Page 100 of His Enforcer

And a little about his past.

And that he’s slightly self-destructive.

That he saved my life last night.

“You sure you want to be here?” Jax asks, and I nod. I want to be here. I need to. It’s a deep pull, luring me toward him. I want to save him like he saved me.

Save him from himself.

This morning, after waking from my deep slumber and watching Luca storm from the room, I waited for him to return, but he never did. I lay there, poked and prodded by Doc until it was determined that I was fine. The Pink they found in my system had passed, and I was able to go about as normal. And with Doc’s and Anthony’s permission, after reassuring them I wouldn’t take random shit from strangers again, I left the house in search of him.

Anthony told me where he was.

But I knew without asking.

I push my way to the edge of the screaming crowd and as I do, a man who doesn’t like the way I’m moving in front of him, shoves me and Bane roughly. We trip forward, knocking into a burly woman with a mullet. She scowls at us, and I offer her an apology as Bane scowls at the aggressive man behind us.

I can see the restraint on Bane’s face, the twitch of his eye, and the flick of his hand. He’s trying to play it cool, to keep it together, but it’s a thin tether. It won’t last. He’s still upset about Henry, so close and yet out of his grasp. His temper is hanging on by a thread.

So when the man flips us off and sneers, Bane snaps his fist back and punches him straight in the nose. It pops and cracks, blood pouring from it. The sight makes Bane cackle as he pumps his fist in the air.

“Broke it. One shot! Booyah!”

“Fuck,” I murmur as the man, after moving past his initial shock, lurches forward and grabs Bane by the neck. But he isn’t there long because Jax comes up behind the man and wraps his meaty arm around his neck, placing him in a headlock. That leaves me to fight off a guy behind me who is whipped into a fury over the sight ofblood.

They’re all feral, frothing for it. They want a fight, they want the pain.

Someone grabs my hair, and I grunt as my elbow meets ribs.

“Get the fuck off me!” I shout and then whip around and put the thin man attacking me on his ass. He blinks in confusion as I fend off two more people making their way toward me. And in the middle of it all, I see that Bane has launched himself at the man who shoved him and is gouging out his eyes, his thumbs pressed into the man’s eye sockets, his legs wrapped around his waist.

“You’re going to die! I’m going to cut you up! But not without these eyeballs! Those are mine!” Bane screams, his hair wild, blood seeping from the man’s sockets as he struggles to get Bane off him. Those eyes are surely gone now. My gaze catches on Jax, who grins at me before punching a man in the face to his left. His knuckles are raw, blood spattered on his face. I’m sure I look the same.

This is violent and dangerous, but this is where we thrive.

Maybe I’m not so different from Luca after all.

Suddenly, the crowd surges, as if they were just waiting for a reason to do so, and I feel my body squish between two men as they throw fists blindly. I narrowly avoid a punch to my jaw and manage to shift slightly to my right when I’m pulled away and out of the crowd.

Right into Luca’s arms.

“What the fuck?” he spits, blood coating his lips, his hair a sweaty mess, his eyes wild. His mouthguard is nowhere to be found. “What the fuck are you doing here?” he slurs.

“You’re such a fucking idiot!” I shout, rage moving through me. I shove him, making him stumble backward. He glares at me and then rushes toward me, his hands hitting me on the chest, curling into my shirt, and pulling me into him.

“Don’t push me away, Vik,” he growls and presses his face into my neck. My hands go to his back, hugging him tightly before wrenching away. I won’t be distracted. He did this. He fucking did it.

“You’re so fucking stupid. You should be at home. With me! Why are you here? Why are you doing this?”

He stares at me, looking stupidly hot despite the blood dripping from his mouth and cheeks.

He parts his lips and then closes them. Something moves across his face, through those eyes, and I move closer to him, cupping his cheeks gently. He meets my earnest stare and almost whispers—a secret, an admission.

“I didn’t fight for them and they died. It’s my fault. I didn’t fight.”

My heart cracks slightly, a fissure tearing me in two. But before I can assure him it wasn’t his fault, that he was just a boy, Agro rushes up to us, his mouth frothing, spittle hitting my cheeks as he roars.

“What the fuck is this? You fucking ruined it, you piece of shit! You think you can fuck up my shit? I’ll fucking murder you, you ass—” He’s in a rage and makes a move to grab Luca, but my gun is out and aimed at his head before he can.

---