Blood (Dark Riders Motorcycle Club) (4 page)

Adrenaline rushed through my body and all I could see was Joel's ugly face staring out at me from that stupid box. Joel who was a traitor. Joel who kidnapped me. Joel who set the safe house on fire. Joel who wanted Asher dead.

My body acted on its own. I shot my hand into the box and pulled Joel out by his shirt collar. He yelled and I slapped him in the face. When he was finally out of the box, he curled up and cowered.

"Come on, man," he said. "Don't be so mad. I had to do it. Venom threatened me too-"

This time, instead of a slap, my fist collided with Joel's eye.

He fell back on the floor and then looked at me in shock. Even
I
was surprised. My hand stung from the impact.

"You bitch!"

My hand flew again. This time it landed on his big, fat, mouth. As I drew back, Joel sputtered blood, spitting it all over the floor.

"What're you, crazy?" he said. "Don't you want to know where Venom is? I can't tell you if I'm dead!"

I grabbed Joel's collar again and wrapped the fabric around my fist.
 

"Tell me, or I'll beat the shit out of you."

"Well, wait, I have some conditions too," he said. Joel tried to smile with what was left of his mouth.

My knee rammed into his crotch. Joel screamed, but I didn't let go.

"
Tell me
," I said.

"They're at the clubhouse!" he said. "You better hurry up because he's probably getting ready to get the heck out of there."

That was all I needed to hear.
 

"Now, what are you going to do," Joel said. "Shouldn't you leave the fighting to the big boys, girly?"

That was it. My whole body shook and my pulse pounded in my ears. All I wanted at that moment was one thing. To see blood.

My fists collided with his face. Each time I hit, I reared back for another round. Again and again. Soon I couldn't hear his cries. I was lost. Just me and my rage.

After so many days. All the shit he put me through. All the shit
Venom
put me through. All the anger was coming out. And it felt
good
.

One punch was for my mother. And one for Asher. One for Mav. One for the little girl who had to see bullets flying outside of her window. And one….

It wasn't until I felt a hand on my shoulder that I stopped. I swung my arm around, ready to punch, but I stopped when I saw who it was. Asher. Had he been here this whole time?

It didn't matter. I turned back to Joel and raised my fist.

"No."

Asher's hand wrapped around my arm, stopping me from bringing it down. What was he doing? Joel
deserved
this! It was all his fault!

I pulled my arm, trying to bring it down again. I couldn't. Asher grasped me firmly and pulled me off of Joel. I heard him whimper as I left.

"Go outside," Asher said. "
I'll
finish this."

"But-"

"Go!"

I looked back at Joel and just seeing his bloody face made my fists itch. But then I looked at Asher. He was serious.
 

"Fine," I said.
 

I walked down the stairs and out to Asher's bike all by myself. It took a while, but gradually my senses returned. My fists were sore, aching. I was
so
close to killing Joel.
So
close.

And what if I had? The thought made my stomach cringe. Would I have been able to live with it? Murder?

A boom interrupted my thoughts, making me jump. It was over.

A few moments later, Asher came out of the house. His lips were pressed into a straight line and his movements were harsh. These weren't fun and games anymore.

"You know where to go?" Asher asked.

I nodded.

"Okay then," he said. "Let's finish this."

Chapter 10

The cops were still not there by the time we left. What were they going to think, finding an almost empty building with a bloody body in it? Whatever. It didn't matter. We would deal with them when this was all over.
 

And when would that be? His smiling face appeared in my mind. Venom. It would all be over when we took care of him, and wiped that stupid grin off his mouth.

And we couldn't do that until I led the way.

How many times had they taken me down this path? I had been blindfolded, gagged, a bag was pulled over my head. But there was one thing they couldn't stop me from noticing. The road.

As Asher drove, I could feel it in my body. The way the earth slanted. The bumps, the pothole that made us jerk and fly into the air for just a second. I remembered it all. The road was my map. It was all I needed.

