Broken Road

by Addison Kline

  “C’mon. We gotta go. You can let out all your aggression on Tim at the gym.”

  “I’ll meet you there. I need to find her.”

  “Do you need us?”

  “No, I need to do this on my own.”

  “Alright, call if you need us.”

  “Yeah… I’ll be there in an hour.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Harder! C’mon!” Torian yelled, egging Tim on as he waved the punching mitt out for Tim to attack.

  Tim swiped at the mitt without hesitation. His strong arms swinging, his tape-wrapped fists crashing against the red mitt. Dressed in a pair of red MMA training shorts, Tim looked ready for the cage. After searching for Randy around town for a half hour, Colt and Tim gave up and decided to let out their frustrations at the gym. The training had begun, much to Shelly’s disapproval, and Tim was looking pretty good in the ring for having taken time off.

  “You’re going too easy on him!” Colt said as he leaned over the ropes. “Move…”

  Colt pushed Torian out of the way and stripped off his black tank and flung it in the corner of the ring. Tim looked nervous as he gawked at Colt’s ripped chest. He was built like a brick shithouse, and although Tim was strong and fit, Colt was definitely a force to be reckoned with.

  “Uh, Torian… I’m not ready for the beast yet.”

  “The beast?” Colt asked with a smirk on his face.

  “Yeah, look at you.”

  “I work at a gym… You don’t expect me to get soft, do you?”

  “Go easy on him, Colt… He’s scared…” Torian said as he jabbed Tim in his arm.

  “Please,” said Tim as he duked it out with the punching mitts that Colt now had on his hands.

  “Jesus Christ!” Tim complained as he tried to keep up with Colt’s speed.

  “I’m not going to take it easy on you… The heathens in the ring won’t… Take out all your frustrations… It’s a great stress reliever.”

  Tim followed Colt’s direction, alternating between kicks and punches and getting a total body workout in. Colt was right. He was stressed out. The thought that his sister’s old house was burned to the ground after she had suffered severe burns just a few months ago… Clearly the Devils were trying to send a message. He felt uneasy as he tried to fight out the anxiety that rose within him. Tim’s movements became more pronounced. His hits stronger, his kicks more powerful.

  “That’s more like it!” said Colt encouraging him.

  As Tim continued to bout with Colt, they were able to forget about the trouble at hand for a short while.

  ***

  Randy rode his truck around looking for any sign of Cheyenne. He tried all the usual places, but still he found nothing. The longer he searched, the more a feeling of unease crept over him. There was one place left, and while he knew he should call Colt and Tim for back-up, something was telling him just to play it cool. Pulling a U-turn on Monument Avenue, Randy pointed his truck in the direction of the Seventy Devils’ HQ.

  ***

  Shelly was engrossed in a sappy movie on the Women’s Drama Network when the house phone rang. Again. Every time she picked up the phone it was dead air. With an annoyed look on her face, she picked up the phone.

  “Hello?”

  This time there was someone on the line. A woman speaking in an authorative tone asked, “May I speak with Mr. McClain, please?”

  “And with whom am I speaking?” asked Shelly sounding just as in control.

  “My name is Audrey Griffin. I am from the home owner’s insurance that Mr. McClain applied for.”

  Shelly scrunched her eyes. Colt didn’t apply for the home owner’s insurance. She did.

  “I’m afraid you must be mistaken,” said Shelly as she went to hang up the phone. Sensing that Shelly was about to disconnect the women raised her voice.

  “Ma’am, it is imperative that you tell us if Mr. McClain is home. I need to speak with him.”

  “He’s not home. I’ll let him know you called.”

  “Oh, okay… Well is Randy or Tim home?”

  Shelly was quiet for a moment, trying to figure out where she knew the voice from. It sounded familiar.

  “Who is this?!” Shelly asked becoming irate.

  “Ma’am, I asked you a question. Is Randy and Tim home? I have some business to tend to with them.”

  “Who the hell is this?!”

  But before Shelly got an answer the line went dead. Shelly slammed the phone down on the cradle, ran to the front door and bolted it shut.

