by A. J. Downey
“Maren’s got a bullying problem that’s way out of pocket, some ex-boything of hers is fuckin’ terrorizing her on top of all the other shit she’s going through. Threatening her with all kinds of rape. I heard it myself when her car died last week.”
Cell and Reaver exchanged a look, “Kid’s a minor, what do you want us to do about it?” Reaver asked, but I could tell his interest was piqued.
“Who fucking cares, the kid wants to act all big and tough? Let’s show him what it’s like to roll with the big dogs,” Cell said coolly, leaning way back in his seat, tipping the front legs off the floor.
Reaver shook his head, “Club doctrine, man. No women, no children.”
“I thought about that,” I said. “I figured I’d go over there and have a talk with the kid’s dad. I mean, he’s gotta learn it from somewhere, am I right?”
“So what do you want us there for?” Cell asked confused.
“According to Maren, daddy’s a piece of work and is where his bouncing baby boy gets it from,” I said.
“Uh huh, well, sounds like a date to me. It’s been a little tame around here lately,” Reaver said with a gusty sigh.
“You got this kid’s address?” Cell asked. I pulled a piece of paper out of the inside pocket of my cut.
“Courtesy of Data. That dude really can find anything.”
“Cool, then let’s roll.” Cell stood up and I stood with him and Reaver.
“Good deal, thanks for the help,” I said.
I should have known better than to call in the fucking big guns right off the bat. I really should have. We rode out to the address on the slip of paper and it was a fairly nice house. I went to the door, Reave and Cell both flanking me to either side and standing just a little behind me. We had our glasses on, to cut the wind, and still had our scarfs and bandanas covering our faces for warmth as we stood bouncing on the stone front stoop of the house waiting for someone to come and answer the bell. It was fucking cold out here.
The door opened to the kid standing there, a burly guy, probably the star fucking football player. Shit. If he put hands on Maren, she wouldn’t have a chance. The words were out of my mouth before I could even ask for the kid’s dad.
“You Lucas?”
“Yeah, who wants to know?” he demanded.
“Your daddy home?” Reaver asked behind me.
“Who the fuck wants to know?” the kid demanded and I exchanged a look with my brothers.
“Friends of Maren Tracy,” I said.
“Luke, who is it?”
“Some assholes, say their friends with that bitch Maren,” Luke called back.
“Oh hell no, you did not just say that.” Cell uttered.
The father appeared in the doorway, “What do you want?” he demanded sternly.
“We want your son to stop bullying Maren,” I said.
“I’ve heard all the bitching and complaints I’m gonna over that stupid girl. She’s over sensitive, and can’t take a joke. You ask me, she’s just jealous Luke doesn’t want her back. She never had it so good.” I blinked and exchanged looks with my brothers.
“Excuse me?” I said, not believing I just heard this asshole right.
“You heard me.”
“Sir,” I said, the honorific leaving an oily taste in my mouth. “Were you aware your son’s been threatening that girl with rape?” I demanded.
“So?” the father demanded.
“Fuck this shit,” Duracell uttered and reached past me, dragging the man out of his entry way by the front of his shirt.
“Dad!” the kid cried and darted out right behind him. I stepped aside and the dude wasn’t so fucking tough now, Duracell had a gun jammed against the guy’s forehead and was pushing him down to his knees.
“Nope! C’mere. You’re going to get a harsh life lesson on why it doesn’t pay to be a dick to people,” I heard Reaver say and he had a knife to the boy’s throat and was pushing him to his knees as well.
This was getting out of hand.
“Now just what the fuck have you been teaching your kid?” Duracell demanded.
“What every man should know. How to be a man.” The father said defiantly.
“And how’s that?” I asked, “By telling women that he’s going to make them suck his dick? Threatening to hold her down and face fuck her?” I was losing what little pity I had for this douche canoe, real fast.
“That little bitch has it coming! Breaking up with my boy, and for what?”
“Is he fucking serious?” Reaver asked.
“Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah!” Duracell crowed, “"You know, God ruined a perfectly good asshole when he put teeth in your mouth." Cell pressed the barrel of his gun harder into the man's forehead to the point it made him rock back on his knees. I watched, mouth a little dry, but I had to trust that my club brother knew what he was doing. Duracell lifted his shoulders in a shrug and said, "Meh, I'm going to fuck it anyways," before he reached for his zipper to let it down. It was only then I realized that his cock, was indeed, straining at the denim of his jeans to get out.
What the fuck?
“Whoa, bro, what are you doing?” Reaver asked, taken just as far aback as I was. Duracell ignored Reaver’s question and spoke to Lucas’ daddy.
“Life lesson number one thirteen,” Duracell said. “If you’re gonna threaten something, you need to know just what it is you’re threatening to do. If you’re gonna teach little Lucas here that it’s okay to mouth-rape someone, I think you should know just how it feels.” He cocked back the hammer of his gun and ordered sternly, “Open your mouth.”
Fuck, he was serious. He was totally fucking serious.
“Man, I don’t know about this…” I said and Cell gave a shrug.
“He’s not a kid, that’s the kid right there and a few more months he won’t be a kid either. If not Maren, then who? Who you willin’ to sentence to a life of consequences because this fuckwit taught his son that consent isn’t required where a girl or woman is concerned? These boys need to fuckin’ learn what they’re advocating. I think it’s the only clear cut thing to do, don’t you? Now open your mouth!”
The father glared up defiantly, and Cell let him have it, crashing the butt of his gun into the side of the dad’s head. “Open your mouth, you son of a bitch or I’ll blow a fucking hole in it and fuck that instead! You’re so keen on your boy threatening this like it’s okay or some shit? Let him see what it’s like first hand when someone he gives a fuck about is on the receiving end!”
Cell fucking did it, too. The son knelt there crying and I just shut down all pity, thinking about Maren. Thinking about her exhaustion and her tears. Thinking about her jumping at every sound and shadow, about how this fool was making her life a million times worse during the absolute worse time of her life and how he was recruiting everyone else in the fuckin’ school to do it too.
I watched Cell mouth rape this little cock weasel’s daddy and I can’t say I felt too much about it. I was more disturbed by my brother’s intensity than I was about the fact that he’d just victimized a man on his own front steps in front of his seventeen-year-old son. I think the only thing saving our ass at this point was the fact that there were no visible security cameras, and the house was pretty fuckin’ secluded, set a ways back from the road and on a big enough piece of property the neighbors weren’t any kind of nearby.
God, we were all so fucked up in our own ways. I thought to myself and sighed inwardly. The fact I was more worried about our skins than what was fuckin’ happening right in front of me was a testament to how jaded and warped my worldview was.
Cell zipped up and put his gun back in the waistband of his pants. Reaver’s knife disappeared as if it’d never been and he shoved the kid at his dad who was throwing up in front of his garage. Both of them with tear-stained faces.
“Next time you look at a woman, son, it’d better be with some fuckin’ respect,” Duracell said. “Or I’ma come find you when you’re eighteen and give you a t
aste. You hear?”
With those parting words, we took off, and I hoped to hell it’d taught these fucks a lesson and that Maren would be left alone. I wanted to see her, but I didn’t. I wanted a shower, but there were some stains that wouldn’t come off your soul no matter how much hot water you used. This was definitely one of those, but if it kept her safe, I’d do it all over again if need be.
Chapter 16
Maren
“What did you do?” I demanded when I opened the front door. Nox blinked, and stared down at me impassively.
“I didn’t do anything, Angel.”
“Don’t lie to me, Nox! You did something, and by the looks of it, you did something awful. Why, when I asked you not to?”
He sighed heavily and looked at me plaintively and said, “I protected you, Maren. That’s what a man does when someone fucks with his woman. I protected you, and I did it the only way I knew how. Now seriously, what brought this on?” he demanded. “That little cock bite do something to you today?”
