Thirty
S even guys. That’s all that fucking remained once we’d taken out all the attackers, and these seven looked kinda shellshocked. Were they genuinely surprised at the brutality of their club members, or the Phoenix ones, for that matter, or were they thinking they’d play us and catch us unawares? I mean, one had tried that, and that’s why there were seven instead of eight. The knife slash on my left arm was testament to that failed attempt.
“What do we do with these ones?” Torch asked Ryder, who shrugged and pointed at me.
“He can decide, but if he gets this wrong, it’s his ass that gets killed, right?”
We had them all on their knees, with their hands laced together on their heads. It was the best way to make sure no more of them were armed, or planning an attack again.
“You gonna try something?” I asked the first one, Harley. Good name for a biker, right? If you like Harleys, that is. The guy groaned, and looked around him.
“That seems like it’d be unwise. What’s exactly going on here though? You going for club annihilation? We’re dead anyway then, right?”
I sighed, glancing back at Ryder, who just shrugged again.
“It doesn’t have to go down like that. Are you like them? Is your love of club life because of all the raping and shit?”
He grimaced, turning to spit on the body of one of his club brothers.
“I’m not down for fucking with a teenager, if that’s what you’re asking. That’s messed up. That was down to the VP. He wanted revenge, but I just wanna ride, man.”
The others were nodding, and I could kinda trust that, if not for the fact that so many of this club were like him, like my fucking dad.
“You like beating on people?” I asked him next, and he smirked.
“Who doesn’t? Someone fucks with the club, they’re fucking with me.”
I nodded. “So you wanna come at me for this? I just destroyed your club, didn’t I?”
He lowered his hands and stood up slowly, and I could feel my former brothers steeling themselves, just like I was. If he came at me, he’d die too.
“Seems to me like we have a new club president. You decide to lead, and I’ll follow. I just wanna ride, drink, get high, and enjoy life. These guys beside me? They’re not gonna have a beef with you.”
Ryder stepped forward then. “What if you’re getting patched over?”
Harley shrugged. “As long as I get to celebrate with a beer, and we have help cleaning this shit up, I’m good.”
The next guy stood up, slapping Harley’s back firmly.
“He’s literally my brother, so where he goes, I go. Family sticks together.”
“Is a patchover what’s happening here?” I asked Ryder, lowering my voice to try and keep that shit private.
“Can you guys get the fuck on with things? I have better things to do than sit here listening to you stick your thumbs up your asses.”
I grinned, as Ryder did the same, because Ice really never fucking changed, did he?
“What do we do with them, before we leave?”
Harley stepped forward again, offering a hand for a handshake.
“I’ll deal with it, Pres.” Pres? Who the fuck was he calling Pres? Nothing had been decided, and I sure as hell wasn’t getting a chance to run a club after the things I’d done.
Ryder nudged me, and I frowned at him.
“Don’t snub the fucker. Shake his damn hand.”
“But I’m-”
“Being a prick, but what else is new,” Torch added, shoving me forward, closer to the offered hand. With no other course of action, I took it, shook it, and sealed some fucking deal I didn’t understand, because I was meant to die after this. I guess one of the others would take over after that, but at least these guys would feel like something had been settled.
“You guys can handle all this?” I asked Harley as our hands separated, and I looked at the bloody carnage around us.
He nodded, exchanging glances with a few of the others who’d chosen life, regardless of whether that would be the true outcome for them in the end.
“Sure thing. We’ll clean house while you settle your shit with your old club, Pres. We’ll be waiting.”
Well, fuck me. Being addressed with that respect, after everything I’d done, after I’d lost my chance at being a club president, at being a member of an MC at all, after everything I did… that felt fucking sweet as hell.
Alicia
W hen Reacher told me he wanted to speak to the old ladies, I knew something big was coming, but how much bigger could things get? We crowded into his office, dropping onto seats crammed too close together for us, while he and Stitch stood behind his desk. They looked formal as hell, and did that make me horny, seeing my man like that? Fuck, yeah.
You know, menopause can go one of two ways. You go off sex, and can’t get wet for it, or… and thank god I’m this type, you’re horny as fuck most of the time, and your body gives you the moisture for plenty of fucking.
Reacher caught the way I was looking at him and smirked, mouthing the words ‘later, woman’.
“What’s going on, is this about Micro?” Lissa asked, and the silence became a little less comfortable.
“We, uh… we have some thoughts on how to proceed with him, and wanted to put them to you ladies first, because, quite honestly, you suffered more at his hands than we did. Our trauma was all second hand, watching our loved ones getting hurt.”
“Ironic when we were the actual target of his fucking rage, right?” Stitch added, earning himself a frustrated look from my hot man. Did I say he looked hot before? I loved pushing his buttons and putting a look like that on his face. It normally came before the deliciously angry sex.
“What’s going on, is he coming back here?” Elise looked nervous at the idea, but as I looked around, I could see that nobody looked terrified at that thought. Had we all just become comfortable with the idea that he wouldn’t die?
“How would you feel if he did?” Reacher asked carefully, looking at us in turn. “Real talk here, nothing you say is wrong. How would any of you feel if he didn’t die?”
