Adversaries by T.L. Hodel

The Greek letters above the door glistened in the moonlight. Standing on the porch of a frat house in the middle of the night was not a place I expected to be. Can’t say I was too surprised either.

Most of the campuses were Reaper territory. Though, we’d been slowly reclaiming them, we had just as many dealers in this one as they did. Most of ours we turned from their side.

Jax’s supplier wasn’t too happy to find out what went down. The Reapers had more men than us, but the Lost Souls’ connections ran deep. Not to mention, loyalty was important in our world. How much could you trust a man that turned on his own brother?

Now, we had the superior product, and more than half of his former customers. Problems came with this part of the business. Drugs attracted the wrong kind of people.

Like the sketchy fuck inside that thought he could get away without paying. Tanner and Mannix were inside having a ‘chat’ with him.

The door vibrated as a loud crash rolled through the other side. Beast, who was by the front steps leading up to the porch, didn’t so much as twitch. He just stood there with his arms crossed and a grumpy fucking look on his face.

“Where you going, Chet?” I heard Mannix say from the other side of the door, followed by Tanner’s snicker. “We were just starting to have fun.”

I snorted and shook my head. Fucking Chet. Who named their kid that?

Everything went quiet after a couple sounds that I was pretty sure were slaps. An open palm hit had a distinctive clack that a fist didn’t. I doubted that was why shit calmed down in the house.

If anything, shit was getting worse. Tanner and Mannix got off on fucking with people. My guess was, they dragged Chet off to have some ‘fun,’ as Tanner put it.

Sam knew what I did. I never hid that part of my life from her. That didn’t mean she agreed with it. She never asked me to quit. I don’t think that thought even traveled through her mind once. She simply accepted me for who I was.

The only thing she did request was that I took it easy on dumb fucks like Chet, said that I should give them the chance to see the error of their ways without so many broken bones and bruises.

Problem was, broken bones and bruises was the only language I spoke.

‘You have a soft side, Chase. I’ve seen it.’

Ignoring the voice, I leaned back against the stone wall and plucked out the cigarette I had resting behind my ear.

‘Think about Riley.’

My brows furrowed as I tried to concentrate on the smoke I was twirling between my fingers.

‘What would she say if she knew what you were letting them do in there?’

Riley wouldn’t say anything. She’d kick my ass, and then probably Tanners. My niece was a tiny little thing, but I taught her well. She didn’t take shit, even from me. She took shit from Micha Kessler, though. That prick was involved with darker shit than I was.

I couldn’t help but wonder if it was my fault she fell in love with him? Did my broken soul taint hers?

‘Riley loves you.’

“That’s the problem.”

“What?” Beast asked, arching his brow over his shoulder.

“Nothing.”

This was the third time Beast caught me talking to myself. Which I was doing because Sam wasn’t here giving me advice to steer me on the right path. She was fucking dead. Cold and buried in a box in the ground next to our son.

Beast tipped his head. “Do I need to be worried about you?”

Probably.

Luckily, I didn’t have to explain anything because the perfect distraction came stumbling up the walk.

“I think you should be more worried about him.” I arched my brow at the lace thong the drunk idiot was wearing as a hat. Guess he got lucky.

That or he just got back from a panty raid. I think they still did that shit in college? Mind you, the only experience I had to go off of was from movies.

Beast muttered a “What the fuck?” while scrubbing a hand down his face.

Sure the kid looked like a fool, but I’d seen worse. Tanner wore a bright pink tutu to Riley’s school just to make the crotchety receptionist smile. She didn’t. I don’t think that old bitch was capable of it.

Most people were surprised to find out the Dupire twins were related to her. Other than Marnie being quiet, neither one of her granddaughters had a thing in common with her.

I wonder if Riley knew?

“Did I miss a costume party?” The drunk idiot laughed and tripped up the steps while waving his finger at Beast’s cut. “That’s some good shit. It looks real.”

Neither Beast nor I said a thing. We just cocked a brow.

“Okay?” He muttered while swinging his gaze from one to the other. “Not big talkers, I guess.”

Again we said nothing.

“Right. Well, if you don’t mind.” He motioned past Beast’s huge body to the door behind him.

“Fuck off,” was Beast’s response. “Frat’s closed.”

Beast was a grumpy motherfucker. It didn’t take much to agitate him. When the kid lifted his finger and jabbed it into his chest, I knew his night was done.

“Hey man, you can’t…”

That’s all the dimwit got out before a giant fist swung through the air, clacking off his jaw. He flew back, landing on the grass unconscious.

I glanced over at the two others bodies crumpled up in the corner of the deck. They were knocked out earlier. To be fair, one decided to be a smart ass and throw a tantrum by kicking our bikes. Fucker was lucky he wasn’t dead.

