Trusting Nicole

by Muriel Garcia

“The only bang that will happen is a bullet in your head if you help us.”

  “That’s all I deserve, they’ve made me do horrible things.” he says sadly, and strangely, I want to believe that he’s a good guy.

  “Just untie at least one of our hands or loosen the binds, we’ll manage.” I say under my breath, hoping the others won’t see us talking.

  Greg yelps and kneels down, reaching between the two chairs and untying each one of our hands. “Fucking bitch!” he yells before I hear him smack Nicole. I see red. He might be on our side, but I want to fucking kill him for hurting her again.

  “What’s going on here?” Slider yells walking over to us. I can’t help but chuckle at his change in attitude. His demeanor is constantly changing it’s actually funny to see, he’s so unsure of himself one minute and thinks he’s God the next. He’s so confident that he’s going to end all of us, that it’s only a matter of minutes before his friends call him to say that they ended the Last Hangman, but there’s not much ten men can do against over a hundred waiting for them at the meeting point.

  “What’s so funny, loverboy?” Slider comes over to us.

  “Nothing. Just thinking about your face when we get out of this alive.”

  “That’s not gonna happen. As soon as my men call me to tell me the job is done, you two are dead.”

  “We had a fucking deal. You have to let him go.” Nicole yells.

  “That deal ended when he tried to screw me over and free you.”

  “You’re going to regret the day you were born.” she tells him calmly, squeezing my fingers.

  “You should have been back handed a little bit more, maybe you wouldn’t open your fucking mouth so much. You’re in no position to talk. I could just end you and nobody could do anything about it. Not even your loverboy.”

  “But you won’t, because you’re chicken shit. You’re not capable of anything. You’re all talk and no bite. You don’t deserve to live. You are less than scum, that’s all you are and will ever be. Your brother deserved what happened to him, he was just as psycho as you. It was good to see the life slip away from his body. He tried to call for help you know, but no sound came from his lips, probably because I had hit one of his lungs. Who knows what damage I did, I emptied the fucking clip into his body. I hope to God I get to do the same with you or maybe I should tie you up and slice up your body, beat you up and cut off every single one of your limbs.” she tells him with her voice void of any emotion. She sounds like me and I hate to hear it. I hate to hear that she is so used to violence that talking about things like this doesn’t freak her out.

  “Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” he yells over and over, holding his head between his hands whilst pulling on his hair. “You’re going to pay for that!” he yells.

  “I don’t think so.” Nicole says calmly.

  “Oh, really? And why, Princess.” He spits at Nicole.

  “See, it’s all been a trap. Do you really think I would willingly tell you where my friends and family are hiding if we didn’t have a plan?” The sarcasm lacing her voice makes me smile, I fucking love her. I can picture the expression on her face as she deadpans.

  “What?” Slider yells.

  “Yes. No one was killed in the blast and only half of them were at the warehouse, do you think ten of your men can do anything against a hundred?”

  “Where are the others?” He yells at her.

  “Right behind you.” I hear Gabe say.

  CHAPTER 27

  Nicole

  I sigh with relief when I see my brothers.

  “Down!” I whisper loudly and start to move to the side to make him understand what I’m up to. We both lean over the sides of our chairs so we fall onto our sides, avoiding the bullets that fly through the air. The front door bursts open and bullets start flying. I’m on the ground with Jase but unfortunately, Slider is lying on the ground too. I manage to free my other hand and help Jase. He looks barely conscious and in extreme pain, no wonder considering all the torture he’s been put through. I take in the extent of the damage, it’s breaking my heart.

  “It’s going to be okay.” I kiss his swollen lips and pull off my flannel shirt and wrap it around his hand. It’s not bleeding as much anymore but I don’t want it to get any worse.

  “Thank God you had a plan.” He chuckles and groans in pain.

  “I always do.” I smile softly. “Please don’t die, I have to do something quickly, I’ll be right back.” I kiss him softly as the gunfire ceases. All of the Disciples are on the ground, dead. All of them besides Slider. He tries to crawl away to hide, but I see him and grab the gun he dropped under our chairs.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” I ask and shoot him once in his knee.

