Chapter 6
Chapter six
“What?” she asks.
“Do you wanna get in trouble? With me?”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean? I thought we were just going for a ride.”
Let me introduce to you the man you’ve been missing, Nadia.
Giving her a side glance, my right hand lowers to the shifter, dropping a gear as I let off the gas pedal.
The RPM’s skyrocket into the red, making the exhaust clap loud, and the engine groan under the forced deceleration.
She’s still looking at me, even as the group of bikes split, one on both sides, one leading, and two following now.
We all ease across three lanes, rubber gripping the different levels of uneven pavement before meeting the off ramp.
Nadia turns and looks through the back and out the window, her harness keeping her secure in the seat, making her strain to rubberneck at our tail.
We roll over a small bump that jolts her at the end of the ramp, a stop light looming ahead of us and bathing the street in its haunting glow.
I know exactly where we are, I won’t need an escort but this is their territory with rules to follow.
“Who the fuck are these guys? Rey…”
“Ellum Syndicate, sweetheart. Hang on.”
“What are they doing? Do you know them? Where are we going?”
“Nadia, sit down. I’ll answer your questions in a moment, let me drive.”
Heat blasts across my face when she practically explodes next to me.
I know she hates being told what to do but I need to focus—not because I’m intimidated but because I need to be safe on these torn up roads, especially with the riders around me.
It could go from a simple convoy to thrown rocks, downed bikes, and pissed off riders throwing fists.
She can wait, hell she can sit there quietly and use those pretty peepers of hers to figure out what’s going on too.
Sure enough, they weave around potholes and stand up on their pegs as we hit dips and bumps.
You know, for the influx of money they have coming through the syndicate you’d think they would move somewhere that’s a bit friendlier on their equipment.
The fuck are they supposed to do if the cops show up and raid their joint?
All the pigs would need to do is throw down road spikes and they’re all going to jail with a rap sheet longer than a CVS receipt.
We’re on the edge of the projects, dilapidated homes sit on both sides of the road, windows boarded up from either raids or kids just being kids.
Multiple vehicles of all varying shapes and sizes remain parked in front yards, chain link fences, stocky dogs that spend more time barking at kids on bicycles and the occasional homeless person shoving their cart down the sidewalk than sleeping or eating their high protein diets fit for kings.
Further through the neighborhood, the houses fade out and give way to something more industrial.
Old brick buildings start to appear with scaffolding still attached to the sides where the city attempted to remodel them into luxury condos.
Too bad they lost the community upkeep bid and had to abandon them.
Power lines crisscross over the road and from one property to another, the transformers barely hang on to wooden pillars that used to carry more power than many of the skyscrapers downtown.
On the far end, sitting on the left, is a newer warehouse encased in metal with glass windows painted black on the interior and exterior.
How do I know they’re double coated? Because I’ve been inside, around monsters who walk the world and try to give name to their violent cause.
The very vultures who feed people in the neighborhood while simultaneously extorting them for money and protection.
It’s all for show, the main objective is to keep the rival gangs out of the area and maintain the cleanliness of the streets yet paint them in blood and body parts.
I never should have come here in the past, but I did and now when they command you, you follow.
Easing the Civic into their rough driveway, the bikes flank all sides of the car like they did on the highway.
The riders hit their kill switches almost in unison, plunging each bike into silence outside of the soft tinks from their heated engines.
I power off the car too, the music dying when the electricity does and all I can hear now is how hard Nadia is breathing.
She’s scared. I know I said that I’d never put her in harm’s way, and I meant that, but sometimes you speak terrible shit into existence without meaning to. So, here we are.
“When we get out, don’t say anything. If something looks sketchy, look away, don’t ask questions, and only engage in polite conversation.
A lot of these guys are on power trips and you’re pretty, they will try to hit on you to undermine me but as long as we don’t respond we’ll be okay.
” I try to coach her, knowing she’s barely listening to me and looking for an escape rather than survival tactics.
“Nadia, now’s the time to tell me you understand. I need that from you, please.”
“I…” she begins but stalls when people approach the car. “I understand.”
