Rampage (Ruthless Tendencies Series Book 4)

by D. M. Burns

  As soon as we landed, we were both greeted with a waiting blacked-out Escalade. Again, Rampage never once spoke during the drive, muted mogul syndrome. Not that he needed too. I was actively talking Lou’s head off. Just in case you’re wondering, Lou, is Ramp’s cool-cat chauffeur driver.

  Of course, Lou knows exactly where I’m staying. My apartment is conveniently located five minutes down the street from Aces Down. I’m quite sure Rampage provided this information via text to Lou before we took the first step off the plane.

  Who am I kidding? Ramp probably completed a background check and individually interrogated each of my social media sites before leaving The House of Creed yesterday. The guy is always ten steps ahead of everyone else. A cursed hangover disadvantage be damned.

  As we pull up in front of my place, I say a quick goodbye to Lou and go to let myself out of the vehicle, but Rampage grabs my arm. Immediately, I feel the familiar slap of red-hot adrenaline that’s only associated with this man.

  An aftermath of tingle’s race underneath his hand latched around my arm, swarming throughout all points of my body, damnit. My sharp slits focus on his hand then slowly rise to his disguised shade covered eyes. He’s pushing my tolerance level for his recuperating and impaired asshole antics.

  “Business is business. Aces Down is my lady luck, my soulmate. That’s my life’s focus. I won’t tolerate anything less than professionalism on my payroll.” What the fuck is wrong with him?

  “Are you serious right now?” My voice is a high-pitched scary Sherry sound.

  He leans up a little and points at my mouth while tonguing his front teeth then says, “You’ve got some leftover strawberry seeds.”

  “Oh, crap.” I cover my mouth with my hand then grab my phone and act like I’m taking a selfie while checking my teeth out.

  “Some shit just never gets old.” He chuckles.

  “Jesus… Asshole-liar.” I mumble while closing my phone out.

  “Listen, you’re the one that stood in the middle of Aces Down’s gaming floor months back and flipped me off. Displaying a temper that’s unsuitable for even you.” He quirks his beautifully impaired slashed eyebrow at me.

  Those eyes are still hiding behind his shades even though his ass is seated in a blacked-out SUV. Which is probably a good thing for him, or I’d scratch his damn eyeballs out.

  “You had security toss the thirty-five-thousand-dollar Italian rug that I purchased for the Imperial room out into the parking garage. In front of my damn car.” I sneer.

  “I didn’t like it. Plus, you purchased that with my money. So, it’s not like it was an out-of-pocket expense for you. Hell, I told you to take it home. I thought it was a nice gesture.” He smirks at me then shrugs his shoulders.

  Jerking my arm out of his grip, I push the door open and clear the vehicle. Only then do I turn around leveling him with my icy cold death dice.

  “Mr. Carter, I’m fully aware of how to conduct myself in a skilled environment. Las Vegas was a lion’s den full of influential and famous predators. You’re a carebear compared to the likes of those men.” I wink then continue, “But I learned quickly how to navigate safely. My first lesson being, never to allow anyone to touch me. So, consider this your warning. Do not put your hands on me again. If you do, you’ll get to learn another useful talent that I’ve become an expert in, ball removal.”

  Without waiting for him to respond, I slam the door and proceed into my building. Free at last, thank God, I’m free at last… Wanna talk about uncomfortable driving experiences, that tops it. Between the plane ride, and chauffeur service with Mr. Carter, I need a damn stiff drink. Wonder if I can get my hands on any of that cognac?

  “Len…” Dear sweet baby Jesus…

  His voice is smooth as silk when he calls out the pet name, he branded me with years ago. For a moment, I feel that nostalgic pang in the middle of my heart. My head falls back, and I stare up at the Georgia sky while releasing an exaggerated huff.

  “What Slade?” I say in defeat.

  That name spilling off my lips has a sentimental but stale taste. I jerk around and see his Instagram fashion famous half-smirk propped in the square window space on display. It’s a perfect snapshot.

  “Looks like you’ve stepped into another rabbit hole. Be sure not to get trampled over by the Rampage coming your way, yeah? This time there won’t be no one there to save you. See you first thing in the morning, eight a.m. Have a good evening, pretty girl.”

