BUCK

I’d left the boy at the yard locked away in my son’s room, where he could get some rest. Leaving him wasn’t the best idea. Kid was so fucked up he might just jump off the roof if I didn’t hurry back. Range promised to check in on him. That boy would never let me down; he was solid when I needed him. The last thing I’d expected when my alarms went off was to see a half-crazed, scared-shitless boy yanking on the chain link fence, screaming at the top of his lungs. Once the motion lights were tricked, I could see his face clear enough to recognize who he was without having to ask. When he held out his hand holding that little pocketknife, I almost shit my pants. He’d changed from the small boy I’d met at the senator’s mansion; back then, he was wide-eyed and curious, like most little boys. The kid at the gate was haunted, more like fucking shell-shocked. I’d seen it in his eyes.

That cock-sucking senator had been on the club’s payroll for years. His crooked dealings, government payoffs, and hard-on for little kids made him our bitch whenever we needed his legitimate connections. Yeah, we were outlaws, but we still maintained a set of rules, rules that kept us civilized in the biker world filled with lawbreakers. No women and no kids. They were never part of our circle and therefore could never be touched. Retaliation against a child or old lady meant certain death to anyone involved. They were kept safe, sheltered from all the bullshit that surrounded the life. The senator broke those rules one too many times, and his time on earth was at an end. Years ago, I’d promised to put him in the ground if I ever heard about another kid getting hurt by him. That boy at my yard was enough to force me out of retirement.

That little shit had balls made of steel to track down an old criminal like me after all these years. The senator had what I needed to go legit; that had been the only reason for our visit that day. I thought we kept close tabs on his activities, including his personal life. The kid was an unexpected surprise that did not make me happy to uncover. As far as the club knew, the senator didn’t have any children of his own., He preferred to “order in” to satisfy his appetite. The minute I saw that kid standing there, I knew that motherfucker had something up his sleeve, so I gave the kid my knife. The blood stains on his clothes meant he’d been forced to use it. I wasn’t sure if he killed that sick fuck, but he got away and lived to tell the tale. That boy fought his way to freedom with a bullshit blade smaller than my pinky finger. He was a fucking gladiator, as far as I was concerned, and deserved retribution. He’d earned his payback, and I was on my way to get it for him.

I’d promised my wife, Elle, long ago that I would leave the club life for good once she agreed to marry me. I was a productive member of society now. I played by the rules and obeyed the law. Hell, I even paid my taxes every year like a law-abiding civilian. No matter. I’d been out the game a long time, and this wasn’t club business; it was personal. I kicked in the front door of the senator’s mansion and found his ass in his office. Shit was just like old times. I struck fast and hard. One punch knocked him to the ground, but I didn’t stop there. I whipped his ass with everything I had until a voice stopped me mid-strike when they screamed out my name.

“BUCK! Stop before you kill him.” I turned to face the sound coming from the doorway, one hand wrapped around the throat of the senator and the other set to finish my pounding, and froze. The senator’s face was a mangled mess of blood and guts, unrecognizable to anyone who didn’t know him. It still wasn’t enough. I wanted to kill that motherfucker with my bare hands, right after I sliced his cock off and jammed it down his throat, only satisfied when I watched him choke on it while he took his last breath. The bitch standing in the doorway bought him a few extra minutes, but his ass would go to ground soon enough. I pulled out my nine and pointed it at her face. It hadn’t changed much over the years, which only added to my surprise. She wore the fancy clothes, modest make-up, and had an air of respectability that was almost believable if I hadn’t known any better. Toni was a club whore back when I was in the life, but not just any whore; the fucking Rambo of whores, she was the best. She was so fucking good she became exclusive to the top tier of the chapter only; the officers could fuck her but no one else.

“You got two seconds to start talking, bitch, before I end you. What the fuck are you doing here?” I was right up in her grill. My breathing quickened as I held my ground.

“It’s been a long time, Buck. How have you been?” I bared my teeth at her bullshit attempt to make conversation. Bitch already forgot the rules of the game and needed a quick reminder. I advanced a bullet to the chamber of my gun and spoke plainly.

“What. The. Fuck. Are. You. Doing. Here?” My menacing tone got her ass in gear.

“I’ve been married to the senator for years, Buck.” She smiled like that was something to be proud of.

“How?” From club whore to respectable senator’s wife? I called bullshit.

“He paid the toll, and Brick released me to him.” That was one of the few ways to get out of the club once you were in it. You either had to kill out, die out, or buy out, but only for the right price and only if the president was willing to accept. The senator must have paid out the ass for this bitch, considering her skills were legendary within the club.

