Jinx: Kings of Carnage MC

by Chelsea Camaron

  Hawaii is a beautiful place to live, but it’s also dangerous. Since I am Samoan I fit in with the islanders easily. Thank God for a tan because in my teen years being a white kid in our area meant getting your ass kicked just because of the color of your skin. There are gangs everywhere and the tropical paradise of Hawaii is no different.

  There was a time before Arthur got stationed in Georgia where I was spending my time with some thugs on the island. I felt myself going down the wrong path, but the feeling of belonging was far too strong to resist. The shit they expect someone to do to join didn’t work for me. Again, I’m an eye-for-an-eye guy, but I’m not some senseless killer. To commit an act of violence on an innocent stranger just to pledge some false loyalty didn’t work for me back then and it doesn’t work for me now. Moving us to Georgia before I ended up hooked on drugs or behind bars was my saving grace.

  Leaving Hawaii I vowed to leave behind the grudge I had for my biological mom. So when she showed up to Kalini’s funeral I simply treated her like every other person paying their respects. That’s all she is and ever will be, another person from another lifetime.

  Outside of the Kings the only person who matters is asleep in this bed. He’s paler today than usual or maybe it’s just my mind playing tricks on me because he’s lying in a hospital bed on stark white sheets.

  He begins to wake up. Blinking eyes look to my face. “Koa, take off the sunglasses, you’re indoors, son.”

  I do as he requests sliding my sunglasses up on top of my head. “You gettin’ some rest Pops?”

  “Same bed, different set-up, but I sleep anywhere. I’m too old to fight the shit anymore.” He jokes and is aware he’s in the hospital. The episode of confusion has passed.

  “What did the doc say?”

  “Said I took a fall because I’m not using the cane or the walker. I told his ass, it was the carpet had a bubble.”

  I let out a laugh. “Pops, you got hardwood through the whole room. There ain’t no carpet for you to trip up on.”

  “Doc here don’t know that.”

  I swear this man has an answer for everything. “When you bustin’ outta here?”

  “Pretty soon, now. They took the IV out and said I’m cleared to return.”

  Settling into the chair by his bed, I relax. I’ll stay as long as I need to until he’s back in the bed at the facility. Although, I’m not there twenty minutes and the EMTs are coming in and preparing Pops for the transport.

  Within an hour, he’s settled back in at his home and I’m back on the road.

  If I’m lucky, Apple will be waiting in Little Five Points on my way back to Uprising. I’ll snag her and give her a quick tour of the clubhouse before calling it a night.

  At least Pops transitioned back to the facility easier this time. I take the good days and cling to them because the bad seem to come more frequently reminding me my time with the old man is precious.

  With him back on the mend, I can focus on Kings business. My life is Pops and the Kings.

  I don’t want it any other way.

  Six

  Talia

  “People will notice the change in your attitude towards them, but won’t notice their behavior that made you change.” Brochure on a table at a homeless shelter – I’ve been so closed off for so long now, I don’t even know that I have an attitude about anything anymore, Talia.

  I should have left. I should have walked my ass straight to Atlanta and left all thoughts of Katie and her innocent face behind me. What’s that saying, not my monkey, not my circus. She is not my problem. See this is what happens when I give anyone attention beyond a casual hello, I care.

  My nature is to nurture. Maybe it was the way I was brought up, the grooming given to me in my early years. I don’t know. I just know I can’t stop myself from assisting someone in need even if it’s to my own detriment.

  When will I learn.

  Stay in my lane.

  No one ever comes to my rescue. No one ever picks up the pieces when my life shatters time and again.

  Katie could be on her way home. On her way back to parents who love her and only wanted to give her boundaries. Even for me, knowing if I had stayed my life would be a sick way to live as a wife to my sister’s husband who is also my family, there are times it would have been safer.

  From what Katie shared, her parents genuinely loved her. She wasn’t just a machine to produce the next generation. She wasn’t a pawn in a game. Katie is Katie, their little girl that they maybe didn’t want to watch grow up and fall in love with a boy like Caleb.