I opened the front door wider and stepped aside to let him into my house. He came in and stopped, looking at me, expecting an answer and I felt my shoulders drop.
“He just… changed, overnight. This morning, his girlfriend, Chelsea, said something to me and he snapped at her. He looked scared, Nox; like absolutely terrified, and he apologized to me immediately. I just knew that you’d done something.”
“Did he tell you what?” he asked.
I shook my head, “He stays away from me now like I’m Satan or something. He just stares at me, subdued. It’s really just… I don’t know… eerie. It’s sort of sad. ” I covered my face with my hands and scrubbed, so conflicted over it all. While on the one hand I was so relieved that he was just leaving me alone, the haunted, fearful, look in Lucas’ eyes still found its way to the soft spot I had. Whatever had happened, I was certain I wouldn’t wish on anyone. Not with the way Lucas looked at me now.
“Angel, he was hurting you. He was driving you crazy and was going to do some permanent damage to your psyche, and you feel bad for him?” Nox shook his head and sighed, gripping the back of his neck to ease the tension there.
That’s when Sage chose to thunder down the stairs, “We watching a movie?” he asked excitedly.
“Not now, Sage. It’s almost time for bed.” I said and I just felt tired.
“Then why is he here?” Sage asked and Nox smiled at him.
“Sister and I are just clearing something up, buddy. We still on for Sunday?”
“Yeah,” Sage said then looked at me. “You better not screw this up for us,” he said, “I like him.”
“Sage,” Nox said sharply. “You need to start treating your sister with a little more respect, dude.”
“Whatever,” my brother muttered at his sullen pre-teen best, before he took the stairs two at a time to retreat back to his bedroom. I fixed Nox with a silent stare. I really didn't know what to think, but the fear, the abject terror in Lucas’ eyes had been very real when he’d said ‘You didn't have to send them.’ It’d been all he said on the matter but math had always been a fairly decent subject of mine and putting two and two together hadn't been difficult.
“Maren, they were hurting you. What would your dad have done?” Nox asked.
“My dad did do everything he could. He went to the principal, called the principal, all of that, even though he was so sick.”
Nox sighed and reached up halfheartedly before dropping his hand back down. I was surprised to find how much I just ached for the proffered comforting touch and it broke off a piece of my heart that he thought I was so angry I wouldn't want him to touch me. I let my hand fall from the door knob and hugged myself. A sort of cold that had nothing to do with the frigid air swirling in from outside.
“And what did the principal do?” he asked evenly taking a careful step inside over the threshold, swinging the door shut behind him. He eyed me carefully waiting for my answer.
I swallowed hard, “Nothing,” I admitted, voice hollow. “Mr. Barber didn’t do anything. He just told me that I needed to ignore it, get a thicker skin… that if I ignored it they’d eventually stop.”
“And did they?” he asked gently.
“You know they didn’t,” I answered quietly, dejectedly.
Nox sighed before pulling me in against him, giving me the comfort I so desperately needed. He kissed the top of my head and said softly; “This is what the outlaw life is sometimes, Angel. I bet you and your dad did everything you could, at least by citizen’s convention, but we ain't about that. We handle our own. We protect our own with a fierce devotion and loyalty. No one hurts our property and gets away with it, Baby.”
Outrageous!
I shoved off of him and put some space between us. “Is that what I am to you?” I demanded. “Property? Like a piece of cattle or something? Or maybe it’s more like a lost kitten.” Anger bubbled up inside me and I could feel every throb of my heartbeat in my face which I knew was likely a garnet to match my Christmas gift.
“Okay, poor choice of words right off the bat, but do you think you can put it on ice long enough for an explanation or are you just going to blow a gasket right here right now?” He asked.
I paused and tried valiantly to shove my rage away long enough to hear him out and the only reason I managed to was because this felt like so many arguments or fights that had gone before. Ones that ended like me and Luke, with the forever kind of hurt and mad that neither party could come back from and that scared me. I didn't want that. I didn't want that at all. I was doing my very best at adulting and part of that was holding on to my emotions and talking it out, wasn't it?