“I wanna know about the boy, Maxie. What did you do to him?” She hesitated too long to answer my fucking question. Rage more powerful than anything I’d ever felt before took over the already tense situation and detonated it. I grabbed her by hair and threw her down to the floor. She scrambled to get away, but I was already there. I jumped on top of her back and held her in place while I yanked her back up by the nape of her neck and pointed my gun to her temple.

“Bitch, you think I’m playing games with you? Closed casket, cunt, with your photo on top if you don’t tell me what happened to the boy,” I screamed in her face, but she continued to struggle against my hold.

“So that’s what this is all about, why you came here?” She gritted out past the pain. “He belongs to me…He’s my fucking son, Buck!”

“And the senator? He’s his father?” Crazy bitch started to laugh. Gun to her head, minutes away from death, and she thought it was fucking funny.

“Not on your fucking life, Buck.”

That answer was all it took to harness my fury and released her from my hold. We both sat quietly, trying to catch our breaths, too deep in our own thoughts to say a single fucking word. I came here for a reason, to kill a sick fuck senator who’d abused his own son. One word from a used-up whore, and shit just got real. She didn’t need to say it. We both knew what it meant; she’d already been already pregnant when she left the club. It was all there, something about the boy’s face that was familiar that first time I’d seen him standing outside the senator’s office. The curve of his eyes, the color of his hair, that boyish smile that flashed for just a moment when I handed him my pocketknife. We should have known…HE…should have known.

“I want my son back home where he belongs, Buck. I’m not sure how or why he ended up with you, but I want him back with me.” I had a decision to make, one that would have consequences for everyone involved, especially the boy.

“He’s never coming back, Toni, not while I have breath in my body. Come near him or me, and you’ll never see it coming. You feel me, bitch?I’ll kill you, the senator, and your fucking dog if you got one, and you know I don’t fuck around. One word about this or him to anyone, and you’re as good as gone. Try me if you think I don’t mean business.”

I stood up to leave. I’d put this place in my rear view and never think about it again. Toni was a whore, but she was no fool. My word was my bond, and she knew enough not to test me when it came to my threat to end her life. She had a good thing going here, money, fancy cars, and a husband she could control with her wonder pussy. She’d never jeopardize that, not even for her own son. I had to be sure of one thing before I left this shithole for good. I walked over to the passed-out body of the senator and ripped the front of his shirt open. There, under a soaked-through bandage, were the freshly sewn stitches from a jagged cut to the chest made by a boy with balls of steel.

“Are you going to tell Psycho about Maxie?” Like she really gave a shit about that boy.

“Can’t. He’s dead. Died a few years back, or didn’t your pussy-ass husband tell you that?” Last I heard, he was still on the club’s payroll, taking kickbacks hand over fists. She was surprised but not overly concerned. Bitch only cared about herself anyway.

“I know you don’t believe me, but I tried to make things better for him, Buck. I never wanted him to suffer the way I’ve suffered as a child. He’s special and deserved the best money could buy. It was the only way. Can’t you understand that, Buck? Psycho was so fucked up when his old lady died. He didn’t even remember the night we fucked. What was I supposed to do?”

“Bitch. The only thing I understand right now is that my best friend, my fucking brother, had a son he knew nothing about because of a whore like you. I understand that that boy had to defend himself with a knife against a sick pedo-fuck, tracked me down in the middle of the night, and begged me to take him in.” I was beyond pissed. My trigger finger was itching to dead this bitch and rid the world of her twisted soul and black heart. I couldn’t run the risk of being sent to jail when that boy needed me around to protect him now that my brother was no longer alive to do it. Toni was one lucky bitch, and so was the senator.

“The last fucking thing I understand is that that boy is so fucked up in the head right now that it’ll be a miracle if he lives to see thirty. Hear me, bitch, and when that cocksucker wakes up, you tell him, too.” I pointed my gun over toward the senator. “That boy is under my protection. Call him, text him, or try and see him again? That’ll be the last decision you’ll ever make before I stick my gun in your cunt and blow the top of your fucking head off.”

She finally got my meaning, not that I was worried about it. I meant what I said to that bitch. The boy was under my roof, under my protection, until the day he no longer needed it and could protect himself. He wasn’t ready to know the truth; his spirit too broken to understand what it all meant so he could put it behind him and move the fuck on. Together, we would salvage his life, reclaim what was stolen, and live the dream that every boy should have.