The pounding in my head was like being trapped in a thunderstorm when I woke up the next morning.  The only thing that kept me from screaming and pulling a pillow over my face was the sight of Monica’s naked body beside me.  I sat up and stumbled towards the door, feeling my stomach aching from the poison I had put in it the night before. 

I walked to the kitchen and found an old bottle of Tylenol, dumping several of them in my mouth.  I crunched them between my teeth as I filled a glass of water.  I was parched and dehydrated, but the water made the alcohol on my tongue turn to vapor in my mouth.  I turned towards the sink and prepared to throw up, but my stomach settled before it happened.  I washed my mouth out with water and kept spitting until I couldn’t taste the whiskey anymore.  I hadn’t been that drunk since I was a teenager and first discovered alcohol. 

My feet carried me back to the bedroom and I tried to crawl into bed, but the pounding in my head made me simply collapse against the covers, which caused Monica to sit up with a startled look on her face.

“Are you okay?”  She looked over at me.

“No.”  I buried my face into the quilt and shook my head.  “I feel like death.”

“Let me see if I can find you something to eat.”  She slid over to the edge of the bed.

“I wouldn’t advise opening the fridge—everything in there is way past expired.”  I pulled a section of the sheet across my lower torso and hugged my pillow.

“Thanks for the warning.”  She started walking towards the kitchen and even her delicate footsteps sounded like thunder in my skull.

***

IT TOOK SEVERAL HOURS before I finally recovered and the Tylenol pushed enough of the pounding out of my head for me to sit up without feeling like I was just going to keel over and die.  I sat up slowly and didn’t see Monica beside me.  I crawled out of bed and stood for a moment to get my balance before I started to try and walk.  My head was still foggy, even with the whiskey mostly gone from my system.  I was glad Monica showed up before it had ran its course because I would have not missed what we did the night before for the world.  I took a few steps, confirmed my legs were no longer going to cause any trouble, and finally walked out of the bedroom. 

The smell of coffee filled my nostrils and although I could tell that I needed food, coffee was a pretty damn good substitute at the moment.  I walked into the living room and saw Monica sitting on the couch.  She was casually flipping through channels on the television and she looked over at me.

“You were right—everything is expired.”  She shook her head and her eyebrows raised.

“Did you open it?”  I looked towards the fridge.

“No, but since everything the pantry is expired, I had no hope for your fridge.”  She exhaled sharply.

“I eat out a lot.”  I chuckled and turned towards the kitchen.  “At least there’s coffee.”

“I’m not so sure I would drink that.”  She shuddered and shook her head.  “It tastes like death.  Have you ever even cleaned the coffeemaker?”

“They need to be cleaned?”  I walked over and poured a cup, sipping it carefully.  “It tastes fine—nice and strong.”

“Your standards are terrible.”  She laughed as I walked over and took a seat.

“I know—I married you.”  I nudged her with my hand.

“You weren’t complaining last night.”  She folded her arms across her chest and glared at me.

“I was drunk as fuck.”  My eyes got wide and then I smiled before sipping the coffee.

“Serious talk, though.”  Her jovial demeanor turned dark.  “We need to get the hell out of Las Vegas.  Dane isn’t going to give us the money and we can’t afford to wait out the week hoping a miracle will happen.”

“Fuck it.”  I shrugged.  “Walter thinks he’s hot shit?  I’m calling The Devil Knights.  We’ll burn his fucking club to the ground and roast Ray Stone’s nuts over the embers if we have to.”

“Didn’t you already cash in your favor to help my father?”  Her dark demeanor took on one of worry.

“Yeah, but they’ll help me—once I’m wearing their patch.  It’s time for me to stop playing games.  There’s nothing left in Las Vegas for me except you and you’re coming with me.  My own mother hates me at this point and my brother—well, he’s a fucking mess.”  I sipped my coffee again.

“I’ll go anywhere you want.”  She scooted closer to me on the couch.  “But do you really think joining The Devil Knights is a good idea?  You could end up in prison.”

“It’s better than being dead.”  I reached out and took Monica’s hand.  “I’m not dying for this shit.  I’ve got something to live for.”

“Ray came to visit me last night.”  Her dark demeanor returned.  “It’s why I came to find you.  He threatened me.  He said that if we didn’t pay...”

“He did what?”  I pulled away and my face turned to an angry scowl.  I didn’t need to hear the rest of her sentence. I knew exactly what a man like Ray would say to her.  “Are you serious?  I told that motherfucker Walter not to come near my family.  Fuck this.”  I stood up and walked towards the closet in the corner of the living room.

“What are you doing?”  Monica stared at me as I pulled open the closet.

“I’m ending this.”  I reached into the closet and pulled out a shotgun that had a strap on it.  I slung it over my back and grabbed the Glock that was on the shelf beside it.

“Grady, no.”  Monica ran towards me as I started towards the door, but I pulled away from her grasp.

“Stay here.”  I threw open the door and started walking down the hallway.

“Grady!”  Monica ran out into the hallway and called out to me.

“Stay here!” I spun towards her, my face roaring with rage—it was enough to stop her in her tracks.

***

“DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT it.”  I drew on the man at the door of Walter’s club before he could even get a hand on the gun at his waist.

“You’re making a mistake.”  The man put his hands up and took a step back.