  He yells in pain and turns around. “Of course you have a gun. Go on, shoot me! I fucking dare you!”

  “All in due time.” I smirk and circle him. “I want my fun with you, after all, that’s what you deserve.”

  “You won’t be able to handle a second death on your conscience.” He snarls.

  “You think? I mean, I’ve been able to live for two years without your brother’s death bothering me.” I shrug.

  “Heartless bitch,” he spits out.

  “Yeah, maybe I am but at least I’ll walk out of here alive, can’t say the same for everybody else though. All your men are dead and you’re about to join them. How do you feel?”

  “Fuck you!” he yells.

  “See, we told you we would leave this warehouse alive, we always keep our promises.” I chuckle. “You should have killed me when you had the chance, you coward. You don’t have the balls to be in an MC let alone be the president of one, you don’t get to call yourself an outlaw. All you do is hide behind others, spouting your orders without getting your hands dirty.”

  “That’s what any self-respecting Prez does.”

  “See, I remember Ant beating one or two of your friends to a pulp with his bare hands, he didn’t ask anyone else to do it. Maybe you’ve got a wrong idea of what a Prez is supposed to be. But oh well, it’s not like you’ll ever be one again.”

  “I hope you die of a slow painful death, Bitch.” Slider snarls.

  “Like wise.” I smirk and shoot out his other knee, he screams in pain. “Scream all you want, come on, let me hear you scream. Nobody on this earth cares about you. You don’t deserve to live. Say hi to your brother and your parents for me.” I aim at his chest and empty the clip, but save the last one for his head. I shoot him right between his eyes.

  Someone walks behind me and lowers the gun before taking it from my hand. “It’s over, Nic.” Ant says and hugs me. “You did good.”

  “You think?” I chuckle softly and turn around to hug him back.

  “If you had a dick you’d be patched in right away.” I can’t help but laugh.

  “Damn it! You always have to burst my bubble.”

  “That’s what I’m here for.” He kisses my head and walks me back over to Gabe.

  “Had you not shot that fucker I’d have beaten him for ever thinking of hurting you,” Gabe says as he pulls me in for a hug.

  “Alright, enough with the hugging, I need to see Jase.” I smile.

  “He’s going to need it.” Ant sighs and points at Jase leaning over a body. I walk closer and gasp when I realize it’s Sergei.

  CHAPTER 28

  Jason

  As Nicole takes care of Slider, I crawl over to Sergei who’s lying on the floor with Nikolai tending to him. Someone managed to hit him in the chest and he’s bleeding out fast.

  “It’s my time.” I hear Sergei tell Nikolai, stopping him from calling for help.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Da. Is Jase okay?” I smile softly hearing him ask about me.

  “I’ll live.” I say and lean over him.

  “What did he do to you, Son?” He asks, coughing up blood.

  “Don’t talk. It’s going to be okay,” I say, knowing damn well it’s not. Sergei and I might no
t have always seen eye to eye but he was the only one I had growing up and even if he did do some fucked up things, he doesn’t deserve this.

  “I need to tell you something.” His thick Russian accent is getting weaker.

  “What?”

  “You deserve to know the truth about your parents. Go to my safe in my office and you’ll find the entire truth, Son.”

  “What are you talking about?” I look at him in confusion but he breaks into a coughing fit, blood pours out of his mouth.

  “Mine is the face you saw that day, Son. I’m sorry,” he whispers before a fit takes hold of him. I look at him, feeling helpless as he chokes on his own blood. There’s nothing I can do and it’s killing me. He reaches for my hand and squeezes it. “I’m so sorry, I hope you can forgive me.” Are the last words he’ll ever say as a second later, he takes his last breath.

  I watch the man who raised me die in front of me. His confession replaying over and over in my head. I don’t know what he’s talking about. All I know is that he changed my life, for better or worse I’m not sure, but I owe him my life. I wouldn’t have survived if he hadn’t taken me from my parents’ house.

