Chapter Seventeen #2
The ever-present drizzle of the night turned into a downpour, making firm footing impossible, and robbing my punches of the necessary leverage I needed to knock Warlock out.
A poorly timed punch caused me to swing and miss wildly, leaving my right side exposed.
Seizing the opportunity, Warlock delivered a well-timed kick to my right knee causing it to buckle long enough to send me to the muddy ground.
I landed directly in front of Warlock, but before he had time to take advantage of his position, I punched him in the balls with everything I had.
Warlock dropped to his knees beside me, and I jumped on top of him, pinning his shoulders to the mud with my knees.
“That was for Maisie,” I said, doing my best to put a dent in his skull. “And this one’s for Grip.” I slammed my fist into Warlock’s face, shattering his nose. “This one’s for Cash.”
My right knee felt like it was on fire, but I pushed through the agonizing pain long enough to take his back and sink in a rear naked choke.
Without the full use of my right leg, I didn’t have the leverage to snap his neck, but I could at least put him to sleep long enough to improve my position, which is exactly what I did.
“Say goodnight, motherfucker!” I grunted, as I squeezed my biceps as hard as I could around Warlock’s thick neck. It was only then that the reality of my position truly sank in.
I could just keep squeezing. I could kill Warlock right now and I’d be justified in the eyes of every man around me.
Some of them may hate me for it. Some of them may even try to retaliate, but I’d still be justified.
Of course, local law enforcement would certainly have something to say about me killing Warlock, but they wouldn’t find out about that unless one of the Spiders talked to them.
The Spiders may have been a lot of things, but they weren’t rats.
I kept squeezing.
Even over the roar of the crowd, I could hear some of my brothers telling me to kill him.
More and more of them joining in by the second as I squeezed with all my might.
Lactic acid burning though my veins as I tightened my grip.
Then I heard a single voice, louder than all the others.
In fact, everything around me fell totally silent the moment I heard her speak.
“Let go, love,” Maisie’s voice rang inside my head.
“He will kill you if I do.”
“You’ll be there to protect me if he tries.”
“That’s what I’m doing now.”
“You can’t protect me if you’re in prison. It’s time to let go.”
“I can’t.”
“Connor. Let go.”
I growled as I tightened my hold around Warlock’s neck one last time before finally letting go, pushing Warlock’s limp body off of me, face down in the mud. Pain like I’d never felt before shot through my right leg like lightning as I struggled to make it onto my left.
After a few more seconds Warlock coughed and choked as he began to regain consciousness.
“Stay down… if you know what’s… good for you,” I said through heavy breaths. “I could have… killed you, but… I didn’t.”
“You should have,” Warlock croaked out.
“You and your… club are done. You’re gonna leave town and I don’t ever want to hear your name again. If I do, I swear to God, I won’t show mercy next time.”
“That’s it,” Irish Frank, called out, waving his hands to signify the end of the fight.
I rose to my feet and turned to my club, who were going completely apeshit. Whipped up into a frenzy like I’d never seen my boys before. I waved Mack over to assist me, my back momentarily turned to Warlock, when I heard Rooster bellow, “Hatch, watch out!”
I spun around to see Warlock rushing toward me but didn’t have time to react before he tackled me to the ground. Warlock, now in the top position, grabbed my hair and pushed my head, face down into the mud.
“I told you, you shoulda killed me!” Warlock shouted as he continued to drown me.
I didn’t dare fight for breath, knowing full well that if I inhaled, I’d get a lung full of mud.
Instead, I quickly, but calmly, clawed at his hands until I finally got a hold of a finger.
His right middle finger, to be exact. As I neared the point of passing out, I peeled his finger backward as hard as I could until I felt it snap.
Warlock howled in pain as he let go, and I bucked with all my might until he was off me.
“Mother fucker!” Warlock howled in pain as he cradled his hand.
Finally, able to breathe again, I managed to get to my hand and knees as I choked and wheezed. Warlock, however, was already back on his feet and delivered a swift kick to my ribs.
“You’ve gotten soft, Hatch,” Warlock taunted as I once again struggled for breath.
“Fuck you,” was all I managed to grunt before he kicked me again, causing me to fall over and curl up into the mud, gasping like a goldfish.
“You know, I meant what I said earlier, Hatch. It wasn’t just tough talk or me trying to get into your head.”
As Warlock spoke, I tried and failed to get up. My stomach muscles seized and spasmed from what were surely several broken ribs, and my lungs burned from the lack of oxygen. I was almost paralyzed, forced to listen to Warlock’s taunts as my body betrayed me.
“Once I kick you to death, I’m taking your wife as my victory trophy. To be honest, I’d love nothing more than to fuck her right in front of you, then kill you, but this’ll have to do.”
“You touch…her and my…club…will kill…you,” I struggled to pant out.
Warlock wagged his finger. “Tsk, tsk, ol’ boy. Your boy scout club has to honor the code.”
“They’ll never lay down to you,” I growled.
“They will, or they’ll die along with you. But not wifey. No. I’m gonna keep your precious Maisie locked up in a box for the rest of her life for my club to use and abuse whenever they want. And every time they do, she’s gonna know that it’s happening because her husband couldn’t protect her.”
Whatever rage I’d felt for Warlock in the past paled in comparison to how I felt at that moment, however it’s not what fueled me to keep fighting.
My love for Maisie was. The love I felt the first time I met her that had only grown stronger every day since.
Her love would save me just as it had in the past.
Her love was my road to peace and that same love would now serve as my road to war.