by Jade Kuzma
“Do you believe this guy?” Ghost said.
“This sounds fishy,” Needle said.
“Yeah, no shit,” I said.
“The guy is telling you that your lady got kidnapped. Right when we’re supposed to be heading up north with the shipment. What are the fucking chances?”
Needle had a point.
“Talk about fucking inconvenient,” Needle continued.
“What do I do?” I said, looking at Ghost.
“What can you do?” he said. “We take this shipment up north. It has to move. It’s not just Garnet that’s gonna be pissed. We don’t wanna get the Chinese on our bad side.”
I looked down at the ground and shook my head. My eyes closed, I knew there was no other choice.
“I have to go,” I said. “I have to go after her.”
“He might be lying,” Ghost said. “This could all be a sting just to trap all of us.”
“I can’t take that chance. I can’t leave her.”
“For all you know, Poison might have killed her by now.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “Poison doesn’t care about her. He wants me. He’s just using her as bait. I still have some time.”
A sudden hand on my shoulder surprised me. I looked up and saw Needle smiling at me.
“Go,” Needle said. “You have to do this.”
“Are you serious?” Ghost said to him.
“I only met her for a second but I know she’s special. I know she’s the one. This is more important than anything. I’ll watch Ghost’s back and we’ll take the shipment. You do what you have to do, brother.”
Needle gave me the confirmation I needed. It was enough to convince Ghost that it was the right thing to do.
“Are you sure you can handle it by yourself?” Ghost said to me.
“This is my business,” I said. “I’ll settle it.”
Ghost wrapped his arms around me, squeezing me tight. Needle gave me a handshake. The two of them got on their bikes and sped off down the street.
I walked up to the cop as he stood there and waited.
“What’s your name?” I said to him.
“Ben. What’s going on? Where are they going?”
“Forget about them. I need you to do me a favor.”
“A favor? What kind of a favor—”
“Look, do you want to save Lydia or not?”
“Yeah. She’s my friend. Of course I wanna save her—”
“Good. Then you’re gonna have to do exactly what I tell you to do.”
Chapter 22
LYDIA
My thoughts were clouded. It was like being stuck halfway between a dream and waking.
I blinked my eyes but couldn’t tell if they were opening.
“Ugh…”
It took too much effort just to groan. But it was the effort I needed to realize that I wasn’t awake or in a dream.
I was in a nightmare.
My head tilted up, I looked around and saw the darkness surrounding me. I tried to get up but couldn’t.
My arms were tied around my back. My wrists and ankles were bound. I was stuck to the chair.
Unable to move. Unable to make out my surroundings. Barely able to think straight, I called out into the darkness as if I would get the answer I was looking for.
“Hello? Help!”
My face was wet with sweat. A couple of tears had made their way down from the corners of my eyes.
“Help! Anybody!”
I yelled helpless into the abyss that surrounded me. Like flailing in bed when you were in a nightmare and trying to wake yourself up, there was no way out for me.
A sudden light shined down on top of me. Blinding white that made me grimace. I closed my eyes as the light illuminated the lone spot where I was bound.
Then I heard footsteps approaching me. Slow, measured steps. My heart sank knowing that it wasn’t someone here to save me.
As he stepped into the light, he revealed himself.
Poison.
The man who had a vendetta against Sean.
The shining light made his pale skin even more dramatic. Tattoos on his shaved head, Poison was the picture of a man who clearly didn’t give a shit what others thought about him.
More unnerving than anything else was the look in his eyes. The sinister smile on his lips hid the dangerous intentions I saw deep inside of him.
He reached forward and put a hand on my chin. I jerked my head away and glared at him, my jaw clenched.
“What a feisty little bitch,” he said. “Don’t worry. It’ll all be over soon.”
“What do you want?” I yelled at him.
“Calm down… Calm down… There’s no need to get so emotional. I only need you to take care of some business. Once Brash gets here, it’ll all be over very quickly.”
“What do you want? Killing me or Sean isn’t going to bring your brother back.”
That wiped the smile off of his face. His brow furrowed in anger.
“Do you know what that man did to me?”
“I know. I know exactly what happened.”
“Do you?”
He started to pace back and forth in front of me.
“Razor was a good man. He never did anything wrong. He was just a biker trying to enjoy his life.”
“He hit an innocent woman.”
“It was a mistake. Did he deserve to die for it?”
“He fired his gun at Sean!”
“That makes it all right? Do you know what happened to him?”
I looked away but he put his hand on my chin, forcing me to look at him.
“Brash caught him. He started hitting him. But he didn’t stop. He kept pummeling him. He pummeled him so bad that you wouldn’t have been able to recognize my brother after. They had to use dental records to identify his body.”
Poison put his face to mine and looked me right in the eye.
“Is that the kind of man you associate with?” he said. “A cold-blooded killer?”
“He did his time,” I said. “They sentenced him and he did his time.”
