What the fuck is this shit? Since when do we take in strays like this?
Damion looks back at his brother. “I can't leave Dylan. I won't leave him; I'm all he has.”
The kid, Dylan, kicks at the dirt beneath his feet as a small child would. Trigger is one sick fuck bringing him along for this.
Shepard takes a deep breath. “Boy,” Damion looks at him. “If you want to keep your brother safe, follow Lion,” Not that Lion wants to take a damn Coyote anywhere, but he nods his head to let Shepard know he'll do what's required of him. “He'll take you both somewhere safe. I'll come and speak to you later tonight.”
“I'm just supposed to believe Trigger will let us go? That this ain't a trick and you're not going to kill us?”
“Shepard is a man of his word, son,” Booker looks over at Dylan. “My youngest son has similar problems to your brother. Believe me when I say that he'll be safe with us. He shouldn't be here. Trigger would think nothing of letting him die. Go with Lion, and I promise you, I'll take you both to California with me and my crew. You'll be inducted into Snakes Henchmen California. You'll both have a home with us, and your brother will be safe.”
“I'm trying to help you here, Damion,” Lucifer takes him by the shoulders. “You know Trigger would never even try to protect Dylan if it came down to it. Trust these men and go. Now.”
The kid takes his brother's hand and leads him away from us all. I don't even want to imagine what's going through Damion's head right now. Poor bastard probably thinks he's being led to his death.
“Lucifer,” Some big bastard Coyote hisses. “Trigger will have your head for that!”
“Oh, I wouldn't worry about him.” We all stare at Nova walking toward us. Trigger is nowhere to be seen.
“Why's that?”
Nova smirks at Lucifer. “I saw what you just did for those kids. You did the right thing. There could be hope for you yet. However, there are a handful of things in this life that I cannot, and will not put up with. This club, and every person belonging to it is my family. You mess with my family, and terrible things will happen. Evil will find you. Alison is never going back to your club. She belongs here with Kong.”
Wrench nudges me, and I follow his eyes. Nova has her hands behind her back, and there's blood dripping to her feet. She doesn't look hurt, so what the fuck?
“We have no problem with that.”
“Good.” She tells Lucifer. “I'm going nowhere with your club either. You shouldn't have come here looking for trouble. Now you'll answer to me.”
“Fuckin' Snakes bitch!” Some jumped up cunt Coyote rushes toward Nova, but Tank's already shot the fucker between the eyes before he got within three feet of her.
Lucifer is fuming, yelling at Shepard, and each one of us is ready to kill these bastards. I'm bored of this back and forth bullshit!
“I see you've met my husband,” Nova smirks at Tank. “If you don't want to lose anybody else, I'd shut your men up. We're not playing here, and I mean it when I say that you'll be dead inside of thirty-seconds if you're not careful.”
Lucifer rolls his neck, and I hear the crack from where I'm standing. “Never had a woman speak to me like this in my life! Who the fuck do you think you are?”
“Nova Marshall. You may know me as The Exorcist.” Wide eyes, lots of murmuring, disbelief, and the smell of fear is all around us. “I know it's hard to believe. Trigger didn't believe it either when he cornered me inside like I wouldn't rip his damn throat out. So, I had to show him.”
What Nova pulls from behind her back has every damn mouth hanging open in shock. Coyotes and Snakes alike, each one of us is stunned by what we're seeing.
“Fuckin' hell,” Red shakes his head. “She's insane!”
“And you're all fuckin' dead!” Lucifer yells. “Kill ‘em all!”
Coyotes and Snakes attack each other like a pack of wolves fighting over a piece of meat. Guns are firing, and bodies are flying and falling everywhere.
One scrawny little fucker comes for me. I punch him so hard; his nose breaks on contact. Another motherfucker comes at me from behind, kicking my left knee out from under me. Another kicks me in the ribs, knocking me on my back, and the wind out of me.
Wrench comes out of nowhere and takes down one Coyote. I reach for my gun and put a bullet in the knee of the bastard about to kick me again. He screams and falls. I drag myself to my feet. My left knee is fucked, but it won't stop me killing this cunt.
Before I can shoot, Lucifer rushes me. I'm prepared for the impact, but it doesn't come. He seems to stop suddenly, eyes wide. Then I see something sticking out of his gut, and shining in the light of the sun. Lucifer splutters, blood pouring from his mouth.
