Sixty One
Ayden
Heading down the highway towards Ash’s house in the Hamptons, I was forced to admit to myself I was nervous about meeting him alone out here. I wasn’t quite sure he’d forgiven me for the terrible things I’d done.
And let’s face it, I wouldn’t have forgiven me either.
Opening the sunroof, I allowed the warm September sun to stream in. My hair whipped around my eyes as I smelled the briny scent of the ocean. I was getting closer to the shore.
Finally, I pulled down the long private driveway to a huge house surrounded by trees. Black iron gates precluded any unwanted intruders from entering his property. Two letters ‘AB’ were set in script atop the iron gates.
A push button key pad set next to the gates.
“Who are you here to see?” An electronic voice boomed over the speaker.
“Ash.”
“Please enter your four digit code.”
Punching in the numbers Ash had provided me, I waited as the iron gates squeaked to life parting slowly.
I whistled to myself as I drove past the perfectly manicured lawn and shrubs. Ash really had it made. I wondered what it must’ve been like for him to grow up amid such opulence.
Something I’d never had.
Even though the same blood coursed through our veins, I never felt more distant from him. It was glaringly obvious we’d grown up in two very different worlds.
I pulled my car up next to his shiny black Aston Martin. A car befitting of a man like him. Sleek, shiny, and elite.
My Mercedes seemed cheap in comparison.
Like everything else about me. I sagged against my seat for a moment taking the time to arrange my windswept hair. Normally, I could’ve cared less what I looked like unless I was meeting a woman, but something about Ash always made me feel a bit…
Insecure.
I swallowed that word like bitter gall. As much as I wanted to get to know Ash, part of me loathed how he made me feel about myself. I’d gone to the University of Chicago and held a degree in business like he did, but compared to Harvard Business School….
“Are you Ayden?” A petite older woman wearing a blue maid’s uniform waved at me.
“Yes, I am.”
God, he had servants too! Gazing around, why would I have expected any less? This house must’ve been at least 10,000 square feet or more.
“Please come in. Mr. Blackthorne instructed me to give you a drink and have you set in the front salon. He’s on a call at the moment.” The kindly older woman showed me into the home.
Walking in, I was immediately surrounded in an insane amount of decadent décor. The floors were of the finest polished hardwood. My shoes squeaked as I walked across it. The spiraling staircase in the center of the foyer seemed to go on forever. I glanced up to see an immense crystal chandelier above my head.
Wow.
She opened the pocket doors to a huge room with an enormous stone fireplace. There was one solid wall of nothing but bookshelves littered with different leather bound books. A desk sat in the center of the room along with two deep red leather couches.
I sank into one as she handed me a glass of what I could only assume was Macallan.
“He’ll be right with you.” She smiled patting her gray hair.
I nodded.
Before leaving, she turned back to me. “I must say, Ayden, you are as handsome as your brother.” Her cheeks flushed red as she hurried out.
I laughed to myself. I’m sure that wouldn’t be the last time I’d hear that. I walked over to the bookshelves and studied some of the titles.
The 120 Days of Sodom. A curious title for him to have. I guess my brother was just as kinky as I was. Ash certainly loved to read, as there were tons of books. Turning my back to them, I looked over his desk.
The wood seemed quite old, antique even. It was an exquisite piece of furniture, but somewhat unlike Ash who seemed a bit more modern in his tastes.
Running my fingers over the top of it, I stopped to stare at the photo on the desk. It was a picture of Ash as a young boy maybe around twelve or so with an older very good looking man who I could only assume was his father.
Our father.
This had been his desk! I sat down in the leather executive chair. I brushed my fingers over the photograph. The resemblances between the three of us were strong. I could tell we both got our father’s penetrating hazel eyes and his dark brown hair. We were all three very tall and broad shouldered although I was more muscular than the both of them.
I felt a familiar longing within me. It was as though the veins in my arms throbbed with need. I touched one of my old track mark scars.
God, I wanted a fix so fucking bad.
The doors parted as Ash walked in. “Ayden, I see you’ve made yourself at home.”
Immediately, I stood up almost ashamed he’d caught me in an emotional moment. “Hi, Ash. Yeah, it’s a pretty nice place you’ve got here.” I laughed slightly.
