Black Dogs Motorcycle Club: Full Series Box Set (37 page)

A scream got caught in
Eva’s throat as she felt her heart stop.

Underneath it all, she
heard Will say quietly: “Five.”

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.