  Obviously I don’t know the details. What I do know, is Katie was absolutely comfortable and happy in a way about going home. That was until we ended up here in front of Caleb.

  One thing I know is I can’t try to convince her to go home. I’ve seen more than one young teen thinking love will conquer all. People who think love is all they need.

  No, there is more to life than love.

  Granted, I guess being raised like I was, it’s easy to know life is about more than love. I have never experienced love in action. My parents weren’t in love. They were devoted to the ideal of eternal life and that meant acceptance of how things were. Blind faith overrides all emotions, including love.

  I went to leave yesterday after a nap and she asked me to stay. Stupidly, I agreed to hang around. Since I am not exactly comfortable around these Rail Wreckers I have kept my distance just checking in on Katie and then heading back to the woods on the edge of the station.

  This particular station is very isolated, more so than any place I’ve been before. What I’ve learned after getting into the office is I’m in Uprising, Georgia. According to the map inside the desk, this is a dot on the map outside of Atlanta. In school we were taught to use the key at the bottom of the map to generate a rough estimate of mileage. If my visual approximation is correct I could walk to Atlanta in a matter of a couple of hours on foot. Of course, in a car it’s a matter of minutes away, but a car is a luxury I certainly don’t have. On the rails, I’ve heard of this ride share stuff where calling for a ride can be cheaper than a taxi cab. If I had money maybe, but given I’m completely tapped out using the phone I saw in the office isn’t going to do anything for me.

  Hitchhiking isn’t for me. I tried it early on and the anxiety of getting out of a car or truck if I got uncomfortable is simply too much. Fear is a funny thing. It can drive us inside to flee from a dangerous situation, but sometimes it can leave us frozen in place unable to move.

  I’m on edge the longer I stay here. I guess that’s what happens as a nomad. Once upon a time, I never imagined my life being outside of North Dakota. Now, I can’t imagine going back or ever staying in one place. While I like the idea of having roots, I have come to terms with the fact that it isn’t in the cards for me.

  I daydream from time to time about having a life with a job, a house, and a place that is truly my own. I just don’t know how to make it work. I’ve tried to get a job different places and every single time I hit a roadblock with my social security number for tax purposes. At first, I didn’t understand. I lived a sheltered life where I didn’t have anyone from outside of my family around. Taxes were never explained. I didn’t leave with my birth certificate or social security card. I don’t even know my social security number. Occasionally I have found odd jobs to earn a little bit of cash, but mostly I live off finding change in parking lots. It doesn’t get me far and I’ve had to eat out of dumpsters more than once. It sucks but people toss away things without a second thought to someone like me who knows the feeling of true hunger pains without knowing if a meal will come soon enough.

  Another night is closing in and I’m thankful that tomorrow a train should roll through based on what I saw in the engineer’s schedule. While getting on a passenger train out of Atlanta is appealing or even finding a short-term job as a waitress to make some quick cash is another thought that could work in the city, I need to get out of here. It’s like Katie has tun
nel vision and whatever Caleb says is solid. She’s blinded by love. I can’t help her as much as it kills me I have to walk away. This lifestyle is one where every woman has to be for herself.

  Settling in under the tree at the edge of the station, I admire the starring sky. The humidity is up tonight leaving a stickiness in the air that is far from pleasant but not quite miserable. Like every other evening, the Rail Wreckers are loud as they drink the night away or do whatever drugs they have managed to procure.

  I hear Katie’s laugh and sigh wishing she could see these people aren’t her friends, Caleb included. If he loved her, he never would have gotten separated from her. I don’t know about these Wreckers, but some of the other gangs in this train life are violent. The initiation to join is intense and can be anything from stealing, raping, or even killing. If these guys are anything like some of the others I’ve encountered, well Katie is in danger. Except I don’t know how to tell her the man she loves, the man she feels like she knows may lead her down a very dark path.