He shrugged sipping his glass of Macallan. “It’ll do, I suppose.” He finished his glass and sat it down. He gestured for us to have a seat. “Look, Ayden, you probably wonder why I’d invite you out here.”
The thought had crossed my mind. “Of course.”
“It’s not because I’ve had some deep religious experience and decided to forgive you. It’s not that at all. I can never forgive you for what you did to Amber. You fucking terrorized her, Ayden.” His jaw clenched tightly as he glared at me.
“I know I did. And I’ve apologized repeatedly. There’s nothing I can do to take back what I did. But I am sorry. I was in a very bad place then. I’m not making excuses. I just wanted a chance to explain myself to you both.”
He nodded stiffly. “That’s why I asked you here, Ayden. Amber wants nothing to do with you. However, she knows I have a lot of unanswered questions about you and our parents. I want to give you a chance to explain yourself.”
I slapped my hands together and nodded. I flexed my muscles in my arms as I leaned forward. “Thank you, Ash.”
He leaned back crossing his ankle over his knee. “So, tell me, Ayden, what you want. What was life like with…our mother?”
I sighed deeply. “All I ever wanted was a normal life. When I first found out who you were and who my father was, I wanted to meet you both. It had nothing to do with the money. Although the thought of not having to just scrape by in life was appealing.”
“I admit growing up wealthy gave me an advantage most people don’t have. I can’t pretend I understand your struggles, but I can respect them.” His voice was so smooth like a radio announcer’s.
As I launched into my story, I felt myself falling back through time.
1999
I heard the front door swing open. Several footsteps then a loud crash as someone fell to the floor.
The fucking bitch was drunk again.
I rolled over in my bed and tried to pull the covers over my head.
“Ayden! Ayden!” Her drunken voice shattered all my hopes of a good night’s sleep. This was it. I’d had it! This was the fourth night this week she’d come home in the middle of the night. Chances were good that she had some loser with her. Flipping my light on, I grabbed a pair of jeans off the floor and my jacket.
I threw open my bedroom door and stomped down the hall.
There she was on the floor with some bald, overweight loser passed out on the floor next to her. She was struggling to stand up. “Ayden, please help me.” She kept trying to stand, but falling back onto the floor.
I shook my head with disgust. I grabbed a pair of shoes and stuffed my feet into them.
“Ayden, help me. Where ya goin?” She reached out to me. Her fingernails were broken and the skin on her arms was dark red.
I reached out to her.
She tried gripping my hand, but fell back again. “Ayden!” She cried her voice fading. She was going to pass out again.
I reached into her coat pocket looking for cash. I was nearly stabbed in the hand with a used syringe. I tossed it aside as I pulled out a wad of bills.
She must’ve been out turning tricks again, given the amount of cash she had on her. I was surprised she hadn’t spent it all on dope. Leaving her sprawled on the floor with her drunken companion for the evening, I turned to leave.
“Ayden, don’t leave! You’re my baby boy,” she cried tears further smearing her mascara. She reminded me of a broken doll.
“I’m out of here. I’m no one’s fucking baby!” I stormed out of the house slamming the door.
Walking out into the chilly night air, I wrapped my jacket around myself tightly. I had no idea where I was going, but I had to get away from her. This was the fourth night in a row she’d done gotten drunk, high, and brought some loser home with her. I couldn’t take it anymore.
I was only fourteen years old and I had never been out at night alone like this on the street. I was walking alongside the main drag when I spotted a girl I thought I knew from school. She was standing in the doorway of a dilapidated house.
“Hey!” I waved my arms over my head at her.
She motioned for me to cross the street.
Upon seeing her up close, I realized I didn’t know her.
“So, who are you? Do I know you?”
The girl was absolutely gorgeous. She eyed me up and down. She was a petite brunette with full, firm tits poking out from beneath her tight tank top. She slipped a cigarette in her mouth.
“Need a light?” I pulled my lighter from my jeans pocket.
“Sure, handsome.” She winked at me.
I leaned forward flicking the lighter on.
“Thanks. I haven’t seen you around here. Where you from?” She took a long drag on her cigarette. Her lips were full and sensual.
