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17. Eli

Chapter 17

Eli

T he desert stretched out around us, with only the cacti and the odd boulders standing as solitary sentinels. I’d have to give Maxim Volkov props for the austere desert landscape touches around the house. I knew they said this was an old farmhouse, but you’d never know it with the remodeling that had gone on out here. Maybe the hardwood was original, but that was about it. The man knew how to spend money. I’d bet a good chunk of change that he’d even had these rocks placed strategically.

The air was dry, carrying the scent of dust and sagebrush, but I could feel the tension between us like a heavy weight pressing down. Pike stood with his arms crossed, watching me in that silent, brooding way of his as if the quiet space of the desert could somehow make this conversation easier.

But it wouldn’t.

The open stretch of the desert made me feel caged. I couldn’t hide behind the shadows anymore, not from him. Not from the truth.

I hadn’t planned to come bust in on their family meal, but I didn’t know what came over me. There I was, parked on the side of the road, ready to head to my apartment and get down to some business for the evening, when I pulled up the screens for Veronica’s bedroom. She’d been akimbo, legs splayed open, pumping her pink rabbit between the lips of her pussy like there was no tomorrow while her hips worked in tandem.

Our little meeting had Veronica so turned on that my little liar had barely made it home before she shoved that vibrator into her slit and made herself come.

I liked that a lot, other than the fact that it wasn’t my cock.

Everything about her was sexy. I was going to have a perpetual hard-on around her. Sitting next to her and monitoring every bite she took turned me on even more. Veronica had given me one more flirty look with a toss of her hair before I followed my brother onto the patio.

“What’s up?” I asked, throwing myself into a chair and kicking up my boots.

“Really?” His arms crossed over his chest, and his forehead wrinkled at me. It was entertaining to irritate him. “I thought I told you that she needs someone stable,” he clenched his jaw and slammed his mouth shut.

“Someone stable?” I prompted. “By all means, explain to me what you mean by that,” I said viciously, then sighed exasperated. “Look, do you have questions you want to ask? Ask them, but I’m seeing Veronica. That’s nonnegotiable. She can say no if she wants.” I didn’t really mean that, but I’d say that for his peace of mind. There was no way I’d let her say no.

Pike rubbed his jaw for a minute, chewing on something, then spit out, “How’d you get away?” The words were blurted out, and Pike looked like he wanted to shoot himself in the ass and call them back. “You don’t have to answer. No, wait. I want you to. We are stepping around a pile of shit all the time. All these fucking secrets. I want to know.”

“Ah, down to the nitty gritty then. Fine. This isn’t really about Veronica.” I leaned forward onto my elbows as he sat in the chair opposite me. “Kent used to go on little … outings to pick up other kids. He wasn’t on the list for more fosters after that supposed accident. Kent liked fresh batches if you know what I mean.” I sent Pike a dark look. There was no need to elaborate on Kent’s predilections as they didn’t change much. Kent had his kinks, but they didn’t vary. He was a straight predator. Kent liked the young boys and always liked one to watch as he engaged in his little games. “Normally, he didn’t take me with him, but I got lucky.” I shrugged. What could I say as far as being lucky went? “This one time, he was worried. He thought I might get away, and he couldn’t have that.”

“What an asshole.”

“Yeah.” Kent was more than an asshole, but there was no reason to get into details. I’m sure Pike realized what I went through. While Pike was there, he’d been my shield in many ways, but when he’d been moved, I’d been alone and Kent’s sole victim unless Kent brought someone else home, which always seemed worse.

Pike’s jaw clenched, the muscles working as if he were grinding his teeth together.

“We were in Seattle for two days before there was a moment for me to get away. I had an opening, and I took it. I was skinny and underweight in an unfamiliar city, but I would have died if I stayed with Kent. So I ran.”

“That’s when you met Victor?” Pike asked sharply, breaking the silence. His voice was hard, but the unmistakable tone of guilt was underneath it.

I nodded, flicking my cigarette into the dirt. “Yeah.”

This was a more difficult conversation than I’d thought. There had been so many times that I’d held onto the memory of my brother as someone who’d been there for me, protecting me. Later, I’d been mad that he’d left me there, but that had been a child’s anger. Pike hadn’t abandoned me as I’d initially thought. He’d been manipulated into thinking I’d died there. Even if he had known, what on earth could he have done? He was a kid. The one thing I’d learned was that we were powerless. Hell, Pike was only a few years older than I was, so he’d been eight? Nine? What the fuck could he have done for me?

At the time, I’d twisted the memories around until I didn’t know if I loved or hated him. Now that I was faced with the man he’d become and the man I was, I wasn’t sure how to balance things out .

