PROLOGUE
Brown 5
Age unknown
MY RIBS HURT AND my head is pounding. I’m so cold my teeth are starting to chatter. I’m in the far side of my cage where the light – a naked light bulb hangs from the ceiling of the corridor- doesn’t reach. I want to sleep, but that’s when the rats get you. Pulling my finger up I inspect the cut on my thumb from the rat that bit me last night when I was sleeping.
Scooting across the dirt floor, I pull my bloody matted hair away from my face and rest my head on the metal bars that contain me in my cage. I can hear a girl crying across from me. I don’t cry anymore, it doesn’t help you none. It just seems to piss the handlers off and dehydrate you. Seeing as we don’t get food or water very much, it seems like a waste to cry over something that won’t change. Flies land and fly around the bucket behind me, which is where I use the bathroom when needed and hasn’t been dumped in days. My stomach cramps with a loud growl and I hunch over in pain. I lost my last fight and haven’t eaten in days, and I need a bath. I should have tried harder, but I hate hurting other people. Especially Black A. She has dark hair and the saddest eyes I’ve ever seen. She is skinny from not eating, and weak. Digging my toes into the dirt floor, I wonder what awaits me when I’m next taken out of my cage. Will I fight again? Or will I be instructed to shoot that gun again? I hate the gun, it’s too big for my hands.
Sighing, my head falls to my knees, and I begin to a draw the sun into the mud with my fingernail. I can’t help but wonder what the purpose of all this is. Why am I here, and what they want with me? I stopped thinking about my parents a long time ago. I don’t remember their faces, and like someone who died you begin to slowly forget even if you don’t want to.
I was so excited to see the M&M store that day. Closing my eyes, I remember getting pulled back in the crowd of people on the sidewalk, then a cloth shoved over my face. Black took over my fear before I could scream, and I woke up here.
That was a long time ago though.
“Brown 5, up!” Black Hat snaps me from my blurred memory. That’s what I call him as I don’t know his name and he’s always wearing a black hat. I asked him his name once and he got so mad I was put on a leash. I’m also not allowed to look him straight in the eye but I sometimes sneak a glimpse when his hat is pulled up just a little. He has dark beady eyes and tanned skin. It makes me jealous to think he gets to play in the sun as much as he wants while I only get to see it when I’m brought out to train. Black Hat is my caregiver and trainer. There is someone higher than him, but I’ve never met him. I just know all this is for him. That he is preparing for a war and we are his soldiers.
“I said up, Brown 5!” Black Hat snaps, slamming a metal baseball bat against the cage. The sound of metal against metal makes my ears ring.
I stand on shaky legs and await my next command. Looking under my thick lashes, I wonder what it would be like to kill Black Hat. Let him see what it’s like to fight for his life. Quickly I look down, scared he can read my thoughts and I’ll be punished.
“You’ll be training with an opponent today, so turn around.” Black Hat twirls his finger indicating he wants me to turn around, so I do.
“Who am I fighting today?” I ask with a scratchy voice, wanting water so bad it hurts. He ignores me, and fists my mud-plastered hair, braiding it. “You got this one Brown 5,” he whispers as his fingers make quick work of my dark hair. I bite my bottom lip to not smile, but it’s useless. Black Hat is fond of me - or I like to think so anyway. He thinks I have potential to make the Boss happy and I long for that approval.
Following Black Hat, we pass the other rooms - cages. Girls and boys pull and tug on the barred doors, screaming and yelling for food and water. The sound used to bother me, but now I find it to be soothing - like a lullaby. If I don’t hear it, I can’t sleep at night. I need to hear the fear and terror in their screams. It drowns out my own despair.
I follow him down the dirt tunnel where the coldness that usually bites into your bones begins to dissipate into something much warmer. We must be closer to the surface, to the desert floor. We are underground, I know that much, the only escape I know of is the big break in the dirt ceiling where we battle one another.
Sunshine illuminates just down the path, and my feet begin to pick up the pace in excitement. I want to feel the rays of sunshine, feel its warmth on my skin. They tell you hell is a hot place filled with fire and terror, but I’m here to tell you it’s dark and freezing cold.
“Easy, Brown 5,” Black Hat warns, and I slow my pace. At the end of the tunnel, it opens to a wide circle. The ceiling opened to a bright blue sky. I walk into the sun splayed along the blood-splattered ground, and lean my head back, soaking in the heat. It feels so good, so warm I close my eyes and inhale the fresh smell, the slight breeze that swirls down from above.
