Rust: A Bad Boy Romance (Courage MC) (12 page)

I
set
my gun down and kicked it away from both of us. “Who are you?” I asked again.

“You’ve always demanded answers, haven’t you? The question is, when will you learn that you can’t know everything?” he asked, walking down the stairs.

“Stop. Just stop. Enough of the talking in circles. This is going nowhere.”

“I knew you’d come here, you know. I have been waiting for days, looking out that window, listening attentively for any sign of your bike coming down that road. I have so much to tell you, boy.”

“Oh yeah? Like what?” I asked, starting to feel like I had better get out of here quick. This house gave me the creeps. Sure, I had been in firefights, drug deals, and even bank heists, but this kind of shit scared the crap out of me.

“Like who killed your parents.” A short smile broke out onto his face.

“What’re you sayin’? Bobby Farole killed my parents. Everyone knows that.”

“Sure. He was the one who walked into your home and
shot
them. But he wasn’t the killer. No. Someone else called the shots that day. Someone else made that call.” I looked him dead in the eyes. Or at least, I think I did. He was wearing large circular sunglasses, completely black in the center, and he walked with a cane. It took me a bit to figure this out, but he was clearly blind. Still, he seemed like he could see me.
God, I have to get out of here,
I thought to myself.

“Spit it out.” I said. “I’m tired of these games.”

“Since your parents’ death, I’ve watched you grow into the biker you’ve always dreamt of being. Addicted to women, drinking, and all the vices that we proudly wear on our sleeves. Just like your father.”

“You don’t know me.” I said.

He ignored my words. “You were hell bent on revenge. And eventually, you found the woman that was gonna set you free. Isn’t that right?”
Jackie,
I thought. She
did
set me free. “And now you have a way to get your revenge. A war with the Darkhorse. A takeover of all enemy territory. Now’s your chance to make your father proud.”

I looked at my gun and then back at him. What was going on here? Was he setting me up? Still, I had to learn more. What did he know about my parents?

“Don’t look to your gun for safety.” he said. “It won’t save you.”

“What else do you know? About my parents. Tell me who made that call.” I said, leaning forward.

“More important is where you come from, Rust. How you were
made
.” He looked upward, as if some kind of revelation had come to him. But as soon as he grabbed at it, it went away.

“Made?” I asked him. “What the…”

“You haven’t seen it by now?” he asked me, and suddenly the mood changed to melancholic.

“No! I don’t know what the hell you’re talkin’ about!” I yelled, getting angry. “Whatever it is you’re hiding, you’d better spit it out. Or, so help me God, I’ll force you to.”

And then he uttered the words that would change my life forever. “I’m your father.” he whispered. A single tear ran from his eye, down to his cheek.

“What? How? You can’t be.” I said, stunned by what he had just said. And yet, it was impossible. I had watched my father get killed. How could this be him? Not to mention, this man was much older than what my dad would have been.

“I met a woman. Decades ago. This was back when Courage and Darkhorse were united as a team of bandits. Those were the golden years. You may have heard of them.” I nodded, eyes wide. “Things happened. We fell in love. She was the daughter of a captain in Courage. I was a low-level drug runner, loyal to the Darkhorse gang. But the captain found out. He doused his daughter with a bucket of acid. Burned her skin right off. It didn’t even kill her. The ironic thing was, I still loved her. I didn’t give a damn about her looks. I just wanted her for who she was. But, as I slowly realized, that had been taken from her as well. She slowly faded into oblivion, living a life as a recluse. Forever alone.”

“Cute story,” I said, wiping my eyes, “but what does this have to do with me. You ain’t my god damn father.”

“That woman bore a child. And that child was you, Rust.”

“No!” I screamed. “You bastard. Stop tellin’ me these lies!” Tears formed in my eyes. I wanted to destroy this man, to pound him into a million little pieces. But there was something holding me back. I felt weak.

“It’s true, son. All of it. When the rest of the captains of Courage found out, a rift began to form between the two crews. Deals went sour, men mysteriously disappeared, and my bosses suddenly felt like they were targets. Courage not only forced her to give up our child. They forced a bullet into her head. They killed her, those bastards. Meanwhile, I was ordered by my own bosses to never see you again. After a few years, Bobby Farole got paranoid. Too much speed can do that to a man. So he went to the top boss at the time. Told him about me and the baby. That’s when Bobby was told to kill your parents, Rust.”

“You son of a bitch.” I whispered. “You ruined my whole life!”

“I tried my best, god dammit. After they killed your parents, they decided I wasn’t to be trusted. They burned my eyes out with a torch lighter. Those heartless fucks took everything from me. They left me naked and shivering in the desert. I barely survived. They betrayed me, taking all that was good from this world. Well, not long after that, I took to hiding. Now I was the one who lived the life of a recluse. Every so often, I would find people to give me updates on you. I wanted to make sure you didn’t end up like me. But it seems like you’re going down the same exact path. The apple didn’t fall too far from the tree in that regard.”

