She begged me to go for a dinner, a dinner with people. I don’t socialize with people, no matter who they are. I go to parties to fuck, not talk. Her big blue eyes begged me, then begged me some more, then promised me dirty things afterward. I didn’t say no then.
She’s nervous. She keeps walking fast, checking herself in the mirror, then checking Hayden. We came to her house yesterday, and Hayden’s now living here. She wants people to meet him, to love him. She spent her entire paycheck today buying him all the things he could ever need. He cried because he didn’t want it. He didn’t know how to accept such things. He’s never been anything given to him in his life. Now, when he looks at her, it’s different. It’s with admiration. He has the ‘Rose sting.’
“Best behavior,” Rose says as we pull up to her friend Casey’s house. I don’t know if she’s talking to Hayden or me, though I suspect she’s talking to herself more.
Hayden runs from the car and stands by her side. She smiles at him and places her hand on his shoulder. I follow close behind and watch as a pregnant woman waddles out the door. She wasn’t that big last time I saw her.
“Is she here yet?” Rose asks, walking up to her rubbing her belly. Sax walks out and nods his head to me.
“Yes,” Casey says. Rose looks back to me and I walk up to her. She takes my hand, intertwining our fingers.
“I can do this,” she whispers to herself.
We follow them in and older lady smiles softly at Rose. Then looks to me and Hayden. Her smile is kind and a lot like Rose’s.
“Mother…” Rose says on a shaky breath.
“I’m so happy you invited me.”
“This is Liam and Hayden.” She smiles at us and hands Hayden a present. He looks at it and doesn’t take it. He isn’t used to this kind of thing. He clings to Rose, so unsure of himself. She leans down and whispers in his ear, telling him it’s okay.
“Thank you, miss.”
“Want a beer?” Sax says, coming up behind me, I nod my head and follow him out back. Casey is in the kitchen cooking and waves a spatula at me when I walk past.
“You two doing good?” he asks, nodding his head to the side.
“As good as can be expected.”
“She told Casey, I overheard.”
“Told her what?”
“Don’t play dumb with me. I have a camera on her house now. She’s scared, Black.”
“She should be.”
“What do you plan to do?”
“I plan to kill them all… except one…”
“Call me when you need me. I have resources you may need.”
“You don’t want this lifestyle,” I reply dryly. After all, he has a baby on the way.
“I don’t, but I also don’t want that for Rose. Call me when I’m needed. You know I’m good.” I nod my head. He’s right, he is good. A good asset to have in case it doesn’t work out correctly. Someone who’ll get her to safety if need be.
“So you’re a father now?” His face comes up in a smirk.
“Fuck off,” I tell him, walking back inside.
Hayden is on the floor playing with a car, the wrapping paper next to him. That’s what Rose’s mother must have gotten for him. Rose holds her hand out for me when I enter, but doesn’t look up as she speaks to her mother. I go to her and she encloses our hands together as pulls me down to sit next to her.
“Liam, you sure have made her happy,” her mother says. “Sorry, it’s Becca,” she says, giving me her name. I don’t answer her and stare at Hayden playing. He hasn’t smiled this much since I’ve known him.
“You just meet?” Becca says, interrupting my thoughts.
“No,” Rose says leaning her head on my shoulder. “We met when we were sixteen. He was at my school.” Her mother looks shocked.
“What’s your last name? I may know your parents.”
“Black,” I say. She looks shocked, her eyes going wide. Then she looks to Rose.
“I remember your mother and your stepfather.” Her head shakes. My body tenses. Not what I want to hear. I don’t answer her again and her smile drops. She turns to Rose.
“When will you have Isabelle again? I would love to see her.” Rose strokes my hand with her thumb and talks to her mother. I sit there anxious, anxious to do a job I should be doing now. Except I have a message sitting on my phone that I haven’t replied to in days. Because of Rose. She doesn’t approve of what I do, but it’s what I do.
Just as I’m thinking about it, the phone beeps again and Rose looks over to read the message. She won’t understand it. I look at her and see her face scrunched up, trying to decipher what she’s reading.
“Who’s that?” she asks, ignoring her mother now.
“Work.” Her eyes go big. “I have to go,” I say, standing. She pulls my hand and won’t release it. “I have to work, Rose.” She releases me and lets me walk out the front door. I’m at the car when she stops me with her voice.
“Don’t do it, Liam Black,” she warns.
I turn to her. “I have to.”
“You don’t,” she says, walking closer to me.
“I do, it’s who I am. I kill people, Rose, and I plan to do that when those people come for you. I… will… kill… for... you,” I say, emphasizing each word.
“I don’t want you to. It can’t be good, it can’t be good for you.”
“It is, it’s what I’m good at.” I kiss her cheek and climb into my car and drive off. My hands are itching to pull the trigger.
It’s quiet when I reach the address. I can’t see anybody around. I have a photo of the hit, but can’t seem to locate him anywhere. He’s not at the address provided. I’m about to walk away when I hear the roar of motorbikes. My phone starts ringing. I look at it and see it’s Jake, the bikes now coming into view.
“They’re coming for you,” he says before I hang up. I raise my gun, aiming for the first bike, they also notice me at that exact same time. But they are too slow to move away from the first bullet that exits my piece. It hits one of their bikes, knocking one to the ground, the bike skidding along the path and the man smashing into the ground.
The other one stops and climbs off with is hands raised. He removes his helmet and smiles. I recognize him straight away—Sergeant at Arms for the Coffin Soldier MC.
“Black,” he says, smiling.
“Zadist,” I reply. He looks to his friend who’s barely moving on the ground.
“You know why we are here?” he asks, holding his helmet in his hands.
“Yes! Do you know who I am? What I’m about to do to you?” I reply.
“Black… Black… I know what you do. But do you think you can keep everyone safe? You’re evil, not a God.”
“You threatening me, Zadist?”
He laughs at me. “I didn’t want to be the one to do this. Jake asked for me to not. But Pres is the boss, and I do as he says. And when he says to kill someone, it’s what I do.” He shrugs his shoulders.
“I didn’t want to either, Zadist, but it’s what I do.” I shrug back and shoot him straight in the leg. His gun is raised, but he’s too slow. The bullet whizzes straight past me, barely missing my legs. He doesn’t scream as he hits the floor, he just grabs hold of his leg, gripping it tight. I walk to him and pass another member on the ground, now trying to crawl back to his bike. I shoot him in the back and he stops moving.
Zadist looks to him and starts laughing, then shakes his head.
“They will hang her in front of you. Fuck her in front of you. Then kill her in front of you, Black.”
“I know,” I whisper, I know how they work. I used to do their dirty work. He closes his eyes and I shoot him in the head, right between the eyes.
I don’t bother calling my clean-up crew, they can be found. With my card on their bodies, I let them know they’re next.