Page 27 of Crow
I kickstarted my engine just in time for a couple of Freeways to come spilling out the door after us, shooting wildly as we drove away. They didn’t drive after us, thankfully, and we sped back to Ironhead Tavern.
***
No one spoke on the drive back to the Tavern, or while we were pulling Claymore’s dazed body from the back of the van. The silence pressed on my skin as we all piled into the building, and I didn’t look at anyone as I got a beer from behind the bar. When I turned back to the rest of the room, no one was really looking at me apart from the occasional brief glare. Archer and Rose were busy supporting Claymore as he waited his turn for medical attention; Samantha was busy sewing up Ink’s bicep as he sat on one of the tables. Evelyn had rushed downstairs at the sound of our bikes, and Tank had his back to me as he waved aside her worried questions. Even though I couldn’t see his face, I knew he was furious with me. His shoulders were tense, and the hand not tucking his wife’s hair behind her ear was clenched in a fist. I knew as soon as Evelyn backed away, I was in for it. I raised the beer bottle to my mouth then lowered it again without taking a sip, sighing.
Evelyn pressed a kiss to Tank’s cheek then went to scold some of the other Rebels for being reckless. Tank turned and walked over to me, and before I could blink, he had reeled back his fist and punched me in the nose, knocking me back into the bar behind me. Silence descended on the Tavern as all eyes turned to us.
“What the fuck kind of a stunt was that, Crow?” Tank demanded, furious. Wrench walked over to stand by Tank, a confused frown on his face.
“Yeah, man, I did as you asked, but fucking why? This was your plan, why call it off?”
“Do you have any idea how goddamn dangerous that was?” Tank continued. “We are lucky we got away with only a few minor injuries!”
“I’m sorry,” I said quietly, not meeting his eyes.
“I should hit you again for this shit,” he growled. “You were the one who said we weren’t doing enough, you are the one who went and got us the information we needed to take them by surprise and then, when we wereright fucking there, you pussy out? Can you explain to me what kind of shit you’re pulling?”
I stayed silent. What was I supposed to say? That some Freeway Fuck fucking stripper had gotten so under my skin that the sight of her had made me go all screwy? Tank’s eye twitched.
“I was worried. Ink and Claymore were down, I didn’t want to risk anyone else,” I said finally. It sounded lame even to my own ears. Tank’s scowl deepened.
“Are you shitting me? Did you crash and hit your fucking head while I wasn’t fucking looking? That was our chance to be rid of the Freeways, and you screwed it because Ink and Claymore got a couple of fuckingboo-boos? They would have walked it off!”
My anger sparked and I clenched my fist. “The last time we thought someone would walk off a clash with the Freeways, Hollywood fucking died. Excuse me for being cautious. Isn’t that what you keep saying I should do?” I growled.
Tank’s mouth pressed into a hard line, and he stalked away without another word. Wrench grimaced at me before following after him. I rolled my beer bottle between my palms, feeling rather than seeing Ripper approach from the side. He didn’t speak to me, just sighed and ducked behind the bar, reemerging with a beer. He leaned against the bar next to me and drank for a very long time.
“How bad is it?” I asked quietly. He grimaced at me and took another gulp of beer before answering.
“People are pissed, man,” he said with a shrug. “Tank especially. Tonight’s really made him question whether he can trust your judgement and decision-making abilities.” He sighed again before turning to look at me. “Want to tell me what’s going on?”
“I don’t know, man,” I said, frustrated. Everything was too jumbled. I was guilty about caring for a woman that wasn’t Jeannie, scared at the thought that I might be moving on and into uncharted territory, betrayed that Jade’s boyfriend was president of the Freeway Fucks, disgusted that I cared about Jade after everything she’d pulled… Finally, I took a sip of my beer, mostly to give myself something to focus on, and pulled a face because of how warm it had become.
“All right, brother,” Ripper said quietly. There was a pause as he took a few sips of his own drink then he said, “Tank’ll forgive you. Now we know where their hangout is, we’ll easily be able to launch another attack. Just let things cool down around here for a bit. Archer and Rose are gettin’ hitched in a couple of days, and after that, we’ll deal with the fuckin’ Freeways.”
“Amen to that,” I muttered, raising my bottle to clink against his.
