Blade (RBMC: Dallas, TX #4)

Chapter Eight

“DoesItReallyMatter”—TheoryofaDeadman

“M otherfucker, that hurts!” I shouted through clenched teeth.

“Hold still, goddammit!” Duckie exclaimed as he rapidly cleaned my wound and applied pressure to it. There was blood everywhere. Duckie was the medic in the Brownsville chapter we had gone down to support because they had some shit they’d been dealing with.

“Well, that didn’t feel too fucking good!” I shouted back.

“No shit. Maybe you should’ve listened to me and left the damn thing alone,” he dryly shot back. I glanced down to see where he was doctoring up my thigh where a broken off chair leg had gouged into my leg and stuck. He’d been afraid to pull it out, but I figured fuck it, if I died, I died, and yanked it out.

I grinned and shrugged. “Not like I was gonna be able to leave it in and go to the ER. What was I gonna tell them? I sure as hell wasn’t going to say I was at the RBMC clubhouse, and it got blown up. So, it was either you take care of it, or nothing.”

Because I couldn’t help myself, I dipped a finger in my blood and brought it to my lips. It settled something deep, dark, and ugly within me.

“You’re fucking nuts,” he muttered as he shook his head. After he was satisfied that it wasn’t an arterial bleed and he’d be able to close it, he started stitching. “It ain’t gonna look pretty and it’s probably gonna leave one helluva scar, but it will work as long as you don’t overdo it.

He started to carefully dress the now closed wound. As I glanced around again, I noticed a set of boots sticking out from behind a tipped over table and with their lack of movement, I figured that wasn’t a good sign for him.

“How the fuck did this happen?” Raptor was asking Rocko, their president. Raptor had a trickle of crimson running down his face from a gash on his forehead.

“I have no clue, but we’re gonna find out. That’s for damn sure. Gecko is already combing through the security footage the best he can. Several of the cameras were destroyed prior to the blast. We’ve been trying to get them replaced, but it’s been hard to get replacement parts and equipment. Everything is on backorder. We’re having to order some shit internationally,” Rocko grumbled.

“Damn, that sucks,” I muttered.

“Prez, you may want to get that looked at,” Gator said as he pointed at Raptor’s head.

He swiped at it with the back of his hand. “It’s fine.”

Stubborn asshole .

His sharp glare hit me. “Fuck off.”

I chuckled.

“How many did we lose?” Rocko asked Duckie.

“Seven,” Duckie solemnly replied as he finished my dressing.

I sobered. “Jesus.”

That was the majority of their members. They’d essentially been wiped out.

Raptor’s phone rang. He glanced at it with a frown, then answered. “Raptor here. What’s up, Squirrel?”

I watched as my president’s jaw clenched. He closed his eyes and pressed his lips flat. When he reopened them, they were shiny and red.

“I hear you. Sorry, we ran into some trouble down here in Brownsville, too. They lost seven.” He paused and I could hear Squirrel on the other end but couldn’t hear what he was saying. “You gotta be fucking with me.”

“What the hell is going on?” I asked.

Raptor looked at me and ran a hand over his mouth before he dropped it to his side. “The Ankeny clubhouse was attacked as well. Flagstaff had some kind of issues too.”

“That seems a little too much of a coincidence, if you ask me,” Gator chimed in. He and Raptor froze.

Then Raptor was digging out his phone and immediately making a call. “Call One Short,” he told Gator.

I heard him explain what had happened. From the tone of his voice, it was obvious he was talking to Sage.

“What about Eliska?” I asked, then could’ve kicked myself when he cocked a brow at me. “Make sure she stays with Sage,” I muttered.

He ended his call and stared at me for a heartbeat. That split second look told me we would talk later. He turned to Phoenix. “Sloane and Ember are safe at my place.”

Phoenix looked relieved.

“So is Eliska,” he added as his gaze burned into me. Gator raised a brow as he too stared me down.

Then it was all hands on deck with treating the wounded that were still alive. Turned out, I wasn’t the only one hurt. Ares got caught by some debris and ended up with a good-sized slice on his arm. Duckie stitched him up and had his arm wrapped in record time.

Thankfully Phoenix was with us because the situation could’ve been so much worse. He had harnessed the fire from the explosion and absorbed it the second he realized that’s what was going on. Raptor looked preoccupied the whole time. It was starting to make me wonder what he wasn’t saying.

What’s wrong?

