“So what exactly is the plan?” Sam asked. He uncrossed his arms and glance around uneasily.
“I… I was thinking about it on the way over. I know that most guys want out. They want a change. They don’t want to be doing what they are doing. I think that I can convince them, when they are all there together, to turn on the guy who was leading us. They’ve wanted to for a long time. I know that. I was the first to leave. I think the time is right, to show them that there is a better way, or at least a way out. That they don’t have to do this for the rest of their lives. That they don’t have to listen and do the will of a man who isn’t the man we used to know.”
“And you’re going to do that how?”
Sean turned back to Jay. “I don’t know exactly. Just try talking to them, I guess. Try reasoning.”
Just then a roar, distant, but not distant enough, split the quiet night air. Jay’s brows nearly shot to his blonde hairline.
“Think fast, my man. I’m going to say that the odds are good that those are our visitors coming.”
At his words, everyone sprang to action. The guys disappeared into the garage and came back with wrenches, hammers, irons. The same things Sean had grabbed up earlier when Jack and Percy paid him a visit.
Sean didn’t pick up a thing. He knew the only way to truly get through to the guys, guys he used to consider a family of sorts, was to use words. Words and reason. He didn’t need a tire iron to get them to listen.
The roar grew louder and louder until six bikes turned the corner. Sean stiffened. So Rick hadn’t brought the entire club down on him, but he’d brought enough. Enough to ensure that there would be no resistance dragging him back to Detroit.
Everyone froze. Time stood still. Everything moved in slow motion. The bikes pulling up, the leather jacket clad, patch wearing men dismounting. Boots hitting the ground, scraping over pavement. Slim Rick’s ugly sneer. The sidelong, reluctant looks that the rest of the guys gave him. Jack and Percy were there. They couldn’t look him in the eye, but glared at the rest of the guys assembled behind Sean.
He’d heard of that time cutting the tension with a knife. It was a stupid saying, but it finally, finally made sense. It was so true. The air was thick, thick like a shroud, like a wall that couldn’t be breathed in.
Slim Rick looked worse than ever. It was actually frightening to realize how much he’d changed. A month apart really showed what the blow was doing to the guy. He was shockingly skinny. His dark hair was dull and hung in greasy clumps. His cheeks were so hollow it made every single bone stand out in his face. His eyes were beady and roved wildly around those assembled.
“Got a fucking party going on here. Bunch of ladies.” He laughed obnoxiously but the rest of the guys eyed him warily. They didn’t join in. “What do you think you’re going to do? Throw a wrench at me? It’s admirable that you’d stand up for Peter here. He never had the balls to stand up for himself. Disappeared like a thief in the night.”
“Did you forget?” Sean bristled. “That we are fucking thieves?”
Two bright red spots appeared on Rick’s hollowed out cheeks. He edged forward, but the rest of the guys hung back. He bristled visibly, his shoulders hunching forward. The leather jacket that he used to fill out hung on his skeletal frame.
“We are nothing. You left. You are not a part of us anymore.”
“Then why are you here? Why are you fucking here, Rick? I wanted out. I made that clear. You won’t let any of us move on. We’ve outgrown what we were. All of us want to leave. We want to move on and have lives. We were fine with dealing with cars and bikes. We were a family then. It’s the coke. The fucking coke. It’s ruining all of us. It’s ruining you. Can’t you see that?”
“I am the leader of this. Me!” Rick stabbed a bony finger into his too thin chest. “Not you. You don’t get to say how we make our money.”
“Oh really?” Sean glanced at the guys standing behind Rick. Jack met his eye and looked quickly away, but not before Sean could tell how uncomfortable the guy was. No one else would look at him. “I think we should get a say. We were supposed to be a family. Brothers, you always said so. I didn’t join up thinking this would be a dictatorship. We used to have a say. All of us. We used to vote on shit, or at least, speak up when we thought shit was wrong. It’s not like that now. It hasn’t been for a long time. I got out because I didn’t like what was happening. I worked on bikes. I worked on cars. That was my life. When that stopped happening, I had no reason to stay.”