Leaning back against the brick wall, I kept my gaze on her.
“Nowhere.”
“Bullshit, everyone’s from somewhere.” She handed the cigarette to me.
I took it a long drag. I coughed a bit. I hated regular cigarettes.
Flicking the ash on the ground, I looked around the burned out house. The ceiling was caved in on one side. The furniture was soaked from recent rains and smelled heavily of mildew.
“So you don’t like to party much, huh?” She laughed as I coughed. I handed the cigarette back. Her fingernails were long and painted blood red.
“I do some.”
She rolled her eyes. “So, babe, what are you doing here? This place is a notorious junkie hangout. Why the fuck did you come then if you didn’t want to get high?” She tossed her butt on the floor crushing it with her high heeled boot.
I shrugged tossing my hair off of my face. “Who says I don’t like to have a good time? What do you have?” I stepped towards her towering over her. Even at the young age of fourteen, I stood near six feet tall. I looked much older than my actual age.
She smiled. I stared at her nipples hardening beneath her top. She was petite, but curvy with a tight round ass filling out the back of her jeans. Looking through her pockets, she pulled out several small rolled up plastic bags.“Some of the best shit around. I get it from Southie Sam.”
I nodded. I had absolutely no idea who Southie Sam was nor did I care. I just wanted to get high. I reached out to grab it from her.
Quickly, she slapped my hand away. “Hey, I don’t even know your name.”
“It’s Ayden. What’s yours?”
“Skylar.”
I nodded anxious to get my hands on one of those bags. It would serve my fucking mother right if I became a junkie just like her.
“I wasn’t going to just give it to you, Ayden. You got any money?”
I tossed two twenty dollar bills at her.
“That’ll do.” Skylar handed two bags to me.
Eagerly, I took the bags and raced over to the kitchen counter. It was covered in filth. Taking my sleeve, I wiped an area clean and proceeded to dump the contents out. Reaching into my pocket, I grabbed another bill.
“What the hell are you doing?” Skylar looked perplexed.
“I’m going to do a line. What do you think I’m doing?”
Her tits jiggled as she laughed. “Dummy, it’s not coke. It’s smack. Don’t you know the difference?”
I shrugged pretending I did. I’d only ever done cocaine I’d never tried anything else. “You can still snort it.”
“Yeah, but this is so much better!” She reached into a dingy red bag and pulled out a spoon, rubber tube, and syringe.
“Oh, fuck no, I’m not shooting up.” I held my hands up. I’d do lines of coke left and right, but shooting up that was a whole other game.
“Don’t be a pussy, Ayden. Besides, you’re hot. I’d like to get to know you better.” She placed the items in front of me. Skylar pulled her top off revealing her tits.
My mouth watered. I was still a virgin.
But hopefully Skylar would change that.
Besides, how bad could smack be?
“Do it up,” I commanded. With ease, she sat up fixing up the syringe. She slipped the tube around my arm tapping for my vein. When she found one, she plunged the needle into my arm. Immediately, as she pushed down on the plunger I felt myself in orbit. I fell back on the hardwood floor gazing up at the ceiling. I couldn’t move. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. The feeling was indescribable. All the pain I’d been feeling seemed to melt away. Skylar knelt beside me as she pushed off right next to me. She curled up beside me as I closed my eyes savoring the delicious feeling.
This was better than pot.
Better than cocaine.
Better than anything I’d ever felt.
And I never wanted it to end.
Ash stared at me as I spoke. I could tell he wasn’t moved by this brief tale. I sighed. I knew that would all change when I told him everything that had happened to me.
A year passed, every morning I’d stop by the liquor store on my way to school and grab a pint of vodka or gin whichever was cheaper. By the time I’d walked the three blocks to school, the bottle would be empty. Then, at lunch, my friends and I would sneak off campus and spend the day getting high and playing with girls.
I managed to stay away from needles since that night. Smack had given me the most intense high I’d ever had, but I’d watched my mom get too fucked up on it. I didn’t really want to become like her. I told myself just that one time didn’t count. I stuck to snorting coke and smoking weed.