A fist to the back of my head snaps me into the moment. Pain racing through my skull and pounding behind my eyes until they water. My brows furrowing, and heart beating hard I turn with a high kick to whoever my opponent is.
It’s Black A. Her hair is cut choppy, and she’s covered in as much dirt as I am today.
“Get her Black A!” a man yells on her side. Her trainer, no doubt.
She screams and runs at me, knocking me to the ground. My head slams on a rock as I fall. Stars dance behind my eyelids, pain drilling into my skull. I want to cry, but warriors don’t cry, that’s what Black Hat told me.
The girl slams her fist into my eye over and over, a flash of white light and pressure with every fist to my face as warm blood presses from my face. A piece of me wants her to win, she looks so hungry, but if I lose too many I will disappear like the others.
“Come on Brown 5!” Black Hat shouts. Using the last bit of strength I have, I reach for the rock behind my head and pull it from its purchase in the ground.
Opening my injured eye, Black A straddles my body with both hands fisted in the air ready to pummel me. Before she can lay another hit on me, I slam the rock into the side of her head, throwing her off me.
She falls to the dirt floor in a tangle of bony limbs. I rush over to her with the rock in my hand. I straddle her body and begin to beat her over and over with the small rock in my hand. The sound of skin ripping, bone cracking not bothering me at all. The cut on my thumb from that stupid rat, bleeding and stinging not slowing me down. All I can think about is food, the praise I’ll get, and a maybe a warm bath.
Instantly a hand is cupped around my neck and it’s like a numbness washes over me. Relaxing me. I’m lifted off the girl and onto my feet. The bloody rock falls from my aching fingers as I stare blankly ahead at nothing in particular out of my good eye. A haze of compliance surfing through me like I was injected with a drug they used to give me when I was defiant.
I lift my chin, blow out a steady breath and push it down deep hoping one day I’ll forget this world.
Forget what I’m capable of.
Forget the savage acts I’ve done to survive.
Just like I forgot who I was before I became Brown 5.
Alessandra
Present
Peeling back the warm foil enveloping the burrito, the smell of chicken, beans, and rice dance in a rhythm that has my stomach growling with mercy. My eyes nearly roll into the back of my head as I double fist it, and shove as much as I can into my mouth.
I don’t take dinner breaks lightly, and I certainly don’t take burrito breaks less than serious. The passenger cruiser door opens, and Raven slides into the seat with a bag from We Love Coneys.
Raven is my new partner. She has jet-black hair that is pulled into a tight ponytail. High cheekbones with a natural glow, and hard brown eyes. So naturally, she’s beautiful. But with that flawless package comes her inexperience with the Las Vegas Police Department. She’s a fucking rookie, and I got stuck with her.
Nobody wants the new guys. Why? Because they’re a stickler for the rules, and still wanting to make the world a better place. That will end quickly the first time she has a homeless guy throw his shit at her, or when someone tries to stab, shoot, or spit on her. Her view on being a police officer will go from trying to make the peace, to just trying to make it through the fucking day.
“Anything on the MDT?” Raven asks, deep throating her foot-long hotdog. I raise a brow at her skill, before eyeing the terminal. The Mobile Data Terminal is a computer that relays messages from dispatch and other law enforcement in the area. I can look up anyone, and see who they are in a matter of a couple of clicks.
“There is a 413, and possible 420,” I inform around a mouthful of food. My chocolate brown hair that escaped my bun gets in the way of my eating, and I blow it out of the way.
She looks at me with a puzzled look, conveying I might as well have been speaking in a foreign language.
“Person with a deadly weapon and a possible dead body,” I tell her, not one-hundred percent sure that is even right. I have only been on the force for little over a year.
“That’s right,” she sighs, shaking her head.
“You’ll get them, just takes time,” I coax her. We used to just say what the hell was going on, but we moved to codes. Why, I don’t know. To make our lives harder.
“I’ve never seen a dead body,” she says softly, licking the cheese off her thumb.