“How dare you tell me what is best for us!” Rick spluttered. Spittle sprayed from the corners of his mouth. He whirled, gesturing wildly. “If any of you think I’m not doing a good job, if any of you want to go out on your own, then fucking leave. Leave and we’ll see where it gets you.”
No one moved. No one said a thing. The air was eerily silent. No one even moved. Sean knew he was losing control of the situation. He hadn’t seen it going that way so far. He expected straight up force, for the guys to move in on him and take him, drag him off.
“You see! It’s just you. You and your big fucking mouth. You swore an oath to us. You think you can just leave? Leave and spill everything about us?”
“You know I would never say a word.”
“You and your congregation? How much have you told them? If you’ve never said a word, why are the rest of your little garage imps standing behind you?”
“They don’t know anything about this other than that you were coming and you were going to drag me back to where I came from and I didn’t want to go. I told them they shouldn’t be here. I told them and their skulls are so thick they decided to come back me up. They aren’t a part of this. They came because they wanted to be here. They know me from work and nothing else.”
“So they don’t know how you turn on your brothers? How you backstab your family and run in the middle of the night.”
“You know why I left. It wasn’t a decision made out of nowhere. You knew I approached you so many times. When a person isn’t heard and they don’t like what’s going on, what do you expect? People grow up. People grow out of shit. They leave. You have to learn to deal with that. It wasn’t fucking personal. I’m just not a kid anymore. I’ve been with you for years. You taught me everything I know about mechanics, I’ll give you that. You guys were all my brothers. Most of you still are. Even you, Rick. I just- I’m over it. I want to live a legitimate life now.”
“A legitimate life,” Rick mocked. “So you are too good for us?”
“No. I never said that. I said I’ve changed. I grew up. The things I wanted changed. And I definitely don’t want to be a part of what you’re doing now. I’m not into ruining lives and killing people with overdoses. I’m not into fucking breaking legs when people can’t pay. Every single guy standing behind you will back me up. Ask them. Turn around and really ask them. Look them in the eye and you’ll see that even if they don’t speak up now, you’ll see it. You’ll see it in their eyes. They don’t want to be a part of this. Bikes brought us together. No matter what we were doing, it was always the bikes. When you took that away, you broke a part of us. We may be brothers, but you can still be a brother and live in the outside world. It’s been eight years, Rick. Most of us want something else.”
Chest heaving, breath wild, face nearly purple, Rick spun again. He let out growls and more spittle sprayed everywhere. He slowly pivoted around, doing exactly what Sean said. He marched right up to Percy and grabbed the guy by the front of his leather jacket. He slammed his face into his and even when Percy tried to turn his head, Slim Rick grabbed it and brought it back to his. He let Percy go a second later and moved on to the next guy. Johnny stepped back and tried to dodge out of the way. Rick let out an angry shout and spun, so he was facing Sean.
“You’re the cancer,” he spat. “You’re the one who corrupted the others. You’re leaving. You’re not fucking going to get away with turning them against me. You’re a dead man.”
Before Sean even knew what
was happening, Rick hurtled himself at him. He hit him square in the chest at a dead run. Of course he went down hard. The momentum and the force of Rick’s weight propelled him to the ground.
Sean spluttered as all the air rushed out of his lungs. He felt like someone had just taken a damn wrecking ball and hit him in the middle. He couldn’t get his limbs coordinated enough to ward off the first blow, but by the time Rick hit him again, square in the face, he had himself together enough to realize that he better get his hands up and defend himself from getting beat into a bloody pulp.
Rick was smashing his fists into Sean’s face at an unbelievable rate. Sean knew that none of the guys would jump in. Not the guys from the garage and not the guys on Rick’s side. This was clearly a battle between them, a one on one thing that they were waiting to see what the outcome would be before they made a decision on what they were going to do next.
Sean punched out blindly. He swung his fist upwards and by dumb luck, it connected with Rick’s face. It sent him flying backwards and Sean was able to turn himself onto his stomach and get to his knees. His sides ached and it felt like he was never going to be able to take a proper breath again, but the rush of adrenaline carried through. He was up and on his feet, charging at Rick as soon as he popped up. The two tumbled down together, rolling, trading blows.