  With those parting words, he disappears as the window rolls up and the Escalade drives away. I barely control the urge to flip the moving vehicle off. Asshole.

  chapter 4 -Rampage

  age 13 - monroe middle School

  This social studies class blows big flying chunks. My eyes roll over the bodies in the room and I see my asshat brother staring a hole in my head. I smile wide at him. Renegade knows I kissed Len because I told him so. Last week when he blurted out that he liked her, I nailed him in the mouth. If he doesn’t watch his ass, I’ll do it again too. He knew I liked her and that burned me in a hateful way.

  He’s my twin and we’re supposed to look out for each other. Or at least that’s what mom and dad say. When we got sent home from school for fighting each other, mom was really disappointed in us. I know that because she kept repeating it over and over again on the drive to the house while giving us the stink eye in the rearview mirror. In other words, she was really pissed.

  Mom said that no girl should ever come before your brothers, but she doesn’t know Lena. No matter what mom or dad think, Lena’s different and well, screw Renegade. She’s most definitely worth punching him in the mouth, reoccurring style. Ren thinks that just because he was born TWO minutes before me that he can tell me what to do. Most of the time I ignore him. This is just the first time that I wasn’t going to back down.

  Len doesn’t even like Renegade, she likes me. I’ve known for a while because I catch her staring and smiling at me all the time. Then again, a lot of girls like me and Ren. I don’t pay them no attention though. But Ren’s been in a shit mood at me ever since he caught his girlfriend, Isabella, scribbling my name out on her folder in class. I told him he didn’t have shit to worry about, but it still pissed him off.

  Renegade can kiss my ass though. Like I told him, I’ll fight him every day of the week for Lena. She’s special. Her hair is the color of strawberries and her eyes remind me of a light blue popsicle. She has heart-shaped soft lips that I really want to kiss again too. She’s pretty in a way that none of the other girls are. He can stay on the chase for Isabella and leave Len alone.

  When I found Len out on the wooded trail coming back from the tracks, I knew she was upset because I overheard her cussing. As usual, the girl must’ve been on the hunt for me or blackberries. She loves those and strawberries. What can I say? I’ve paid attention to her, always her.

  Wherever I go, she’s never far behind and forever trying to tag along. I sorta felt bad when I saw her crying with her foot stuck in that rabbit hole. It was wedged in there pretty damn good too. She was so sure that I wasn’t going to be able to get her foot out though. Like I’d leave her there or something, no way.

  Just as soon as the teacher says we can go outside, I don’t wait on my brother like normal. I make my way for the classroom door and rush down the hallway. Dipping and slinking between the bodies, I hit the medal barrier exit latch. Slinging it open and letting the sweet smell of summertime slam into my face. Honeysuckles mixed with freshly mowed grass tickles at my throat.

  My eyes roam over all the other faces until I see hers. Len is sitting on the cement wall with her legs dangling. She has on a pretty yellow tank-top and blue jean shorts with her strawberry hair pulled back in a high ponytail. Her yellow ribbon holding her hair up matches her shirt. My footfalls step in that direction and her head tilts up.

  When she sees me coming her face breaks out into a beautiful smile. My automatic smirk tips up for her and my chest heats. It’s a weird sens
ation and has everything to do with her. But before I can make it over to her, Renegade drapes his arm over my shoulder leading me in the opposite direction.

  “Bro’s before bimbos or Ho’s.” He smirks at me.

  “Watch your mouth.” I snap.

  “You heard what dad said. We gotta stick together. Letting some girls come between us is bullshit. We’ll be brothers forever. Long after their gone and anyway we’re young. Dad said we need to have fun.”

  “Whatever,” I say. Dad’s a smart man and I guess he’s right.

  “We’re going to the tracks. You guys coming too?” Jackson Davis asks.

  Jackson and his brother, Cash, hang out with us a lot. Even though Jackson has a big mouth and likes to start trouble, we deal by ignoring his ass. Cash is the quiet one. He hardly ever reacts to shit. Craning my neck back, I nod and give them a fist bump. They’re freakishly tall and normally playing basketball.

