THE OUTLAW’S BRIDE

by April Lust

  After that, William had told Lucky pretty much everything she needed to know, and a couple of things she didn’t.

  “Now what are you going to do with me?” William had asked sullenly once Lucky had called in all the info. His fear was quickly subsiding into a hot shame.

  “I’m supposed to just sit on you until things are pretty much over,” Lucky had said. She wasn’t looking forward to it, watching a pathetic loser ranked pretty low next to “set off an explosion inside your arch enemy’s home base,” but that was the gig sometimes. “So just don’t do anything stupid for the next hour, and we’ll all be just fine, okay?” Lucky had slapped a bright, false smile on her face. She had quickly dropped it, rolling her eyes.

  “I guess that makes you the flashy whore they send to distract a man from his job,” William had spat contemptuously. His shame was rapidly becoming anger.

  Lucky had sighed and looked at her nails. “Yup. That’s me. Lucky is actually short for Jezebel,” she had replied sarcastically.

  “You think it’s funny?” William had said, infuriated at Lucky’s lack of response. “People are going to die today and you’re, what, cracking jokes? Well, I’ve got a joke of my own: that bartending bitch you love, burning alive. You and the rest of your women, chained up, free for all to use.” He began to laugh in Lucky’s face; a great, big mocking laugh that went on and on until spit drooled from his lip and onto his shirt.

  “You know what?” Lucky had said to the hysterical man. “You’re right. I don’t have time for this.”

  And with that, Lucky had pulled the trigger and fired a bullet directly into his brain, thereby freeing Lucky up to go and help the rest of her family in the warehouse now that she didn’t have to watch over that insufferable idiot.

  She had come in just in the nick of time, as well, shooting a man that was aiming at Ace from the upstairs balcony while Ace attempted to reload.

  “What happened to William?”

  “I decided he was worth more dead than alive,” she replied with a twinkle in her eye.

  “Can’t argue with you there,” Ace said cheerfully.

  The three others returned, having used their Molotov cocktails to start fires in trashcans around the building. They set the fires over the vents in order to smoke out the whole warehouse—including anyone potentially hiding inside any secret back rooms.

  Between them, The Hell Brothers had taken out at least five of the hired security guards and one of the mobsters. Now that the other members were back, the gang was able to start pinning some of the mobsters down.

  But Ace still didn’t see the secret entrance in the floor that would lead to Alexei’s private area that William had told them about after Lucky’s gentle urging. Even worse, they were beginning to sustain their own injuries.

  Diego’s arm had been grazed by a bullet, and Katie had gotten into a scuffle with one of the mobsters. The man had managed to break her nose, and possibly even her eye socket, before Katie finally got her gun out and shot him.

  A sound behind Ace made him freeze. He slowly turned around, ignoring the hail of gunfire surrounding him. There was a car in the alleyway. Alexei and his men had returned early.

  “Retreat!” Ace’s voice boomed across the floor, and instantly, every head turned to look at him.

  “I thought he wouldn’t be back for another few hours!” Katie shouted to Ace.

  “Someone must have managed to get a message to him,” Ace said angrily as he pulled Katie to hide down one of the long aisles of Alexei’s products.

  The gunfire from the Russians had temporarily stopped so as to avoid accidentally hitting their leader, but Alexei jumped out, pointing wildly at where he had seen Ace disappear and shouted, “Shoot him!”

  The mobsters, now with reinforcements, began to hunt down the bikers, searching up the aisles, and under every table. The smoke from the trashcans had filled the room, casting man-shaped shadows around every corner that put mobster and biker alike on edge.

  Vlad sneered, watching as one of the security guards heard a noise and began shooting in panic—only for the smoke to clear and realize he had just killed his partner.

  He stealthily crept along, trying to steer clear of the chaos and make his way into the basement along with Alexei. Just then, a shadow fell across his shoulder. Vlad whirled around and saw Riley looming over him. He tried to raise his gun, but Riley slapped it out of the smaller man’s hands easily.

