for a drink. He had a shot and then took out a smoke. Down the hall Emily was tucked into his bed. She was safe there. Inside, Gaige had no real idea how he was going to find this Max guy and take him out. He couldn’t allow Emily to live in fear and look over her shoulder all the time. She wasn’t even safe at work anymore.
“You are deep in thought,” Nate said as he sat next to Gaige.
“Fucking deep,” Gaige said. “Too fucking deep, maybe.”
“Women will do that to you, man.”
“Yeah. I keep telling myself that Blaine has the right idea in life.”
“No. Blaine is a fucked up guy with a big heart. You don’t want to be Blaine.”
Gaige laughed. “Good point. You good with what we talked about in the meeting?”
“Maybe I won’t go,” Nate said.
“Like fuck,” Gaige said. “We need you there man. You’re the one who could really rattle their chains, right? They take one look at you and it means business.”
“Or bullets,” Nate said.
“They won’t draw on us,” Gaige said. “You have to be there.”
Nate slowly nodded. “Yeah, okay. I’ll be there.”
Miller approached Gaige and Nate and put his arms around both of them. “We’re suiting up within the hour. I want to do this today. I’m sick of waiting.”
“Got it,” Gaige said.
Miller walked away and Gaige stood.
“I hope this fucking works,” Nate said. “Too much going on right now. I like it calm and quiet.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll get it. I’m going to get Emily. She’s coming with us.”
“The girl? Seriously?”
“Yes,” Gaige said. “Let them see the look on Emily’s face when we say what Eight Under did. Plus, I don’t want her alone if I can help it.”
“Bigger problems?” Nate asked.
“She has an ex threatening to kill her. Some fucking biker. You heard what happened with the hotel and Blaine, right?”
“Yeah. That poor woman.”
Gaige laughed. “This Max guy is fucked in the head. He needs a bullet to even things out.”
Gaige walked to his room and the second he saw Emily, his heart swelled. She was the peace in the middle of the hell all around him.
“Hey, beautiful,” Gaige said.
“How did your meeting go?”
“We have business to take care of,” Gaige said.
“Are you leaving?”
Gaige nodded. “You’re coming with us though.”
“I’m… what?”
“I need you to meet these guys.”
“What guys?”
“Another crew. Bunch of pussies if you ask me, but they have dealings with the Eight Under MC. They can help us find the guy who shot your friend. But I need you there, for sympathy.”
Emily moved toward Gaige, her face pale. “What if something happens?”
“Nothing is going to happen,” Gaige said. “I’ll protect you. You know that.”
“I know. I trust you.”
“That’s right. You fucking trust me. Now trust that we’re going to meet these assholes and they’ll help us find the other assholes.”
“Okay,” Emily said.
Gaige gently touched Emily’s face. His fingers caressed her cheeks. “Just so fucking perfect.”
Gaige kissed Emily. He meant to kiss her once, but that was impossible to do. Emily’s lips were divine and her tongue was slippery and sultry. As they kissed, Gaige pressed himself against Emily, showing her what she was doing to him.
A knock at the door ended the kiss.
“Bro, time to fly,” Blaine called.
“Got it,” Gaige yelled back. He looked at Emily. “Fuck.”
“Fuck.”
Outside, Gaige gave Emily his helmet and they got on the motorcycle together. Miller rode first, Blaine next to him. Gaige was in the middle as Nate, Griffin, and Shay rode in a trio behind Gaige.
The six motorcycles growled through the streets, calling attention. Gaige knew it made a lot of people uneasy to see so many motorcycles at once. In the past, problems within the MC’s have spilled onto Main Street, but Back Down Devil had done their best to ensure those kinds of situations were rare.
At the end of a pier, the motorcycles all pulled up into a line. Standing just a few yards away was a small group of guys. Three weren’t wearing shirts, two were loose muscle shirts, all for the purpose of showing off the steroid aided muscles the crew of Coast Road MC possessed.
Gaige hated these fucking guys. They preyed on drugs and women on the beach.
Miller took the lead and shook hands with the leader of the other crew.
“Lenny, good to see you,” Miller said.
Lenny’s aged, but still large, muscles flexed as he shook Miller’s hand. “Are we going to keep this quiet?”
“My guys are fine,” Miller said. “I think we share common ground.”
Gaige stepped next to Miller, holding Emily’s hand. She stayed close to Gaige. On Miller’s left, Nate stepped up, his hands balled into fists. He eyed down Mutty, the second in charge of the crew. He had no shirt on and was ripped with muscle.
“Looking at something?” Mutty asked.
“Nice tits,” Nate said. “I bet your boyfriend loves sliding his cock between them.”
Mutty charged at Nate, head butting him.
“Oh, fuck,” Gaige said.
This was their way of proving respect. There was only one true way to work things out.
Nate touched his face and his bloody lip. Mutty flexed his massive biceps and smiled.
“Want to do this?” he asked.
