Chapter Six
That was one hairy fucking night. After the big guy grabbed my throat, I tried slamming him in the head with my helmet, which resulted in it being thrown across the concrete, and was therefore fucked.
“You asshole! How am I supposed to ride now?” I tried kicking him, and he just laughed, the others joining in. It was fucking embarrassing.
I slammed a fist into his face, and he rocked back a little with the force, but his fingers only loosened a touch.
“Fucking stalker prick. Gonna break every bone you got.”
“Don’t touch his other bone, bruv. God knows where it’s been.”
“Yeah, his hand, his mouth, probably. Certainly not in any pussy.”
Jesus. What was with these guys?
“Look, do you want another enforcer or what? I’ve got places to be.”
Marco the asshole released my throat and backed up, tucking his hands under his arms as he folded them.
“I don’t think he’s got the balls, boss.” It was weird how he addressed two bosses as ‘boss’, but maybe it was just quicker that way. Bosses. Boss. Yeah, it’d be weird the other way.
“You couldn’t even fight Marco off, bruv. How do we know you’ve got what it takes?”
“You’re not stealthy either. I saw you sneaking up on them from a mile away,” the knife guy said. Apparently his name was Danno. I was remembering all kinds of shit from the few meetings we’d had with them. I hadn’t bothered prioritising remembering them, but now it was a little hard not to.
“I didn’t know who I was sneaking up on, okay? I saw some creepy bastard, and it’s near my… a friend’s house, so I wanted to check it wasn’t something that’d put her at risk.”
The Bennetts exchanged a grin, and backed up a few steps to murmur to each other. Danno and Marco just stood there smirking, and the guy on the ground spat blood out and scrambled to his feet.
“I should probably get going. You guys are busy.” Marco shot him a glare and he froze, sitting back down. “Or I could just take a load off while you do your thing. It’s all good.”
Danno snorted. “It’s gonna be good when I get my knives into you.”
“Sounds kinky, man.”
I laughed with them, and it was like those movie moments where the main character laughs along with the popular kids, and they all fall silent and glare. How dare I find his joke funny, right?
“Okay, bruv. Here’s what’s gonna happen.
You have to audition, because we need to know you’re tough enough for this shit.
If you pass that test, you’ll be hired on a trial basis, with a contract and everything.
You speak about our shit, you die. You fuck with us, you die.
Am I missing anything, bruv?” He glanced at his brother, who picked up immediately like it was all fucking rehearsed.
“There’s no backing out now, bruv. You don’t wanna look like a wuss, right? You’re kinda like an inside man for us now, because we want Phoenix working for us, and you can make that happen. You can let us know when shit’s going down, so we can offer our assistance, you know, all friendly like.”
Holy fucking shit. No. They wanted to use me to control the club! Fuck fuck fuck!
“No!”
They all laughed, but let’s be honest here, what options did I have really? It’s this or die, they used the word ‘die’ enough times for me to get the point.
“Can I think about it?”
“You mean you didn’t make an informed decision when you offered your services, bruv?
I thought you were a thinker. We don’t want idiots working for us.
You wanna end up like ratboy over there?
He thought he could call the cops on us.
How’s that working out for ya?” The Bennett guy raised his eyebrows at ‘ratboy’ who shuddered.
“Never saw anything, don’t know who you are. I fell. I fell a lot. That’s all.”
“Good boy. Danno, see him off.”
They left, Danno dragging the other guy by his collar, and Marco stepped up beside the Bennetts. The three of them were fucking huge, and I mean, I’m not short myself, nor am I lanky like that Danno prick, but I’m nothing like them.
“We made you a kind offer, bruv. Are you throwing that back in our faces? Are you looking to insult our generosity?”
Fuck. “No. When do you want me to audition?”
They grinned, and nodded at Marco.
“Now.”
My only option after I got beaten and bloodied by that fucker, who admittedly had the upper hand from the first moment, was to get a replacement helmet for my ride, because I couldn’t get home otherwise. More expenses to try and cover.
It was approaching six in the morning when I staggered out of that alley, having been left there by them after my ‘audition’, and as luck would have it, Harley’s shop wasn’t too far away. Maybe twenty minutes walking. Thirty, probably, because I wasn’t walking well.
The coffee shop on his estate was open, but his shop wasn’t yet, so I headed into the coffee shop, straight into their bathroom to clean up as best I could, then I ordered a coffee and bacon toastie and sat outside with it.
