Creed’s Honor by Simone Nicholls

The one fucking time I left the house without my cut was the same day Dad fucking pulled me up on it. He knew Mum was soaking the blood out from that fight the other night. Yet he chose to sit at the fucking table to rank Creed in—and to bring up no member had a right to be at the table without a cut.

He wanted to make my life that bit harder. He saw me leave the house without it. Yet he waited till we sat down for the church meeting about Creed—to bring it up and then kicked me the fuck out of the discussion based on the fact I wasn’t wearing my vest.

All because he thought I was irritational and selfish by not keeping control over my temper.

I burst into the bathroom where Mum usually soaked the vests in the bathtub. Right now, I was prepared to wear it dripping wet just to prove a point to Dad. Then maybe punch the next bastard that walked past me.

“Fuck,” I said loudly when I realised Holly was in the bathroom, standing in her underwear. I went to close the door, but then I paused and slowly pushed the door back wide open. Not because I was a creep and wanted to look at my half-naked sister. It was because I saw something on her body.

Smouldering rage slowly crept through me as I stared. I was used to the blue and black shades on my own flesh. After all, we kids had been cursed with our mother’s ivory skin colour, which made bruises look a hell of a lot worse.

Deep dark blue with tinted purple edges and fading yellow marks covered Holly’s upper arm and side.

“Kobra…” Her words shook with fear. “Kobra, please, just turn around and act like you haven’t seen anything.”

My eyes slowly went from the bruising to look into her terrified blue orbs. I took one step more into the bathroom, and I closed the door behind me. Did she think that I would look the other way? Did she really think I’d walk back out that door, knowing someone had laid hands on her?

When the door clicked closed behind me, I saw the panic and dread on her face.

“Explain,” I said, only the one word, and walked to the bathtub. My club vest was deep in the water, and the water was slightly red-tinted. I had a feeling the cut was better off remaining in the water than on me because I felt like I’d be spreading more blood soon.

I sat on the edge of the bath, watching her get a towel and wrap it around her.

“Trey’s a good man,” were the first words from her lips, and I scoffed immediately.

So Trey had laid hands on my sister. Did he expect to be breathing long? My eyes remained locked on her.

“You can’t do anything, Kobra. He’s connected. His father is an officer, one we don’t control.” She listed facts that should stop me from wanting to bring madness on him. “I’m keeping my distance from him. I’ve learnt my lesson. Does that mean anything?”

I heard her frustration, and I just stared at her.

“He apologised, and he meant it,” she added, but I just kept staring at her.

She knew, and so did I. If Dad knew, the man wouldn’t be breathing. The only reason West lived was because Dad thought of another way to make that man suffer worse than an early death.

“He crossed a line, Holly,” I said, and I wasn’t sure why I had to remind her of this. “He hit you.” Three words and they caused her to go stiff.

“Please, Kobra, I don’t want Dad to know, and I can’t handle you being locked up. So can you just pretend like you didn’t see anything?” She was pleading with me, and I was still staring at her because I didn’t want her copping the wrath in words that were meant to be physically felt by Trey.

“Kobra, please,” she added.

“Give me one reason why that”— I pointed at her body—“happened? And if he thinks he can hit you, and you won’t do shit, all while knowing your family’s connections—what does that say for all the other women?”

Tears swelled in her eyes. “He’s a good man.”

“He was no longer a man the moment he laid hands on a woman.” And if the bastard thought he wouldn’t be feeling the wrath of a Kincaid for touching our blood—he was sadly mistaken. Suddenly, her staying away, everything she was doing, was making sense. I knew about her fight with the old man. I knew then something was wrong, and so did he, which was why he came to me.

I was going to see her today. But her car was in the driveway this morning, which meant she’d come back to us. Dad was still pissed at me because shit was falling apart at the club. It always seemed that when we were losing control at the club, the family was also affected.

Creed was meant to be riding out and setting up the North Chapter before repatching at the Mother Chapter table.

I sighed, getting up. “You going back near him?” I asked the question I needed a solid answer to. She slowly shook her head.

“I’ll just be seeing him at work, that’s it.”

I saw the tint of yellow bruising on her collarbone, and then I looked her in the eyes.

“He won’t be there much longer, Holly.” There wasn’t much I could promise, but if there was one thing I could, it was that Trey wouldn’t be at that hospital much longer. I pulled the vest from the water and gave her one more look. “I’ll keep this between us.”

She scoffed. “And how are you going to explain to Dad when you are arrested?”

The corner of my lip twitched up, and I looked her in the eyes. “Fuck, Holly, who we don’t own, we buy. Kincaids control. We aren’t controlled.” While she didn’t know the finer details of our operation, she would have to know that we had judges, lawyers, and police officers, right up to commissioners, on the payroll.

I then winked at her before opening the door—the last thing I wanted was my little sister worried about me. Pausing before walking out, I looked back.

“Don’t let anyone else see those bruises.” I smiled at her and opened the door, leaving. I came here for my vest, and now I was leaving with another reason for there to be fresh blood on it before it dried.

* * *

No soul got a free ride from the haunting of past mistakes nor the reckoning that consumed us of the what-ifs and the possibilities that could have come if we had done differently.

It was my father, Hades, who ingrained that in me at a young age. A mistake was only a mistake if we learned from it. However, it could easily become a toxic habit. Hades believed that a bad decision was merely lack of knowledge. However, repeating those poor decisions when knowing better—was that a mistake or was that fucking behaviour?

Holly called, asking me if I could stop past Opal’s and collect her things. Apparently, Holly hadn’t been staying at Trey’s for the past week. Instead, she’d moved in with Opal. Holly revealed she’d planned to come home when her bruises had faded. Now, as I stood at Opal’s front door, I felt nothing but shame. The shame of what I had done and for the actions I took that day. I still didn’t know what was worse, that I loved once—or that, at the time, I didn’t even know it was love.

Bringing my fist to the closed door, I knew she mightn’t answer. But fuck it. My sister asked me to come, and so here I was. Even though facing the woman that I loved would be the pain I could hardly tolerate.