by Lake, Rae B.
“Fuck that, I have faith, but if he kills Ink, then Jazmine won’t finish this fucking tat.” She shows Ryder the huge unfinished tattoo on her side.
“Ha! Well, you won’t have to worry about me finishing it. You’ll be too busy taking care of your broken man to come in. Clean’s going to need all the help he can get after this, Maven.” Jazmine shoots her a wink, and the two women glare at each other before they burst into laughter. Wire is out there along with Keeley. Even Alex and Mikki came out to see what is going on.
“Alright, we don’t want anyone to get too fucked up here,” Ripper calls out. “You two don’t be dicks, tap the fuck out if you know you’ve fucking lost. Clean, that means you.”
“What the fuck!” Clean turns to look at his friend. “You of no faith, double-crossing piece of shit.” He turns back around and focuses on Ink.
Ripper laughs and looks over to Wire. Even though this was for fun, they would always defer to our leader to make sure shit was on the up and up.
“Seriously, don’t you two fucking kill each other. I don’t want anyone in the fucking hospital. You got it?”
Both Ink and Clean nod their heads.
Ripper stands on the side and gives them the signal to fight. I expected them to feel each other out for a second, but I should have known better.
Ink was used to killing someone in two minutes or less. There is no way he was waiting for Clean to do shit.
He rushes Clean and immediately lifts him off his feet and slams him to the floor. I hear Maven squeal, and I walk over to her. It’s just a game, but I’m sure it must be hard for her to see the father of her unborn child being thrown to the ground.
Clean won’t be taken out that easy though, he pulls Ink’s arm forward and slams his forehead into his, drawing first blood. Ink rears back, and Clean flip’s him, and now he’s over him. Ink blocks the oncoming blows from Clean, but his eye is still bleeding.
Ink does some move where he wraps Clean up with his legs and uses one arm to bend his body sideways, leaving his whole rib cage open. Ink swings his fist hard, and even from where I’m standing, I can hear Clean’s ribs break. He screams and tries to cover up, but Ink has him in a hold he can’t break free of.
I look at Jazmine, and I can see her face transforming to clear panic. She isn’t laughing anymore.
“Wire, stop them.” She orders.
I focus back on Ink, and his pupils are wide, and his face is completely relaxed. He isn’t playing anymore. Ink will kill Clean if they don’t stop them.
“It’s fine.”
“No, it’s not.” Jazmine’s screechy voice just barely reaches my ears as I see Clean try to tap but Ink moving to hit him so fast that he has to stop and try to protect himself.
Ink hit’s him again. This time a spurt of blood shoots out of Clean’s mouth. Clean roars in pain and, using all that brute force, manages to break out of the hold Ink has him in. He flips Ink on his back and pins one hand behind him, but that doesn’t deter Ink at all. He uses that momentum, twists his body in the opposite direction, and rolls over still under Clean. Ink uses his elbow to thrust the bone he broke in Clean’s rib further into his body. More blood comes out of his mouth, he leans over, and I can see Clean struggling to take a deep breath.
Another roar erupts in the crowd as Ink flips Clean over and shuffles to get the upper ground. Everyone is laughing and egging them on. They’re crazed, all of them. It’s almost identical to how the Spawns were acting. Maven’s hand is over her mouth, and she uses the other to hold onto me. It isn’t a joke any longer.
I look at Wire. He has to stop this, but instead, there’s a far off look on his face. He’s enjoying the mini-war going on in front of him. He isn’t going to stop this.
“Fuck this!” I rush into the circle just as Ripper tries to grab me and hold me back. I kick Ink with all my might to get him off of Clean, and I quickly grab Clean under the arms and yank him away.
“Oh, you pussy!” Red yells.
Ink rolls over the blood still pouring down his face from where Clean had headbutted him.
I had successfully gotten Clean out of trouble, but now the monster has me in his sights.
I wasn’t an idiot. I knew there was no way I would win against Ink in a one on one altercation. For me to win, I would have to shoot that big dangerous mother fucker. Of course, I wasn’t carrying, nor would I ever go against my brother.