I shrug. “You get used to it.” I remember my first dead body. The smell, the stoic look on its face, and the color of the skin a hue of purple and black. A woman was held at gunpoint for her car and she fought the suspect off instead of just giving him the keys, granting her a bullet to the neck in front of the local food mart. It didn’t faze me like I thought it would. I thought I’d be up all night with the look of the victim’s face haunting me. I slept like I do every other night; hard. Besides, there’s much worse things out there than dead bodies. Society just doesn’t know it because we keep the monsters hidden from their everyday life. “What my co-deputies don’t understand though, is the best way to catch a criminal, is to become one yourself. Walk amongst them, see things through their eyes, understand them. Then you can separate those who made a mistake from those that deserve to have your Taser up their ass.”
She cuts me a look that would suggest I’m the Wicked Witch of the West and I just dropped a goddamn house on Dorothy.
“They’re people, with lives and families, how can you say that?” she furrows her brows offended.
“Because you don’t see anyone as people on the job anymore, you’ll learn.” I take the last bite of my burrito. “Or you won’t.”
A loud rumble races past me, and I jump in my seat. A rush of adrenaline tingling through my body as I lose my breath. Jerking my head to the left there’s three motorcycles parking just ahead in a no-parking zone. The Sin City Outlaws to be exact.
Their bikes are shiny and full of chrome, their bodies clad in leather and tattoos. They’re rugged and instill fear and sexual desire into citizens who come across them.
They never obey the law and why should they, everyone is in their pocket and if they aren’t, they look the other way because of who they have in their pocket.
“Oh. My. God. Is that?” Raven sits up in her seat, looking through the windshield like a celebrity just flaunted their way across the street. The Sin City Outlaws are notorious for their ruthless way and reckless abandon for the law. They’re as gorgeous as they are lethal. Their mug shots have been flashed along the TV and newspapers so much they are celebrities in their own way.
Did I mention my best friend in the whole wide world is knocked up by their president? Jillian, of all people, fell under the spell of Zeek, the King of Sin. I’m the friend with no morals and labeled as slutty, so how this happened to naïve little Jillian I have no idea. Maybe, I’m losing my charm I think.
“That one has a weapon,” Raven points through the windshield. “And you’re surprised?” I ask, tossing the wrinkled foil on the floorboard. It’s illegal to carry in Vegas, but nobody messes with Sin City Outlaws MC. You fuck with them, it’s the last time you’ll be fucking anything. I stay clear of them, but my patience is wearing thin. Fast. The arrogant sons of bitches break laws right in front of me just because they can and it is starting to get under my skin.
Looking up, I spot the one that displays a nine-millimeter in a brown-leathered holster. He has long hair pulled into a bun. His shoulders and chest are so broad and built, the leather cut that displays his club’s colors proudly can barely contain it all.
His eyes sweep across the street like he’s stalking a prey. His stance wide, and arms crossed like he’s looking for a fight.
He emits control, dominance, peril, and I would be lying if I said deep inside he scares the shit out of me just as much as he excites me. Berating thoughts of lust and annoyance swim in my head causing a tension headache to flare. Why can’t they be fat old guys that can barely reach their handlebars? It would make it easier to avoid them if they weren’t so good looking.
Two other men step up behind him, gathering his attention and I snap to my duties of law enforcement.
“The one that looks like Tarzan is Felix. He’s the Vice President. The redhead with the menacing look on his face is Machete, and that David Beckham looking one is Mac. The one with the boyish good looks is Gatz,” I tell her, my eyes sweeping across the sexy, savage crew. They’re death in a gorgeous package, and they control Vegas - including me. Chief of police told me to let a senior officer handle them, meaning they’re a dirty cop and The Sin City Outlaws will get away with whatever they want. I’m not stupid, I also can’t do anything about it. Chief Lopez is a bitch on heels, and you don’t want her up your ass.
“Oh, I know. We did a class just on the Sin City Outlaws. The president is missing though, where is Zeek?” she observes. Raising a brow, I suddenly notice he’s not with his crew either. Good, he needs to be with his Jillian. She’s carrying twins and is about to pop at any minute. “Is it true you’re friends with the president?” Raven asks with eager eyes. My teeth clench and I shoot her a ridiculous look. Thanks to my best friend, I’m associated with the MC and I don’t even converse with them. It’s great. Not.
“No, I’m not fucking friends with any of them. They’re the enemy, stay clear of them, Raven,” I advise hatefully. “They’ll eat you up and spit you out in the middle of the desert with the rest of the unmarked graves dug by the Outlaws.”
Putting the car in drive, I carefully drive around the Sin City Outlaws. Felix’s head slowly raises and his hooded eyes find mine. They’re ominous and full of power and hostility. They pull me into the gates of hell with the warmth they emit, and it takes everything I have to look away. A knot forms in my stomach as I drive past him. Fighting the compulsion to look in the rearview mirror to catch one more glimpse of him.