Nate made a fist and walked toward Mutty. Mutty threw a fist, but Nate saw it coming. He ducked and punched Mutty in the gut. He cried out and hunched over, reaching for Nate. Nate took a handful of Mutty’s hair and came across with another fist. Blood sprayed from Mutty’s face as he spun around and went down to one knee.
Gaige whistled and Emily gripped his hand tighter. He looked at her and nodded. “It’s okay, beautiful. They’re just working some things out.”
Mutty got back to his feet and jumped at Nate. Mutty’s two hands went around Nate’s throat.
/> “Roid rage,” Gaige called out. “Be careful.”
Miller, Blaine, Shay, and Griffin laughed.
Nate slammed his head forward and smashed Mutty’s nose. Mutty stumbled back but threw a quick fist, connecting with Nate’s face. Nate’s nose opened, but it still didn’t deter Nate. He was right back with two more heavy fists, sending Mutty back. Nate then wound up a big punch and hit Mutty in the chest. When Mutty spun and went down to one knee this time, the fight was over.
“Okay, okay,” Miller said. “I think we’ve made our points.”
Nate shook his hand and backed up. When Mutty stood there were deep red imprints of Nate’s rings on his chest.
“Aw, come on,” Blaine said, “I want to fight someone.”
Another big guy stepped forward and cracked his knuckles.
Lenny put a hand out and stopped it from happening. “Cool it, Cres. No more fists. We need to talk.”
Miller took off his sunglasses. “We need to find Eight Under. Your guys have a problem with them, so do we.”
“Why would we want to help you?” Lenny asked.
“Because we have the balls to do what you can’t,” Gaige said. “I need to find them. I need them alive.”
“Which one?” Lenny asked.
“There was a shooting meant for us,” Miller said. “Killed the best friend of our girl over there. Tragic. Her father is Mr. Strokner. Know that name?”
“Fuck,” Lenny said. He looked at Emily. “I’m sorry about your friend.”
“And you’ll keep being sorry if this doesn’t end,” Gaige said. “Strokner is going crew to crew, shaking shit up.”
“We weren’t there,” Lenny said.
“Strokner won’t believe you,” Miller said. “We know you’re out looking. All we’re saying is to just keep your eyes open and give us a call when you see something.”
Lenny looked left and then right. “Yeah, okay, we’re looking. Pretty shitty what they did to one of my guys’ woman. Kind of hoping I can run a couple of them down for payback.”
“Perfect,” Miller said. “You see them and you call. We’ll come and collect and you run down whoever you want.”
“After we get our guys,” Gaige said. “I need them alive.”
“I heard you the first time,” Lenny said.
“Yeah, well fuck you,” Gaige said. “Just making sure you idiots can listen.”
The big men all stepped forward. Gaige opened his leather cut and showed his gun.
“Whoa, whoa,” Lenny said.
“It’s all good,” Miller said. “All good.”
“I get the pain of loss,” Lenny said, looking at Gaige and Emily. “But you can’t let it cloud your mind. We’ll be in touch.”
“These guys are fucking pricks,” Gaige said. “Skip the surf for a few days and find them.”
Mutty pointed at Gaige, his eyes on fire. Gaige wished for something to happen. He would love to take on Mutty, hand to hand, and prove that steroid muscles weren’t worth shit compared to real fists.
Before anything could escalate, Lenny yelled and dropped to his knees. Gaige turned his head and saw two motorcycles and a SUV rolling by. He saw the guns a second before the bullets starting flying. He wrapped his arms around Emily and had her on the ground in less than a second. Gaige heard the return gunfire and saw Nate standing tall, shooting back.
“Stay down,” Gaige said to Emily.
He jumped up and pulled out his gun, but the wasn’t able to take a shot as the motorcycles and SUV was already speeding away.
“Motherfuckers,” Gaige growled.
“What the fuck?” Mutt yelled.
“Eight Under,” Nate said.
“We have to do this,” Miller said.
The crew ran to their motorcycles. Gaige rushed back to Emily and helped her up. He looked her dead in the eyes and nodded. Emily nodded back, acknowledging what needed to happen next.
She was in for one hell of a ride…
eighteen.
The six motorcycles sped down the street. Gaige, Blaine, and Nate worked their magic, cutting in and out of traffic, across lanes when need be, cutting off other vehicles without fear. Gaige had a burning sense of guilt knowing that Emily was in grave danger, but there was nothing he could do about that now. They needed to get to end this.
At the next intersection, the other motorcycles cut to the right and at the last possible second, the SUV went left.
“Fuck,” Gaige yelled.
Back Down Devil went to the right. They could chase down the other motorcycles. This could easily became a hostage situation. Gaige could hold these assholes until the shooter came forward.
They were able to get within reach of the other motorcycles. Gaige wanted to smash into one of the bikes, but he had to think of Emily. So he had to hang back a little and let Nate and Blaine take care of the dirty work. Blaine got up alongside one of the motorcycles and the rider pulled his gun. Blaine did the same.