Calmly, I lean over and unlatch her harness. Drawing the straps off of her shoulders and away from her lap, trying to be a gentleman amidst the chaos, but truth be told I’m terrified. I have no doubt this impromptu visit will end without commotion but I know how to exist here–she doesn’t.
She’s breathing too fast, if she doesn’t relax then she is going to start hyperventilating and pass out.
Unbuckling my harness, I reach over and cup her face.
Making contact with her unnaturally silver eyes, running both thumbs over her cheeks to keep her attention on me; guys gathering at the front passenger wheel waiting for us to exit.
“Easy sweetheart, slow deep breaths for me. I won’t let anything happen to you, okay? We will hang out here for a little while, see what Emmett wants, then we’ll leave—get back to our drive.”
“You promise?”
“Promise. I’ll come around and open the door for you. Keep it locked until I’m there.”
“O—okay.”
Releasing her, I climb out and slap hands with a few of the guys.
They yank me in for a hug and clap their hands on my upper back but I’m not focused on them.
I need to get to the passenger side and let her out so people aren’t staring at her through the glass like she’s in the aquarium and waiting for a shark to come gobble her up.
“Rey! My man.”
Hearing that familiar croon, I twist and nod at the six-foot-five sore thumb of a man who runs this Ellum faction.
The Ellum originated in Philly and has since moved across the northern United States.
It’s run by men between twenty-five and forty because the other g’s end up in jail or a hole in the ground.
He took over about two years ago, right around the time I met him at a club with Wes on one of his many girl-hunts.
We got tore the fuck up—I barely remember half the night but we come to hang out from time to time, which I have learned is more than I ever wanted.
Emmett Carver—mogul son—heir to an empire he wants to dismantle and throw into the lake.
Dark hair, dark eyes, built like 2001’s Vin Diesel.
His parents dote and throw money at him but the fucker is out here slinging bullets, drugs, and running the second most prolific biker gang in Detroit.
Right after the Blacktop Butchers—different scene though.
The way he is with his little sister, and baby brothers though?
You’d never think they were family nor that he was a gang leader.
Stepping away from his boys, I reach my hand out and shake him with a firm grip. He yanks me in with a slap on my back like they did. Releasing my hand, he cradles the back of my head—hugging me like some old man who hasn’t seen his son since war.
“Yo Em.”
“It’s good to see you, Fam. The fuck you been hiding?”
“School, man. Keeping those grades up, holding down my gig. Need the cash to throw into the car.” I answer.
He releases me, both of his hands now finding my biceps with a firm grip.
He looks at me from head to toe and back up—sizing me to see if I still fit into the realm of what he’s looking to recruit.
Sucks for him, I won’t be persuaded that easily.
He could throw a stack on my lap tomorrow and try to buy me, promise to deck out Delinquent and have me on the track in the blink of an eye but no.
I want to do this my way, it’s my life and my future on the line, I’m not going to let the promise of ease and money and fame steer me away.
“Speaking of your Matchbox car, I see you got a girl with you today. You going to leave her there, in this heat, use her as an excuse to leave early? You know how I feel about people who show up for the food, then run.”
“And let her sit there and look pretty behind glass? Not a chance. On my way to help her out.”
“Such a gentleman, don’t let me keep you. Go on, get your girl.”
Your girl. Yeah, mine.
Wrong place and wrong fucking time, Kaleb.
Get Nadia and get this shit over with, the riders wouldn’t have pulled us this way if they didn’t want us here.
Rounding the front of the car, I reach her door and hear the locks disengage when I grab the handle.
Popping it free, she twists in her seat.
Converse meeting dirt at her exit, she clears the open door and instantly takes hold of my hand, wrapping one around it as the other laces our fingers together—my heart leaps into my throat.
Fuck me.
Em joins us a few seconds later, his inquisitive gaze sliding across Nadia a little too long before a playful smirk pulls at his mouth.
“Emmett Carver. Sorry, I didn’t catch your name.” He introduces himself, attempting to be a charming devil, extending his hand for her to shake.