  “Is everything okay?” Averi asked looking up from her book.

  “I’m not sure,” said Shelly as she looked at Averi with a concerned look on her face.

  Shelly filled Averi in and they both agreed that it seemed very fishy, but before they could dive too deep into the conversation, the phone rang again.

  Shelly paused before picking up, this time throwing all courtesy out the window. “WHAT?! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT?!”

  There was no sound on the other end.

  “What?! Cat got your tongue?!”

  “Uh, Shell…” Colt began. “Is everything alright?”

  Colt was taken aback at her tone. She was pretty scary when she was mad. Poor, Tim.

  “Sorry, Colt… I thought you were… Never mind.”

  “No, what? Something is wrong. Tell me.”

  “Someone has been calling the house all afternoon. Mostly it’s just been heavy breathing… but then some woman called asking for you.”

  “The heavy breathing has to be Jimmy. But a woman called for me?”

  “Yeah, saying she is with the home owner’s insurance agency…”

  “I didn’t even look into the home owner’s insurance. You did.”

  “I know. Then she went on asking if Tim or Randy were home.”

  “You didn’t tell her. Did you?”

  “No, I hung up on her.”

  “Okay, good. Lock the doors. We will be home soon. Don’t bother with the house phone anymore. We’ll get it figured out. Put my wife on the line.”

  Shelly passed the phone off to Averi.

  “Hey.”

  “Hey. Just keep the door locked. You’ll be safe out there.”

  “I know. It just really creeps me out.”

  “Tim took the sign for the ranch out. It’s in the cab of his truck.”

  “Oh, good. You guys will remember where to turn, right?”

  “Of course. No one else will, though,” said Colt laughing, trying to make light of the situation.

  “I’m going to need to go grocery shopping eventually. I don’t have much.”

  “We’ll go after dinner tonight. I guess we’ll do the diner again.”

  “Randy will be so thrilled.”

  “Randy has enough problems. I don’t think the diner will be an issue.”

  “How did he make out with Cheyenne?”

  “He didn’t. I’ll talk to you about it later.”

  “Bye, babe…”

  “I’m serious. Lock the doors and let the machine get the phone.”

  The phone would ring thirty-seven more times that afternoon. Each time Shelly and Averi let it go to voicemail, their anxiety increasing with each ring of the telephone.

  ***

  Gina West hung up the pay phone that hung on the wall at Devil’s HQ with force.

  “They didn’t buy it…”

  “We need someone more conniving…” Gunnar said looking at Jimmy.

  “Hey Steph! Get your ass over here!” Gunnar yelled.

  “Baby, what?! I’m painting my nails!” Stephanie said as she blew on her freshly painted red nails in an attempt to dry them.

  “Time to start a rewarding profession in telemarketing. Call this number, ask to speak to Randy. Make it sound convincing.”

  “Alright…”

  ***

  Colt pressed end on his smart phone and slipped it back into his pocket. Sweat dripped from his pores from having gone several rounds with
Tim. He, Jax, Torian and Harlan were alternating with Tim to give him the workout of a lifetime. As Colt re-entered the ring, the double doors of the gym slammed open. Randy came bolting through with a crazy look in his eyes.

  “If you’ve got a weapon, you’d better grab it! They’re comin’!” Randy shouted.

  “What are you talking about?!” Tim asked.

  “I crashed my truck into Seventy Devils Headquarters. There is a giant hole in the side of their building now. It’s their own fucking fault for shooting out my tires. I took out at least ten bikes in the process. They. Are. Pissed!”

  “Are you alright?!”

  “Crazy son of a bitch!” Torian yelled, giving Jax a wide-eyed look.

  Randy was bleeding from the head where he had made contact with the windshield on impact.

  “Shit! I don’t know! At least twenty of them are coming. Hurry up!”