Finally, one fateful night my mother stumbled into the house around 3 AM. I had just gotten home myself. I was lying in bed when I heard the door slam.
Walking downstairs, I saw her sitting at the table with a needle stuck in her arm. She was just about to push the plunger down.
Instantly, I raced towards her and jerked the needle out of her arm.
“Ayden! What the hell are you doing?” She screamed. Her blue eyes were bloodshot. Heavy alcohol fumes poured from her mouth as she spoke.
Ignoring her, I took the balloon of heroin and dumped it out in the sink. I turned on the faucet watching the white powder wash down the drain.
My mother went crazy grabbing at my arms scratching me with her long nails. “Ayden! How could you? My God, what have you done?” She screeched frantically trying to scoop the remnants of the powder out of the sink.
“What I should’ve done a long time ago, Mother, dear. You’re fucking killing yourself!”
She collapsed to the floor howling in anguish. “Ayden, you’re insane! Don’t you that was everything I had? I’m sick! I need it!” She began to bang her head against the cabinets.
I stared at her in disbelief. “I’ve fucking had it, Mom. I’m out of here. I’m not going to watch you die anymore.”
Turning away from her, I rushed up the stairs. I grabbed my backpack and stuffed it full of clothes. Running back down the stairs, I found her digging through her purse searching for more dope, no doubt. “Bye, Mom.” I pushed past her towards the kitchen door.
She threw herself at me. “Ayden, you get back here! You’re not going anywhere! You’re only fifteen years old. What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” She grabbed my wrist attempting to pull me back towards the living room.
Giving her a violent shove, I moved away from her.
“No, Ayden! Get back here. You’re my son! You’re all I have!” Brokenly, she began to sob. Her faded pink dress was falling off her thin shoulders. Long, nasty track marks decorated her arms. Her skin was a sickly shade of gray. I knew she’d been out turning tricks again and shooting dope.
Fucking disgusting.
“I’m supposed to stay because you’re my mother? Are you fucking kidding me? Have you ever been a real mother to me? Tell me, Mom, when all the kids at school were talking about what their parents bought them for Christmas what was I supposed to say? Nothing, my mom spent all her money on dope! Or when I was in the school play in fifth grade and everyone’s mother was there to cheer their kids on and I was the only kid without anyone there. Were you a mother then? Where the fuck have you been the past fifteen years?” I spat my words at her. My fists clenched around my backpack tightly.
Her sickly gray skin paled. She shuddered, as my words must’ve cut her at least somewhat. “Ayden, I admit I haven’t always done right by you, but you’re my son and I love you.”
I watched as her eyes became more unfocused and glassy. Hell, she was probably about to pass out now. “Fuck it, Mom, I’m done watching you throw your life away. I’m done listening to you fuck some loser in the next room. I’m done….with you!” I pushed past her towards the door.
In an instant, she hurled herself through the air at me. She crashed at my feet and wrapping her arms around my legs.
“Ayden, you’re all I have left. I’ll try to do better, I promise!”
I rolled my eyes. I’d heard it all before. Things never changed. “Sorry, Mom, it won’t work this time. I’m leaving.”
“Ayden, please, you’re the only son I have left!” She sobbed curling her fingers around my ankles.
The only son she had left? Had she ever had another? “Who’s my dad, Mom? I can go live with him.” I knew that would enrage her.
“Your father? Fat chance of that happening. He’s a cheating bastard!” She screamed as she rolled over on the floor. She scrambled to her feet. “You want to know who your dad is so badly, Ayden? Watch the fucking news sometime.”
What?
“What the hell do you mean? You always said he was dead or that you couldn’t remember who he was. Fuck, Mom, get your story straight!”
She snorted. “Oh yes, Ayden, I know exactly who he is and where he is. But you’ll never know if you leave.” She smiled sadistically.
At that point, I no longer cared. It didn’t make any difference to me at all who my father was. I just wanted to get away from her. “I’m done, Mom. Goodbye.”
I threw open the door and walked out into the night. I could hear her screaming all the way down the block. I didn’t care. I was just glad to be gone.
Ash looked at me incredulously.
“Really, Ayden? A bit dramatic, don’t you think? You expect me to believe that?”