Sean struggled for his life. He knew that Rick would never give up. The guy might be emaciated from the blow, but he was still tough as nails. He was as deadly as a wire to the throat, thin and useless until applied with enough deadly force.
All Sean could hear was Rick’s growls in his ears. He dodged punches, blows that would have felled him for sure. He danced around, not daring to strike out and open himself up. Just when he thought the guy was tiring, Rick seemed to find a force of energy out of nowhere. He landed a blow that took Sean completely off guard.
He felt himself crumple as pain bloomed in his cheekbone and nose. He tasted blood, deep at the back of his throat. He went down hard, unable to keep himself upright as the black tide of pain washed over him.
A second later, Rick was on top of him. Instead of the blow he expected, Sean felt something hard and cold at the base of his throat. He realized what it was. A knife. He’s holding a damn knife to my throat.
Chapter 20
Capable Of Anything
Sean
If there were few times when Sean felt he really mattered, there were even fewer times in his life when he was actually truly afraid. Not real fear. Not the bone melting terror that he felt when that knife bit into his flesh.
Move. Do something. Sean willed himself to open his eyes. He stared up into Rick’s face. The menace there, the evil in his eyes, the pure, wild uncontrolled, undiluted hatred, was evident. Those dark eyes were black with hate. Hate and the drugs that had ravaged his body. Sean wondered, briefly, if any of the old Rick was still there. The guy used to have half a heart.
Sean knew he had to be careful. One wrong move and he’d push that knife through his own throat. On the other hand, who knew if Rick was going to slice his throat wide open. It would be game over then anyway. He would have said no before, that Rick would never have done it, but now… now he didn’t know. Rick seemed capable of absolutely anything.
Finally, after debating with himself for a few seconds that seemed to take forever, as though the whole world was moving in slow motion, Sean knew what he had to do. He brought his arm up and around, curled up his fist and landed it right in the middle of Rick’s waist. Right about where his kidneys would be.
The guy let out a blood curdling scream and fell right over on his side. Sean moved lightning fast. It didn’t matter that his nose was leaking blood half down his face. It didn’t matter that it was gushing like a fountain. He rolled on top of Rick, grabbed up the discarded knife and just like that, he was the one on top and Rick was the one at his mercy.
“Stop. It’s over,” Sean growled.
Rick, of course, said nothing. He stared up at Sean and the feral intensity in his eyes was more than a little shocking. His eyes were black and it was impossible to read what was in their depths. Sean knew that if he could have spat on him at the moment, Rick wouldn’t have hesitated.
“It’s fucking over. You are going to leave and leave me alone. And let whoever else wants to leave, leave. You stay away from me. You stay away from everyone I know and love. You keep your distance.” Sean kept the knife where it was and slowly glanced around at the guys from the gang. Some of them he really did think of as brothers. “Leave. Whoever wants to leave, go now. Go now and get on with your lives. You don’t have to be a part of this. We all used to have a say in the decisions we made. It stopped being like that for the past couple years. If you want to, walk away, no questions asked. Rick will give his word that he won’t hunt you down.” He pressed the knife closer into Rick’s throat. The guy flattened himself back against the pavement as far as he could go. “Say it!” Sam yelled. “Tell them they can go free. Say it and mean it, because your word given in front of us is unbreakable. Swear the same oath to us that we all swore when we started this.”
“The oath you broke?”
“No. The oath that I kept. I kept it because I would still die for each one of these guys. I would still die for you, if we were a brotherhood. But we aren’t. What we’ve been doing isn’t what I swore an oath to. You were never a dictator. You were a brother before, but we’ve all lost our say. We’ve lost our way completely. Tell all of us that you release us. Each and every one of us. Tell them.” He pressed the knife in harder.
Rick probably could have called his bluff. The guy knew that Sean wasn’t going to slit his throat anytime soon. He meant what he said. He would have kept his oath and died for Rick, if that’s what it took. Not died by his hand, but died for him if threatened by an outside force.
