Two
FANG
The cigarette burns steadily toward the filter pinched between my fingers, my gaze stuck on the glowing ember while Jinx enters the clubhouse behind me. I meant what I said to our Vice President—I don’t want my daughter growing up in this life, thinking all of this is normal.
Because it’s not.
And it’s the fucking job that we ride out for in less than an hour, which has me standing on the fucking porch of the clubhouse, smoking when I said I’d quit, considering the consequences of my past actions.
Trafficked women.
Fuck knows how many. But stolen from their lives and held here, in Temperance, under our goddamn noses. As though the Devil’s Breed wants to bait the bear. Waiting to see how long it is until we bite.
I snarl at the paltry drag or two left on the cigarette and then flick it out into the center of the yard to burn out amidst the dying dusk light.
Picking up the habit again won’t help anything; it’ll only make me feel as though I have something to do with my hands.
Quiet the rage that pulls tight in my forearms, forcing my fingers to curl into fists to shake the itch to hold something.
Fire something.
I might not have the best track record with women; I avoid serious relationships like it’s an Olympic sport. But I’ve never raised a hand to one.
Never made her do something she didn’t want to.
Never cussed her out for changing her mind.
Saw enough wrongs being done in my father’s time at the club to convince me that if nothing else, I would never turn out like them. Arrogant. Entitled. Controlling. Hiding their narcissism and insecurity under the pretense of masculinity.
Instead, I hid it behind a mask of indifference and cool aloofness that did just as much damage. If not more.
And then I went and had a daughter, and all those feelings amplified. What if it had been her? What if she grows up to attract the attention of pigs like the Devil’s Breed? How can I ever keep her safe enough?
Fuck it. I tug the pack out of my chest pocket and shake out another stick. The sooner they’re gone, the sooner the temptation ceases to exist. At least, that’s what I tell myself as I bring the flame to the end of the cigarette, the crackle preceding the sweet smell of freshly lit tobacco.
The light catches on something in my periphery.
A face.
“Fuck!” I shake the lighter to kill the flame and flip the lid closed, taking a step back as I do. “You got a reason to sneak up on me like that?”
Circus grins, the tips of his canines shining in the light that spills through the clubhouse windows.
I thought he was crazy when he showed me a picture of what he wanted done, but when he got back after several hours at the dentist, several thousand dollars lighter in his back pocket, I understood it.
Pointed gold canines aren’t for everyone, but considering the man has tattooed eyeballs and enormous lettering inked across his brow, weird teeth are the least of his problems.
“What were you up to?”
He steps onto the porch and draws a deep breath, only to exhale it slowly. Our Road Captain chooses not to say much, but it doesn’t stop me from coaxing him into conversation every chance I get. “Cleaning.”
I school my features, stunned that he chose to play. “The meat safe?”
He nods.
You can’t accuse the guy of not being thorough.
Our President, Chaos, shot and killed a member of the Devil’s Breed after we found them doing business on our turf.
Fast-forward a week, and it’s like the rival club member never existed, save for the fact we’ve lost one of our own to the big house while he awaits trial for the murder.
“Disappointed you’re not being let out to play tonight?”
Circus slides his black eyes my way. One side of his mouth curls up. Yeah. I know why Chaos didn’t add him to the manifest. If we find women there, we want them to come with us, not run screaming for the hills.
I turn to face him and lean an elbow on the railing.
“It’s one of life’s greatest mysteries,” I muse with a shake of my head.
“What the fuck happened to you to make you into this?” I wave my hand at the length of him.
“Not that I’m complaining. You’re a unique asset.
But Jesus, my man.” I let out a low whistle.
“Sometimes I envy how you can move through the shadows without anyone knowing you’re there. ”
He tilts his head to one side and then folds his arms while he studies me.
We couldn’t be more different if you tried.
He’s the center-spread of an alternative tattoo magazine, the kind of guy you see on the thumbnail for a horror movie, while I’m the man who smiles down at the world from a mainstream billboard.
He loves the anonymity of his life, and I thrive on the attention of mine.
He’s one hundred per cent comfortable with who he is, creating a character that ensures his isolation.
I mask the truth behind my false ego and need for validation.
His gaze shifts over my shoulder to a beaten-up, pale blue hatchback tearing up the long driveway. Mud and stones spray out behind it, the single working headlight cutting lines across the tracks ahead. Fuck.
Circus settles in, leaning a shoulder against the porch post to watch the show.
The car’s barely pulled in before I’m off the steps and striding toward it. “You better not be driving like that with our daughter in the car.”