  Not thirty seconds later, the double doors of the gym slammed open with Gunnar Rhoades, Trent Myers and Jimmy Hearns leading the pack. Randy wasn’t kidding. Colt counted a total of twenty-nine assholes in leather marching through the doors. The ring cleared out as all the guys took cover. Colt grabbed his handgun out of his gym bag, loaded it and aimed straight for his half-brother’s head. Randy already had his gun in his right hand and had Trent Myers in his sights. Tim had retreated to the office and had his uncle on the horn telling him to get his boys down here ASAP. The weight room had emptied out and a dozen more men comprised of body builders, one pro-basketball player and a couple of amateur wrestlers came out to see what was going on. Seeing who they were interrupted by, they stood behind Colt, Randy, Jax and Harlan as they waited to hear what the problem was.

  Jimmy spoke, “Colt.”

  “Jimmy,” Colt returned.

  “We got a problem…”

  “Damn right you do. Get the fuck out of my gym.”

  “No can do, ya see, your boy there… The crazy one that’s bleeding from the head… He did some major damage to our headquarters… So I only see it fitting that we return the favor.”

  “Did he now?” Colt asked as cocky smile grew across his face.

  Slapping hands with Randy, he said, “Nice job, man.”

  Jimmy gathered Trent and Gunnar in front of him. “Shoot the place up, leave Colt and Randy alive.”

  Trent looked at Jimmy like he was nuts.

  “They are the ones we’ve been looking for!”

  “I need them to tell me where my girl is…”

  “Fuck, Jimmy! I don’t give a damn where she is!” Trent screamed.

  “And you ain’t in charge, now do as I say or it’ll be a bullet in your head instead of theirs!”

  “This fucking dude is out of his skull.”

  “Fall in, Myers…” Gunnar said with a look of warning.

  “No! Bullshit! This is all over a girl! A simple bitch!”

  Jimmy turned to Trent and sent a fist flying towards his face connecting with his jaw as more blood spurt from his mouth.

  “Fucking Hearns!”

  Randy leaned in to Colt and whispered, “What are we waiting for?”

  “If they make the first move, we can prove that we were defending ourselves. Hold your ground. I’ll have this all on tape.”

  Colt pointed to the surveillance camera that hung in the far left corner of the gym. Jimmy raised his gun and shot a bullet into the air and the Devils were released. Fists flew, bullets swirled through the air and a battle broke out in the expanse of the gym. Colt held back making his brother come to him, while Randy was on the hunt for Trent. Jax got a running start and pinned two Devils to the ground, while Harlan kicked another square in the chest sending him falling backwards out the door of the gym. He turned around only to walk into a sucker punch from Gunnar Rhoades. Harlan took the hit and laughed, gripping Rhoades by his shirt collar he lifted him off his feet and threw him out. Torian, though he was short, he was strong as hell and had a low center of gravity. He tackled one of the bikers and waited for Will to help him eject him from the building. Harlan stood by the front door monitoring who got in and out. Tim, carrying a chair out of the office, swung it and sent it crashing against the back of a Devil. He didn’t know what hit him as he crashed to the ground. Jimmy stalked through the crowd looking for his brother. Colt sat in a chair, non-chalantly watching with amusement as his brother tried to look intimidating. Colt couldn’t help but laugh.

  “I’m pretty sure the only person you could scare with that hard look is yourself.”

  “I’m coming for her.”

  “Why, so she can sucker punch you again?”

  “You stole her from me.”

  “Dude. When I started dating my wife… You were a kid. ELEVEN. Grow the fuck up, man!”

  “I have,” said Jimmy as he pointed his gun at Colt’s head.

  “You don’t have the balls!” Colt said as he kicked his brother in the balls and sent him cowering to the floor.

  “Shit!”

  “Oh, shut up, Hearns! Nothing down there to hurt! Testicles have yet to descend! Now, I’m going to tell you once and for fucking all! Stay AWAY from my wife!”

  “Or what?!”

  “You’ll meet the exact same fate as your pit-stain of a father!”

  “You…”

  “What?”

  “Admitting guilt?”

  “You know it wasn’t me.”

  “You did it.”

  “You saw it happen! How fucking stupid are you?!”