Chapter Fourteen
Jade
The Blazing Rebels left as quickly as they arrived, leaving the house in shambles. Ray was furious, sitting in his chair and snarling at anyone who came near as I wrapped bandages around his bleeding shoulder. The rest of the Freeways were picking up after themselves, retrieving weapons and patching up what they could. Across the room, Jess was holding some frozen peas to Glimmer’s face, trying to get the swelling around her eye to go down before her shift tomorrow.
“Are you sure you don’t want to go to the hospital, Boss?” Lab Rat asked, and I felt Ray tense beneath my hands. It gave me just enough warning to back away before Ray rounded on Lab Rat, spit flying from his mouth as he shouted.
“Do I want to go to the hospital?” he repeated, face red and voice verging on hysterical. Lab Rat took a step back. “No, I don’t want to go to the goddamn hospital, you useless coward, I want to wipe the fuckin’ Rebels out of my town! But based on your performance tonight, that’s never gonna fuckin’ happen. I mean what the fuck?” Ray slumped back into his chair, his hand pressing against the shoulder that had been shot. I bit my lip, hesitant, then stepped forward to continue wrapping up the wound.
Ray ignored me, still lashing out at Lab Rat, who was pale and looked like he regretted bringing attention to himself. “Seriously, what the fuck was that, Rat?” Ray continued. “Fuckin’ pussy, runnin’ and hidin’ like you’re one of the goddamn hookers. Worse than the fuckin’ hookers, ’cause at least they did some fuckin damage when they ran!” He gestured toward me as he spoke, and I pressed my lips together tightly as though that could trap the hurt inside. Even after all these years of trying to gain his affection and earn his trust, he still just saw me as another hooker. Another body to fuck when he felt like it. The only difference was he gave me drugs instead of money.
By the time I had finished with Ray’s bandages, I had anxiously bitten through the skin of my lip. I quickly stepped away, not wanting to be within his reach while he was this annoyed, and looked up to see that everyone in the room was staring in our direction.
The air was thick with tension as they waited for what Ray would do next. He glared around the room and snapped, “Well? Get a fuckin’ move on and haul these fuckin’ useless bastards out of my sight!” He kicked toward one of the bodies lying on the floor, facedown with their blood soaking into the carpet around them. My chest clenched when someone grabbed them by the ankles and pulled them away from Ray’s feet, turning them over in the process: he was just a boy, one of the newer prospects that couldn’t have been older than eighteen. I didn’t know his name, just that he had been Reaper’s cousin. When the body was dragged by, Reaper was looking the other way. I would have thought he was heartless if I hadn’t seen the tic in his jaw, the way his hands were squeezed into trembling fists.
Lab Rat was scurrying around the room, collecting discarded weapons and carrying them back to the kitchen so they could be wiped down and stashed away again. He was almost casual about it, stepping over his fallen club brothers and pulling weapons from cold, motionless hands. It made me nauseous, and then the sharp chemical stench of bleach burned my nose from where the other girls were pouring it onto the bloodstains, and it was all too much. My stomach turned over, the back of my throat burned, and I knew I was going to be sick right now.
No one was paying attention to me as I ran from the room. Jess was too busy fussing around Breaker, and Ray was still hurling insults around the room. I sprinted to the bathroom, barely making it in time before everything I had eaten that day came shooting back up. When it was over, I slumped to the floor, trying to catch my breath as I wiped the sick from my chin and leaned my forehead against the soothing coolness of the toilet. The adrenaline was finally draining from my body, leaving me exhausted and shaky, and all I wanted was to crawl into bed. I hauled myself up, bracing myself on the sink as I brushed my teeth and rinsed away the sour taste of vomit. Then I forced myself to walk to the bedroom, where I collapsed onto the bed.
Despite how tired I was, sleep didn’t come easy. Even when I finally slept, I was restless. I was haunted by the look in Crow’s eyes when he saw me in Ray’s lap, the sadness and betrayal on his face as he pointed his gun at me. It had hurt worse than any time Ray had pulled his gun on me. Ray’s fury made me fall into line, but Crow… I had wanted to reach out to him. To place my hand over his and lower the gun while telling him not to be so stupid. Doing anything like that with Ray would have ended with a new bruise, but I knew, Iknewthat Crow would have trusted me, would have let me take the gun from him and hold him and promise him that everything was going to be fine.