  “Sup, guys.” Cash says. He poses it as a statement because he doesn’t give a shit about our answer. This guy is about as cold as a furless polar bear in Alaska.

  “Hey, Slade.” I turn around to the whispered hello to find Len standing right behind me. Those popsicle blue eyes looking up at me. She’s my pretty girl.

  “Why she calling you that, Ramp?” Jackson asks. Cash just stares uncaring at the situation in front of him, and Ren swipes his hand over his face.

  “That’s his name, duh,” Len says on an eye roll.

  “Nah, Lena. You’re not family.” Renegade laughs. “Only our mom calls us by our first name and that’s only when we’re in trouble. You don’t look like our momma, Firecracker.”

  “Don’t call me that, Renegade. Anyway, he said I could call him by his first name so, shut up.” Len huffs.

  She places her hands on her hips and stomps her foot in the dirt making a red cloud of dust bust-up while glaring at Renegade. Her strawberry colored ponytail is bouncing around in aggravation and her face is turning a splotchy red. Renegade holds his hands out in defeat and backs up a step.

  “Do you like Little Red Riding Hood or something, Ramp?” Jackson asks as he starts to laugh with Renegade. I grit my teeth and turn around to each of them laughing at me except for Cash. His shits are not given. I should kick Jackson’s ass and be done with it.

  “Don’t call me that, asshole.” Len hisses. Whoa, I’ve never seen Len get this mad before. The guys all laugh harder except for Cash, shocker.

  “No, I don’t.” I grit out from behind clenched teeth. Yes, I do. I like her a lot, but I want them to shut the hell up.

  Their pissing her off and causing a scene, something I hate to be in the middle of. I like an even balance of drama-free chicks and pricks. Which is half the reason why I prefer dealing with cash count. Numbers never lie and a thick pocket can payoff problems. I’ve learned shit at a young age that most never catch onto.

  I should kick all their asses, but mom will be pissed, and dad will ground me. I just want them to drop it. Instead of knuckling upon them, I circle back to Lena. Her face isn’t mad anymore, she looks sad. Her blue eyes slide over to mine.

  “You don’t like me, Slade?” Her voice is barely heard but I didn’t miss it. I’ve hurt her feelings. Shit.

  “Just forget about it. Call me Rampage, yeah?” I tuck my hands into my pocket wanting nothing more than to wrap them around her.

  She nods her head and stares down at the ground pushing the toe of her shoe around in the dirt. That bothers me more than the guys making fun of me. I mean, it’s not like she’s my girlfriend, not yet anyway.

  “Come on, Ramp. Let’s go to the railroad tracks while we still have time.” Ren says.

  Renegade pulls me toward the tracks and all the guys follow behind us. I look back to see Lena swiping her tears away. Damnit, I didn’t mean to make her cry. I’ll make it up to her tomorrow.

  chapter 5 - rampage

  Hearing the soles of my shoes echoing off the imported tile floor of Aces Down at four in the morning is nothing new to me, work hard-play harder. That’s a motto to live by unless you’re me. Don’t get me wrong, I work hard at statistics and trends then let the money-making decisions filter the cash in. It’s what I excel at. They say stick with what ya know, right?

  This place never sleeps anyway. It’s my nature to build an empire that turns a profit twenty-four seven. As soon as one ass moves out of the roundtables circle of wagering, another person will slide in and take your place. The leather seats never get cold and Aces Down never closes, ever.

  I’ve been lucky in that perspective with profitable business decisions. If you look deep enough into the history of the Chaos Cousins, each of us has a claim to fame, a unique niche that we fit comfortably into. Our strengths combined built a force unstoppable. A legacy of Chaos.

  My strong suit just took me on a detour down a slightly more criminal curve, mob boss style with a taste for the high-end suits and trends. Granted, the hushed rumors of my ice-cold approach to the job is solidified. Some refer to me as the underground fixer, Kingpin Carter, Capone Carter, or the Capo of Chaos. That shit is laughable.

  Truth be known, I didn’t get where I am in this game by running tabs or goodwill banking practices. If you owe the house, I’ll be seeing you and those are facts. There’s a little bit of truth to be found in every tale but there’s also a heavy scent of bullshit you’ll need to filter your way through too.