  “You made the call.”

  “What is your deal?! Got daddy issues?! Who the fuck doesn’t?! He hated both our guts! He just used you because you are obsessed with Averi and he knew that you would know where she was. You got played.”

  “He didn’t hate me. We were partners.”

  “Black Horse was an equal opportunity asshole. He was a bigot and his prejudice was against the entire human race. He hated EVERYONE that wasn’t him! Don’t matter if you’re white, black, Catholic, Jewish, Islamic, gay or straight… If you breathed… Black Horse did not like you. You are no exception. He worked alone. He used the Devils to do his dirty work, but when it came to partnership, he trusted only himself.”

  Jimmy’s rage had boiled over. His face had turned a violent shade of red as he charged at Colt with an ugly scowl on his face. But before his balled up fists could make contact with Colt’s skin, Colt had grabbed his wrists. He laughed, “Calm down, little guy. Oh, look… We have company!”

  Shawn had just stormed through the door with several officers behind him.

  “Shut this shit down!” Shawn yelled sending the officers into the shit storm that had erupted in the middle of the gym.

  Jimmy glared at Colt, “I will have her.”

  “Have her? I’d like to see you try. She hates your guts. You are part of the reason why her legs have third degree burns. She had to have seven surgeries. SEVEN. And they still aren’t done yet. If you know what is best for you, leave her alone.”

  “Is that a threat?”

  “No, but this is… If I catch you on my property, calling my house or so much as looking at my wife, I won’t need a gun to kill you. I’ll do it with my bare hands.”

  “Let’s go, Hearns!” Shawn yelled as a pair of officers escorted him out of the building.

  “Everything alright?” Shawn asked.

  “For now. He has it in his deluded mind that he is going to take Averi.”

  “She’s safe where she is. No one knows how to get out there.”

  “Even so. I don’t trust him.”

  “It’ll be taken care of.”

  “Better believe that.”

  Colt shook Shawn’s hand tightly, and as the hand shake ended they were distracted by the sight of Randy steamrolling Trent and slamming him onto a table. The table crashed into splintered wood onto the floor. Trent was flattened out on his back but he was still conscious.

  “Fucking nutjob,” Trent said staring up at Randy.

  “You have no idea!” Randy sa
id smiling as he spit in Trent’s face. “Piece of shit…” Randy said as he began rifling through his pockets for any clue as to where Cheyenne might be. But he found nothing.

  “C’mon Myers… get up!” Officer Diaz yelled at him as they put him in cuffs.

  “We’re going to need the surveillance footage,” Shawn said.

  “No problem. I’ll have Jax pull it for you.”

  As the standing Devils were hauled out of the gym, Colt looked around at the wreck.

  “Well that was fun…”

  Chapter Twenty

  Averi was going stir-crazy being cooped up in the house, so she and Shelly decided to try to get some things done in the house. She refused to allow herself to worry. Things would work out. They had overcome so much already. This was small potatoes, right? Still, she couldn’t help feeling like there was something brewing, an earthquake rippling just below the surface. Averi was up in the room that would eventually become the baby’s nursery. Shelly was on the floor looking at paint swatches.

  A perplexed look crossed Averi’s face as she turned around to stare at her friend.

  “How long have you been dating my brother?” Averi asked.

  “That’s totally not out of left field.”

  “No seriously. It’s like one minute you’re saying you wanted to go out with him, then the next you two are inseparable. I guess I just didn’t really think about it until now.”

  “We were dating for months. You guys just didn’t know about it.”

  “You kept it a secret?!”

  “Well no offense, but you guys are newsy! We enjoyed our privacy.”

  “And yet, you moved in with us.”

  “Of course, you’re family. But those first few months, it was fun not having anybody know.”

  “So that whole time I was trying to get Tim to ask you out, you were already going out.”

  “Yeah, it was pretty funny if you ask me.”

  Averi shook her head with a smile on her face.

  “Crazy people.”

  “Shit you and Colt hid your relationship from your brothers for years.”

  “That’s different. They were all acting like maniacs.”