A flash of long hair jumps into the small makeshift ring as I work to get Clean out and stay away from Ink.
“Siren.” I almost drop Clean when I see the woman step directly into Ink’s line of sight. His eyes jumped from me to her. The danger no longer me but the small woman in his space.
“Oh shit, we have a new fighter! That’s what I’m talking about!” Ripper hollers. Mike, one of the other prospects, laughs and steps in front of Clean, not even caring that his VP is being dragged away. Ripper, Red, Mike, Pope, Ryder, Alex, and all the other allies that happen to be there are laughing and hollering.
I look at Wire. His eyebrows furrowed. He isn’t laughing, but he doesn’t make a move to stop what was about to happen.
“Someone better come get their kitty before the monster rips her apart.” Topper shouts before he laughs and takes a drag of his smoke.
I get Clean into Maven’s hands before I rush back to the circle. Siren sees me out the corner of her eyes. She doesn’t say a word to me, but the look in her eyes is clear.
Stop.
I don’t know if I can watch Ink hit her. My need to protect her was strong even when I thought she was a broken person like me who needed help. Now that our relationship has taken another step, that need is becoming all-consuming.
I lock my muscles down. I know Ink is reactive. If I move in, he may see it as a threat and attack.
“Nico!” Jazmine screams, but Shepard holds onto her to keep her from running into the circle.
Ink doesn’t hear her.
My heart rate doubles as Ink lunges for Siren. She steps to the side quickly, using his bulky frame to flip him off balance. He lands on his back but quickly grabs her foot and tries to pull her down. Instead of going down, she falls into a full split and quickly twists her foot to kick him in the face.
The speed at which they fight each other is intimidating. It’s a dance of two monsters. He advances, but with every swing, she dodges and counters. She manages to knock him back down to his knee, where she hits him with an elbow to the face. All of her hits are connecting, but it’s not enough force to knock him out. She glances at me for a second, and I don’t have to ask what she’s going to do. The only way to put Ink down is to kill him. When he’s in this state, nothing will stop him. She hits him again, and his lip bursts open. Ink roars and raises his hand, locking it around Siren’s neck. She kicks her legs up and into his inner legs. They fall, but he doesn’t let her neck go.
If Ink is going to kill me, then that’s just what will happen if I jump in. I try again to move in. “Let them go!” Ripper puts me in a sleeper hold, I fight against him, but the more I do, the tighter he gets. I can’t breathe.
Jazmine isn’t there anymore, and I don’t understand why she would leave as I scan the crowd to look for her again, I see two people running out of the clubhouse. Jazmine and right next to her, the only other person who might be able to snap Ink out of this.
“Inkpop!” Angel screams over the people laughing.
Like someone yanking on the leash of a rabid dog, Ink’s head jerks up, and he looks at Angel. A look of confusion on his face.
“Inkpop, what are you doing? Stop it. Please, stop.” The little girl cries as she sees what her protector is doing.
Ink looks around. His eyes find Clean, lying on the floor in Maven’s arms, barely conscious. They go even wider when he looks down and sees Siren underneath him.
“Oh, fuck.” He lets go immediately and scrambles backward. “I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry!” Ink repeats.
“Aww boooo. Shit’s getti
ng good!” Ripper laughs before he turns to see Clean on the floor. “Well, shit, you’re fucked up. Come on. Let’s go.” Ripper helps Maven pick Clean up off the floor. I have to shake my head at the personality change. Ripper wasn’t the slightest bit concerned about Clean a few seconds ago.
The crowd began to disperse as Ink stays completely still on the ground. Jazmine tries to get close to him, but he just pulls away. After a few seconds, Ink turns to Wire. “Why didn’t you stop me?”
“Nobody tapped out.”
Ink looks at Siren and then backed at Wire, “I could have fucking killed her.”
