Chapter 7

Venom

R age and I take Amy to the local clinic, Rage knows everyone there, so she’s seen super quick, and the doctor orders several x-rays of her ribs. Come to find out, she doesn’t have a fractured rib, thank God. She’s just bruised a bit and is probably gonna be sore for a week or two. The doctor gives her the once over before cutting her loose.

We hurry back to the clubhouse and brainstorm some more about her mom’s case. Before we can get turned around, it’s evening and Amy is wilting like a spring flower. Rage and I exchange knowing looks as we tuck her into bed.

I tell her, “Get some rest and call me if you need anything.”

She’s already falling asleep before we leave.

The moment we step out of my suite, Rage asks, “Are we kicking ass tonight? Because I need to blow off some steam.”

“You know we are, brother. I can’t wait to get my hands on those dimwits, especially the one she called Big Joe. He’s the one I pulled off her that time in the coffee shop. I warned him to stay away and now he’s going to pay the price for not listening.”

“What kind of man beats on a woman? These guys are absolute garbage,” he responds hotly.

My best friend is not wrong about that. We jump on our bikes and head for the southern part of Las Salinas. It’s after work hours, so I suspect they will be at one of the local bars or eateries. Even if we find all four of them together, I have no worries about our ability to kick their asses.

It takes a good two hours to track them down. After walking in and out of every restaurant, bar, and strip club in Las Salinas, we find them hanging out at a burger joint with a play park. They had huge piles of fucking tiny sliders on their trays like they were five or something. They had at least twenty each and were laughing it up like fucking kids.

I start walking towards their table, but Rage’s hand lands on my shoulder. “Not here, brother. There are kids near.”

“Fuck, you’re right.” Reluctantly I back off and we head outside to see if we can figure out which vehicle looks like it belongs to these assholes. It’s an easy pick really, because there’s only one pick-up truck that looks like it belongs on a farm. It has hay in the back and a hand-written license plate in the window with their number and the words, ‘missing tag’ written across the top.

Rage pulls open his pocketknife and drives it into the back tires. So much for their getaway vehicle. The last fucking thing we needed was them running us down on our motorcycles with their trashed out pick-up truck. Fifty of their trucks wouldn’t equal the value of my Harley, so we were taking no chances today.

We wait around for them to come out. Half an hour later, they come out with gigantic milkshakes in their hands, just chatting away like they don’t have a care in the fucking world.

We wait until they’re right beside their vehicle and then I pounce on the larger one, Big Joe. Rage jumps on Hal, the next biggest. These two were the fuckers I’d seen at the coffee shop that first time. I gotta say these men are not fat, they are thick-necked, robust, and stout as bulls. The third one just stands around, looking agitated and keeps telling us to cut it out before someone calls the cops. Amy had said there was a fourth, but I’m guessing he doesn’t get out much.

I’m having way too much fun beating the everlovin’ shit out of Big Joe. After giving his face a knuckle makeover, I begin punching him full force in the ribs. I can hear some crunching going on, maybe he didn’t break Amy’s ribs, but this fucker’s gonna regret beating on a woman.

That’s when Rage’s voice drifts from the side, and he sounds pissed, “Aren’t you finished with your guy yet? Stop fucking dancing with him and cold-cock the fucker.”

I glance over and see that Hal is lying on the ground, a crumpled, bloody mess. The other man has backed off and is just watching. Big Joe is not looking so good. In fact, he glares at me as he spits blood out onto the ground.

“This is about fucking Amy, isn’t it?” As if the ignorant fool had to ask.

“You know that it is. I told you she was mine and warned you not to mess with her again. I remember you saying you didn’t want any trouble with the Savage Legion and now, here we are.”

“Fuck, I didn’t hurt her. I just gave her a slap.”

The third man calls from the sidelines, “Big Joe doesn’t know his own strength. It’s not his fault.”

I glance at Rage. “Can you shut that fucker up.”

He turns to jog over to the timid, mouthy one, but Big Joe stops us. “Leave Dan alone and tag team me. I’m all warmed up. I can take you both now.”

“What’s that, Joe? You in the mood to be a hero tonight?” I sneer at him.

He cracks his knuckles. “Nope, just dying for a good work out.”

Rage is on him inside of three seconds and we take turns whaling on him until he’s on the ground and not moving, then we turn to Dan. He’s not exactly trembling but he’s certainly anxiety ridden.