  Vlad snarled in anger. “I’ll kill you!” he threatened.

  “Better men than you have failed,” Riley said, raising his own gun to Vlad’s face.

  Taking a risk, Vlad lunged forward, knocking Riley off-balance, but not off of his feet—he was far too large for that. But Vlad didn’t need to knock Riley down, he just needed to buy himself some time. Vlad reached behind himself for anything he could use as a weapon against the towering man. Coming up with a large bag of Adderall pills, Vlad ripped them open and they scattered across the floor causing Riley to lose his balance once again.

  Riley grabbed onto a shelf as he slipped on several of the little tablets. He pulled out his gun, intent on shooting the man and ending this once and for all, when there was a loud bang. Riley felt a red-hot point start in his chest and spread rapidly. He sat down, hard, barely noticing the pills that dug into his thighs. He was too busy looking down at the blood on his shirt.

  “No!” Lucky screamed from across the room. She had been guarding Lianna, who was trying to clear the blood that was seeping into Katie’s injured eye, when she saw her lover go down.

  “Riley! No!” Lucky sobbed, running over to him. She saw Vlad bolt, and she gave chase, firing wildly after him. He was too quick, however, and he disappeared into the smoke. Lucky fell to her knees by Riley’s side. Hooking her elbows under his arms, Lucky pulled with everything she had, dragging Riley until he was sitting up against the wall, shielded from the gunfire that still whizzed by around them.

  Her hands trembled as she held his face. “Hey, baby,” she said. “How are you feeling? It…it doesn’t look so bad.” Lucky was lying, to both Riley and herself. Blood was pouring freely from the gaping wound in his chest.

  “It’s okay.” Riley nodded. “Barely hurts at all,” he said weakly. He knew if he told Lucky the truth—that he was in agony—she would never leave his side. “You go help the others, okay? I’ll be here waiting for you when you get back,” Riley said, holding her hand as tightly as his failing strength would allow him.

  Lucky let out an angry sob. She didn’t want to leave him—she couldn’t let him die alone—and yet, she knew no matter what she did, Riley would still die. But her other friends were still alive, and they needed her help. “I love you so much,” Lucky said, kissing Riley with everything she had to give.

  “I love you, too,” Riley said softly. “Now go.”

  Taking one last look at the best man she had ever known, Lucky stood up and tore herself away, determined to help end this once and for all. When she ran out into the fray, things didn’t look good for any of them.

  Ace was still shooting it out with the guards upstairs; Diego was hiding, unable to use one of his legs; and Katie and Lianna were pinned down behind some large barrels. Lucky was frozen, terrified that she was about to watch all of her friends die, one by one.

  Suddenly there was an enormous explosion from the far side of the building that took out the support beams to the upstairs security office. Smoke from the fire poured out of the building through the new opening in the wall.

  The last rays of the setting sun pierced Lucky’s eyes as she tried to see what had happened.

  The dark outline of a massively overweight man climbed atop the rubble.

  “Smalls!” Lianna’s voice rose up in a cheer, the other members of The Hell Brothers echoing her cry.

  Behind Smalls came a veritable wave of people—all the leftover and remaining members of biker gangs Alexei had obliterated in the past. They swarmed into the building, taking down one guard aft
er the next.

  One person stood to the side, only observing the chaos before him—it was Paul. Having spoken to Ace several days ago about the possibility of infiltrating Alexei’s warehouse, Paul had lain in wait for Smalls to approach him. Then, with the help of one of the more experienced bikers, and the C-4 Paul had lifted from Alexei’s stash, the group had blown the warehouse wide open, and in the best strategic spot.

  In a few short minutes, almost the entire building had been secured, and a few of the bikers had turned their aims to looting the place of its valuables.