He shifted his weight, and the dust kicked up around his boots as he did, the only sound in the stillness. “And Victor?” Pike asked, voice low. "You said you met him on the streets?” he said it like it was a question.

I swallowed the bitterness that came with the name. Victor was a sore spot between us, but I wasn’t about to dance around it. "Yeah, we were just kids then. He knew how to survive, though. Showed me the ropes—where to hide and steal without getting caught. It was better to have someone watching your back."

Pike leaned closer, his voice tense. "And you trusted him?"

Was he giving me shit for seeking out an ally? I flicked my cigarette into the dirt, watching the ash scatter. "I didn’t have much of a choice. It was him or die alone on the streets. We became like brothers. That was all we had—each other. There was no other choice for me. Understand? What could I have done at that point? Turn to the police?” I scoffed. “Foster care? That sure turned out great,” my voice dripped with venom.

I looked off for a minute, trying to keep the memories at bay—the memories of boys scavenging for themselves, but also memories of joy. We were little savages but tasted unparalleled freedom — the two of us were determined. That sort of thing was forged in fire.

My brother’s jaw clenched, his fists tightening by his sides. I could see the anger building in him, the frustration. He hated this. He hated that he hadn’t known, that he hadn’t been able to stop any of it.

"He wasn’t a saint, but we were kids. All we knew was survival. We did whatever it took. More than anyone, Victor was willing to do whatever it took. He was vicious, but he was loyal to me.” That was one thing that I’d never fault Victor for. He’d never crossed me in any way.

Pike scoffed and gave me what was tantamount to an eye-roll. “Victor was a monster. Loyal to you? What the fuck are you talking about? What do you call what was going on here when he was killing people left and right.” He let out a breath. “I’m sorry. That’s not fair. I’m glad you had someone to watch your back on the streets. Someone there for you when I couldn’t be. I wish we had been together.”

“I didn’t say he wasn’t crazy.” I struggled to put Victor into terminology that someone else would understand. “He was angry, temperamental, and a sadist.” Pike’s lip curled in disgust. “There was always something in him fundamentally … wr ong.” He stared at me, his jaw tight, but he didn’t interrupt. He was giving me space to continue, to lay it all out. “It’s hard to explain. Victor was just,” I shrugged.

“Also, it wasn’t just Victor and me for long," I said, my throat dry as the next name formed on my lips. "There was someone else."

Pike’s brow furrowed. "Someone else?" I nodded. Pike’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t say anything. I could feel the weight of his judgment, the anger simmering just beneath the surface. He was angry about Victor coming into Moringrock. Sure, Victor had almost framed him for murder and put him back behind bars, but mostly he was pissed that Victor had nearly murdered Natasha.

"You know how it started," I said. "Victor and I were surviving, stealing, doing whatever we had to on the streets. It wasn’t glamorous, but it kept us alive. That’s when Luther showed up."

Pike’s eyes flickered at the name. He didn’t know him like I did, but he knew enough now to keep quiet and let me talk.

"Luther was our age," I continued, my voice rough with the memories. "But smarter. He saw the potential—we were hungry kids with nothing to lose. He fought to join our group, put up with Victor’s shit, and came up with this idea to host street fights and take bets. Victor and I had already been fighting, but Luther thought bigger than us. Victor saw the potential, too. He was a crazy fucker, but he wasn’t stupid. From there, it grew into big business.”

“Fighting?”

“Luther and I are still running the underground fights. Now we have quite a business.” That was putting it modestly, but I didn’t want to brag. We weren’t operating legally, but we were careful. Luther and I were talking about opening a nightclub soon. That was the next move, which was to start putting down roots.

"And Victor?" Pike asked, his voice sharper now. "How did he fit into all of this?"

I took a deep breath, staring out at the horizon. "Victor was inconsistent and unpredictable, as you can imagine,” I shot him a rueful look. Pike had a closeup look at how unhinged Victor had been. “When he fought, he was a monster, and the bout always ended in a death match.”

Pike scrubbed the back of his neck, signaling that tell-tale tick that meant he was anxious. “You take bets on that shit?”

“Are you judging me right now for how I make my money?” I gave a harsh laugh. “The guy who is the president of a one-percenter club? Give me a fucking break, man.” Grinding the cigarette under my heel, I stood up to pace a little bit. Pike watched me cautiously, but I could tell he wished he hadn’t said anything. “You run drugs and guns. I’m not sure you have much room to give me shit about how I make my money,” I chuckled. “Not to mention, I know you have blood on your hands too. You’re not some saint. Don’t act like you are.”