As Beast lifted the kid’s limp body, I lifted the cigarette to my nose and took a deep inhale, sucking back the rich scent. Fuck, that smelled good. It’d been eight years since I had a smoke.

That was one bad habit I’d so far managed to avoid falling back into. Not sure why I carried one around? I felt better knowing it was there, I guess, kind of like a security blanket.

A chick’s voice carried through the breeze so loud I expected to see her standing right in front of me.

“Get your asses moving girls.”

When I looked up, I saw a tiny blonde across the street with a megaphone held to her mouth. A sense of familiarity washed over me as I eyed her pink Care Bear pajamas.

It was possible I knew her. I spent most nights drunk and buried in pussy I’d forget the next day. It dawned on me when a row of girls came shuffling out the door.

No fucking way.

I pushed off the wall and sauntered over to stand next to Beast, who was also staring at what I assumed was a sorority house.

“That’s the crazy bitch that ran down the Reapers.”

“Really?” His eyes shifted my way. “Which one?”

I tipped my chin at the blonde directing the other girls. “The little one.”

I assumed this was some hazing thing based on their yawning faces and sleepwear.

“Fuck off,” Beast waved his hand, “that chick can’t weigh more than ninety pounds.”

“Weight doesn’t matter much when the car is the weapon.”

He huffed out a grunt, and we sat back to watch things play out.

Personally, I didn’t trust the chick. I could’ve let it go if she had just ran down one and kept going. We were in the middle of a gunfight. That sort of thing should be terrifying to civilians, but this bitch came back, and not for one, but all three.

Even drove into the Chinese laundry to get the last one. That kind of crazy shouldn’t be walking the streets.

“Fuck me,” I muttered when the last girl came strutting out of the house in a forest green silk top and matching shorts.

Naomi, I should’ve fucking known.

Seeing her prance outside with her head held high caused my jaw to clench. There was no way she just rolled out of bed. The other girls had droopy eyes and messy hair, while Naomi’s golden hair flowed in perfect waves down her back.

My eyes narrowed on her long thick lashes, fluttering as she rolled her eyes. Was she wearing make-up? What did she do? Make everyone wait while she dolled herself up.

“Selfish cunt,” I grumbled as she climbed up on one of the milk crates.

“Who?”

I ignored Beast and kept my eyes on Naomi. It was annoying how graceful she was. One fluid bend of her long leg, and she was up with the rest of them. The girl moved like a fucking panther. Everything about her was smooth, calm, and poised. Except her face, which was currently wound tightly in her ever-present bitch scowl.

Fuck, I hated her. My dick, however, did not. She’d been out here one minute, and I was already getting hard.

I glanced down at the unlit cigarette in my hand and said, “fuck it,” before placing it between my lips.

The lighter was barely out of my pocket when Beast reached over and snatched it out of my mouth.

“What the fuck?”

“I’m not letting you start this shit again?” His giant mitt fisted around the smoke, crushing it. “Your drinking is bad enough.”

“Who are you.” I growled back at him, “my fucking father?”

“How’s this for some fatherly advice?” his hand lifted, smacking me on the back of the head. “Pull your head out of your ass.”

I glared at him while rubbing my head. Fucker.

“Don’t go doing stupid shit like smoking because you have a hard-on for some chick.”

“I do not have a hard-on for that bitch,” I argued as I rolled my eyes up Naomi’s long shapely legs.

Beast snorted in disagreement. Whatever. I suppose to the average guy, Naomi was bangable. Provided she didn’t open her mouth. I tipped my head at the row of girls. This might be a blessing in disguise.

The entire purpose of hazing was to humiliate the new recruits. Every group, club, and society did it in some form, including mine. Maybe I’d finally get to see queen bitch knocked off her high horse? Now that sounded like fun.

I cocked my hip against the railing and crossed my arms as the crazy one spouted out questions. For a tiny thing, she was demanding. I was a bit surprised no one stood up to her.

Then again, she did give three Reapers a fatal case of road rash. God fucking knew what she did to those girls.

The game, which appeared to be a question and answer one, carried on. If the girls on the crates got an answer wrong or didn’t say anything, they had to down a shot.

“This is what passes for hazing these days?” Beast shook his head.

I grunted in agreement, didn’t seem very difficult to me. Worst case scenario, they got drunk. Big deal, I did that shit every night.

By the tenth round, half the girls were falling down. Much to my dismay, Naomi wasn’t one of them. In fact, she hadn’t gotten a single question wrong, and there were some hard ones. Like what was the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

What the fuck was that? She had to be cheating. I glared at Naomi, standing there staring at her nails as if she was bored. Now, that shit I could put a stop to.

With a smirk on my face, I skipped down the steps. Let’s see how bored the princess is when I make things more difficult for her.