Lissa took a deep breath. “I don’t want any hate here, but I don’t want him to die. I thought I had no family from my father’s side, and now I know I have a… a half brother, I wish I could get to know him more. When he’s not caught up in revenge and anger, that is.”
Both men nodded, looking like they expected that response from her, and I looked around us, to see if anyone else wanted to speak up. They all seemed to be deferring to me though.
“You want him to come back? Is that what you’re trying to propose, with all your dancing around the point, Reacher?”
He scowled at me for a moment, and yes, that’s sexy too, by the way.
“Woman, that’s not-”
“He ran me over. He attacked Elise twice, he attacked Grace, and his own sister. We’re just okay with that now?”
Stitch lifted a hand. “Let me be really clear here, whether he lives or dies, he’s never coming back here. He’ll never be allowed near any of you, and he’ll never be trusted with your safety. We’re talking about letting him live, but not here.”
What the hell did that even mean though?
“You’re forgiving him? Lissa, I’m sorry, but I’d be dead if he’d had his way,” I said quietly but firmly, because my conscience wasn’t attacking me right now. It felt to me like suddenly he was looking like he’d get away with everything he’d done to us, and some of us were living with lifelong effects of his evil. That couldn’t just be forgiven now, surely.
“We’re not forgiving anything, but killing him serves no purpose, and if we can put him being alive to use for us as a club, then we should consider it.”
“Use in what way?” Lissa piped up, clearly feeling protective of her only blood kin.
“Ally, we’ll talk after, because there’s something you need to know about what happened,” Reacher said gently, before he addressed the room again. “We’d like to absorb the Rogues, potentially patch them over in time, so we have a second Phoenix chapter. Micro’s job today is to go in, rescue his woman’s sister, and clean out the bad seeds. He achieves that, and we’re considering letting him stay there. Maybe run it.”
Tori suddenly laughed, a sharp sound that caught everyone’s attention.
“Let me get this straight. He attacks your loved ones, and kills people you care about, and your idea of retribution is to make him president of a second chapter? Is that the kind of behaviour that wins a shiny president patch? My father would find this hilarious. You’re rewarding your attacker for attacking you.” Wow she didn’t pull any punches, did she?
Tori
I wasn’t kidding when I said that, because the idea of the mafia just forgiving someone who attacked them was literally laughable. They’d be duty bound to decimate the person, and make sure everyone knew they did it. But Reacher was talking about setting Micro up with another chapter of his club?
“Well, it sounds insane when you put it like that,” Reacher said quietly, dropping heavily into his seat, and cradling his head in one hand. He looked exhausted in a way he hadn’t for so long lately. Micro comes back for five minutes, and Reacher looks like hell again.
“Not that my father would allow this in a million years, but will you at least send people in to monitor things, and keep an eye on him? What if he builds a club to rival this one, and they attack us in force?”
“Jesus,” Cammy whispered from beside me, and I was surprised nobody else had thought of it.
“We’re talking about being charitable to a man who attacked several of us, and killed others. I can’t believe you’re talking about giving him power. You’re out of your minds!” Elise blurted, standing up and backing away from all of us, like she felt trapped already by their bizarre decision making.
“Sweets-”
“No! I won’t agree to anything like this, and I’m not staying here to listen to you trying to justify this action. You’re making a bad fucking decision!”
Elise stormed out, the door slamming soundly behind her, and Stitch groaned.
“I swear Has is a bad influence on her.”
“I know you didn’t just diminish your sister’s thoughts and feelings on this, hubster,” Cammy snapped, following Elise out of the room with another door slam.
Stitch dropped into one of the recently vacated chairs, and slumped back against it.
“It made sense at the time. We’d be throwing him into an unwinnable situation, and he’d probably not fucking survive it, but if he did, we’d have a second chapter… Jesus, when will this end?”
Lissa patted his shoulder, and stood up.
“Okay, I’m on board with this idea, because I think it’s a win win. You’re right; if it works out, you strengthen the club, by having a second chapter, and people like Torch, who loved him like a brother, don’t have to live in a world where he died horribly, or they had to strike the killing blow. I know that he struggles with that, it’s fucking obvious when you see him. And look, I’m happy to offer remote services, so I can offer as much support as he needs, and…” she swallowed hard, “and if I think he’s playing you, I promise to at least warn you things need a closer eye, but that’s it. I won’t betray his confidence, and I won’t throw him in front of you people, and weapons.”
Grace stood up from the other side of me.
“Look, I know I’ve not been here as long as the other old ladies, and I know Micro came after me, and traumatised the hell out of me, but she’s right. This isn’t just about Micro, or the two of you, anymore. Torch lost his best friend and brother over all this, and if there’s a chance he can have some form of contact with him, I’m all for it. I know he’s a bad guy, but also, from what I’m hearing, he didn’t have the best chance of being anything else. I’m with Lissa. I don’t know if there’s a vote or something, but I vote yes to this crazy ass plan of yours.”
“You were doing well until then,” Reacher said with a snort.
“Ally? Tori?”