Rick blinked and something in his eyes changed. It was like the guy knew that it was over. Like he knew the ending was coming for a damn long time and he finally just accepted that it was there.
“I release you from your oath,” he choked out. The pain behind the words was real.
“What about them? Tell them as well.”
“I release all of you. If anyone wants to go, they can go.”
“Because this wasn’t what we started. It wasn’t how it was supposed to be.”
“No, it wasn’t what we started.”
Sean nodded slowly. His eyes flew up and landed on Jay’s face. The guy hung back, uncertain. Rone and Sam and Vinnie stood by him, waiting. Waiting for what would happen next. The guys on the other side were the same. No one really wanted to get the shit beat out of them or hand it to someone else. Really, the fight was between Slim Rick and himself and since it was over, everyone seemed content with the outcome.
Slowly, with infinite care, he moved the knife away from Rick’s throat. He let himself fall back and his hand uncurled. The knife dropped down to the pavement with a dull clatter. He rose slowly and faced the guys he used to call brother. He opened his mouth, but a shout from behind him warned him something wasn’t right.
He barely had time to process the scream or who it was even from, Rone or Jay or maybe even Sam, when fire flared in his shoulder. He let out a wail, a wail that didn’t even sound human. It was strangled, trapped deep within his throat. He didn’t know what had happened, just that the white hot pain radiating from the back of his shoulder made everything go black.
He fell to his knees and that’s when all hell exploded around him. Both lines, both groups of men jumped into action. He thought, for a minute, that they’d fight each other, but it didn’t happen. Both groups went right for Rick. Sean barely registered what was happening, but he could tell by the indignant yells that it was Rick doing the yelling and that he wasn’t happy about something.
Cool hands closed around his shoulders. He thought maybe it was Jay or maybe it was Rone and he hoped like hell they’d tell him what was going on. It wasn’t. When his blurry vision cleared he looked into the fac
e of Percy. The guy just shook his head. The look on his face… it was enough to stop Sean’s heart in its tracks. Something is really fucking wrong.
“What- what happened?” He managed to choke out. The words came out as a strange gurgle punctuated with weird pants that he realized passed for breath.
“He stabbed you. The mother fucker picked up that knife and put it right into your shoulder. He only missed your neck because you turned at the last second when that guy yelled at you.”
Percy’s arms, deceptively strong for how short the guy was, pulled Sean up. They wrapped around his waist, supporting him. Sean managed to blink away the black spots dancing in the corners of his eyes long enough to see Slim Rick being escorted by Jack and Biggie. The guy was a virtual giant. He was strong as an ox and had arms the size of tree trunks.
“You won’t have to worry about him anymore,” Jack said as he passed by. “You’re free. We’re all fucking free. Rick gave an oath and he tried to kill you. As his brother, he disgraced himself. He released us from our word, said we could go free and literally stabbed you in the back.”
“What are you…” Sean couldn’t finish the sentence, but Jack knew what he was trying to say.
“Don’t ask me. You won’t want to know. But we’re done. Like you said, we all want to do something different with our lives. Whether it’s together or apart, you’re free.”
Sean could only nod. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t give himself time to feel the relief that rushed into every single limb. His legs gave out and as the black overcame him once again, he felt another set of arms come around his shoulders. Someone barked something about being careful with the knife. It registered with him that the thing was still lodged in his shoulder. The fact that he couldn’t feel it probably wasn’t good.
He felt like he was floating and he figured that he must be being carried. Carried to where, he wasn’t sure. He wasn’t even sure he’d make it. He couldn’t keep it together long enough to worry about himself. The only thing he felt was sheer, utter relief. Carrie and her daughter and her father were safe. It was over for himself and for the rest of the guys, but most important, she was going to be okay. His last thought was of Carrie’s smiling face. He doubted he’d ever see it again, but he’d done it. He’d found a way, like he said, and she was safe.
Hard and Dirty: Bad Boy MC Romance Page 10