“No, Walter is the one who made the mistake.”  I slammed the butt of the Glock into the man’s face and took his gun from his holster once he was on the ground.

***

“WALTER, YOU SON OF a bitch!”  I hit the man behind the door the second it was open and started shifting my stance as the guys inside the club tried to stand.  “If one of you moves, it won’t be a warning shot.”

“Grady, what the fuck?”  Walter came walking down the steps to the right near the bar.  “I thought we had a deal—you pay the debt and everything is fine.”

“You sent Ray to threaten my wife?”  I pointed my gun at Walter.  “I told you to stay the fuck away from my family.”

“He didn’t send me.”  Ray walked out of the back room, drying his hands with a towel.

“Ray...”  Walter’s face reflected shock.  “We gave him a week.”

“He still has the week—what’s left of it.  I just wanted to make sure he had a little motivation.”  Ray smiled and I turned my gun to him as he approached.  “Grady, why don’t you lower your weapon before one of these guys gets an itchy trigger finger.”

“He’ll die before they can do anything.”  I pointed the gun towards Walter again.

“Then what, Grady?”  Ray sighed and shook his head.  “You’ll die and I’ll fuck that pretty wife of yours over and over until she doesn’t even remember your name.”

“Ray!”  Walter’s face snapped from shock to anger.  “That isn’t how we do things.”

“It isn’t how you did things—things have to change.  Remember?  We talked about this.”  Ray took another step towards me.

“That’s too far.”  Walter walked towards Ray.  “Grady, I’m sorry.  Consider the debt forgiven.  Ray, you’ve taken this to a level I’m not comfortable with anymore.”

“Your comfort means shit to me old man.”  Ray spun around, caught Walter in his grasp, and with a quick twist, I heard Walter’s neck snap.  The limp body of my former boss slumped to the ground.

“Ray, what the fuck?”  I opened my mouth in shock as I stared at Walter on the floor.

“I played his game and let him think he was in charge as long as I had to.”  Ray shrugged. “He’s no longer useful to me.”

“You fucking bastard.”  I shook my head in disbelief.  “He built all of this.”

“You know what they say.”  Ray chuckled.  “You can’t take it with you when you go.  Now, as you can imagine—I’m not going to forgive the debt.”

“Then I guess I’m just going to kill you where you stand.”  I aimed the gun at him and started to squeeze the trigger.

“Think long and hard about this decision, Grady.  If you kill me, you and Walter will have matching coffins.  I could snap my fingers and have any one of these men kill you.  Sure, you might take out a few of them, but they’re willing to die for me because they know I’m a man that gets shit done—unlike this old fool.  Why don’t we make a deal—a deal that will end with only one of us dying.”  He narrowed his eyes and exhaled through his nose.

“I’m listening.”  I looked around the room. What Ray said was right—every single one of them looked poised to draw on me.  There was no way I could take them all out.

“I like to settle things with my fists.”  Ray held up his hands and I saw scars across almost every knuckle.  “Walter said you used to be the same way.”

“Yeah.”  I nodded.

“Tomorrow night, you and I finish this.  I’m sure you know where Walter likes—liked—to go and watch the fights?”  He motioned to the dead body beside him.

“I do.”  I had been there with Walter a few times when I worked for him and even had a couple of fights myself when I was younger.

“We get in the ring.  If you can take me down, that’s the end of it.  If you can’t, you die—and I comfort your grieving widow.”  Ray’s lips curled to an emotionless smile.

“I’ll fight you.”  I nodded.  “But Monica isn’t some prize that goes to the winner.”

“What will you care?”  He shrugged.  “You’ll be dead.”

“No deal—not unless you leave her out of it.”  I started to squeeze the trigger again.  “I’ll just die right here knowing you go with me.”

“Fine.”  He held up his hands.  “I’ll get enough satisfaction just killing you with my bare hands.”

“Tomorrow night.”  I nodded.

“See you then.”  Ray’s eyes actually reflected some semblance of emotion—it was excitement.

I kept my gun aimed at the crowd until I was outside the club and still walked backwards until I got to Monica’s car.  I climbed into the driver’s seat and sped away after I saw that the door didn’t open. 

I wasn’t going to shed a tear for Walter, but I still didn’t like watching him die in front of me.  He might have been an old fool, but he was still someone I once called a friend.  It was clear that he hadn’t been pulling the strings—Ray Stone was the one who really ran the new operation.  I wasn’t sure I could take Ray down, but I had bought enough time to get things in order.  I didn’t trust Ray to leave Monica out of it if he killed me, but I was going to make sure she was safe. 

I stopped at a gas station and bought a pack of cigarettes.  I had stopped smoking in my twenties because I wanted to live longer.  If I was going to die, I was at least going to taste the sweet nicotine on my breath one last time.  I picked up my cell phone once I lit up my first and felt the buzz of an old familiar friend while I waited for the person on the other end to pick up.

“Hello?”  The voice belonged to Reggie Dawson, the President of The Devil Knights MC.

“Hey Reggie.  It’s Grady.”  I sighed and exhaled smoke.  “I need your help.”

“Another favor?”  He hesitated slightly with his response.  “You know that requires a patch.”

“I think I’ve got something that more valuable than that.  Remember how you wanted to get a foothold in Las Vegas?  I have a way to make that happen.”  I took another drag off of my cigarette.