  Her laughter quickly turns to a shrill scream causing me to jump. Goosebumps cover my skin as I rush over to the bay area where they were all hanging out. At first glance, I can only see a few of them. Katie, Caleb, Drifter, and Chrome are all missing.

  Scanning the space, Katie cries out again and I follow the direction of the sounds. When I turn the corner behind the office, I’m frozen with fear. The sight in front of me is appalling.

  Katie is face down on the gravel with her hands tied behind her pain. Her face is held against Caleb’s chest. She is naked and straddling her boyfriend while Drifter keeps moving around to slide her legs back up under her to give more leverage to her ass for Chrome. I’m in shock as I see what Drifter is actually doing. He’s cutting her. Every move he makes circling the ménage he’s slicing another part of her body.

  “Fuck, Katie, you’ve never felt so tight,” Caleb mutters as he’s thrusting from under her.

  “Please,” she whines painfully as tears fall down her face.

  “Love tight ass,” Chrome cries out passionately. “Caleb is earning his place with his girl’s body for sure.”

  “She bleeds beautiful,” Drifter the demented yells out.

  How can no one help her?

  I begin to dry heave. Dropping my backpack with all my meager belongings to the ground, I reach in to find my knife. I glance up getting ready to charge when Katie’s eyes meet mine. “No,” she yells. “Run, Talia, run.”

  Before I can do anything to help her, Drifter is in a sprint coming at me with his knife. Adrenaline kicks in and I take off into the woods. My time exploring comes in handy as I go deeper and deeper into the trees, zigging and zagging as I go. Drifter is closing in though. Seeing a light ahead, I chase the luminated space. Light means people. If I can find people I can find help for Katie.

  Only I hear Chrome yelling out to Drifter that he’s on his way. I keep running until I find myself in a clearing. The light is from a back porch … a house. I rush to the building pulling on door handles and pounding on doors, windows, walls, just trying to get someone to come out. Everything is locked up. Drifter comes out at the edge of the woods not far behind me and he’s no longer alone. Not only has Chrome caught up but so have the others. Missing from the group is just Katie. Caleb has even managed to join them, albeit shirtless, but he’s with the group charging me.

  I can’t help but think I’m going to face the same fate as Katie only when they finish with me they may not let me live. There is a lifted pick-up truck in the driveway, feeling desperate I make a sprint for the truck. Pulling on the handle, I’m shocked to find it unlocked. Hefting myself up into the rig, I quickly jump in and lock the doors.

  Everything seems to be slow motion as the seconds tick by feeling like agonizing hours. I watch the group getting closer and closer to the truck while still watching the house. Why isn’t someone coming out?

  “Please, come find me,” I beg to the house that remains unstirred. I begin to look around and as I flip the overhead visor a key falls into my lap.

  Not thinking, I put the key in the ignition and fire up the engine. The truck comes to life loudly and I struggle to breathe. I’ve never driven anything before. It’s been so long since I’ve even been in a car I am scared to death on what to do.

  Drifter and the others reach the truck and circle it. “Katie’s dead and so are you Talia.”

  Tears fall down my face.

  Chrome stands at the driver’s side window. “Shot my load in her ass while Caleb got his done as the bitch bled over us both. You were too late, Talia. I twisted her neck before catching up to Drifter. Katie was weak, easy to end. You, though, you’ll be fun to play with Talia.”

  I’m looking around the truck desperate. P-R-N-D-1-2 with the speedometer over the letter sequence. What does it mean? There is a line at P so the truck must like P. What can I do? Drifter begins to bang on the window with the back of his knife. The locks are only going to save me for a few seconds.

  I press the pedal in the floorboard closest to the right. The engines roars but I don’t move. Shit!

  The steering wheel has a picture of a horn, so I press on it. Maybe I can wake up the person in the house. I just need someone to call the police. I don’t care if I get caught, I need to get help for Katie. The group scatters like roaches while I honk frantically. The truck is still running and I’m practically beating on the steering wheel to no avail. The house remains dark inside.

