by J. C. Allen
And then the impossible happened.
Bikes.
I heard the hard thrum and crackle of their engines off into the distance… getting closer and closer.
“Fuck!” he said, slamming the steering wheel. “They just don’t learn. What kind of spell must you have them under? Your father would roll in his grave, to find out you have become a club whore!”
He looked back at me, snarling, and then snapped the wheel back. And then I remembered what I had.
My gun.
It sat in the front pocket of my hoodie, tucked away in hiding. My hands were tied behind my back, but if I could just…
It took some maneuvering. I moved my body up and down, and then it came sliding out. I carefully rolled over to push it behind me.
But then, the car suddenly sped up, and it moved it too far down.
It hit the door. The sound should have given me away, and I even felt like I was out of luck, but luckily, he didn’t hear. The bikes were getting too loud, too strong. There were more than one. I couldn’t decide, though, if I wanted Simon to be one of them—the risk that it he could have gotten killed terrified me.
He sped up and jerked it back the other direction, finally, bringing the gun close to me. I felt the handle, the cold steel of the safety. I had to maneuver myself and then hope and pray for a clear shot. I turned fast and rolled up in a ball to fire.
I shot.
Uncle Nic shouted in Italian. I rolled over to protect Michael as Nic lost control. Something hit the side of the car, hard, and it went absolutely out of control.
We turned and turned until I wondered if we would ever stop. The front slammed into something hard and solid.
And then we came to a complete stop.
19
Simon
It felt like my legs were detached from my body.
I was so… in so much pain that it felt like my body had split apart at the seams. Instead of being one whole, coherent body, I was just an assortment of parts, like an Ikea piece of furniture.
My head, though, was a different story. It was heavy and had the taste of metal in my mouth. I had been hit hard and didn’t know how long I had been out. I lay on the ground like I was dead, because I couldn’t summon the strength to move.
Someone, some asshole—the same guy, no doubt, who had tried to kill me on the road and kill me in the hospital—had finally delivered what they had probably thought was the knockout blow. They probably thought they had gotten me, and if I’d been out for any period of time, they were probably right to assume that. Certainly, given that I didn’t hear anyone or see anyone right by the ground, they probably thought they had killed me.
But then I looked up though and saw the front door ajar…
Ella…
Michael…
They’re gone!
I jumped up like nothing had happened at all. My head swam and I felt sick to my stomach, feeling bile in my throat. Still, I trudged on. If I listened hard enough, I could hear a car in the distance.
Regardless of what I heard, though, I wasn’t going to be stopped in the pursuit of my girlfriend and my son. They could have actually detached my limbs from my body, and I would still crawl. If they’d removed all four limbs, I would have shuffled my way on the ground to them. I didn’t give a fuck what it took.
No one was going to take my girlfriend, my love, and my son away from me. That was automatic grounds for getting killed, and tonight, that was finally going to be the case. No more getting away when alarms went off; no more driving off; no more escaping.
Whoever had done this—her father, her uncle, some random hitman—was going to fucking eat it.
With, as it turned out, a little help from my family and friends.
When my heavy feet finally dragged me outside, I was greeted with multiple sets of headlights. I soon realized the riders were my brothers and Walker. I didn’t remember at first that I had texted Jaxson and Matthew, but as soon as I saw them hop off their bikes in hurried concern, it came back to me.
Well, good. With us five riding, there’s not going to be any hope for whoever this asshole is. He’s going to fucking suffer for what he did.
Jaxson, though, wanted to keep it at four people riding.
“You’re bleeding.” Jaxson said with concern, leaving his bike running.
I just waved him off. Like I said, it was going to take a lot more than what had happened to me to keep me off my bike—really, if anything, only death was going to keep me off my bike, and even then, I’d ride in spirit.
Or something. I was too fucking mad to think clearly righ tnow.
“I’m fine. We don’t have a lot of time.”
I straddled my bike and filled the guys in as it started up. Matthew and Zeke looked worried for me, but I didn’t care how they looked so long as they bothered to help me out. And right now, they looked too focused to not help me.
“He took her and Michael. They’re probably going to meet her dad somewhere.”
“No he’s not. We need to ride fast,” he said. “It’s worse than you think. Rosella’s parents died over a month ago. I think Nic killed them.”
I stared, jaw agape at what Jaxson had just said. Her uncle… had killed her parents?
He was even more psychotic than I thought. It was still personal, but now there was an element of “for the greater good” in this hunt. Now, for the sake of society, I needed to kill a man more than willing to kill his own brother and sister-in-law.
“Well, we better fucking kill him, then,” I growled, revving my engine and leading the charge.
We rode faster, maybe faster than we had ever gone before, to get to her. Though Jaxson usually led these charges, he knew I wasn’t going to settle for anything other than the lead position. I had to find Nic, I had to find Ella, I had to—
And then I saw it.
