Chapter 28 Cas
Cas
Iwonder if Lana knows about Leo. Not much has been able to touch me over the years but the thought of my old lady grieving her own son hurts my heart that only beats for her.
Now time has passed, and I can think a little more rationally, I remember him bleeding out from his lower back.
It wouldn’t have knocked him unconscious, though I can’t work out how it would have killed him instantly.
I should have kept the gavel. If I could go back and change shit, I would.
I wouldn’t have sent Luca to the city to start a chapter.
If I could change anything, I would keep my strongest pieces close to home.
There wouldn’t be anyone brave enough to come against us.
But they are all what ifs, and I can’t do shit with them.
JJ’s shoulder has stopped bleeding, and it has calmed Sparky. Myles is still unaffected by his arm and Mason hasn’t said one word in the last two days.
The van hasn’t moved in over what I guess to be about an hour, and when the doors open, the sun assaults our eyes.
“Welcome!” Hopper hollers. “Welcome to my home.”
Each of us are dragged out and I can’t remember being in such a shit hole.
The main building looks to be the safest part.
The shelter for their motorcycles are poles with corrugated sheets.
Metal burning bins are scattered around.
A fighting ring is off to the left. It’s the Hogs that keep my attention, slowly surrounding us.
“I would say to ask for whatever you need, but I gotta feeling you won’t be around for long to need anything!”
His brothers laugh around us and my jaw tightens so hard, I fear it’ll snap.
“Take them two over to see the doc. If they’ve survived this long, they’re of some use to me.” Hopper points to JJ and Myles and two Hog fucks grab at them.
“Get ya fuckin’ hands off me!” Myles snaps.
JJ’s too pale and it concerns me. The bleeding may have stopped, but something is going on I don’t like.
“What about these three?”
Mason is too busy staring at his brother being led over to a small portacabin. He won’t like not having eyes on his brother. I shoulder bump him and distract him.
“Stay focused, Myles can handle himself.”
“We’re the only ones who are at our strongest, Cas. I'll fight for the lot of us, but I can’t focus if anything happens to Myles.”
“The fucker’s got something planned, but for now, you and Myles are good. Stay the fuck focused, Mase, and we might come out of this after all.”
“I’m lookin’ to get home, Cas, there’s no might about it.”
We're frogmarched into a damp, dank, basement. The door slams, echoing around the empty, bricked space.
“At least we can stretch our legs down here,” Sparky says, adding, “Though the last time I was locked in a basement...”
Cutting him off, I snap, “We all know what happened, Sparks. It ain’t helpin’.”
Mason wasn’t there, but the sons have all heard the stories about Oak. The good, the bad, and the death.
“Fuck knows how long he’ll keep us down here, we need to come up with a plan,” I say.
“I wouldn’t ever go against us, but I’m not living in a cuckoo world either. There are five of us, two of which with gunshot wounds. We have not one gun between us, and we’re in the middle of a fuckin’ Motorcycle Club who wants us all dead. It's gotta be some plan, Cas,” Mason points out.
“There ain’t shit we can do right now, so let’s put our heads together and come up with something.”
JJ and Myles are shoved down the steps and Mason rushes over to stop them from falling, not that he can help much with his hands tied behind his back.
“You good, brother?” Mase asks Myles, while Sparky tips his chin at JJ.
Leo should be here. His body left lying on the grass back in fuck-knows-where. I have no idea where my boy is and how to find him when we get out of here.
“Yeah, they stitched me up. Can already tell he done a shit job, they’re too tight. Gonna have a fucked-up scar.”
“You’re alive, who gives a fuck?”
“Em does. Last time I got my ass in a situation like this, I came home with scars that scared the crap outta her.”
JJ falls onto an old rickety chair and sighs heavily. “They gave me antibiotics, said it looked like my shoulder was infected.”
“Looks like they have everything here that they could possibly need,” Myles tells us.
“What else did you see?” I ask.
“There must have been about thirty guys I counted walking over here. There were forty-three bikes, so there are more guys around here somewhere.”
“We’re fucked,” JJ mutters.
“Not necessarily,” I disagree. “There will be an opening, we just have to be ready for it.”
No one looks convinced. “I don’t see how we’ll get past them all,” Myles moans.
“A little fuckin’ confidence in who we are wouldn’t go amiss,” I snap losing patience.
“I’m just sayin’, Cas, that the odds are stacked against us.”
Smirking, I say, “It will make it all the sweeter when we’re on our way home, won’t it.”
We're led up the stairs and out into the night. The fire pits are all lit, and the music is turned down in volume. Hog fucks are stood around, beers in hand, cigarette’s burning, and they cheer and holler when they see us.
The five of us keep our heads held high.