“731, two suspects acting suspiciously near Frank 24. Gray shirt, gray pants, other suspect unclear.” The dispatch crackles through the speaker.
I grab the radio and Raven looks at me with a confused look. I normally avoid vague calls, but Sin City Outlaws has me riled up and I need something to take my mind off things.
“731 copy, we’ll take it. On our way.”
“731 acknowledged.”
Flipping the lights on, I push my boot onto the accelerator and go from fifty to seventy in seconds. It’s not the newest vehicle on the force, but she still has some pep in her.
Pulling up to the residence, it’s an old trailer with no underpinning underneath. A blue ‘87 Chevy sits on bricks with the tires torn off it and the front lawn is littered with trash and stray tools.
“Wow,” Raven mutters under her breath. Getting a good look at my surroundings I take the shit pile in. It’s not the worst I’ve seen, but I wouldn’t expect a high piece of ass to waltz out of that double-wide trailer either.
“Just keep your guard up,” I advise her.
“731 arrived at the scene 1400,” I inform dispatch of our arrival and time. It’s crucial we inform them of the time stamp because if we don’t contact back within a certain amount of time, dispatch will do a status check to make sure we have a handle on the situation, if we do not reply, they send back-up immediately.
Stepping out of the cruiser I lock it, as I do every time. I don’t need a crack head slipping in behind me and taking off with my fucking car. The Chief would have my head for that one.
The air is thick and smells of gasoline and sour trash. It makes my nose scrunch in distaste, as I look around for any suspects.
A short bald man steps out of the house, the screen door that’s void of screen slamming against the doorframe.
“Well, look who it is, the fucking pigs!” he heckles around a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. He’s wearing a greasy gray shirt, and gray torn sweatpants. His stained whitie tighties a sight to behold.
“Why don’t you come down here, sir?” I suggest in a serious tone, wanting him where I have full control of the situation. First rule of being a cop, trust few.
“Did I do something wrong?” He tilts his head to the side, rubbing his junk like he has a farm of crabs living in there.
“Arrest that sum-bitch!” A woman flies out the front door, the screen-less door nearly slamming into her face as she points at the man. She’s wearing a gown printed with little duckies wearing pink shower caps. It’s two sizes too small, giving a full view of her pink panties that look to be period panties with the number of stains on them. Be a police officer like your dad they said, it will be great they said. How he did it for so long, I ask myself at least once a day.
“What’s your name, ma’am?” Raven asks, her hand on her weapon. I notice her hand is shaking, she’s scared and if I can see it, everyone can. We need to work on that, if the suspects notice, they’ll play it against her. Like a dog, once it smells fear you’re fucked.
“Oh, you don’t know what you’re talking about, Lucile!” The man shouts in the woman’s face as he slowly makes his way down the steps.
“Hell I don’t, Harold, you took my weed and you’re going to give it back!” She screams so loud her voice gives out, her face red like a cherry tomato. Not even caring she admitted to having a controlled substance or that we’re even here from the looks of it.
The man laughs, finally reaching the bottom step. He places his hands on his hips towering over Lucile. “I ain’t giving shit back,” he says with a southern twang.
Lucile punches Harold on the bridge of the nose and he falls to his knees howling, while Lucile climbs on his back, slapping him recklessly.
“You dick-less momma’s boy. I sucked creepy Stevie for that weed, and I’m gettin’ it back!” she demands, riding Harold like a wild bull into the grass.
Shit. Quickly I pull out a pair of gloves and slip them over my hands. Who knows what creepy Stevie may have given Lucile after all. Stepping forward, I intervene and grab Lucile by the arms, and she begins to kick and buck in my hold. My knees ache as they press into the ground trying to keep control, and the smell coming from her makes me choke on the air entering my lungs.
“If you don’t calm down I will hog tie your ass!” I threaten her, and she eases in my grasp.
I flip her around on her stomach with force and slam her into the dirt. I press my knee into her back and she cries out in pain as I fish her hands out from underneath her before handcuffing her. I’m not going to lie, this part excites me. Having the training I need to control people two sizes smaller or bigger. I’m the law, and I can put anyone down. It’s a good feeling.
“What are you doing? He’s the bad guy, he’s the one smoking all my weed, man?” she laughs with a dopey tone, squirming beneath me like a fish out of water.
