Jason
It’s almost as if the ominous rainclouds are foreshadowing my future.
I know. That’s really pretty fucking deep – coming from me.
I decided to take a ride on my Harley despite the oncoming storm. The bike is fairly new and I have to break her in.
I love this time by myself.
It's just me, the highway, and nature underfoot.
Riding clears my head like nothing else does, and I need this today with all the talk of war, and of course with Zeva on my mind.
Don’t get me wrong. I've fucked girls before when other guys were there.
Hell, I've shared women too. Threesomes? Done that. Even a fucking foursome before.
But never in my wildest fucking thoughts did I imagine to be in this position with my two closest pals of actually loving a woman.
The feeling is new. The territory is as of yet undiscovered. I’m not used to loving somebody and I try to stay away from it, but something about Zeva makes me want to try. She pulls a certain vulnerability out of me that I never thought was even there, and that vulnerability makes me weak in a certain way because suddenly it's not just my life I care about, it's hers too. I want her to know that she can depend on me. I'll always be here. She will not lose me to war, or battle, or violence of any kind.
Of course there are no guarantees in this life but what I can offer her is my best attempt to stay safe.
The ride clears my head enough to get past Zeva and to reflect on wars past.
She has a right to be concerned given that her dad, the toughest son-of-a-bitch I have ever known went down in flames. It seems like a tragedy. A vain kind of death.
I know she's sensitive to this life now that that's happened but she also grew up in it and she must know how hard it is to leave.
Rays of the sun peek through the rain clouds and the sky is painted in the most incredible colors of orange and pink.
It's a sunset I'd like to show Zeva and I hope that somewhere she is seeing it too.
What the fuck is happening to me?
That’s when I realize.
That’s fucking love.
I’ve said it before, I told her I loved her as I looked into her eyes…but only now does it become real.
Just then another rider comes up behind me. He revs his engine in aggression and then swerves past me. I see him take off but not before I catch sight of the emblem on his bike.
I know that sign.
He's a member of the fucking Iron Legion.
It's starting.
I can almost feel the air shift to one permeable tension. If there's one, there's many.
I decide to follow him to get a sightline of where he might be going, where's he's staying, maybe even find more of his gang.
I follow discreetly at a slow pace. He probably knows I'm there behind him but if he does he doesn't let on.
He pulls up the diner, one of our favorite haunts and I pull up right beside him. He waits for me there on the sidewalk. We stare each other down.
"What are you doing man? Following me?" he asks with venom in his voice.
"Well, I spotted your little tag there,” I say. “Kind of hard to miss. You're one of them."
"I don't know what you're talking about." He tries to slide past me.
"Not so fast." I push him back. And then I grab his collar and slam him up against the brick. "What the fuck are you doing here? Tell me now."
"Nothing man. It's none of your business alright? Leave me the fuck alone."
He runs into my torso but it's all rock solid abs under there so I think he hurts himself more than he hurts me.
I grab his neck and put him in a headlock.
The time for games is over. I need answers.
“Tell me who you are and what you are doing here. Where's the rest of them?"
I'm choking him out and he finally answers. "Alright, I'm with The Iron Legion okay?"
I squeeze harder.
"I already know that now tell me the rest."
"Okay," he says through choked breath. "I'm their scout. I'm just checking things out that's all."
"So you're one of them?" I ask.
"Yes," he croaks this last word before he pushes into me with all of his weight. I fall to the ground and we're wrestling. I get a nice position on top and take the liberty of smashing his face into the pavement. He's bloodied and bruised but I don't give a fuck. He's lucky that I stopped before I killed him.
"Now go back to your buddies and show them what I have to your face and you can tell them that that is what they have coming if any one of them steps foot inside of our territory,” I command. I don’t hide the danger in my voice. “Got it?"
His bloody face looks like a warning. I want them to see what I have done to their so-called scout. I've been against the war but the adrenalin is pumping through my veins and just seeing one gang member enter our turf gets my blood boiling. I recognize the threat. I see what might go down.
If they're scouting the area then they are definitely not passing through.
They are on a mission to pulverize and we have to stop them at all costs. I'm possessive about two things, Zeva and my territory.
Both of these things must stay safe.
And no matter how hard I want to avoid war…
War doesn’t want to avoid me.