DARK FALL(16)
“No, man, no. Not like that. She’s soaking wet. I can smell her from here.” Blaine flicked his tongue. “I can even taste her. It’s fucking brilliant. Goddamn.”
“You’re a sick fuck,” Erik said.
He pushed Blaine and turned, looking down at the man. His hands were up, shaking, scared into defeat.
“Tell the rest of your friends that if they fuck with me… fuck with Blaine… fuck with Back Down Devil MC… we’ve got plenty of bullets and plenty of balls.”
“Okay, okay.”
Erik lifted his boot and placed it on the man’s throat. “Hear me?”
“I swear…”
Erik applied pressure and the man started to thrash and try to scream. He grabbed at Erik’s boot and pants.
“Erik,” Blaine said.
Erik ignored Blaine. He added more pressure and watched the man’s face turning a deep shade of red. He coughed and gagged, blood dripping down his face.
At the last second, Erik took his foot off the man’s throat and was done with it.
“We’ll have to call it in,” Erik said. “Let Miller and Chief Jerry know.”
“I’m on it, man,” Blaine said. Then he nodded to Kaity. “Figure out what you’re doing with her.”
Erik walked back to Kaity as she touched her left leg. There didn’t appear to be too much blood on her leg. He slowly fell to one knee again in front of her. She instantly stiffened.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going to touch your leg. Don’t get pissed.”
“Why would I…”
Erik grabbed Kaity’s leg and dug his thumb into the hole in her jeans. She let out a scream and slapped him in the head and face. Erik took his hands away and stood up.
“Fuck, I’m sorry,” Kaity said.
Erik licked his lips and tasted a little blood. “I assume that hurt?”
“Yes.”
“You might have a bullet in your leg.”
“That sucks.”
Erik laughed. “That sucks?”
“I don’t know what I’m supposed to say.”
Erik found himself trying to press his body to Kaity’s.
Fuck.
He forced himself to take a step back. “Listen to me carefully. I don’t do this kind of shit, okay? You took a bullet for me, which means you took a bullet for the MC. It might not mean shit to you, babe, but it means something to us. You’re coming with me back to the clubhouse to get checked out. You can crash there instead of some motel in town, okay?”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“Yeah? I don’t?” Erik backed up three steps and nodded. “Come on, babe, walk to me.”
Kaity frowned and took a step forward. When it came time to use her left leg, she winced. He balance was wobbly and Erik folded his arms. Kaity took another step and then fell to the ground in pain. She was at his feet and when she looked up, there were tears in her eyes.
“The leg?” Erik asked as he stared down.
Don’t care about her, man. Don’t fucking care…
“My life,” Kaity whispered.
Erik bent his knees and scooped Kaity up. He stood, holding her. She looked shocked as Erik walked to his motorcycle. Blaine was on a cell phone. He snapped it shut and gave a thumbs up.
“We’re in the clear on this,” Blaine said. “Let’s get out of here.”
Erik helped Kaity to the motorcycle and then ran to get her the helmet. He put it on her head, snapped it shut, and moved hair out of her face, again.
When Erik started the motorcycle, he waited for Kaity’s hands to reach around his body. All he wanted to do was rough up Jack and Willy at the auto garage. But if there was anyone who knew how fucked up life could get and how fast it could change, it was Erik.
seven.
At the clubhouse, Gaige, Nate, Shay, and Jace were standing outside, laughing, smoking cigarettes, and when they saw Blaine and Erik, they all broke out in applause.
“They’re back!” Shay cried out.
Erik kicked the kickstand and got off his motorcycle. He looked at Kaity. “Stay put for a second.”
Blaine took off his helmet and opened his arms. He spun around once and walked to the group.
“Well, that was intense,” Blaine said.
Shay grabbed Blaine and hugged him. “Fuck, brother. You can’t go out there and get killed on us.”
Erik approached the group then with caution. “It's not all what it seems.”
“What happened?” Gaige asked.
“They came out of nowhere and started shooting at us. Could have killed us, but they wanted us to surrender. They wanted us on our knees, blindfolded, and I’m pretty sure they were going to take pictures to show Eight Under that they were worthy.”