Once I was scared. Once being taken down this path was the most frightening thing I'd experienced. But now the road was going to help me.
 

I closed my eyes. It was easier than I had even imagined. As I felt the way, I pointed out the turns. Left. Right. Straight ahead.

Even without signposts, I knew exactly where I was going. I held onto Asher. Leaning my head against his back, I could hear his heartbeat. It thudded against his body. He must have known what was coming.

It wasn't until we finally reached that I opened my eyes. And what I saw were bikers. Tons of them. The Tarantulas' club house looked like it was motorcycle club moving day.

Everyone was out. They loaded trucks, emptying the clubhouse before the cops arrived. When we pulled up, everyone stared. They dropped what they were doing and focused on us.

I took a deep breath. We were
insanely
outnumbered. There was no way this was happening. What was I thinking? That we could take on the whole club on our own?

"Venom!" Asher yelled.

Until now, Venom had only been sitting, looking at us. While all of the other Tarantulas looked ready to pounce, he observed. When Asher called him out, a smile spread across his face.

What was he, crazy?

Venom got off of his bike and walked closer to us. He stopped before he got too close, and there was a wide gap between us.

"Wild," he said.

"Let's quit the chit chat," Asher said. "Tell your men to stand down. This is between
you
and
me
."

"And why should I?" Venom asked. "Why shouldn't I just have them squash you and your girlfriend like the little vermin you are?"

Asher smiled. "Oh, are you afraid you can't take me one on one? It's easy to hide behind your little brigade, isn't it?"

Venom snarled and brought his gun out. He pointed it at Asher.

"I should just shoot you right-"

The words were barely out of his mouth when we all heard the gunshot. I screamed. Had he shot Asher? Did we come all this way for
that
?

No.
 

Asher was fine. He had a gun in his hand and his finger pulled down on the trigger. Had he?

I looked back at Venom. He held his head in his hand. His ear. It was
bleeding
.

"You might want to put that gun away," Asher said. "I think we
all
know which one of us is the better shot. After all, you tried to kill me twice and didn't succeed."

Venom spit on the ground and brought his gun back up, cocking it in preparation.

"Fuck you!" he yelled.

"Uh, uh, uh," Asher said. He came closer to Venom, practically
daring
him to do something. "Drop it or next time it won't be your ear."

Venom continued to hold his gun. He looked at Asher as if he was trying to call his bluff. Well, he must have realized Asher wasn't bluffing, because Venom finally dropped the gun. Still, Asher didn't let him out of his sight until Venom kicked the gun away.

"Good," he said. "Now, let's settle this
mano-a-mano
. You versus me. No weapons. Just good old fashioned unarmed combat."

Asher walked around, spreading his arms wide so that everyone could see that he had nothing up his sleeves.

"Since I only have one hand to use, it should be an even fight."

Venom narrowed his eyes at the dig. He threw his chin up, baring his neck and puffing out his chest.

"Fine," he said. "Bring it!"

That's how it started. Venom and Asher came close enough to one another to stare each other in the eyes. Everyone watching was quiet, holding their breath. Or at least
I
was.

It's a strange feeling to know that a fight is about to break out. The calm before the storm. But who was going to strike first? Who was going to
win
?

Asher and Venom both took off their shirts and leather jackets, throwing them to the ground. Shirtless like that, muscles and tattoos showing, it really did seem like a fight between two men. They were bikers, but they were also men ready to pound one another into the dirt.

The first hit came from Asher. He bent his arm and rammed the back of it against Venom's throat. Venom fell back, gagging and gasping for breath.
 

Venom was next. He grabbed Asher, taking him by both shoulders and making sure to squeeze his injured arm extra tightly. Asher yelled, and Venom drove him into the dirt. I felt the earth tremble at the impact.
 

While he was on the ground, Venom punched Asher's face. Left and right fists drilled hard into Asher's head. Blood spurted from his lip as Venom's fists burst the skin.
 

But Asher wasn't done yet. He drew up both legs and kicked Venom in the gut. He flew backwards, tumbling off of Asher and onto the dirt.