Tanner and Mannix must’ve come out just as I started walking away because I heard Mannix’s growly tone rumbled behind me.

“Where the fuck is he going?”

“Who cares. You see that shit,” Tanner sang, “it’s like an outdoor slumber party, and I am so down for a pillow fight.”

Did I care if Tanner followed me? Not one bit. I was willing to bet it wasn’t just him following me either. Especially when the girls’ eyes widened. They all looked shocked and terrified, except Naomi, who rolled her eyes, and the little crazy one.

“Hey, I remember you guys,” crazy chick sang, “did you bring me spring rolls?”

Tanner of course, jumped all over that shit. “I’ll bring you all the spring rolls you want, Baby.”

“Not you. I don’t like you.”

I held back a chuckle as Tanner sucked in a gasp.

“What did I do?”

She stood back and eyed him for a second. “Your hair’s too long.”

Beast and Mannix burst out laughing, and I swear I could hear Tanner’s jaw drop. I didn’t care what they were doing. There was one sole purpose I had for coming over here, and that purpose was glaring at me so intensely, I could feel the hatred rolling off her.

“Hey, Princess,” I rolled my eyes down the length of her. She did look good standing up there, that much I’d give her. Tipping my chin at her nipples hard against the thin silk fabric, I added, “happy to see me?”

Without a word, Naomi stepped down off her pedestal and stalked over. I thought for sure she was going to say something snarky or get in my face. I was completely unprepared for what she did next.

Naomi reached out, palmed my dick through my jeans, and leaned in to whisper, “Seems like you’re the happy one here.”

I was so consumed by the warmth of her hand on my cock, that I almost didn’t hear the low rumble in the distance. Over Naomi’s shoulder, I could see the shadows of four bikes coming down the street, and they weren’t mine.

Mannix was the first of the others to notice. His 9mm was in his hand before I pushed Naomi out of the way and yelled at Beast, “Get them inside.”

Beast sprang to action, barking loudly at the girls, who hustled to run through the door. But there wasn’t time for all of them to get inside before shots rang out.

Bullets whizzed through the air, slicing in the ground and cutting through the house as Mannix joined Beast, pushing girls behind anything they could use for cover.

Tanner and I marched forward, popping off shots as the bikes whizzed by. We might’ve gotten one or two if that crazy little chick hadn’t run up and chucked her shoe. Though she did nail a Reaper in the head, causing him to skid slightly, Tanner had to grab her and shield her from the incoming gunfire.

It was hard enough to concentrate with all these chicks screaming. Unlike us, whose first priority was to make sure the girls were okay, the Reapers would shoot every one of them to get at me. Which was exactly why I couldn’t concentrate and get a good shot off before they were fading into the darkness.

All I could picture was Riley staring at me accusingly as she was riddled with bullets. Still, I stepped out onto the street and popped off a few more shots at the shadows in the distance.

That’s when a red BMW pulled up.

My first instinct was to aim at the driver, which I did for half a second. Adrenaline pumped through my heart at a wild pace as my finger readied on the trigger. I calmed down when he stepped out. The only guy I knew that wore a jean jacket like that was Preston Whitley.

The prick was lucky I recognized him, otherwise, he would’ve been welcomed by a hail of bullets. Mannix and Beast also had their guns aimed this way. Tanner was too busy struggling with crazy to worry about anything else.

I held up a hand, telling the others to back down as Preston nodded at me and sauntered around the trunk of his car. My brows furrowed at his calm acceptance of the situation, and then arched when he slammed the trunk shut and snapped an M-40 together.

Who the fuck carries a sniper rifle in their car?

Preston propped the gun on the hood, aimed it down the street, and looked through the scope. “You want him alive?”

“Uh, yeah?” I said, not really sure what else to say.

One shot. That’s all it took for that motherfucker to take out a bike. The back tire spun out, flipping the bike and driver back on the road behind him. One of the Reapers stopped, probably to help his fallen compadre.

A second later, a bullet cut through his helmet, exploding the back of his skull on the ground. Any thought the other two had of coming back vanished after that. They kicked their bikes into gear and rolled down the street.

Mannix swung his gun through the air. “Who the fuck is this guy.”

“Preston!” Crazy chick rushed over and threw her arms around Preston.

He rolled his eyes and half-heartedly hugged her back.

“Did daddy send you?”

Huh, so she was his sister. Made sense, I guess. I didn’t know the kid that well, but anyone who looked at him could tell there wasn’t much of a soul in that body.

“Cops will be here soon.” Preston’s cold grey eyes locked on mine. “You should go.”

I couldn’t agree more. Nodding at my boys, I turned and headed for my bike.

“Seriously,” Mannix said, following. “Who the fuck is that guy?”