I glance over my shoulder to see if Raven has everything under control with Harold. She’s struggling trying to cuff him, and he’s finding it hilarious. Damn it!
Pushing myself up from a laughing Lucile, I step up behind Harold and lay my boot into the back of his leg. His knees bite into the desert floor and I kick him in the back until he falls face first into the ground. Raven nearly sits on his head as I grab his meaty hands and handcuff him as well.
“Sorry,” she mutters, and I snap an angry glare at her verbally expelling her weakness in front of everyone. It would have been different if it were just her and I in the car, but saying it here in front of the suspects is not something you do.
“You have anything I need to know about?” I ask, searching the sides of Harold’s body.
“Just a giant dick!” he cackles, and I roll my eyes at his ego.
“Really? Because, I’m not finding anything that resembles that in the slightest, sir,” I retort seriously, and his eyes furrow with surprise at my flippant etiquette. Most police officers don’t say such things, but I’m not most cops. Not by a long shot, I know that and it both bothers me and drives me. My whole life I have been the third wheel in everything, and never knew why I felt that way.
Reaching into his pocket I find a dime size bag of weed and some ecstasy pills. I open it and smell the weed, it’s strong and fresh. Creepy Stevie must be good at what he does.
My brows furrow remembering seeing a family asking for money at a corner this morning.
I’ll sell this and run by there and give them the cash. I bet I can get a couple hundred out of this at least. I don’t see it as being a dirty cop, more like Robin Hood. Kind of.
“That’s mine!” Lucile wails, kicking her legs like a child having a tantrum.
“Not anymore,” I mumble under my breath, shoving it in my pocket.
Raven’s mouth pops open and I give her a look to shut it.
“731 status check?”
Grabbing the radio on my shoulder, I turn my head toward it.
“731 situation handled.”
“Roger that.”
My cell phone rings in my lower pants pocket, but I ignore it. It’s my personal phone and it can wait.
Pushing off Harold I blow out a steady breath. “So, I can arrest you both for resisting arrest, domestic violence, and posession, or you can both kiss and make-up and take a fucking shower. What’s it going to be?” I ask, fidgeting with the right glove strangling my wrist.
My phone begins to ring again, and Raven juts her chin at me to take it. “Uncuff them,” I inform her, walking toward the cruiser.
Pulling the gloves off, I fish my phone out and finding two missed calls from Jillian.
Returning the call, I watch Raven get in Harold’s ass for giving her a hard time. She can be a little bad ass if she wants, she just needs a little push.
“IT’S TIME!” Jillian pants into the phone and my spine races with goosebumps.
“Time?” I ask startled. It can’t be. I’m across town!
“My water broke. IT’s time,” she sobs.
“Oh my God, I’m on my way!” Shoving my phone in my pocket I open the cruiser door.
“Come on Raven, we need to go. NOW!” I demand. She looks at me puzzled as she un-cuffs Lucile.
“Everything okay?” she asks, walking my way.
“Move your ass, woman!” I holler at her. Lucile and Harold stand next to each other staring at us like we’ve lost our minds.
I don’t even wait for Raven to shut the door before I pull out of the driveway.
“What about my weed?!” Lucile hollers jogging after us.
“731 take me out of service.”
“Copy that,” dispatch replies.
“What the fuck are we doing?” Raven asks with fear laced in her voice as jet out of the vicinity.
“Jillian is having her babies, I have to be there,” I tell her, flipping the lights on.
Raven looks at me with furrowed eyes. “Can you do that? Is this even okay to do while on the clock?”
“I don’t really care,” I sneer.
Feeling her eyes on me, I look her way finding her staring at me intently. Her dark eyes trying to size me up.
“What?” I finally ask.
“I swear this is like the movie Training Day, and I’m riding with Alonzo.” She shakes her head looking out the window.
I smile and don’t say anything because she won’t agree with what I have to say. And that’s Alonzo was a smart motherfucker when it came to running the streets.
Heading toward the hospital there’s an accident with ambulances and a fire truck, the scanner is going haywire alerting everyone of a truck that caught fire so I have to go around, adding at least another fifteen minutes.
“So are you the godmother or something?” Raven asks, smoothing the wrinkles in her pants.
I eye her, curious why she’d ask that. “I don’t think so. I don’t know anything about kids, Jillian would be a fool to leave her kids to me,” I snort.