“She decided to jump in with you. If she couldn’t handle it, she shouldn’t have done it. We’re bikers, and shit gets bloody sometimes.” He shrugs and turns. It’s only then that I realize Keeley isn’t there.
I watch as Maven and Clean make it into the clubhouse before I catch sight of the very back of Siren’s head as she walks into the clubhouse too. I push through the remaining crowd and rush in her direction. I catch her just as she makes her way to the stairs.
I grab her arm. Bad idea.
She uses her other hand to bend my fingers back hard and pushes me with all her might against the wall.
“Siren, it’s me.” I don’t fight her. Instead, I put my hands up, so she can see I’m not a threat.
“You? What the fuck is that supposed to mean, Mack?” She lets me go, but she doesn’t move back.
I drop my hands and take a step further into her space. She doesn’t move. “You know I won’t hurt you.”
“Do I? Do I know that? I thought I did. Then I come out to see what the celebration’s for only to see Ink about to kill that man. The only thing missing was the fucking glass box.” She yells in my face.
“I didn’t do this, Siren. I trimmed to get them to stop. How in the fuck is this my fault?” I screamed right back.
“No, you didn’t do it, and maybe you did try to get them to stop. But no one else did. These are the fucking people you associate with, the people you follow? How can I know you won’t hurt me? You’re friends don’t have the best moral character. You sitting back and not doing anything is just as bad as participating.” She takes a few steps back.
“I can get this bitches mouth fixed if you’d like? Seems you’ve got a broken model.” Topper laughs at the bar.
“Fuck off!” I snarl in his direction.
Siren looks at him for a second before turning back to look at me. “How long before they poison you too? How long before your laughing right along with them, Mack?”
I open my mouth to speak, but I can feel my tongue becoming tied even before the words come out.
Siren’s body relaxes slightly, and she raises a hand to stroke my face before she leaves me there and goes up to my room, leaving behind the craziness that is my clubhouse.
I do what I do best. I turn and study the room, and like always, no one pays any attention to me. Everything is back to business as usual. No one is even slightly upset about what just went down, rather what was allowed to go down. Watching one of our own almost beaten to death was on par with normal.
I look where Red is sitting, one of the club bunnies in the chair next to him. He pulls out a little packet from his pocket, lays the contents out across the girl’s chest, and slowly snorts all of it up his nose.
Alex and Ryder are off to the side, talking and laughing.
I feel like screaming at the top of my lungs and asking them what the fuck was wrong with them? It is a fucking travesty.
The Wings of Diablo MC has all we could ever want and then some. We live large and unbeatable, yet somewhere while we did all this, we lost our way.
I set my eyes on the large ornate doors of church and make my way toward them. I need to talk to Wire. This shit is all the way fucked.
When I get there, I hear talking coming from inside. Something that shouldn’t happen as the room is soundproofed inside. I touch the door, and it moves a little. It’s not closed all the way.
“Keeley, stop the fucking dramatics. No one fucking died. They were just letting off steam.” Wire says.
“Letting off steam? Dillon, are you fucking crazy? Ink went for the kill. He was going to kill Clean, and you were just going to let him.” Keeley’s voice is harsh and fast.
“Look, I wouldn’t have let it get that far.” I hear him sigh before he starts talking again. “You don’t understand Key. This is the world I live in. It’s fighting, blood, and anger. Clean knew what the fuck he was getting into.”
Keeley laughs once, “The world you live in! Since when? When did letting someone almost kill your best friend become your world? Dealing fucking drugs? When did we start on that chapter of life? No, that isn’t your world. It’s Rooster’s fucking world-”
A loud bang reverberates in the room. It sounds like a chair falling over.
“Keeley, watch your fucking mouth. This is my fucking club. I run it how I want to run it. Rooster is as much a president as I am. Don’t forget your place.”
“Or what, Dillon? Are you going to put me in my place? What are you going to do? Maybe they’ll convince you to let them run a train on me. Force drugs on me? Is that what you’re going to do?” Her voice shakes.
“Princess, just relax in -”
A loud smack echoes through the room.