He glanced up from where they were dragging the bodies and loading them in the back of a beat-up van. Since the majority of the members had no families and those that did were heavily embedded in the club, they would all be taken to a remote private graveyard that one of the family members owned. We would take care of our own. Calling in the authorities would only put a spotlight on the club that we didn’t need.

“I’m gonna find out who did this and I’m gonna gut their asses and stake them out down in Mexico,” Rocko practically growled, his voice heavy with emotion.

“If there’s anything we can do, let us know,” Raptor offered. “We’ll stick around for a few days so you’re not alone.”

Rocko turned tired eyes to my president. “Brother, I appreciate that. But if what I’m thinking is true, you need to get back up to Dallas. You have your own families, homes, and clubhouse to protect.”

“You think you’ll rebuild?” Gator asked Rocko. I knew they weren’t talking about the clubhouse itself.

Rocko sighed. “We’ll discuss it amongst the few of us that are left, but if I’m honest with you, I’m tired. Been thinking about retiring anyway. Maybe this is a big fucking sign that it’s time.”

Losing this chapter was crucial, because a lot of the product we “imported” and “exported” went through them and their connections. It wouldn’t be good for business, and I wondered what the national chapter was gonna have to say about it.

Raptor gripped Rocko’s shoulder. “You just let us know what you decide and let me know if you need anything. I know that Cedar Creek would be down to help too. We’ll be stopping off at the Central Texas chapter on the way back. It will be a good break to stop and stretch our legs or spend the night if we’re too tired to keep going. I’ll talk to Ripper and see if they can help too.”

“I appreciate that, brother, but I think we’ll be good for now. We’re gonna figure out our shit and lay low. If you need to rest up before you go, you guys are welcome to stay at my house since the clubhouse is trashed.” Rocko looked so defeated, and it was hard to witness. From what I’d heard, he was a real badass in the day. Losing most of your brothers like this though… I couldn’t even imagine.

“I’ll let you know.” The two presidents shook hands and hugged each other. Then Rocko walked off toward Gecko, their security and tech guy.

“We need to talk,” Raptor said, his expression grim, and walked outside. We all followed. Well, I limped behind because fuck, my leg hurt. At least it was my right leg and not my shifting leg. As long as we kept going, I felt like I could work through the pain. I wanted to get home.

Once I caught up to everyone, Raptor dropped his head. When he looked up, I could see the agony in his eyes.

“What’s going on, boss?” I asked since no one else wanted to.

“You heard me say the Ankeny chapter was hit too.”

A chorus of hesitant yeah and yes followed.

“They got hit hard too.” He swallowed hard.

Phoenix, Ares, and I all froze. We all knew the brothers up there well. That was our home. Our original induction chapter for all of us but Ares. He still knew everyone though. He’d interacted with us many times when he was a member of the DSMC. The blood was rushing in my ears as I waited for the shoe to drop.

“Venom, Kicker, E and his ol’ lady, Voodoo, Hawk, and Sabre were all inside. So were Light and Randy from Flagstaff, and Kicks and Gypsy from Roanoke. They were there to help with the bullshit that had been going on there.” My heart dropped and I could barely hear the rest of his words. “The only one who made it out okay was Hawk. Angel was able to save Voodoo, but he was hurt bad, and it wiped Angel out. Sabre survived because, well, he’s Sabre.”

“No,” Phoenix whispered. The devastation in that single word echoed through us all.

I was speechless. My brain wasn’t processing. I couldn’t have heard that correctly. Unwilling to accept what Raptor had said as truth, I shook my head. “That can’t be.”

“Blade—” Raptor started, the pain heavy in his tone.

“No! That can’t be!” I yelled. He reached for me, but I jerked away. “They’re not dead! Angel would’ve saved them!”

A tear fell from the corner of Raptor’s right eye before he hastily wiped it away. “He tried….” He choked up and I started to back away, still shaking my head.

I made it to my bike that had been knocked over from the blast. I lifted it like it weighed fifteen pounds and climbed on. It took a few attempts, but it finally started. I needed to get away.

As I twisted the throttle, my ass end broke loose on the gravel and rocks flew, but I righted it and sped off. I hit the two-lane highway that ran in front of the Brownsville clubhouse and sped off.

Though I hadn’t paid attention as I left, a few miles down the road, I realized I was heading toward home.

Toward Eliska.

With each passing mile, the edges of my sliced open and cut off jeans flapped against the dressing, but I ignored it. The wind tore at my hair and made my eyes water.

At least, that’s what I told myself.