I could see the car in the distance and had a glimmer of hope. My head was swimming in pain, but I sped forward. Granted, there was always the chance that I had the wrong car, but that I could see a woman looking back at us through the rear window—it was too far to tell if it was Ella, but the shape was similar—that there was a man driving in the front, and that the vehicle was driving like a maniac all told me that if this wasn’t the car with Ella and Michael, at least we were stopping another crime in progress.
We fell back into formation and gained distance on him, even as he sped up. We knew the roads better, including every turn, every bump. We knew exactly how to get around them, and our bikes obviously made it easier. I didn’t know what we were going to do—a small voice in my head warned that any damage we did to Nic was bound to also do damage to Ella and Michael—but I knew we had to get that car to stop moving. Maybe we could have shot out a tire, or maybe we could have shot his front engine. Maybe—
Then I nearly lost my shit when I assumed the worst.
I heard a gun shot. I pressed the throttle and gave it as much gas as it would allow as their car started to veer. It lost control. I began to panic for Michael’s and Ella’s safety. There didn’t seem to be a way to end it.
The car was moving too haphazardly—it almost sounded like someone had shot him from within the car. But that didn’t make a whole lot of sense—clearly, Michael couldn’t have pulled the trigger, and I didn’t see how a criminal like Nic would have missed Ella having a gun. It almost seemed like a gunshot had gone off by complete accident in that vehicle. My fucking lucky day.
I hoped.
Jaxson, though, was able to get out in front of it, coming up to the side. He reached the driver’s side and gave it one push from his front tire, right under the left tire of the truck. The truck went off completely because Nic wasn’t expecting it.
Jaxson fell back. I watched in horror as the truck turned out of control, spinning and screeching, before slamming into a tree. We closed gap and made our way for the car. I didn’t know who might come out; Ella or her uncle, but I was prepared for either.
Just give me som
e good news. Please.
I sort of got my good news when I could see Ella moving from her spot in the back seat. She was moving a little bit slowly, but not so slowly that I worried she was dead and just moving with momentum. I couldn’t see Michael, which was obviously stressing me out, but I first had to take care of Nic.
And then, wouldn’t you know it, Nic appeared. Oh, hell no.
“You bastards,” he growled as he fell out of the front seat of the car.
He was a bloody mess, his face covered in blood and his fingers jammed in awkward positions. He was in a lot of pain, but I had no sympathy for him. I, like the rest of the crew, just wanted to hear what he had to say.
“And you,” he said, pointing at me while laughing. “You’re the fucking son of a bitch who slept with my niece, huh? You fucking Kinsmen little bitch?”
“Her name is Ella,” I growled, taking a gun from Jaxson. “And you’re the piece of shit that kidnapped her. You call yourself family? Seems to me you’re just the worst kind of scumbag.”
I was convinced Nic was delirious, because he was just laughing at almost everything I said. If it had been anyone else, I might have taken him to the hospital, but he wasn’t going to get the right to have that. These were his last moments; if he chose to spend them like this, that was on him.
“Me?” he laughed. “No, the worst kind is the coward that my brother was. Thought he was a big shot, but he was too much of a fucking pussy to do shit! I’m the right kind of man. I’m a man who does shit.”
I noticed in the corner of my eye Ella moving again, this time with a little more alertness. I wanted to motion to her to stay down, but I feared doing so would also alert Nic, letting him get the jump on me.
“And you,” he said, pointing at me. “You’re just pathetic. You’re like your fucking father. A goddamn—”
A shot went off, right into his shoulder. Then another went right into his chest.
“Sorry,” Walker said. “But I just couldn’t take another fucking word.”
I wasn’t in the slightest bit mad. There was no part of me that wanted the ego boost of having finished him off; I just wanted him fucking dead, and if it was me or Jaxson or Walker or even Michael who put the bullet through him, then so be it.
Still, one part did confuse me. I had definitely heard the shot from just behind me as Walker had ended him, but the second shot seemed to come from a second angle. I asked my brothers if they had shot him, but they all said no. I didn’t, therefore, see where the second shot came from.
Until Ella crawled out from the car, carrying Michael and a gun.
She shot him. She killed him.
Now that’s fucking appropriate and poetic. I don’t know if she’ll appreciate that, but I sure as hell appreciate it.
I ran to her. She dropped the gun when I reached over to her. I checked Michael, who was clearly in some sort of sedated state—there was no way anyone could have slept through everything that had just happened. I was furious that Nic had knocked him out or done something to put him into a deep sleep, but that was done. Michael was clearly alive, so the rest would take care of itself in time.
“Ella, Jesus…”
I sought the right words for this moment, but there didn’t seem to be any. What the fuck could I say after that? There was nothing I really could say. I was just so… so stunned at what had happened that I didn’t know such words existed to make things properly concluded.
But that sure didn’t mean I wasn’t grateful as hell. The worst of it was over.
Her parents, even though they may not have been as bad as once feared, were gone.
Her uncle, the true fear, the true threat to everything, was gone.
The MC her father had founded was, at best, in a state of disarray. At worst, with what had happened with her father and uncle, it had dissolved. Either way, it was not a threat to the Kinsmen.