“At least you have a best friend,” Raven whispers, the dread in her tone making me look back at her. She glances at me and I see a darkness in her eyes that I’ve never seen before. The depths of her eyes show hurt, and a rough life. I give a tight-lipped smile.
“You got me,” I offer, and she smirks and looks out her window.
“Yeah,” she mumbles, as if I’m not good enough. I’m not hurt, I only offered it because I think we could kick it and be good friends, but there is something there that tells me she has a wall I can’t get over.
Parking in front of the hospital, I turn the ignition off and take a long pull of my iced coffee that is now melted thanks to the desert heat.
A loud roar erupts from beside me and I jump so hard I spill my coffee down the front of my uniform, dropping the cup between my legs.
“Shit!” I squeal, quickly grabbing the spilling cup and up-righting it.
Growling, I look up finding Felix and his men parking right in front of me, an arrogant smirk pulling on his sharp face. That motherfucker!
Jerking the door to my cruiser, I get out. My arms outstretched coffee slips down my arms and drips off my fingertips. My hooded eyes slowly lift to Felix, my right brow raised.
“Do you get off on being an asshole?” I bite through clenched teeth. Anger poisoning my reason and common sense, I stomp toward him, my department issued boots slamming into the cracked sidewalk.
His brows furrow slightly as he tries his hardest not to smile at my temper.
Getting close, he towers over me, the smell of gasoline and cologne dancing around me in a hypnotic euphoria. My neck is cricked back to look at him fully. The gray in his green eyes reminds me of the color of steel concealing a criminal in prison. Cold and merciless, much like his personality.
“Jillian might have gone soft and got knocked up by one of you dipshits, but I’m not her. In fact, when the time comes, and it will, I’m not going to throw cuffs on you and take you in, no. I’m going to drive you out into the desert and beat you with my fucking nightstick!” My voice shakes with hostility.
“Sounds like my kind of Friday night,” he smarts with a curled lip. “What time should I pick you up?” He comes on to me, and I blink rapidly. His dark but captivating eyes sink into me, clawing out feelings I’ve never felt before. Fear? Lust? I look away, not liking the way his stare makes me feel. His body looms over me, snaking my body heat away and replacing it with something cold and savage.
“Just stay out of my way,” I warn. “That goes for your fuck-tard prospects too.”
Felix’s face hardens, and his eyes search his men wildly. Is he embarrassed? Or is he waiting to see if one of his men come at me for the disrespect I just spat at them.
“And here I thought Jillian was the queen of bitches, but I gotta say… you take the crown, Blue Bird.” He mocks, his men laughing behind him. I don’t find it funny, I don’t find any of them funny. They’re savages and killed Jillian’s father. How she can overlook that is beyond me.
Losing control, I shove him, pushing him half a step back. He’s hard beneath my hands, and my heart skips a beat at the contact.
“I swear to God I will tase you in the nuts!” I reach for my Taser, and he chuckles like I just made a joke. Gah, I want to claw his fucking eyes out!
“My best friend might have married one of you, but that doesn’t make us friends—”
“Sure as fuck doesn’t, that is one thing we can agree on!” he reiterates, his men agreeing by nodding.
“Good, then stay out of my fucking way,” I point a sharp finger at him in warning.
He steps forward, his chest flush with mine. I suck in a tight breath, a weight on my chest making me feel like I’m about to combust at the seams. I’m scared of this man and what he’s capable of, and here I am poking him with a fucking stick.
“Or what?” he snaps hastily, challenging me. I swallow hard, looking around nervously. His men stare at me intently. Their poses conveying they’re ready to take me down with a snap of Felix’s fingers. Raven is pale and looking at me like she might throw up from the altercation. Blinking from my stunned state I lift my chin and shoulders.
“I may not be able to arrest you because you’re a dirty son of a bitch, but I’ll make your life a living hell,” I whisper, my eyes never leaving his. I’ll pull him over just to pull him over. I bust a tail-light just so he has to pay for it to be fixed, and I will arrest every chick I see with him for solicitation.
“I’m the fucking king of hell, baby. If you haven’t noticed,” he says with a rugged voice. The darkness in the depth of his eyes telling me if anyone is going to hell, he’ll be the one ruling it.
Maybe so, but I won’t make it easy on him.
“Boys are so cute thinking a man runs hell,” I sneer, propping my hand on my hip right next to my gun.