  Katie came up to Lucky, three girls in over-sized leather jackets following behind her. “I found them in the back,” she quietly told Lucky. “They were chained up in a cage…I’m taking them to get checked out by Lianna.”

  Lucky nodded absentmindedly. She had been walking around since the bikers had come in and wiped the place out, but she still had yet to see Vlad amongst the bodies—Riley’s was respectfully laid separate from the others and covered with a sheet.

  A small scuffle broke out in the corner as Smalls and another older biker from a lost gang pulled an incredibly angry-looking man out from under a cabinet.

  Lucky shouldered past everyone to get an up close look. It was Vlad.

  “Po'shyol 'na hui!” he screamed, cussing out everyone within sight.

  Lucky didn’t wait a heartbeat. She walked up to him, pulling her gun out from her waistband. She was so swift, no one even had time to realize what was happening until she pressed the muzzle up to Vlad’s forehead. “Shut the fuck up,” she growled, pulling the trigger.

  Vlad immediately went limp, Smalls dropping him in surprise. More than one person screamed, shocked. Lucky didn’t care. As quickly as she had forced her way in, Lucky walked out, dropping her gun behind her.

  “Hey! Wanna tell me what that was about?” Smalls said, catching up to Lucky.

  “He killed Riley,” Lucky coldly explained. She ignored Smalls’ curious look at her. No one knew about her and Riley, and she certainly didn’t want to go into it now.

  Smalls put a hand on her shoulder. “Ace will know what to say. Let’s go find him, okay?”

  Lucky looked up. “You haven’t seen Ace?” she asked, glancing around the room. “Oh, god!” she exclaimed, realization punching her straight in the gut. “Fiona!”

  ***

  Ace was staring straight at Fiona. Alexei was standing directly behind her, holding a gun to her head. Niko lay unconscious on the floor just to the left of them, blood trickling from several cuts on Niko’s face. Ace grimaced. He looked back at Fiona. Tears were openly streaming down her cheeks, but she didn’t make a sound.

  “It’s okay, Fiona,” Ace said, trying to keep her calm. “Everything is going to be okay.”

  Alexei laughed boldly. “You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep, Ace.”

  Ace ignored the mobster, keeping his eyes locked with Fiona’s bright blue ones. He took a step forward and Alexei twisted his grip on Fiona, causing her to yelp in pain.

  “If you move a single muscle, I’ll blow her brains out,” Alexei threatened.

  Ace stopped dead in his tracks, taking Alexei at his word. He scanned the room, always coming back to Fiona, but he couldn’t see a way out of this for them.

  I guess this is it, then, that voice in Ace’s head said. And you never even got to tell her…

  Before Ace could acknowledge what it was, exactly, that he needed to tell Fiona, he saw Niko slowly rise from the corner of his eye. Keeping his gaze firmly on Fiona so as not to alert Alexei’s suspicion, Ace held his breath.

  Niko leapt forward, grabbing Alexei’s gun with both hands and shoving it upwards with all the strength he had. The gun went off, shooting a hole in the ceiling and narrowly missing the chandelier.

  “Run!” Ace shouted to Fiona, who had been knocked to the ground in the scuffle.

  Fiona needed no further urging and ran for the staircase, pushing the trapdoor open and practically leaping out of the hidden basement.

  Ace turned back. The element of surprise lost, Alexei now easily held the upper hand in the fight. He punched Niko square in the face, and the younger man dropped to the floor, where he was still.

  Alexei stepped over Niko’s body and held up his hands, making a “come here” gesture to Ace.

  It wasn’t often that Ace had to look up to a man, but Alexei was a mammoth. If Ace wanted to win this fight, it was going to be through brains, not brawn.

  Alexei took a swing; it was slow, testing almost. Ace dodged it easily, but he wasn’t fooled. He threw a blow of his own, and as he suspected, Alexei moved out of the way, almost lightning fast.

  Immediately, the two men broke into a flurry of punches, Alexei landing hits on Ace’s ribs, stomach, and ear. Ace pulled back, then darted in before Alexei could catch his breath.

