Page 58 of Three Beasts

Chapter 34

Alex

Jason and I ride to the motel after picking up the wreckage from the fight. It was a lot of blood and a lot of suffering…but ultimately our side won out. The battle wasn’t pretty (is it ever?), and I know Wade was wounded; I'm anxious to see how he's doing.

We pull up and I see his bike there, so that's a good sign. At least he made it here. In his state, I wasn't so sure he would. He took a pretty bad hit to the shoulder so I'm quite surprised that he was even able to stabilize his bike. Seeing it here, parked at the little motel on the outskirts of town is a very good sign.

As we pull up, our headlights shine into the window of Zeva's room. They could probably hear us coming a mile away. We walk to the door and she opens it before I can even knock.

She's been waiting for us.

"You guys made it! Everyone's alive, thank God."

I scoop her up in my arms and deliver her a million kisses. She smells fresh and of perfume. She always smells so good and there's no scent that matches her own. Zeva, my girl. Our girl.

"We made it," Jason wraps his war-torn body around her in a hug and she melts. Finally, we’re together—the four of us. I'm just so thankful to be away from the carnage, the smell of bullets hanging in the air. This is what hardens a biker, seeing men just perish. I'll never get used to that, and though I wish I was jaded, by now I'm not.

"We're happy to be here. How's the patient?" I peek around her shoulder and I see Wade bandaged and obviously happy. They must have fucked. Whatever. He deserves it after taking a wound like that.

"I'd get up boys, but I can't."

He's stretched out on the bed and I wish I could be too. I'm bone tired. We gave it our all and it worked. Hopefully, now things can be peaceful.

"I need a drink badly," Jason steps toward the Blue Label whiskey and pours himself a hefty drink.

"I need one as well." He hands it to me and pours another, and one for Zeva, and one for Wade.

"Here you go, man. It will take some of the pain away."

We don't cheer. There's nothing to celebrate, really. Instead, the stench of death hangs over us.We drink to numb the pain and that's about it.

"Well," I say. "At least we're safe."

"Guys," Zeva pleads, allowing her gaze to linger on us. "Can't you just be done with this lifestyle? Please, do it for me. I can't do this anymore. I mean…I had to stitch up Wade's bloody shoulder for God's sake. How can you even consider staying in this life?"

"Come here," I pull her toward me and her body is positively shaking. "Shh, it's okay. We're all in one piece. It's really okay."

She pushes me back, "No! You don't fucking understand. I thought I would lose one of you for sure. How could you put me in that position and expect me to stay and to go through it again and again?"

She's crying and screaming and there's nothing any of us can do to fix it. Unless, of course, we abandon The Order. But we can't do that anytime soon. When you pledge, you pledge for life. That's the only way to join. I can't break my honor, even for her, the diamond of my life.

Jason speaks up for all of us, "Baby, you don't understand. We can't leave...ever. You know the rules. Your father abided by them and so do we."

"And just look at where he is!" She's crying so hard. "He's fucking dead and for what?"

We are all silent. We get where she's coming from. But she refuses to see the reason from our side.

I try to go to her but she pushes me away. She doesn't want comfort from any of us. She wants us to say that we'll leave the club. She wants us to give up our life and essentially our family, our brotherhood.

"Zeva, we can't do that. You know this life. You know there's no getting out of it. Please be reasonable," I hope she can see my point.

"No, there's no reasoning about it. You go out there and you murder people and you put your lives on the line for some stupid club. And you expect me to love you knowing that any day I might lose you? Hell no! I am so out of here."

She's packing her stuff in a furious, sad kind of rage.

I don't blame her.

I know how tough this can be on her. I mean, just imagine how it must be. It's how I felt at the thought of her getting raped, or when The Legion attacked her house. I felt the wind being knocked out of me. She must feel the same. We hang our heads sadly. Jason tries to stop her but she pushes past him.

Just like that, she's gone.

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