Penance Read online

Straining my brain, I try to think of the name. “The woman who you hung out with a while back?”

  He nods. “Yeah, I think about her.”

  I smile raising my brow. It’s weird him opening up to me about this. I didn’t think of Trax as a sharer. “Why did she leave?”

  He rubs the back of his neck and sighs. “It’s complicated, but I didn’t want her to go. I thought this life was for her. I thought she would be my Old Lady, man. I just…” he pauses. “With Sass, do you think she’s Old Lady material?”

  I’m taken a little by surprise. Though a slow smile creeps up on my face as I think that question over. “I think Sass will make a great Old Lady. Are we there yet? To be honest with you, it’s damn close.” My smile broadens just thinking about it. “But, Trax, if Mylee left, then she wasn’t ready for this life.” I sigh and look at him sternly. “You have to respect that not every woman can handle being with a biker and his lifestyle.”

  He grimaces. “It’s not that, she’s fine with the lifestyle, it was… it doesn’t matter. Just, no one fucking compares, you know. Women come in and out of my bed, but no one…” he trails off looking to the floor.

  “No one is her,” I reply and he looks back up to me and nods.

  “She knew me… really saw through the bullshit. We spent all our time together. If not here, then at the Knights clubhouse.” He pauses looking to the floor like he’s in pain. “The thing is, Sensei, I never thought when things got tough, she’d fucking run. I would have walked over goddamned hot coals for that woman, and she…” he trails off shaking his head, his hand rubbing the back of his neck from the tension building up behind it.

  I exhale stepping closer to him. “Sometimes, Trax, when people get scared, even if we care about someone deeply, we run, for fear of the other person running first.”

  His eyes slowly peer up at me as he grimaces. “I would never have left her.”

  I weakly smile. “Does she know that?”

  He snorts. “Doesn’t even matter… I’ll never see her again.”

  Gripping his shoulder, I look into his wounded eyes understanding where some of his pent-up rage now stems from. He’s hurting. His woman turned him down, and he still hasn’t gotten over it. And despite what he thinks, Trax is actually quite sensitive to his emotions. He obviously misses Mylee. This, plus, losing his sister-in-law, Zoey, and his father as well, he’s had a lot of loss in his life. No wonder he’s thriving on bloodlust.

  I need to watch him.

  Carefully.

  Closely.

  I need to take him under my wing.

  “Let’s get this cleaned up and get upstairs to figure out what the hell we do next.”

  He nods and lets out a heavy sigh, but as he looks back to the underling he smirks, like seeing him dead brings him joy.

  Yes, I definitely need to watch him.

  SENSEI

  We’re all sitting at the bar, it’s fucking late. The idea of going to bed crosses my mind as I sip on the last of my beer. I can’t help but think of Sass. Her cuddled up in bed sound asleep, and I wish I was next to her tonight. But I know she’s better off at home. Being here right now is a bad idea, and while things are becoming dangerous, I think maybe her staying away from the club might be in her best interests. Not away from me, just the clubhouse. I’ll have to talk to her about that without explaining why. I hope she understands. I know she’s intuitive about club business. She knows how it works, she’s been onboard with everything so far. So, I can’t imagine her kicking up a stink over not coming here at the moment if I deem it’s in her best interest.

  She should be fine.

  Ace slides his finger over his tablet grunting and groaning over something as he speaks to Torque. I’m done for the night, it’s been a hectic day, and I’m beat. I stand up and tip my chin to everyone in a gesture of goodnight as the alarm sounds for an incoming cop car. I tense as I look down at my jeans that have blood on them—there’s not much, but there is a slight spatter—as everyone stands up wondering what the fuck is going on. Luckily the underling’s body has been dealt with and has left the compound. Tremor and Zane are out now dumping it in our usual spot, and the Chamber’s completely spotless with no signs of anything happening in there.

  I glance at Torque as he signals for all of us to huddle together, and we walk as a group out of the clubroom toward the gate where Gatekeeper signals they have pulled up. We don’t know how many of them are out there. Whether this is a raid, or simply an intimidation tactic. We have no idea what’s going on. We haven’t had the pigs here for as long as I can remember. We don’t bother them, they don’t bother us, we have a good understanding. So them being here is for a reason, I just don’t know what the hell it is, and especially this late at night.