“Not good enough! Brash took justice into his own hands. He thought he was above the law. Now I’m gonna take justice into my hands. I’m gonna give my brother the justice he deserves.”
“What are you planning on doing?”
He pulled his hand away from me and stood up straight. That unnerving grin reappeared on his lips as he started to pace back and forth.
“I’ve been watching you,” he said. “I’ve been following you. I know where you live. I know where you work. I know where you spend your free time. I even drugged that poor girl who works with you. All just to get Brash’s attention.”
“You… It was you who did that to Gina.”
“It was Brash’s fault.”
“You’re crazy…”
He laughed as if confirming what I said.
“I thought you were just another whore that Brash was sleeping with. But it’s more than that. You two are spending an awful lot of time together. You would think spending so much time with him, you’d realize what he truly is.”
“I know who he is!” I said. “He made a mistake. He paid the price.”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “He didn’t pay the price. The price of my brother’s justice is much higher than that.”
He reached into his back pocket and pulled a knife out. The switchblade was sharp, glistening underneath the spotlight that shined down on both of us.
“Brash will come looking for us,” he said. “He’ll find us. Do you know why?”
I shook my head.
“This is the spot,” he continued. “This is the spot where he caught my brother and took the law into his own hands. This is where he executed my brother. It’s only fitting I do it here.”
“You’ll never get away with this.”
“Oh, but I will. You see, Brash is gonna come here. He’s gonna see you tied-up in his chair. I know how close you two are. He’ll do anything to save you.
Anything. So I’ll give him the choice to do what’s right.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m gonna give him this knife. And I’m gonna let him end himself. Once Brash is dead, justice will have been truly served.”
He reared his head back and cackled like a madman.
But it wasn’t a man standing there in front of me. His sanity… His obsession… Any rational thoughts were gone. The only thing he was focused on was ending his feud with Sean.
“It’ll only be a matter of time now,” he said.
“The cops are coming. Did you see that guy at the bakery? He was a cop. He’ll be here.”
“That stupid punk doesn’t know where I am. He couldn’t find me if he searched for months. No… The only man who knows where I am is Brash…”
Poison disappeared back into the darkness. The spotlight started to dim.
“Hey!” I shouted. “Where are you going? You can’t do this—”
The loud sound of gears grinding interrupted me. I looked around and saw something moving to the side of me. It looked like a massive storage door slowly rising. I must have been in some type of warehouse.
When the door raised up, I could see outside. It was nighttime in Ivory.
I closed my eyes, thinking about how much I wished I was out there.
All of the townspeople. All of the places. All of the relationships. I’d only just gotten here. There was so much more for me to explore.
My heart sank in my chest, realizing that I would never get the chance to see it for myself.
As I started to sob, I heard the sound of laughter coming from the darkness.
“Don’t cry,” Poison said. “This is a celebration. You get to be a part of true Ivory justice…”
My eyes closed, I heard loud exhaust in the distance. The sound started to grow louder. It got so loud that it was right next to me.
I raised my head up and saw a figure just outside of the small warehouse Poison was keeping me captive. A lone man sitting on his chopper. Even though I couldn’t see him, I knew who it was.
“I’m glad you could join us,” Poison said.
Poison reappeared from the darkness next to me, moving right behind me. A hand on my shoulder made me shudder.
The man in the distance moved off his bike and slowly started to walk toward us. As he got closer to the dim light surrounding me, I got a better look at his face.
I hadn’t seen Sean’s face in only a few days but it felt like so long ago. I’d never been happier than at this moment.
Sean only glanced at me for a second before turning his attention to the man standing right behind me.
“Let her go, Poison. I’m the one you want.”
“You are the one I want. It’s time to finish our business once and for all.”
“Fine. Let’s end this.”
Chapter 23
SEAN
“Here.”
Poison tossed a small switchblade at my feet. It clanked against the ground and slid toward me.
“Go on,” he said. “Pick it up.”
His hand was on Lydia’s shoulder. That was the only reason I hadn’t run forward and knocked his head into the next county.
“I said pick it up!”
He pulled out another knife and held it toward Lydia’s throat. Seeing her bound to her chair, tears running down her cheeks… My whole world was at his mercy.
“Do it!”
I slowly bent down and picked the knife up from the ground.
“Good. Now put it to your throat.”
“You don’t want to do this—”
“I said put it to your throat or I’ll cut this bitch’s head off!”
“Listen to yourself! You’re telling me to kill myself?”
“It’s better than you deserve! Three years! They gave you three years for killing my brother! That’s not justice!”
“That wasn’t my choice!”
“What about Razor? What about his choice?”
His hand was trembling. Lydia grimaced as the tip of the knife pierced her skin slightly.
Trying to reason with a fucking maniac like Poison was impossible. But I had to do something if I was going to save the woman I cared about.
