“Don’t forget I fucked your wife,” he said. “Better than you ever could.”
Anderson gritted his teeth. He put his gun to Uncle Jakey’s head. “I’ll do it right now.”
“No you won’t,” Uncle Jakey said. “You want to take your time. You want to enjoy killing me. You want to come after the Reaper’s Bastards and get your credibility back. You chased me for years, Anderson. You lost your wife. You lost your career. You lost everything because of me.”
“And I’m going to get it all back,” Anderson said. He looked at me. “Our deal is off the table, Kingston. I’ll keep you out of prison for a little while. But I’m making a call and you’re going to become a pawn in my investigation into everything your motorcycle club has done. I’m going to take you all down. Piece by piece. Watch it all burn. And the best part? I’ll never tell you where I put Jakey’s body. And I’m going to save his leather cut. So I have something to piss and shit on for the rest of my life.”
I moved forward and Anderson jammed the gun to Uncle Jakey’s head even harder. I stopped. Anderson laughed.
He started to walk backwards, Uncle Jakey with him. I had never seen anything like it in my life. Uncle Jakey in handcuffs, being dragged away. And there was nothing I could do.
I looked to the man in the suit.
Who the fuck was this guy?
I looked back to Anderson and Uncle Jakey.
I was waiting for Knox and Slam to come busting into the building and do something.
“Wait a second,” Uncle Jakey said. “Give me one second to talk to King.”
Anderson paused. “What?”
“You know what you did,” Uncle Jakey said. “You thought you were working straight for the Reap. But a rat is always a rat. And a rat needs to get punished.”
“Then let him take me,” I said. “Fight back, goddammit.”
“Fight back,” Anderson said. “Yeah, that’s right. Fight back.”
“Okay,” Uncle Jakey said. “Then I will.”
I opened my mouth but didn’t get a word out.
Uncle Jakey lifted his right shoulder and pounded it into Anderson’s jaw.
Anderson stumbled back.
I made a move for my gun but the man in the suit was there, throwing a knee at me.
“No,” he said.
“Who the fuck…”
“King!” Uncle Jakey’s voice yelled.
I turned and saw my fate.
Uncle Jakey stood behind Anderson and had his hand over Anderson’s hand on the gun.
“What…”
That was the only word I got out.
Uncle Jakey pulled the trigger with Anderson’s finger.
The gun exploded and I felt instant pain with the loud sound.
I stumbled back and looked to my right shoulder. When I looked back at Uncle Jakey and Anderson, the gun went off again. A hot pain went through my stomach as I fell to my ass, grabbing for my stomach. I was bleeding everywhere, looking at Uncle Jakey, waiting for the third and final bullet to finish me off.
Uncle Jakey then pushed Anderson forward.
The man in the suit reached down for the gun he had put on the ground. He lifted it and pointed, pulling the trigger just once, sending a bullet through Anderson’s head. Right through his fucking forehead.
Then there was silence.
“Fucking rat,” Uncle Jakey yelled.
He approached me.
I was breathing. But the room was spinning. And it was starting to spin faster and faster. I felt hot. I felt cold. My hands were covered in blood.
“What… what…”
Uncle Jakey crouched down and grabbed my shirt. “Just keep fucking breathing, King. That’s all you can do.”
“Here, let me help him,” the man in the suit said. He took off his suit jacket and rolled it up. “I’ll call for the ambulance. You shot him in the fucking gut.”
“I didn’t have great aim,” Uncle Jakey said.
I put my head back and looked up at the ceiling of the empty warehouse. My lips kept moving even though I couldn’t speak.
I just wanted one last message known from me in this goddamn world.
And it was pretty simple.
I love you, Linds… I’ve always loved you… I’ll always love you…
41
(King) *THEN*
SHE SAID they went out for dinner. We had one chance to meet up. We chose the tracks because it was quiet and it was right behind her house. That way if something went wrong, she was only a few minutes from home.
Mom was home for the night, a rare night off. She was on the couch with a bowl of popcorn, a pack of cigarettes, and cruising through the channels on the TV. Tito was out for the night, probably getting his ass in trouble. So I had to sneak out my bedroom window. The drop from my window was pretty steep, but I would jump off a fucking building if it meant I could get to Linds.
I dropped off the roof from my house, landed on my feet, and started to fucking run. I didn’t stop running until I was about a mile away, on the tracks, and caught sight of Linds under the moonlight. It was like I was in a damn movie. I ran right up to her, scooped her up, and kissed her. We kissed for a good five minutes, devouring each other.
Goddamn, it had been too long since I last kissed her.