Chapter 24

EZRA

“I figured suits are the only thing you own.”

“Just because I prefer suits doesn’t mean I don’t have other clothes.”

“Yeah, but, those suits are expensive. You’re rich. You dressing in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt… It makes you look… not rich.”

“Rich people own enough clothes that they could afford all kinds of clothes. Even clothes that make them look not rich.”

Hunter smirked at me and shrugged his shoulders. It was easy to understand why some of the other club members called him Joker. Now wasn’t the time for jokes though. There was nothing he or anybody else could do to make me lose my focus.

“Do you got it?” I said.

“Yeah, I got it,” he said. “Right here.”

He held the large duffel bag in his hand up.

“Secure?”

“Hey, you’re not the only man who’s ever had to walk around with this kind of money. Trust me. A single dollar won’t fall out of this thing. You know, it’d be even better if the money inside was—”

“Not now. They’re coming.”

I held my hand up and cut him off when I heard the rumbling in the distance. Hunter stood on one side and on the other was Aden.

The former boxer clenched his fists hard enough that his knuckles cracked. Even if I didn’t already know about his past, it was easy to tell he used to beat the shit out of people for a living.

“You ready for this?” I asked.

Aden turned to me, an eyebrow raised like he was offended I’d even asked him.

The loud rumble of the bikes in the distance grew louder. The headlights moving down the road shined bright until they were right in front of me. The engines stopped and the lights shut off with only the moonlight to make the punks in front of me visible.

Ellis hopped off his bike along with the rest of his men.

“I got your message,” he said. “Thanks for picking a spot out in the middle of nowhere in the desert.”

“I needed to pick a place where we won’t be interrupted,” I replied.

“I also don’t have to look very far to find a spot to bury you.”

He looked at Hunter and Aden.

“Where’s the rest of your crew?” he said. “There were a couple of others with you, I remember—”

“Don’t worry about them. Even if they were here, you’d still outnumber us.”

“That’s true. Can’t blame ‘em for tucking tail and being a couple of pussies.”

He walked toward me and put his hands behind his back.

“So, Grant? How do you wanna do this? I can make it simple for you. Quick and clean. No mess. You won’t feel a thing. Or I can make it miserable. What’s it gonna be?”

“I have a proposal for you.”

“A proposal?”

“That’s right. I think you’ll agree to it.”

“And what would that be?”

“My friend here…”

I patted Aden on the arm.

“…I’ll put him against any one of your men. One on one. He wins, I want answers.”

“Answers?”

“I don’t know what you think of me, Ellis, but I’m not an idiot. You’re not fucking with me for no reason.”

He grinned at me and stroked his beard as he sized Aden up.

“And what if my man wins? What do I get?”

I looked at Hunter.

“You sure about this?” Hunter said.

I gave him a nod.

“All right…” he sighed.

Hunter walked forward and dropped the duffel bag in front of Ellis.

“What’s that?” Ellis said with a shrug.

“It’s half a million dollars. Cash.”

“Ha! You expect me to believe that—”

Hunter zipped the bag open and showed him the stacks of bills. Ellis peered down into it and his demeanor changed quickly.

“You beat my man here and it’s yours,” I said. “That seems fair, doesn’t it?”

Ellis glared at me. I wasn’t about to back down from him no matter how hard he tried to intimidate me.

“And what’s stopping me from taking you all out right now and walking away with the cash?”

“That’s stopping you.”

I raised my hand up and pointed right at him. He looked down just as the red dot appeared on his chest. Another red dot appeared on one of his men behind him.

“High-powered, black-market, military-grade rifles,” I said. “Courtesy of a man I know in the city. I’ve seen ‘em in action. Have you ever seen a brick wall turn into dust? I wonder what it’d do to skin and bone…”

Ellis looked more pissed than he’d ever been.

“I’m not interested in killing you,” I said. “But I want answers. I’m offering you a chance to get out.”

Stay calm…

I did my best to maintain my composure. Even though I knew Ellis didn’t have a choice, this was far from over.

“Max!” Ellis shouted as he eyeballed Aden. “Kick this motherfucker’s ass.”

Sebastian and Roman were far away, their weapons trained on Ellis as he backed away. The biggest motherfucker in his club took his place and stepped forward. Some long-haired punk with tattoos all along his arms and neck. If it wasn’t Aden who had to fight him, I almost would’ve been concerned.

Aden gave me a nod before stepping forward. He cracked his knuckles in his palm and started circling the man in front of him.

“Kill this asshole,” Ellis muttered. “The sooner you finish him, the sooner we walk away a whole lot richer.”

Max rushed forward and screamed. The big oaf was a lot faster than he looked. He managed to catch Aden in the ribs. My breath caught in my throat for a second. Ellis noticed it and smirked.

All of the Rebels were cheering but the punch didn’t do much. Aden gave me a wink then put his fists up. The next punch Max threw, Aden was ready. He swiftly ducked out of the way and countered with a right cross. The sound of bone and flesh crunching from the blow was frightening.

Max immediately fell to one knee, his mouth bloodied. Aden backed away but Max refused to stay down. He roared as he got back up to his feet, spitting the blood from his mouth. He raised both arms up and tried to wrap them around Aden but again Aden was too fast. A swift uppercut knocked Max’s head back and rolled his eyes back in his head.