While Venom clutched at his stomach, Asher grabbed his head and pounded it against the earth. As Venom's head collided with the rocky ground, blood spilled from his temple and covered his face.

I hoped that was it. When Asher stopped bashing Venom's head, he lay on the ground in a pool of blood. Asher stood up, breathing heavily. His own face was battered, and he spit out a stream of bright red.

Then Venom moved. He pushed himself off the ground and came after Asher. Asher threw a punch at Venoms chest, but he dodged it. Instead, Venom returned with an elbow to Asher's back. He grabbed Asher's arms and pinned them behind him.

 
It looked like he was trapped. He couldn't move!

But with a headbutt to Venom's face, the two fell to the ground. That's when I saw it. It was hard to make out in all the tussle, but something metallic glinted in the sunlight.

"Of course you would play dirty, " Asher said. "Can't win without cheating?"

 
"Fuck fighting fair. All that matters is who wins, or didn't anyone teach you that?" Venom spat back.

He grabbed for Asher and got him in his arms. Venom pressed the knife against Asher's neck, close enough to draw a small drop of blood.

"All I have to do is slit your throat…."

Before he could finish, Asher threw him off. The next parts I could barely see. The two of them tumbled, a mass of flesh, muscles, and tattoos. Every now and again I could see the flash of the knife, but I couldn't see who was holding it.

I wanted to scream. I bit my lip so hard that I drew blood.
 

Then they stopped. Venom and Asher were in a heap and neither of them moved. What had happened? Who won?

It didn't take long to figure that out.
 

Asher stood up. Venom didn't. His blood pooled around him, soaking the ground. The handle of Venom's knife stuck out of his chest, straight into the air.

I couldn't believe it. I kept watching, Thinking that he would jump up any moment. His chest would start moving, and he would breathe. But Venom didn't move. It was over.

Asher looked down at Venom's body, and then at me. He kneeled down, closing Venom's eye with his fingertips. Then he wiped his bloody hands on his jeans and walked toward me.

That's when the cops came.

Chapter 11

It was kind of amazing how late they were. The squads surrounded the building, their cars blocking the roads. It took almost no time for us to be surrounded by policemen pointing their guns at us and ready to kill.

They didn't even need to tell us to put up our hands. We all did, instinctively.

"What the
heck
is going on here?" the chief yelled.
 

Asher came forward. He pointed at Venom. "That's the guy you are looking for."

"And would you like to explain to me why exactly he's
dead
?"

Asher looked at me and then back at the chief. "We found him this way, right?"

He stared at the remaining Tarantulas, daring them to say anything else. They knew better. The Tarantulas nodded.

"See? Everyone agrees," Asher said.

"And what about that guy in the other building?"

Joel! I had already forgotten about him.

"What other guy?" Asher said. "When
we
got there, it was empty."

The chief hesitated. He didn't trust Asher, but who else was he going to believe? Two dead men?

"And who are these guys?"

Now I butted in. "They're the Tarantulas," I said. "And I think that you'll find something very interesting if you open those trucks of theirs."

The chief made the sign and a group of the policemen surrounded one of the trucks. They opened the doors and what was stacked inside were bricks and bricks of white powder. Their jaws literally dropped.

"Do you know
how much
that's worth?" The chief asked.

"No," I said. "But I'm sure they can tell you all about it."

With that, the chief left us alone. He went over to the Tarantulas and pulled out his handcuffs.

"Okay guys," he said to the other policemen, "looks like we have our hands full today."

After that, everything was a daze. I watched the cops handcuff the Tarantulas. It almost didn't seem right. After all of this, after everything, they were going quietly?

Some of the guys looked so young that they couldn't even have been 18. Just what kind of recruitment process did Venom have? Maybe they went quietly because they were just happy to be free.

I watched as man after man was handcuffed, put into police vans, and taken away. They were so many, that the cops had to keep coming back with new cars. After all the action, I just found myself standing around while the cops took care of everything. What a downer.