Chapter3:BurningRubberBrokenVows
946 Words
They came for the garage less than thirty minutes after she crossed through the compound gates.
Lila had barely dropped her duffel onto the narrow bunk they assigned her when the sound of shattering glass ripped through the night air. She bolted upright, heart slamming against her ribs like a trapped animal.
Shouts. Heavy boots. The side door of her old garage exploding inward she could picture every detail even though she was miles away. The prospect’s frantic call on Jax’s phone made it terrifyingly real.
“Fangs are hitting the garage right now!”
Jax was already moving, face set like stone. “Stay here.”
Like hell she would.
She followed him out into the darkness, a heavy wrench snatched from her bag and gripped like a weapon. They rode hard, two bikes slicing through empty streets. When they screeched into the garage lot, three Iron Fangs were already inside, baseball bats swinging wildly. Tools flew in every direction. Her dad’s old workbench cracked with a sickening splinter of wood.
Lila didn’t stop to think. She charged straight in.
The wrench connected solidly with one Fang’s elbow. Bone crunched loud. He howled and dropped his bat. Another bat whistled toward her head. She ducked low, feeling the wind of it kiss her hair.
“Pretty little Shadowfox,” the biggest one growled, eyes gleaming with ugly pleasure. “Time to pay what you owe.”
Fear tasted like copper in her mouth, but the rage burning in her chest was hotter. This garage was the last real piece of her father she had left.
Bright headlights suddenly flooded the entire lot. Jax’s blacked-out truck slammed to a stop. He stepped out alone, no backup, like the odds didn’t scare him one bit. The three Fangs turned on him fast.
He didn’t waste time with threats.
Jax moved like violence given human shape fast, efficient, brutally precise. One punch folded the biggest man to the ground. The second tried to run; Jax caught him by the back of his cut and drove his face into the brick wall with a wet thud. The third bolted into the shadows and disappeared.
Silence crashed down hard, broken only by pained groans and the slow drip of blood on concrete.
Jax wiped his split knuckles on his jeans and looked slowly around at the wreckage. Shattered glass everywhere. Tools scattered. The faded photo of her dad lying torn and dirty on the floor. Something raw and painful flickered across his face anger mixed with what looked dangerously like regret before it vanished behind his usual cold mask.
“Seventy-five grand is cleared,” he said, voice low and rough. “You work in our garage and ride for us in the Viper’s Fury Circuit. Help us claim the territory. That’s the end of it.”
Lila’s hands still shook around the wrench. Hot tears burned behind her eyes, but she refused to let them fall in front of him. “Your club killed him slow and ugly with every threat and every lie. I should put this wrench through your skull right now.”
He closed the distance until she had to look up to meet his eyes. “Then do it. Or pack whatever’s left and come with me. Learn the truth before you throw your life away chasing the wrong enemy.”
She stared at the ruined photo of her father. Then at the man wearing the patch that had come to represent everything she had sworn to destroy.
Her voice came out cracked and raw. “I hate every single thing you stand for.”
“Use it,” Jax said simply. “Hate makes you dangerous. Pack a bag. You’re moving into the compound tonight. No arguments.”
Ten minutes later she followed his taillight once more through the dark city streets, her small duffel strapped tight to the back of the bike, the last fragile pieces of her old life rattling behind her like broken promises.
The compound felt even colder at night. Hard-eyed men watched her roll through the gates. Whispers followed her like smoke: “That’s Chen’s daughter?” “Viper enemy sleeping under our roof?”
Jax showed her to a small, basic room off the main clubhouse just a bed, a desk, and a tiny bathroom. It felt more like a cell with slightly better lighting.
“Sleep,” he ordered. “Garage duty starts at dawn. Don’t make me come looking for you.”
He turned to leave.
“Jax,” she called out. He paused in the doorway. “Why are you really doing this?”
He didn’t answer right away. When he finally spoke, his voice was quiet and edged with something she couldn’t name. “Because some debts aren’t what they look like on paper. And because I need your hands on our bikes more than I need one more enemy.”
The door clicked shut behind him.
Lila sank down onto the thin mattress and stared up at the ceiling cracks. The compound smelled of cigarette smoke, old leather, and distant engine oil. Every creak and footstep outside made her body tense.
She was completely surrounded by the men who had ruined her life.
And the worst part? The Vice President who had just saved her twice looked at her like he could see straight through every layer of hate she wore like armor.
She closed her eyes, but real sleep refused to come.
Because tomorrow she would have to work beside them. Race beside them.
And pretend with every breath that she didn’t still want to burn their entire world to the ground.
- Writer