I was stunned. I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to hate him. I wanted to ruin everything he had. But there was nothing I could take away from him. He had already lost everything. He wasn’t the one to blame. For once, I felt helpless. “I don’t blame you.” I finally said. “But you’re wrong when you say we’re the same. We’re not. Once I figure out how to kill Don and end the Darkhorse gang once and for all, I’m getting out of this game. Forever. I made a promise to my woman, and I plan on keeping that promise.”

“Rust. It’s already too late for that.” he suddenly said, looking downward within himself.

“What do you mean by that?” I slowly asked him.

“I’m…” he stopped short, choking on his tears. “I’m sorry son.”

“What are you sorry about? What are you saying?” I whispered, feeling my heart start to race.

At that moment, a pack of wild bikers burst through all the windows and doors in the house. They wielded semi-automatic machine guns, bearing a manic look in their eyes. “They made me do it. Forgive me son.” he said. One of the men put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger.

“No!” I screamed. But it was too late. They had their guns set on me. A Darkhorse member walked over to me and hit me over the head with his weapon. All went black.

There was nothing left for me. Nothing but Jackie. And soon, they would do to her what they did to my mother. As for me, I was already dead inside. What didn’t kill me would only make me stronger. At least, I sure hoped so.

I
never thought
a man could have this big of an impact on me. Honestly, I really didn’t. My father raised me to respect men, but to never give in to their tricks. I guess that explains why I resisted him so much in the first place. But, after knowing Rust for some time, I taught myself a bigger lesson. It was that men have an exterior and an interior. The exterior is like the shiny chrome on your bike, or the tattoos on your skin, those words that claim Courage, Loyalty and Pride.

The interior is kind of what counts the most. At least, that’s what I’m learning. It’s sort of like the smooth leather in the inside of your brand new truck, or the bones that keep you up in a fight. It’s the soul to the body. And now that I know Rust and what he
really
stands for, I know that his interior is something I want to keep seeing, for the rest of my life.

We had gotten married more as a plan than as a reality. But now that plan had somehow bled into our lives in a real and meaningful way. I don’t like to get all sappy, but we had gone through so much together so far. And after losing all that we hold and dear, so much was now at stake. Life was tough like that. But if you kept holding onto the light at the end of that tunnel, you’ll come out on top.

At least, that’s what I had to believe. Now that Rust was gone, it felt like my whole life was crumbling right before my very eyes. He closed that door and walked out without looking behind him. Not because he was callous and cold. That’s what he wanted people to think of him. That’s the exterior I was talking about. No, he didn’t look behind him because he didn’t want to have to face the pain. He had seen too much already. His own parents had been slaughtered right in front of him. Imagine what that could do to a man. Hell, I couldn’t blame him for not looking back.

Still, this plan was absurd. To face Don or any Darkhorse leader was absolute insanity. It was fucking suicide. And though I let him walk out those doors, I wasn’t going to let him die like that. I had to do something.

So I called Bruce. I didn’t know what else to do. Since he was the one who approved of this crazy plan, I thought he might be the one who knew what to do. Turns out, he was pretty confident in the plan.

“It’ll be fine, doll. Don’t you worry your pretty little head about any of this. It’ll all end up fine. Just fine.” he said.

“Fine? How will this end up fine, Bruce? This is suicide! I’m not some little girl, so don’t shrug me off. I’m Lane’s daughter, boss of the Hell’s Wheels. I demand my respect.”

There was a short pause and I heard the flick of his lighter. “Fine. You’re right. You’re family has been in this game for a long time. But I gotta say, I’m not used to discussing these matters with women. I guess this is a new world, right? All modernized and shit. I’m willing to talk, but what do you suggest we do?”

“We should meet.” I said. “Over at the River’s edge. Three miles south from me. You know where I’m talking about?”

“I know it alright. The old meeting spot from ’92. Your father used to brag about finding such an isolated spot.”

“Meet me in 20.” I hung up the phone and got on my bike. It was time to be decisive. Rust had saved me before, back when his club got bombed and shot up. Now it was time for
me
to try and save him. Of course, I would have help.

I shot out on the open road and headed south. Three miles was a short duration, but it was a spot that no one seemed to know about. When I got there, Bruce was already there, leaning against his bike and smoking a cigarette. I got off and shook his hand.

“Have you heard from him yet?” I asked.

“No, but I’m not jumping to any conclusions.” he said, looking slightly worried, but not worried enough.

“If they got him, we wouldn’t know it. His silence is our only clue.” I said.

“That’s how it is for all of us, right?” The moon hung low and the stars shined down against our faces. Bruce, for once in his life, looked like a king ready to solve a major diplomatic issue. War among the kingdoms was a serious business. Losing an operative could mean bad implications.

“Guess so.” I said. “When we’re gone, does it all fade to black? Is that the fate for all of us? Is that why we fight and live the life we do? There’s gotta be more of a point to this, Bruce.”

“You’re gettin’ too philosophical for me, honey. You don’t get to think about fate and the point of all this when you’re born into the life we live. There ain’t no choice for us. We inherited this rotten, shit of a life. And the best we can do is try and die with a little dignity and extra cash.”

