Wrench

19 - I'll forget that bitc.h!

Wrench

“This part isn’t my story to tell,” Shepard continues. “But in order for you all to understand, it’s necessary that I do. I’ve already spoken to Stryker, and he agrees with me; you should all know.”

Stryker?

What does he know that the rest of us don’t?

“When Jett was a kid, a few months before Celia ran off with Nova, he started hanging out more and more with the little girl across the street. She was a little older than my boy, not much, but she thought she was one of the boys.” Shepard chuckles to himself.

No one has taken their eyes off him yet. I’ve got a tightening in my stomach. Something doesn’t feel right inside me; it’s like something is nagging at my brain, telling me something is very wrong, but I can’t put my finger on what.

“Little girl was crazy about motorcycles. Crazy about sneaking across the street and sitting on my bike, pretending to ride it. I caught her one day, put on my meanest stare, and asked her what she thought she was doing. She told me not to be a grump, and she knew I wasn’t really that mean, because if I were, I wouldn’t be raising such a nice kid.” He chuckles again, but then so does everyone else but me.

I have nothing to laugh about because nothing is amusing to me right now.

“After that, she’d come around all the time, even after Celia took off with Nova. I made her parents see that nothing would happen to her; they had my word. That little girl was Coral. She hung out with Jett and Tank a lot. Had a little crush on Hammer.”

“I remember that.” Hammer chuckles.

Stryker scowls at the smirk on Hammer’s face.

What the fuc.k is that all about?

She was a kid; surely he’s not jealous of her childhood crush?

“Do you remember when she stumbled through these doors, blooded up and sobbin’?”

Hammer’s hands are over his face, scrubbing harshly before he replies, “How could I forget?”

“I remember,” My dad pipes up. “How everyone turned to look at her. Roman was Prospect then, and he’d let her inside the gate, brought her inside,”

Roman nods in agreement.

I don’t remember any of this. I was a small child when Coral was a kid. She’s eight years older than I am.

“She looked for you,” He points to Shepard. “Spotted you and ran at you like you were her father. Sobbed in your arms, none of us knew what to do. Horrible day.”

Shepard nods in agreement. “Coral was twelve years old. Raped and beaten like she was a woman three times her age.”

A shudder runs through me. I can’t shake this odd feeling. I feel like my muscles are tight, though, fighting hard to relax. Everywhere ache’s all of a sudden.

What the fuc.k is wrong with me?

Stryker’s eyes are closed, his jaw ticking. I can’t imagine how hard it is to hear this story. No doubt he’s heard it from his wife, but hearing it from someone else’s point of view must be hard.

“It took weeks for her to so much as come out of her house. Her parents were worried, scared even. Coral wouldn’t say who’d hurt her, wouldn’t say anything. Six weeks after it happened, her parents came to see me. The conversation wasn’t something I ever expected. They wanted me to find the man who’d hurt their daughter and left her pregnant.

“Coral had refused to give up her baby. She was just a child, but no one could or would force her to do something she didn’t want to do. I made them a promise to do whatever it took to find the guy, and when I did, I’d kill him.”

“Did you find him?”

Shepard shifts in his seat. He’s uncomfortable.

I rub my forehead in frustration.

Why can’t I just shut off?

Why can’t I just forget about Elie, treat her like she’s nothing, and move on?

I don’t want my heart to hurt like this!

“I found him.”

“What?! Why the hell didn’t you tell me?”

“No one but me and BlackJack knew, Stryker,” My dad knows? “Coral has never confirmed what we know to be true. When I confronted the sonofabitch, he denied it, told me he wasn’t a pedophile. I beat the crap outta him because I didn’t believe him, didn’t believe he wasn’t the one who hurt Coral. Why would I when the first time she saw him – the very day her parents told me she was pregnant – he knocked on my door, she heard his voice and peed her fuckin’ self in fear! I knew at that moment he was the one.”

“Who is he? Is he still walking? Still alive?”

“Yes, he’s still alive. We’ve tried many times to end the cunt, but he’s smarter than we give him credit for. His time will come. I have made sure Coral has never had to deal with him since the day he hurt her. I convinced Coral’s parents to take her and her sister somewhere safe until the baby was born. I couldn’t risk that motherfucke.r finding out. He would never have left them alone until he’d taken that kid from Coral and destroyed it.

“Once the baby was born, BlackJack and I went to see the family at their request.”

My dad’s looking at me.

What does he want?

Me to be shocked by this?

I’m not.

“I saw little Coral and the way she was with that baby. Hugging it, kissing it, telling me how much she loved her daughter. Call me a bastard, but I tried to convince her father to give the baby up for adoption.