I ran my hands through my hair. “Ash, it’s the truth. You know what a psycho bitch she is. How can you blame me for wanting to get away from her?”
As I hit the streets for real, I gradually sank into despair. I was shooting up multiple times a day.
Slipping a needle full of heroin into my vein felt better than sinking deep inside a hot tight pussy. There was no comparison. The rush that exploded in my body after hitting that plunger pushing the liquid into my veins was like nothing else. I couldn’t get enough. For the next two years, I lived on the streets sleeping in flop houses and doing anything I could to score my next fix. It was the only thing I cared about.
“Hey sexy,” the hot blonde next to me on the sunken couch eyed the full needle I was about to push off with. As soon as the dope hit my veins, sex would be the last thing on my mind. I just liked to ride the high. I’d done so much it took a lot to get me high.
And cost a lot more money too.
“Go away,” I growled at her as I hit the plunger. In mere seconds, I went from down in the depths of despair to soaring on cloud nine.
“Wow. I’ve never seen anyone push off that fast!” I could hear her voice, but the words didn’t make sense to me. I fell back on the couch and closed my eyes.
Hours maybe days passed, I awoke to exploding pain in my head and her mouth on my cock. She wasn’t quite so hot now that I was sober, but her mouth felt incredible. I grabbed her head and bounced it up and down my cock. The house was infested with bugs and one raced across my foot.
That did it. I lost my erection immediately.
“Get off me,” I stood up and pulled my jeans on.
“Out with it, Ayden. You’ve wasted two hours of my time going on and on about your struggle with heroin. I can appreciate that must’ve been painful, but nothing that’s happened to you excuses what you did to Amber.”
“Oh, I know that, Ash, and if you thought that’s why I’m telling you my story you’re wrong. I just wanted you to know.”
Ash stood up and poured himself a glass of water. He handed me one as well. He walked over to the enormous picture window overlooking the ocean.
“So, how did you get sober, Ayden? Based on what you told me, you’d been using for years. What stopped you?”
Gulping down the water, I leaned back on the sofa. I felt the veins in my arms pulsate. “First, let me tell you about the time our father came to see me in prison.”
Ash’s eyes grew wide. “Yes, Clayton mentioned that. I guess that must’ve been a surprise to you.”
“You have no idea, Ash.”
“Visitor’s call! Line up! Andrews, Butler, Cody, Connors, Davis, Donovan, Marks, Nightshade, Owens, Phillips, Warren, Yardley.”
I rolled over in my bunk.
“Hey, Donovan! Wake the fuck up! You got a visitor.” The burly guard banged his club against my bunk.
“What? Who the hell is it?” I hadn’t had a visitor since I’d been here.
“Do you think I give a shit? Get out here now or you lose visiting privileges.”
I stumbled out of my bunk. I ran my hands through my hair and jumped into line.
“Donovan, since when do you get visitors?” Davis, a heavily tattooed burly guy who was doing life for murdering his ex-wife, asked standing next to me.
I shrugged. I’d been in here exactly nine months to the day.
“You got some hot piece of ass coming to see you?” Another inmate who was in there for sexual assault asked me. Ignoring him, I continued walking. The guard roughly shoved me towards the visiting room.
The gray walls of the prison seemed to rise up all around me.
I shuffled down the hall to the visitor’s booth. I sat down on the stool looking down at metal counter. No one was there yet.
A man dressed in an expensive Italian suit sat down across from me. At first, I didn’t recognize him.
Initially, I thought it was my attorney. Perhaps the appeal had come through.
He motioned at me to pick up the phone. “Ayden?”
His voice. Oh my God. “Ashler?”
His eyes, so like my own, gazed at me. The corners of his mouth turned up in a smile. His dark brown hair nearly black was streaked with a touch of silver. “I was hoping you’d call me Dad.”
I nearly fell off the stool. Never in my wildest dreams did I think he’d come.
I opened my mouth to talk, but no words came out. I was stunned.
He laughed at my astonishment.
Finally, I found my voice again. “How did you know I was here?”
“It wasn’t hard. I had my attorney do a little digging. When I read about your alleged crimes online, I knew I had to find a way to see you.”