  Doing his best to ignore Alexei’s massive hands beating him in the back of the dome, Ace kept his head down, trying to drive him back by repeatedly punching him in the stomach and torso.

  It worked, and Ace dropped his left hand in pain—he felt like he might have broken it from punching Alexei’s abs so hard. Alexei took the opening and drove his fist into Ace’s jaw, knocking him down right next to Niko. Ace’s vision swirled as he fought to remain conscious. Alexei started to kick him in the side until there was an audible crack.

  Alexei came over and bent down to grab Ace by the shirt when he found a gun pointing dead at him. He held up his hands, retreating.

  “Don’t you move a muscle,” Ace said weakly. He fired, and the shot went wide, striking the ceiling.

  Alexei looked at Ace curiously, wincing as Ace accidentally shot one of the crystals in the chandelier. He started to chuckle—Ace was too fucked up to be able to shoot straight. Alexei took a step forward.

  Ace took a deep breath and pulled the trigger again, feeling this time the shot had found its mark. He shot the chain holding the chandelier aloft and it came crashing down around Alexei, trapping him inside it. Alexei fell parallel to Ace, their faces barely a foot apart.

  “Gotcha, bitch,” Ace growled, emptying the last bullet in the gun into Alexei’s skull.

  ***

  Fiona worriedly chewed her lip, then cursed, having accidentally bitten the cut from where Alexei had hit her. Both Ace and Niko were currently in surgery—internal bleeding from being severely beaten. They had been brought in over an hour ago, and no one had been out yet to tell them anything.

  The doctors had taken one look at the group of people in the waiting room, all needing at least some minor medical attention, and decided it was better not to ask questions. All of The Hell Brothers were crammed into the room, along with several of the other loner bikers.

  Even Paul was there. He waved awkwardly to her. “Sorry,” he apologized to Fiona. “About, y’know, doing nothing while Alexei beat the shit out of you guys. It’s just…Ace wanted my help with the plan, and, well, I’m a really bad liar. If I had said anything, or even looked at you, it would have been over for all of us,” Paul blurted out.

  Fiona smiled sadly. “I understand, Paul. We all did what we had to.”

  Suddenly the door flew open, and Melanie rushed through, frantically looking for Fiona. Spotting her almost immediately, she ran over, her trembling hands hovering around Fiona’s bruised and beaten face.

  “Oh my god,” Melanie said, her voice shaking. “You’re…are you okay?”

  “It looks worse than it feels,” Fiona insisted, though she had been given a strong painkiller about twenty minutes ago that was just starting to kick in. “Thank you so much for coming.”

  Diego stood up to allow Melanie to take his seat next to Fiona. “Of course! Just never scare me like that again! I would suggest going home, but I know that’s pointless, so here—” Melanie shifted a little lower in the chair, “—put your head on my shoulder and rest.”

  Fiona wanted to protest, but her body wouldn’t let her and she lay her head down. Rest would not come for her, ho
wever. She dozed fitfully, nightmares and reality mingling together into a jumbled mess.

  In one of her dreams, a doctor came into the room, but when he started talking his face melted and twisted until he looked like Vlad. “Choose!” the Vlad-Doctor barked.

  “Choose what?” Fiona whimpered, trying to get away.

  “Choose!” he simply repeated, grabbing Fiona’s arm and pointing with a gun that had at one point been a clipboard.

  Fiona looked where the Vlad-Doctor was pointing and saw both Niko and Ace tied up on the floor. “I can’t!” Fiona cried. “I can’t choose!” She wrenched herself free and fell, hard.

  Fiona woke up suddenly and on the cold laminate floor of the hospital. She looked up, confused, and saw Melanie and all the members of The Hell Brothers staring back at her concernedly. A doctor poked his head up from behind Smalls to get a better look. It had just been a nightmare; there had been no news on either of the injured men.