Twisted Steel: An MC Anthology: Second Edition by Elizabeth Knox (top 5 ebook reader txt) 📕

“What the hell?” I heard him say as the wooden screen door creaked open. Cocky fucker didn’t give a single thought to someone having found him so quickly. I watched as he shined a light around the area.

Satisfied with his brief search, he turned to head back inside.

Heart slamming against my ribcage, I hefted the wood in my hand to get a better grip. When he reached for the door, I launched toward him and swung the wood, hitting him in the back. Before he could recover, I took another swing and hit his arm holding his weapon.

The gun fell from his hand, and he spun to face me.

“You!” he snarled. When he lunged at me, I made a wide swipe with the wood, making contact with his ribs. The wood snapped in two, and I tossed it to the side.

“Yeah, me. What are you gonna do about it?” I taunted. He tried to make a dive for his weapon, but I landed an uppercut that snapped his head back. He wiped the back of his hand across his face and stared at the blood on it before smiling like a lunatic.

“You think you can get out of this? My friends are on their way to pick up your little whore in there. You can’t win this time, Luke.” He circled with me, looking for a weakness. He struck out, and his fist connected with my cheek, making me stumble back to catch my footing.

Punches flew, followed by grunts from us both. By then we were both winded.

“How does it feel to know you’re gonna lose again? The mighty Luke Matthews. You always thought you were such hot shit. Your entire club is gonna go down for the murder of that little girl.” He swung and missed.

“I should’ve beat your ass years ago,” I growled as I caught him with a blow to the ribs that knocked the air out of him momentarily.

“But you didn’t,” he taunted as he caught me with a left hook.

“Fucker,” I spat with a mouthful of blood.

“You’re a pussy, just like your little freak of a brother was. Couldn’t handle his alcohol and sure as fuck couldn’t handle his blow.”

“Leave my brother out of this!” I raged as I whaled on him, and he stumbled backward. Keeping my momentum, I landed one punch after the other.

The last one sent him to his back on the ground.

As I heaved ragged breaths over him, I clenched my fists, wanting to finish him off. He rolled and moaned in the gravel.

“Why didn’t you ever tell them it was me?” he asked through a groan.

“Because it was your father who showed up on the scene that day. You think he or anyone else would’ve believed the kid from the wrong side of the tracks over a cop’s kid?” I knew I was right. “You were supposed to be his friend. What the fuck happened to you?”

Disgust poured from me as I stared down at the man who I thought had once been my brother’s friend.

“You think I wanted to stay in this shithole town? Become a cop like my ol’ man? Hell no! I wanted out! I wanted bigger and better things! But I was railroaded into following in his footsteps. So I made the most of it, and I’m not gonna let some two-bit piece of trash wannabe gangster and his whore fuck that up for me.” He spat blood on the ground and jumped up at me.

I’d gotten lax, thinking he was beat, and didn’t see the knife until it was too late. The shouts from my brothers coincided with the burning pain of the blade sinking into my side.

Shock held me frozen as the world moved in slow motion. I looked at the knife sticking out of my side, then to where Reaper had tackled Chet back to the ground, and finally to the wide eyes of Hailey where she stood by the edge of the building with her mouth open in shock.

I dropped to my knees, and the pain of the gravel digging into them barely registered. Blood seeped through my clothing to drip on the ground, and I was transfixed by the sight of the growing puddle before I started to fall.

As Apollo laid me down, everything went black.

19

Hailey

“When It Comes To Loving You”—Jon Langston

If someone had told me I’d fall madly in love with a biker, I would’ve laughed. Because hello, what a cliche after that show, right? But hell if I hadn’t. That’s why when he told me I couldn’t be pregnant with his kid I lost my shit. My feelings were all over the place between the hormones and facing the fact that I was head over heels for a man who’d told me not to attach feelings to what we had.

Now, if that same person had said I would watch as a madman stabbed the love of my life in the guts, I would’ve punched them in the throat. Because what a fucked-up thing to say. Yet, there I was living it.

Once the shock settled, I tried to run to him, but thick tattooed arms held me back. “Let me go!” I screamed as I thrashed to get free.

“Ouch!” The man holding me shouted as my booted foot made contact with his shin. “Goddamn it, woman! You need to stay out of the way so Apollo can help him!”

The fight left me, and I sagged. Thankfully, he didn’t let me fall.

“There’s so much blood,” I sobbed as I watched one of the guys toss a bag to Apollo.

“If anyone can take care of him, it’s Apollo,” Soap said as he cautiously loosened his grip on me. I didn’t care what had happened to Chet by that time. I couldn’t have cared less if they filleted him, quite frankly. He was a vile human.

I turned to Hacker and Joker, who had moved up next to us. “He told me he