Play Dirty: Devil's Mustangs MC (12 page)

CAL

By the time I get back upstairs, Maddie’s face-down in her books, fast asleep. Her little body is hunched over her white wooden desk and a white notecard is still clasped in her hand. As I pick her up and place her into bed, she mutters something that sounds an awful lot like, “Benedict Arnold.”

I sit with her for a while, stroking her hair back to her side. Like all fathers, I’m amazed at how much she has grown in what feels like a short amount of time. Every day that passes by, she looks more and more like her mother. Her nose is mine. Her mouth is mine. But those wide hazel eyes and those high cheekbones are all from April.

April was the exact kind of woman for me. She, like me, had been raised a Mustang. It was in her blood. Her daddy had taught her to ride as soon as she could reach the handlebars. And as dumbass teens, we stole bikes belonging to club members and rode off onto the highway.

But, unlike me, she wanted to get away. Her mom had left earlier, had broken from the pack after the divorce. However, I pushed her to stay. I don’t know what life is like outside of a clubhouse full of men. I didn’t even get through high school. All I know is riding and back alley business. And when I wouldn’t go with her and make a new life, April became the version of me I hated.

She was dark, one of the most ruthless girls. She took other lovers, even with me rising in the ranks. She insisted on going on routes with the boys, even after Maddie was born. And, after a year or two, she tried to push Jager to initiate her in as a full rider. The day she was killed, the guys finally agreed to make an exception to the rules for her. We buried her with her 1% patch.

Every day I think about Maddie and if her being here in this place is going to snuff out that good I saw in April before she went head-on into club affairs. Maddie has seen and experienced so much, but I had to go through that stuff, too. So did her mother. But why does it feel like this life is not enough for her?

I tuck her blanket up to her neck and give a quick kiss to her forehead. I whisper my goodnights to her as I close the door and head back downstairs. There is still club business to attend to, and I’m running late again.

The meetings already started when I head downstairs. I hear Jager’s voice over the stillness of the room, “What happened a few weeks ago was just the beginning of our revenge, boys. Those little pansies got their asses handed to them thanks to club members like Cal and Ace and Red Dog, too. But now, it’s time to rise up and talk about phase two.”

Ryan stands up slowly and claps, interrupting Jager. All eyes turn towards him, giving me the perfect opportunity to slip in towards the back of the room behind where the rest of the leadership is sitting. “That’s right,
boys
.
We have to get our
revenge
.”
The sarcasm and mockery are oozing off of him.

I look up at Jager to see him practically steaming. The rest of the group looks around nervously, unsure of what to do.

“All this shit is petty crap. Cal didn’t even have the balls to kill those guys at the auto repair shop, and he let that asshole get away, too! Why are we rewarding them for being little girls about this shit? We should be taking them down, chopping off heads! Some of us are tired of going up against Addison Bell and Mountain every few months. We shouldn’t stop until they’re all dead!”

Jager jumps down off of the makeshift platform and walks straight towards Ryan. He grabs him by the neck, choking off his air supply. With one arm, he lifts his body off the ground as Ryan struggles to pry Jager’s fingers off of him. Jager stares his red, bulging eyes down as he asks, “Is this what you want, you prick? You want death, I’ll be happy to hand it to you.” With a thud, Jager drops his body to the ground and then spins to address the rest of the room, “I will not have anyone, and I mean
anyone
, question my plans. Cal has his orders. He’s working on tracking down Addison Bell. The rest of you are to keep your positions in guarding our territories. Do you get me?”

A rise of “ayes” come up over the crowd. It’s tentative, frightened. They are all still staring at Ryan who is on his hands in knees coughing horrifically.

As Jager walks past me towards the door, he pulls me aside and mutters, “You kill Addison Bell, or you die trying, do you hear me?”

I nod in agreement, watching him pass through. But before he can make it through the door, there’s a shout, a man screaming at us in the distance, “They’re here! They’re here! Grab your guns! The Coyotes are here!”

My heart races as I struggle to find my bearings. The rest of the men are running around me in a panic, each racing to get upstairs towards the attack. I push past them, blood surging through my head as I hear the pops of gunfire begin. I make it to the kitchen where I see Mustang’s taking position, removing the bits of wood covering the shot out windows.

Upstairs, the clubwomen are panicking. I see one huddled and crying in the bathroom while two more are holed up in my bedroom, attempting to barricade the door. I scream at the top of my lungs over the shouts and fire from the floor below, “Where’s my daughter!”

The door to her room creeps open a bit and I see the top of her brown, messy curls opening it for me. I scoop her in her arms and motion for the rest of the women to follow me. Two of them hold onto my hips, holding onto me for protection as I slither down the stairs with my train of club girls. Several of them scream as they watch one of our men fall backwards, a bullet entering and exiting through his shoulder.

I kneel down lower, taking the girls and my daughter with me towards the floor. We slowly sink towards the entrance to the basement, the only place I think to be safe. I shut the door behind me and set Maddie down on a beat up old couch.

She looks at me, tears welling in her eyes, “Dad, you can’t go up there! Did you see? Did you see?”

“I did, baby,” I console her, “but that’s exactly
why
I have to go back. The guys need me.” I wipe a tear that has fallen to her chin and remove her hands from around my arm. “I’ll be okay. C’mon. You know I’m a tough guy.”