Finally, we could be a family. Finally, we could live without fear. Finally, we could live our lives.
But first, I had to make sure she was OK. And, for the moment, she seemed like she was in a state of shock.
“I shot him.”
She was trembling. I pulled her and Michael close to me. I nearly cried, but it would have been tears of joy, for all my worry for them was dissolved. The worst fears of my love of my life and my son dying at the hands of a deranged family-in-law member were gone.
“My dad is dead. And my mom.”
Not all is well, though. They’re still her parents, no matter what. And… I’m sure my Dad pissed off a lot of people in his day. I hope even his enemies can have some compassion for him
She sobbed into my chest, holding me tight. I nodded sadly, kissing her cheek and then Michael’s, even though he was asleep.
“I’m so sorry…” I said.
I tried to find more words, but I was struggling. Part of it was that Nic was still dead before our feet, part of it was the shocking nature of how quickly this had all gone down, and part of it was just because… well, I wasn’t great with words.
“Uncle Nic…”
I glanced over to Jaxson shaking his head as a patrol car rolled up. We’d have to deal with some bullshit red tape right now, but that was easy. We had the sheriff on our side anyways, and that hadn’t changed since Jaxson took over.
“He’s dead.” I said. “It’s done. It’s over.”
She paused. It was painfully obvious so much had happened on that car ride that she’d need time before she was ready to talk about. I just made a vow to myself that when the time came, I would make sure I would listen to her compassionately and tenderly.
“He wanted to kill Michael. He… he was so cruel.”
She cried. It was all too much for her. But I couldn’t blame her in the least. I wanted to cry too at the thought of Michael being killed.
But, for at least today, that wasn’t the case.
“Shh. We’ll worry about it later.”
“Simon…”
Now was the time to calm her.
“I know.”
I tilted her chin so she could look me in my eyes. I had never meant any words in my life so much as the ones that followed.
“I love you Ella. Everything is going to be okay, I promise.”
Epilogue
The town was the calmest it had ever been.
The safest, even.
It always was before but for a while, terror was looming around. Word of Nic got around, and then a rumor about the mob. The car crash and shooting on the major highway didn’t help. For some time after that, the town remained on edge. Even the sheriff warned us that there was only so much leeway he could give us due to recent events; he warned us that for at least a couple of months, he and his team would have to crack down to ease the concerns of the civilians.
It was of little concern to us. We were law-abiding in nature anyways; the relationship we had with the sheriff was more self-serving and future-proofing than it was to help us cover up some darker, more illegal shit. We weren’t Nic, and I prayed that we never did become that way.
Eventually, that was all put behind us as the months progressed.
I traveled with Ella to help her bury her family, even her Uncle Nic. She has so much goodness in her heart. If I had even half of it, I would be a better man.
Things could have been worse—much, much worse—but I was just happy that my family was safe and that we could actually be a family.
I had to admit, standing out there in the heat as Ella buried her family was a bit of an awkward moment for me. I was laying to rest the family that had tried to kill me over the preceding few months, and I was just supposed to act like all was well, no big deal? I was able to get through the event by treating my presence not as honoring Nic or Drago, but as being there to support Ella during a difficult time for her. We all had our struggles that made no sense to anyone else.
Hers just happened to involve people who had tried to kill me and our family. It sounded overly dramatic, but being in t
he MC world, things like this were just part of the gig.
I also finally got an honor that I should have taken a long time ago—becoming VP at the club. Taking on the role of VP at the club felt right. I wore the patch proudly on my cut everywhere I went and even started delegating at the site so I didn’t have to split my time so much. I can now be home for all the important stuff, too.
Admittedly, when I first received the patch, I had a bit of imposter syndrome. I didn’t know that the club members would accept me being a VP, let alone giving them orders as a VP. But really, everyone bought in and took my lead seriously quickly. I think I helped some by making sure I didn’t act overbearing in my first few months and by not trying to step on the toes of Jaxson, Matthew, or Zeke, but it still went far better than I ever could have expected.
And then came one of the proudest moments of my time as a father.
I got to be there for a first.
Just not a first I’m sure Michael would have wanted me to be there for.
“Dad, I hate school.”
I chuckled. He had been dreading the start of school, but at least now he had more than one parent who could take him somewhere. When Ella and I decided to move in together, it was a no brainer. I made sure never to miss breakfast with my son and tuck him in every night. I didn’t want to waste a chance to have any more first times or first experiences with him—I was late to the party, but that was better than never being his dad at all.
But now, now that I had seen things fall into place perfectly for everyone else, I was determined to go even a step beyond.
“Well, you still have to go, kid.”
Michael pouted but eventually relented. Ella and I dropped him off together.
I held her hand as I drove like I always did. We waved Michael off, my first time doing it but her hundredth, it seemed. Then, I took Ella to our home, as early in the morning as it was, to pick up where we left off for morning sex. I could never get enough of her.
