Retribution: A Motorcycle Club Romance (14 page)

The leader hadn’t moved back far
enough. Will’s first strike sent stiff, sharp fingertips right into the gullet
of his throat. Instantly the man gasped for breath through his pinched
windpipe. Wooden floorboards creaked underneath him as he crashed to his knees,
hands clawing at his throat, gulping in panicked fear like a fish pulled from a
lake. The man in the bun started yelling in angry, rapid Spanish and bent to
uselessly try and help his comrade with his one healthy arm.

The two hulking brutes didn’t stop
advancing on Will. A glint of silver appeared in his left hand, and then
suddenly he was leaping
toward
one of them, slashing as the man stopped
in surprise. He yelped as Will’s knife connected with his skin, cutting through
the pathetic layer of his black t-shirt and opening big, if superficial, slices
of skin across his muscular chest and upper arms. The man stumbled backward,
grasping at himself as blood began to gush from the wounds and drip onto the
floor.

The second thug used the moment to
sweep behind Will and wrap his enormous arms around him in a clenching bear
hug, pinning his arms to his sides. Will howled and thrashed like a trapped
wolf, kicking his legs wildly, knocking over the tall round bar tables he could
reach, but unable to get any leverage.

Thinking Will was trapped, Charlie
fumbled for the shotgun and brought it out from under the bar just as Will took
a daring risk and brought the knife in his left hand down hard into the thigh
of the man who held him, barely missing his own leg in the tussle. The man
screamed and released Will, who instantly ducked and twisted away from his
captor until they faced each other.

The thug pulled the knife out of his
leg with a trembling, bloody hand and growled at Will like an animal as he spun
it in his unsteady hand to wave around as a threat. But before he could do
anything with it, Will drew back and delivered a forceful punch to his face,
hard enough that Eva heard cracking and felt the jolt run up her own bones as
she huddled in fright.

The thug fell hard to the floor on
his back, head lolling around on the floor as he fought to stay conscious. Will
stalked up to him and hovered over him ominously.

Behind the bar, Charlie anxiously
swept the barrel of the shotgun back and forth. The other Latino men began to
yell in protest, and the one with the slashed chest advanced on him, trying to
help his fallen brother.

Charlie cocked the shotgun, and its
unmistakable sound made everyone in the room freeze and take notice—everyone
except Will.

Eva watched with wide, horrified eyes
as Will stood over the incapacitated man with a darkness on his face she had
never seen before. Will looked at him for a few heavy seconds that seemed to
drag on for eternity. Then Eva saw him lifting up the shirt on his right side,
where he kept his concealed handgun holster.

No… no… no…

The Latino men saw what was
happening, too, and they started screaming at Will in angry voices, in both
Spanish and English. With Charlie’s shotgun on them, they were helpless to
intervene.

Will stared at the man as if he was
in a trance, drawing the silver handgun from its holster and aiming it
steadily, right at his face.

“You shouldn’t have come here,” said
Will, so quietly that Eva wasn’t sure how she even heard him over the
frightened din.

The protests only grew when Will
pulled back the barrel and loaded the gun. Before she realized what she was
doing, Eva jumped to her feet and rushed into the bar room, calling his name
desperately.

“
Don’t!
” she screamed, her
hands up as she reached him, stopping on the other side of the injured man and
staring at Will. Everyone in the room turned to look at her in surprise.

“Eva, get the fuck out of here!”
yelled Charlie.

She ignored him, focusing only on Will
as he stared down at his victim. “Will, don’t do this! You
don’t have to
kill him!”

Like he was being pulled out of a
trance, Will dragged his gaze up to meet hers. “Eva, what the fuck are you
doing?”

Tears stung her eyes as she pointed
to the man on the floor. “You don’t have to kill him, Will! He’s out!”

“You don’t understand a
fucking
thing
,” he snarled. The gun in his hand didn’t move, didn’t shake.