  The gate slides open, and to my relief it’s only one squad car. I can visibly see two officers as the rest of us stand in a triangle formation in preparation for whatever the hell they’re about to throw at us. Torque’s in the middle, Trax to his left, me to his right, and the rest of us fanning out like one big brotherhood, a family, a club—united we stand.

  The officers both slide out of the patrol car, their postures stern, strong, as they both look over us. One is a man—tall, sturdy looking with a boyish appearance. The other, which surprises me is a female. Quite pretty, medium height, but I can tell she works out and can hold her own. She has an arrogance about her like she won’t take shit from anyone. It actually appears as if she’s the tougher one of the two as they step up to us and nod, but it’s Ace who walks forward letting out a small laugh.

  “Fuck… Brody?” Ace asks, and the male cop smiles wide and nods.

  “Hey, man, long time no see,” Brody replies reaching out and shaking hands with Ace, as the woman continues to look on with her stern face.

  “What the hell? You’re a cop? I thought you were going to go and play league?” Ace questions, and I look to Torque who seems just as intrigued by this interaction as I am.

  Brody smiles. “Yeah, that kinda got shot to hell when I tore my ACL in training one day. Did the rehab then decided I’d join the force instead. Haven’t looked back since.”

  Ace shakes his head and smiles wide. “Well, fuck man, it’s so damn good to see you.”

  Brody nods. “Same, man, same. You look… well, actually you look exactly the same. Still haven’t cut your damn hair.”

  We all chuckle as Ace snorts and rolls his shoulders. “Ladies love the locks,” he replies, and the girl cop grunts out some sort of disapproval as we all look over at her.

  Ace gives her a toothy grin as he looks her up and down.

  Brody clears his throat like he’s remembered he’s here on official business. “Right, we’re here for a reason. One of your girls… Ruby Newberry was the victim of an attack at Club Modesty tonight. Is that correct?” he asks.

  Torque nods. “Correct.”

  “We can’t get a statement from her, just yet, she’s still unable to talk. But we would like some information from you about the incident.”

  Torque creases his brows like he’s unsure how to play this. We know the Yakuza have cops on their payroll—Brody could be one of them, but he also may not be. He seems to know Ace, and if their connection is enough for the cops to help us out this one time, then maybe we should roll with that.

  Torque looks at me, and I shrug slightly. He turns to Surge who does the same, and so he faces Brody and the woman cop and tilts his head toward to clubhouse. “Come on in, we have some things we need to discuss with you.”

  We all sit at the tables Foxy describes as summer camp tables, half the club and two cops as the club girls bring drinks over. Ace sits next to Brody with his tablet.

  “So, some shit’s been going down in the city. We don’t know if you’re aware of it or not, but there’s a new guy throwing his weight around,” Torque offers, and Brody narrows his eyes.

  “There’s been talk around the precinct. Nothing official. Rumors of some conglomerate coming in and
buying up businesses by hounding them to sell for lower than the market value. The thing is, every time I try to look into it, I’m blocked by something or someone. It’s like some cover-up’s going on, and me and Grier here…” he looks at the lady cop, “… are having a hell of a time trying to figure out who the hell these people are, and what the fuck they’re actually doing. All we know is that shit is going down, and people are covering it up.”

  Torque looks at Ace who nods at him letting him know Brody’s okay. Torque then looks at me, and my instinct is to not say any more. This could be some form of test from the Ishikawa to see who we’re talking to, but right now we’re out of options, and this could be the break we need so, I nod.

  Torque turns back to Brody and lets out a heavy sigh. “This goes against my better judgment, and working with the cops … no offense… is not fuckin’ my idea of things I wanna do today… but Ace, show him the footage.”

  Ace nods and slides his tablet in front of Brody and presses play to show the cameras of Ruby dancing and then the Yakuza underling walking past and blatantly bumping into her hard. He zooms into where you can see him stab the needle in her arm.