They looked at me like I was some kind of thug, which I guess wasn’t far off the mark, especially since I literally just tried to interview as an enforcer for actual crime lords.
Fucking idiot. It was like one of those comedies, where one wrong step causes a whole bunch of crap to fall on a person.
It all fell on me, and I wasn’t sure what to do to get out of that.
One toastie, a blueberry muffin, and two more coffees later, I heard the familiar sound of Harley’s ride coming up into the estate, so I struggled up from the chair with a low moan of pain.
That fucker punched me right in the ribs, and it was throbbing about as much as my ass was from landing on it.
I watched Harley unlock the door as I headed his way, and when I stepped inside, he turned to greet me, and his jaw dropped.
“Jesus fuck, brother. What happened to you?” He offered me a chair, but I shook my head.
“Probably won’t get up again.”
“You came off your ride? No… you look like you got your ass kicked.”
How the hell to explain this? As it turns out, there’s only one way.
“I fucked up, VP.”
One eyebrow shot up, and he pulled his phone from his pocket, waiting for me to nod. It wasn’t something to keep from the Pres, so I had no choice. He dialled.
“Hey Pres, sorry to ring so early. We have a situation at the shop.”
A situation. That’s me. A fucking situation.
“Yeah, seems one of our brothers has run into some trouble, can you meet us here?”
He hesitated. “Stag. He’s all beaten up.”
He slipped the phone back in his pocket and headed for the coffee machine. Jesus, no more coffee, I’ll be climbing the walls.
“Are you meant to be working today?” I scratched my head, wondering why my hair felt like it was full of grit. That fucking filthy alley.
“Yo yo! What the fuck!” Rocket exclaimed as he stepped into the shop and took one look at me. “Who did this, bro? We kicking some ass?”
Harley waved him off to his corner. “Waiting on the Pres, you wanna give us a minute?”
“What day is it?” I asked him in response to his earlier question. My days were all over the place with the night shift shit going on.
“Wednesday.” Fuck. I dug out my phone and called my boss. Hell of a time to take a day off, you know, when my entire fucking job was hanging in the balance.
Claudia
Marissa was gone when I came out of the shower, and that left me some time to stew, to wonder what the hell to do about her, and my lost phone. It was completely trashed, the screen shattered, and nothing working, even though it still lit up.
I dug out my laptop to see what I could buy in place of it, but if I didn’t want a difficult discussion in a phone shop, where they never seemed to know sign language, and it was too hard to pick up some of the jargon by lipreading, it left me having to order online and wait for it to arrive, leaving me without one for days.
I was perusing the options when the door opened, and closed, and Marissa stood there, a carrier bag from the local IT store in hand.
“I’m so sorry,” she mouthed, handing me the bag. Inside it was a brand new phone, not Samsung like my last one, but android at least. Thank god.
I closed the store I’d been browsing and dug out the boxed phone. It wasn’t sealed, but that wasn’t such a shock if things had to be installed or whatever.
“I had them upload your call software and stuff, sorry. I fucked up. I panicked. I’m sorry.”
I set the phone back down, taking a long slow breath before responding.
*It was nice of you to get this so fast for me. I’m lost without it. You get that, don’t you? Without the phone, I was even more dependent on you.*
She didn’t look surprised or bothered by that statement, tucking her hair behind her ear as she sat down facing me.
“I worry. You’re so trusting. So sweet. That biker guy is trouble, and I suddenly thought he was messaging you or something. He’s bad news, you get that, don’t you?”
I closed my laptop and picked up the box with the phone in it, fully intending to get away from her, and she reached over, lightly touching my hand.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I know I get overprotective and you’re probably fed up with me. I’ll do better, I promise!”
She looked so sincere, so much like the sister I grew up with and loved so much. Maybe she was seeing how her behaviour was looking to me, or to anyone who realised how she’d been acting lately. Maybe she was finally going to back off and let me live my life.
I just wanted my twin back, the sister who lived and loved, and laughed so much. She looked like a stressed out, overworked parent. Like she just needed a hand. Didn’t I owe her that?
I sat back down again, pushing the phone toward her.
“Why don’t you get me started, and I’ll make some tea.”
She nodded, a happy smile on her face, and a little of the frustration dissipated. She was still in there, just bogged down with fears and worries. For me. Because of me. Couldn’t I cut her a break if she seemed overbearing sometimes?