My mind was still reeling .“How did they let you in to see me? You usually have to be on an approved visiting list.”
He smiled and shrugged. “That’s one of the perks of being a Blackthorne. Money talks.”
I smirked. I’m sure it was nice. I wouldn’t know.
“If you’re upset that I came, I can always leave. I didn’t mean to cause you any distress.” Ashler looked down.
Shaking my head, I held the phone tightly. I still couldn’t believe he was here. “I’m glad you came. No one’s been in here to see me since I got here.”
“Not even Debra?”
I shook my head. “She’d be the last person they’d let in. She couldn’t make to see me without getting high first.”
“It’s still bad with her? I knew she was using some when she was with me.”
I nodded. “Oh yeah, wasn’t a night that went by she wasn’t drunk or high. It’s been like since I was old enough to remember.”
Ashler looked pained. “I had no idea it was that bad, Ayden. That must’ve been very hard for you.” His hazel eyes reflected compassion.
“It is what is. Nothing I can do about it. She’ll never change. That’s why I left a long time ago.”
“I know we don’t have much time here, Ayden, but I wanted to apologize for the way I treated you the first time you came to see me. It was quite a shock to hear that I had another son I knew nothing about. I knew Debra had been cheating on me, so I didn’t know if I could trust you were really mine. But just looking at you confirms it for me.”
Amazed, I couldn’t stop smiling. This was all I had ever wanted since I’d came to New York.
“Ayden, I know you’re here for a pretty serious crime. That concerns me. The stalking of that young woman was terrible to say the least.”
“I know, Ashler. I never meant to hurt her. In case you didn’t realize it, I am, was an addict.” I held out my scarred arms for him to see.
His eyes looked sad. “I’m sorry, Ayden.”
“It’s no excuse, I know. I’ve been working hard since I’ve been in here to try and live my life differently, to acknowledge my mistakes.”
“That sounds great.”
“Five minutes!” the guard shouted.
Ashler looked down at his watch. “Ayden, I know you have a three year sentence. I’ve got some attorneys that can try and help you. I want you to get out of here as soon as possible.”
“Why?”
“Because I feel I’m partly to blame for why you’re here. Your mother was a disaster and I’ve never been a part of your life. I want to change that. I want us to have a relationship. I want you to come and work for me after you’re released.”
My eyes misted. This was more than I’d ever dreamed. I couldn’t believe he was really here. The father I’d always wanted.
“And you must meet Ashton. Why, it’s a shame two brothers have been kept apart their entire lives.”
I didn’t let him know that I’d seen Ash a few times when I’d picked Amber up from work. “I’d like that.”
“One minute!”
“Well, Ayden, it looks like our time is up. I hope we can start to build some kind of relationship. That would mean a lot to me.” He smiled at me.
He looked so warm and kind. I wanted to hug him.
But the glass was between us.
I placed my hand on the glass. Ashler stared a moment and then placed his there against mine.
“Thank you for coming.”
He smiled at me.
“Dad.”
Ash looked at me stunned. His normally tanned face was dead white. “When did that happen?” he whispered.
“June 2015.”
Ash bit his lip and looked down.
“Can you imagine my heartbreak when I received word he passed in December?”
“No, I can’t. I was devastated myself.”
“Did he ever mention me to you?”
Ash shook his head.
Night had begun to fall and darkness seeped in all around us.
“So, after I heard he was gone, I lost it. I didn’t give a shit what happened to me. I had been keeping my nose clean and following all the rules. After Dad died, I decided fuck it, what did I have to live for?”
Ash looked down at his phone. “Shit, Ayden, I’ve got a major crisis with work. It can’t wait. Can you come back tomorrow?” He ran his hands through his hair.
I shrugged. I really wanted to finish telling him everything. “Sure, that’s fine.”
“Do you mind coming back out here tomorrow? Or I can meet you in the city?” Ash stood to leave.
“Here is fine. I enjoy the drive. After being cooped up in prison, anytime I get to get out and about is fine with me.”
“Should we say 11 AM?”
I nodded.
As I drove back to the city, I thought about my last year in prison.
