DECLAN

 

“You sure about this?”

Ghost didn’t question me because he didn’t agree with me. He was loyal to a fault. I knew that he just wanted to make sure that my head was in right place.

“Just follow my lead. When I give you the signal…”

Ghost gave me a nod and got onto his ride along with the rest of the Reapers. We waited on the outskirts of town in the spot where we told Cross to meet up with us. The punk eventually rolled up with his other four boys.

Cross got off his bike and looked over at my club before turning his attention to me.

“Looks like you made it,” he said. “You gonna make the right decision?”

“I’ve got a meeting set up with the Triads.”

“Where’s it at?”

“We’ll take you there.”

He smirked at me like he was trying to show off his broken teeth to intimidate me.

“You think I’m gonna fall for that?” he said. “How do I know this isn’t some trap?”

“My word is good.”

He wiped the smirk from his face then looked me up and down.

“I ride next to you,” he said. “Just to make sure you don’t try anything.”

“You can ride next to me. Everybody else trails behind. Don’t wanna be attracting too much attention now…”

Cross looked satisfied for the moment. That was all I needed.

I got on my bike and he did the same. He rode right up next to me as we headed down the road.

There were a lot of parts of Ivory that were remote. There was always shit going down because the cops didn’t have the manpower to cover it all. It helped that they didn’t give a shit about much of it in the first place. They knew better than to get involved.

There wasn’t much on the road outside of a few streetlights to light the road. The buildings were gone. The scenery was sparse. Even the sky was clear tonight.

I took in the feeling of the breeze blowing against my face. My engine rumbled underneath me. The pavement was so close that I could reach out and touch it. Shit like this was like nothing else in the world. I was flying.

We’d been riding for a few minutes. That was all it took to get a good distance from Ivory. If we were being tailed, that shit would have been obvious.

Almost time…

I looked to the side and Cross kept eyeballing me. On my other side, Ghost rode with me like he always did. The Reapers and Vultures were behind us.

There was still some time to change my mind but everybody in the club knew that this was the right decision. This was who we were. If we were ever gonna change, it wouldn’t be tonight.

I gave Cross one last glance and he looked at me with his teeth bared.

I turned to Ghost and he stared at me.

I’d lived in Ivory all my life. The road was clear for miles ahead of us. Business with Cross was about to be settled right now. Nobody would be able to get between us.

I gave Ghost a nod and he did the same back to me.

I listened for the sound of some of the bikes screeching behind me. Cross spun his head around to see what was happening.

“What the fuck—”

Needle. Sully. Brawn. They all hit the brakes and veered off the road. Guns drawn, they rose up and fired.

A few seconds was all they needed. The Vultures were too slow to respond. Bullets flew.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Shit sounded like a bunch of tin cans banging all over the street. Their bikes sparked when they slammed into the pavement. The punks screamed as they went flying from their rides.

“Motherfucker—”

Cross reached for his waistband but he was a step behind. My pistol pointed at him, I popped him in the leg and sent his ride wobbling off the road.

He fell off his bike and onto the dirt. His chopper skidded along the pavement before grinding to a halt.

The Vultures were scattered on a quarter-mile stretch of asphalt. Their bikes were scrap. Their blood painted the road. If any of them were still breathing, they wouldn’t be for long.

I pulled my bike to a stop. Brawn, Sully and, Needle rode up next to me along with Ghost. I looked down the road and watched the small semi coming down. It rolled right up to us with Petey in the driver’s seat.

“Sully,” I said. “Work with Brawn to load their rides. Turn their shit into scrap. Ghost. Needle. Make sure the rest of them aren’t breathing. Make ‘em disappear.”

“Yeah,” Ghost said with a nod. “You got it.”

“Don’t kill Cross though.”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea to leave him alive—”

“Do what I say!”

Everybody was eyeballing me like I was crazy but I knew I was the only one thinking straight.

“Go!” I shouted.

They hit the road and followed my instructions. Their rides were put on the truck and the other Vultures were put in bags. There wouldn’t be a trace of them.

I rode up to Cross’s bike and found him a few meters away crawling in the dirt. He was still breathing. I could tell because he was whimpering like a bitch.

Blood trailed down his leg. His knee looked mangled in the wrong direction.

“Motherfucker!” he shouted.

