Chapter 5
King
I remembered the warehouse well. I was standing exactly where I was standing the last time we were here, except this time, it was more than just the three of us. Elwood had sent twenty-six of the Club members with my brothers and us, and I was armed and ready to invade.
I never went in for a war without saying a prayer, and my brothers respected me for it. So now, I stood with my eyes closed and my head hanging down as I said a silent prayer to my God. The kids needed to be rescued, and my brothers needed to walk out of there with their lives intact.
From inside the warehouse, we could hear sounds of the ongoing fight. By day, this place wouldn’t have caught anybody’s attention. It looked like any other derelict, abandoned warehouse from the area, but right now, it was thumping with metal music and the loud cheers of people inside, with every punch that a kid took.
I clenched my fists, gritted my teeth and tipped my head at Commando. Elwood had given me the order to lead the raid, and so I took the first step.
We burst into the warehouse, our guns clicking in the air. A quick survey of the place told me that at least eighty percent of the Black Skulls were in the place and there were also some faces that I didn’t recognize. Ahead, in the clearing, the ring had been set up as before, and two kids were lunging at each other. Blood was coursing down their faces, turning them unrecognizable.
The Black Skulls turned to us, while I stood at the head of my Club. The music continued playing in the background, but the cheers had died down. Despite the fact that the Black Skulls outnumbered us, we had the element of surprise on our side. A lot of them, I was hoping, would not be armed or prepared for the bloodbath I was going to rain on them.
I fired the first shot into the crowd, and the men growled.
Commando, Girth, and Slade were by my side as we plunged ourselves into the depths of the Black Skulls. We fired as much as we could, there were wounded men on the floor before my gun was knocked out of my hands. One of them had come up from behind, wound his arm around my neck and was in the process of crushing my windpipe. I clawed at his arm, elbowing his gut till his grip weakened. He was pulled away from me, and when I whipped around, I saw Girth standing there, grinning.
Someone came at him, and I jumped, forcing the weight of my body on the fucker till I had him pinned to the ground. I punched his face, bruising my knuckles till there was blood pouring from them. He was knocked out cold, his jaw hanging loose and someone grabbed me by my shoulders and lifted me up.
I growled as I took a swing and missed. My hands came up at level with my face; I was glaring into the eyes of a Black Skulls member with a scar right across his face. He was sporting a mad smile like he was enjoying it. Nobody was enjoying this as much as I was. I was on a mission, and he had no idea. I was trained to be a fighter in a ring just like this one.
I leaped at him and punched his gut. His hands flew to his stomach, and I socked his jaw till his head flew backward, and he stumbled to the ground.
“What do you guys want?” he growled out at me when I stood over him. I grabbed his collar with both my hands and lifted him off the ground.
“All these kids go free, or you all are dead,” I said and knocked my forehead against his. The force made him jerk back to the ground, where his head hit the concrete, and he was out cold. I was going old school now. No guns, no weapons, just pure fists.
I looked around me. My brothers were neck and neck with the Black Skulls. Some of them still had their guns in their hands while some of the others had been overpowered already. I growled and ran towards the two guys who were holding Slade by the neck.
I ripped them off him, knocking skull against skull, taking punches blindly till Slade was pulled free from their grip. He found his gun on the floor and used it to shoot bullets into their legs. When our eyes met, he tipped his head in acknowledgment.
That was when I saw her.
She was sitting on a chair, guarded by two men on either side, with her eyes fixed on me. In the first few moments, I was surprised to see a woman in this place. And then, I was confused by her role here. She was sitting calmly enough, except that her body was shuddering when I looked more closely. I could barely keep an eye on her, while men fought and struggled in front of me, but I had already started rushing towards her. Ducking under punches and walking through bullets that somehow missed me each time.
I couldn’t focus on anything but her.
She was in a pair of tight gray jeans with slits on the knees where they were frayed. A tight crop top the color of dusty roses, which revealed a slender torso and a flat belly. She was petite and yet curvaceous at the same time, and her breasts were large, stretching the material of her top tightly. Her hair was long and luscious and brown, falling in messy waves around her shoulders. Some time ago, she might have had perfect makeup on, but now they were running down her cheeks. Mascara mixed with eye shadow and smudged pink lipstick around plump pouty lips.
It had taken me several seconds to recognize her, but when I did, I had forgotten everything else. What was Valentina doing here? I never thought I’d see her again.
