Twisted Complications by Nikita Parmenter
Chapter Seven
Ever
Ichuckle quietly as Rage practically rolls his eyes at me when I wink at him. It’s too late for him to pretend like he’s completely indifferent to me now. What he said before I left for the race proves that. I don’t know why I rub him the wrong way, but he obviously cares a little bit and I can work with that. We’ll be besties before he knows what’s fucking hit him.
Yeah besties. My inner bitch scoffs.
“I’m not scared of a bunch of fucking children.” The guy I raced claims, pulling a gun out of the waistband of jeans.
I stand up straighter turning the knife in my hand, getting it ready to throw if I need to. I relax when Atlas laughs darkly, he walks closer to the gun, until its pressed right against his chest.
My nightmare flashes across my mind’s eye, the image of him bleeding out on the cold floor after his father shot him. I force the images away and focus on the here and now. This is not the time to be distracted. The guys eyes widen as Atlas shows absolutely no fear, within the blink of an eye, Atty has the gun taken off him and pointed it back towards the idiot. One of the men that he was talking to when we first showed up slowly steps forward and whispers something in his ear. Whatever he says has the guy paling instantly and rapidly taking a step back, holding his hands in the air.
“Fuck, look I had no idea.” He rushes out.
“You only get one warning, if I or one of my men, see you at one of these events or anywhere in the town, then I’ll consider you fair fucking game.” Atlas warns, dark promise in his deep voice.
“B-but we’ve just moved here.” The guy stutters.
“I don’t give a fuck; you’ve got three days.” Atlas says, handing the gun off to Rage who takes it apart, keeps a couple of parts and then hands the now useless weapon back to the guy. “Escort him off of the premises.” Atlas orders and a couple of guys detach themselves from the surrounding crowd and forcibly remove him.
A smirk crosses my lips, this is actually pretty damn amusing.
Rolly approaches me grinning as Atty, Jensen and Rage talk about fuck knows what. I have a feeling they’re not going to let the guy get off that easily. After all he’s clearly played the spend a night with me card before and I’d be willing to put all the money I won tonight down on the fact that at least some of them weren’t willing participants.
“Here you go.” Rolly says grinning as he hands over a large stack of cash. “He was our best racer tonight. I have to say you’ve got some mad skills. I feel like I recognise your riding style from somewhere though, have you raced before?”
Ah Fuck.
“Nope, just messed around really nothing like this.” I grin casually. “Thanks.” I add taking the money off him.
“Thanks, Rolly.” Rage says as he, Atlas and Jensen reappear, effectively interrupting whatever Rolly was going to say, he nods and walks back through the crowd greeting everyone as he goes and settling bets.
“What were you guys talking about?” I ask.
“Going after that guy, he can’t be left to make the same sorts of deals elsewhere.” Jensen replies, sounding surprisingly grumpy.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have the time and can’t risk going after him ourselves, so Atlas is sending some of his men to discourage that behaviour in the future.” Rage smirks.
I chuckle, “That explains grumpy.”
Jensen sticks out his tongue and opens his mouth to retort but is interrupted by Riot.
“Why did you lie, Sunshine?” Riot asks, curiously.
“I made enemies.” I reply, shrugging and grinning at the same time.
They all look at me expectantly and I sigh deciding to elaborate.
“Rage told you about the reputation I had,” I start, and they nod, the looks on their faces darkening, as Trick and Cash cross their arms as if preparing themselves for what I’m about to say. “Well, a couple of those guys were from my races, they tried to make similar deals as that fucker.”
“Fucking hell, Dragonfly.” Rafe growls, pulling me close.
“Hang on.” Rage says, his eyes glowing as if he’s figured something out. “Earlier you said that you’d pulled this con thousands of times before.”
I nod, not entirely sure where he’s going with this, his eyes flash dangerously.
“How old were you when you first pulled it off?” He asks and the confusion drops from the guys faces immediately replaced by horror and anger.
“I’m not sure it really matters, even if I lost, they didn’t get what they wanted and after the first few times I lost, I made sure I never did again.” I shrug.
I don’t like the direction this conversation is heading in and they won’t either.
“Can we go home? I’m shattered and we’ve got school tomorrow.” I ask trying to change the subject.
“Firecracker.” Luc says firmly and I sigh, I’m not going to get away with this.
“How old were you?” Atlas asks through gritted teeth.
“Twelve.” I reply crossing my arms across my chest.
“Fucking hell, your father sent you as a fucking twelve-year-old to race against fully grown fucking men.” Cash growls, his hands clenching against his sides.
“There were a couple women.” I grin, trying to make light of the situation, apparently the guys don’t find me amusing.
“He got off, fucking easy.” Rage mutters and I have no idea what he’s talking about.
“Look, I’m fine. Yes, it was shitty thing to go through and there’s plenty more of those shitty experiences that fill the time between leaving you guys and finding you again. There is fuck all we can do about it now.” I say starting to get frustrated.
“Alright, Angel. We’ll drop it for now, we just hate that we weren’t there for you and that you had to go through what you did.” Jensen says, gently holding my face in his big palms and searching my eyes.