Fury and desperation built up in
Eva’s chest as she met his eyes, and saw the raging dark storm inside his mind.
She didn’t know why she said what she said next, didn’t know why in a million
years it was the first thing that popped into her head, but the words tumbled
from her mouth in desperation anyway.

“
Anger’s my meat; I sup upon
myself, and so shall starve with feeding.
”

The room fell quiet, save for the
panicked breathing of the injured and threatened men. Everyone’s eyes flitted
from Will, to Eva, and back again, trying to decipher what was happening
between them.

Will froze, staring into her eyes.
She could see something changing. She could see something washing over him. The
gun in his hand started to tremble. His breathing came wet and shallow.

Will began to blink and blink, like
he was waking up. He stared at Eva a few moments more, then looked down at the
man on the floor, sinking in and out of unconsciousness as Will threatened to
make it permanent.

Eva felt every muscle in her body let
go when Will finally lowered his arm.

Will didn’t fully turn to the men,
but only bent his head enough that they knew he was talking to them. His voice
was deep, black with promises of death. “Get out.”

The Latino men didn’t move at first,
instead staring nervously at Charlie. Charlie only shook his head at them.
“What he said. I’ll give you five more seconds to get out.”

They didn’t deny the invitation a
second time. The man in the bun and the man with the slashed chest did their
best to awkwardly carry the man from the floor out to the SUV. The leader,
still huffing to retrieve his breath, gave the three of them a heavy,
incredulous look, one hand still cradling his throat where Will had struck him.
He said nothing as he followed his men out into the daylight and disappeared.

~
THIRTEEN ~

Will had never felt frozen like he did now. The weight
of the handgun hung at the end of his arm, heavy and unsatisfied. He watched
those motherfuckers stumble out the door, all four of them still breathing,
still in one piece. Their blood on his blade wasn’t enough. They owed him life.

If anyone had asked Will what he felt
in that moment, he would have told them he was too angry to move. He didn’t
realize that was possible, or what it could even feel like, but he knew now. He
knew he was a nuclear reactor on the verge of a meltdown, and if he even so
much as stepped a foot toward Eva in that moment, he would explode and send
them all into oblivion.

The thought came with a second
emotion: fear.

His eyes felt heavy and he let them
close as he focused on steadying his breath. From outside he could hear the men
pile sloppily into their SUV, doors slamming shut one at a time. A moment later
the vehicle revved to life and quickly sped away, throwing rocks and gravel
against the bar. He heard Charlie’s exasperated breath release in a great huff,
and the thunking sound when the barrel of the shotgun knocked against the bar.
And he heard Eva’s ragged, teary breathing at the edge of it all.

Her voice echoed in his mind. “
Anger’s
my meat; I sup upon myself, and so shall starve with feeding.
”

It was from Coriolanus. One of the
many beautiful lines given to Volumnia, the soldier’s mother, a character Will
found so strong; and one Eva rightly pointed out was as poisoned with rage as
her son.

In that moment, standing over the man
on the floor, Will had been fully prepared—
eager
—to end his life. All he
could hear was the raging of the fire that took the bakery wailing in his ears,
the greedy consuming sound of heat and death that haunted his nightmares.
Somehow he could feel the heat on his skin like it was happening again, pulsing
like a living thing, singeing the hair off his arms. And something deep in his
brain told him all he had to do to put the fire out was pull the trigger. Pull
the trigger, dig four graves in the meadow out back, and everything would be
fine. It would be over. You would have your retribution.

But Eva burst through the fire in his
mind like a phoenix, an unexpected invader he had no defense against. For the
first time in a long time, Will had hesitated. He listened, like he was under a
spell. He heard her over the fire, reciting Coriolanus to him, both a daydream
and a distant memory come together to stop him.

Her voice was like a flashover, a
rush of oxygen deliberately pushed into a fire to make it burn out quickly.
Suddenly the fire was gone, and Will stood there, cold, wondering.

He didn’t remember telling them to
leave. He was just suddenly aware of the weight of his unused handgun in his
palm, and of the dark anger that started bubbling up in his gut.