The last year in prison had been the hardest. I had gotten a new cellmate, a guy named Sinister Cayne. Like his name, he was an intimidating, imposing guy. He was a hugely muscled, heavily tattooed type. His dark hair was buzzed short and he sported a goatee. He had two deep scars on his forehead. I couldn’t help but wonder what caused them. Sinister also had several MC tattoos and one that meant he killed someone. Most of the inmates gave him a wide berth, but that was going to be difficult for me as he was my cellmate.
“So, Donovan, I hear you’re about to be released soon.” He asked one day as I was arriving back from lunch.
“Yep. Don’t know where I’m going though.”
Sinister ran his hands through his short hair. His arms had track marks too. “I know what you mean. The MC I ran with has it out for me now. Can’t really go back there if you know what I mean.”
I nodded. Before meeting Sinister, I felt like I was hard core, but Sinister was the real deal. “Who’s your MC?” I casually asked.
Sinister stood up from his bunk and lifted the sleeve of his long thermal t shirt up. “The Sons of Brotherhood. We used to have ties to the Aryan Brotherhood. We ran out West mostly.”
Hopping off my bunk, I studied his tattoo carefully. It was well done with a ‘1488’ with a skull and crossbones beneath it and the words, ‘Brothers in Blood’ “What did you run?”
He shrugged pulling his sleeve back down. “Mostly guns, but meth, smack, you name it.”
I nodded impressed.
“They don’t call it the wild west for nothing. I could get anything out there. Women-had them lined up and gorgeous ones too. Drugs, assault weapons, anything I wanted. I could make a call and have it in hours.”
“Sounds like a sweet deal. So what happened to get you in here?”
He laughed. “This ain’t my first rodeo that’s for sure. I’ve been doing time on and off, since I was 15. But this time was the worst. See, every person in the Brotherhood has a job to do. Mine was murder.”
I had to control myself to keep from looking shocked. Showing astonishment in here could easily be misinterpreted as fear.
And to show fear showed weakness.
“Who did you kill?” I asked the question despite my knowing that it was best not to ask something like that.
He smirked. “It wasn’t like that. I was a contract killer. Murder for hire. I only killed those I felt had a good reason for hiring me. The Brotherhood wasn’t as selective as I was. They only wanted the money. The hit I was supposed to do went wrong.”
I sucked in my breath. I tried not to look too alarmed.
Sinister seemed to be off in his own world. He leaned against the concrete wall. “Some fucker wanted me to off his old lady. Said she was cheating on him with some other guy. I said that wasn’t reason enough to do it. Told the Brotherhood that too. But the guy had given them $50k to have it done. The Brotherhood, they try to tell you it’s all about blood taking care of blood, all that shit, but in the end it’s all about the fucking money. So, I started following the guy’s old lady. Turned out she was a petite, gorgeous little thing. I even talked to her one night at a bar even though I wasn’t supposed to. She was one of the nicest women I’d ever met. After following her for weeks, I never saw her with another guy.”
Sinister sighed as he leaned his head back on the wall.
“But what I did see was the guy fucking some other chick at a rundown motel. Turned out, he wanted his wife gone so that he didn’t have to pay child support. I told the Brotherhood I wanted off the job. Told them no way in hell would I kill an innocent woman. Chain told me I had no choice. If I didn’t do it, I was out. And if you know anything about outlaw MCs, you know you just don’t leave. They fucking kill you. I didn’t have anywhere else to go and I figured if I didn’t do it someone else would.”
I stopped him as I stood up to get a sip of water. This was the most intense story I’d heard since I’d been on the inside and I’d heard plenty of stories.
“Anyway, I thought I could do it gently. Make sure she didn’t suffer any. So, on the night I was supposed to do it her idiot husband was supposed to be out of town. The guy had left the back door unlocked so I could get in. I was planning to just put a bullet in the back of her head. Quick and easy and get out. But I made a lot of mistakes that night.”
I sank down on the tiny chair in the room. “What did you do?”