He tipped his head back with a laugh. “Fuck. You’re tough. You’re right. I’m sorry. I’ve got no room to judge how you make your money or what you did in the past.” He gave me a tentative smile. “Maybe we should go on that Jerry Springer show with all our drama. We used to watch that in the clink. Jesus. We have some baggage, don’t we?

“Yeah, we do,” I agreed with a chuckle. The temptation to not tell Pike the rest of the story was there, but I’d come this far. “The whole thing with Victor. He came here because of me.”

“I figured,” Pike agreed.

“He had some twisted obsession for some reason. He’d gotten worse over the years.” I cringed a little. “He’d been fighting for the business when asked to but gone a lot, and Luther and I had been busy. He was different, darker, angrier — if that was possible. He was losing it. Luther knew it, too. We all knew it.” I swallowed hard. “I had some fighters I was scouting in L.A., so I had Victor join me to see if I could talk to him about it. Things went fine, and then, on the last day, he sprang some crazy shit on me. Brought out a box with some trophies and photos.”

“Trophies?”

“Torture scenes Pike. Worse than the shit he did here in Morinrock.” I scrubbed a hand over my mouth.

“A box. He kept what … mementos? That sounds about right. What a psycho. I’m glad you killed him.” Pike’s words were vicious but not undeserved.

“Yeah, mementos. Fingers and shit, but they were people we knew or that I knew. Nobody close to me — I should say nobody that came around a lot, but now I know why he did it.”

“He took them out,” Pike said knowingly. “Victor had a thing for you, right?”

“I had no idea. Totally fucking clueless until he handed me that little treasure trove of his. He was proud .” I spit out the last word. “Victor kept his personal life personal. He’d never hinted to me that he saw me as more than a friend. Maybe because he knew what my response would have been. We had a few words about his whole box. I was pissed and confused.

“Rightly so,” Pike agreed. “Then what happened?”

“He said he had an idea I’d like and took off. Victor always had ideas,” I explained. “He’d split and then show up later. Sometimes, he’d be gone for months, and we wouldn’t know where he’d been.” It suddenly occurred to me that the fucker had probably been off murdering unsuspecting people all that time.

“Well, you weren’t his keeper kid.” He shrugged. “You tracked him down and then came and warned me. You helped keep the girls safe. In the end, you killed a man that you grew up with. Even if he was a psychopath, you had some good memories with him. We can’t control other people and what they do. We can only control ourselves.”

That was true. Sometimes, I needed to focus on the fact that I could only control my actions, not everyone else’s. I still couldn’t think about Victor without conflicting thoughts, and Pike hit the mark about why. There were good memories mixed with the bad. It wasn’t bad that I could still think of good times with Victor. People might change or hide dark shit from you, but they had moments, and those moments could still be treasured.

The wind picked up, kicking up sand and brushing it against our faces, but neither of us moved. I could feel the weight of what I’d just told him settling between us, a mix of anger, sadness, and something else. Something like acceptance.

“And Ronnie?” Pike finally asked. “Are you gonna treat her right?”

“I won’t hurt her. That’s all I can say.”

“Ok, kid. That’ll do.” He reached out a hand, and for the first time, my palm met his. “You inviting me to the next fight?” I grinned in answer.

“Sure, brother. I’d love that,” The idea of my brother in the audience watching the majesty of what we’d built made me a little giddy. The business was highly lucrative. Without a doubt, I knew that Luther and I had pulled more money in the last fight than the Cobras had in the previous three years. Easy. People were crazy when it came to gambling. Dumb fuckers. “We’ll have one in Phoenix here in the next few weeks. Maybe the Cobras want to run some extra security?”

“Sure. We can work it out.” Pike didn’t show any signs of deception or anxiety about sending his men to work with me, so I didn’t give him an out.

“Gig will pay big. We’ll have high flyers coming in.”

“I look forward to doing business with you and meeting Luther. Do you fight ever?” We’d just started for the patio door, my hand on the doorknob when he asked the last question.

“Sometimes,” I said, turning to look at him. “I enjoy it, and I’ll fight on request.” There wasn’t any way around what was on his mind. You could almost see it spinning around in there on the spin cycle. “No — that’s not my thing. I’ll fight until knock out. That’s all,” I said pointedly. He gave me an answering nod. I knew that was his question.

Even as we went back inside and Natasha looked at him worriedly, I realized that we had covered a lot of ground but hadn’t discussed Veronica. She was the real reason I was here, but Pike had chosen to talk about other issues. Hopefully, he got the information he wanted because I was all talked out.

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