Jase (Kings of Korruption MC Book 3) (15 page)

Face keeps
throwing punches, landing fewer and fewer as his anger grows.
Ryker, on the other hand, lands every blow. Face’s face is almost
unrecognizable, but he doesn’t give up. “Crazy fucker,” he grunts
out, swinging another misplaced punch at Ryker. “I should’ve
fuckin’ killed you too.”

Ryker’s knee
comes up and crashes into Face’s gut, anger finally starting to
show on his face. Face falls to his knees, his arms wrapped around
his torso, but still he doesn’t shut up. “You fight like your old
Prez,” he says on a gasp, grinning up at Ryker with two missing
teeth visible through his deranged smile. “That fucker fought like
a son of a bitch. Took six of us to tie him and that old bitch
down. She was a fuckin’ wildcat, if ya know what I mean.”

Rage burns
through me, and I’m seething. I want to get my own hits in on that
piece of shit. Before I finish the thought, Ryker slams his knee
into Face’s nose, sending him flying to the ground, barely
conscious. I love the sound of Face’s nose being crushed.

“
Jinks, Toro, Jolly,” Ryker calls out over the anxious crowd.
Nobody moves. What the fuck is he doing? Ryker pulls out his gun
and presses it against the side of Face’s head. “I won’t fuckin’
ask again, you sons of bitches. Jinks, Toro, Jolly! Unless you
wanna watch your leader’s brains get blown out, I suggest you step
forward so we can have a chat.”

A low murmur
makes its way across the Crips. Three men step into the circle, and
before any of us can react, Ryker swings his gun up and points it
at the three men. “You were three of the six that killed our Prez.”
The men say nothing, but their anger is obvious.

Ryker’s nod is
so slight; I barely catch it before he fires. I also hear the
silent ping of Reaper’s sniper rifle come from above us, and all
three men fall to the ground. What the fuck just happened?

Ryker turns
and points his gun back at Face, who lays on the ground, his mouth
full of blood. “You stupid fuck. You think this is gonna end shit?
You’ve just declared—”

He doesn’t get
a chance to finish ‘cause Ryker puts a bullet in his head.
Suddenly, guns are pointing in all directions, everyone screaming
at one another. Just when I’m sure the shooting’s about to start,
one man from the Crips steps forward, his hands held high in the
air, showing that he has no gun.

“
Who the fuck are you?” Ryker calls over the
yelling.

“
Jasper. My name is Jasper. Crips, put down your weapons.” One
by one, the Crips reluctantly lower their guns, giving their
attention to this man, Jasper. “I’m interested in taking your
deal,” he says, his hands still high as he looks to
Ryker.

“
Do you have that authority?”

Jasper nods to
Face’s dead body. “I do now.”

Ryker studies
the man with piercing scrutiny, his gun pointed directly at him.
After a long and tense moment, he seems to come to a decision.
“Sixty percent of the weed, and there’s no further fallback with my
men.”

Jasper nods.
“You have a deal.”

Ryker lowers
his gun, and one by one, everyone else holsters their weapons,
except for the Kings.

As he and
Jasper hammer out the details, the skinny guy, Colt, glares at me,
but I don’t mind. An admirer is an admirer, and I don’t
discriminate.

When the
meeting concludes, the Crips reluctantly begin making their way to
their vehicles. I watch as the last one drives away with Colt in
the back.

He looks
directly at me and holds out his fingers like a gun, pretending to
pull back the hammer, then BAM, just like he did before.

Once they’re
gone, Reaper and Tease climb down from the top of the shipping
containers. We all look to Ryker. I know I’m not the only one
wondering, so I ask, “What the fuck just happened?”

Ryker turns to
me and grins. “It worked.”

“
What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“
Jasper reached out to me, said he knew exactly who was
involved in killing Gunner and Tess. He hasn’t been happy with the
way Face and his cronies have been running things, so we came up
with a plan that suited both our needs. He got to take over the
Crips, and we got the fuckers that killed two of our own. We’re one
step closer to getting clean, we ended the war with the Crips
before it started, and we gave Jasper a chance to turn things
around for his gang.” He lifts his finger and motions for the
prospects to get to work, cleaning up the carnage.

Reaper stares
at him incredulously. “How the fuck did you know it would even
work?”

Ryker shrugs
his shoulders. “I didn’t. But fuck, I’m glad it did.”

Ellen

It’s not even
ten o’clock when I decide that it’s time for me to go to bed. It’s
been a long day, and I’m both mentally and physically drained. Not
only did court not go exactly as I’d planned, but I’d also come
home to an angry message on my voicemail from Jimmy’s mom.
Apparently, Bryce had shoved him to the ground today while they
were at school. Jimmy was upset, but refused to tell the school
because he didn’t want Bryce to get in trouble.

What am I
going to do? Bryce isn’t a bully. He’s always made friends so
easily. I know things with Paul have been stressful for him, but is
that enough to cause such a huge shift in personality when it comes
to people other than me?

I’d attempted
to talk to Bryce about it, but he was rude and snarky, which only
pissed me off. He’s lost access to his game systems for a couple of
weeks, and I still haven’t gotten to the bottom of anything. Maybe
it’s time for me to seek outside help. A therapist might be able to
connect with Bryce about what’s going on with him better than I
can.

I lie in bed
for two hours, tossing and turning, while my mind races through
everything that happened today. It’s after midnight when my phone
vibrates with a text message lighting up my screen.

Jase: You
awake?

I smile as my
heart soars. I plug in four different messages and delete them
before finally deciding on one.

Me: Yes.