Aden looked at me. I gave him a nod then he advanced forward. He stood over Max, who was trying to maintain consciousness at this point. The big man pushed his fists into the ground and tried to get up but Aden ended it quickly with another swift right hand.

“Fuck this!” Ellis shouted. “Get him!”

As soon as Max hit the ground, the rest of the Rebels tried to pounce on Aden.

“Shit,” I muttered.

I moved forward with Hunter and got into it with the Rebels.

They outnumbered us but that wasn’t gonna stop us from fighting back. Aden did more than enough to hold his ground. Hunter did the same.

I was getting into it with one of the Rebels when another one of them wrapped their arms around me and tackled me to the ground.

Ellis was on top of me, throwing his fists at me. Every punch that collided with my head put me in a daze.

Fuck…

I wasn’t afraid of dying. Ellis couldn’t do anything to hurt me. The red dot on his chest was what worried me. All Sebastian had to do was line up a good shot and that would be the end of it.

Come on!

I had to stop this before anything else happened.

Ellis raised both fists and screamed at me through gritted teeth.

“Motherfucker—”

Just as he swung, I moved my head out of the way. With all of my strength, I pushed myself up to my feet and rolled him off of me. He was in enough of a daze that I could capitalize. I hammered him across the chin with a right hand then knocked him down to the ground. A quick glance was all I needed to see that he wasn’t getting back up.

“You all right?”

Hunter grabbed me by the arm and helped me back up to my feet.

“I’m fine,” I said.

I dusted myself off as I looked around. Hunter and Aden had taken care of the rest of the club. They groaned on the ground, writhing in agony. If that wasn’t bad enough, Sebastian and Roman still had their weapons trained on them from a distance.

“They’re clean,” Aden said. “Got their weapons.”

“Good,” I said.

There was only one thing left to do.

I took a knee down next to Ellis.

“Hey.”

I slapped him across the face to get him out of the slumber I’d put him in.

“Hey!”

I kept tapping his cheek until he finally started to come to.

“Now what?” he said. “You gonna kill me?”

“I never said I was gonna kill you. I said all I want are answers.”

“You’re not gonna get ‘em.”

“Why? You afraid that someone’s gonna come after you?”

“Ha! I’m not afraid anybody. Nah… I ain’t scared. I’m just a man of my word.”

I narrowed my eyes at him.

“What are you talking about?” I said.

“I was hired to do a job. I’m just seeing it through.”

“And you’re not gonna tell me because of that?”

“You’re damn right.”

Shit…

I had Ellis right where I wanted him but he wasn’t willing to talk. I only had one shot at this.

“You were hired for a job,” I said. “You were paid to fuck with me.”

“Smart guy,” Ellis sighed. “Honestly though, I would’ve fucked with you even if I wasn’t paid. Motherfucker riding around on his hog in a suit… Disrespectful.”

“Listen. I’ll make you a deal.”

“You can’t make a deal with me—”

“That 500 grand. It’s yours. You can have it.”

“Ezra!” Hunter said. “What the fuck are you—”

“It’s yours,” I cut him off.

“And why the hell would you do that?” Ellis said.

“Because you’re gonna give me the answers I want. Then you’re gonna leave Ivory for good. I figure that kind of money can go a long way for you.”

Ellis glared at me. Despite how pissed he was, he didn’t have much of a choice.

“Take the money and give me my answers,” I said. “It’s the only way you’ll be able to walk out of this. Don’t let your pride get in the way of doing what’s best for you and your club. My money is just as good as the other assholes who paid you.”

“…I have your word?”

I nodded without hesitating.

Ellis sat up where he was and sighed. He looked around at the rest of his club, each member still out of it.

“I didn’t get paid to kill you,” he said. “Just to fuck you up. Beat you around. Put a scare into you.”

“Who was it? Some of the drug lords working in Ivory?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. Not from around here. Some asshole in a suit.”

“This asshole in a suit… He got a name.”

“Silver.”

I blinked my eyes in confusion.

“Jamie Silver?” I said.

“That’s right.”

“Why would he—”

“I don’t know. When a man pays the kind of money he did, I don’t ask questions. And since you’re paying me that kind of money, I answered.”

“If you’re lying to me.”

“I’m a man of my word, Grant. Now… You gonna have your boys shoot me?”

“Nah… I’m a man of my word.”

I stood up straight and looked down at Ellis.

“Honor your word,” I said. “Get on your rides and leave Ivory. Don’t ever come back.”

“With the kind of money you gave us, there’s no point in staying in a shithole like this.”

Ellis got up from his seat just as the rest of his MC started to stir. Sebastian and Roman kept their weapons trained on them as they all got onto their bikes. Ellis took his duffel bag of cash and gave me one last look. The disdain he usually had was gone. He gave me a nod before revving his engine and finally driving away.

“I can’t believe it,” Hunter said. “Shit, you just let that motherfucker walk away with 500,000 dollars.”

“Him and his crew are nomads. It was the only way to get through to him. Besides, it’s dirty money. I’m better off without it. I made a promise to someone…”

“At least you got the answers you were looking for,” Aden said. “Now what?”

“Now?”

I sighed knowing that this still wasn’t over. But the hard part was out of the way.

I pulled my phone out and started dialing.

“Get Sebastian and Roman,” I said to the two men next to me. “It’s time to finish this.”