“Not my boy, you motherfucker.” I look at my dad, mouth agape as he pulls his fishing knife from Lucifer's back. Lucifer drops to his knees, then his stomach. My dad killed him, and I'm shocked to see how angry he was to have had so much power he could kill a man Lucifer's size so easily.
We share a look before my dad turns and attacks another Coyote. I smack another shit head in the face, but I can hardly stand on my leg, and I don't know how the hell I'm going to get through this in one piece.
From the corner of my eye, I see Shepard, and I realize how fucking crazy that man is, and it won't change with age. He headbutts a big-built Coyote, and the bastard stumbles back. Shepard jumps on the motherfucker and beats the shit out of him. Coyote prick hits back; Prez fights twice as hard.
I manage to duck away from the fist coming at my face. I punch a Coyote in the gut hard enough for him to hunch over, his long greasy hair falling around his face. I push past the pain in my leg long enough to take him down.
Kong rushes up behind him and kicks him full pelt in the back of the head. I stare at him with a smirk on my face. “I know you could have finished him, but I had personal beef with this cunt!” Kong spits on “Rocky”, and I laugh to myself.
“Enough! This is getting us nowhere! Stop what you're doing and put your damn weapons away!”
I grit my teeth. Fuck it!
I face Shepard, shuffling around because I can't bend my knee even an inch. I hope it's not broken, that's the last thing I need. I won't be able to ride my bike with a damn broken knee!
“You've got five minutes to gather your men, alive and dead, and get the fuck out of here!”
“It didn't need to come to this, Shepard.” I don't know who that fucker is, and I don't even care. Trigger's head rolls to the assholes feet. He looks down, closes his eyes, and shakes his head.
“Let that be a warning to you all. You mess with the Snakes, and you will suffer.”
“Get back, Nova! Go!” Shepard isn't playing here. Nova rolls her eyes and reluctantly steps back.
We all stand our ground as the new; I'm guessing President of the Coyotes finally signals for his men to gather their dead, four including Trigger and Lucifer.
“I advise you fuckers to stay clear of the Snakes in the future.” Booker chuckles at the Coyote now growling at him like a dog.
Once the Coyotes have loaded up the truck they brought with them, with motorcycles and dead bodies, and gotten the hell out of here, Shepard turns on Nova. “What the hell is wrong with you?! How dare you decapitate a man inside the damn clubhouse! Our kids have to walk into the place!”
“He was a pig. I knew if he was out of the way...”
“You knew nothing because you just don't think! Look at the damage you've caused. All of this could have been avoided if you'd just stayed away like you were told to! Why do you always do this, Nova? Why can't you leave things to us?”
&
nbsp; Nova shrugs her shoulders and rolls her eyes.
“Get the hell in my office. I'll deal with you in a minute. The rest of you, clean up this mess out here, and any inside. I can't have the women and kids coming back to this. Anyone seriously injured?”
There's a collection of no's, yet Shepard still scans everyone to make sure. Nova is lucky no one was shot, or this could have been a lot worse.
“Anyone who is injured and you think you need medical attention, go and see Taylor. She'll patch you up good as new. Booker, Tank, Hammer, Jett, BlackJack, CueBall, Red, Ace, office now.”
I need to get my knee checked out, but not until I've helped clear this mess away. I'm not going to drop dead anytime soon; it's just a busted knee. Jesus, I'll be glad when this day is over.
Chapter Nineteen
Tank
I rub my forehead with my fingertips. What the hell, am I going to do with Nova? I love her more than anything in this world, but since Micheal came along, she's been restless. She works hard in everything she does. Wife, mother, teacher, even her outreach work with both the homeless and abused women. However, something is missing for her. If gouging out a man's eyes after killing him wasn't bad enough, she went and beheaded another. Nova has lost her fucking mind, and it has to stop.
Although I can't deny why she did what she did today, for the first time since I've known her, Nova is scared – scared for our boy. Regardless, she can't do these things and think it's okay. I hope she's taking in what Shepard is telling her because she cannot keep interfering in club business. Not even as a way to extract her anger when she's afraid.
My wife has an answer and a reason for everything, though. She refuses to tell anyone, including her parents what's going on with Micheal. So her excuse for what she did today is that she might not be a patched member, but she's a Snakes Henchmen as much as the rest of us. She has every right to defend her family just as we do.