“Her father agreed with me about the adoption because neither he nor his wife wanted the kid in their lives. His wife was really struggling. She hadn’t even looked at the baby because all she felt was hate for the man who hurt her daughter. It wasn’t that baby’s fault, but Coral’s mother didn’t want her own little girl’s life ruined by letting her keep that baby. Elisha was given to good people. They raised her right, or I thought they did.”

“Tell me who her father is!”

Shepard looks at each man in turn, his eyes locking with Stryker’s more than anyone else’s before he finally tells us, “Bulldog.”

I think the wind has been knocked out of me.

Bulldog?

His brother?

That makes our Prez, Elie’s uncle!

Where’s all this yelling getting everyone?

I get it, Shepard hasn’t killed his brother for raping Coral and getting her pregnant. So Bulldog is Elie’s biological father, it doesn’t mean any of what she did is because she’s like him. Elie is nothing like that cunt of a bastard!

I won’t sit here and let them say this shi.t about her! “Shut up!” I scream while jumping to my feet and slamming my fists down on the table. “So she’s his fuckin.g kid, don’t mean she did this because she’s like him! She did this because she thought this club was responsible for the death of her mother! Maybe if everyone had been honest about shi.t in the first place, none of this would’ve happened. There ain’t one person here that ain’t to blame in some way for what she tried to do!”

“Kids right,” I’m shaking with adrenaline so much my eyes feel like they’re being crushed inside my damn skull! With his hand on my arm, Hammer forces me back into my seat. “Enough shi.t has gone on. I owe Coral a lot. More than a lot. Everything that woman has ever gone through, and she’s still grounded; still, the best friend any of us could ask for. She’s like a daughter to you, Prez, to BlackJack as well,”

Both men nod in agreement.

For as long as I can remember, Coral has been part of this club. I was there for her wedding to Stryker and the birth of her son. She’s always there when you need a friend. She’s one of the guys and always has been.

“What Elie asked for didn’t happen. She’s a kid, not yet twenty, who was angry about what she thought happened to the woman who gave her life. The woman she’d spent her life wishing she could meet. When she found out the truth, she tried to take it all back. She and I spoke,” I didn’t know this shi.t. Fuc.k. I don’t know anything about that bitc.h at all! “She’s more like Coral than we know. I won’t agree to her death, Prez.”

Relief hits me. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. No matter what I told Elie, I don’t want her dead. It would kill me. Oh, I’d survive, but it would kill me inside. I’d become a shell of a man.

“Is there anyone here that doesn’t agree with Hammer? If any of you believe that little girl should have her life ended, tell me now. If one person here believes Coral doesn’t deserve this chance to take care of her daughter, the daughter I had ripped from her, then tell me now.”

“We let her go, and then what?”

“We let her mother take her home, care for her, and show her a better way, Ghost.”

“And we pretend like nothing happened and keep her part of this MC? Are y’all crazy?”

“She’s not a danger to us, Ghost!” The knife in Stryker’s hand is pointing right at Ghost’s throat.

Never piss Stryker off, he’s a goddamned psycho, and this is his family we’re talking about. The love of his life’s daughter.

“I fight for this club, I bleed, and I’d fuckin’ die for it every time! For each and every one of you! I have never asked anything of any of you, but I am asking you this. Please do not hurt my wife by taking her daughter from her again. Coral is as loyal to this club as I am. Let us take Elie home. I’ll talk to her and make her understand how serious this all is. She isn’t dangerous, just a kid who was grieving unnecessarily.”

“Hammer has told you that he don’t want her dead. I also suggest that what happened here goes no further. We don’t want Draven involved in this.” Shepard rolls his neck.

“I agree. My brother won’t care that Elie is Coral’s daughter, Shepard’s niece, or what any of us has to say. She threatened me, so he’ll kill her. I don’t want that.” Hammer sighs.

“All those in favor say, Aye.”

“Aye.”

“Aye.”

Each man gives his Aye. Prez gets to me, and I freeze. Nothing will come out of my mouth. Nada. All eyes are on me.

“Bro, this is your girl. What are you doing?”

“She ain’t my girl, Hawk. Do what the fuc.k you want with her; just keep me out of it.”

“You little fuc.k!”

“Stryker! Stand down.”

Stand down?

I thought the cunt was going to shoot me for a second there. Bastard shot out of his chair and pulled his gun on me. This man, whom I see as my big brother, wants to shoot me.

How fucke.d up is that?

I’ve been fuckin.g my brother’s wife’s daughter. Not blood-related, any of us, but still.

Oh, like I give an actual shi.t.

“The choice is mine! And I’m telling you all now that she’s going home with her mother. I won’t hurt Coral, Prez, not for anything. I’m fine, and I forgive the kid. Nothing was set in place, so let’s just put it down as a mistake and move on.”

Yeah, I’ll move on. I’ll move on and forget that bitc.h!