  All my brothers plus Rage took an active role in running Club Chaos before we even graduated high school. To me, it was a pivotal platform that turned platinum. It helped to shape my bankable business ways. But I was financially flipping profits way before Club Chaos. With or without our sturdy fight club, I was going to have a cash count streaming in.

  Before Club Chaos became ours, I was running the underground betting ring ten cities out. Controlling the cash craze with a numeric mind and precise accounting abilities for every penny. It turned out to be useful training in this gambling game.

  Stanford Wells, or as the Chaos cousin crew calls him, Pop’s, knew he had an Ace in the hole with me. He cashed out on my abilities before selling the fight club supposedly over to Rage then took off in an RV with his wife. Between Rage’s fists and my profitable monetary twists, Pop’s was able to retire early in style.

  That frightening fucker that is Rage, needed an octagon cage like he needed a shrink, desperately. Each explosive fight he banged out in that ring was like a mental patient’s hour-long lounging session on a red couch, therapeutic. Do I personally think it helped him? Oh yeah, it cultivated his vile creature within for delivering destructive ringside demise.

  Once he was set free behind those steely bars for the first time, the Rage detonated. I remember it like it was yesterday. The flashing lights of fight night nor the seasoned opponent intimidated him. His demonic dungeons were there to share. Spreading shattered bones while refueling on the suffering screams. His nickname speaks for itself.

  That mammoth motherfucker was on a matchup mission to fistfight his demons out one swing at a time. Rage damn well went hard at it too. But he never truly calmed until he accepted a certain green-eyed girl into his life. After he married Reese, he mellowed toward her, but only her.

  Bottom line, he’s never lost a fight, ever. I placed major beats on his bouts and banked out. Hell, we all bankrolled with the money made off his fight game. That’s what he thinks allowed him to buy Club Chaos in the first place.

  Renegade heads up security at the club and even opened his own security firm years ago specializing in high profile celebrities for our Atlanta elite celebs, Renegade Investigations. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, but he also handles the casino's security too. We keep the family fortune spinning within our clan dynamic. Plus, he and his wife also own and run Grace Jujitsu too.

  Ever since Ren and Asia tied the knot and had their twin baby boys, he’s pulled back from the work-acholic routine. I saw that coming a mile away though. That guy is a damn good husband and father. Raid and Zaid are n
othing more than a remake of me and Ren made over again, period.

  Now when Ren shows up, instead of packing guns, he emerges with one baby strapped to his back and the other to his chest. The first time I saw him literally carrying that load, I lost it. Laughed right in his damn face, priceless shit.

  Those two Baby Magic smelling bundles of joy have surprisingly melted their way into my heart. I really thought I’d be more hesitant in my approach to those tiny humans but no. Hell, if Ren makes an appearance solo now without the boys, I get pissed off. What can I say? I like those matching bald-headed little guys.

  No matter how busy my twin is, Ren still finds the time to wedge his nose between the rest of the family’s ass cheeks. Being the older brother by TWO minutes earned him that right… Right? He can’t help it, that’s just who he is.

  Let’s chat about my baby brother, Rebel, for a minute. That guy’s malicious mentality is brimming over with some nasty follow-up results. I always knew he was a super genius motherfucker with a side of unhinged craze.

  Between Rage and Rebel, I’m sorta torn on who’d be the worse option to get stranded and padlocked in a house with. Rage doesn’t care to make a bloodied mess using his fist. He’ll merely step over the fallen carcass to get from point A to point B. But Rebel’s the type that’ll clean it up with OCD tendencies and dispose of the body then lounge back with a sandwich as if nothing ever happened.

  You’ll probably have a hard time even becoming a distant memory if Reb pounces on you, no evidence-no conclusion. Your family members will be left wondering if you’ll one day materialize. His level of intellect goes deep into the technical cyber side of things as well as a cryptic craze. Rebel facilitates the entire family’s digital world. That little cyber Ghost also sinks his techie teeth into super sensitive government cases.

  My little brother is wickedly warped but just like Rage and Renegade, he recently got married. It’s not quite been a year. Between the three of them, they were all claimed by their women in school. And each one ended up with some kind of fucked for life issue until pairing back up. Except for this guy right here!