Chapter 17
Ace
We had charged into the bar, just the three of us and I’d said a silent prayer before we entered. Chances were that we were going to be outnumbered. I prayed to God to keep my brothers alive and for me to find Elena and get her to safety.
I was carrying, as were Daredevil and Beasty, and when we first entered the dingy bar, we didn’t need to use our guns straight away. We used our elbows and our knuckles instead.
I punched, and I could hear my brothers doing the same behind me. Snake Skulls members came charging towards us, but we were better trained, and I was on a mission. I needed to know where they were holding Elena. I twisted arms and punched guts, and gang members went flying, falling to the floor holding their stomachs. I was leaving a clear path for my brothers to follow as I edged towards the back door.
“Where is she? Where is Elena?” I growled as another guy came at me. I socked him out straight with a punch to his jaw, and in the same moment, I slid my gun out from my belt and pointed it at the group that was making its way towards me.
“Where is she?” I growled, and they stood back. I couldn’t see any of them carrying; they weren’t prepared.
Just then, the back door opened and the man of the hour stepped out. Juan clapped his hands in slow motion when he saw me standing there, pointing my gun at a group of his men.
I hadn’t laid eyes on him in ten years, but there wasn’t much that had changed about him. He was still his slimy self, and just one look at him made my blood curdle. I knew he would have a gun, he never shifted. He was too small to fight. My lion would literally eat him alive.
“You’ve grown up, Ace. Almost a man,” he said, with a sickly smile stretching his lips. Behind me, I could hear Daredevil and Beasty fighting still. They hadn’t stopped throwing punches yet and were keeping the others in check. However, most of the bar had fallen silent now. Everyone’s eyes were trained on Juan and me.
“Can’t say the same about you, Juan,” I hissed at him. My eyes were bloodshot; my muscles were taught in my neck. He erupted in a forced laugh and clapped again.
“Ace Moreno. Always the one with the sense of humor. How are you brother?” he said and stepped towards me, but stopped when he heard the click of my gun.
“Where did you take Elena?” I barked at him, and he widened his eyes like I had said something shocking.
“Since when do you care about Elena Luis, my brother?”
“I’m not your brother. I have nothing to do with you!”
“But Ace…after what Duncan did to all of us? What do you care what happens to his silly daughter?” he continued, and I clenched my jaw, gripping my gun a little tighter in my hands. Juan was glaring at me, trying to peer into my soul through my eyes.
“Unless…wait, brother are you hitting that booty?” he asked and clutched his belly as he broke into another laugh. I couldn’t stand him talking about Elena like that, but I needed to know where she was.
“Where is she?” I ignored his questions.
“You are! Since when? Does Duncan know that you’ve been sleeping with his daughter all these years?” Juan continued to laugh, and I growled and charged towards him.
Juan backed up, with his hands up in the air. My eyes shifted to the door he came out of.
“If you kill me now, brother, you will never know where she is. She’s just going to rot away, and you’ll spend your life looking for her,” he said, and I stopped in my tracks.
I knew he was lying. There was no place that he could have possibly hidden her that I wouldn’t be able to get to. But time was of the essence, and I needed to find her before she gave up.
“Where is she? You’re going to have a gun fight on your hands if you don’t tell me. I know you won’t fight me the old fashion way. You’re scared of big cats if I remember correctly.” I hissed, closer to him now and he smiled some more.
“Wrong. I fight when I need to,” he said and smoothened the top of his greasy hair with a hand.
Images of Juan beating the crap out of me came flashing through my mind. His cackling laugh, the joy in his eyes as he broke my jaw with punch after punch, my screams and pleading for him to stop. His forceful blows as he made me stand in a corner and watch the way he made the other cubs feel like prey. He was bigger then, but not anymore.
“You’re never going to shoot me, Ace…you can’t. We’re brothers, we’ve been through too much,” his voice sizzled in the air, and I blinked. I could feel a drop of sweat bouncing off my eyelid and falling on my cheek.
“Just stand down, Ace. Let’s just sit and talk,” I heard him say through the white noise in my head and that was when I knew…Juan was afraid. For the first time in my life, I saw fear in his eyes. In the eyes of the guy I had always despised, who I had been too afraid of as a kid. Whose memories I had buried deep in the back of my mind somewhere. Now, he was the one at my mercy. He knew I had him and his men in a corner. Not this time Juan, this time I have you, and you’re going to pay for everything you’ve done.