“But you can’t go!” She screams at me as I walk away, “Daddy! No!”

I haven’t heard her call me “daddy” in years. In that moment of panic, I make myself a promise that I will be back for her, no matter what. I won’t leave this house a dead man. And she sure as hell wasn’t going to leave it fatherless.

When I make it back upstairs, Jager throws me a gun as he shouts at me, “Where the fuck have you been, Cal? We need you up here!”

I don’t bother answering him. He wouldn’t understand. No one except a father could possibly understand my need to put her first. I take the rifle he tossed at me and sling it over my shoulder. For the first time, I can take a moment and see what is going on and get my bearings. 

Outside, men are on their knees, hiding behind bushes and parked cars as they shoot into the home. Our men are at every single window and door, returning each shot as they come. Jager is standing behind the main group as if he is leading his troops into the battle. The rest of the gang is taking up positions outside the back, guarding the rest of the potential entrances and exits.

That’s when it hits me. I run towards Jager, yelling at him in hushed tones, “The basement. They’re gonna try to get in through the basement. If they know anything about this house, they know we’ll be too busy watching the front and the back to think about that side entrance.”

Jager looks around, weighing his options. There’s not another person to send. Everyone has their place and role to play in this war. But I’m left alone. “Let me go, Jager. My daughter’s down there, and I’m not about to let any man get within a hundred feet of her.”

He nods in agreement, and I run off. I grab Ace, who is helping one of the younger guys load up rifles, by his sleeve and pull him with me. As we walk through the alcove towards one of the unguarded bathrooms, he asks me, “What the hell are you doing, Cal? Jager said everyone to positions!”

“Jager didn’t think about the storm entrance to the basement. And if Addison Bell and the Mountain are smart, they know about it and are going to try to use it.”

“How the fuck are we gonna get out there, huh? That’s a suicide mission.” His eyes are darting frantically side to side as he realizes that I’m taking him away from his cushy, safe position backing up the rest of the men.

“Maddie’s down there, Ace. Someone needs to guard them, at least.”

He hesitates, looking down at the ground. A sudden hail of gunfire sends us ducking towards the ground. From the thin walls and the shared vents, we can hear the girls sobbing downstairs. When we stand back up, Ace looks at me and nods. He’s with me for Maddie. I knew I could count on him to care enough about her.

I point towards the small, tinted glass window by the tub. Ace catches my drift immediately as he steps into the porcelain tub and lifts himself up on its side. The window flies open as he pries at it and a rush of cold air pours into the small bathroom. We both duck in anticipation, waiting for the sound of gunfire or men, but there’s nothing. All the noise is coming from the other sides of the home.

Ace moves to the side as I step in next to him. I’m just tall enough to be able to peak my head out the window slightly. From my vantage point, I see nothing but the neighbor’s lights flickering on. I grab a red towel from the holder and stick it on to the end of a loofa and wave it outside. Still, nothing.

It’s time. I take a deep breath before tossing my gun out first and then quickly shimmy out the open window and down the side of the house. My feet land softly on the brown grass and I slink towards the side of the walls. Ace follows me shortly after, landing harder on his hands and knees as he wobbles to collect himself and his handgun.

The two of us lower ourselves and race off towards the shadows of the clubhouse. As we get nearer to the entrance door, the sound of voices and shouts become clearer. We’re only feet from Coyotes, but no one has recognized us yet or taken a shot. I hear an unknown man command his men, “Get the door! Get the door!”

Shit! My mind goes blank. They are two steps ahead of us. As I predicted, they most likely cased the place in advance and know just where we would have weak spots. And stupid me fell for that trap and left my daughter defenseless.

I don’t have time to think or to be pissed. I watch as the shadows light up in red and yellow as a man lights a towel inside of a molotov cocktail. He holds it above his head as he yells out, “This is for Chris!” He looks towards the storm door entrance to the basement as another man is ready to open it on his go.

I can’t stop myself. I’m screaming, shouting wildly into the night. I lift my gun to my eye and shoot. Ace pulls me down as soon as my trigger is pulled. There’s the familiar sound of a
whoosh
as I see the black, brown and reds mix with a burst of sparks and heat. A fireball about the size of a car ignites mere feet from my face as the cocktail explodes on the ground outside the storm door.

The thrower is on the ground as his friends care to him. And then, the bullets. They are exploding over our head towards the bushes, but none of them land near us. All of them are being aimed at a totally unexpected sight. We watch as our Mustang club members run fast towards the attacking Coyotes. Their bodies duck behind trees and old junky cars in the backyard as they aim at the small band still fighting to get into that basement door.

Ace and I make a break for it, barreling out of the bush and into the yard next door. We take position from the side of the wooden garage. Ace fires towards the men, not even aiming anymore. He then turns to me, looking at me urgently. He shouts over me, “Cal! We got to get the fuck out of here!”

“No! We can’t leave until we know they’re not getting into that basement. Fucking load up the guns and let’s go!” He hands me one of his handguns in his pocket and I take over the shooting. I can’t see anything in the dark, can’t make out any figures. I just listen and wait, my eyes focused on the opening to the house. No one is getting in there on my watch. No one.

“Shit! Cal!” Ace grabs my arms as large beams of white lights fill the darkness. A small car pulls into the driveway, illuminating our hiding point. The car turns off and we watch motionless as someone gets out to the car.