“There’s so much that you guys don’t know and none of it is exactly happy and full of fucking roses.”
“We know, and whilst we get that we can’t do anything about the majority of it. Your father already being dead and the people you’ve told us about that you’ve already dealt with, we care about you and we’re are going to be fucking angry when we find out, that’s just how it is.” Luc tries to explain as he gently turns my face to kiss me, Jensen’s large hands resting on my waist.
“Fair enough, I guess.” I reply.
They can’t help their reaction and I can’t help my story, so it is what it is, I guess.
“Come on, let’s go home.” Trick says, his eyes preoccupied, with what, I have no idea.
“You crashing at mine tonight?” Atty asks Rage.
“Sure, why not?” He replies.
The drive back to the house is fairly quiet, I think tiredness is finally starting to kick in, we’ve had a full load last few days.
“Did someone leave a light on?” Rage asks as we pull through the gates.
“Nope, I made sure they were all off before we left. It’s a habit.” I reply.
“Someone’s in the house.” Atlas growls. “Leave the car here. We’ll go in around the side . . .”
While they’re discussing the plan of who goes where, I hop out of the car, I’m tired and I want my bed by this point, the adrenaline from the race starting to wear off.
“Everleigh, where are you going?” Rage asks, quickly following me out of the car, the others doing the same.
“I’m going to see who’s in the house, they can’t be that fucking clever since they’ve put a light on, which either means they are dumb as a bag of rocks or they want us to know that they’re in there. Either way, the gates made enough noise when we pulled in, that they know we’re here.” I reason.
“You know she actually makes quite a good point.” Rage agrees.
“You sound shocked.” I reply drily and he represses a smirk before he gives me the middle finger. “You’re so sweet to me.” I say sarcastically blowing him a kiss and making him narrow his eyes.
“Alright you two, fucking quit it.” Trick orders rolling his eyes.
“Let’s go.” Atlas pulls out a gun, Jensen’s already armed with his knives and I’m surprised that a couple of the others pull out guns as well.
I don’t know why it surprises me, I guess they’re just starting to let me see more of their darkness and who they really are.
The fact that they all had guns on them earlier and not one of them pulled one when the other guy did, which would’ve escalated the situation, goes to show not only the skill level that Atlas has, but it also speaks of experience and past situations they’ve been in.
I might have to ask for story time later.
We don’t bother keeping quiet as we enter the house, chances are they already know we’re here. The only light on is the one in the kitchen and Atlas, Trick, and Rafe, all lead the way, it doesn’t escape my notice that I’ve somehow been manoeuvred so that I’m in the middle of the group, completely surrounded by them. I’m not even sure that they’ve done it intentionally. It makes me smile.
“For fuck’s sake, Jynx.” Atlas suddenly curses not sounding that bothered.
I know that name, I push through the crowd of guys.
“No fucking way, Ever?” She exclaims, grinning widely as she sits on the edge of the counter swinging her legs. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“You know each other?” Atlas asks, sounding mildly concerned.
“Oh yeah, we go way back.” Deliberately keeping it vague as I share a grin with the blue haired woman a couple of years older than me.
“Why are you here, Jynx and how the fuck did you get on campus?” Atlas asks her, sounding more like a brother than anything else.
“I have my ways.” She grins. “D sent me,” She starts before looking in our direction.
“You can talk in front of them.” Rage sighs.
“Sweet, I was going to tell Ever anyway but good to know I’ve got permission.” She chuckles.
Atlas rolls his eyes, “You are fucking incorrigible.”
“Anyway, you know the shipment your father has coming to one of the ports up near us?”
“Yes.”
“It’s bigger than we thought it was going to be, and now includes weapons as well, we need more men. D’s got several teams out at the moment dealing with our own shit.”
“Fine,” Atlas agrees easily, “Call in Quinn and the guys from down there. They’ve been itching to get out of that town for a while. They love it but it’s a bit too quiet after a while. Might have to start sending them out on jobs every now and then or Lyric will start causing trouble herself.”
“That’s for damn certain, the woman’s as crazy as I fucking am.”
Rafe comes up behind me wrapping his arms around my waist, I lean back resting my head on his chest and my hands on his arms, sighing happily. I missed him. It’s quite entertaining watching Jynx talk Rage and Atlas around in circles. I haven’t seen her for a long time but the last time I did we had a blast, one of my only happy memories from the years without the boys. Hang on, Quinn? Wasn’t that the guy from the bar near the cabin? I’m certain I’ve heard the name Lyric before, it’s not like it’s an easy name to forget.
“From the bar?” I ask, cutting through whatever Atty was about to say.
“Yeah, Atlas practically runs the whole town. It’s become a safe haven.” Jynx says ignoring the sharp look that Atlas and Rage send her, clearly that’s something that she wasn’t supposed to tell us.
“Quinn, the guys and Lyric all work for me. I sent Quinn and the guys in and they met Lyric, that’s an entirely different conversation but they all work for me now.” Atty says, scrubbing a hand over his face as he clearly decides that it will be less trouble to actually tell us than have Jensen asking him every five seconds.
