8. Duke
DUKE
Violet pulls on a tank top, then puts the property cut back on before reaching for her shorts on the floor. “Where’s Shelby’s room?”
I text Shelby while Violet gets dressed.
Me: Where’s Leo?
Shelby: Common area. He’s out cold on my lap. Come get him whenever.
Violet finger-combs her hair into something that doesn’t scream what we’ve been doing. It doesn’t work. She looks exactly like a woman who just got fucked.
Good.
We walk down the hallway together. The common area is half-full. Crash is at the long table with coffee, Razor is on his phone, and Joker is by the bar drinking a beer. Shelby is on the couch, Leo asleep on her lap, with the coloring book open next to them.
She spots us and grins. “He ate a few crackers, colored one page, and passed out.” She shifts Leo into my arms. He doesn’t wake up. His face presses into my neck, and his fist curls into the fabric of my shirt.
Crash looks up from his coffee. His eyes move from Leo to me, and his head tilts.
“Duke.” He sets the mug down. “That kid looks exactly like you.”
“Yeah.” I adjust Leo in my arms. “Because he’s mine.”
Dead silence. Crash’s eyes go wide. Razor puts his phone down. Joker takes a slow sip of his beer.
Then Crash spots the cut on Violet’s shoulders. PROPERTY OF DUKE. His mouth splits into a grin.
“No shit.” He lifts his coffee mug toward Violet. “Duke’s Old Lady, huh?”
Shelby’s hands go to her mouth as she looks between Violet and me.
“About fucking time,” Joker says.
Razor nods and goes back to his phone. No speeches. No ceremony. My brothers just accept her, because I claimed her.
Damn right.
The back hallway bangs open. Saber fills the doorframe.
His eyes sweep the room. “I need everyone in Church.”
Saber stands at the head of the table. Every patched member and every officer is in the room.
“Nitro wants blood.” Saber puts both hands flat on the table. “I gave him an offer. Rather than handing over Jinx, we can settle this in the ring.”
The fighting ring is our territory. Our rules. Our ground.
“He took the offer.” Saber’s eyes move to Jinx. “You killed his man. Nitro’s picking a fighter. You’re ours.”
Jinx is propped in a chair with his left eye swollen to a slit and cracked ribs.
Is Saber serious? Jinx doesn’t have a fucking chance with his injuries, but I don’t say this out loud.
Joker says it for me. “Jinx can barely stand, Prez.”
Jinx keeps his eyes on the floor. “I killed that Warrior. This mess is mine to settle.”
Saber looks at Joker. “You think I didn’t try to talk him out of it already? Jinx told me to go fuck myself.”
“I can take him,” Jinx says. He believes it more than anyone else in this room does.
Saber shakes his head. “We vote.”
We vote, and it’s unanimous. Jinx is going to fight a Crimson Warrior in the ring.
Saber negotiated the terms. Win or lose, the debt clears, and both sides stand down.
Nitro agreed.
And the lockdown lifts after the fight.
Some of the guys are bringing their Old Ladies to the warehouse.
My Old Lady and my son aren’t going anywhere near that ring. Violet stays at the clubhouse with Leo. End of discussion.
The warehouse sits ten miles outside Ash Valley on a dead-end road. We’ve held fights here for years. Good money, good entertainment. Tonight isn’t either of those things.
The building has a concrete floor, metal walls, and no windows. Floodlights hang from the rafters on extension cords. Two dozen Hellborn Kings line the near wall. Fifteen Crimson Warriors in red and black crowd the far side.
Nitro is in the center of his brothers. He’s in his mid-fifties, with flat, dead eyes.
His fighter steps forward. He’s tall, over six feet, and probably weighs around two hundred and twenty pounds.
Jinx steps into the circle. Six inches shorter. Forty pounds lighter.
He’s a fucking idiot. He shouldn’t even be here. I would have stepped into the ring for him. Any of my brothers would have.
The fight is ugly from the first punch.
Nitro’s guy hits like a truck. Jinx takes the first shot to the jaw. Takes the second to the broken ribs. He drops. Hits the ground.
Jinx gets up.
He goes down twice more. Each time, he drags himself off the ground and puts his fists up. Blood in his eye. Blood on his chin. Breathing so shallow his ribs must be on fire.
The big man gets confident. Comes in too close. Drops his guard for half a second.
Jinx headbutts him. His forehead to the bridge of the other guy’s nose. The crack echoes off the metal roof. A left hook to the liver. Knee to the chin. The big man goes face-first onto the ground.
He doesn’t get up. He’s not dead. Just unconscious.
The Hellborn Kings erupt. Every man on our side of the warehouse is on his feet, fists in the air, roaring. Razor grabs Viper by the shoulders and shakes him. Crash is pounding the wall with his palm. Minutes ago, every one of us thought we were watching Jinx die.
Jinx is swaying in the center of the ring, bleeding from four places, and grinning like a maniac.
Saber steps to the edge of the ring. “Debt’s paid.”
Nitro stares at his man on the ground. For ten seconds, nobody moves. Then he turns and walks out. His men follow. The bikes rumble to life, and they’re gone.
Joker catches Jinx before he collapses. Saber puts his hand on the back of the kid’s neck and says something I can’t make out. Jinx nods.
That kid is getting patched in. Not today. But soon. Really soon.