Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
The Decisions We Make
L inc lined up the shot glasses and Cyrus poured the whiskey. It filled the glasses and spilled to the table. Without hesitation Nelle grabbed two glasses and threw them back one after another.
Slade gritted his teeth. He was so fucking livid with her… yet he couldn’t… he couldn’t hate her.
“That’ll get the truth flowing,” Nelle said with a weak smile.
“Lots to speak about here,” Cyrus said.
Prayer only consisted of Cyrus, Linc, and Priest. Priest refused to sit. He stood towering with muscle, blood on his face from the fight with the mafia guys. Slade knew Nelle was terrified. He’d protect her if things went too far but playtime was over now. For good.
“First of all, I am not in the mafia,” Nelle said. “None of us were.”
“ Us ?” Linc asked.
“My dead sisters,” Nelle snapped.
Slade put a hand to Nelle’s. “Just talk, sweetheart.”
“We didn’t ask for the life we had,” Nelle said. “We were just born into it. My father… it started small. He would drink too much. Place a bet or two. Then he quit drinking, but the bets got bigger. If you want to know every detail, I can get into it. To put it quickly, he lost everything to gambling. Until he met Damien’s father. Dimitri.. ”
“This gets deep, huh?” Cyrus asked. “Your old man ran for Dimitri.”
“I honestly don’t know what my father did,” Nelle said. “I just knew I was in charge of protecting my sisters from the guys. Some days it felt like my father was powerful and other days he was just this weak man. Men would show up and beat the living hell out of him. I’d have to take my sisters and hide somewhere in the house. We lived in this giant house too. It was all for show. My father needed to have the appearance of a successful businessman.”
“That gave Dimitri an outlet,” Cyrus said.
“And Damien was nothing short of evil himself,” Nelle said. “As we got older, he ended up having eyes for Thalia. You’d think it would be Calista, but nope. She was wild and would have given herself to him in a second, but he wanted Thalia. I remember vividly my father telling me I needed to prepare Thalia to be married off to Damien. That would settle everything up. We’d all be connected, together.”
“The same for you and Calista too?” Priest asked.
“That’s right,” Nelle said. “Everything was going to be arranged. And then it all blew up. It all got fucked up. For two reasons.”
“Which are?” Slade asked.
Nelle looked at him. Her beautiful eyes shined, glistening with whiskey and tears. His heart twisted and ached and he wasn’t sure why but he had the urge to burn the entire world down so he could create a new one just for Nelle to live in. Her world. Her perfect world.
“The first thing was that my father found a way to steal from Dimitri,” Nelle said. “A way to skim some cash. He thought it was all free and clear.”
“Your father is a fucking moron,” Linc said.
“Tell me about it,” Nelle said. “Dimitri didn’t just know about it. He set it up! He knew my father couldn’t help himself! He wanted my father to fuck up. So he could take us…”
Slade shook head.
Rotten bastard, Dimitri is lucky he’s dead or else I would kill him myself…
“Before that could happen, Damien showed up one night and demanded Thalia. He was drunk and wanted her. My father wasn’t ready to give her up. Damien wanted to take her. Kidnap her . I made Calista hide but she refused to listen. Poor Thalia. Sweet Thalia. She would never hurt a fly. She didn’t know how to fight back. I think that’s why Damien wanted her so badly. He knew he could break her down in seconds. I tried to stop Damien and he threatened me. Calista came running from nowhere with a knife in her hand. She was going to kill Damien. At the last second, I managed to push Calista out of the way. Damien reached for his gun. Face it, he could have killed us and nobody would have cared. That’s when my father found some balls and he smashed a thick vase over Damien’s head. He knocked Damien out cold.”
Nelle hung her head. Slade touched her back.
He looked around at the guys. “Enough yet?”
“This is all for some revenge,” Linc said.
“The kid took power when the old man died,” Cyrus said as he stood up. “And he tracked them down and started shooting. Now it’s our fucking mess. Last thing we need!”
“ Prez ,” Priest said.
Cyrus turned away.
“I didn’t ask for this,” Nelle said. “My father took off and told me to take my sisters and run. So that’s what I did. It took me years of hiding before getting everything settled. I figured Dimitri knew his son had messed up. And since nothing came of it, then oh well… right?” Nelle laughed. “I decided to move us around a little bit more. I should have gone far. Really far. But how could we? What did we have? You know?”
“So you’re telling me that your father had three beautiful daughters and this was his offering?” Priest asked. He put his hands flat to the table. “You and your sisters… might be the three most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
“Beauty doesn’t mean shit in real life,” Nelle said.
“It does to me,” Slade said. “And heart. And everything else.”
What the fuck did I just blurt that out for? Slade asked himself.
