Page 43 of All Your Firsts

I shouldn’t go. Lately, I’ve been spending an excessive amount of time on my bike with them, but I can’t resist. I miss the powerful sense of brotherhood and the comforting weight of my kutte on my shoulders.

“I’m down.”

Before I can stop myself, I lean my chair back one more time. Rosie stands in front of the window while talking on the phone with a huge smile on her face.

Who the fuck is she talking to?

My phone beeps and alerts me to a motion sensor activation on the front left corner of the house despite there being no walkway, just a bush and a fence to the backyard.

“Vic, it’s your move. What’s got you all distracted?”

“Maybe it’s who. Heard you guys got into a fight the other night,” Marcus says.

I ignore all of them as I wait for the picture to load.

“You guys expecting anyone?” I ask.

Once the picture appears, I spring to my feet, nearly causing the table to fall. A person dressed in all black with a ski mask is creeping along the side of the house.

“What the fuck’s your deal, man?” Ax says as he looks at me, worried.

“Gun. Someone’s in the yard. All black with a ski mask.” I put my hand out and wait for one to be placed in my hand.

I know they’re all packing. I can’t carry on my person because of my history, but I have many hidden throughout the house, just in case.

I keep my gaze fixed on Rosie, who remains unaware of the intruder as she talks on the phone.

She better not be talking to a guy.

Trey hands me an anodized gold Glock. Motherfucker would have the loudest-looking gun out there.

“It’s my baby. Be good to her,” Trey says.

“Marcus, you want to go around the other side of the house?”

“On it,” he says, walking out the back door without another word.

I walk out the door of the guesthouse at an even pace. Knowing the person is still on the east side of my house. He’s watching me. I can feel it as the hair on the back of my neck stands on end. I turn around as he walks out from the side.

“You walked into the wrong yard, motherfucker.”

With the stealth of a ninja, Marcus sneaks up on him from behind and pistol-whips the fuck out of him. The guy falls to the ground with a loud thud.

“Shit. Let’s bring him inside before one of your uppity-ass suburban neighbors sees,” Marcus says with a huff as he picks up the dead weight.

We move the intruder to the guesthouse, where the guys have already set up a chair and rope. Perfect.

We eagerly rip off his black polyester mask, only to find a stranger in front of us. It’s nobody I’ve pissed off, which is worrisome since he came to my house.

“Wake up, sunshine.” Trey smacks his face hard enough that his neck cracks to the side. The man’s eyes open to slits, probably feeling the headache from hell from being hit on the back of the head. “I gotta say, you made my night coming to my brother’s house unannounced.”

The guy says nothing to Trey as he looks around for a way out of this clusterfuck.

“Nowhere to go. Why the fuck are you on my property?” I ask.

The man gazes into my eyes with a piercing stare, his silence speaking volumes.

I’m about ninety percent sure why he’s here, and it has to do with the infuriatingly perfect human obliviously talking away on her phone as if someone isn’t about to get tortured to death less than fifty yards from her. And if my suspicions are correct, it’s fucking concerning how quickly they located her.

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