I glance at Jensen bouncing on the balls of feet, that was definitely something that he was gearing up to do. The guy has got far too much energy considering the shit show of a day we’ve already had.
“They helped me clear the town of anything to do with my father and then stayed to make sure that any scouts that my father sends in, are dealt with appropriately.” He finishes.
“Fucking hell, man.” Trick says. “You’ve got teams?”
“Yes, I wouldn’t be able to deal with my father and his business by myself, fortunately a lot of people are sick of the way my father runs things and nobody wants my fuckhead of a brother in charge. So, they’ve sworn loyalty to me. I actually got the idea from D; he’s been doing something similar down in his area for years.” Atlas says giving us just a bit more information.
“D’s fucking awesome.” I say, grinning.
“You’ve met him?” Rage asks, eyes wide.
“Yeah, Ever’s done a couple of jobs with me and Emery.” Jynx says, throwing me under the bus.
“She fucking what!?” Atlas growls.
“Thanks, Jynx, I appreciate that.” I sigh.
“What’s the big deal?” Luc asks, his eyes darting between us.
“The jobs D deals out are dangerous. Considering I know for a fact that the last time they had a job in Fresno was at least two years ago, that means she was only fifteen if that.” Rage says, his eyes assessing me.
“I had seen and done more by that point that, that job was a walk in the park and fucking fun too.” I reply defensively.
“She kicked ass. D wanted her to come down and work for us, but she refused, it was too much of a risk with her father. I asked D to look into it and he said he had something in the pipeline but after a while I figured that nothing could be done.” Jynx says, regret flashing through her eyes.
A dark scowl descends over Rage’s features, as he shares a look with Atlas. They’re still keeping stuff from us but then again, I haven’t shared everything with them either. When I said I had blood on my hands, I wasn’t referring to a few fights, maybe a light stabbing or two. No, I’ve done serious and irreparable damage. My father didn’t just use me for drug runs. No one knows what else I used to do for him though, not even the men he worked closest with. Most of the jobs, I guess you could call them, that he gave me I enjoyed, men who deserved it. However, there were a couple where the punishment didn’t fit the crime.
My eyes drift over to Jynx and we share a dark look. She knows but I know she won’t say anything until I’m ready. She was one of the jobs where the punishment definitely did not fit the crime. I sensed something in her, I helped her escape and the torture I received as a result was horrific, but the things that they did to her and wanted me to do were worse. I don’t regret it not even for a second. That’s how I met D for the first time, I returned Jynx to him. The second time I helped her deal out some revenge. Her eyes flash with a dangerous glee clearly remembering the same thing that I am, and my savage grin splits my face an echo of her own.
“What was that?” Jensen asks, his eyes narrowing as he glances between me and Jynx.
I glance around, the guys have caught the exchange as well and I shrug at the same time Jynx does.
“Just remembering the good times.” Jynx grins.
“I don’t buy that.” Jensen says and I shrug.
It’s not my story to tell and it’s as dark as they come. I’m not ready to share my part in that story. The guys know I’ve done some dark things but I’m not sure how they’d react to any of that. I will put Jynx’s mind at rest though.
“D, did help.” Her head snaps up eyes meeting mine. Rage looks at me with something akin to panic in his own, I shelf that reaction to take a closer look at later though. “After, it didn’t go as badly as I thought it would. In fact, it was like it never happened.” I tell Jynx, I have no idea how it happened, but I should’ve ended up six feet under and I didn’t.
Her shoulders relax and she grins.
“Thank fuck. I wanted to come back, but the fucktards wouldn’t let me, and D put his foot down.”
“How are your men?” I ask grinning steering the conversation back onto safer topics.
Before she can answer, Atty storms up to me, turmoil and dark rage flashing in his eyes. Rage takes a step towards him as if to intervene.
Aww he so cares. Atlas would never hurt me though and I shake my head at him, pulling out of Rafe’s arms, that have become like steel bands around me after my conversation with Jynx. I widen my stance and look up at him.
“We will be finishing this conversation, Princess.” He growls and my hackles rise.
“When I’m ready, I’ll tell you all my fucked up and dark past Atlas,” I start pushing closer to him and placing a hand on his firm chest.
“What the fuck?” Jynx exclaims, but we both ignore her our eyes locked in a battle of wills.
“I’ll tell you, when you tell me.” I finish, my voice firm.
His eyes shutter the moment the words are out of my mouth.
“That’s what I thought.” I say softly, “It’s not so easy when it’s your dark that someone want to know, is it?”
He growls, his muscles tense. “Fuck, you’re right.”
“Body snatcher say what now?” Jynx smirks, “Did the all-powerful Atlas just admit that he was wrong?”
“Fuck off.” Atlas shoots back before moving forward and gathering me into his arms, which has a better effect of shutting Jynx up than his words as her eyes widen.
Atlas buries his head in my neck and inhales deeply. “I’m sorry, I just can’t stand the thought of you being hurt and I know you have been. It kills me that I couldn’t protect you.”
“That’s stupid.” I say bluntly and his head snaps back, “You didn’t know me back then you couldn’t have protected me. There’s a lot of dark in my past Atlas.”