“I was thinking of a way out of it all,” Nelle said. “Thalia worked at the pizza place. I didn’t want Calista too far from her just in case. Like I said, poor Thalia wouldn’t hurt a fly. And Calista… she just went wild. All the time. She loved her drugs, that was for sure. Even when she was way too young. Those mafia guys loved Calista too. She was never afraid to…” Nelle shook her head. “Doesn’t matter.”
“So, one sister is slinging pizzas,” Linc said. “The other is sucking rock star dick. No offense.”
“It’s the truth,” Nelle said.
“What about you?” Linc asked.
“I hid in an antique shop, as weird as it sounds. This old man named Bucky let me…” Nelle stood up. “Bucky. They’re going to kill him, aren’t they? That’s why I came back here. They followed me to the antique store. Something happened that night I was there. It just felt so scary. Weird. Wrong. Then I came back here…”
“I’ll send someone out there right now,” Cyrus said. “Priest, go tell Dolph to take Drix and Warren for a ride.”
“Oh shit,” Priest said. He hurried out of the room.
“Why are you doing this for me?” Nelle asked. “Who am I to you all? I’ve caused nothing but problems.”
“You’re inked,” Cyrus said. “Now, I can call a vote right now if you’d like. Let everyone at the table decide what to do with you. We could vote to have your ink blacked out and you tossed out to the streets.”
“Fuck that,” Slade growled. He jumped up. “You think of that for a second and I’ll—”
“It’s obvious you mean something to Slade,” Cyrus said.
“You have purpose here,” Linc said. “You’re tough. Smart. You have some medical knowledge. I take it that’s from all the shit you saw?”
Nelle nodded. “Couldn’t exactly go to the hospital and tell them my gambling addict of a father needed help.”
“Plus, we need you around here… almost as bait,” Cyrus said. “No offense for using that term. But Damien will not get the upper hand around here. You don’t come into our town and just start shooting. Whether it’s justified or not. Last thing he’s going to get is his way.”
Cyrus walked toward the door. Linc nodded at Slade.
“Come on, sweetheart, stand up,” Slade said. “We’re done in here.”
Nelle stood up and grabbed for the whiskey bottle. Her eyes told Slade she needed it. She needed it really bad. Slade didn’t say a word. He had a thought or two burning in his mind. As he and Nelle stepped from prayer, he whispered to her to go to his room and wait.
Slade needed one more word or two with Cyrus.
As soon as Cyrus looked at Slade, he looked away.
“Go to your girl, Slade. That’s a fucking order.”
“No offense, but fuck your order,” Slade said.
“Don’t make me shoot you, Slade. I need you.”
“What you need to do is tell me what’s really going on here. With Damien. With Nelle. You’re too accepting.”
Cyrus stood up and went nose to nose with Slade.
“Tell me you’re not in love with that piece of ass you inked up,” Cyrus said. “You think I can’t see it? What the fuck do you want me to do, Slade? Kill her? Lose one of my best guys over some pussy? But yet she’s not just some pussy, no. I know it. You’ll figure it out soon too.”
“It’s more than just Nelle.”
“There’s a message too—”
“Cyrus,” Slade said. “What the fuck?”
Cyrus stepped back and rubbed his jaw. “We’re going to be battling these guys for a long time, Slade. We have been. It’s been a silent war. But it’s there. Maybe part of me hasn’t wanted this to kick up, but here it is. Here we are.”
“Meaning?”
“Dimitri wanted to use us to move yellow bunny . That was a long time ago. But he wanted it. He promised the club the world. I knew better. I didn’t even bring it to the table. I refused.”
“Jesus Christ, Prez ,” Slade said. “You made that decision without a vote…”
“I know what I did back then. I’d do the same now. But they’re the ones feeding the yellow bunny . And I’m wondering if with Dimitri gone, the kid isn’t the one throwing bodies at SS13 . Using them as pawns. To get to us.”
“Fuck.”
“Fuck… right. We have something he wants. The last sister. He probably was never rejected before.”
“He won’t stop,” Slade said. “He’ll want her. He can’t have her, Cyrus. I won’t allow it. I’ll…” Slade swallowed hard. The thoughts that wanted to come next were very powerful words. He thought about it once more. “I’ll give up my cut and take her somewhere else if I have to. She’s not a pawn. Not a prize.”
“I know that, Slade. If I wanted her as a pawn, I would have done it already.” Cyrus grabbed Slade by the side of his neck. “When you find what you feel right now you hold tight. You fight. You die if you have to.”
“So, what, on top of everything else, we have to deal with the Russian mafia?”
“Slade, open your eyes, brother. Everything is already here. It’s on our plates. In our clubhouse. Right here in our town.”
Slade wasn’t sure he’d ever seen Cyrus so beat up and exhausted before.
Cyrus turned away. “I’ll say it again, Slade. Go to your girl. ”
This time, Slade obeyed the command from the President of Sins of Fire Real Anarchy West.