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I watched in horror as Valentina parted her lips. She had recognized me too; I didn’t think I was still recognizable. That skinny, malnourished boy had turned into a muscular man with bulging biceps, and six pack chiseled abs. My hair was as long as always, but these days, I tied it in a ponytail at the back of my head. But she saw me, and she was using her eyes to warn me about something.
I didn’t care if she didn’t want me getting any closer to her. There was no way that I wasn’t going to get her out of this place. I knew instantly that she was being kept captive. I could see it from the panic ridden eyes of the assholes that were standing beside her, keeping guard.
They saw me when I was finally, only a few feet away from her.
“Back the fuck off. We are not a part of the Black Skulls. Leave us out of this shit,” one of the guys said and stepped in front of her.
“Jesus! Go! Don’t come near me!” I heard Valentina scream and it only boiled my blood more.
“Step away from her,” I grunted through gritted teeth, and the two guys looked at each other. They came at me at the same time, coordinated in their actions and I put myself on them. One of them punched me in the stomach while I grabbed the other one’s neck. When I went down to the floor, I took him with me.
The other one’s boot was over my face, coming at me but I rolled away. When I jumped up, I sprang at him again, catching him by surprise and I fell to the ground with him. My punches were hard and quick, and the second guy had by now made a run for it.
I didn’t stop hitting him though. I hit him till I felt his jaws crack open, till I knew he wouldn’t be able to get up off the floor.
When I looked up, Valentina was standing up from her chair, her hands were clasped to her mouth, and there was terror in her eyes. I stumbled as I got up from over the guy I had knocked out. Cries and gunshots and grunts were raging around us as I walked towards her.
With every step I took, Valentina’s eyes grew larger. She dragged her hands away from her mouth, and I saw that her lips were still parted. It was like time was standing still, and we were the only two people in that warehouse. I saw her gulp, something like a smile fluttered at the edge of her lips. Her breasts were rising and falling, and I was close enough to touch her.
But I stopped. I knew nothing about her anymore. I didn’t even know what she was doing here. Maybe I had made a mistake; maybe she wasn’t their prisoner, maybe she didn’t need to be rescued.
“Jesus…” she breathed my name out in a whisper as I stared at her.
“Valentina…” I said, her name catching in my throat because I hadn’t said it aloud in so many years.
“What are you…” I began to ask, but she cut me short.
“I was kidnapped,” she cried and threw herself at me. Valentina fell into my arms, and our bodies pressed together as I held her. I felt like this was another one of my dreams…that she wasn’t there. But maybe it was a nightmare because she was crying and she was hurt. I’d noticed the bruise on her jaw.
“King!” I heard Commando’s voice behind us and Valentina wriggled out of my arms. I grabbed her wrist as I turned to him, tugging her with me as I joined him a little distance away.
“We have most of them. We can get the kids out now,” Commando told me, and we nodded at each other.
“How are we going to do it?” I asked him, and I saw Commando’s gaze drift to Valentina, but only for a moment, he was looking at me again.
“The boys and I can take care of it here; you can leave if you need to be somewhere else. Get her out of here?” Commando said, and I heard the knowing tone in his voice. He had no idea who Valentina was, but he had noticed the grip I had on her hand. He could tell that she meant something to me. If there was anyone, out of all my brothers who would understand, it was Commando. Not too long ago, he had to save Ava from captivity as well.
I tipped my head at him and then turned to Valentina.
“Let’s get you out of here,” I said to her, and she took in a deep breath.
We ran through the dimly lit warehouse, jumping over knocked out bodies and ducking every time we heard a bullet ringing in the air. I covered her head with my arms as I guided her out towards the open exit of the warehouse. I didn’t care about what was happening, even though coming here had been my plan and I should have been back there with my brothers, getting the kids out.
I would have been the first one to put my life at risk here, and I had, but now that I had seen Valentina, nothing else mattered but her safety.
We burst through the exit and into the night air. In the distance, I could hear the rumble of motorcycles. Some of the Black Skulls who had managed to escape were making a run for it.
“Where are we going to go, Jesus?” she asked me and I turned to her. We were both panting, both relieved to have made it out of there.
“To my place,” I said and still holding her hand, I led her towards my parked Harley. I only let her go when I had her seated safely on the back of my bike. I could sense her eyes on me, watching my every move.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” I heard her whisper in the dark as I took my place in front of her.