I didn’t have to say it aloud, all I had to do was pull the trigger. But that wasn’t the way this should go down. It should end just like it began. I holstered my gun and he walked toward me, arms open. Idiot.
I made a fist and watched as my hand shifted into a fur covered paw, and then my claws pushed through. I ran towards him and punctured a hole in Juan’s gut. On his side. Blood seeped through his shiny cream shirt and spread quickly. Juan’s hand flew to cover the wound, and then he looked up at me, his mouth gaping open; like I had betrayed him.
A shot rang out beside me, and I whipped around with my clawed fist in the air. A Snake Skulls member slumped to the floor beside me; a bullet had passed clean through his skull. The silver of his dagger caught a glint of the light and sparkled in my eye. He was charging at me; he was about to stab me. I looked up and saw Daredevil’s gun still pointed in his direction. He tipped his head at me, and I looked back at Juan.
Two of his men had rushed to him and were trying to keep him balanced up. His legs were giving way, and his knees were buckling.
“You cut me! You bastard!” he blubbered, and spittle flew out from his mouth. The men were trying to wrap his arms around their shoulders.
“Where is Elena?” I asked and aimed my hand at him again. His men were trying to drag him away, but they couldn’t do it fast enough. Juan was too heavy for them. I followed their slow movement. The rest of the Snake Skulls were either dead or knocked out cold.
“Tell me where she is, or I go full lion and tear this place, and you, apart,” I hissed, and I heard a loud wail. It was coming from the back room.
“Ace! Ace! I’m here!” it was Elena’s voice.
I forgot about Juan in a second and rushed towards the door. One of the Snake Skulls stood in my way, trying to hold me back and I retracted my claws right in front of him, and he quickly stepped away.
I kicked open the door and ran in. Elena was on the floor; her hands were tied behind a chair that she was stuck to. Her dress was soiled, her hair was in tangles, and her makeup was running down her cheeks. I ran to her, crawling down on the floor so that I could kiss her cheek.
“I’m here, baby, I’m going to get you out of here,” I said, feeling for the knots that the rope was tied with.
“Juan…he’s out there…” she was choking up as she spoke and I started pulling the knots apart.
“I got him,” I said.
“Did you shoot him?”
“No, he doesn’t deserve to die that kind of death,” I replied, just as I untangled the knots and the rope fell away from her hands and the chair.
Elena sat up, the wide skirt of her beautiful yellow dress ballooned around her.
“Ace…” she began to say, but I grabbed her waist and pulled her close to me.
“We’re going to get out of here, c’mon,” I said, and I was about to stand up, but she tugged at me and pulled me back down to kiss me.
“Take me home, Ace,” she whispered when I pulled away from her.
I lifted her up in my arms, and her legs dangled as I carried her across the room and out through the door.
Outside, the bar had cleared out more. Most of the Snake Skulls gang members that were still breathing had made a run for it, especially when they saw their leader injured and scurrying away in fear. Daredevil was standing over Beasty, who was on his knees on the floor, beating the shit out of one of the guys, who still had a pocket knife in his hands.
Daredevil looked over and smiled at me, and I sensed him exchanging a look with Elena as well.
She didn’t move in my arms as I carried her through the bar. None of the remaining Snake Skulls guys even dared to come near us. They just cleared a path for me, and I carried her outside.
I didn’t stop till I had placed her safely on my bike.
“Are you strong enough to hold on to me for the ride, babe?” I asked as she swayed where she sat. Elena nodded her head, and I could see that she looked weak. Juan had been beating her up. A purple wound was beginning to bloom on her cheek where he must have slapped and hit her. I had already noticed the bruises from the rope burns on her wrists, which had made my blood boil.
“I just want to go home,” she said, and I swung my leg over the bike.
“And that’s where I’m going to take you,” I said and revved up the engine. I felt her wrap her weak arms around my waist.
“Are you taking me to Kelley’s apartment?” I heard her ask and I looked over my shoulder to shake my head.
“I’m taking you to our home, the only place you need to be. You’re going to be safe there, the safest there. I’m sorry for thinking that you could be safe anywhere else,” I said, and Elena leaned her head against my back.
“Thank you…” she said, in an exhausted voice, like she had no energy to say anything more. I was just glad that she was with me now and I had no plans of ever letting her go. Juan and his gang were never going to get their claws on her again.