His nostrils flare as he silently looks into my eyes. The tension, hostility and something else lingers between us as thick as the Vegas heat.
“I hate to break this up, but Jillian is about to give birth and Zeek is going to kick our asses if we aren’t there,” Mac interrupts mine and Felix’s staring contest.
Huffing, I take a step back and walk around him, Raven running up behind me.
The hospital smells like lemon and antiseptic. The fluorescent lights bright and ugly, and showing every bit of dirt and grime on the walls and broken tile.
Striding to the reception desk, a woman with short red curly hair types away at a keyboard.
Her gaze flicks to mine for a brief second before looking back at her screen.
“Can I help you?” she asks lazily.
“My friend was just rushed in having a baby, her name is Jilli—”
“Second floor, room three,” she replies, eyes glued to the screen.
“Thanks,” I raise a brow and head toward the elevator where all of the Sin City Outlaws piled in. The doors closing in on a shit-eating grin plastered across Felix’s face.
“I really hate that prick,” I grumble, taking the stairs instead.
“Really, because I thought you were going to kiss his face off outside,” Raven huffs behind me.
My forehead wrinkles at her accusation. “I mean, he’s sexy, any woman can see that, but I…” I swallow hard, trying to figure out what the hell happened out there. “But the law is the law.” I give a curt nod, and might actually throw up at how cheesy that sounded.
Making it to the second floor, Zeek is talking to his men, and I take no time to push everyone out of the way to get to him.
“Where is she? Is she okay?” I ask frantically.
Zeek looks down at me with a hard stare, and I can’t help but swallow hard. How Jillian got knocked up by him is a crazy thought. He looks anything but cuddly. His ink black hair has fallen in his eyes. His jaw hard and not a hint of happiness to be seen. He has to be packin’ down there to make up for his asshole personality.
“She just delivered and is resting. You can go see her if you want,” he informs with an unemotional tone. I flinch, as if I was asking to go see her. I was seeing her with or without his permission. She’s my best friend. Practically my sister.
Entering the room, I find her lying in bed, her stomach not as big as the last time I saw her. Her dirty blond hair is everywhere, her face sweaty and flushed. She has a baby in each arm, and is looking down at them like they’re her whole world. As if she’s never seen or experienced a love like the two bundles in her arms have just gifted her.
“Hey,” I whisper. Her head sweeps my way and her face lights up.
“You’re here,” she croaks trying to sit up.
“Don’t, stay put,” I insist walking to her bedside.
Smiling I pull the blue fabric to the side and see a Zeek look alike sleeping cozily.
“Oh my gosh, he’s adorable,” I coo. He’s all pink and wrinkly looking.
She silently laughs. “They both look like their daddy.”
“Did you guys decide on names?”
“Yeah. Meet Layken and Samuel,” she looks back down at the twins. Her movements are slow and sluggish. I can tell she’s exhausted.
“Very cute.” I brush a finger over Layken’s dark hair. She’s just as beautiful and giving me baby fever like the fucking flu. I never knew what people meant by the smell of a baby, but being this close to Layken and Samuel I now know. It’s clean, and sweet all at the same time. I could lift them to my chest and smell them all day.
“How are you feeling?” I whisper, looking her over. She looks a hot mess. Like she just went through war to be exact.
“It went really fast actually. I was having back pain all day, but didn’t think anything of it carrying the twins. But before I knew it, my water broke and they were coming out!” she laughs, her eyes heavy and tired.
“Oh nice, you’re like one of those moms who has their baby in the toilet because you thought you had a big lunch,” I joke, and she nods as if she’s agreeing.
“When my water broke, I thought I peed myself,” she raises a brow at me and I cringe. “You should have seen Zeek’s face when I told him it was time. I thought he was going to pass out.”
“I’m never having kids,” I insist. I’m tired just looking at what Jillian has gone through.
“You know, I’m not one to believe in love at first sight, but this… it’s a testament that it really does exist,” she tells me with a somber smile. Reaching forward, I grab her hand, and give it a squeeze.
“How are you? How was your day?” She shakes the tears from her eyes, inhaling a breath.
I scoff, before rolling my eyes. “Ran into the infamous Felix a few times. You know, how you deal with Zeek on a daily basis I’ll never know, because I want to kill that Felix!” I grit every word, and Jillian just smiles in return.
“What?” I narrow my brows.
“Sounds a little familiar is all,” she shrugs, rocking her babies.