He reached for his waistband but I was ready. I shot him in the arm and put an end to that shit quick.

“Come here…”

I grabbed him by the collar and flipped him over onto his back. He smiled at me. The blood dripped between his teeth.

I balled my fist and popped him right in the nose. Another punch blackened his eye. Another punch loosened his teeth.

His eyes rolled back in his head but he still managed to smile up at me.

“You’re making a mistake,” he said.

“I’m not making a mistake. I’m doing exactly what I need to do.”

“If you kill me—”

“Who said anything about killing you?”

The smile left his face as he looked up at me. He swallowed his blood down like he was actually worried. It was the first time I’d ever seen that look on his face.

“I know what you did,” I said. “I know what you did to Michelle.”

“Michelle and I had a good time—”

“You raped her!”

I shook him by the collar. It was taking everything in me not to grab him by the throat and squeeze the life out of him.

“I didn’t rape her. She enjoyed every second of it. I can still remember it… The way she screamed when I hit her… The way she squealed when I shoved my cock into her… The way she pleaded with me as I squeezed my hand around her throat… She loved it… Figures… She is a whore after all—”

I slugged him in the mouth and loosened more of his teeth to shut him up. The smile came back to his face.

“It’s okay,” he said. “I’ll get the last laugh. I’ll always be one up on you, Cunningham. She’ll never be able to get rid of me.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. You won’t exist anymore. You won’t even be a memory. Nobody will know about Anthony Cross or the Vultures. You won’t even be a myth.”

He choked on his blood and spit it out. I could barely understand what he was saying but he kept insisting on talking.

“I die here and you’ll be in a world of hurt,” he said. “Why do you think I came to Ivory?”

“It doesn’t matter now. You won’t be leaving.”

“Someone’s coming for you that even I’m afraid of. And you won’t be able to get away.”

“I don’t care who’s coming for me. I’ve had people coming after me my entire life.”

“Not like this one. Not… Like… This one…”

He let out a slow cackle. He stared at me with his good eye, holding his stare despite the life slowly slipping out of him.

“You and me,” he said. “You and me… We’re the same. I shot your ride. You shot mine. I didn’t keep my word. Now you didn’t keep yours. You’re no better than me.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. My word is always good. I gave it to Michelle. I told her she wouldn’t have to worry about you ever again. And I’m staying true to my word.”

“She’ll never be safe. You’ll see soon enough.”

He let out a sigh and stared up at the sky. His body was growing weak. The resignation on his face was clear.

“I was never meant for this world,” he said. “It’s time for me to go home.”

He shifted his eyes back to me.

“I’ll save a spot for you, Cunningham.”

“I won’t be there. Not for a long time.”

“We’ll see about that.”

I dropped him onto the ground and let him lay there. He was using his last breaths just to laugh at me. All of the blood pouring around him told me there wasn’t much inside of him.

“Garnet.”

Ghost rode up next to me. When I looked at him, I let out a sigh like I’d been holding my breath this entire time. It was like Cross made me forget who I was and Ghost had to bring me back to reality.

“Truck’s loaded up,” he said. “Vultures are done. What about this one?”

He glanced down at Cross then held his piece out to me.

“You wanna finish him off?”

I looked at Cross for a second. He was still staring up at the sky like his soul was slowly heading toward it.

“Nah,” I said. “Let him suffer a little bit longer.”

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea. Somebody might be rolling around pretty soon—”

Ghost cut himself off when I looked at him. I didn’t have to say anything to make him understand. Even though nobody knew how personal this shit was with me, Ghost didn’t question it.

“All right,” Ghost said. “Let’s go, big boy.”

He grabbed Cross by the ankles just as the truck rolled up next to us. Brawn dumped Cross into a bag and zipped it up even though he was still breathing. He put him up next to the other bodies and bikes then slammed the trailer shut.

“Erase ‘em,” Ghost said.

Brawn, Needle and Sully escorted the truck back down the road. Ghost stayed next to me. I kept staring at the ground as my thoughts started to wander again.

“What’s wrong?” Ghost said. “You wanna hit the fucking road or what?”

“There’s—”

My phone suddenly vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out and looked at the number on it.

Shit.

“What is it?” Ghost asked.

I hesitated for a second before telling him.

“It looks like we’re not done tonight.”