“Shit,” Gaige said.
Gaige pulled out his gun and shot the back tire of one of the motorcycles. It was instant chaos. The tail of the motorcycle started to kick left to right. The speed was decreased and Gaige hit his brakes. Nate and Blaine looked back and the other motorcycle took off.
The guy with the flat tire tried to take a sharp left and he dropped his motorcycle. He slid to the side of the road and Back Down Devil officially had someone from Eight Under.
Gaige came to a stop and went after the guy. The motorcycle was on his leg. He reached for his gun and Gaige took a shot, hitting the guy in his hand. He dropped his gun and screamed as blood sprayed everywhere.
“Check him,” Gaige ordered Nate and Blaine. “Maybe he’s the one we want.”
Miller, Shay, and Griffin all pulled up.
Nate kicked the helmet and the guy screamed again.
“Don’t kill him, bro,” Blaine said.
Blaine crouched down and pulled the helmet off the biker. His thick black hair and facial hair made it obvious he wasn’t the one who killed Emily’s friend.
“Fuck,” Gaige said. “Get the motorcycle off him.”
Nate lifted the motorcycle and then pushed it to the side. The rider started to scramble back, but Gaige and Blaine had two guns on him.
“Okay, okay,” the guy said. “I’m not going to move.”
“Fucking right,” Gaige said. “Where’s the rest of them?”
The guy shook his head. “It was nothing. Just a warning.”
“More bullets?” Nate asked. “That’s a warning?”
“I wasn’t there for what happened,” the guy said. “You fucking killed our men.”
“I’ll fucking kill you,” Gaige said and stepped forward.
The rider cringed and put a hand out. “Okay. Okay. You want Vinny, okay? He was the one who got that whole thing together. He shot.”
“You rat out your crew that fast?” Blaine asked. “What a piece of shit.”
“I’m not ratting a thing,” the guy said. “Just sharing a name.”
“Stand the fuck up,” Gaige ordered. He pulled at the guy’s shirt and brought him to his feet. “Look me in the fucking eyes and tell me where this guy is.”
“I don’t know.”
Gaige sighed. “I’ll ask again. I’ll pretend falling fucked up your head. Where the fuck is Vinny?”
“I… I forget. I hit my head.”
Gaige curled his lip. From behind, Nate swung a fist and punched the guy. He crashed into Gaige and cried out in pain. Gaige grabbed the guy by the throat and kept him standing.
“I’m going to fucking kill you right here,” Gaige said. “Unless you tell me…”
“We got company!” Shay cried out.
Gaige looked and saw the SUV flying toward them. He pushed the rider away and began to shoot. They all shot at the SUV even as the SUV shot back at them. Emily did the right thing by dropping behind Gaige’s motorcycle. Within seconds, the SUV was gone down the street, tires screaming as it made a ha
rd left.
“Oh, fuck,” Blaine said, pointing to the ground.
“What?” Gaige asked.
He turned and couldn’t believe what he saw. The rider was shot at least eight times. A bullet in his forehead, and several more down his body.
“They weren’t shooting at us,” Miller said. “They were killing one of their own to keep him quiet.”
“Jesus Christ,” Shay said. “These guys are sick.”
“No,” Gaige said, “they’re fucking dead. He looked at Miller. We have a name now. Vinny. I want him alive.”
“We’ll get him,” Miller said. “Better take care of your girl.”
Gaige turned and saw Emily huddled next to the motorcycle, hugging her legs, staring at the dead body.
“Move this mess further back,” Miller said to Nate and Blaine. “Let’s get this out of sight and then get the hell out of here.”
Gaige dropped to one knee. “Emily, it’s okay.”
Emily shook her head. “I saw… the back of his head… it exploded…”
“It’s okay,” Gaige said. “You’re safe with me. Come on, stand up for me.”
Gaige helped Emily to her feet. She was shaking. She looked at Gaige as she was ready to burst into tears.
“This is life, beautiful,” Gaige said. “I can’t fucking control it. I can only protect those in it that I care about. That I love.”
Emily slid her arms around Gaige and hugged him.
“Bro, we have to get out of here,” Blaine said. “I know it’s touchy…”
Gaige nodded. “We’re ready.”
Everyone got back on their motorcycles and peeled away from the scene of the crime. They rode back down to where they had their meeting with the Coast Road crew. Of course, those guys were all gone, obviously afraid to get involved with any bullshit. It pissed Gaige off but he kept his sights focused. He needed to get Emily back to the clubhouse and get her to feel safe.
When they pulled into the compound lot, Gaige found Chief Jerry standing at his cruiser, a cigarette hanging from his mouth.
When Gaige stepped off his motorcycle he pointed to Blaine and Nate. “I need a favor.”
“Anything, bro,” Blaine said.
“Take Emily inside to the bar. Get her a drink. We’ll be right in.”
Blaine looked at the chief and shook his head. “This guy needs to mind his own fucking business.”
