Page 2 of Out for Blood

He chuckled, knowing where this was going and moved away. I moved my head back down to the loser in front of me. Slowly, he put his hand down on the cement floor. I moved the hammer over his fingers, gliding the hard metal over the knuckles. He could feel it by the way he shook, the way he looked away as he sobbed, waiting for the strike.

“It’s really disgusting how much you’re sobbing right now,” Chains spoke from behind me. “Man the fuck up and tell us what we need to know.”

“P-lease…I have a girlfr-iend.”

A collection of laughter echoed throughout the room. I know we all expected that to come out as ‘family’, but a girlfriend? Who the fuck cared?

“Guess you’ll have to learn how to please her with your other hand.”

His eyes shot open just as I brought the hammer down on his fingers. The sound of the squelching tissue, shattering bone and blood erupting over the cement floor mixed with the blood-curdling scream that followed, almost turned me off eating dinner.

Almost.

He passed out from the pain as I threw my hammer to the side of the room. I looked over at Razor. “Take him to Clare to patch him up. Then take him home.”

Razor smirked at me. “Clare’s gonna be a little annoyed at the intrusion.”

“Don’t be stupid, Mark,” I shot back, using his real name. “We both know she’ll enjoy what comes after.”

He and Clare, a nurse at the hospital, had a thing going. Every time we brought her home someone to look after, Razor and she were locked in a room for days. It was a love-hate relationship for them, but we could all see plain as day that she was his weakness.

Hawk and I left the shed, the cool night air refreshing us as we headed toward the clubhouse.

Music was pumping loudly as we got inside. The night was young, but the party was in full swing as we entered. Viper and Savage, our other enforcers, were in the back playing a game of pool with a smattering of girls all bending over to show off their asses any time they could. The bar was filled with women, members and our men, all having the time of their lives. This was the place to go to forget about your worries, to forget aboutthe town and the drama going on there. A lot had changed since we left Kilkenny 17 years ago, and yet, some things stayed the same.

Kirby, one of our newest prospects, was serving drinks behind the bar when we walked in. He moved to the end of the bar, handing Hawk a beer and me a bottle of whiskey. Heading over to a booth, I sat down with my Sergeant at Arms, Bear, who always had women dripping off him even though he never gave them the time of day - a new club bunny named Tall was trying her luck with him this time.

Her hand was in between his legs when we sat, and I could see his eyes were almost glazing over in desire. Shaking my head, I made a movement with my head to tell him to take it to a room. Without saying a word, he gave her the heave-ho to leave. She pouted for a few seconds, before she got up and left.

Hawk sighed, keeping his eyes open for anyone he could share the night with. He was always ready for a good time after we laid down the law. I never understood, all I wanted was a stiff drink followed by some peace and quiet.

“You know there’s something that’s different about this town,” he said. “There’s something going down, but I can’t put my finger on it.”

“That fucker in the garage knows,” I told him. “He didn’t want to tell me because he was low level.”

“Then maybe we need to ruffle a few feathers,” Hawk said. “Follow him. See who he sees.”

He had a point. It was the only way we would truly know who or what we were dealing with.

“I’ll let Razor know tomorrow,” I said, pouring myself a drink from the bottle Kirby had given me. “For now, I think Clare’s got her hands full.”

“Just her hands?” Hawk replied with a cheeky smirk.

“Grow up,” I hissed at him. “Go and find someone to shut you up already.”

He laughed as he pushed out of the booth and went to find himself a woman to spend the night with. I sighed, finished my drink and went in search of some solitude.

It was incredible the amount of people who stood and stared at you when you pulled up on a Harley. My cut and the fact that I was heavily tatted probably didn’t help matters, or maybe it was the heavy metallic rings on my fingers. Maybe it was the fact that I was the president of a MC and they were all scared of me, just like my father. He ruled with an iron fist, which was why I cut and ran when I was eighteen. I didn’t want to be like him and if he continued to try and poison me, I knew I would.

Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy the odd fight here and there, but since coming back here, we haven't needed to lay down the law much. It was quiet, and we could set up and run our business relatively peacefully. That’s if we could get customers. For some reason, our drug and gun business was slow. Slower than I thought it would be.

I’d probably get tired of the town life eventually and rejoin the Nomads, but for now, I needed a place to call home for longer than a year.

Call it old age if you wanted, but knowing where I was and that the bed I was in was mine was pleasant.

I pulled my helmet off and hung it over the back of my bike, kicking out the stand before I dismounted and headed up into the mall. Kilkenny had a larger mall down the road, but this one had my favourite stores so I made the extra drive to comehere. It also reminded me of my childhood. This mall was the original one that we all hung out at when we were in school. It held a lot of sentimental memories of me, Bear, and Hawk and our friends Sheridan and Orla. They were like sisters, always together, always doing everything together. Our group had been strong, especially when Bear had joined in our senior year.

God…the memories of Sheridan. They haunted me. The one I never got to experience.

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