“I made a mistake,” I said. “It was wrong. I shouldn’t have done what I did.”
“You’re right. You made a huge mistake. Now you’re gonna pay the price!”
“Let her go! She doesn’t have anything to do with this.”
“She has everything to do with this!”
His hand was shaking so much. The longer he kept the knife at her throat, the less chance I had of saving her. I was running out of time.
“Do you know what it’s like to lose someone?” he barked at me. “Do you know what it’s like to lose everything?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for that to happen to your brother. I didn’t mean for you to lose your patch. But you don’t have to do this. You’re making a mistake.”
“I’m not making a mistake. I’m doing this for my brother. This is what he would have wanted.”
“Is it? Your brother was a Winter Cobra, just like you were. You two lived the lives of outlaws. You were true one-percenters.”
“Stop talking and do it!”
I shook my head. Even though I was trying to save Lydia, I meant every word I said. The poor bastard had lost everything. His brother. His patch. He had nothing else to live for. I had to give him something.
“This isn’t what Razor would have wanted,” I said.
“What do you know about what he wanted?”
“Because you were Winter Cobras. If he were here now, he would want you to take justice into your own hands. He’d want you to settle this like a man.”
“…Fucking Reapers. Always riding around this town, acting like you’re the fucking owners of the road. I always fucking hated you.”
“This is your chance. Letting a Reaper kill himself…”
I kept shaking my head at him.
“…Nah. Put down the knife. Beat a Reaper like a man. Take justice like I did.”
I could see his hand still trembling. Lydia had her eyes closed, sobbing softly as the maniac kept his hand tight on her shoulder.
“Put the knife down,” he said. “I’ll fucking kill you myself.”
I dropped the knife and it clanked against the floor.
“Come here and kill me,” I said.
“I’m gonna enjoy this.”
Poison pulled the knife from Lydia’s throat and tossed it to the side of the warehouse. I held back a sigh of relief as she sank into the chair she was tied to.
Poison took off his vest and his shirt followed. I took a moment to do the same. Underneath the dim bulb shining down in the center of the warehouse, Poison walked toward me with his fists up.
“This is for Razor,” he said. “This is for every Cobra who got disrespected by a Reaper.”
He yelled as he rushed toward me. A violent punch that would have knocked me unconscious if I hadn’t shifted out of the way.
I put my hands up.
I’d spent three years in prison. Before that, all of my teenage life was spent fighting off bullies and dealing with punks who picked fights with me.
I could take Poison. He was just another asshole I had to deal with.
He threw another punch at me and I took a knee, responding with a hard right hand to his ribs. He yelled out and stumbled back.
Got him.
One punch wasn’t gonna be enough to stop him. All it did was fill his eyes with even more determination.
“Motherfucker…”
He muttered to himself as he rushed toward me. There was no punch or kick this time. Instead, he wrapped his arms around me and tackled me to the ground.
I wasn’t ready.
I stumbled to the ground with him on top of me. Suddenly, he was raining down punches on my face. Every fist left me more dazed than the last.
“This is for Razor… This is for the
Cobras… This is for justice…”
He grunted between every blow.
“Sean!”
I could still hear her. I had to do this. For her.
For her…
I struggled underneath him. I stuck my hands out, reaching for him.
I gripped my hands around his throat and squeezed. He pulled his hands back to try and free himself from my grasp. It gave me the chance I needed to push him off of me completely.
He stumbled back and fell to the floor. I raced forward and pounced on top of him. With all of my strength, I reared my hand back and slammed it against his jaw. Blood splattered against the concrete beneath us.
But all he did was smile back at me, the crazy bastard. I kept hammering his face with punches until he was bloody and bruised.
“Sean! Look out!”
I hadn’t noticed where his arm was reaching. At the last second, I rolled off of him as he took a swing at me with the blade he’d picked up from the ground.
His face was red and dripping. His nose was pointed in two different directions. But he was still smiling at me like a fucking maniac.
He turned his head to the side and spit out some blood.
“Come on,” he said as he motioned for me with the knife. “Stop acting like a pussy and fight me.”
I’d been in more fights than I could count. But it was always different when a weapon was involved. All it would take is one stab, one swipe, one motion, and it would be all over.
“Sean! Sean!”
Her voice in my head. Like an angel singing a chorus.
I had to do this.
Not for me.
Not for the club.
For her.
The one who made me feel like I was flying. The one who eased the pain in my heart.
For her.
Bleeding from my face. Covered in sweat. Breathing hard. I knew I was close. I just had to dig deep for whatever was left to finally end this once and for all.
“Come on,” I said, motioning for him. “Let’s finish this.”
He charged at me with the knife pointed forward. Just as he got to me I grabbed his wrist with both hands. With all of my strength, I twisted his arm until I heard it. A loud snap. Bone crunching. Tendons moving in the wrong direction.
He howled in pain, telling me I’d done what I needed to do.
