Chapter Seven
Blaze
My lungs burned with every breath I took. My legs felt like Jell-O, but I didn’t dare stop running. Mackie, May and I darted through neighbors’ yards, and down a few different alleys before Mackie doubled to grab his ribs.
“Get the fuck away from me,” he growled at May, glaring at him with blood still smeared across his face.
“Fuck off,” May huffed.
“I mean it, split. We gotta separate.” He fanned the air.
I swallowed, more for air than spit, my mouth was drier than it had ever been. I felt like I needed to puke and every once in a while, things were spinning.
“Where the fuck is Donnie?” I huffed.
“I’ll find out, just… don’t stop.” Mackie shoved at my arm.
I trotted off down another alley and May fell into place beside me.
“I can’t keep running like this. I don’t even know where the hell I’m going,” I managed.
“Just a few more blocks. Steel Cages, your dad’s old club is just up the road a piece,” May encouraged, equally winded.
I wiped the sweat from my brow, and hesitantly nodded my agreement, what else could I do? We alternated between speed walking and jogging the next three blocks. It wasn’t until he veered toward a tree line that I froze.
“What the fuck, man…? You said down the road a piece…” I called toward him.
May laughed and waved me into the woods. I huffed and glanced over my shoulder. Headlights were lighting up the crossroad at the end of the block, leaving me no choice but to take cover. Sticker bushes bit my legs. When I tried to pry one off it scratched the hell out of the back of my hand.
“Damn it.” I hissed, drawing my hand up to suck at it.
May was well amused. “It’s nothing. Come on. We’re almost there.”
He slid down into a dry creek bed and sauntered down the center of it like he took the path every day.
“You’re gonna have us lost out in the sticks, man…” I was finally starting to sound like myself now that we didn’t have to hurry along.
“Nah. It’s not thick. There is a road twenty yards on either side of the forest edge. It doesn’t break into a big patch of woods for at least a half mile outside of town.”
“Out of town,” My voice raised a bit more than I was proud of.
He laughed, “I thought you were the country boy?”
“Who told you that?”
“You’re from Georgia, right?”
“We lived in the city, dude. Atlanta until last winter.”
“That big?”
I froze and stared at him.
“You ever been out of Illinois, May?”
“Sure, I've been to St. Louis. Broke my arm once as a kid. Had to go have it set at the kid’s hospital.”
“St. Louis… that’s what an hour?”
“About that.” He nodded, leaving me wide eyed and understanding just a little more about him.
He stuck his arm out in a motion for me to hold. I did, and a car whizzed by about twenty or thirty yards away.
“Told you.” he announced, before marching out of the woods.
He crossed the parking lot with a swag in his step. I slowly weaved between the cars, taking in the big blinking lights.
“Welcome to Steel Cages,” a beauty in a neon dress bid as soon as the door opened.
May tried to shoot past her without a word. It almost worked, since she’d turned her smile my way.
“You old enough to be here, son?” an officer stepped in front of May.
The question wasn’t shouted, but it sounded as amplified as the click of the door behind me. The cop’s eyes widened, and he reached for the radio on his shoulder.
“Got the Aviston boy out here at Steel Cages.” His gaze shifted to me, and he clicked the radio again, “Second suspect in tow.”
The door jerked open, and despite the heat, the breeze that washed over me felt like ice when I heard the bleep of the radio behind me.
“Fuck,” I whispered.
“Put your hands on your head for me, Sir,” a female officer ordered.
I glanced over my shoulder to discover she was only about five foot-two. I could elbow her in the nose and run.
My eyes widened and I sucked in a breath, ashamed that I’d even had such a thought. As if she’d read my mind, the woman grabbed my arm and twisted it behind my back with lightning speed. Her other hand found a sweet spot on my spine, and I was face down over the receptionist's cubicle before I could comprehend what had happened.
The wind rushed out of my lungs and cold steel wrapped around my wrist for the first time in my life.
It was sobering. Instantly sobering.
So was the ride to the station. I closed my eyes, a headache already brewing as I imagined the bitching my mother would do.
Fuck. My. Life.
There was no way I was going to suffer that all the way back to Georgia.
That was a hard and swift nope. I just didn’t know how the fuck I was going to avoid it. I was still inwardly turning it over in my mind while they fingerprinted and booked me. May and I hadn’t said a word to each other in the car, he was quietly sitting on a bench in a holding cell when I was escorted there.
He flashed me a weak smile.
“Worst place to sober up.” He grumbled.
“Oh… that happened when they put the cuffs on,” I admitted.
He laughed like I’d told the best joke in the world. When the door popped open and the officers escorted Makaveli in, his humor dried in a big damn hurry. They locked eyes like a pair of fighting cocks.
“Hey!” the officer barked, causing Mak to cast an unimpressed scowl over his shoulder.
“Bitch, do I look like your mother, or your fuckin’ ol’ lady for you to be barking upside my damn ear? Get the fuck out of here. Your job is done.” Makaveli started shit talking until the officers gave up trading quips with him and backed out of the cage, locking the door behind them.
“You girls comfy?” he asked, looking back at us.
There was the Mak I remembered. Douchebag extraordinaire.
He planted his ass next to me in what my mother would have labeled a flop. She hated it when people flopped on her furniture. I’d have paid good money to lay my ass on her sofa right about now. The bench was unnecessarily hard, or maybe my muscles just ached from scuffling and running across town afterward.