My eyes flare with what she’s getting at. “No! We are not you and Zeek,” I adamantly shake my head. I mean yeah, Felix is hot but he is so opposite of me. What could we possibly have in common besides wanting to kill one another.
Jillian yawns, before wincing. She needs rest, and I can’t help but think she’s trying to stay awake because I’m here.
“I’m on the clock, so I better go,” I offer, but I really don’t want to.
Jillian looks up at me with a thin smile. “Thanks for seeing us, I should be home soon,” she thanks, slinking down in her blankets comfortably.
“I wouldn’t miss it! Well, I did. But I was across town too,” I admit, lifting my left shoulder.
“Go catch some bad guys,” she whispers.
I laugh silently. “You have a whole crowd in the waiting room I could have a hayfield on,” I tease and she just shakes her head before looking back down at two soft heartbeats that will forever change my best friend.
Stepping out of the room Raven is lost in a lust filled dazed with Machete. Frowning, I elbow her and she jumps to. God, I can’t lose another one to a biker.
“Let’s go,” I tell her.
“How are the babies? Are they okay? Did she have twins? I heard it was twins?” she rambles behind me, trying to keep up. I hold my hand up stopping her firing of intrusive questions.
“They’re good,” I inform her. She nods, looking at the room Jillian and the babies are in.
I stride through the waiting room and my eyes catch sight of Felix in passing. He’s sitting in a waiting chair looking bored, his elbows resting on his knees, his head bowed with hooded eyes following me across the room.
A cold chill licks up my spine, and my heart beats a little faster. Using my middle finger, I act like I’m pulling the top off a lipstick and apply my middle fingertip to my lips as if I’m painting them in my favor color. Flipping him off, as I look away.
I don’t know what it is about that asshole, but I want to slam my nightstick in his gut and pull his gorgeous hair in a sea of ecstasy all at the same time. It confuses me and pisses me off. He makes me feel things I’ve never felt before. Dangerous, out of control, but oddly safer than I ever have before. He’s a dangerous fantasy, and fairy tales don’t exist in the city of Sin.
Felix
“How’s Momma doing?” I ask Zeek, rubbing my hands together. He looks tense and stressed out.
“Jillian is fine, tough,” Zeek tells me. He looks stupid with that blue gown on and cap. I should take a picture and post it to the wall at the clubhouse. “Did you settle the problem?” Zeek asks, concern heavy in his voice. Before Jillian’s water broke we were knee deep in a conversation with the mafia. They want Sin City Outlaws as their muscle. I’m all for violence and striking fear into this city, but I reign my own control. My brotherhood condemns my punishments when I fuck up, not an outsider and surely not the fucking Mafia.
But they were clear. We submit, or war.
“No, the mafia is adamant. They want us to take over the Casino now that Frank and Cross are gone, and they want us to be their muscle. End of,” I explain.
“Fuck!” Zeek barks, causing other families in the waiting room to scowl at us. Reminding us we are in a family environment and not our clubhouse.
“Look, I have this shit handled. Go be with your family, man.” I suggest, not that him fucking knocking up a sheriff is my idea of a happy family. Not when you’re an outlaw, but this is the path he is trying to pave for us and I have his back. Family and brotherhood, and I bleed brotherhood I just have to learn the family part. All I know. I trust my fellow brothers with my life, as they do mine.
“I’m trying, man, but you know as well as I, the mafia is not someone to fuck with and I don’t want my club back in the throes of that chaos,” he bites his bottom lip, his black hair falling in his eyes. He’s right, no matter how I tried to tell him it’s going to be okay… it’s not. The mafia will fight back if we protest.
Zeek looks over his shoulder where Jillian and his newborn babies are held and back at me, a sullen look on his face. His forehead wrinkled with stress. I hate seeing him so vulnerable. I swear to God I’ll never fall in love, look at this shit.
“Just, I want you to run the casino, Felix,” he mutters, hesitation laced in the tone of his voice.
“You’re kidding.” I take a stand from the chair. I can’t believe we’re going down this road again, it was our dream to be out from under the mafia and running our own club. Doing our own bidding, and he’s wanting to just give in? “We can fight this, brother,” I implore him. I want to fight this. Blood, carnage, and war is what I know. Peace, that is a whole other fucking route.
“I know that, and we will. But right now I have to think about my family. Take over the casino, buy us some time to figure this out. Because when we tell them to fuck off… we’ll be getting a war we may be able to win brother…”