“Some of the guys can’t be here if the cops show up,” Scythe said, really to no one at all.
“Get them out of here then. Go if you have to, I got this.”
Scythe shook his head. “I don’t leave my brothers behind.”
“Guerrilla, Switchblade, Ice, and Riptide; get the fuck out of here before the cops show up. We don’t need you motherfuckers going to jail. Obi go with them; you got some shit on you that don’t need to be fucking seen right now. I’ll stay here with the prospects and Cipher to take care of Trigger.”
That’s it? He’s going to let Riptide get away with that shit? What the actual fuck is going on with this club?
“It’s his fucking fault,” I yelled, motioning to Riptide. “If that shithead had been paying attention and doing his job, Trigger wouldn’t have moved into the lane. He was too busy prancing around like some princess peacock, showboating for that girl.” I motioned to the dog walker, who looked away sheepishly.
“Fuck you man, I did my job!” Riptide yelled.
I jumped to my feet and got right in his face. “Clear the lane, make sure it’s safe for others, signal that the lane is free to your lead bike and move over to secure the lane and close the door. That’s the job of a Tail Gunner. Our lives are in your hands, and if you’re not fucking paying attention, we’re all dead. So, yeah, motherfucker, this is all your fault!”
Riptide punched me in the jaw. I should’ve taken the punch and let it be done, but I was so angry that I lunged at him, taking him to the ground. My fists were moving before I had a chance to stop them, pummeling Riptide in the face multiple times until you could no longer see his intoxicated eyes or pretty boy smile.
“Prospect, stand down!” Switchblade ordered.
I felt arms come around me, but I couldn’t stop the violent rage flowing through my bones. Trigger is one of the few men that is actually decent in the club, and Riptide almost killed him. It’s just not fair.
A second pair of hands wrapped around my arms and I’m flung off Riptide, almost sending me on my ass. I lunge at Riptide again, but Ice pushes me backward, practically sailing me clear across the road. “Your VP said to calm your shit down. Cool off, or I’m knocking your ass out and you can get in the ambulance next to Trigger.” Ice was like a brick wall and I wasn’t about to try to get around him.
Anger broiled my insides. I was hot-headed and ready to burst at any second. My lips were moving before I had a chance to stop them. I turned toward Scythe and started screaming, “This is bullshit, Prez, and you fucking know it. Riptide should’ve been doing his job. He could’ve gotten Trigger killed.”
Scythe remained silent.
What a fucking coward.
Even if I was right, he would never admit it; that would mean he’d have to challenge the men who were actually patched in and take the side of a prospect over them. That shit would never happen. Not in this mess of corruption.
“Get the fuck out of here before the cops get here and all of you end up in jail. And you,” Scythe said turning to me, “Riptide is an officer in this club and you’re a prospect, you have to respect him even if there is a reason not to. That’s what being in the Armada is all about. Brotherhood, loyalty, and trust.”
“It’s kinda hard to want to be a part of a brotherhood where everyone is corrupt as fuck and only out for themselves,” I mumbled under my breath. I was close enough for Scythe to hear me and I swear he nodded his head in agreement, but maybe my eyes were just playing tricks on me.
Finally, Scythe said something. “Everyone just get the hell out of here; the cops and ambulance will be here any minute.” The club scrambled to get Riptide to his feet. They had Jagger and Rex load him and his bike in the cage, leaving me, Scythe, and Cipher to stay behind.
As they were leaving, Switchblade came up from behind me and whispered in my ear. “You’re going to pay for your insubordination, Prospect. Tomorrow you’re gonna be working in the fucking boneyard, and I’m gonna make you pay for ever wanting to be part of my Armada.”
Trigger ended up taking an ambulance to the hospital. His leg had a clear break in two places and they had to artificially replace parts of it and bolt it together with screws. It was a mess, and he wouldn’t be walking anytime soon.
I stayed with him in the hospital the entire time. Fuck the rest of those assholes who don’t give a shit about their fellow brothers, this is what you do when a man went down. I needed the time to cool off anyway, and by the time the doctors and nurses had transferred him to a room, I was relatively less likely to kill someone than I was when I first got there.
“Thanks for staying with me, Prospect. I know Scythe didn’t put you on babysitting detail, so why did you stay?” Trigger was one of the few people I remembered from when I was in the club before. He was a prospect at the time, but it was nice to see him moving through the ranks so easily. I liked him back then, and he seemed to be just as level-headed as he was before. He was a great choice for Road Captain. Riptide, on the other hand, definitely did not earn his title.
I stared at my prospective brother for a few minutes, leaning against the doorway for support. I hated to see him in such bad shape. Besides the broken leg, he had also cracked his collar bone, and fractured two ribs. The doctors wanted to keep him in the hospital for a few weeks so he could recover and start learning how to walk again.
I’ll kill Riptide for doing this shit to him.
“You’re a good man, Trigger. Most of the club seems like a bunch of fucking hot-headed drug addicts that only care about themselves, but you, you bleed brotherhood like it’s supposed to be bled. Besides Scythe and Cipher, I don’t see many of the other brothers having that same mentality.”
Trigger shook his head and groaned. “Shit went south when Dutch got sick. He stepped down and it was like the cockroaches came out of the shadows. Scythe does his best to keep shit in line, but it’s really Guerrilla and Switchblade running the show. The only reason I’ve stuck around this long is because I promised Scythe that I would always stay by his side. We are in this fight together, brothers until the end.” He tried to hold up his fist but groaned when it hurt his collar bone. “I think I’m gonna go to sleep, but you should head out. I don’t want you to get in any more trouble than you already are.”
“I’ll come back tomorrow.”
Trigger smiled. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I want to. We are in this fight together, brothers until the end. Get to feeling better, we need you back on your bike as soon as possible.”
“I’ll probably end up driving the cage from now on, my leg is fucked. Cipher will probably take my place. He’s a good man, too.”
I nodded. “There’s so few of us left.” I started to walk out the door when Trigger called out for me.
“Hey, Specter?” The fact that he was calling me Specter and not Prospect meant that I had gained some sort of trust or respect from him in the last few hours we spent together.
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for beating the shit out of Riptide, that jackass had no business being out on the ride today. I saw him snorting some coke earlier with one of the sweetbutts. He was coked out of his mind.”