  I look at his lifeless body and think about what he said. Mine is the face you saw that day. It hits me. He’s the man who shot my parents. He’s the reason why I’m an orphan. He’s the reason I’m all alone in this world. I rest his hand over his chest.

  Instantly the man I once knew becomes a stranger. The life I once knew becomes my very own nightmare. I became the man that I was loathing all these years. I’m no better than him.

  I hear a couple of gun shots, but I’m unable to take my eyes away from Sergei’s dead body, wondering what Nicole ever saw in me. Granted she didn’t know the truth about what I was doing but now she does, she should run far away from me knowing what I’m capable of. So why isn’t she?

  I look up as I see tiny feet stop by my side.

  “I’m sorry.” She kneels down and pecks my lips.

  “He killed my parents.” I blurt out.

  “What?” She looks at me, confused.

  “He just told me.” I sigh.

  She wraps her arms around me and holds me close to her small frame. “I’m so sorry, Love.” She kisses my head.

  “Why are you with me? I’m just like him.”

  “You’re nothing like him. He didn’t give you the choice. You did what you had to do to save your life. None of us here are judging you. We all understand. Stop beating yourself up for what he made you do. Did you ever kill an innocent person?” I shake my head and regret it instantly. “You’re not a bad person, you just surrounded yourself with the wrong people. You were just a kid when it started, you couldn’t have predicted the future. You survived all these years. Hell, even with all the shit you were put through today, you made it out alive. Things happen for a reason, had none of this happened, you wouldn’t have found a new family and me. I mean I’m pretty freaking awesome.” She smiles kissing me softly. She is pretty freaking awesome.

  “You keep telling yourself that, Sis.” Gabe chuckles.

  “Dickhead,” she retorts.

  “You gonna be okay, Brother?” Gabe holds his hand out to me to help me up. It’s both scary and reassuring that he, out of all people, would still call me Brother.

  “I’ll live.”

  “That’s the most important thing.” He holds me up and helps me as we walk out of the warehouse. Aleck supports my other side and I can see Nicole out of the corner of my eye with tears in her eyes. Her brothers are accepting me or at least tolerating me, and that helps to start piecing my dark shattered heart together.

  A week later

  I went to get the papers Sergei talked about in the safe he had hidden in his office a couple of days after leaving the warehouse, but I still haven’t been able to bring myself to open them. I’m afraid of what I’ll find in his words. What if my parents weren’t any better than Slider’s? What if my parents were bad people? All the questions swarm my mind but I still can’t bring myself to open the letter. I don’t want, nor can I imagine, my parents being bad people, but appearances can be deceiving.

  As soon as I could, I packed all my stuff up that was in the mansion and brought it to the house I used to share with Jenny. I can’t even call it home, it feels more like a prison. Not because Jenny and I used to live here, but because it doesn’t have Nicole in it.

  Things have been quite tense these past couple of days, mostly because of me. I can’t bring myself to let her see me in my current state even though she’s already seen me at my worst. Maybe I’m using it as an excuse to push her away because I still feel like I don’t deserve her. I’m still scared that my past is going to come after her with a vengeance. I couldn’t handle that. She’s been amazing throughout all of this, which is making me hate myself even more. I’m pushing away the one woman who knows every dark secret I’ve hidden in the past and still wants me. She even understands that I need time to get over what happened and sort out the shit in my head.

  I have the cops after me, the Russians are no doubt going to be after me when they hear I don’t want anything to do with them anymore and I don’t know how things are going to go with the clubs. I haven’t been called for any meetings or anything. Now that they know I’m not a cop, I’m of no use to them anymore. I should have seen it coming. I guess I was hoping they would take me in after all we’ve been through together. Guess my past really is catching up on me.

  I’m back for the last of my things from the mansion and I’m standing in front of the one room upstairs that has always been kept locked. I randomly try a few combinations on the lock but constantly receive an error message. I don’t know why, but I try entering my birthday. Instead of showing red, it lights up green and there’s a buzzing sound. I can’t believe I never thought of trying it before. Knowing now that the combination was my date of birth, I’m scared of what can be behind that door.

