Page 72 of Beautifully Shattered
“They say the road doesn’t end, it just curves where we can’t see. So wherever you are now, brothers, I hope the beer is cold, the bikes are fast, and the bastards you owed are burning instead of you.”
Smitty clears his throat again, struggling to keep it together, and lowers his beer, pointing it towards the row of eight hogs lined up, with a cut hanging from each one.
“I ain’t gonna lie. This world is colder without you ugly fuckers. But we Sadists, carry your names, your scars, and your sin. And through us, you’ll live on until the day we go down swinging.”
My brothers roar with a cheer, some thumping the centre of their chests as Smitty continues.
“And when my fucking time is up,” Smitty bellows over the crowd, beer raised high as tears streak down his cheeks, “I’ll ride into the fire of Hell with my head high and my fucking middle finger raised!”
I fucking shout with my brothers, my throat burning, and my chest tight with the weight of the grief in the air.
Abbey snuggles in closer, tucking herself into my side, not out of fear or sadness, but because the brutal wave of brotherhood wraps around her too.
With his beer pressed to his lips, Smitty drains it before turning and tossing it into the fire, his silhouette framed by the flames as he holds both arms up in the air and yells at the top of his lungs.
“Ride easy, brothers! We’ve got the watch now!”
Beer bottles go flying into the air, glass smashing all around us as the crowd turns feral.
Brothers turn and find the closest Doxies, and it’s like a fucking free for all as clothes are torn off in a frenzy.
That’s my fucking cue to leave.
Steering Abbey out of the fray, JD is quick to follow with Jols, while the other guys shacking up with us at the lake stay behind to enjoy a night of sin.
“You okay to drive?” I ask JD as we reach our hogs, and he nods, gesturing to Jols.
“She’s the one who had too much to drink tonight. Not me.”
She rolls her eyes but doesn’t deny it, and I leave them to get prepared, turning back to help Abbey into the helmet and then onto my bike.
Leaving the madness of the party behind, we cruise up the long driveway to the entrance. The Marx security detail is already in place, and as two of their SUVs take the lead, we fall in behind, while another two tail us.
It’s pitch black out in this part of the countryside. The clouds have started to close in over the valley, thick with pending rain, casting an eerie weight over everything. Our headlights slash through the dark, lighting up the pine trees as we whip by at high speed.
Rounding a descending bend, we barely have enough time to brake when the two lead cars slam on their brakes, their tyres squealing as they fishtail before finally grinding to a stop.
My hog wobbles hard, and I fight to keep control of it as Abbey screams behind me, her arms clamping tight around my waist. My bike slides sideways, too fucking fast and sharp, and I hold the fuck on, bracing as we skid towards the SUV.
I fucking hold my breath, my heart in my throat, but we stop mere inches between us and the fucking car. The squeal of tyres doesn’t end there, my eyes darting to the side to see JD closing in fast, and Abbey screams again, as my best mate careens towards us.
My eyes are fucking wide, a cold spike of dread rushing up my spine as I brace for a second time, but by some fucking miracle, JD, with Jols on the back, stops a breath away from clipping us.
“Fuck. That was close.” The crazy fucker laughs, but my eyes are over his shoulder now, hearing and seeing the SUVs behind us struggling to stop in time, too.
JD stiffens, and Jols tucks her head into his back, and I wonder for the third fucking time in a matter of seconds if we’re about to become roadkill.
For a few long beats, all I hear is my own breath before my surroundings come rushing back in to hear yelling and car doors slamming as a few of the Marx crew leap from their cars with their guns raised.
“Why’d we stop?!” one yells from the back.
“There’s something blocking the road!” another yells from up front.
“Angel. Are you okay?” I ask, my eyes flicking around, because fuck, something doesn’t feel right.
“Y-yes,”she stammers, her dainty fingers digging into my sides as she trembles.
“JD?!” I yell over the chaos, and he grunts.
