by Zoey Parker
She had absolutely no intention of giving up Spike, or herself for that matter, but Georgia needed to make a reasonable offer, or Ivan would know something was off. He might figure it out anyway, but if Georgia didn’t at least try, then Felix would never even have a chance.
“Please, I’ll do anything,” she said, echoing the very words she had once directed at Spike only a week ago.
“Very well,” Ivan agreed after a short pause. “I will come to you. And, Georgia? Don’t do anything stupid,” he coldly warned her before immediately hanging up.
A chill ran down Georgia’s spine, and she tucked the phone into her back pocket. She arranged her demolished couch as best she could and sat down, looking at the gun in her lap. She flicked the safety off and raised the weapon, testing the weight of it.
A good pick, Roxy, Georgia thought. Thanks for this, girl.
She ran through her plan in her head repeatedly, checking her watch every ten minutes. Georgia didn’t know exactly when Ivan would arrive, which left her in a high state of alert. She took a deep breath to calm herself. All she could do right now was wait.
Chapter Eleven
Spike woke the next morning, or perhaps afternoon, judging by how high the sun was already. He felt like he had spun out on the highway, but he knew it was just a massive hangover—quite possibly the worst he’d ever had.
He sat up, wondering why he had been sleeping on the couch. Usually when he passed out anywhere other than his bed, Tiny would pick him up and tuck him in.
Memories of last night came back to him in a slow trickle. The biggest and brightest of which was the one of Georgia telling Spike she loved him, and him telling her to move on. Spike rested his head in his hands and let out an exasperated sigh.
The image of her face, filled with hurt, shocked disappointment, had followed Spike around last night, always swimming in the edges of his conscience. He had drunk beer after beer in an attempt to forget the look on her face, eventually switching to whiskey when the beer failed to help.
After the whiskey…who knows what happened after the whiskey, Spike thought. He had a tendency to get pretty wild when he was drunk; he just hoped he hadn’t done anything stupid. Well, stupider than usual.
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’, Rox,” Spike said, passing Roxy in the hallway.
Spike 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 Jinx and Vince walk down the stairs.
“I was outside Georgia’s door all night,” Vince reminded him.
“Right, right.” Spike nodded as much as his headache would allow. “Who’s with her right now?”
“Hector,” Jinx answered.
“Don’t leave him too long, or he’ll get distracted by a pretty girl and wander off to follow her home,” Cleo joked, walking into the kitchen to join them. “Where’s breakfast?” she asked, looking around for Tiny.
As though summoned, Tiny came hurrying into the kitchen. “Sorry,” he said, panting a little. “I was up late last night with Spike.”
“Did I do anything stupid?” he repeated.
“Besides how you treated Georgia?” Jinx muttered, low enough Spike couldn’t hear.
“No, nothin’,” Tiny said, though Spike noticed he didn’t seem to want to look his leader in the eye. “I’ll have breakfast in a jiff, everyone,” Tiny said loudly, beginning to pull out everything he needed.
“Okay, then,” Spike 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 Cleo, but he had been restraining himself from going to see Georgia since he woke up, and he couldn’t contain the urge any longer.
“Wait!” Jinx cried, quickly moving to stand in front of him. “Where are you going?” She was supposed to keep Spike from finding out Georgia was missing for as long as she could, and she had a feeling Spike was going to go check on her now.
Spike, as well as everyone else, gave Jinx an odd look. “To the bathroom…” he lied.
“Oh, okay, then,” Jinx 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 Tiny and Vince at the table, waiting for the inevitable.
“Where is she?” Spike roared, his voice reverberating through the house.
Jinx winced, hearing Spike’s heavy footsteps clatter down the steps.
“She’s gone!” he exclaimed.
“Who?” Tiny asked, bewildered.
“Georgia! Gone! How did this happen?” he asked when Hector came down the stairs. “Was she there when you checked on her when you two swapped?” Spike said, pointing at Vince and Hector.
The two men looked at each other. Neither of them wanted to tell their leader the truth: that Hector had seen Vince was missing from his post and had covered for him, only to catch Vince coming out of Jinx’s room an hour later.
“You didn’t check, did you?” Spike said flatly. “I can’t fucking believe this. Did you ever check on her?” he demanded, turning to Vince. “Through the whole night, did you ever open the door and see her?”
Vince shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Jinx spoke to her last night and said she was very tired. I did not want to disturb her.”
Jinx scrunched up her nose. She knew it would eventually roll around to her. She looked up to see Spike staring at her.
“Were you the last one to see her, then?” Spike asked.
Jinx glanced at Roxy, who was standing in the doorway just behind Spike. Technically, Roxy had been the last to see Georgia, but Jinx didn’t think Spike was looking for technicalities right now.
“Looks like,” Jinx said, a falsely bright smile on her face.
Spike continued to stare at her expectantly. “Well? Did something happen? Did she say anything?”
“Does it matter?” Cleo muttered.
“What was that?” Spike 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?” Cleo 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,” Spike shot back. He looked at Jinx. He could tell she was holding something back. “Did something happen, or did she leave on her own?” he asked.
Jinx chewed her bottom lip. She figured enough time had passed that Georgia could have done what she needed to. “Both,” she admitted.
Spike’s brow gathered in confusion. “Both? What does that mean?”
“Georgia 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 Ivan found her brother, and she was so scared,” Jinx 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 Vince so she could sneak out and go save her brother!” Tears began to form in Jinx’s eyes; she hated lying to everyone.