I point a finger right at him and articulate my words clearly. “I want you and your stupid ass friends to stay away from my old lady.”

“What? Are you married or something?” Dan stammers.

I can’t figure out if this one is dumb, or just plain innocent. I spell it out for him, “It means, married or not, she’s my woman. What’s the deal with these assholes?” I say gesturing to the two on the ground.

He glances at Big Joe and Hal, “My brothers aren’t as bad as they seem.”

“What do you mean, brothers? Are the three of you blood brothers? You look like a fucking variety pack.”

He nods. “We’re half-brothers, same father, but different mothers. We don’t have the Grayson name, but Rufus is our father.”

“Fuck me! You mean to tell me that you’re beating up on your fucking niece?” I exclaim. Amy said nothing about that, I wonder if she actually knows they’re her relatives.

“It’s not like that,” Dan tries to explain.

“What is it like then? Because to me I just see a bunch of fucking degenerates terrorizing a poor woman.”

He lets out a sigh, “You don’t understand, we gotta keep on the old bastard’s good side.”

“You can tell your fucking brothers that if they touch my woman again, I’m gonna geld them. You’re a farmer. You know what that means, right?”

He goes pale.

“So we’re on the same page. As for your bastard of a father, I haven’t decided what he’s gonna get if he doesn’t back the fuck away from Amy. Got it?”

He nods.

“So you wanna tell me what that was all about this morning?”

His lips press together as though he wants to say something but dares not. He glances away. “They were only supposed to deliver a message.”

“About that, why does the old man want to talk to Amy?”

He shrugs and digs the tip of his shoe into the dirt, making a long line. “I dunno. They don’t tell me nothin’.”

I take a step closer and look him over. “I’m beginning to think that maybe you know a hell of a lot more than you’re telling us, Dan.”

His eyes lift to mine and there’s an expression playing about his face that I don’t recognize. Whatever that expression is, it tells me I’m right. “Where the fuck is Amy’s mother? Have you seen Carol at the farm?”

He shakes his head, looking all kinds of shifty. “They don’t really let me in the house. I know that cop had a thorough look around and didn’t find anything inside or around the property.”

“I know that numbskull. Don’t insult my intelligence. I know you fuckers probably moved her sometime between Amy leaving and the cops showing up.”

“If they did, I didn’t see it,” he insists a little too innocently. Something about this man is triggering my Spidey senses really badly. I give it to him straight, “Let me make something abundantly clear, Amy is now mine. If any of you so much as look in her direction, I’ll drop you so fast you won’t know what hit you. And we’re gonna find her mother. If one single hair on her head has been damaged, the three of you won’t live to see the light of day.”

He looks surprised. “You don’t have to worry about that. Nobody’s going to hurt her.”

I take another step closer to him, tilting my head sideways as I try to get a handle on this guy. “If you don’t know where she is she is, how can you know she’s safe?”

“She’s a sweet, older woman. Who in their right mind would want to hurt her?”

“Amy’s as nice as the day is long and your asshole brother almost broke her ribs. That sweet, older woman is your fucking half-sister, or haven’t you figured out the family relationship dynamics yet?”

He glances at his brothers, they’re both coming round now, but they’ll have one hell of a headache. “I guess I never thought of it. I don’t really think of these two as my brothers as we never grew up together, it was only when they—” he stops suddenly.

“Cat got your tongue?” I ask.

He shakes his head, “No, just thinking about family stuff. It’s so fucking messed up. Okay, I understand.”

“Remember to tell your brothers what I said about Amy and her mom—and, just for the record, I don’t believe a word you said about her not being on the farm.”

“You already told them, but I’ll mention it to them again. Fair warning, they don’t ever listen to me. The two of them still think I’m a fucking kid.”

I laugh. “That sounds like a personal problem. You’re the youngest, right?”

Rage asks in a bored voice, “Are we about done here?”

I jerk my chin at him. “Yeah, I’m fucking finished for now.”

We get on our bikes, and I see Dan tending to his brothers as we pull out of the parking lot. I hope this was enough to get them to lay off Amy, but something niggling in the back of my mind tells me it’s not. As I ride back, I go over what Dan said—or rather didn’t say. Amy’s mom has to be at the farm, I don’t know what the old man is doing with her but it’s the only thing that makes sense.