  Brody lets out a heavy sigh as he sits back in the chair and nods. “Okay, so we see who the guy is. The next question is why?”

  “He’s a member of the Ishikawa Yakuza, and they’re here in Chicago,” Torque states, and Grier and Brody both draw their eyebrows together like they’re confused.

  “Yakuza? They’ve been sanctioned out of America,” Grier finally says, her soft voice doesn’t match her hard demeanor.

  I nod. “The families that were here were sanctioned and have gone. This is a new family. They have come in and kept their identity and presence under the radar so they can function and run without anyone knowing. That’s how they’re getting their… shit done. If no one knows they’re here, they can’t be sanctioned like the others,” I inform.

  Grier and Brody both nod their heads.

  Brody rubs his chin in a look of the heaviness of the situation. “Shit!” Brody murmurs as he glances to Ace, his obvious longtime friend. “Okay, we need to do some digging… see what we can find out, see what we can uncover. If we can expose them, then maybe we can try to get rid of them.”

  Ace rolls his shoulders. “Be careful, Brody, if they catch wind of you digging, they won’t hesitate to take you out. Just look at what they did to Ruby.”

  Brody nods as he looks at Grier, and she winces which shows a different side of her, a human side, to the Terminator robot I’ve seen over the past fifteen minutes.

  He nods. “Right, I’ll contact Aaron the minute I hear or find anything.”

  Ace snorts. “It’s Ace now, man, only my mom calls me Aaron.”

  Everyone snickers except for Grier.

  Brody smiles raising a brow. “Yeah, right, okay. Can’t believe you’re here, though. Out of everyone from our school days… you, the nerd, ended up in an MC?”

  Ace snorts but bobs his head in understanding. “Sometimes the club life chooses you.”

  We all smile knowing exactly how he feels. We all came to this club one way or another, our stories all unique and different, but we’re all bonded to the same family. No matter our background, our history, our walk of life, we’ve been accepted into this brotherhood, and this family is the best in the fucking world.

  “I’m glad you found your place, Ace, I really am.” Brody stands up as he pats Grier on the shoulder.

  “A cop who’s on our side. Fuck! What the hell is the world coming to?” Trax jests.

  “We’re not all assholes…” he pauses with a grin. “Grier is, but she’s workable,” Brody teases, and we all pause not knowing how to take what he’s just said, while she sneers at him throwing him the bird. He laughs. “Don’t worry, she loves me.”

  “Fuckhead,” she murmurs under her breath with a hint of a smile, and I relax a little more. Maybe they do have a good relationship. She might be a hardass, but I think she does have a soft spot for Brody.

  “I’ll be in touch,” Brody affirms turning and heading for the door with Grier in tow.

  “Keep your head down,” Ace calls back, and they both nod as they leave.

  I look to Torque and let out a long exhale wondering if we’ve made the right call or just dumped ourselves in the biggest pile of steaming shit known to all of mankind.

  Only time will tell.

  The Next Day

  After our late night, the club’s moving slow this morning. Even though it’s late morning, we’re all still sluggish and not our usual energetic selves. It might also be the fact that we’re up to our eyeballs in shit, and we can’t see a way out. The unknown about whether Brody and Grier are on our side or not is something we won’t know until it all folds out. It’s eating at me, and even worse, all I can seem to think about is Sass.

  Father steps up to me placing his hand on my shoulder, and I turn to him and smile. “Raiden, you seem tenser than normal.”

  I let out a heavy sigh. “Nothing for you or Mother to be concerned over.”

  He half-smiles and nods. “This Ayla girl… she on your mind?”

  “Constantly.”

  “Ah, the joys of the beginnings of a new relationship. Enjoy it. The butterflies don’t last forever, but the enjoyment of seeing her face every morning does. Be good to her, son.”

  I nod as he turns and walks off to go and sit with my mother. It’s fantastic that they’re still so in love, especially after everything they have been through. Fleeing another country to get away from Aiko, just so they could be together, it’s a true romance story.