“What the fuck, Jinx?” Spike 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?” Jinx indignantly replied on Georgia’s behalf. “I tried to tell her that you would do something, but she didn’t believe me.”
“So you just let her leave? I can’t even…” Spike took a deep breath and closed his eyes, tryin
g to calm his fury. “Okay, where did she go?” he asked once he had control of himself.
“I don’t know,” Jinx said, biting her lip again. “Jimmy came and picked her up.”
“What is this? The underground fuckin’ railroad?” Spike said exasperatedly. “Vince, go get the kid and bring him here.”
Vince 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 Ivan, then I think it’s time we get our plan together,” Spike said.
“We don’t have the manpower for it,” Cleo said.
“We can get it,” Spike fired at her.
“We are not going barreling into Ivan’s all because you’ve got a crush!” Cleo said, staring Spike 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, Cleo,” Spike snarled. “Are you really that jealous that you’re willing to let the girl die?”
Cleo laughed in his face. “My god, get over yourself.”
“Enough!” Tiny 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,” Tiny 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.” Tiny sniffled. He turned the table right side up and sat down, Hector gently patting his back.
No one said anything for several minutes. Finally, Spike cleared his throat. “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice raspy. “You’re right, Tiny. I haven’t been a good leader lately. But I gave Georgia my word, and I can’t go back on that—you deserve a leader whose word can be trusted.”
Spike was speaking to more than Satan’s Disciples now. His words were also meant for Georgia. He had promised her that 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,” Spike continued, looking at his boots. “I can’t order you to help me with this as your leader, instead, I’m asking for your help as your friend.” He raised his head to look at the members of Satan’s Disciples.
“Of course we will help!” Tiny said passionately, several of the people in the kitchen nodding their agreement. Spike couldn’t help but notice Cleo was not among them. “But we want to be together on it!”
“Sí,” Hector emphatically agreed. “Ivan killed Joe; 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.
“Cleo?” Spike said, turning to her. “We could really use you.”
“Well, that much is obvious,” Cleo drawled. “And I already told you, I have no problem going against Ivan. 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.”
Spike shot her a grateful smile. “Okay, then,” he said, clapping his hands together. “Jinx, when did Georgia leave?”
“About three hours ago.”
“And you have no idea where she went?”
Jinx shook her head, her pigtails flapping side to side. Just then the back door opened, and Vince appeared, one hand weighing heavily on Jimmy’s shoulder.
“I brought the boy,” Vince said.
Jimmy shifted from one foot to the other as he nervously looked around.
“Hey, Jim,” Spike said. Jimmy jerked his head up to look at Spike. “Look, I’m not mad, okay? I promise.”
Jimmy didn’t look convinced.
“I just want to know where you took her,” Spike said, trying to make his voice as soothing as possible. He liked Jimmy, but if he didn’t start talking of his own will, and soon, Spike was going to have to provide some motivation.
Jinx stood up, jostling Spike 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,” Jinx said, shooting a glare at Spike.
She had sensed Spike’s irritation and felt the need to take matters into her own hands before he did. It was a good thing, too, because with Jinx’s arms around him, Jimmy suddenly felt much more at ease.
“She wanted to go home,” he said finally.
“Home?” Spike echoed. “Why would she want to go there?”
“If I was going to choose a place for my last stand, it’d be here,” Cleo said from the corner.
“What? Why?” Spike asked.
“You wouldn’t pick here?” Cleo 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?”
Spike thought he would choose a military bunker for his last stand, but he supposed that wasn’t the point. Cleo was right. Georgia 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.
Spike 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.
“Alright, then we go to her house,” Spike said. “Vince, Roxy, you’re with me for the initial perimeter check. Tiny and Hector, I want eyes on Ivan. Head to his headquarters and—”
Jinx cleared her throat and stepped forward. “Ivan won’t be there,” she told him, almost as nervous as Jimmy 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?”
“Georgia said Felix was in Boston, so I guess headed back from there. She figured Ivan would be getting back around…now,” Jinx said, checking the time. It was almost one.
Spike stared at her. “You should have told me this to begin with,” he said, his voice low and dangerous.
“I promised Georgia I would buy her as much time as I could,” Jinx said, her eyes cold. “You’re not the only one who values their word.”
Spike held her gaze until she looked away. “Okay, same idea,” he said, addressing everyone, “but I want one extra person in each group. Cleo? Wanna jump in on this?” he asked her.
“I’ll head to Ivan’s with Tiny and Hector,” she offered.
“Thanks,” Spike said. “That means Jinx, you’re with us.”
Jinx did a mock salute and walked out to go get her gear ready. They would all ride separately for this.
“Alright, everyone, remember: we’re just doing recon,” Spike cautioned. “We’ll meet back here in an hour and talk options, so no one go doing anything heroic.”
“No worries of that here,” Cleo muttered to herself.
Ten minutes later, the two groups were starting their bikes. Tiny duck-walked up next to Spike.
“How come you didn’t tell them?” he asked Spike as he fastened his helmet.
“Tell them what?” Spike replied, pulling on his gloves.
“Why you really want to save Georgia. That it’s about more than just your word.”
Spike paused, confused. “What do you mean?”
Tiny 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,” Spike 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?”
Spike finished pulling on his gloves. “Yeah, maybe. So what?”
“They can tell you’re not being real with them,” Tiny said with a bluntness that was unusual for his normally timid personality.
Then again, Spike thought, it’s been an unusual day for all of us.
“That’s why they’re so mad,” Tiny continued. “Maybe if you told them what was really going on in your head, y’know, how you feel about Georgia, maybe they wouldn’t be so reluctant to help.”