I shook my head. Sure, it sounded nice. Very heroic and all. But the reality wasn’t so simple. Sometimes you had to think deeper and go outside of the box. Sometimes you had to think outside the status quo. “The Darkhorse gang seems to think differently than you on that. They seem to be takin’ this life somewhere new. Somewhere sinister. They’re turning their gang into an outright cult, Bruce. We have to act.”

“Fine. I’ll take your bait. What do we do?” he asked me, tossing his cigarette in the river.

“When my father brought me here for the first time, I was pretty young. Maybe 4 or 5. To me, this place was like the Amazon jungle. It was a huge landscape that represented the real world, wild and free. The river was like the bloodstream of this place, flowing and feeding the plants. If the river is gone, so are the plants.”

“What are you sayin’?” he asked me. “Is this some kind of moral type story of some bullshit?”

I ignored his ignorance and continued. “There are certain values we need to keep if we want our world to stay stable and clear. Right now, our world is in absolute chaos because certain people have decided not to stay true to their values. You talk about Courage and Loyalty, and so do the Darkhorse. But they’re using those words and skewing the meaning to recruit some very bad people. Now I’m not saying we’re
good
people. We’ve got our problems, right? But we never encroached on others’ business as long as they didn’t encroach on ours. That’s how it’s always worked. We work together because there’s more money if we do. They’ve broken that unspoken promise and dried up our river, Bruce. It’s time to give them hell. It’s time we fight back. No more of this.”

“So you’re back to fighting?” he asked me with a sly smile on his face.

“It’s our only choice.”

“Good. Let’s go save our man.” he winked.

I
woke
up inside another house. Guards all around me. Guerilla warriors hell bent on gaining power and followers, followers of a new dogma. They wore black bandanas over their face. Goggles covered their eyes. They looked like a gang of post apocalyptic warriors. I wasn’t scared of them.

I felt the rope tightly binding my wrists together. My ankles were bound too. I was on a table in the center of the room. The “soldiers” around me were smoking and drinking. It was as if I wasn’t even there. Finally, after some time, a man walked into the room. It was Don. The men around me stopped dead and saluted him. “General D is in the building!” one of them said. The air was tense.

“Where is he?” he asked.

“Over here, sir.” A man led him into the main room.

“Well, well, well.” he laughed. “There’s our little warrior. How was your meeting with your father? I suspect it went well?”

I spat at him. “Fuck you. I came to be diplomatic, Don. I came to cut a deal. Instead you violated the rules of war. You’re a coward.”

His smile quickly disappeared from his face and anger fueled him. He grabbed my face and scowled, “There are no rules anymore, you pathetic little ant. I do whatever I want to do. And these people behind me, my soldiers, do whatever I tell them to do. Those are the new rules in this land.”

“You can’t play God.” I retorted. “If you try, you’ll end up losing everything. Plenty of men before you have tried your way of ruling the world. Where did that get them? A nice funeral plot, more or less. The memory that if you break the code, you will be destroyed by the forces you betrayed around you.”

“Should I shoot him, boss?” one of the bikers asked him. He waved him away.

“No. I have my own plans for this one.” he said. Then he turned back to me, standing tall and proud of his evil. “Your words mean nothing to me. The days of the past are over. This is a new era. Me and my men are on the cusp of greatness. You choose to stand against the current? Fine. But be willing to pay the price of your sins.”

“Do your worst, asshole. I yield to no tyrants.” I angrily said.

“Fine. Have it your way.” He reached out his hand to a man standing next to him. He was dressed in plain clothes, and looked as if he was forced to be there. The whole thing felt weird. “Hand me the syringe.” he said.

“The what?” I asked him, trying to break free from my rope.

The man handed him a syringe full of a clear liquid. He pressed it down ever so slightly, and a small stream shot out. “Inside this syringe is a powerful drug. I’m sure you’ve already figured that out. You see, we don’t want to kill you. We want to train you.”

“Train me?” I muttered back. This didn’t sound too fun.

“Yes, we want you to see reason and logic for once. Maybe once you do, you’ll understand why our cause is so great.”

“No.” I whispered, choking on my saliva. Truth was, I was practically shitting myself.

“Actually, yes. It’s time you Courage folk listen to our demands. Lucky for us, we have you on our side now. We have
you
to fight our battles with us. Don’t we, doctor?” He turned to the man next to him, who looked nauseous and frightened.

“Yes, sir.” he squeamishly spit out.

“Well there it is! There’s our answer, straight from the doctor himself! There, there, Rust. It’ll all be over soon enough. Time for your medicine.”

The doctor leaned over me with the syringe, moving closer to my arm. “NO!” I screamed, jerking my body as much as I could. I was tied down tightly though, and I couldn’t move more than a centimeter. I was trapped. “Fuck!!!”

“There’s no use in fighting it, little Rust. Don’t you worry. It’s all quite painless.” he smiled, revealing a set of yellowing and broken teeth. His eyes were red and his pupils were incredibly large. Everyone in the house had soon broke out into menacing laughter. I was truly in a house of madmen.

The needle hit my skin, piercing directly through my tough flesh, until it finally reached my vein. The liquid shot through my bloodstream and I almost passed out from sheer anxiety and rage. And then I felt it. The pleasure. The pain. The horror. I felt
enraged.