  As I move over to the wooden table, Torque looks at me and raises his brow. “You look like shit. You not sleeping, brother?”

  “It’s difficult to sleep with so much on my mind. My blood father in town trying to take over. Not knowing if he’s aware we’re here. The fact that we just spoke to the cops, who may or may not be on his payroll. The fact we have Andrettis coming to the clubhouse soon. Plus, Sass. Dragging her into this fucking mess…” I let out a heavy breath, and Torque nods.

  “Yep, I can see why you’re stressed. But Sensei, all of this is outta your control. You need to let shit play out the way it’s gonna. And as for Sass, she’s one strong-as-fuck female so she can take anything that’s thrown at her.”

  “That’s just it… I don’t want anything thrown at her… I want her fucking safe.”

  Torque nods in understanding. “I get it, I do, trust me. With Foxy, I don’t want her around this shit either. Why do you think we’re getting a house away from the club?”

  I nod as Tremor whistles from the doorway gaining our attention. “They’re here.”

  We both stand, and I glance at Father and nod letting him know to take Mother back to their room. The girls are at school with a prospect on guard, so I don’t have to worry about them which is good. But this is new territory for us, this has never been done before. Torque figured we’re making new ground with the Andrettis, and we’ve been on their turf, we have to show the same respect to them by allowing them on ours. We don’t like it. We’re prepared for anything that may eventuate from this meeting.

  Chains and Lift escort the black pinstriped suit-wearing Mafioso through the clubhouse doors. We all walk up to them, and Torque smiles as Enzo looks around the clubhouse with a satisfied grin.

  “Enzo, welcome,” Torque gestures shaking Enzo’s hand as Enzo nods and shakes his hand back energetically.

  I smile at Torque’s obvious discomfort as he pulls back, and we head over to the wooden tables. “Ciao, Torque, and all the bikers. This place is better than I imagined. Honestly, I thought it would be a dive!” Enzo chimes as we all take our seats, and Torque raises his brow at Enzo’s honesty.

  Enzo’s come out of his shell since our ‘friendship’ with them has grown, and now it’s like he feels free to say whatever he wants, good or bad.

  “Well, we’re glad you approve,” Surge replies.

  Enzo nod
s to him as everyone settles into their positions.

  Italians on one side.

  Brothers on the other.

  “So, I’ll catch you up real quick. Last night, one of our club girls was drugged by the Yakuza, and she overdosed. This was obviously a warning for taking too long to give them a response. We need something. Or we’re gonna have to do something drastic, which could go one of two ways… massive loss of lives and we win, or we’re fuckin’ wiped out completely,” Torque offers.

  Enzo holds up his finger as if to stop Torque from continuing. We all sit up taller as Enzo gestures for one of his men to slide something forward. “We found something. It’s taken a hell of a lot digging, but my tech guys are good. No offense.” He glances to Ace whose entire face scrunches up as he takes in the insult. “It seems the Yakuza are dealing dirty money to pay for the businesses their conglomerate is buying up in town.”

  I smile. “They’re fucking money laundering?”

  He nods. “Exactly, as well as a heap of other shit. Pretty sure they’re into some sort of heroin trade. The word on the street is that a new seller is making it big time in Chicago, and my bet is that it’s the Yakuza making their mark.”

  “That’s the drug they used on Ruby,” Trax grunts, and I nod.

  “So how do we get these fuckers to take the fall for all this?” Enzo asks, and Ace sits taller.

  “Can we have this folder?” Ace asks.

  Enzo cracks his neck and shrugs. “I suppose, but what are you going to do with it?”

  Ace wracks his jaw from side to side and then blurts it out, “Give it to the cops.”

  “Fanculo. Are you stupido? You’re out of your godforsaking mind!”

  Torque lets out a heavy sigh and raises his hand to placate Enzo. “Enzo, I know it sounds laughable—”

  “Laughable? You, dealing with the cops? We don’t deal with the fucking cops. Fucking hell, we’re out of here. You were always pussies, so I guess nothing changes with you guys—”

  “Stop!” Torque’s deep baritone voice booms through the clubhouse making everyone turn and stare.