Ally glared at Stitch and Reacher in turn. “I vote no, I’m sorry, but he nearly killed me, and I refuse to offer him any kindness. I’m sorry if that makes me an asshole, but I don’t care.”
I sighed, shaking my head slowly, because while I thought it was a ridiculous idea, I could also kind of see their point.
“I’ll vote yes, but only if you listen to my crazy idea next, which just might solidify your chances of this going your way.”
Sophie
W e were already on the road, heading back to the Phoenix MC headquarters, and possibly Micro’s death, and I hated every mile of the journey.
He was sitting opposite us in the back of the van, his ass on the hard metal floor, and I couldn’t understand why he wasn’t taking the opportunity to be closer to me. Was it the sleeping teenager, with her head in my lap? Was he trying to give her a semblance of safety by staying back? Was he distancing himself from me, because he knew he might die? Had he changed his mind about me, after everything that had happened with the Rogues? He might have been the biggest problem that Phoenix had, but was I the biggest one he’d ever had?
“Please come and sit over here,” I whispered to him for the third time, and he grinned, gesturing to his clothes, which were splattered with blood.
“Babe, I’m not getting this all over you. You just relax there. It’s all good now, you’re safe, and your sister will be too.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Trish suddenly whispered, and sat up, and I realised she’d heard more than I’d ever realised, either that or the bikers had whispered all kinds of crap to her when they had her captive.
“Tell you what?” I asked carefully, darting a quick glance at Micro, who shrugged, lifting his hands.
“You were in trouble with those bikers?”
I bit my lip, wondering how to tell my younger sister that I fucked up so badly, that I was literally making the kinds of drugs that killed people every day.
Micro cleared his throat. “Your sister trusted the wrong guy, and he dragged her into his shit, but he’s gone now.”
“Are you the right guy?” She asked next, and wasn’t that the fucking question on everyone’s lips?
“No. I’ve never been the right guy, but I want to be. Regardless, Soph’s free now, and nobody will come after you again. I’ve made sure of that.”
“Sounds like the right guy to me,” she murmured resolutely, settling her head down in my lap again.
“We’re approaching your parents’ place, Sophie,” Tommy called from the front, since Reacher’s order as we left was to take Trish home after all. Like Micro said, there was nobody left to threaten her now.
“Will you come in with me?” She asked me, and I wanted to say yes, I wanted to see my mum and stepdad, now that I wouldn’t risk bringing trouble to their door. I’d missed them so much, all three of them, but I couldn’t take the chance that Tommy would whisk Micro away, and I’d never see him again.
“I’ll come back and visit soon, I promise,” I offered, stroking my fingers through her silky hair, smoothing it away from her cheek.
“We miss you,” she whispered, and my heart stuttered in my chest, because the Rogues had taken my family away, but maybe I could have them back now.
“Babe, it’s okay if you want to. We’ll wait, right, Tommy?”
Tommy parked up, and leaned around the seat to nod at me, but I didn’t believe either of them. They wanted me out of the van, so they could get back to Phoenix, and then Micro would die and I’d never see him again.
“I’m not fucking leaving you with them,” I hissed at Micro, watching his eyebrows shoot up at my tone.
“That’s hot, babe.”
“Ewww. I need to get inside, or mum and Gary will come out to the van.” We’d called ahead to say Trish had been delayed helping a friend, but if they came out, they’d see me, and they’d know it was just a story.
“Promise you’ll visit,” she demanded, as Tommy came around and dragged the heavy van door open. I hugged her tightly, promising that I’d visit soon, and often, now that it was safe. It was only when we started moving again, that I slid off the seat, and dropped down beside Micro, who kept shaking his head.
“Stay on the seat, babe, this is really uncomfortable down here.”
“I’m staying with you, dumbass.”
He grinned, and I heard Tommy laugh, but moments later, rock music started playing up front, and I knew Tommy was giving us privacy. We spent too much of our last journey together in morose silence, but I finally couldn’t take it any longer.
“What if they kill you?”
Micro sighed, reaching up to stroke my cheek, which was really awkward from this angle.
“At least I got to spend time with you, I just wish… yeah, I’m a bastard, and I wish we’d been together, like…”
“Fucking?”
He snorted, his hand dropping from my face, as he tried to adjust himself in his jeans. He was horny? Oh my god, suddenly so was I.
I tried to move, to climb over his lap, and he stopped me.
“Babe, I’m covered in the blood of assholes.”
“So take it off,” I hissed at him, already pulling at the buttons of the shirt he wore over a t-shirt. I wanted his body, I wanted to see and feel his skin against mine, and I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him, but if we only had now, I’d settle for as much of him as I could get.
“Babe, what are ya doing?”
“I want you, and I think you’ve made me wait long enough,” I practically whined, knowing I was pouting at him, but I was desperate to not miss what might be my only chance with him.
“Soph, we’re in a fucking van, it’s hardly what I wanted for our first time together.”
What if it’s our only time? I wanted to scream that at him, but in some ways he made sense, and if it was our only time, it made even more sense.
I wasn’t in the mood for making sense though, or to be willing to listen to it. I wanted him, and I was done waiting.