You should have fucking
killed them. You piece of shit coward. You should have killed them. You might
never have a chance like that again. What about vengeance?

Will heard his name on the edge of
his consciousness. He turned and saw Eva taking soft steps toward him in bare
feet, her eyes wide and scared.

“Get away from me,” he growled.

Eva stopped and straightened. “Will…”

“Get away,” he said, turning from her.
“I told you to stay in the fucking office.”

“Will, I…”

“You should have stayed in the
office!” he yelled.

Charlie came out from behind the bar
and behind Eva, putting his hands on her shoulders. His face was still a wide-eyed
moon of shock. “Eva, c’mon.” He pulled on her gently. She fought him for a
moment as she stared at Will, her mouth hanging open, wondering, asking without
saying a word. Finally she let Charlie turn her away and lead her through the
bar and out the back door.

Will dropped his head and closed his
eyes. Fumbling, he put his handgun on the nearest upright table and rubbed his
hands roughly over his face, tugging at his own hair, trying to get his body
and his mind to reconnect with each other. He felt wetness on his cheeks and
realized his eyes were leaking what must be stress tears, a byproduct of the
chemical overload rushing through his brain.

You’re also a human
,
said some part of his mind.

He leaned hard on the table and hung
his head. There was too much adrenaline in his veins to sit, but too little to
actually hold him up straight.

He stood, propped against the table
in a numb haze until Charlie came back in from outside without Eva. He came up
to Will, but kept more distance than he usually did, and it did not go
unnoticed. “That was…” said Charlie, trailing off.

Will sighed heavily. “That was a
disaster.”

“A disaster?” said Charlie. He put
one hand on his hips and ran the other one roughly through his brown hair.
“Shit, we’re all still alive. I was going to say I can’t believe that worked.
When you wanted me ready with that shotgun, I was… I thought for sure I was
gonna have to watch someone die today.”

“You should’ve watched all of them
die today,” said Will.

A look of quiet horror descended on
Charlie’s face. “What?”

“I told Eva to stay in the office. I
didn’t want her near this for a reason. I shouldn’t have hesitated. Now they’ll
regroup and strike back harder. They’ll bring guns this time. They won’t make
that mistake again.”

When he heard no response, Will
looked up and saw an expression that said Charlie doubted him. He pushed
himself up straight and took a few steps forward.

“So what are you suggesting?” Charlie
asked when Will stopped in front of him.

Will thought a moment. “We have to
hit them first.”

“
What?”

“It’s our only choice,” said Will.
Even as he said it, he didn’t fully believe himself, but the words kept pouring
out of his mouth anyway. “They won’t see it coming, not now. We gather up a
tactical arsenal and strike out at them first—get them to understand what’s
going to keep happening if they don’t back off.”

“Christ,” said Charlie in a whisper. He
looked behind him, as if making sure Eva wasn’t listening. “Will, you can’t be
serious! I’m a fucking handyman, I’m not a soldier. I’d get my ass killed in a
heartbeat!”

“I won’t let that happen,” said Will.
“I’ll give you the training you need.”

Charlie shook his head and started
shifting from foot to foot. “No, man, no… I don’t… I don’t like this.”

“Give me time to get the plan
together,” said Will. “You’ll feel better when you can see it. This has to
happen, Charlie. I have to protect her.”

“Protect her?” said Charlie.

Will froze, blinking. He hadn’t
realized he’d said that. “I have to protect Eva.”

Charlie fell silent and looked hard
at Will. He looked very much like he wanted to argue, but didn’t have the
words, or the balls, to do it.
Whatever the reason is fine with me, just
keep your mouth shut.

“Might as well clean up the blood on
the floor and open up for the day,” said Will as he swiped his handgun off the
table and stuffed it into the holster under his shirt. He walked around
Charlie. “They won’t be back for a while.”

Behind him, he could hear Charlie
talking to himself, incredulous, shifting around in discomfort. Will didn’t
care. He had another issue to attend to. He stalked out the back door and out
into the meadow to look for Eva.