Keeley’s voice is raw and full of emotion, “I don’t even know who you are anymore, Dillon.” I hear fast footsteps going in the opposite direction, and the other door on the inside of church opens and slams shut.
I wait a second before I knock on the door.
“What!”
I poke my head in. His face is red, where Keeley must have smacked him. “A word?” I ask, trying to keep respectful.
“Yeah, come on.”
I walk in and close the door behind me.
“What do you want?” Wire falls heavily into the president’s seat. I don’t have a place at the table, so I have no seat.
“We’re wrong.”
“What? Who’s wrong?” He looks at me, trying to decipher what I’m saying. He thinks I’m saying the wrong word.
“We’re wrong,” I repeat, but this time, I tap my fingers against the patch on my kutte, the one that lay right over my heart. Wings of Diablo.
He sees my fingers and puts two and two together. “Huh, you too. Mack, I’d think this is normal for you. Especially coming from the Ushers. We’ve never been afraid to get a little dirty. Why is this such a big deal now?”
“When needed. We got derby when needed.” I say through gritted teeth.
“We need it now!” Wire leans forward in the chair. “We need to get stronger! What do you think is going to happen. Our enemies are going to see us living good and just bypass us because we do charity? You’re delusional.”
I stand tall, “You’re blind.” I speak clearly, and Wire jumps from his seat.
“You better have fucked up that sentence, or we’re going to have a problem.” He growls at me.
I shake my head, “You’re blind. Rooster is using us. We don’t kneel them to be strong. We don’t kneel to become them to stay on tip.”
“Need to become them?” Wire asks in confirmation.
I nod once.
“I’m not making this club into anything more than what it needs to be. You have no say here, so step the fuck out of my space. Tell that mute, the next time she raises a hand to anyone in my club I’ll put her ass in the middle of the fucking forest and leave her there. You know that shit goes against the patch. Keep her in check, Mack, last warning.” He sits back down and waits for me to leave.
My blood boils in my veins. That mute saved his best friend's life and another one of his patch brothers, but his focus is on the fact she broke one of his precious rules. I turn my back on him and leave. I know there’s nothing I can do to get through to him. I’m with Keeley, though. As I leave, I look over my shoulder at the stranger wearing the president kutte. I don’t even know who that is anymore.
Siren’s POV
After the night of that ridiculous fight, things have been strange between Mack and me. I’m back to feeling alone, but that’s how I’ve always felt, so this isn’t anything new. It’s my fault for trusting in something more than what I was used to.
“Siren?” Mack calls my name before he comes into the room.
I turn to face him, and though he doesn’t say the words, I can see the remorse all over his face. He’s looked like this since that day.
“Do you want to goal with Keeley and the rest of the women?”
My brain races trying to figure out what he’s saying. If I didn’t know any better, it sounded like he was trying to ask me to go somewhere with the other women, but why would he do that? I’m nothing to them or him.
“Go somewhere?”
He clenches his jaw and nods his head.
“Why?”
“It’s a charity event. We throw one every year. It’s something I’m proud of. Something I wander you to see.”
Hope blossoms inside my chest, and even though I’d just told myself I wasn’t going to trust him or his club again, the fact that he wants me to see the charity event means a lot. He wants to show me the good. He wants me to know that not everything about his family is bad. He’s trying to impress me, and it’s working.
I take a step in his direction. “Is that normal? Why do you want me to go?”
“I want…” He bites his tongue and looks around the room, the muscle in his jaw twitching with annoyance. “Stay.” He looks back at me, and that one word has a million meanings.
“So I’m not just a pity case anymore?” I give him a small smile, and he quickly reaches out and grabs my hand. He pulls me close to him and holds me tightly against his body.
“Never.” He pulls my chin up and kisses me hard. All the angst and uncertainty over the past few days draining out of my body.
With my past, I never thought I’d react to a man the way that I do with Mack. It’s almost like we’re magnets, and no matter how much I try to stay away, I always end up right back with him.