Short, simple,
and to the point. There’s no need for him to know that he makes my
knees go weak with a single text.

Jase: Can I
call you? I need to hear your voice.

A giggle
bursts from my lips, and I clap a hand over my mouth. Girls that
giggle annoy the shit out of me, and I refuse to be that girl. But
no matter how much I try to hold it in, I can’t deny the excitement
that courses through me at his words.

Me: Of
course.

My phone
vibrates again, this time showing me that I’m getting a call. I
answer it on the first ring. “Hey,” I breathe out.

I hear him let
out a long sigh. “Hey, El. Do you know how much better I feel just
from hearing your voice?”

I do. I know
exactly how he feels, because I feel the same. I miss him. I don’t
know how, or even why. I just saw him yesterday, and it’s not like
we spend a lot of time together. I don’t get it, but I like it.
“Bad day?” I ask.

He blows out a
breath. “The worst. What about you? How did court go?”

“
Not like I’d hoped, but it could’ve been worse. Why was yours
so terrible?”

“
Just club shit that I can’t talk about.”

“
Can’t or won’t?” I ask, wishing I could know more about what
has him so down.

“
Both, babe. Unfortunately, that’s not ever gonna change when
it comes to my club, and if that bothers you… well, it’ll suck, but
my club is my family. There’s always gonna be club shit that I
can’t and won’t talk to you about.”

I knew this
already. Charlotte’s talked about it before, about not knowing
being a good thing sometimes. “Okay,” I reply. “I get it, but I
wish I could make you feel better.” The noise I hear coming from
the other end is distracting. “Where are you? It sounds like you’re
in a bar.”

“
I’m at home,” he grumbles, clearly irritated. “I live at the
clubhouse. There’s a party going on down the hall. They happen
every night here.”

“
That has to get old,” I say. I like my peace and quiet, and
especially my privacy. I couldn’t handle being in the middle of a
giant party every night.

“
Oh, it has,” he chuckles.

“
So why do you live there?”

“
It’s a long story.”

“
Well, I can’t sleep, and you can’t sleep, so maybe if you
tell me the story, it will bore me enough that I’ll finally pass
out.”

His laughter
makes me feel warm, all the way down to my toes. “You’re kind of a
jerk, El. Do you know that?”

“
I do,” I laugh. “Now tell me.”

He chuckles
again and starts his story. He tells me a little more about his dad
and how his mom was a club whore that never wanted him. He tells me
about his dad’s affliction for being promiscuous, and that’s all he
ever saw as a kid, which was how he believed relationships were
until Gunner met Tess. He tells me how he’d never even considered
moving out of clubhouse until he met me.

“
Why me?” I ask softly. I know I’ve asked this before, but
it’s something that I just can’t seem to wrap my head
around.

“
You make me want more in life, El. For the first time, I’m
looking at my life, and I realize that what I have is never gonna
be good for a family man. And that’s what I want, ya know—a
family.” My heart races. “Someday,” he rushes out. “That’s also
something I’ve never considered until I met you.”

“
Wow,” I breathe. “And what is it you expect a family man
should have?”

“
A house,” he answers. “A job he can be proud of, and a decent
bank account so he can buy his lady nice shit.”

“
I’m not looking for any of that, Jase.”

“
I know, but you deserve it.”

He sounds like
he’s put some serious thought into this, and that makes me smile.
The truth is, I hadn’t even thought about Jase much beyond our date
tomorrow. I don’t like to get my hopes up, and he’s not known for
being monogamous. I figure if I can keep my expectations of him
low, that leaves less room for him to hurt me.

“
Well, now that I’ve scared the shit out of you, I’m gonna go
turn in. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“
Okay. Good night, Jase.”

“
Good night, baby.”

I put my phone
back on the nightstand and let my mind go over our conversation.
I’m stunned and beside myself. I never would have imagined that
Jase would ever be serious about me. Of course this makes me happy,
almost as much as it terrifies me.

What if I give
Jase this chance and he hurts me? What if works out? Could he
accept Bryce, or Bryce accept him?

After
another hour, I finally drift off to sleep, the sound of Jase’s
voice echoing in my mind.
You make me want more in life, El.
God. He seems almost too good
to be true.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Jase

I
walk up the
front steps to Ellen’s house for our date, my heart thudding in my
chest. I have a lot of experience with women, but when I really
think about it, I don’t know much about them at all, besides how to
please them in bed.

I ring the
doorbell and wait. When the door swings open, I look down and my
stomach turns when I see Ellen’s kid. I have even less knowledge of
kids than I do women. He holds the door open, but doesn’t step
aside for me to enter, and he doesn’t say a word, choosing instead
to look me up and down, making sure I know that he doesn’t like
what he sees. Who the fuck is this kid?

“
Is your mom home?” I ask, starting to feel a little
uncomfortable under his gaze.

“
What happened to your ear?” he asks.

I fucking knew
it. Fucking Reaper! He told me that it was just a little graze, and
that nobody would ever notice, but this kid doesn’t miss it. I’m
gonna kick that hairy giant’s ass next time I see him. I lift my
hand and skim my fingers along the tip of my ear, right where the
bullet took off a chunk, leaving me disfigured.

“
I was shot.”

His face
twists into a sour expression and his head jerks back. “In the ear?
You can’t get shot in the ear.” He snorts, shaking his head in
disgust. I don’t even get a chance to respond before Ellen walks up
next to him.

She places her
hand on her son’s shoulder and steers him out of the way. “Jase,
come in.” I step inside, brushing my shoulder against her as I
pass. She smells like vanilla. “I see you’ve met Bryce.”