He rubbed his chin. “Well, I got high for one thing. I never did a job high, but this one was going to be tough, so I shot up before I left. Bad idea number one. Then, the door wasn’t unlocked like it was supposed to be, so I had to break in. Bad idea number two. Smashing the glass, I crept upstairs. I had a silencer on the 9 mm so I figured it would be easy to do it and get out. Well, the glass shattering must have woken up her little girl. Just as I opened the master bedroom, a tiny girl around five years old sneaked up behind me.”
Oh my God. I wondered if he’d shot the kid.
“I spun around as soon as I heard her voice. I turned and ran back down the stairs. It was too late though. I heard sirens screaming all around me. The neighbors had called the cops. As soon as I got back down to the living room, a guy was standing there waiting for me with a .45 pointed at my head. He ordered me to drop it. I didn’t. He cocked his gun. I shot him once between the eyes killing him instantly.”
My eyes widened, but I tried not to look too impressed.
He shrugged. “So, basically, I fucked up. The Sons of Brotherhood has a saying: ‘God forgives, the Brotherhood doesn’t’. My arrest alerted the guy’s wife to his murder plot. The Brotherhood lost the money and the guy was tried for conspiracy. All of this shit brought heat down on them which they didn’t want. So now they put a hit out on me.”
I sat stunned. I thought I had it rough.
“So, I’ve been here now for twelve years. Just got transferred out of max. My attorney thinks there’s a chance I might get out sooner than expected.”
“That’s good.”
“I don’t know. I’ve been here a long time. Kind of used to it. Several guys in max were part of my old MC. Tried to kill me a few times, too. What saved me is that AB had a falling out with the Brotherhood, so they gave me some protection against them. But due to max getting overcrowded they sent me down here.”
I didn’t exactly feel safe sharing a room with a guy like Sinister, but over time, he turned out to be an all right guy.
After several months, I got accustomed to prison life. It wasn’t that unlike some of the group homes I’d lived been in when I was in foster care. I was doing my time and keeping my nose pretty clean. I learned which guys to avoid and who to befriend.
Although in prison, the unwritten rule is ‘Trust no one’.
I only had about a year left on my sentence, but I’d grown lax about watching my own back. Several Los Zetas cartel members had been moved to my unit with ties to Tico. I’d mentioned to Sinister I’d ripped off a Mexican drug dealer in Chicago, so he advised me to keep a close eye out for them.
One day, I was in the shower when I noticed all the other guys started leaving as soon as the LZ guys approached the shower area. Immediately, I looked around for anything to defend myself with, but there was nothing. I knew better than to get caught alone in the shower. Up until that point, I’d never really been involved in any altercations since being locked up.
But that was about to change.
“Hey, you’re the guy who ripped our boy, Tico off,” one of the bigger guys said as a group of five LZ member surrounded me.
I held up my hands. “That was a long time ago.”
“We don’t care you little bitch. You run around with that big guy from the Brotherhood, don’t you?”
The whole group stared me down. They were covered in tattoos and flexing their muscles.
I’d been in here long enough to know how to fight. If it had been just one of them, I’d have jumped in with both fists swinging, but there were five of them and just one of me.
My eyes darted around looking for a way out. I knew if they jumped me, they’d likely kill me.
Or worse.
In prison, there are things worse than death. Being assaulted like a bitch is one of them.
“We’re gonna teach you not to fuck with Los Zetas!” They each balled up their fists as one guy jumped behind me.
I swung at him hitting him squarely in the jaw. He fell backwards as the rest of them fell upon me.
Then, out of nowhere, a huge hand reached down and pulled one of the guys up. He jerked back his head and thrust a shank deep into his neck.
Blood spurted everywhere as the Mexican guy fell onto the floor clutching his neck.
“Anyone else?”
It was Sinister!
The other guys gaped at their dying friend as they contemplated what to do next.
“You want to jump my friend? Come on, you fucking pricks, take us both on!”
They looked at each other and turned away.
“Aw, you ain’t shit, man.”
“Let’s get out of here.”
Sinister waved the shank at them. “That will teach you not to fuck with the Brotherhood.”
We both looked down at the guy bleeding to death on the floor.
Sinister spat on him. “Fucking Prick.”
I marveled at him. He saved my life. I never expected him to have my back. After that, we watched out for each other. When I was released, I never thought I’d see him again.
But like most times in my life, I was wrong.