Pax

 

At around 8 PM the next night, Pax drove up to Sully’s, patting his pocket to make sure he had what he needed. He caught his own reflection in the rearview mirror of his car, staring at himself for a second. “I can do this,” he said out loud. He had no other option, really. He had to do this. For Jessica. For the baby.

 

Pax inhaled deeply, gathering as much inner courage as he could muster before exiting his vehicle, striding up confidently to the front door. He stared blankly at the bouncer of the club for a second before the smaller man stepped aside, allowing Pax to walk inside without a fight. There were crowds of young women gathered around the bar, all of whom turned their heads to gape at Pax as he stepped further inside the clubhouse. But he didn’t pause for a second, heading to the back of the room, where a door was slightly ajar. It was Gary’s office; Macie had told him how to find it. Pax headed across the bar and walked through the unlocked door, shutting it hard behind him to send the message that this was a private meeting.

 

“What the fuck?” Gary said, his mouth full of some kind of noodle dish, while his legs were propped up on the desk in front of him. “What are you doing here?”

 

“Thought we should have a little discussion,” Pax said, forcing a thick, snarly smile. He felt smug and satisfied as he watched the indignation slip off of Gary’s face, replaced by something that looked an awful lot like fear. “You know, man to man. You deserve to hear the big news straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak.”

 

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Gary asked, putting his plate full of noodles off to one side and taking his legs off the desk, scooting up in his seat to get as close to Pax as possible. His eyes were wide and hard, burning with some primal hatred. In the past, such an emotion would have terrified Pax, having seen it in too many men right before they tried to kill him in battle, but now he was beyond that. He had a purpose now. A reason to fight. A reason to survive.

 

Pax shrugged. “See, I figured you would have guessed the truth by now. Me and Jessica. We’ve been fucking for months now,” he said as casually as he could.

 

Gary’s mouth fell open in slow motion, his eyes narrowing as he stared across at Pax. “What. Did you. Just say?”

 

“I’ve been screwing her for the past couple of months,” Pax said, smiling a little at Gary, honestly surprised the other man hadn’t already leapt across the table to beat him into a pulp. “She’s really good in the sack, except the only problem is she’s knocked up now.”

 

Gary sputtered for several seconds, stuttering a little as he struggled to come up with a response. “What the fuck?” he finally managed to force out.

 

“Yep,” Pax said, stepping a little closer to brace his hands on the desk and lean closer to Gary. “Listen, I’m not really into the whole baby thing. I’m not even really into her, if I’m being honest with you. She was just a convenient lay, someone I could fuck at work whenever I wanted. But it’s boring now, you know? You can only fuck the same hole so many times before you get sick of it. So, I’m leaving town tonight. But she’s got this crazy idea in her head about keeping the baby rather than aborting it. So, I thought, hey, why not tell the guy who’s been obsessed with her ever since she was a teenager?” Pax shrugged again, nodding to himself like he’d come up with the best plan ever, even though inwardly his stomach was churning as a result of all the fucked-up things he’d just said.

 

Gary slammed his fists down on the desk in front of him, his entire face screwing up with anger as he looked up into Pax’s eyes, his own pair fuming with rage. “You knocked her up? And what, I’m supposed to take her back after you’ve fucking ruined her?” Gary spat out.

 

Pax was so tempted to just reach across the table and slam the guy right into the wall, crushing his skull against the concrete as punishment for talking about Jessica that way, but he knew that at the first sound of an altercation all of the Nightwalkers would storm in here and kill Pax. He had to be smart about this. He had to keep a clear head.

 

So, he just nodded and smiled as sweetly as possible to Gary. “Yeah, I mean, I’m done with her, right? But you seem to still want to tap that, so why not just take her and the baby both? It’s not the kid’s fault the mother will fuck anything that moves.”

 

Gary roared then and got to his feet, grabbing the edge of the desk and flipping it over, sending papers scattering in every direction around the room as he continued to scream like a beast. “Motherfucker!”

 

Pax had only barely enough time to grab the item out of his pocket before six Nightwalkers forced their way into the office, fists raised and ready to go before Pax swung his gun into Gary’s face. “Back off,” he warned them through clenched teeth, gripping onto the gun as hard as he could.

 

The Nightwalkers all looked at each other, fear written plainly across each of their faces even as they looked to Gary for instructions.

 

“Get him!” Gary screamed, even though he was backed against the wall, as far away from the gun as he could possibly get.

 

But none of the men moved, too terrified that Pax would blow their leader apart at the first sign of movement. “Boss…” one of the MC members said, practically squeaking in fear.

 

Pax slowly began shuffling forward, keeping his arm outstretched so that the gun was pointed at Gary. “Nobody fucking move, or I’ll unleash a stream of lead right into your fearless leader’s face,” Pax grunted as he approached the door. “Now, you’re going to let me walk out of here, or a lot of people are going to die.”

 

None of the MC members moved an inch, all of them watching with wide, worried eyes as Pax finally walked through the door out the main room of Sully’s. He kept going, keeping his gun pointed at the most vulnerable-looking target in the room, feeling a little pang of guilt at the sight of the crowd of girls huddled against the wall in fear. But finally, he made it to the front door, dashing for his car and jumping in as quickly as he could, backing out of the parking lot and onto the main road.

 

Pax blew out his breath, tossing the gun onto the seat next to him as he tore off down the road, heading for his apartment. He’d done his part, at least for now. Now he could only trust his friends to do their part. It was weird, having people in his life to trust. He hadn’t felt that in so many years, even before his stint in the military. In the back of his mind, he still worried that they were going to betray him, that they were going to cower in the face of the Nightwalkers and feed him to the dogs.

 

But he had to believe in people, for once. He had to believe that the world wasn’t designed to hurt innocent people. He had to believe there was hope.

 

It was a strange, unfamiliar sensation, feeling like he had a chance in hell to be happy. But Pax would be damned if he wasn’t going to fight like hell for it.