  Moments later the group re-emerges from the edge of the woods no doubt to finish me off since no one is coming from the house. Desperation fills me. I begin to tug on the sticks around the steering wheel. Finally the one on the right moves the line from P over to R. I hit the gas and the truck lurches backward. Then I jam it into N only to have the engine rev up but the truck remain in place. When I hit it into D, the truck rolls forward throwing rocks as I fight with the steering wheel to get turned around and out of the long driveway.

  If I can make it to Atlanta, I can get help for Katie. I had to have hope she was still alive. Otherwise I would be giving up my identity and risking my family coming for me all for a girl who is no more.

  Fate is a cruel bitch and seems to hate me more and more as time passes.

  Seven

  Jinx

  “Don’t underestimate me. I know more than I say, think more than I speak, and notice more than you realize.” Unknown – If one phase sums me up this is it, Jinx

  “Chaos, this is Apple,” I introduce the little woman at the clubhouse. “Apple, this is the quick version. Chaos is the club President. Whatever he says goes. He overrides anything anyone tells you, so don’t forget that shit. He’s your boss.”

  She extends her hand to him. “I’m here to clean. No sexual favors, got it, big guy?”

  Chaos lets out a laugh, which isn’t common for him. “You’re cute, Apple.”

  “I’m forbidden fruit,” she states. “And while I’ll clean anything, if you decide to shave your beard, I’m not cleaning that out of the sink. Deal, buddy?” She extends her hand to him with all the confidence in the world. This woman is something for sure.

  We all laugh. Chaos has a shaggy beard, it’s just part of him, so she need not worry about him shaving it off. Bash steps up, studying the woman. “Where are you from?” he asks crossing his arms over his chest. The thing with Bash, one minute he’s cool as a cucumber, and the next, he’s bashing someone’s head in. He’s like a stick of dynamite, always ready to explode.

  “Here, there, everywhere,” Apple replies, not missing a beat and not in the least bit intimidated by him.

  “Apple,” I explain, “Bash is the VP, and anything he says goes and can only be overruled by Chaos. Which, just so you know, never happens.”

  We are unified and don’t go against each other. That’s just how things work as Kings. When Vic was in charge, it was a different time, a different atmosphere. Only officers seemed to have a say and took the shit to the table, leaving the majorit
y of the club out. Chaos took over, and he’s turned so much around, and along with that, we have solidified our bonds as brothers.

  She nods as North circles her. “I bet you could work a pole,” he teases with his mind on Centerfolds, as usual. “If this cleaning thing doesn’t work out, I got a job for you, Apple. That could be a cute stage name too.”

  I shake my head and watch as Apple doesn’t get rattled by North. Interesting. The guy is seriously charismatic, plus he has this clean look to him that has most women swooning before he even opens his mouth. “You’re far too pretty of a man to have such a mouth.” Damn, she gives it right back to my brother. I’m impressed.

  “Oh yeah, this one will be fun,” Sly says, extending his hand to Apple. “Name’s Sly, I’ll handle your salary. Cash weekly. You keep this place clean and the fridge filled with beer, and we’ll pay you four hundred a week.”

  “Fuck it up, Apple, and you’re out on your ass,” I finish Sly’s statement, knowing the Treasurer doesn’t play around with salaries.

  “Noted,” she states, not even fazed by Sly’s neck tattoos. “Now, when do I start?”

  Chaos motions us to the corner where the pool tables are. We all move with him, Apple remaining in place. I have to admit, for a guy like me, it’s nice not to have to spell everything out. She read Chaos and stayed put.

  Chaos rubs his beard. “Know I told you to find someone quick, but her name is Apple?”

  I nod, knowing I happen to wonder about her name myself, but I didn’t question her. “Call it my gut, but something says she’ll fit in. Whatever her name is doesn’t particularly matter to me. Plus, we don’t have anything going on in this building but parties really. No patched brother is going to give her any kind of leverage. Frankly, the way that girl is, she’s going to clean and not be worried about becoming club ass or an ol’ lady. She wants to work and get paid. We don’t need to know her story as much as she doesn’t need to know ours.”