  I turn the doorknob and open the door slightly, not quite ready to go in just yet. Considering the entry code was my birthday, I’m guessing this room has something to do with me. This is quite unsettling.

  I take a deep breath and push the door fully open.

  I probably look like a fool right now, my eyes are wide, my mouth is hanging open and I’m unsure if I should smile or cry.

  I’m thrown back thirty years. This is an exact replica of my room where I used to live with my parents. Everything is in its place. Every single teddy bear, pictures, drawings I had in the exact same spot. I take a few steps in and look around. A wave of emotion overcomes me at the sight of pictures of me and my parents hanging on the walls, pictures I hadn’t seen in thirty years.

  There’s a note resting on the bed. I pick it up and open the small piece of paper.

  Jason,

  I’m sorry for what I’ve put you through.

  I never meant for things to go this way.

  I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.

  All of these are yours, I figured you might want them

  back one day.

  I loved you like a son even though I never showed it.

  I’m sorry for everything.

  You are free.

  Sergei.

  I stare at the note, not understanding the last sentence.

  “He wanted you to figure out the code on your own.” Nikolai says, from behind me, startling me.

  “You knew?” I ask, not turning around.

  “Yes, I’m the one who brought everything here. He insisted on having everything exactly the way it was, it was a fucking nightmare.” He chuckles. “Couldn’t replicate the mess though, it was driving my OCD crazy.”

  I chuckle. “Not sure if I should kick your ass or thank you.”

  “Considering you haven’t healed yet, you should thank me.” He chuckles.

  I turn to face him. “Thank you. What does he mean by ‘I’m free’?”

  “You’re free from all of this. You don’t have to work for us anym
ore, unless you want to. The choice is yours.” he says, picking up a lion teddy. “I had the same one when I was little, named it Shaki for some odd reason.” He laughs.

  I chuckle. “Weirdo. So you mean I can walk away from this and you won’t come after me?”

  “I know, and no, and we’ll always protect you and Nicole. I’m guessing you haven’t read the letter?”

  “No. Why?”

  “He really thought of you as the son he never had. He never remarried when his wife was killed and never had kids. He raised you the way he would have raised his kids, except he couldn’t show you love, not because of his position, but because any love he had died the day his wife was killed.” he says sadly.

  “You were close to her?”

  “Yeah. I was seventeen when he took me in. He and Rina were amazing to me. I owe them so much. If you hadn’t found out what was going on in the basement, he wouldn’t have subjected you to it. He wanted to see if you were a man of honor or a coward. He’s always been proud of you and always will be.” he says rendering me speechless. “You should read the letter when you have some time. You deserve to know the truth, I will tell you that your parents were good people. They were nothing like Slider’s. Just thought you should know that. I’ll bring you some boxes so you can pack whatever you want from here.” He pats my back and exits the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

  I spend a good hour packing what I want to keep, mainly pictures of me and my parents, teddies - call me sentimental but I did miss having my teddies over the years - and the pictures. Anything that would bring me back to those four years of happiness I had at home. My parents weren’t materialistic so there’s not a lot left that belonged to them, but there’s a small box in one of the boxes that were hiding the wardrobe, along with more pictures and drawings. I open the small velvet box and smile, seeing my mom’s engagement ring. A simple silver band with a set of small diamonds surrounding a yellow stone. I smile, knowing one day it’ll be on Nicole’s finger. I look through the clothes in the wardrobe and pick up my old Halloween costumes, there are only four but I can’t bring myself to part with them. I always loved those. Mom always made them herself. She was so talented. The first year I was a pumpkin, the second year I was a warlock, I’m sure I looked funny in that, a one year old with a beard. The third year I was a monkey and for the fourth year I was Batman. I sit on the floor looking at the pictures of me wearing the costumes and imagine Nicole and I with kids, and them wearing these costumes, I smile to myself.