Page 82 of Havoc

Slater tried to pull me closer to his patrol car, but Havoc wasn’t having it. He charged straight for Slater, followed by Storm and Celt right behind him. Their boots pounded against the pavement. Slater turned, dragging me with him, but Havoc was already on him.

Someone wrapped their arms around me and jerked me out of Slater’s grip at the same time Havoc tackled Slater, sending them both crashing to the ground. “Get her out of here!” Havoc yelled to his club brothers.

The person with their arms around me was Maritza. She said, “Your biker friend is right. We need to get outta here.”

“What? I’m not leaving him here fighting for his life.”

“These guys are fucking giants. We’re gonna get mauled if we accidentally get in their way.” She was still trying to drag me away and I was getting pretty tired of everyone being hands-on with me. I shoved her away and told her in no uncertain terms, “I’m not leaving him!”

She stopped arguing and trying to put her hands on me, but I did back up with her to avoid getting mangled in their altercation. Celt stepped between us and the fight, with the intent of protecting us. I still had a clear view of the brawl but was none too happy about what I was seeing.

Slater scrambled to his feet, gun in hand. I screamed, but Havoc lunged forward and knocked the weapon wide. The pistol skidded across the pavement and disappeared underneath a parked car.

The men didn’t hesitate to keep throwing fists. My whole world narrowed to just Havoc, him taking one hit after another. The man I loved was taking a beating and I desperately wanted to do something to help him. But the truth was, I couldn’t do anything. These large, muscle-bound men going full frontal with each other were above my weight class, not to mention my skill class. All I could do was stand helplessly by and watch.

Maritza’s arms came around me again, this time for moral support. I hung onto her momentarily forgetting that she had betrayed me. We could talk more about why she did what she did later. Right now, I needed my friend.

Panic rose in my mind when they just kept going at each other, neither one willing to give quarter. The sheer brutality of the fighting was hard to watch. But I wanted to stay, to be there to clean his wounds and take care of him, to show my gratitude for him having my back. If not for Havoc and his club brothers showing up, I might well have disappeared off the face of the earth today, never to be seen or heard from again.

Their fighting styles were different. Slater was furious, throwing one wild punch after another, while Havoc’s experience in bare-knuckle boxing came in handy. He kept his guard up and his punches were more focused and controlled.

Slater’s face was beginning to look bruised and bloody. He was also slowing down somewhat. Slater poured what appeared to be the last of his energy into a series of punches, and one of them was a mean right hook that collided with Havoc’s jaw, snapping his head sideways.

Blood came flying out of his mouth and he spat a mouthful onto the ground. Without so much as a grunt, Havoc surged forward and slammed his fist into Slater’s gut, then caught him with an uppercut.

Slater staggered back, caught his balance, and took advantage of the fact that he was the perfect distance away to catch Havoc with a roundhouse kick to the face. Luckily, Havoc was alert enough to block him with a fist to the side of Slater’s knee. It made a sickening crunching sound.

Havoc made a growling noise in the back of his throat. It sounded low, dangerous, and completely exasperated. He pushed both hands into Slater’s chest, driving him all the way against the brick building. Again, there was a thud when Slater’s back hit the building. Not being used to seeing this kind of violence, the sounds of flesh hitting flesh added another dimension of horror to this situation.

“You’ll pay for daring to lay a hand on Riley, much less trying to abduct her and hold her hostage for life,” Havoc snarled with raw emotion.

Slater was leaning back against the building, out of breath, with one hand pressed against his side. His head snapped over to glare at Maritza. “You stupid bitch. The very first chance I get, I’m gonna fix it so your mouth can’t tell any more lies.”

Havoc reached out and punched him in the face. “Do not talk about Riley or her friend that way. You’re a stupid fucker to think you can talk like that with me standing right here.”

Slater stood there with his hand up to his face. “You broke my fucking nose. Assaulting a police officer is a serious offense.”

“Do you see anyone in this abandoned parking lot? Anyone at all?” Storm asked.

Havoc took advantage of the distraction and took a step closer to Slater, brought his palm up, and shoved his head back into the brick building. “My friend is right. Exactly who the fuck do you think is gonna call the cops?”

Blood ran down between Slater’s fingers as he glared at Havoc. “I’ll call this in myself and my brothers in blue will come running,” he said, as he fumbled to get his phone out with his free hand.

Havoc snatched it out of his hand and tossed it to Celt. “This ain’t over, asshole. You’re coming with us and you’re gonna answer every fucking question we put to you or else.”

Slater’s chest puffed up. “That’s not how this works. I’m not obligated to go anywhere with a bunch of fucking criminals.”

Havoc grabbed him off the wall and tossed him towards Breaker and Grit. They both took one arm each and, when he struggled, he got punched in the ribs on both sides at the same time.

Storm jerked his chin towards the white panel van. “Chain him up in the van with Devin. We can interrogate them both when we get back to the clubhouse.”

Breaker asked, “What about the woman?”

Storm shot an assessing look in Maritza’s direction. “She needs to come with us. For now, she’s a guest. She told us about what Slater had in mind for Riley and that makes her a friend of the club. Any acting out at all and her status can change.”

“I don’t want to go with you,” Maritza said in a scared voice.

I spoke up immediately, “Slater filled her mind with a bunch of lies about the Dark Slayers MC being an outlaw club. She thinks the brothers are going to pass her around.”

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