Reno steps out of the door, leaving it open to meet me halfway. “Settle down. She’s at a friend’s.” Her thick, blonde hair is pulled into a messy updo, the piece of fabric clinging to her body beneath her coat resembling a strip of bandage more than a dress.
“Who?” Better not be one of the guys she strings along for the occasional payday. Same as I used to be.
“It doesn’t matter when she’s already there.” Our one-time bunny lifts an eyebrow to coax me into an argument.
I widen my stance and fold my arms instead. “What are you doing here, anyway?” I make a point of dragging my gaze down her attire. “Seems to me like you got somewhere else to be considering you got no place selling your shit here anymore.”
“I’m welcome whenever I want, Fang.” Her jerky movements when she speaks scream of a recent hit. Of what? Who knows? But—like who my daughter is currently with—it apparently doesn’t matter. “I need this signed before Monday.” She shoves a haphazardly folded piece of paper at my chest.
I flip it open, glancing between her and the printed page. Program Enrollment Request. “What the fuck is this?”
“If you read it, you’d know.” She brushes a loose strand of hair out of her eyes, adjusting her dress afterward.
I skim over the page, tipping it toward the light spilling from the house to be sure I’m reading the bullshit I think I am. “You want to send Molly away for winter break?”
“It’s only two weeks.”
“That’s a fuckin’ long time for a six-year-old.” I shake the paper between us. “Why? What’s so goddamn important that you need to be rid of her for that long?”
She raises her eyebrows, chin tucked down while she stares at me as though I’m the one who lost my mind. “Who said I need to be rid of her?”
I turn the paper toward Reno and stab a finger at the giant fucking red flag. “Because the program costs three hundred dollars that I’m sure you’re about to ask me for.”
She glances away, jaw hard.
I said I’ve never hit a woman. Didn’t say I’ve never been tempted.
“You only ever show up when you want something from me, don’t you?” I carefully fold the sheet of paper, focusing on the crisp creases as I speak. “Usually money.”
“What else am I supposed to do with her?” Reno exclaims with a toss of her hands. “She’s not allowed here, so what do I do with her, huh? Where do I send her when her own daddy won’t have her?”
As always, she manages to twist the situation around to highlight my shortcomings as a parent. “You know I don’t have Molly here because it’s better for her. This ain’t a place for a little girl.”
“Says who? Plenty of the old ladies bring their kids by. Nobody else has an issue with it.”
“That’s their choice.” Most can’t see how this place corrupts people. I do. “Where is she now, Reno?”
“What does it matter?”
“Because if she ain’t with someone who can watch her for two weeks over winter break, I want to know she’s with someone who can be trusted.”
She stares me down for a beat before quietly answering. “She’s with Rhonda.”
Reno’s neighbor. Works bar service at The Factory. A good lady. I can work with that. “And she can’t watch her for you?”
“She’s got to work, Fang,” Reno leers. “Not all of us get to lounge around picking fights when we feel like it.”
“You sure about that?”
Her glare is harsh enough that I half-expect to combust spontaneously. “Even if I could, I don’t have two weeks spare, Reno. We’ve got shit going down. It’s too dangerous for her to be here.”
“So sign the form,” she urges.
“No.”
“Why not?” Reno wails, frustrated. “It solves your problem.”
“No,” I snap, pointing a finger her way. “It solves yours.”
“Forget it.” The bitch lunges toward me and snatches the paper from my hand. “I’ll get the money another way.”
“She’s not being shipped off to a bible camp, Reno.” Yeah, I saw that little cherry amongst the preamble.
Hand on the car door, she swings back around to face me. “I need to work, Fang, and I need time to do that! Need money for rent, food, clothes. How am I supposed to do that with a kid under my feet all the goddamn time?”
“Perhaps you should have thought that through before you got yourself knocked up. Or were you that hell-bent on locking me down that you never imagined you’d be doing it alone?”
She laughs, throaty and disbelieving. “You still think that’s what it was, huh? A ploy to trap you? Are you ever going to stop playing the victim?”
“I told you I didn’t want kids!”
“Then why are you so worried about what I do with this one?” She drops into the driver’s seat and slams the door, revving the still-running engine to spin the car around and tear off the way she came in, spraying me with stones and mud.
“You want me to go get her?”
I damn near jump out of my skin, unaware Circus had moved to stand beside me. “No point. The bitch’s mind is made up.”
“I meant Molly.”
I stare at the guy. The fucker would too. I can see him happily kicking in the door of Rhonda’s house to bring her back here.
But collecting her is my job, not his. “It’ll keep.”
Molly will be safe enough staying where she is for the night. The women we’re off to find?
I can’t confidently say the same.