We're stopped by the makeshift boxing ring. Nothing good can come from this and the five of us know it. Hopper stands himself in the centre and calls for everyone’s attention.
“As you’re all aware, we have ourselves five special guests!”
His men listen with rapture. Mason brims with electricity beside me and Sparky reminds me of the guy he was twenty years ago. Time has made him lazy, which the same could be said for me since I stepped down from the gavel.
“As a reward for all your hard work of late, I'm givin’ ya one night to have fun with our guests.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” Mason mutters quietly.
None of us glance at one another, not wanting to give anyone the impression we’re weak with wonderment.
“I thought you had their president?” one of them hollers from the crowd.
“Unfortunately, he didn’t make it, the punk wasn’t strong enough to make the journey here.”
Laughter ripples through the crowd and I clamp my teeth down on my tongue. Again, trying not to give anything away.
I don’t know how yet, but every one of these motherfuckers are going to die. Who will be fucking laughing then? Me, that’s who. I’ll laugh as I slice all their throats and piss on their corpses.
“You have one chance to go up against one of our guests. Tonight only.”
He holds a bucket up in the air. “You wanna fight against the legendary Cas Jackson or one of the others, put ya name in here and we’ll see who the lucky fucker is!”
“It’s about damn time,” Mason mutters.
“Speak for yourself,” JJ whispers. “I take one knock to my shoulder, I'm on my ass.”
“Block it out. Whoever you get is gonna go for it first. You've got a good left hook on ya, and don’t forget you have other body parts to use,” I instruct.
“What about you?” he asks.
“What about me?”
“It’s been a long ass time since you threw a punch. You still remember how?” JJ retorts.
“Fuck you. I'm good. Protect your shoulder and don’t worry about me.”
Most of the Hogs shuffle around, dropping their names into the bucket. It looks like we’re golden entertainment and they all want their turn.
“We know how to fight and win, this is no different,” I remind them.
Hopper gets his men's attention again and makes a dramatic show of plucking a name from the bucket.
“The lucky fucker is... Dirtbag!”
The named man steps forward, his brothers slapping him on the back as he walks toward Hopper.
He's adequately named. I don’t think he’s bathed in months.
Greasy hair drops past his shoulders and his jeans sag with age and oil stains.
He’s got a slim build but that isn’t necessarily to our advantage.
I’m slim build and I’ve not lost more than a few fights in my whole life.
Hopper goes to sling his arm around him, then thinks twice, and drops it.
“Take your pick, Dirtbag. Who'd ya wanna fight?”
The dirty fucker’s eyes roam along our line-up and points to Myles. He crunches his knuckles and Mason sighs.
“Think of Grumps, he’d still kick this asshole’s ass with one arm,” Mason points out but I can hear the concern in his voice.
“I’ve got this,” Myles assures him.
Their bond could never be severed. I've watched them grow from birth to the men they’ve become. I swear, even after death, their souls will know where the other is.
With Myles injured, Mason will be overprotective and the last thing he needs is to see his brother with a weakness.
Myles is shoved forward, and he climbs up into the ring. Hopper grins and stares me down.
“I told Leo I had a better plan than death, I was right, weren’t I?”
Myles’s restraints are cut off, and he shakes his arms before wincing. He'll hate showing that but there would have been no helping it.
“Anything goes,” Hopper declares and steps back.
Myles and Dirtbag circle each other, weighing one another up. I watch closely and there’s nothing I can see that would give Myles the advantage.
Dirtbag throws the first punch, but Myles deftly dodges it.
The way he moves reminds me of Ricky. He had the same fighting style.
Mason has always been more like Pope. Yet the four of them all have similar fighting styles.
I always taught my boys to strike fast and hard, a style that served me well all my life.
JJ is similar to Sparky. Sons and their fathers. It’s in our DNA. There's no running, no matter how fast, from our blood.
Believing that, Myles should walk out of this fight and with a grin on his face.
Myles manages to land an upper cut and bust the guy’s nose open. Blood spurts out and Myles is quick to move out of the way.
Hopper catches my eye and the asshole is staring my way.
I burn to punch the smirk off his face. He swipes his finger across his throat and then points to me.
I slowly shake my head and mouth, “No chance.” He laughs and turns his attention back to the fight.
I need to find us an out or he’s going to get his wish. He’ll put us all in the ground.
“Come on, Myles!” Mason yells. “Take him down!”
Sparky and JJ holler their advice while everyone cheers for Lost Souls blood.
Myles strikes again and the guy stumbles back onto his ass. “Jump on him! Fuck him up!” Mason demands.
This will be killing him, he hasn’t taken his eyes off the fight since Myles stepped into the ring. While everyone is focused on the main event, I scope out the surrounding area. The main gates are closed but a side gate you walk through is open.