Heading up the creaking stairs, we come face to face with Giovanni. He looks just like his mugshot that we managed to find through police databases. He smirks arrogantly and tucks his hands into his jean pockets.
“Well well, so you found me. Nice to finally put faces to the pictures we have pinned up of you. You don’t scare me. But you should fear me.” His vile words are carried with a heavy Italian accent, the hairs on my arms stand up as he eyes us condescendingly. He makes my fucking skin crawl.
Cobra and Prez lunge at him and grab him roughly by his arms, dragging him back down the stairs. Once in the kitchen area of this pathetic excuse of a house, Prez and Cobra secure him to a wooden chair in the middle of the room.
Giovanni laughs maniacally, straining against his bonds. I fist my hands at my sides knowing this fucker threatened my woman. I grind my teeth and tense my jaw painfully as the bastard sits there with an evil smile on his face.
Without even waiting for orders or thinking things through, my fist connects with his nose; blood spurting out and the satisfactory crack of bone as his nose shatters. He laughs again. “That the best you got? You no better than a woman.”
Growling low in my throat, my fist flies through the air and connects with his eye. Another crack as his cheekbone breaks. This time, the fucker screams out in agony. Watching his eye rapidly swell calms me slightly. He’s a dead man and he knows it.
“You never get threaten an Old Lady of the Crusaders MC. Any man that’s brave enough to do that will fucking pay the ultimate price, and you, motherfucker, are gonna die. Mark my words.” I spit at his feet, disrespecting the despicable piece of shit that he is. “Your time has come to an end. You fucked with the wrong clubs.”
With that, Cobra lays into him, punch after furious punch. The sounds of broken bones and screams of agony fill the room and I breathe in the scent of the metallic smell of spilled blood.
After Cobra calms down, he grabs Giovanni’s right hand and unsheathes his hunting knife before slicing through each finger. Screams fill the small space and I laugh. “Not such a big man now, are you, Giovanni?”
“End him, Cobra. I’ve had enough,” Prez says, walking from the room with head held high.
“Say goodbye, motherfucker. Your end has come.” Cobra whispers before putting the barrel of his gun against his forehead.
BANG.
Giovanni’s body slumps down as his life instantly drains from him. Blood runs down the length of his body and pools underneath his chair. I spit once more at his feet before turning to leave the house. An unusual calms settles within me. My woman is safe, we’re safe. That bastard his going straight to the gates of hell and I’m sure the devil will welcome him with open arms. That bastard is home.
8Chapter 10
Champ
Once returning to our hotel, I go straight to the room for a hot shower to rinse the blood that’s soaking into my skin. The blood of a man who’s life wasn’t worth living, a life not worthy of planet earth. He’s where he belongs. I’m glad it was Cobra who pulled the trigger, the blood of that man is too much for my hands to carry. I could never have kept it from Lauren.
Turning the shower dial to hot, I sigh as the scolding water batters my skin. I scrub hard with a sponge and with the shitty shower gel, compliments of the hotel. I rub the cheap shampoo into my hair, scratching and scrubbing hard.
Leaning my hands on the wall, I stand there, thoughts of what went down swirling in my head. I keep telling myself the fucker deserved it, yet I can’t help the feeling of helplessness of taking another life, even though it wasn’t my hand that pulled the trigger. I’ve never took a life and I don’t plan to, I could never carry the burden of guilt. I’ll taint my soul with taking a life and I have no idea how Cobra carries out his day to day life, knowing he’s killed men. It doesn’t darken his soul, he doesn’t act any different but it would ruin me.
Finishing up with my shower, I step out and grab the over fluffy bath towel and pat myself dry before tying it around my waist. I head to the mirror that’s screwed in the wall over the sink and stare at my reflection. I don’t look any different. I just feel different.
This situation takes me back to a few months ago with the Prospect that Cobra caught stealing from Prez. We took Luke to the basement, blood was spilt and Cobra ended his life. Each of these bloody cases are etched into my brain and I have no idea how to sort this shit out. I don’t usually attend these sorts of things because I know it fucks with my head.
Shaking my head at myself, I tell the mirror, “Fuckin’ get a grip.” I walk back into the hotel room and pull on some sweats to sleep in. I grab my cell from the dresser opposite the bed on my way past, needing more than ever to call Lauren. She grounds me when I need it, she completes me in every way.
After three rings, her sweet yet sultry voice answers, “Champ!”