Mak swung his hand out, connecting with the side of my thigh in a way that made a distinct whack. I stared down at his tattooed hand. His daughter’s name was scrawled over his knuckle and along his index finger.
The fact that it was his trigger finger, wasn’t lost on me.
“Your stupid ass blows into town for one night, and you cost me fifteen years. Was it worth it? For a chance to smile at my daughter and haul that piece of junk out of Easy’s fuckin’ garage?”
My gaze lifted from the ink to his menacing, hazel eyes.
“Hmm?” Was the best I could do him.
“‘Hmm?’” He mimicked. “That the best you got? I’m a felon, Blaze. It’s an auto fifteen years in this state for a felon to possess a firearm.”
“Sounds to me you should have spared a few moments to consider that before your stupid ass went to brandishing it for the world to see. What were you thinking, firing it to impress and control your friends? Maybe if you were half as capable as you’d like people to believe you are, you might actually be something to think twice about. You know… A problem… A threat… instead of a fucking joke.”
“Turnkey!” May abruptly yelled like someone had threatened his life.
“Shut the fuck up, snitch.” Mak calmly instructed.
Boots hurriedly rushed down the hallway, but when the guards reached the barred door and saw us all sitting lazily on the benches, they didn’t bother coming inside. They exchanged awkward glances, and then the one with glasses lifted his chin and addressed us, “Ya’ll sit quietly. Don’t give us any trouble and all will be well. The judge will see you in the morning if bail isn’t established before then.”
“How long is that, exactly?” I didn’t even know what time we were booked.
“Uh— about four hours, give or take.” He easily engaged, with the first non-demanding tone I’d heard out of him and his associates.
It wasn’t lost on me that they knew what they were dealing with. They were local cops; it was a local outlaw motorcycle club. I had to expect tension at times if I was going to be around. I frowned, unsure of where that thought even came from.
I closed my eyes, willing myself to sleep, but it wasn’t easy with Mak sitting so damn close. I didn’t trust him any more than a snake.
His daughter– Now that was another story. I tried to conjure up the memory of her ass in my hands.
“You go ahead, I’ll sit with them for a while,” the polite guard told his partner.
“You sure?” The other paused before leaving with a final glance toward us.
No one had moved, so he must have been convinced all was well.
“Yeah, we’re good here.” His partner assured, before settling onto a metal foldable chair in the hallway. He took a folded set of papers from his back pocket and busied himself reading them.
“You two will get out. I won’t,” Mak started, almost conversationally after a few moments.
When no one joined in his banter, he nudged me again.
“Man…” I warned.
“Hey, I’m just trying to let you know. You should keep an eye on that one. Keep him away from your sister.”
May gave a humored groan, “This the shit we gotta listen to for the next…”
“Your mother wouldn’t like him getting sweet on Karlotti.”
“Stop talking about my sister. You don’t know her,” I reminded him.
“I don’t need to know her. I know your mother, and I know him.”
“My mother barely knows him. Okay? She can’t be parted from her dual security system installed home on the other side of the country. It’s probably the first time they’ve ever met face to face…” I paused before reflecting, “She didn’t even meet him face to face. She hopped out of the car before we arrived.”
“Right. You don’t wonder why?” Mak drawled, his voice all malice.
I scoffed, “If you think my mother needs any reason besides the past and all that haunts her for anything she does, you clearly don’t know her.”
“It's because she knows the truth about him,” Mak continued, undeterred.
When I gave in and returned my gaze to Mak, I found his attention locked on May. He was speaking to me, but the taunting was meant for May.
“Your mother’s not crazy, Blaze. She knows every time she looks at him, she’s looking at the son of the man who caused her all that pain.”
“You’re fucking high.” May laughed. “Crystal doesn’t have anything against my dad. My ol’ man didn’t do shit to her.”
“I’m not talking about Easy. I’m talking about your father, Demetri Valentino.”
That name had the same effect on May that it had on me. Every ounce of fuckery was knocked from him. His eyes instantly darkened and glistened dangerously.
“Fuck you.”
“Fuck me? No. Demetri raped my sister while she was his captive. Common sense. She was pregnant when she came home to us. Easy is a soft bastard. He welcomed her back. He took care of you. What else could he do?” Mak continued despite the fact that May had risen from his bench and was gravitating his way.
“Son, sit down,” the guard called, stopping May in his tracks.
Makaveli laughed, a deep, provocative sound. The bastard smiled the first real smile I’d ever seen on him and sat up. He didn’t rise, but he certainly came to life.
“You think you’re a threat? You’re a fucking pussy. The son of a pussy.” Mak spat poison at his own nephew.
“That’s your sister’s son…” I whispered, but it didn’t faze him.
The radio sparked, but I was too focused on the two of them to hear it.
“He’s a monster like his father before him. Mark my word, boy. That’s a stain on society. He’s gonna–”
“I don’t have to kill you.” May’s tone was gravel, his words unmistakable despite their calm, quiet delivery. He tipped his chin up with a smile of his own flashing back at Mak, “Though, I admit, it would give me a pleasure that you would never begin to comprehend– I think it will give me more when I make your son do it for me.”
The door sprang open, and the room flooded with guards not a moment too soon.