Nox took my silence as the go-ahead to go on, saying, “You fit into my life so perfect it’s easy to forget that you don't know all the jargon or lingo.”
Like flipping a switch, my feminist outrage cooled to room temperature and I felt my shoulders drop, “Explain,” I said curtly with none of the actual feeling that should have gone behind it.
“You want I should get back on the other side of the door so you can keep heating West County? Or you want I stay in here?” He asked with a devilish twinkle in his eye and he knew he’d already won me over. I wanted to make him go back outside just for yanking my chain but my electric bill was already disagreeing with its treatment. I stepped aside to let him further into the house.
“Sit,” I ordered and his grin broadened.
“Anything you say, Angel.”
He stepped lightly across my living room floor, his boot steps still sounding heavy against the hardwood. It was so quiet otherwise that I could hear the blood rushing in my ears as adrenaline and no little fear pushed it through my veins. Nox searched my face with those light colored eyes of his and his face fell.
“Hey, are you okay?”
“Explain, please?” I said and latched the door behind me, turning the deadbolt until the lock gave a satisfying click.
“In a minute, first you need to tell me what’s up.”
“Nothing!” I lied and he frowned even harder.
“Okay,” he said as if he didn't believe me, and the pulse-pounding well of emotion very nearly choked me.
He sat down in the chair by the fire and I moved to the couch, woodenly, mechanically, and sat down. Nox explained, “In the club life, there are sometimes no real words to express how we feel about something so in the early days, we adopted some mundane ones and sort of gave ‘em new meaning. You get me?”
I think I nodded, “Property, let’s start with that one.”
Nox’s eyes narrowed, “Angel, you having a panic attack or something?” He asked and I startled.
“I… I don't know what's wrong with me. Why are you asking me that?”
He got up and sat down next to me, the leather of his jacket and vest creaking, he left some space between us and I was surprised to find I was grateful for it.
“It’s okay,” he soothed, “everything is okay.”
“We’ll see,”
I said. “Explain the alternate meaning of property, and we’ll see.”
He nodded and covered my hand with his, “In this life, there’s property, like a cage, or a house, or a boat, right? Then there’s property, like a man’s bike or a man’s woman but it’s not like a house, okay? To us, a house burns down and fuck, that sucks, but whatever, you know? You just build or buy a new one. When it come to a man’s property like his bike or his family, another man doesn't get to just fuck with that and walk away. That kind of property is something worth killing over. That kind of property, you, are worth dying for. Make sense?”
I stared at him, taken aback by his intensity, mouth slightly agape. He took one finger and tapped beneath my chin causing me to close my mouth, a sad, gentle smile playing on his lips that I suddenly wanted to fiercely kiss.
“Really?” I squeaked.
“Yeah, really,” he laughed. “Now about this anxiety of yours, what’s going on there?”
“I… I don't know,” I stammered.
He gave me a patient look and said gently, “I told you mine, Angel. It’s only fair you tell me yours.”
I blushed crimson with embarrassment. It seemed like such a stupid thing to be afraid of now. Nox lightly brushed a thumb over the back of my hand, waiting me out patiently.
I swallowed hard to clear the lump in my throat before I could speak, “I thought this was going to be it.”
“It?”
“Yeah, it, over, finished; the grand finale, last curtain, done like last night’s dinner.”
He laughed lightly at my litany and pulled me against him, tucking my head beneath his chin, “Angel, it’s done only when you say it’s done. You get me?”
“I feel so neurotic,” I confessed, floundering and at a loss; hopelessness tugging at my edges, eroding my confidence like the sea to stones, the constant surge and retreat pulverizing them to sand.
“You have every right to be. No idea what happened to your mom, but your dad getting sick and dying? Leaving you all on your own with Sage? Pretty sure that’s enough to give anybody some kind of abandonment issues, not to mention a little separation anxiety.”
